Morning Mediawire is the Poynter Institute’s daily newsletter. To subscribe, click here.
Walking away a winner
This Pittsburgh Post-Gazette journalist loved her job — so why did she quit the same day the paper won a Pulitzer?
Meagen Fekos and her husband, Konstantine. (Courtesy)
Meagen Fekos had her dream job. She was 27 and a journalist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She loved what she did, she loved the paper and the paper was happy with her.
But on the day the Post-Gazette won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue, Fekos turned in her resignation.
When I saw her announcement on social media that she was leaving journalism, I reached out to her to talk about her decision.
One of the things she told was me was: “While I want to be fully committed to my job, I realized that I can’t do that 24/7 and commit myself to my son to the degree that he deserves AND still be a wife, sister, aunt, daughter, etc.”
It’s a conversation many journalists can relate to.
Above the law?
A USA Today investigation reveals what public officials often try to hide — the transgressions of cops across the nation.
Screenshot, USA Today
You know who doesn’t get enough credit for its outstanding investigative work? USA Today. Take, for example, the latest from reporters John Kelly and Mark Nichols as they reveal that 85,000 law enforcement officers from across the country have been investigated or disciplined for misconduct over the past decade. (Poynter’s Kristen Hare just profiled the network’s collaboration efforts and its goal to impact local communities.)
Their transgressions include planting evidence, harassing women, dealing drugs, drunken driving and domestic assault. USA Today claims that records of their misconduct are often “filed away, rarely seen by anyone outside their departments. Police unions and their political allies have worked to put special protections in place ensuring some records are shielded from public view, or even destroyed.”
But USA Today Network has now gathered those records and started releasing them to the public. The first collection includes 30,000 officers in 44 states.
How many officers are listed from your state?
Sisterhood on the front lines
Over her 40-year career, veteran newswoman Andrea Mitchell has seen progress for women in journalism.
Andrea Mitchell with Lester Holt at a Democratic presidential debate in 2016. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton)
NBC’s Andrea Mitchell has seen a lot of positive changes for female journalists since she started her career more than 40 years ago. The most dramatic, she said, is how women are now accepted on the front lines of major beats, as well as being decision-makers behind the camera. Mitchell points out how NBC has several women who cover the White House along with herself, including Hallie Jackson, Kelly O’Donnell and Kristen Welker.
Mitchell made her comments in an interview with the Washingtonian, a co-sponsor of this week’s sixth annual Washington Women in Journalism Awards, where Mitchell will receive a lifetime achievement award. She said she is proud of the strides female journalists have taken, but still considers the women press corps a “sisterhood.”
“One of the things that’s less well known is that we all support each other,” Mitchell said. “In every way possible: to celebrate victories, to celebrate great prizes and great gets. Congratulating each other, even among competitors. There are data to show that women legislators have supported more bipartisan legislation than their male counterparts, even though they are fewer in numbers. It’s the same in journalism.”
The continuing tragedy of Flint
A new ‘Frontline’ investigation shows the death rate from contaminated drinking water was even higher than initially reported.
It was five years ago this week that the city of Flint, Michigan, began drawing drinking water from the Flint River. That decision led to an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, a severe form of pneumonia caused by bacteria, that killed 12 people and sickened 78 others.
It’s not over. PBS’s “Frontline” has found that at least 20 of the 78 patients who initially survived their diagnoses have since died — most from diseases that doctors say are commonly linked to Legionnaires’. One was Jassmine McBride, the youngest casualty. She was 30. Her doctor said, “She was the story of Flint.”
You can see McBride’s story and “Frontline”’s latest report on the issue. In addition, “Frontline” will have a full-length documentary on the Flint water crisis later this year.
More Gannett/MNG drama
The Alden Global Capital-owned company is backing down from its attempts to infiltrate the Gannett board.
MNG Enterprises Inc., the hedge-fund that has made offers to buy Gannett, is cutting back its efforts to seize the board of directors there. MNG Enterprises, which is owned by Alden Global Capital, announced Thursday that it is withdrawing three off of its six nominees to the Gannett board. Because Gannett’s board will have eight members after May 16, that means Gannett’s current directors would remain in control.
But Gannett thinks the whole point is moot anyway. MNG made an unsolicited bid to buy Gannett in January, offering $12 a share. But Gannett rejected the offer, saying it was not credible.
In a statement Thursday, Gannett said, “The number of candidates put forth by MNG does not change the fact that each of MNG’s director nominees has irreconcilable conflicts of interest (given each nominee’s close affiliations with MNG and/or its majority shareholder, Alden Global Capital) and cannot be expected to act in the best interests of all Gannett shareholders.”
Hot type
A curated list of great journalism and intriguing media.
- The New York Times’ Michael Paulson and Nicole Herrington write how four black playwrights are challenging the American theatre.
- Kelly O’Donnell is surprised by colleagues and sources, including former Secretary of State John Kerry and former Speaker of the House John Boehner, as she celebrates her 25th anniversary at NBC.
- Vanity Fair’s Evgenia Peretz profiles The New York Times op-ed writer Bari Weiss.
Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.
Upcoming Poynter training:
- Covering the 2020 Census — Detroit (workshop). Deadline: May 6.
- Building Effective Websites for Better User Experience (online seminar). Starts May 17.
Want to get this briefing in your inbox? Sign up here.
