December 8, 2014

Good morning. Here are 10 media stories.

  1. How Rolling Stone blew the UVA rape story

    Managing Editor Will Dana says “he, other editors and fact-checkers felt that Jackie was credible, and the magazine’s lawyers had no problems with it, so the magazine ran it.” (NYT) | The magazine amended its original apology to take blame for the mistakes it originally attributed to its source, Jackie. Compare the notes. (Diff Checker) | Erik Wemple: “Fire the Rolling Stone editors who worked on this story.” (WP) | Matt Taibbi: “People also need to understand that the mistake here did not involve the fact-checking department.” (@mtaibbi) | Rolling Stone succumbed to confirmation bias, Judith Shulevitz argues: “Erdely and her editors were all in the grip of a myth. … they had never subjected their beliefs to the test of falsifiability.” (CJR) | Jay Rosen: “Watch out, journalists. You need story. We need truth.” (PressThink) | Author Sabrina Rubin Erdely “deflected questions about her reporting by engaging in a bit of misdirection.” (WP) | Erdely is “one of the most thorough reporters I’ve ever worked with,” Hearst’s Eliot Kaplan tells Samantha Melamed. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

  2. Why the Luke Somers raid failed

    As Special Operations forces approached the Yemeni compound where he was held, “A noise, maybe a dog bark, alerted the militants to the raiders.” (WSJ) | Somers’ stepmother, Penny Bearman, said his family is “quite angry because if there had not been a rescue attempt he would still be alive.” (The Guardian) | Mike Gudgell: “I understand why Somers was there.” (ABC News) | President Obama: “Luke was a photojournalist who sought through his images to convey the lives of Yemenis to the outside world. He came to Yemen in peace and was held against his will and threatened by a despicable terrorist organization.” (White House) | Related: Committee to Protect Journalists head Joel Simon on how the U.S. should change its hostage policy. (CJR)

  3. Russia to BuzzFeed: We may ban you

    Communications agency Roskomnadzor objected to a post that included a video from a spokesperson for Chechen rebels. (BuzzFeed) | “As of Sunday evening, BuzzFeed’s website is still available in Russia.” (The Moscow Times)

  4. Iran charged Jason Rezaian

    No specifics about charges against the Washington Post journalist. “The proceedings appear to dash any hope that Rezaian could be freed in the near future.” (WP) | Secretary of State John Kerry: “We call on the Iranian government to drop any and all charges against Jason and release him immediately.” (NBC News) | Rezaian’s lawyer: “I don’t know what happened.” (NYT)

  5. ‘The Newsroom”s awful campus rape episode

    Emily Nussbaum: “on a show dedicated to fantasy journalism,” creator Aaron Sorkin‘s “stand-in doesn’t lobby for more incisive coverage of sexual violence or for a responsible way to tell graphic stories without getting off on the horrible details or for innovative investigations that could pressure a corrupt, ass-covering system to do better. Instead, he argues that the idealistic thing to do is not to believe” a victim’s story. (The New Yorker)

  6. How The New Republic plans to claw back

    Owner Chris Hughes: “Either walk away mourning a certain death or set to work building its future.” (WP) | It canceled its December print issue. The next issue, out in February, will be new editor Gabriel Snyder‘s first. (Politico) | “Latest tally is that 58 out of 87 names on the editorial masthead at TNR are gone. Full story on what really happened coming this week…” (@RyanLizza) | “The question now is whether this is all just a particularly tempestuous transition for a magazine with a long history of nasty intellectual infighting, or something more.” (NYT) | In a meeting with employees Friday, Hughes “was saying that the healthiest thing for TNR is for it to become profitable,” a New Republic source said. (WP)

  7. How Adnan Syed’s family listens to ‘Serial’

    His mom likes the part in the beginning where he says his name. “‘So sweet,’ Shamim says. ‘I listen to that again and again and again.'” (The Guardian)

  8. Jonathan Yardley says goodbye

    The longtime Washington Post book critic retires. “I promise to make one last attempt to read ‘Ulysses.'” (WP)

  9. Front page of the day, curated by Kristen Hare

    A Pearl Harbor/USS Arizona series from the Arizona Republic, Sunday and Monday fronts. (Courtesy the Newseum)

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  10. Job moves, edited by Benjamin Mullin

    Dan Steinberg will be sports columnist at The Washington Post. He founded the D.C. Sports Bog there. (Washington Post) | Ann Marie Lipinski is now a member of Poynter’s board of trustees. She is the curator of the Nieman Foundation. Rob King will be chairman of Poynter’s National Advisory Board. He is a senior vice president at ESPN. (Poynter) | Xana Antunes is now editor of new initiatives at Quartz. Previously, she was editor and vice president of CNBC Digital. (Capital) | Jill Waage is now executive editor at Better Homes and Gardens. Previously, she was editorial director for home there. (Email) | Mark Neerman is now news director at KSNV in Las Vegas, Nevada. Previously, he was news director at WHAS in Louisville, Kentucky. Megan Harris is now news director for WFAA in Dallas. Previously, she was an executive producer there. Steve Richards is now news director for WRGB in Schenectady, New York. Previously, he was news director for WHEC in Rochester, New York. Scott Warren is now nightside executive producer at WFLD in Chicago. Previously he was an executive producer at the Weather Channel. Chris Hanson is now assistant news director of digital at KTRK in Houston. Previously, he was assistant news director there. Mark Farrell is now an executive producer at WFTV in Orlando, Florida. He previously worked at WTLV in Jacksonville. Jessica Neidhard is now nightside executive producer at WDTN in Dayton, Ohio. She was a producer there. Ken Freedman is now general manager at WCMH in Columbus, Ohio. He’s general manager for KWQC in Davenport, Iowa. Paul Briggs is now general manager for WHBQ in Memphis, Tennessee. Previously, he was general sales manager for WSOC in Charlotte, North Carolina. Ron Romines is now general manager at WTEN in Albany, New York. Previously, he was general sales manager there. Steve Lavin will be general manager for WBAY in Green Bay. He’s the station manager there. (Rick Gevers) | Job of the day: Gimlet Media is looking for a producer/reporter. Get your résumés in! (Gimlet Media) | 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.

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Andrew Beaujon reported on the media for Poynter from 2012 to 2015. He was previously arts editor at TBD.com and managing editor of Washington City…
Andrew Beaujon

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