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What do ‘Serial’ and Barbara Walters have in common? What we’ve learned so far from The Poynter 50

By Ren LaForme, managing editor

Ten down, 40 to go.

When we launched The Poynter 50 — our yearlong project highlighting people and moments that changed journalism over the past half century — we knew it would be ambitious. But we also knew this industry is full of big swings, quiet revolutions and stories that age in fascinating ways. So far, we’ve covered groundbreaking tech shifts (Mercury Center), seismic scoops (Matt Drudge, TMZ), and a teenage bystander who changed history with a phone.

To mark the occasion, I sat down with senior media writer Tom Jones, co-creator of the series, for a quick gut check. What’s surprised us? What has sparked debate? And where are we headed next?

Here’s our conversation, lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

Ren LaForme: We’re 10 stories into The Poynter 50. What’s surprised you most so far — either in the response, the process or the stories themselves?

I’ll start: I have been really heartened by how many newsmakers have wanted to talk to us about these big moments. Basically everyone involved with “Serial,” including Sarah Koenig, Julie Snyder and Ira Glass; Wolf Blitzer, ProPublica’s founders. We wanted to aim big when we decided to go for this project, and aim big we did. I just wasn’t sure the folks involved in these moments would want to chat about them. But we’ve heard more yeses than nos. It’s been great.

Tom Jones: To quote Tony Soprano, “‘Remember when …’ is the lowest form of conversation.” But this hasn’t been a “remember when” project. We said that right from the start — when we came up with this idea, we didn’t want it to be just a stroll down memory lane. This project has been mostly about looking forward. How did these moments in the past change things for the future? 

And that’s why I think the people we’ve reached out to want to talk to us. They aren’t there to just tell us about their war stories (literally, in the case of Wolf Blitzer talking about CNN’s Gulf War coverage), but they want to share how it changed everything from their lives to the industry they work in. Speaking of Wolf, he told me people still come up to him to talk about CNN’s coverage of the Gulf War. 

But I tell ya, looking back can be fun. I’ve already learned a lot that I didn’t know. What was the most surprising thing you learned while editing these stories so far?

LaForme: Let me counter your Tony Soprano quote with one of my own that I’ve been thinking about during this project: “I’m getting the feeling that I came in at the end. The best is over.”

As an editor, this project has been a bit of a stretch for me because I have only been conscious for about half of the timeline we’re looking at. Some of my earliest news memories are the Bosnian War and Kurt Cobain’s death, you know? And you guys hear me say this all the time, but I am big on context. And so the most surprising thing for me is just learning about the context behind a lot of these big moments that I knew about, but didn’t experience personally. 

I knew Matt Drudge made his name on the Monica Lewinsky scoop, but everything around how Newsweek had the story and was holding it blew my mind. Seeing a young Wolf Blitzer break news about the Gulf War — wild! The fact that early news websites waffled about paywalls at first — just wow.

I’ve learned a lot, but it’s also a bit of an emotional roller coaster. You can’t help but wonder what would have happened if some of these things had played out differently. 

Let me ask you something that has, I think, become more clear to people as we’ve published these stories, but that I still hear from time to time. What makes a moment feel like a Poynter 50 story to you? We’ve reviewed a lot of pitches and some are immediate yeses, while others need more finessing. 

Jones: It’s a great question and sometimes the answer is as simple and vague as, “When you know, you know.” We still have arguments about what should or should not be on the list. It just can’t be a major news story, such as 9/11, or a famous news person, such as Dan Rather. I’m still a sports guy at heart. So I’ll use a sports term: game-changer. When we discuss these ideas, the first question is always, “What changed?” It’s like a before-and-after photo. Things were one way before it happened and completely different after.

I’ll give you an example: the Darnella Frazier video of the George Floyd murder. Of the stories we’ve done so far, this one has had the biggest impact on me. Aside from being a powerful, sobering moment, it showed that anyone with a phone can be a witness to history and do what journalists do at the most basic level: tell the world about something they need to know. We’ve had cellphone videos before, but I don’t know of any video I’ve seen that had such a major impact. It impacted our entire country.

Let me ask you: Which piece has sparked the biggest reaction so far? And which one resonated with you the most?

LaForme: Personally, I really loved Amaris Castillo’s story about Barbara Walters. The Poynter 50 focuses on significant people and moments from the past 50 years, but most of our picks have been “moments” so far. Barbara Walters was our first “people.” And we had to grapple with how to tell her story within the constraints of this project, which is supposed to be really tight, sparse work. We ended up picking three major achievements in her life: when she sat in the chair as the first female evening anchor on a major broadcast network, her iconic grilling of celebrities and newsmakers on “20/20” and the launch of “The View,” which was really her brainchild. And the details that Amaris dredged up were just — chef’s kiss.

For the audience, the standout was also from Amaris: her story on TMZ scooping all of the mainstream news organizations on Michael Jackson’s death and how that was sort of the moment that digital news organizations stepped up and showed us who they could be. I think that story just had the right recipe: celebrity intrigue, behind-the-scenes details about what it was like to be a Los Angeles Times reporter that day, a coming-of-age story for the new kids in the media sphere. It was all there.

Speaking of behind-the-scenes details, many of the stories we’re most passionate about have made it through the selection process and been given the green light, but there are some that are still caught up. If you could assign one story that hasn’t been written yet, just for your own satisfaction, what would it be?

Jones: Da da da … da da da. Know what that is? The theme of ESPN’s “SportsCenter.” We’re going to do ESPN. I will quit if we don’t do ESPN. OK, I won’t quit. But I’ll pout for a really long time. My desk will become a mess. I’ll miss deadlines. It’ll get ugly. You won’t like it.

Seriously though. I’m confident that we’re going to do ESPN. The key is figuring out how to write about ESPN. We can’t just say “ESPN” and leave it at that. I have some ideas on how we’re going to do it, but there’s no question that ESPN changed sports and, especially, the habits of sports fans. This is the fun part of the project. We know many of the things we want to talk about, it’s just coming up with clever ways to tell these stories and finding just the right people to help us tell them.

I am also going to continue my weekly pitch of the show “Nightline.” But I’m still working on my good arguments for that, and I’ll bring that up in our next meeting.

I’ll throw it right back at you: What’s the one story we haven’t greenlit yet that you would like to see done?

LaForme: I almost hate to bring it up again because my Twitter mentions have finally calmed down after about a decade, but I’d like to see some version of Gamergate make the cut. For those who have not had the pleasure, depending on your viewpoint, it was either a movement to bring ethics to game journalism or a misogynistic online harassment campaign against feminism, diversity and the like in video game culture. I know which one I believe. I was personally involved because I agreed to appear on a panel about it for the Society of Professional Journalists, where I sat opposite Milo Yiannopoulos, among others. We had to end early because of a bomb threat. 

Anyway, you can see the blueprints for the MAGA movement and the broader backlash to the mainstream press in that story, among so many other things. Some dark corners of the internet crawled out into the limelight and never really went back. It really set the stage for the years that followed.

Final question, Tom. Without giving too much away, what kinds of moments or people are we likely to see in the next 40? Are there any stories you expect will be more controversial?

Jones: There are a few that I do expect to be fairly controversial but they simply cannot be ignored. I won’t give too much away, but let’s say it involves the current political climate and attacks on the press. We will name names, and try to explain just how in the world we got here.

But it won’t be all bleak. We have some truly great people that we are going to profile, we will look at some moments that made the media better over the years, and there’s one more that I cannot wait to get into that was the inspiration for this entire project. (Hint: It’s only the best journalism movie ever made!)

LaForme: Agreed on that. There are some people and organizations that have shaped the past and continue to shape the future of the news media who aren’t necessarily benefiting the press. The exact opposite, in fact. We have to acknowledge them in this project. 

On the flip side, I’m really looking forward to — and I’m probably spoiling something here — recognizing the biggest name at the intersection of comedy and news. Amid some of the serious topics we’re reflecting on, I think it’ll provide a moment of zen. And to quote my friend Ernest Hooper, that’s all I’m saying.

The Poynter 50 … so far

Here are all the Poynter 50 stories we’ve published so far:

• Serial’s runaway success launched podcasts into the mainstream
• Barbara Walters didn’t just break barriers. She rewrote the rules. Then she did it again.
• The repeal of the fairness doctrine accelerated the polarization of US media
• When Mexico’s richest man threw The New York Times a lifeline
• Matt Drudge broke the Lewinsky story — and the media gatekeepers
• The Mercury News put all its news on the web for free 30 years ago. Did it open Pandora’s box?
• ProPublica didn’t just prove nonprofit journalism could work — it changed how investigative reporting is measured
• The moment Darnella Frazier hit record, she proved anyone can hold power to account
• TMZ’s scoop on Michael Jackson’s death marked the moment digital news overtook legacy media
• The night the skies over Baghdad were illuminated, the 24-hour news cycle took over

A MESSAGE FROM POYNTER

‘Code Switch’ hasn’t forgotten the MOVE bombing

By TyLisa Johnson, audience engagement producer

Forty years ago, Philadelphia bombed itself. Did you know that?

On May 13, 1985, the Philadelphia Police Department dropped a C4 explosive on a row house at 62nd and Osage Avenue, in West Philadelphia, where members of the Black liberation group MOVE lived. The bomb set off a fire that burned to over 2,000 degrees and took a block of homes with it.

When the smoke cleared, two days later, ashes were still falling from the sky. The bombing and its aftermath unfolded live on TV, reported by local journalists, with much of the region and nation watching. Eleven people died in the inferno, five were children.

And yet, NPR’s Gene Demby said, even though most of it unfolded on live TV with the whole region and, later, much of the country watching, so many people have never even heard of the MOVE bombing.

Demby invited listeners to wrestle with some very valid questions, namely: How did something this big manage to get memory-holed? It would be easy to keep the horror in hindsight. But the “Code Switch” team asked: Why was this allowed to happen?

I was so moved by the recent episode of “Code Switch” about the bombing. As always, it got to the root of the issue.

Part of what made this episode so powerful and sharp, for me, is that it didn’t just remember the day Philadelphia bombed a Black neighborhood. It remembered who helped shape how the community and nation understood the event.

This is what good journalism does — revisits, reckons and reframes. It reminds us of information that may have been, or could have been lost.

Demby interviewed award-winning reporter and Temple University professor Linn Washington, who covered the bombing from the police headquarters about four blocks away. He also spoke with Mike Africa Jr., whose family and friends were among the people who died that day.

“I didn’t see the bomb drop, but I heard it,” Washington told Demby. “And when it went off, it was almost like an earthquake. The whole neighborhood shook. I mean, my knees buckled. Then you could start seeing the flames. At one point, we could literally see the fire jumping from house to house.”

The block was “totally engulfed,” Washington said.

Washington made a particularly memorable point in response to Demby’s question about how something this big gets memory-holed.

“I don't mean to seem flippant, but it's the American way,” Washington said. “Whenever there's just abject ugliness involving Black people, that seems to get pushed into the margins of society, and as you said, into the memory hole.”

The moving episode of Code Switch looks back on how our collective memory can forget something so major, and what the bombing and its aftermath tell us about race and policing, even today. 11/10. Would recommend. Listen here or read the transcript.

CNN brings Broadway to the airwaves

By Rick Edmonds, media business analyst

The CNN brand does not offhand suggest live theater. Live broadcast news, yes, and an expansive and free digital site, but not showbiz. So it was a coup for the network when it announced Thursday that it has been chosen for a live broadcast of George Clooney’s Broadway production of “Good Night, and Good Luck.”

Clooney co-wrote and stars in the play about CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow and his combative coverage of red-baiting Sen. Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s. Clooney adapted a movie by the same name, which he co-wrote and directed 20 years ago.

The production’s limited run ends June 8, also the date of the Tony Awards, so it was now or never to bring it to a broader television audience. Clooney and CNN opted to go live on June 7 as a more exciting option than just making a tape for later. He also told The New York Times that he wanted to connect to current political events and that he picked CNN over entertainment venues to underscore the play’s theme of journalism’s importance.

The show will run on CNN’s cable broadcast network. So it has no direct connection to the brand’s slowly unfolding development of premium paid subscriptions. (Earlier in the week at the “upfronts” for advertisers, the network said it will roll out a weather vertical in the fall.)

The unconventional free offering won’t hurt, though, in building out plans for CNN paid if the network can make a splash with something quite different from CNN basic and CNN.com.

Media tidbits and links

• For The Daily Beast, former Washington Post media reporter Paul Farhi writes about Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed by agents of the Saudi government, in “How Bezos’ WaPo Forgot Its Martyr—as Trump Embraced His Killer.” 
• This is a few weeks old, but an interesting look at a digital news organization that has made a mark: “Splash Mountain: An Oral History Of The Headlines That Made HuffPost.”
• NPR TV critic Eric Deggans writes, “SNL's 50th season proved it's still relevant. Can it stay that way?”

More resources for journalists

• TOMORROW: Gain the tools to identify and approach vulnerable sources. Register for our webinar.
• New reporters: Get essential reporting techniques, effective storytelling methods, and newsroom navigation skills. Register today.
• Learn how to “lead your leaders” in this virtual intensive for journalism managers handling big responsibilities without direct reports. Apply today.

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

The Poynter Report is your daily dive into the world of media, packed with the latest news and insights. Get it delivered to your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here. And don’t forget to tune into our biweekly podcast for even more.