As I mentioned, this week also was notable for Biden’s meeting in Geneva with Putin. And that probably didn’t go over well with former President Donald Trump.
Appearing on CNN, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said, “This is the event that I would say underscored for people around Trump, and the former president himself, the fact that he’s not president anymore. This was the kind of event on the world stage, getting enormous attention, that he really enjoyed, that he saw as one of the trappings of the office that he thought really spoke to a sense of power and strength.”
Haberman also pointed out that those around Trump are complaining about Biden’s snippy exchange with CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins. The complaint is if Trump had done the same thing, he would have been crushed for it.
Haberman said that might be true, but reminded everyone that Biden has never called the media the “enemy of the people.”
Plus, and this is me talking now, Biden was criticized for his exchange with Collins, which, by the way, he later apologized for.
A columnist’s lament
Back in April, Frank Bruni announced he was stepping down as a columnist at The New York Times to take an endowed chair in journalism at Duke University.
On Friday, he wrote his final column and it started with this line that was as surprising as it was captivating:
“I owe Ted Cruz an apology.”
“Though, really,” Bruni continued, “it’s readers to whom I should say I’m sorry.”
Bruni looked back at his 10 years as a columnist and painted a picture of regret, saying he too often “swam with the snide tide.” He added, “Many columnists do.”
To his much larger point, Bruni wondered if he, like many opinion writers, have contributed to the very things they criticize: “the toxic tenor of American discourse, the furious pitch of American politics, the volume and vitriol of it all.”
The column is a fascinating look into what it was like to be an opinion writer over the past decade, including during the presidency of Donald Trump.
He wrote, “Too many columnists generalize too broadly. I know I did when I wrote, in August 2019, about the tenacity of hate and I asserted that Americans who still opposed same-sex marriage ‘cannot bear the likes of me’ and other gay people. A reader called me out on it, saying that there’s a difference between disagreeing with a position and detesting a person. He was right. But that distinction was lost in my excited prose.”
It’s a thoughtful column from Bruni, who still will continue to write his newsletter. But he won’t write a regular column. Which is too bad because, based on this final column, Bruni appears to more aware than ever of what it takes to be a responsible columnist.
Changes at The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is shutting down its New York City section, but will launch two new sections, according to Insider’s Steve Perlberg.
In a memo to staff, WSJ editor-in-chief Matt Murray said, “This morning, we informed the Greater New York staff that we’re shutting down the team and ceasing publication in print and digital on July 9. Team members will have the chance to apply for other jobs.”
No reason was given for shutting down the New York section, which has a staff of eight.
The new coverage teams will be Life & Work and Speed & Trending. Life & Work will provide coverage about personal career and finance decisions. Speed & Trending is a breaking news initiative. Murray told staff it is meant to raise “both our metabolism and our volume on breaking news.”
WSJ New York City Hall reporter Katie Honan tweeted, “Thank you all for the very kind words. I’ve been through this before but it’s always disheartening, especially after the last year+. I'll still be reporting until the end, on July 9. I hear there’s some big stuff happening in New York City next week, and I’m not going to miss it.”
Changes at Insider, too
Nicholas Carlson, the global editor-in-chief of Insider, held a meeting with staff on Thursday to announce that all posts, with some exceptions, will be limited to 600 words or fewer. Well, for now anyway. Insider will try it for the summer, according to a memo to staff that was tweeted by CNN media reporter Kerry Flynn. The new strategy will be reviewed in the fall.
So why the limit on words? “For our readers,” Carlson wrote. He said that their data shows readers like short stories and don’t want to spend time on longer ones.
There will be exceptions to the 600-word limit. The investigations team, feature writers, the commentary/explainer team and the Service Journalism team are exempt. In addition, slideshows, listicles and approved features also will not have word restrictions.
MSNBC to unionize?
MSNBC wants in on the wave of newsrooms organizing unions. Employees there — including 315 writers, producers, booking producers, fact-checkers and planners at every program airing on MSNBC and The Choice on Peacock — announced intentions to unionize and be represented by The Writers Guild of America, East.
A statement put out by the guild said “a clear majority of staff signed a letter to management calling for voluntary recognition of the union.” MSNBC employees said it was an “overwhelming majority” and “we are calling on the network to recognize our union and we are looking forward to constructive negotiations over the issues that are important to all of us.”
However, it appears that MSNBC will not automatically recognize the union and said employees should officially vote on unionizing. In a memo to staff, MSNBC president Rashida Jones said, “I respect our employees’ right to decide whether they want to be represented by a union, and I believe our employees should be able to make such an important decision through a standard election process. It is important to give everyone who would be included the chance to understand what this would mean before making their choice.”
In its note, MSNBC’s employees wrote, “We organized because our voices must be heard in the newsroom for the future of our industry. We organized because we want to guarantee diversity in our newsroom, at every level of production. We organized because we want to ensure that every employee is paid fairly for their work and has access to career development. We organized because we want every employee to have access to benefits that meet our families’ needs and reflect our contributions. We organized because we want to make sure workers have a say in what a post-COVID-19 workplace looks like. We organized because we believe every employee should be fairly compensated for the hours they spend working to deliver the news. We organized because we want to ensure that employees are treated equally and paid equally for equal work. We are standing up for each other and our work — because this is who we are.”
MSNBC’s Joy Reid tweeted out, “All right then! Proud of my peeps.” MSNBC’s Chris Hayes tweeted he was “extremely proud” of his colleagues.
The New York Times’ Michael M. Grynbaum noted that digital journalists at NBC News unionized in 2019 but have not yet settled on a contract with the network.
Grim news
