Good morning.
- So what does it all mean?
It was crystal clear Monday the Paris climate talks (COP21) represented “a critical moment for the world.” (New Republic) That was unless you see them as “The West’s self-destructive global warming penance” for liberals. (National Review) They could be a “turning point,” said President Obama (BBC), whose brief speech was the most important moment unless you thought the most important was the speech of India’s prime minister (The Guardian) or, instead, the joint appearance of Obama and China’s boss. (The Los Angeles Times) Then, again, maybe you paired the remarks of Obama and France’s President Francois Hollande as the news of the day. (Al Jazeera) But you might have thought that was all baloney if you deem the notion of equal sacrifice as bogus. (The Conversation) Unless, of course, you believe that it is incumbent that the big boys and girls cut their emissions substantially and quickly. (The Times of India)
And since there was a need for a bit of irony amid all the righteousness, it was good for somebody to note that “As Chinese President Xi Jinxing joined world leaders for the U.N climate change summit, millions in his homeland were choking on the most severe air pollution of the year.” And we mean severe. In one city, “11 million residents struggled to see through the thick haze of smog.” (NBC)
- Meteorologists dressed for success
Well, they were at least dressed similarly. If you scanned stations around the U.S in recent months, you might have noted a weird common denominator: weather forecasters wearing the same $23 stretch tunic via Amazon, albeit it in different colors. There were apparently at least 50 of them who have bought the same dress after it was touted on a Facebook group for, yes, female weather forecasters. (CBC)
- BuzzFeed unzips Marco Rubio’s zipper problem (or not)
The Huffington Post readily concedes, “There’s no concrete evidence Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has a secret family, took romantic trips with a Tallahassee operative, or committed any act of infidelity.” But it still felt it incumbent to relay what BuzzFeed gave hazy credibility to by publishing an excerpt from senior political writer McKay Coppins’ new book out Tuesday, “The Wilderness: Deep Inside the Republican Party’s Combative, Contentious, Chaotic Quest to Take Back the White House.” These unsubstantiated claims “bounced around Florida political circles for years,” but are now “amplified nationally, soon after the excerpt was published, via Mike Allen’s POLITICO Playbook and MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe.'” (The Huffington Post) You wonder why people hate us?
- Columbia prepares response to Exxon
Exxon is on a rhetorical warpath against a Columbia University group of postgraduate journalism students for alleging the company deliberately lied about climate change. (POLITICO). It says they “cherry-picked and distorted” statements attributed to Exxon employees. That’s prompted Steve Coll, who runs the journalism program, to prepare a response that’s expected shortly. Coll had apparently hoped the group’s work would elaborate on research he’d done for a previously published book on Exxon.
- Three degrees of loneliness
Salon.com was chagrined that The New York Times in rapid fashion referred to the Planned Parenthood center shooter as a “gentle loner” before changing it to “loner” and then to “itinerant loner.” It happens. Big friggin deal. (Salon) You might get more bent out of shape with CNN tagging Baltimore’s late Freddie Gray as “the son of an illiterate heroin addict.” (Vox) CNN then removed that unseemly characterization, indicating it was gone since “it appeared out of context.”
- So Trump didn’t know that reporter?
You know, the fellow whose disability Trump ridiculed and whom he says he can’t recall? Well, a former New York Daily News colleague of that reporter says, “Trump’s claim he doesn’t remember him is simply not believable.” The two then-colleagues wrote stories together and were together when the one in question, Serge Kovaleski, actually met Trump. The newly surfaced former journalist says he heard Kovaleski talking frequently to Trump on the phone. (The Washington Post)
- The importance of social media if you want to be a billionaire
In a solid Washington Post profile, “Star Wars” creator and multi-billionaire George Lucas “says he has assiduously avoided the Internet since 2000 — no Facebook, no Twitter, no e-mail even.” (The Washington Post) May The Force be with him.
- The greatest newspaper editor?
It’s probably a silly question, given how many great ones there have been and still are. But Esquire makes the case that Marty Baron has inspired terrific work and admirers every place he’s labored, especially now at The Washington Post. The mix of high standards, personal character, nerve and a low-key personality do seem a potently mix. (Esquire) If only my list of great editors were longer than my list of lousy ones.
- Tribune shareholders beg for more Murdoch tweets
I made that up. But the impact of the Twitter-loving media baron claiming that Tribune Publishing was in play (the company denies an interest in a sale) was immediate. Its stock rose 10 percent Monday, which had nothing to do with its claims of a plan for revival and everything to do with Murdoch’s tweet about a “strong word” of a purchase in the making. (Bloomberg) Let’s see how the market responds today. Meanwhile, the serial tweeter used a Washington speech last night, in which he came to praise Henry Kissinger, to bash the left for somehow helping to foment terrorism worldwide. (POLITICO)
- Front page of the day, curated by Kristen Hare
Today’s front page of the day comes from Netherlands’ de Volkskrant, which led with images of world leaders at the U.N.’s climate change summit outside Paris. (Courtesy the Newseum)
- Job moves, edited by Benjamin Mullin
Zaid Jilani will cover politics for The Intercept. Previously, Jilani was a staff writer at Alternet. (@ggreenwald) | Jodi Rudoren is now a deputy editor on The New York Times’ international desk. Previously, she was Jerusalem bureau chief of The New York Times. (The New York Times Company) | Job of the day: San Diego CityBeat is looking for a staff writer. Get your resumes in! (Journalism Jobs) | Send Ben your job moves: bmullin@poynter.org.
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