The Latest: ‘Is this really happening?’; CNN’s historic day; Leaders, be bold and angry; Coping with uncertainty

The Latest: Covering today, informing tomorrow

January 7, 2021

Top stories

■ USA Today asks readers to help identify rioters who stormed the Capitol (USA Today)

■ CBS News tells staffers they can now use ‘insurrectionists’ and ‘domestic terrorists’ to describe Trump supporters who crashed the Capitol (Maxwell Tani) / AP's standards editor: ‘protest may be too mild a word’ (AP Stylebook) / Media at a loss for words after chaotic display at US Capitol (WBUR)

■ Reporters reckon with radicalization in America: 'You are being lied to' (CNN)

■ A war photographer embeds with the Capitol Hill mob (The New Republic)

■ Photographer files police report after being attacked then pursued at Utah state Capitol (Salt Lake Tribune) / Vancouver police investigating assault on photographer at Trump rally (Vancouver Sun)

■ Washington Post reporters briefly arrested during unrest outside Capitol (The Hill) / Kate Woodsome, senior producer of @WashingtonPost video op-eds, was surrounded by members of a Pro-Trump mob Wednesday outside of the U.S. Capitol while producing a live report. Here’s how she described the incident. (The Lily)

■ 'Murder the media ': How reporters became a target on Capitol Hill (New York Times) / Reporters who were in the Capitol when rioters stormed Congress offered details from the inside (CNN) / I’m in a roomful of people 'panicked that I might inadvertently give away their location ' (Los Angeles Times) / What it was like for a reporter to be evacuated from the US Capitol (Washington Post) / Inside the room as a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol (Axios) / Inside story: Locked down at the Capitol during riots (News & Observer) / ‘Is this really happening ?’: The siege of Congress, seen from the inside (POLITICO) / A frustrating and fearful day on Capitol Hill when a mob wrote history (Buffalo News) / The Capitol riots through the lens of a photojournalist (The GroundTruth Project)

■ 'I literally don't know how to feel about this and I survived a shooting inside my own newsroom . There are so many things that need to be condemned that it's becoming hard to count. The media are PEOPLE WITH FAMILIES.' (Phil Davis) / ‘I survived a murderous newsroom shooting in 2018, losing five of my Capital Gazette family. their families destroyed. My head was nearly shot off, multiple slugs missing by a fraction of an inch. This stuff makes me sick. We're your neighbors, family and friends doing our best’ (Paul W. Gillespie) / ‘As I was hiding and listening to a man shoot through the Capital Gazette newsroom in 2018, I remember thinking, as blood was pouring from a wound on my face, that the president's words had inspired an anti-media fervor that would result in my death’ (Rachael Pacella)

■ Key Trump administration officials considering resigning? Consider not covering it . (Washingtonian)

■ Wednesday was CNN’s most-watched day in history (Alex Weprin) / CNN tops all of TV in Capitol riots coverage (The Wrap)

■ Trump banned from Facebook indefinitely, CEO Mark Zuckerberg says (Washington Post) / Facebook forced its employees to stop discussing Trump's coup attempt (BuzzFeed) / Rioters who took over the Capitol have been planning online in the open for weeks (BuzzFeed) / Social networks didn’t create a coup . But they helped. (Protocol)

■ Radiolab apologizes for ‘bad behavior’ of Andy Mills, who is now at The New York Times (Radiolab) / Earlier: Why were Andy Mills and Rukmini Callimachi, ‘Caliphate’s lead journalists, treated differently by The New York Times ? (Vulture) / Earlier: Host of 'The Daily' clouds 'N.Y. Times' effort to restore trust after 'Caliphate' (NPR)

■ US newsrooms lost a record 16,160 jobs in 2020, study finds (The Wrap)

■ Tampa Bay Times will eliminate 150 jobs by moving printing to Gannett plant (Tampa Bay Times) / Gannett to shut down Courier Journal printing presses in Louisville (Courier Journal)

■ Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who obtained the Pentagon Papers, Neil Sheehan dies at 84 (New York Times)

Newsroom leaders: Be big, bold, empathetic and angry

My local paper, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, used a one word headline to describe January 6, 2021:

Insurrection.

It was big, bold and accurate.

That’s what we need from news leaders right now: the strongest possible words and actions to protect democracy and the journalism that is its heartbeat.

They also need the wisdom to understand that this assault on the Capitol raises more than just Democrat/Republican or Left/Right issues. They need to understand the impact of the insurrection on their journalists, too.

What journalists saw — or experienced firsthand yesterday — was white rage, hatred, privilege and racism. It was the differential, deferential treatment of Trump supporters in 2021 compared to that of Black Lives Matter advocates in 2020.

They saw lies presented as truth, and journalists attacked as traitors.

It’s tempting to look for signs of hope, to say, “This is not who we are as a country” and “We’re better than this.”

We’re not.

The insurrection proved who we are.

It was also a call to action for big, bold, accurate journalism.

I’m usually the first to point out the importance of empathy in newsroom leadership, of showing genuine care for the hearts, minds and safety of your people.

That still stands. Your team needs it more than ever.

But with that empathy, feel free to show your anger, too, at this assault on democracy and journalists.

Turn that empathy and anger into some of your most important reporting.

Don’t shift into “happy, hopeful transition” story frames that could too easily brush aside the festering ugliness that fueled the assault on the Capitol and won’t just fade away.

Hold insurrectionists and their enablers accountable. They live everywhere.

Be vigilant about attacks on voting rights that may spring from the many unfounded claims of voter fraud that were given life by the President. Repeat the truth. Expose future attempts at voter suppression in their many forms; they can come packaged as solutions to problems that never existed.

Be big, bold, and accurate.

Advice from Jill Geisler,

Bill Plante Chair in Leadership & Media Integrity, Loyola University Chicago

Freedom Forum Fellow in Women’s Leadership

Click here to read Jill’s previous posts.

Self-care: Feeling uncertain? How to pull yourself out of the spiral

Humans are creatures of habit, which is why establishing good routines is essential to self-care. But feelings of uncertainty can rout the best routines — especially with so many external factors changing daily.

When the question marks begin to add up, consider the following:

Don’t beat yourself up if you are less tolerant of unpredictability than a colleague, friend or family member. People process information and choices differently.
Information overload can lead to uncertainty. Step back to audit or pause what you are hearing or seeing.
Uncertainty is multidimensional. This Harvard Business Review article outlines coping methods for three types of uncertainty.
Control the things you can — tasks like preparing meals, reading a book, or taking a walk seem small but allow you to exercise choice.
Accept the things you can’t control outright — other people’s choices related to the pandemic, for example.
Seek help, from people you trust or from a professional.

Read on for more self-care tips, or share how you are taking care of yourself right now.

Resources

We start 2021 with a COVID vaccine, but the rollout has been slower than planned and a coordinated public health communication effort is needed to convince people to get vaccinated. Public opinion research shows a number of challenges: some people are justifiably skeptical of “big Pharma” and government; others are actively working to spread disinformation about the vaccine; and many remain unconvinced of the vaccine’s safety. What is being done to overcome these challenges, how can communicators be most effective, and how can reporters best cover the vaccination story and combat the disinformation?

Join the National Press Club Journalism Institute and the National Press Club Communicators Committee for a candid conversation on the COVID vaccine: Communication challenges for public health efforts & reporters. Registration is now open for this program, which will take place from 12-1 p.m. EST on Wednesday, January 13, 2021.

The panel will feature Jesse Holland, Assistant Professor of Journalism at George Washington University, author, scholar and African American history expert; Nick Sugai, Vice President at the Ad Council, which is leading a national public education campaign to encourage vaccination; Susan Winckler, CEO of the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the Food and Drug Administration, who will share public opinion research on the vaccination. The conversation will be moderated by Alison Fitzgerald Kodjak, Investigations Editor at The Associated Press, and the 112th president of the National Press Club.

This newsletter is written & edited by the National Press Club Journalism Institute staff: Beth Francesco, Holly Butcher Grant, and Julie Moos. Send us your questions and suggestions for topics to cover.

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