Trump will use ‘every tool in the toolbox’ to attack the press, legendary editor says

Be sure to check out this NPR “Fresh Air” episode, which features host Terry Gross talking with New Yorker editor David Remnick and the legendary former executive editor of The Washington Post, Marty Baron. The main topic of discussion: the media and Donald Trump.

Baron offered a dire warning of what the second Trump administration could look like for the media. He said he expects the administration “to go after the press in every conceivable way … (using) every tool in the toolbox — and there are a lot of tools."

Baron added, “I think (Trump's) salivating for the opportunity to prosecute and imprison journalists for leaks of national security information — or what they would call national security information. I would expect that he would deny funding to public radio … and TV. And that he will seek to exercise control over the Voice of America and its parent company, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, as he did in his previous administration, trying to turn it into a propaganda outlet.”

Remnick said Trump’s anger “has never been so intense as it's been against the press."

Remnick talked about the parallels between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying, “The Putin regime shows us when there is no truth, everything is possible. Lying has come from White Houses for decades and decades. But Donald Trump has changed the game.”

The entire conversation is important and interesting and I urge you to give it a listen.

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Tortoise and The Observer

For this item, I turn it over to Poynter media business analyst Rick Edmonds.

Guardian Media Group has confirmed that it is selling The Observer to Tortoise Media. The sale price has not been specified, but Tortoise executives have said they plan to invest 20 to 25 million pounds in reviving the title.

The Observer is 200+ years old and claims to be the world’s oldest newspaper. With a largely separate news staff, it functions as The Guardian’s Sunday edition. The digital-only (and audio) Tortoise is just five years old, growing, but gradually, from its standing start. On the surface, this looks like a minnow swallowing a whale.

However, Tortoise was founded by James Harding, a former editor of the Times of London and former director of news at the BBC. Other top executives are from other leading British titles. Tortoise has winning news products and a persuasive business plan combining the daily Sensemaker newsletter, regular podcasts and live events. That gives Harding and his group access to capital for a significant round of further growth.

The Observer, on the other hand, has the distressed finances typical of legacy newspapers and has been shrinking its staff and scope for years. So it makes sense for the much stronger Guardian and its owner, the nonprofit Scott Trust, to be rid of the publication and its losses.

This week, the Press Gazette, Britain’s news-about-news publication, reported that the union representing both Guardian and Observer staff has called a 48-hour strike for early in December to protest the sale. Tortoise countered in a statement, “everyone can see that it (The Observer) is headed down a path to irrelevance” and in danger of closing.

In 2021, I interviewed Katie Vanneck-Smith, the then-Tortoise publisher who later moved on to lead Hearst UK, and was impressed both by the concept and the smooth execution of the Sensemaker newsletter. With the slogan “Slow down — wise up,” Tortoise does not aim at breaking news but rather short, intelligent explainers. Unlike The Guardian, it does not have a U.S.-based staff, but some of the commentaries are on U.S. politics.

Sensemaker is free, but the business model includes an upsell to memberships, whose takers have access to events and other premiums. I asked Vanneck-Smith whether Axios and its newsletters were a model for what she and Harding were doing. A little, she said, joking about Axios’s “one big thing” catchphrase and trademarked slogan, “smart brevity.” Clearly the Tortoise crew thinks they are concise in a less choppy way — and smarter, too.

A curious decision

I’m a bit surprised to see the report that ESPN plans to shut down its daily debate show “Around the Horn” next summer. The show has been on since 2002 and seems to have a decent following.

I’ve had a love-hate relationship with the show going back to its early days. At first, I enjoyed the new style of sports debate — having (usually) four sportswriters from various spots around the country discuss the sports topics of the day. The wrinkle was the moderator would then award points for good arguments, and each day there would be a winner. Now, there was no rhyme or reason for the scores, but that didn’t matter. It was something a little different. Plus, I was a fan of the show’s original moderator, Max Kellerman.

In 2004, Tony Reali took over as host and the show became more popular. But, at some point, I felt it slipped off the rails and devolved into a show with a bunch of yelling, meanish-wisecracks and far too many of the panelists spouting off a bunch of statistics and numbers as if they were reading a math book.

But then, surely over the past dozen or so years, Reali really found his footing as host and the show became watchable again. And while they had fewer and fewer sportswriters and more and more ESPN staffers, the show found some joy again, and had substantive discussions about sports. It also could handle serious and sensitive issues with intelligence and a proper demeanor.

The show featured longtime “Around the Horn” veterans but also became the perfect platform for ESPN to highlight emerging journalists from diverse backgrounds. It also was a nice lead-in to the gold standard of debate shows, “Pardon the Interruption.” That show, which airs at 5:30 p.m. Eastern, still stars Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon and remains strong after more than 3,000 episodes going back to 2001.

Erik Rydholm, the creator and executive producer of “Pardon the Interruption,” has been in charge of “Around the Horn” since 2004. There are reports that Rydholm could have another show in the works for ESPN to consider. But The Athletic’s Alex Andrejev and Andrew Marchand wrote, “It’s unclear what will be next for Reali, 46. In terms of the show’s slot, the network and Rydholm’s team are exploring other shows but don’t have an exact plan yet, a source briefed on the matter confirmed.”

Awful Announcing’s Drew Lerner wrote, “The next several months will be bittersweet for fans of the show. However, with Rydholm apparently at the helm for ATH‘s replacement, there should be confidence in whatever show replaces it.”

Here are other media news, tidbits and interesting links for your weekend review …

• The New York Times’ Charlie Savage with “Trump Tells Republicans to ‘Kill’ Reporter Shield Bill Passed Unanimously by House.”
• Also from The New York Times, Dave Philipps and Carol Rosenberg with “The Metamorphosis of Pete Hegseth: From Critic of War Crimes to Defender of the Accused.”
• The Washington Post’s Philip Bump with “Rep. Nancy Mace finally mastered the right-wing media universe.” (The subhead reads: “All it took was abandoning her past positions and targeting a marginalized newcomer to Congress.”)
• The Wall Street Journal’s Dave Michaels and Miles Kruppa with “Google Should Be Forced to Sell Chrome Browser, Justice Department Says.”
• CNN’s Matt Egan with “The fate of MSNBC could be in Trump’s hands.”
• Vanity Fair’s Natalie Korach with “MSNBC anxiously enters a new Trump era.”
• CNBC’s Alex Sherman with “Comcast’s cable network spinoff may be a signal to the media industry for necessary change.”
• The Hollywood Reporter’s Caitlin Huston with “Hearst Magazines Hit By Layoffs.”
• The New York Times’ Michael M. Grynbaum with “Dr. Oz, Fox Hosts and a Star of ‘The Real World’ Join Trump’s Season 2 Cast.”
• Mediaite’s Isaac Schorr with “Fatcat Fight: Jeff Bezos Fires Back at Elon Musk Over Inflammatory Claim He Trash Talked Donald Trump.”
• The New York Times’ ​​Katherine Rosman with “The Priest, the Power Broker and the Pop Star.”

More resources for journalists

• Lead With Influence is for leaders who manage big responsibilities but have no direct reports.
• Are you an up-and-coming newsroom manager?
• Encourage an outstanding colleague to apply for Leadership Academy for Women in Media.

Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at [email protected].