March 18, 2021

Top stories ■ Teen Vogue’s new top editor Alexi McCammond out after backlash over old racist tweets (Daily Beast) / ‘In the last two weeks, as complaints mounted, Anna Wintour tried to build support for the would-be Teen Vogue editor.’ (New York Times) / 'After speaking with Alexi this morning, we agreed that it was best to part ways,' said Conde Nast HR exec in an email (CNN) / ‘McCammond began dating a press aide for Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, T.J. Ducklo … After Ducklo lashed out at a Politico journalist who planned to write about their relationship, he resigned his position in the Biden administration.’ (Washington Post) / ‘Hey there: I've decided to part ways with Condé Nast. Here is my statement about why.’ (Alexi McCammond) / ‘I know @alexi and she's obviously not who she was when she wrote those tweets. I'm sorry to see that she won't be moving forward in this position. It's beyond fair to demand true remorse and accountability, but Alexi demonstrated those things and I wish she'd been given a chance.’ (Abby Phillip)  ■ CNN reporter hit with anti-Asian heckle right before her live shot (The Wrap) / ‘Not racially motivated’?: The Atlanta spa shootings show why the media should be wary of initial police statements (Washington Post)   ■ A journalist accused the LAPD of assault. Then police tried to have him prosecuted (Los Angeles Times) / Domestic terror beat brings threats, risks, US journalists say (Voice of America) / WVU students accost reporter (WTRF 7News) ■ Photographer David Alan Harvey resigns from Magnum after sexual abuse allegations (The Art Newspaper) ■ Reporter details 'uncomfortable' encounters with Gov. Cuomo (New York Post) / Women reporters faced Cuomo’s creepy behavior, too (Daily Beast)  ■ Trump set to do at least 12 interviews in coming weeks with reporters writing books about him, including The New York Times’ Jeremy Peters and Maggie Haberman; Washington Post journalists Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig, and ‘Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House’ author Michael Wolff (POLITICO) ■ Newseum's stone First Amendment donated to Constitution Center in Philly (Washington Post) / 50 tons of marble incised with the First Amendment is heading to Philadelphia (Philadelphia Inquirer) ■ George Stephanopoulos asked all the right questions in a wide-ranging interview with President Biden (Poynter) / How important is President Biden's first press conference? (Dan Rather / Steady) ■ Did ‘West Wing’’s C.J. Cregg influence Biden’s press secretary, Jen Psaki? Actress Allison Janney tells late night host James Corden, ‘I think she is the real-life C.J. Cregg, she is the real hero. I just so admire her, it’s so lovely to see someone in that office as the press secretary being friendly to the press, being so smart and capable. I’m just in love with her, and I like to think that maybe she grew up watching ‘West Wing’ so I had a little bit of an influence in her career path. (The Late Late Show) ■ The new top editor of Georgetown’s flagship law journal is ‘undocumented and unafraid’ (Washington Post)  ■ AP journalist Thein Zaw spends birthday in prison in Myanmar (Axios) ■ Former Orlando TV health reporter dies from COVID-19 (Orlando Sentinel)

Will the use of artificial intelligence save journalism, be the end of news as we know it, or live somewhere in between? Francesco Marconi, who has led the development of the Associated Press and Wall Street Journal’s use of AI in journalism, offers a practical perspective on the potential of these technologies.  Join the National Press Club Journalism Institute and the National Press Club’s communicators team for a program featuring Marconi, who will explain how journalists and communication professionals can avoid pitfalls while taking advantage of the possibilities AI provides to develop new ways of telling stories and connecting with audiences. Registration is now open for this program, which will take place online from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. ET on Friday, March 26, 2021. The program is free to attend; donations will support the Institute’s programs.

Manager's Minute: What does culture really mean for an organization? People talk a lot about "culture" in an organization and the need to change it. Jill Geisler, Bill Plante Chair in Leadership & Media Integrity at Loyola University Chicago and Freedom Forum Fellow in Women’s Leadership, describes what this really means.

Read more from Jill on company culture: Work friends matter – even from afar The 5 keys leaders need to transform their organization's culture Why prioritizing workplace integrity matters Email us a question you'd like Jill to answer. Click here to read Jill’s previous posts.

Resources AAPI Journalists' Financial Assistance for Mental Wellness / AAPI Journalists Therapy Relief Fund  Journalism's racial reckonings: How funders and publishers confront systemic bias Better journalism: A roadmap for engaged democracy (April 7, 12 p.m. ET)

Today’s journalists need to check more than their facts. In this cut-and-paste digital world, journalists also need to check their rights. Join the National Press Club Journalism Institute for an overview of copyright perils and solutions, presented by three lawyers with the Media & Entertainment Law Group from the Washington, D.C. office of Ballard Spahr LLP: Chuck Tobin, Alia Smith and Mara Gassmann. Participants will leave the program with:  Best practices for the “fair use” of unlicensed work Tips to calibrate how much is too much when quoting or using someone else’s work  Ways to quickly determine rights to an image and how to license it, even via social media Registration is now open for this program, which will take place online from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, March 31, 2021. The program is free to attend; donations will support the Institute’s programs.

National Press Club news Virtual Newsmaker: Dr. Anthony Fauci (April 6, 2 p.m. ET) Virtual Book Event: John Woodrow Cox, ‘Children Under Fire’ (April 12, 2 p.m. ET) Virtual Book Event: Lisa Napoli, ‘Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie’ (April 29, 1 p.m. ET) Interested in becoming a Club member? Learn more.

Correction: The “Sunshine Week — Press freedom, investigative journalism and opening closed doors” recap has been updated to reflect that John Donnelly, not Ron Nixon, said the following quote: “One of my best sources ever was a FOIA officer who would tell me about audits while they were still in process and say, ‘Look out for this, it’s coming in.’ And, ‘Here’s a report you should FOIA,’ and that sort of thing.”

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. Get this from a friend? Subscribe, and view the archives.

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