March 10, 2021

Top stories ■ Des Moines Register reporter acquitted after trial on charges from George Floyd protest in May 2020 (Des Moines Register) / Des Moines Register reporter says race played ‘huge part’ in her case (Axios) / 'This was my first year as a reporter, and I didn’t think something like this would happen to me in Iowa' (Washington Post) / Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) responds to the case (Stephen Gruber-Miller) ■ Suspect arrested in robbery of reporter covering robberies (The Hill)  ■ Set collapses on ESPN journalist in shocking on-air accident (HuffPost)  ■ New York Times responds to Tucker Carlson attack on journalist Taylor Lorenz (The Hill) / ‘Taylor Lorenz is a talented New York Times journalist doing timely and essential reporting. Journalists should be able to do their jobs without facing harassment,’ says the Times (New York Times)  ■ 'CBS This Morning' tops 'Today,' 'GMA' for first time ever with Oprah-Meghan-Harry extras (The Wrap) / Piers Morgan explains why he quit TV show over Meghan flap (Los Angeles Times) / Oprah’s uncanny, singular skill is more than being good at interviewing (Slate)  ■ Washington Post to start reopening newsroom in July (The Hill) / ‘No timetable’ for successor to editor Marty Baron, WaPo publisher says (Margaret Sullivan) ■ COVID relief bill throws lifeline to transform local news (Nieman Reports) / What the pandemic means for paywalls (Columbia Journalism Review) / Newsrooms in Philly help people say goodbye to those lost to the coronavirus (Poynter) / How anti-vaccination websites build audiences and monetize misinformation (First Draft) ■ POLITICO's Eugene Daniels: 'We are changing who is allowed to talk about politics and who is allowed at the table' (Forbes) ■ Photographer Nadine Ijewere makes history as the first Black woman to photograph a cover of American Vogue (The Cut) / One producer uses social media to bring photographers of color in front of the lens (Forbes)  ■ How Yahoo News reached 1 million followers on TikTok in 1 year (Nieman Lab)  ■ Is local journalism dying? Look closer. (American Press Institute)  ■ Is Domino’s Pizza hiring a data journalist? Yes (Snopes)  ■ How to grow seedlings with newspaper (New York Times)

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.

COVID coverage timeline shows news headlines evolve Tomorrow, March 11, marks the one-year anniversary of the day that the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic. To mark that moment, and too many others last year, we produced a timeline of COVID-19 landmarks in media headlines — from the first cluster of pneumonia cases reported in Wuhan (January 2020) to worldwide cases surpassing 1 million (April 2020). We illustrated the timeline with news website screenshots using Wayback Machine, with yellow highlights to visualize the coverage placement and prominence.   We started this project to determine how coronavirus coverage evolved over time and how news sources worldwide reported on COVID-19 milestones. The virus earned international headlines at the beginning of 2020. Were these events the lead story or buried below the fold? How long did it take before pandemic headlines dominated the front page? Click to look back at how coronavirus coverage evolved.

Lead all the people on your team As leaders with too much to do and never enough time, we sometimes pay less attention to high performers (who seem to excel without our feedback) and more to the low performers. But we may be missing the “buried treasure” — the people on our teams and in our organization who are poised to be the next high performers when given the opportunity. Don’t lose them to another company because you ignored their potential or took their skills for granted. Understand their aspirations and coach them toward greater success. A leader’s job is to help everyone succeed.  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.

March 15 kicks off Sunshine Week, a time when journalists and news organizations promote open government and “sunshine” laws that require government business to be publicly accessible.  As part of Sunshine Week, the National Press Club Journalism Institute and the National Press Club’s press freedom team will host a discussion on public access to information and the role that investigative journalism plays in restoring public trust, with practical advice from Associated Press global investigations editor Ron Nixon and The Markup president Nabiha Syed, moderated by CQ Roll Call senior writer John Donnelly.  Registration is now open for this program, which will take place online from 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. ET on Monday, March 15, 2021. The program is free to attend; donations will support the Institute’s press freedom work.

Resources What's Clubhouse, and how can you use it to report?  Informing the public on the promise and perils of algorithms (March 18, 7 p.m. ET) Vet your own story: Verification using public records databases (April 17, 2 p.m. ET)

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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