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Good morning, everyone. Tom Jones is on vacation, but the team at Poynter is keeping tabs on the latest media news and analysis. Here’s what you need to know today.
Voice of America correspondents who are also foreign nationals won’t have their visas extended, David Folkenflik reports for NPR. Michael Pack, the new CEO for the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which is funded by taxpayers and includes VOA, previously fired four editors. The dozens of correspondents impacted by the latest VOA news “are particularly valued for their language skills, which are crucial to VOA’s mission as an international broadcaster covering news in many countries that do not have a free or robust press,” Folkenflik reports.
Joy Reid will host a new show on MSNBC, Michael M. Grynbaum reported for The New York Times, becoming one of the few Black women to host a nightly news show. Her new show, “The ReidOut,” will begin airing July 20 at 7 p.m. It will be based in Washington D.C. Grynbaum reports, “Ms. Reid’s promotion is a significant programming move by Cesar Conde, the new chairman of NBC’s news networks. Black women, including Gayle King of CBS and Robin Roberts of ABC, hold leading roles in morning and daytime television, but none currently host a nightly evening show on a major network. The last to do so was Gwen Ifill, who co-anchored ‘PBS NewsHour’ until shortly before her death in 2016.”
Staff at NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt are part of NBC’s latest buyout offer, A.J. Katz reports for TVNewser. The buyouts aren’t related to the pandemic or staffing goals, however, but an annual buyouts process.
McClatchy and its 30 regional newspapers appear headed toward hedge fund ownership — and sooner rather than later. In bankruptcy court action this week, Alden Global Capital revealed that it is bidding against Chatham Asset Management to buy the company out of bankruptcy reorganization. Alden had asked for a delay in the auction, but Judge Michael Wiles ruled Thursday it can proceed — with a resolution likely by the end of the month.
Younger Americans follow news coverage of George Floyd protests at similar rates as older adults but follow coronavirus and election news less, a study from the Pew Research Center found. Only about one-third of Americans ages 18 to 29 are following news about the presidential candidates very or fairly closely. The research found that adults under 30 are more critical of news media and of Donald Trump regarding the George Floyd demonstrations and coronavirus outbreak. They are also most likely to say the pandemic has been downplayed into a smaller deal than it really is.
Nielsen told TV groups that it will not be rolling out a new service that would count out-of-home viewers in September — in time for the NFL season — as it had promised, Sports Business Daily reported. The numbers might now not be available until January. Nielsen was supposed to start counting viewers in bars, restaurants, airports, gyms, hotels and other places — which could boost ratings numbers by up to 10% and provide TV networks with a big bump in ad dollars.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, is in an ongoing battle with a British tabloid. The latest skirmish, CNN reports, includes an attempt to prevent the publisher of the Daily Mail on Sunday from publicly naming five of the duchess’ friends after they anonymously defended her last year in an article in People Magazine. “Each of these women is a private citizen, young mother, and each has a basic right to privacy,” the duchess said in a witness statement. “The Mail on Sunday is playing a media game with real lives.”
Drew Barrymore supports local news. On the cover of August’s InStyle magazine, she sports a vintage Detroit News T-shirt that reads, “The Detroit News. The first good news of the day.” The News is now selling shirts with the 1980s design for $25 until July 23. All proceeds from the sale will be donated to The Rosa L. Parks Scholarship Foundation, a nonprofit founded by The Detroit News and Detroit Public Schools that awards scholarships to Michigan high school seniors. InStyle editor-in-chief Laura Brown commented on Instagram that she wanted a shirt and told The Detroit News, “We just loved (the) retro spirit of the tee and the good news message.”
Today’s Poynter Report was written by Nicole Asbury, Rick Edmonds, Kristen Hare, Ren LaForme, Eliana Miller and Al Tompkins.
Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.
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