How does a reporter take the “just the facts” approach from Saudi Arabia, Dubai and the entire Arabian Peninsula?
Some of that responsibility falls on the shoulders of the Associated Press’s Aya Batrawy. The Cairo-born, St. Petersburg, Florida-raised Batrawy has to ferret through the region’s often-murky politics, gender discrimination and inequality, a proxy war in Yemen, high-level conferences and futuristic real-estate developments. Based in Dubai, fluent in Arabic, she also informs the world on the ascent of Saudi Arabia’s 32-year-old crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who is visiting the United States this week.
Much of the region’s biggest news, she says in an interview, comes after 11 p.m., so seriousness of purpose, as well as understanding of cultural differences, goes a long way.
“People you interview will pick up on your efforts to be respectful of these differences,” Batrawy says, “and you will get the right story and the story right. Immersing yourself in the local culture, getting out of the comfy expat bubble and being able to read the local news or watch debate programs in the local language also helps immensely.”
Read the whole interview on how she covers Saudi Arabia and the Middle East here, but first, here are the media stories (and a cartoon) you need to know for the day.
Quick hits
NOT HELPFUL: The Texas Observer has a reckoning of news outlets and reporters who provided accurate coverage of Austin’s bombings — and who dd not. For weeks, the fears of Austin residents were exacerbated, argues Gus Bova, by “an absence of information that made sense of it all.” Among those who provided inaccurate information: the Texas attorney general and social media celebrities.
BEYOND CHER: The NYT’s Tiffany Hsu looks at those who have quit Facebook in recent days. “Facebook seems so complicit all the way up and down,” says filmmaker Richard H. Perry, switching to Twitter. At the Post, Geoffrey A. Fowler suggests an advertiser boycott or government regulation might be more effective.
OVERLOOKED NO MORE: It’s now a Wendy’s, but once it was the famous Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts, where Ruth Wakefield whipped up a cookie that has had a 70-year old grip on America. Four decades after her death, the perfectionistic and subtly path-breaking chocolate-chip cookie founder has a New York Times obituary of her own, as part of its series of women “Overlooked” by the NYT since its start in 1851. Last week, the Times featured Allison Hargreaves, the first woman to climb Everest solo and without oxygen.
CARTOONING FACEBOOK’S MELTDOWN: “You don't have to remind me what a hypocrite I am to be posting this cartoon on, umm, Facebook.” So begins Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Signe Wilkinson’s FB post of her cartoon Thursday on the Cambridge Analytica-Facebook scandal. Wilkinson emails me that her post is indicative of “the perfectly consistent human being that I am” and adds the following on the scandal: “Home in my studio steaming mad as the snow fell outside. This image was one I'd drawn a week ago but other events superseded (DARNED NEWS KEEPS HAPPENING). I have another, similar one coming up soon on Facebook ‘privacy’ but have to do on for the kids at the Saturday march for tomorrow.”
FOLLOW-UP: Our interview with CNN’s S. Mitra Kalita on the resurgence of the homepage fits in with research conducted in three countries, writes Nicole Blanchett of Canada’s Sheridan College. A finding of her 2018 study: the homepage is key in “concentrating on building and retaining a loyal audience versus fly-by readers.”
HOW WOULD YOU DO?: BBC News has created a “fake news” game for kids that puts them in a newsroom in the middle of a breaking news crisis.
IT’S OFFICIAL: Judy Woodruff is sole anchor of PBS Newshour. CNN’s Brian Stelter reports that former NBC reporter and ABC digital anchor Amna Nawaz will be a correspondent and fill-in anchor.
AWARDS SEASON: The American Society of News Editors announced 31 finalists for 10 prizes, to be awarded next week. One thing is certain: the Mike Royko Award for Commentary/Column Writing is going to a woman. The three finalists are Yvonne Abraham of the Boston Globe, Petula Dvorak of the Washington Post and Dahleen Glanton of the Chicago Tribune. Here are the other finalists, picked from 481 entries.
WE ARE FAMILY: The Atlantic has launched its own Family section, with five staffers and its own newsletter and Facebook Group. The section kicked off with pieces on the changing attitudes toward child rearing and a parent’s reflection on teaching his child about racism, Digiday’s Lucia Moses wrote.
IN RELATED NEWS: Popular conservative Kevin D. Williamson is leaving the National Review to join The Atlantic’s new ideas, opinions and commentary section. Also joining: scholar Ibram X. Kendi, political reporter and analyst Alex Wagner and economic policy specialist Annie Lowrey.
MARCH FOR OUR LIVES: It's Saturday, and here's how the networks will be covering the event that's expected to draw hundreds of thousands. There's also a CBS documentary that's scheduled to air at 8 p.m. Saturday called "39 days."
What we're reading
THE 7,383-SEAT STRATEGY: Democrats are finally running to win in more places in more states. Joan Walsh asks: Will the party make room for the kinds of candidates who can win there?
TROJAN COW: Did you ever play a satirical game on Facebook called Cow Clicker? It took three days to make. And the founder says he now has your data, thanks to Facebook.
SOLO: At 70, he spent 110 days naked and alone, paddling across the Atlantic in a coffin-like kayak. "I like to sail," he says. The motivations are more complex, Elizabeth Weil discovers for the Times.
STORMY: How is a porn star beating Donald Trump at his own game? By using the president’s own playbook of innuendo, bombastic statements, tweets, spokespeople, writes the Boston Globe’s Matt Viser. His lede: “Stormy Daniels is proving that she is the master of the prolonged reveal.” Scheduled for a segment on “60 Minutes” on Sunday, Daniels will teach Americans “quite a bit” about the Trump relationship and the cover-up, her lawyer told CNN’s Chris Cuomo. … By the way, if you didn't catch last night's Anderson Cooper interview with Karen McDougal, another reported Trump paramour, here are six takeaways, via the Washington Post.
COOL BEANS: You can stop Googling now: If you’re the kind of person who’s constantly trying to find out what’s the best diet for you, you need to read this. New York Magazine’s Mark Bittman and Dr. David L. Katz patiently answer pretty much every question they could think of about healthy food. The big takeaway: Beans for everyone!
LAST IMAGE: The man behind the worst mass-killing in contemporary U.S. history loaded 21 bags into his Las Vegas hotel suite in preparing for the massacre, surveillance images reveal. For many of those bags, he was helped by hotel staff, who knew nothing of their deadly cargo.
Here’s the last photo of him, carrying bags 20 and 21 up to his Mandalay Bay suite.
(Screengrab)
CYBER-CURRENCY 101: In the past 15 months, entrepreneurs have raised $10 billion via the minting and selling of digital “tokens” to investors. They define this investment as like an arcade token that lets you use blockchain-based goods and services. Many buyers see it as an asset whose value will rise. Here’s a quick intro to the field, via MIT Tech Review’s Mike Orcutt.
New on Poynter.org
- We welcomed the return of The Cohort, a newsletter for women kicking ass in digital media. This week's topic: raising your hand.
- In this week's podcast about the craft of writing, Lane DeGregory advises how to get close and create intimacy with the subject of a story.
- We also think you'll enjoy this week's fact-checking newsletter from the IFCN.
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