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** OPINION
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** A journalist’s home was vandalized after an investigation. The subject of her reporting was indicted.
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A still from security footage released by the Middlesex County District Attorney shows someone throwing a rock through the window of an NHPR reporter’s home in May 2022. (Courtesy: Middlesex County District Attorney/YouTube)

In 2022, Lauren Chooljian of New Hampshire Public Radio published this investigative story: “He built New Hampshire’s largest addiction treatment network. Now, he faces accusations of sexual misconduct.” ([link removed])

Now, the man at the center of that story, ​​Eric Spofford, faces new charges: that he orchestrated vandalism on the homes of the journalists who investigated him.

The New York Times’ David Enrich wrote ([link removed]) , “The grand jury in Boston indicted the businessman, Eric Spofford, on four stalking-related charges after prosecutors said he had paid an associate $20,000 to vandalize the homes of a reporter and an editor at New Hampshire Public Radio, as well as the home of the reporter’s parents.”

The vandalism included throwing bricks and rocks through windows, as well as spray-painting in big red letters an ominous warning: “Just the beginning!”

Enrich added, “Federal prosecutors later charged four men — at least one of whom, Eric Labarge, was an associate of Mr. Spofford’s — with organizing or conducting the vandalism. All four pleaded guilty and were sentenced to prison.” New Hampshire Public Radio’s Ally Jarmanning wrote ([link removed]) , “Labarge was sentenced to 46 months in prison last November. The other three were given sentences that range from 21 to 30 months.”

Now comes this grand jury indictment against Spofford. It accuses Spofford of having “devised a scheme to harass and terrorize” Chooljian and the other victims.

As Enrich noted, “The vandalism was part of a growing trend of physical attacks against journalists in the United States.” In 2022, Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German was stabbed to death outside his home. A local politician, Robert Telles, was found guilty of murdering German, who had written stories critical of Telles — accusing him of running a hostile work environment, and having an inappropriate relationship with a staffer.

In a statement on X ([link removed]) , New Hampshire Public Radio president and CEO Jim Schachter wrote, “Attacks on journalists have no place in American life. Everyone @nhpr is grateful to @TheJusticeDept for persistence in pursuing Eric Spofford. His attempt to silence our reporting failed, as should every attempt to snuff out press freedom.”

A MESSAGE FROM POYNTER
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Get the latest Poynter offerings and advice to help you level up as a writer, reporter, producer, editor and leader, including free and low-cost courses on specific beats, and career-changing sessions with industry leaders. They’re all in our Weekly Training Digest newsletter.

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** Dateline: Missing in America
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(Courtesy: NBC)

Looking for a good podcast? Check out the fourth season of “Dateline NBC’s” award-winning podcast series, “Dateline: Missing in America,” ([link removed]) which will debut next Tuesday, June 10. It’s hosted and reported by “Dateline” correspondent Josh Mankiewicz. Each of the six episodes, released on a weekly basis, will cover a strange disappearance:
* Episode 1: Danielle Lopez, last seen in April 2024 in New Jersey’s Pine Barrens
* Episode 2: Teekah Lewis, last seen in January 1999 in Tacoma, Washington
* Episode 3: Roy Whited, last seen in May 2024 in Sparta, Tennessee
* Episode 4: Tiffany Reid, last seen in May 2004 in Shiprock, New Mexico
* Episode 5: Nancy Snow, last seen in November 1980 in Maryland
* Episode 6: Sophie Reeder, last seen in May 2017 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

The podcast is an extension of “Dateline’s” digital series — “Dateline: Missing in America” ([link removed]) — which has reported on hundreds of disappearances since its launch a decade ago.


** Meanwhile …
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Marc Maron, shown here last month. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Another popular podcast is coming to an end. In fact, it’s one of the great podcast success stories. “WTF with Marc Maron” ([link removed]) launched in 2009 when podcasts really hadn’t taken off yet, and has had more than 1,600 episodes. Maron — an actor, writer, comedian and musician — has had a wide array of guests, including a sitting president. Barack Obama appeared in 2015. Obama even came to Maron’s garage studio. The list of guests Maron has had includes some almost as famous as a president: Paul McCartney, Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Carol Burnett, Ariana Grande and David Letterman.

As The New York Times’ Derrick Bryson Taylor noted ([link removed]) , “His 2010 episode during which the comedian Robin Williams discussed his insecurities and thoughts of suicide was later inducted into the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress.”

On an episode released Monday, Maron told listeners that he and producer Brendan McDonald think it’s just time, saying, “Sixteen years we’ve been doing this, and we’ve decided that we had a great run. Now, basically, it’s time, folks. It’s time. WTF is coming to an end. It’s our decision. We’ll have our final episode sometime in the fall.”

Maron added, “It really comes down to the fact that we’ve put up a new show every Monday and Thursday for almost sixteen years and we’re tired. We’re burnt out. And we are utterly satisfied with the work we’ve done. We’ve done great work. This doesn’t mean I’m never going to do something like this again. Doesn’t mean I’ll never have talks like I do here, or some kind of podcast at some point in time. But for now, we’re just wrapping things up. It’s OK. It’s OK to end things. It’s OK to try to start some other chapter in your life. It’s nice to be able to end things on our terms. We’ve always had that power to do that and that’s what we’re going to do.”

As Maron mentioned, there’s still some time before the show shuts down in the fall.


** On to North Carolina
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Not a big surprise here, but football coaching legend Bill Belichick will not be returning to ESPN2’s “ManningCast” next season. The “ManningCast” is the alternate “Monday Night Football” telecast with former NFL quarterback brothers Peyton and Eli Manning.

Belichick, who took last season off from coaching after 24 years and six Super Bowl championships in New England, appeared regularly on the “ManningCast” last season. He recently took over as head coach at the University of North Carolina.

In a brief interview with 97.1 The Fan in Columbus, Ohio, while playing in a golf tournament ([link removed]) , Peyton Manning said, “Obviously, (Belichick) seems busy right now coaching college football. So, he won’t be back this year. He’ll be hard to replace, like, I thought his insight was great. But we’ll try to probably go back to, kind of, rotating guests and, you know, having coaches and players, which I always like their insight, but also the actors and musicians that, you know, the common criteria to be a guest is you gotta love football. And I love, and Eli and I both love, being around people who love football as much as we do in all different walks of life.”

Belichick has long had a frosty relationship with the media. He was often purposely boring and unrevealing. But his appearances with the Mannings last season were excellent. He not only showed his football acumen, which wasn’t surprising, but he also showed great humor and a real knack for broadcasting.

On one hand, being a head coach is incredibly time-consuming. But it feels as if Belichick could still take a few minutes on Monday nights for the “ManningCast.” Then again, maybe he feels that his coaching focus on college football will keep him from being fully prepared to talk about the NFL. Or maybe the 73-year-old has a sour taste about doing anything extra because of all the scrutiny he is getting for his relationship with a 24-year-old girlfriend.


** Speaking of the Belichick-Hudson relationship
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He’s a juicy little media squabble, emphasis on little because it’s unclear how serious it is. The details come from Awful Announcing’s Ben Axelrod in “Bill Simmons rips Pablo Torre’s reporting on Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson.” ([link removed])

Torre, the former ESPNer who has his own podcast, has done some original reporting ([link removed]) on the Belichick-Hudson relationship. (Here’s more ([link removed]) from Torre’s reporting.)

On an episode of the “Rewatchables” podcast, which is actually about movies, Simmons talked about Torre’s reporting on Belichick: ([link removed]) “I’ve never seen anybody dine on a stupider story for a week and a half while pretending you’re a journalist. What the (expletive) was that? Seriously. … ‘Belichick’s dating a girl. Oh, let me do nine shows about it.’ Settle the (expletive) down.”

Here would be a good time to point out that Simmons is a big-time Patriots fan, so he might not be totally neutral when it comes to Belichick — a fact that two of Simmons’ guests mentioned as Simmons was going on his mini (and perhaps a little tongue-in-cheek) rant. They also said it’s a story everyone is talking about.

Simmons responded by saying, “That’s fine. Maybe do two shows about it.”

Simmons sounded part playful, but also a little serious, too.

And it would appear that Torre took it somewhat seriously. He clapped back on X by writing ([link removed]) , “Dear @BillSimmons: Since you have such a strong public opinion about my work… I happen to have a few questions for you, specifically. Unless you’re afraid of @pablofindsout and someone just “pretending to be a journalist,’ of course.Thanks, Pablo”

My take? I’m with ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio, who said this of the Belichick-Hudson story ([link removed]) : “The story that keeps on giving keeps finding new ways to give.”


** A ratings disaster?
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Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, shown here in the Western Conference finals of the NBA playoffs last week. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)

The NBA and ABC/ESPN could not have been thrilled that the New York Knicks were eliminated by the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals. The Western Conference was already won by the small-market Oklahoma City Thunder, so the league and network could have really used New York, the biggest media market in the country, in the NBA Finals.

Instead, it will have OKC and Indiana, which make up the U.S’s 47th and 25th largest media markets, respectively. That sounds like a potential ratings disaster for ABC/ESPN.

But The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov did an in-depth story on what this matchup might look like in “Thunder vs. Pacers: How a small-market NBA Finals affects the league’s bottom line.” ([link removed])

In the end, it might not be as bad as feared. The NBA just signed new TV contracts that go into effect next season, so a poor rating in these finals will not impact finding TV partners. And recent history has shown that when smaller or non-marquee market teams have success (Milwaukee, Denver and Cleveland, for example), ratings for those teams go up in subsequent years.

Ultimately, what the NBA could really use is a long, competitive series. It’s simple math: The longer the best-of-seven series lasts, the more people will watch. And there’s this, too: These really do seem to be the best and most deserving teams in the NBA at this moment. So the better the teams, in theory, the better the basketball. Unfortunately for the NBA, the Thunder are heavy favorites to win well before seven games.

There’s plenty more about the economics involved in this matchup, so check out Vorkunov’s smart and well-reported story.


** Sad sports media news
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Very sad news. John Brenkus, who was behind a really smart and fun show that combined sports and science, has died. He was 53.

Did you ever see the show “Sports Science?” It was a show that first appeared on Fox Sports Network in 2007 and then eventually shifted over to ESPN. It was a really cool program — it combined sports and science, looking into the physics of athletes and famous plays.

The New York Times’ Victor Mather wrote ([link removed]) , “Mr. Brenkus gained a following with his energetic personality as the show demonstrated sports through scientific principles and concepts, and science through sports, with engaging segments. Mr. Brenkus’s program was also whimsical and fun. He showed how golfers ([link removed]) were able to drive balls such great distances, how snowboarders’ quad flips generated a force of four Gs and the physics of Wiffle balls ([link removed]) .”

Brenkus’ death was announced by Brinx TV ([link removed]) , the media production company he founded. The statement said, “It is with profound sadness that we share the news that John Brenkus has passed away. John, co-founder of BAsE PRoductions, founder of Brinx.TV and co-creator and host of the 6-time Emmy Award-winning ‘Sport Science,’ had been battling depression. John lost his fight with this terrible illness on May 31st, 2025. His heartbroken family and friends request privacy at this time, and encourage anyone who is struggling with depression to seek help.”


** Media tidbits
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* The Independent’s Justin Baragona with “CNN parts ways with correspondent months after his story cost network millions in defamation suit.” ([link removed])
* The Hollywood Reporter’s Alex Weprin with “Byron Allen Puts His Local TV Stations Up For Sale.” ([link removed])
* The Minnesota Star Tribune is offering buyouts to staffers who meet a certain criteria. The Minnesota Reformer’s Madison McVan has the details ([link removed]) .
* CNN’s Andrew Freedman with “National Weather Service adding around 125 new hires after laying off hundreds.” ([link removed])
* Axios has opened another local newsroom. Axios Kansas City ([link removed]) made its debut on Monday. Axios now has local newsrooms in 33 cities.
* For Nieman Lab, Andrew Deck with “‘I don’t want to outsource my brain’: How political cartoonists are bringing AI into their work.” ([link removed])
* Semafor’s Max Tani with “Business Insider recommended nonexistent books to staff as it leans into AI.” ([link removed])
* Columbia Journalism Review’s Jon Allsop with “Is Nathan Fielder’s ‘The Rehearsal’ a Work of Journalism?” ([link removed])
* Media Nation’s Dan Kennedy with “How local news outlets are covering the antisemitic terror attack in Colorado.” ([link removed])


** Hot type
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* Originally published by Northwestern University’s Medill Local News Initiative and republished here by Poynter, it’s veteran media reporter Paul Farhi with “This radio station was a lifeline during a hurricane. Now it’s fighting to survive.” ([link removed])
* Another banger from The Atlantic’s Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer: “The Secret History of Trump’s Private Cellphone.” ([link removed])
* Finally, this is a fun interactive series. The New York Times’ Elizabeth Passarella (with illustrations by Erik Winkowski) with “The Creativity Challenge. Want to feel happier, lighter, less stuck? Try these fun daily activities.” ([link removed])


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