Good morning. Here are 10 media stories.
- WHO blacklists BuzzFeed reporter
World Health Organization spokesperson Laura Bellinger mistakenly CC’d BuzzFeed reporter Tasneem Nashrulla on an email saying “My understanding is that BuzzFeed is banned.” Tarik Jasarevic, another WHO staffer weighed in on another email — Nashrulla was still CC’d — saying only BuzzFeed reporter Jina Moore, who is covering Ebola in West Africa, was blacklisted. Jasarevic has not replied to a request from Poynter for elaboration on the thinking behind such an extraordinary (and petty) step. (Mashable) | In August, Jasarevic listed among his duties “being available to report to national and international media about the situation,” but he was talking to someone who worked for Bono, not Jonah Peretti. (One)
- Former SPJ treasurer sentenced
Scott Eric Cooper admitted embezzling more than $43,000 from SPJ’s Oklahoma chapter and will serve a 10-year deferred sentence. He’ll also make restitution payments of $350 per month and serve several weekends in jail. (The Norman Transcript) | Cooper published OKLegalNews and had won awards for his work on the alt-weekly Oklahoma Gazette; he told SPJ he had a gambling problem when he resigned in 2012. (This Land Press)
- NYT champions HTTPS
Eitan Konigsburg, Rajiv Pant and Elena Kvochko issue a “friendly challenge” to news-site publishers: Use the more secure Web transfer protocol HTTPS by the end of next year. HTTPS is better for readers’ privacy and improves your search engine ranking, they write. (NYT) | Follow this hashtag to see who’s on board.
- Minneapolis mayor responds to “#pointergate”
Betsy Hodges says it’s likely “the head of the police union or other detractors will pitch more stories that attempt to defame that work and its leaders to various media outlets.” (Mayor Betsy Hodges) | The Daily Show mocked the ridiculous KSTP story that sparked all this. (Minneapolis City Pages)
- One less platisher
Say Media plans to sell XoJane, ReadWrite and other sites. “The conclusion we’ve come to, and one lots of media companies wrestle with is, do you build brands or do you build platforms?” CEO Matt Sanchez told Lucia Moses. “Those two are just completely different world views. It’s hard to create clarity for an organization.” (Digiday) | The Onion is considering a sale. (Bloomberg News) | Arguably but not really related: Vox says it has already crushed its traffic and revenue goals for 2015. Take the next 12 months off, folks! (NetNewsCheck) | Only vaguely related but what the heck let’s stay in this item: Reddit changes chief execs, and co-founder Alexis Ohanian returns as executive chairman. (NYT)
- Condé Nast settles intern lawsuit
It will pay $5.8 million. “Former interns dating back as far as June 2007 are expected to receive payments ranging from $700 to $1,900, according to the settlement.” (Reuters) | “Similar lawsuits against other media and entertainment companies—including Fox Searchlight and Gawker Media—remain pending.” (Gawker)
- Non-journalism typo of the week
North Carolina governor’s office sends out press release trumpeting a company’s plans to “fire graduates from the college’s traditional degree and certificate programs.” S/b “hire.” (News & Observer)
- Poynter gets closer to selling unused land
The University of South Florida St. Petersburg has signed a non-binding letter of intent to purchase four acres of spare land from Poynter for $6.2 million. Should the sale go through, the money will go back into Poynter, which says it is “on pace to set a record in teaching income this year.” (Poynter) | Poynter Foundation honcho Chris Martin says “physical space is not as important to us as much as our growth nationally and globally.” (Tampa Bay Times)
- Front page of the day, curated by Kristen Hare
The Huntsville Times marks the 25th anniversary of a tornado. (Courtesy the Newseum.)
- Job moves, edited by Benjamin Mullin
John Cook will run investigations at Gawker Media. He is editor-in-chief of The Intercept. (Poynter) | Aaron Gell will be editorial director of Maxim. Previously, he was features editor at Business Insider. (Capital) | Maeve Reston will be a reporter with CNN Politics Digital. She is a political reporter with The Los Angeles Times. (Fishbowl DC) | Bob Sipchen will be senior editor for the California section at The Los Angeles Times. Previously, he was editor-in-chief of Sierra Magazine. (Email) | Cynthia Needham will be deputy business editor at The Boston Globe. She is political editor there. Jon Chesto will be a reporter at The Boston Globe. Previously, he was managing editor of the Boston Business Journal. Sacha Pfeiffer will return to The Boston Globe to cover wealth management and power. She is the host of WBUR’s All Things Considered. (Dan Kennedy) | Alexis Ohanian will be executive chairman at Reddit. He is a partner at Y Combinator. (Reddit) | Abby Livingston will be D.C. bureau chief for The Texas Tribune. Previously, she was a reporter for Roll Call. (Fishbowl DC) | Alex Leo will be head of audience development for Yahoo. Previously, she was head of product for IBT Media. (Capital) | Job of the day The San Francisco Chronicle is looking for an Oakland reporter. Get your résumés in! (Journalism Jobs) | Send Ben your job moves: bmullin@poynter.org.
Corrections? Tips? Please email me: abeaujon@poynter.org. Would you like to get this roundup emailed to you every morning? Sign up here.
