New ESPN, newsletter roles; phony Saudi 'fact-checking' site bounced by Twitter; more lobbyists, CEOs flee Saudi ties
Catfishing. A fake girlfriend. A football player emerging amid this scandal as a Heisman finalist, and then onto a pro career with the Chargers and the Saints.
What don't we know about Manti Te'o and his bizarre turn at Notre Dame? That's the challenge ahead of Don Van Natta Jr. and "Backstory," his upcoming docu-series at ESPN. The linebacker's story is the pilot for the five-part series.
“Every investigative story I’ve ever done begins with a question, usually a simple one," said Van Natta, a Pulitzer winner with teams at The New York Times and the Miami Herald. "In 'Backstory,' we’ll do our best to answer it, or come close to answering it.”
Van Natta's expanded role at ESPN also includes "Triangle," a podcast that he will host with two different guests each episode. Van Natta will serve as host or lightning rod between the guests, which could include a sports figure and an actor, singer, film director or even a former president.
The new work shows off another skill of this magazine writer, budding co-executive producer and investigator: Curation.
That's what he's done since 2014 as co-founder of a respected side project, The Sunday Long Read, which gathers the best of the big pieces in the field. It's growing, too, adding a membership component and its own podcast (the latest includes BuzzFeed's Ben Smith).
Your morning columnist is so appreciative of Van Natta's curation skills that I asked him if he'd consider making a list of five great long read stories of the year for editors, reporters and other news junkies.
It's joyful, sorrowful, self-critical, eye-opening and a tad apocalyptic. Oh, did we say funny, too?
Here it is.
Quick hits
USING FACEBOOK FOR GENOCIDE: The NYT details how Myanmar authorities posed as fans of pop stars and national heroes on the social network to spread anti-Muslim hate. The propaganda against the Rohingya group “incited murders, rapes and the largest forced human migration in recent history,” Paul Mozur reported. The campaign went on for at least five years on Facebook, which said it only discovered the depth of the government’s tie in August.
A SUITOR FOR TRIBUNE MEDIA?: Who would want the 42 stations of Tribune Media? It may be a chair of a pro-Trump super PAC.
HOLLYWOOD STRIKES BACK?: Endeavor is preparing paperwork to pull out of a $400 million deal with Saudi Arabia after the disappearance of dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, writes The Hollywood Reporter. Endeavor represents journalists such as Soledad O’Brien, Ronan Farrow and Joe Scarborough. AMC, IMAX and World Wrestling Entertainment are other Hollywood entities doing business with Saudi Arabia.
MORE DROPOUTS: The Glover Park Group has walked away from its $150,000-a-month lobbying contract with the Saudis, and the lobbyist BGR Group is ending its $80,000-a-month contract, too. BlackRock, the Blackstone Group, Google and KKR & Co. are pulling top officials from the Saudis “Davos in the Desert” business conference.
DEBUNKED: A bogus Saudi “fact checking” account spread false claims about a photo of Khashoggi and his fianceé. BuzzFeed’s Ishmael N. Daro debunked the claims; Twitter suspended the account.
WHOOPS: The Washington Examiner apologizes for “inadvertently” plagiarizing several paragraphs of a New York Times story on Jared Kushner and the Saudi crown prince. Via Jonathan Levine of TheWrap.
MOVES: From deputy editor of Entertainment Weekly, Meeta Agrawal is joining The New York Times as its new Arts & Leisure editor. She starts next Monday … Matt DeRienzo, director of Local Independent Online News Publishers (LION), is returning to a media company. He has been named vice president of news and digital content at Hearst Connecticut Media Group, overseeing eight dailies, 13 weeklies and 21 news websites. … Former “Today” show anchor Ann Curry will anchor and executive produce the upcoming TNT and Lionsgate series “M.D. Live,” TheWrap reports.
DAILY DOUBLESPEAK AWARD: A Chinese governor tries to find the bright side of internment camps for as many as 1 million minority Uighurs. Instead of focusing on torture, family separation, poor nutrition, mandatory Mandarin teaching and Communist Party propaganda, Xinjiang Governor Shohrat Zakir stresses "vocational education." “Many trainees (i.e. prisoners) have said they were previously affected by extremist thought and had never participated in such kinds of arts and sports activities. Now they realize how colorful life can be,” Zakir said.
On Poynter.org
-
About 1,300 communities have lost news coverage, UNC study finds. By Tom Stites.
-
Report For America hopes to double its placements of reporters in local newsrooms in the next few months, and continue to quicken the pace of hiring. By Rick Edmonds.
-
Two-thirds of Americans say they know about bots, but they don't know a lot about bots, too. By Ren LaForme.
Want to get this briefing in your inbox every weekday morning? Sign up here.
Got a tip, a link, a suggestion? We’re trying to make this roundup better every day. Please email me at dbeard@poynter.org or reach me @dabeard.
Have a good Tuesday. See you tomorrow.
