AMERICA’S ANCHOR
Partygoers at Poynter’s fourth annual Bowtie Ball this weekend in St. Pete Beach were treated to an intimate Q&A with “NBC Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt. Led by Poynter vice president Kelly McBride, Holt revealed stories from his adolescence and early adulthood that explained how he became America’s most trusted TV news source.
“I was a nerd who really wanted to be a disc jockey; I wanted to be in radio,” he said. “So when other kids were out playing, I was sitting in my bedroom with a record player, a newspaper and a tape recorder practicing my announcing skills.”
CONSISTENT AND COMMITTED
In Arthur Sulzberger Jr.’s tenure as publisher of the New York Times, the institution won dozens of Pulitzer Prizes. He couldn’t pick a favorite piece of journalism during the 25 years of his oversight, but he did say that the Times’ reporting on and after Sept. 11, 2001, demonstrated a commitment to the country and each other.
One example: “There was no way to get into Manhattan,” Sulzberger said. “Basically (a news clerk) grabbed a raft, and he paddled his way across the Hudson River to make it to the Times so that he could be there to help.”
Read more from his Saturday night Q&A at the Poynter Bowtie Ball.
JEALOUS AGAIN
Bloomberg is out with its fourth annual list of … well, journalism they wish they’d written.
“For the fifth or fourth or seventh (whatever, they all run together in a vortex of envy) consecutive year, this magazine’s editors forced us to come up with articles we wish we’d thought of first. Journalism so good it makes us question our career choices.”
NEW YEAR, NEW SITE
At Poynter, we’re excited because today we transitioned our digital home at poynter.org to WordPress, in what we hope will be the first of many iterations on our new platform.
Our digital team is excited to publish editorial content and training from WordPress — we think it will improve our ability to reach, teach and communicate better with our loyal users (thank you!).
Some of the improvements we are excited about include mobile-friendly e-learning, improved search and an integrated journalism jobs board.
Questions? Ideas? Feedback? We’d love to hear from you at info@poynter.org.
Thanks for reading and learning.
Poynter’s ICYMI headlines:
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Washington Post: Meet the Bottomless Pinocchio, a new rating for a false claim repeated over and over again (our top pick)
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Philly.com: Bringing a pop-up newsroom to the neighborhoods, armed with chocolates
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New York Times: A Photographer Goes Missing in China: Lu Guang’s images have shown the world China’s dark side
Follow us on Twitter @poynter for ICYMI retweets.
On Poynter.org:
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Apps on your phone might be tracking your every move. Here’s how to stop them. By Ren LaForm
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What I learned about writing and storytelling from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. By Roy Peter Clark
Upcoming training:
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Becoming a More Effective Writer: Clarity and Organization. Deadline: Jan. 4.
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The Craft of the Personal Essay. Deadline: Jan. 18.
From PolitiFact.com:
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Trump unable to bring (Mount) McKinley back to life. By Louis Jacobson
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Timeline of Michael Flynn’s turn, from Trump aide to Mueller witness. By John Kruzel
PolitiFact is a property of the Poynter Institute.
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