Good morning.
- There are other things going on
If you’re watching CNN, MSNBC and Fox, there’s little else in the universe other than the San Bernardino shootings. It’s the latest Pavlovian, pundit-driven, tedium-inducing, ratings-grabbing premeditated overkill. Imagine every single page of your local paper covering the same story. So for several hours yesterday I checked out Al Jazeera, the poorly managed, little-watched enterprise controlled by the ruling family of Qatar. Yes, they covered the shooting. But also the mess in Syria from British, French and Russian vantage points; impeachment proceedings against the president of Brazil; the widening of the FIFA soccer scandal; awful flooding of a large Indian city that left many stuck on the roofs of buildings; a nifty profile of a private militia fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan; and arson that resulted in the death of a toddler and his parents in the West Bank, among many others. It was dry but informative: no showboating anchors, no overt ideological thrust, no chyrons on steroids (BREAKING NEWS!!!!). It was a reminder that there’s a larger world out there.
- A Fox News version of a solar eclipse
A Fox anchor calling for moderation and lowering the decibel level on claims of San Bernardino terrorism? Given the network’s clear intent on proving its larger construct, one wonders if morning host Bill Hemmer missed the daily coverage memo as he told two guests, “The smart folks stop and say, ‘We don’t have the facts, the information. Just wait.'” Huh? Was he secretly auditioning for C-SPAN? Conservative pundit Monica Crowley listened dutifully, then returned to the script. “It certainly looks like jihad,” she said in the morning.
- When breaking news is, ah, no news
CNBC had breaking news right up its alley, namely Federal Reserve boss Janet Yellen testifying before a Senate committee. Alas, when you looked at the banner across the bottom of the screen, one read, “Yellen Largely Repeats Economic Outlook From Yesterday,” namely at a speech the day before. Oh, well. Over at Bloomberg, they strained to make lemonade out of lemons in airing live the same testimony. “Expects Inflation to Rise 2% in the Next Few Years,” declared its banner. And we’ll all get older by then, too. Don’t stop the presses.
- Taylor Swift and the Pulitzer Prizes
This might be a good one for a late-night tavern wager among blotto newsies: What’s the Swift-Pulitzer connection? Answer: She so loves the Seattle Symphony recording of “Become Ocean,” a Pulitzer winner by John Luther Adams, that she’s donated $50,000 to the orchestra. (The New York Times)
- A Broadway trashing
Aspiring theater critics, catch Ben Brantley’s evisceration of “China Doll,” the apparent mess written by fabled playwright David Mamet and starring Al Pacino. It sounds like the disaster that Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) was hoping to craft as he conned old ladies into backing him in the 1968 Mel Brooks comedy classic, “The Producers” (and then gagged as his cynically crafted musical, “Springtime for Hitler,” succeeded). Yes, the Mamet-Pacino combo assured huge advance ticket sales. But the result leaves the critic on the verge of disbelief. Brantley tries to outline the plot, then writes, “Be grateful that I’ve given you these details because extracting them from Mr. Pacino’s mumbling is really hard work. (The person with whom I saw the show, a discerning theatergoer, hadn’t figured out even that much.) And now I have a headache.” (The New York Times) He concludes with the hope that one day the actor who shares the stage with Pacino in the two-man show will disclose “his tips for maintaining sanity against formidable odds.”
- Yahoo mess climaxes today?
Its board has been meeting all week, with reports it might sell its core Internet business and $30 billion stake in a Chinese e-commerce site. The Wall Street Journal was pretty out there on this. (The Wall Street Journal) But hold on. Says usually acute Kara Swisher, a Journal alum now of Re/code: “As the old saying kind of goes, reports of the impending demise of CEO Marissa Mayer at Yahoo are greatly exaggerated. And so are rumors that the board of the Silicon Valley Internet giant is poised to sell off the entire core business.” (Re/code) Lets see who’s right by day’s end, assuming there’s any resolution at all.
- A very mellow, even anxious Tiger Woods
The notoriously press-wary Woods has opened up in a TIME magazine interview with a Canadian golf author, Lorne Rubenstein. He says the rehab from his latest surgery consists of walking for 10 minutes along a beach, then coming home. That’s all he’s physically able to do at this point and has no idea when he’ll play again. Woods, now 40, comes off as somewhat of a self-absorbed bore, watching golf on TV but putting it on mute as he watches another sports event on another TV. One doesn’t envision a stack of books at his bedside. He’s on good terms with the ex-wife he cheated on. And he’s got a jock’s typical, rather pedestrian derision of the press. “There’s no accountability in what they say. And what they say, it’s like it’s gospel, there’s no source behind it. Nothing like, yeah, I talked to X number of players, I talked to this player, this player, this player. It’s none of that.” He goes on, and on. (TIME)
- The best-crafted TV news stories
The best-written TV news scripts are among many categories in the annual awards of The Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West. They announced nominations for the 2016 competition. Finalists for best TV news scripts in two related categories are “Cuba” (CBS’ “60 Minutes”), written by Scott Pelley, Nicole Young, Oriana Zill de Granados, Andy Court and Robert Anderson; “Yogi Berra Tribute” (CBS Newspath), written by Gerald Mazza; and “The Storm After the Storm” (CBS’ “60 Minutes”), written by Sharyn Alfonsi, Michael Rey and Oriana Zill de Granados. If I were a betting man, I might strongly wager on CBS. (Observer)
- A big voice in a little state
Joe McQuaid runs New Hampshire’s Union Leader and just caused a kerfuffle by endorsing Chris Christie in the state’s big Feb. 9 presidential primary. I talked to McQuaid, who’s a very conservative, salty 67-year-old with unequivocal views on a lot of things, including Donald Trump, freshmen senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, and the crappy way he sees the national media covering presidential politics. He’s got an Obama countdown clock in his office, awaiting the end of his presidency, and hopes the paper’s support can swing a few votes Christie’s way in a crowded GOP field. (U.S. News & World Report)
- Pew’s study of D.C staffing
Pew Research Center relays how “The number of reporters accredited in the Senate gallery working for digital-native publications has more than quadrupled since 2009, increasing from 31 journalists to 133. This growth has been accompanied by a decline in the amount of accredited reporters from daily newspapers, which have lost 32 reporters in the Senate gallery since 2009. The bottom line: The BuzzFeeds and Mashables of the world are growing their capital footprint while regional newspapers like the Louisville Courier-Journal are shrinking theirs.” (Poynter)
- Front page of the day, curated by Kristen Hare
Today’s front page of the day comes from The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi, which examined how people in Mississippi feel about gun control after another mass shooting. (Courtesy the Newseum)
- Job moves, edited by Benjamin Mullin
Mark Robinson is now editor-in-chief of Epic Magazine. He is executive editor at WIRED. Blaise Zerega is now managing editor and president of Epic Digital. Previously, he was founding managing editor of Conde Nast Portfolio. (Medium) | Katrina Brooker will be a a senior editor at LinkedIn. Previously, she was a senior writer at Bloomberg News. (Email) | Job of the day: Bloomberg is looking for a tech reporter. Get your resumes in! (Mediagazer Jobs) | Send Ben your job moves: bmullin@poynter.org.
Corrections? Tips? Please email me: jwarren@poynter.org. Would you like to get this roundup emailed to you every morning? Sign up here.
