October 15, 2021

Top stories

■ Politico’s new owner plans to grow staff more than 10%, launch paywall (Wall Street Journal) / Earlier: ‘One staffer asked whether Axel Springer would institute a paywall over the free portion of Politico's offerings, and AS CEO Mathias Döpfner responded, "We’re from Berlin. We don’t like the concept of walls." ‘ (Erik Wemple) / ‘Politico staffers will be expected to "adhere to Axel Springer-wide guiding principles," including "support for a united Europe, Israel’s right to exist and a free-market economy, among others." ‘ (Michael Calderone) ■ CNN's Kasie Hunt reveals she had surgery to remove a benign brain tumor: 'Pretty surreal' (People)  ■ California man pleads guilty to making threats to journalist's family over 2020 election (CNN/Fox Carolina) ■ US Capitol cop charged with obstruction of justice over deleting Facebook messages linked to Jan. 6 riot defendant (CNBC)   ■ Former job is key in case against US journalist in Myanmar (Washington Post) ■ Why hasn’t The New York Times made Ben Smith sell his BuzzFeed options yet? (Slate) / New York Times newsroom rocked (but not really) by a new public rift — over Spelling Bee game (New York Post)  ■ Former HuffPost reporter has a politics videogame in the works—and it doesn't look terrible (Washingtonian)  ■ Netflix fires employee for sharing confidential data with reporter about Dave Chappelle Special (Variety) / ‘The employee, who is Black and currently pregnant, asked not to be named for fear of online harassment. They have been encouraging trans employees and allies to walk out of work in protest of Netflix’s handling of the Dave Chappelle special The Closer.’ (The Verge) / Netflix’s Dave Chappelle PR crisis has been years in the making (L.A. Times) ■ Magical ‘end of the rainbow’ is found by photographer on Outer Banks. ‘It was huge’ (News & Observer)

"Since the start of the pandemic in early 2020, data-driven reporting on COVID-19 has gone through several phases. Initially, most of it focused on the pandemic itself: the progress and trends of infections. Later, it was about vaccination rates and efficacy. That is not all you can do with data. Moving into the second part of the pandemic, data can measure the changes and effects of the virus on our world, shed light on flaws within our current systems, and suggest long-term solutions to prevent or mitigate the next disaster." -- Kuek Ser Kuang Keng, data editor at Pulitzer Center, in "5 post-pandemic data story ideas for journalists"

Manager's Minute: Why do people complain they don’t get enough feedback?

Jill Geisler, Bill Plante Chair in Leadership & Media Integrity at Loyola University Chicago and Freedom Forum Fellow in Women’s Leadership, on the importance of feedback.

Read next: Great bosses avoid ‘one-size-fits-all’ feedback Get more career advice: Read Jill's columns | Watch Manager's Minute videos

Join the National Press Club Journalism Institute and a distinguished panel to learn how to: Choose voices to feature in ways that differentiate your op-eds from the noisy crowd Clarify each op-ed’s purpose, and use persuasive strategies that are most effective Identify specific audiences for op-eds and ways to know whether you’ve reached them Registration is open for this program, which will now take place on October 22 at 11:30 a.m. ET. Panelists include: Deborah Douglas, The Emancipator co-editor-in-chief Terry Tang, L.A. Times op-ed editor Kate Woodsome, Washington Post senior producer of op-ed video Moderated by: Nancy Ancrum, Miami Herald editorial page editor The Institute is offering this program at no cost thanks to a generous grant from the Gannett Foundation.

Resources Content analysis in the newsroom (Oct. 19, 11 a.m. ET)  The world of Jere Longman, sports reporter at the New York Times (Oct. 26, 6 p.m. ET) IWMF 2021 Courage in Journalism Awards (Nov. 4, 5:30 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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