May 12, 2022

■ Psaki: Threats to family were 'most personally difficult' part of press secretary job (POLITICO) / ‘I’ve had threats. I have had nasty letters, texts to me with my personal address, the names of my children. It crosses the line and that’s when it becomes a little scary,’ Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters as she wraps up work at the White House this week (POLITICO) / Psaki says she'll miss Fox's Peter Doocy after leaving White House (The Hill) / Jen Psaki says learning to play Wordle is on her to-do list when she leaves the White House (Business Insider) 

■ Pentagon spokesman praises New York Times for Pulitzer win on coverage of U.S. military airstrikes killing civilians (Mediaite) / 'That’s what a free press at its very best does: it holds us to account and makes us think even as it informs' (John Kirby via Clifford Levy) 

■ Olga Rudenko and the Kyiv Independent are giving the world a window into a devastating war (TIME) 

■ When a reporter is lost without translation (New York Times) / Fixers: The people at the core of international journalism (NPCJI) 

■ Dustin Barnes, USA TODAY trending editor who 'inspired creativity,' dead at 38 (USA TODAY) / 'One of the brightest, most joyful, most irreverent friends I’ve ever had died today. I found him. I miss him. I wish I could call him and tell him how surreal this all is.' (Mariah Timms) / 'Dustin is sitting in the afterlife laughing his backside off watching me try to both hold it together and stay serious as I write about the incredible, loyal, hilarious light in the dark that he was.' (Darkhorse Press)  

Press freedom

■ Thousands mourn slain journalist as Palestinians call for accountability (CNN Business) / Investigation of journalist's killing may hinge on bullet (New York Times) / Israel, in shift, investigates possibility IDF soldier killed American journalist (Washington Post)

■ Chilean journalist Francisca Sandoval dies after shooting at May 1 protest (CPJ) 

■ Instagram feud fuels 'Wagatha Christie' libel case (New York Times)

“To identify strengths, a writer needs trusted readers: colleagues who understand that praise is only useful if it is specific, intellectually rigorous, and honest. Specificity is the clearest—the praise should point to a word, sentence, page, pattern, something that objectively appears in the text.”

-- A. E. Osworth, writer and instructor, “Revise toward praise, not away from criticism”

Join the National Press Club Journalism Institute for “My First FOIA: Open records are for everyone” to learn what government records you have a right to and how to request them. Whether you’re a journalist, student, parent, community activist, teacher, business owner, or taxpayer, you will learn how to request public records that can help you in your personal and professional life. 

Registration is open for this program, which will take place on Friday, May 20 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET.

Participants will learn: 

• Why an individual might file a FOIA or open records request
• The types of public records that exist 
• When you should rely on a FOIA or open records request, and other ways to find information
• How to file an open records request
• How to interpret the information you receive