Reads like a throwback to the 1990s

Media statistic of the week

Interesting data out of the White House briefing room courtesy of Erik Wemple from Washington Post Opinions. 

Wemple took a closer look at the number of questions answered from various TV networks at White House briefings. From the beginning of the year through May 9, Biden aides took 347 questions from Fox personnel, with CBS coming in second at 263 questions and NBC in third with 221 questions. 

This past week in the media industry 

Big numbers for the Jan. 6 hearing

At least 20 million people watched the prime-time hearing of the House Select Committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6 attack last Thursday night, according to Nielsen. 

The New York Times’ John Koblin shares more context: “Though the Thursday night figure pales next to presidential debates (63 million to 73 million) or this year’s State of the Union address (38 million), it’s still much larger than the audience that would normally watch a daytime congressional hearing. And it’s in the ballpark of television events like a big ‘Sunday Night Football’ game or the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.”

Fox did not air the hearing, and their counterprogramming efforts drew an average audience of three million, which is just about normal, according to Koblin. They did, however, air Monday’s hearing, reports CNN’s Brian Stelter. “Fox's argument seems to be that prime time is different from daytime: Prime is for opinion hosts like Tucker Carlson, who rejected last Thursday's hearing, but daytime is for news,” he writes.

“It’s not just that 19mm watched, they watched for most of the 2-hour broadcast,” Edmund Lee says on Twitter.

“Not sure what anyone was expecting, but over 20 million TV viewers in internet age is a lot. Not a Super Bowl or presidential debate, but similar to the most popular regular programs (eg primetime NFL games), and much bigger than regular news broadcasts,” writes Nicholas Grossman.

“But Americans don’t care about democracy…” adds Joy Reid on Twitter.

Also on the Jan. 6 front, the New York Times profiles James Goldston, the former TV news chief that’s, “helping congressional investigators retell and reframe the events of that day for a weary and polarized nation,” writes Jeremy Peters. 

Uncovering the reality of the crisis in Sri Lanka

Meet the fact-checkers decoding Sri Lanka’s meltdown is a must-read this week by Nilesh Christopher from Rest of World. 

Christopher writes: “In May, Rest of World visited Watchdog to see how the group, operating under the shadow of a regime notorious for distorting the truth, aims to uncover the reality of Sri Lanka’s economic and political crisis. Despite threats from authorities, Watchdog is hunting hoaxes, investigating matters of public welfare, and building software to combat the latest in a string of crises Sri Lankans have had to contend with.”

“As Sri Lanka's economy implodes, a dedicated group of OSINT researchers are holding the powerful to account. Meet the Bellingcat of Sri Lanka: Watchdog Remarkable story here from @NilChristopher,” tweets Rest of World’s deputy editor Michael Zelenko.

The future of the newsroom at the New York Times

NPR’s David Folkenflik sat down with the New York Times’ new executive editor Joe Kahn to learn about his vision for the newsroom ahead of his official start date.

The conversation covered Kahn’s storied career thus far, the Times standing up for democracy, succeeding a legend [Dean Baquet] and how the Times journalists handle Twitter and its backlash.

Kahn said: "The value that you will have on Twitter or on social media in general or in the world of journalism is going to be based on the good quality, in-depth, edited reporting that you do in The New York Times," he said. "We're not really in the market for people who just have a giant following on Twitter but can't deliver."

Photo credit: Celeste Sloman for The New York Times

‘An unholy alliance’

“A nun founded a TV station that became the ‘Catholic Fox News.’ Then it turned against the pope,” reads the subtitle of Molly Olmstead’s latest for Slate—a fascinating deep dive into Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), the world’s largest Catholic media organization.

Olmstead writes: “But something has shifted in EWTN’s programming in the past decade. Instead of seeing a mild-mannered priest in charmingly outdated glasses discussing Eucharistic adoration, viewers might find polished newscasters talking with a string of right-wing figures … This programming, it could be argued, has merely followed the country’s most engaged Catholics as they’ve swung increasingly to the political right over a generation.”

“Did not know 1) there is a decades-old juggernaut Catholic media company called EWTN and 2) that it's nearly a second Fox News at this point,” tweets Hillary Frey. 

“Dear God (that’s an actual prayer), save Catholic journalism,” Gabriella Patti shares on Twitter.

The trial we still can’t stop talking about

The jury reached a verdict on June 1 in the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard case, but two weeks later, the headlines keep coming. 

This one’s about disclosures.

“Savannah Guthrie revealed that her husband Michael Feldman did ‘consulting work’ for the Johnny Depp legal team as a part of his victorious defamation trial. When did she reveal this? Just casually at the beginning of an interview with his defense team Wednesday morning,” writes Caitlin Cruz for Jezebel. Cruz adds this was the first time this disclosure was made.

“Update: as if the optics of this interview weren't gross enough,” tweets Philip Eil. 

“I know objectivity in journalism is a way to uphold the status quo, but I do think this is a cut-and-dry example of Interviews You Should Give to Your Colleagues,” Cruz writes.

Two trans journalists pull out of Guardian Pride coverage

Two trans journalists are pulling out of the Guardian’s Pride special coverage due to what they claim is “ingrained prejudice against trans women” by the newspaper, according to Ben Hunte from VICE.

“The Guardian is a cesspool of transphobia,” tweets Eoin Higgins.

“In a letter to the UK newspaper’s bosses seen by VICE World News, freelance journalists Freddy McConnell and Vic Parsons said they were declining all future work with the Guardian. They were commissioned to write pieces about their experiences of being trans for the paper’s upcoming Pride special in its G2 magazine,” Hunte reports.

In the letter, McConnell and Parsons write: “For far too long, the UK’s supposedly most progressive mainstream media outlet has routinely monstered trans women, undermined non-binary people and misrepresented our desire to simply live in peace and safety. It has amplified conspiracy theories about trans healthcare and trans and gender non-conforming children and has contributed to attempts to smear those working to support trans people. On social media, it’s even worse, with prominent writers routinely amplifying and generating misinformation about trans women, trans men and nonbinary people.” 

“Super proud of these fellow trans journo pals @vicparsons & @freddymcconell ?? Standing in full solidarity ??? ????? ????? ??” adds Bex Wade.

“#pride is a protest ? since 2017, trans writers, staffers and allies have been working politely and tirelessly to help editors understand the harm that misinformed hostility to trans equality is doing, both to trans people and to the paper itself,” writes Kat Cary on Twitter.

Washington Post reporter fired

CNN’s Oliver Darcy has the details on reporter Felicia Sonmez being fired from the Washington Post for "misconduct that includes insubordination, maligning your coworkers online and violating The Post's standards on workplace collegiality and inclusivity."

Here’s a brief explainer of what happened from Darcy:

Sonmez has been at the center of an intra-Post battle that started last Friday when reporter David Weigel retweeted a sexist joke.

By Monday, the Post had suspended Weigel for one month without pay and admonished him in both public and private statements.

But the retweet, which Sonmez was the first to spotlight both on Twitter and within the Post, has thrown the paper's newsroom into disarray.

Sonmez, who in 2021 sued the paper for discrimination (the suit was recently dismissed; she plans to appeal), has been outspoken over the past week about issues related to inequity in the newsroom.

In her public comments Sonmez had been highly critical of The Post's leadership, including Executive Editor Sally Buzbee, along with many of her colleagues.

At times, some of her colleagues went on Twitter to plead with Sonmez to stop attacking The Post on social media.

The reactions on Twitter were swift: 

“This is infuriating. It is staggering how thin-skinned and sanctimonious our top editors are, especially considering what a shit job they're doing of holding the powerful accountable,” tweets Dan Froomkin.

“She publicly called out her colleague’s online sexism, he played the victim and claimed she was attacking him, all hell broke loose at WaPo and now SHE is fired?” adds Kaiser. 

“I'm truly shocked to hear the Washington Post has fired Felicia Sonmez. I thought she had amazing job security as the paper knows she's litigious. (Though her lawsuit against the Post lost.)” adds Kelly Jane Torrance.

Reads like a throwback to the 1990s

Oof.

The Sydney Morning Herald has removed a column about Rebel Wilson’s new relationship and columnist Andrew Hornery has apologized, admitting he made mistakes in his approach to the reporting Tory Shepherd for The Guardian.

“The Hollywood star revealed on Friday she was in a relationship with US fashion designer [Ramona] Agruma, which prompted an outpouring of well wishes. But controversy erupted after the Herald reported on Saturday that it had contacted her on Thursday, wanting to do the story,” the piece details.

“An email he wrote giving Wilson a two-day deadline to respond to his plans to write about the relationship was not meant to be a threat, he wrote, but he could now see why it was seen as one,” Shepherd continues.

“This whole story reads like a throwback to the 1990s. Clearly Australia has some progress to make,” tweets Kieren McCarthy. 

“The paper has now replaced the ‘Rebel Wilson gazumped me’ column with c500 words of squirm, while the paper’s editor has taken absolutely no responsibility whatsoever: happy Pride!” adds Kat Brown.

A few more

• NPR names Juana Summers as the co-host of “All Things Considered”, reports Benjamin Mullin for the New York Times. She will start on June 27.
• Hollywood Reporter’s J. Clara Chan says Spotify brought in roughly $215 million in podcast revenue last year, according to Dawn Ostroff, the company’s chief content and advertising business officer. Interestingly, Spotify has spent $1 billion for its podcast expansion and says it’s still in “investment mode” but expects podcasts to be a “$20 billion opportunity.”
• More shake ups at CNN. Brian Steinberg from Variety outlines the changes: “In a memo to staffers delivered Wednesday, CNN CEO Chris Licht said Alex MacCallum, who had been named interim chief of CNN’s digital operations, was planning to leave the Warner Bros. Discovery unit on June 30. Wendy Brundige, senior vice president of global digital video, will take over the role of interim chief. Robyn Peterson, CNN Digital’s chief technology officer, is also leaving, Licht said.”
• Last week, Disney+ launched in the Middle East and North Africa, according to a report from Reuters’ Yousef Saba.
• Spotify wants to make audiobooks the next pillar of its business, reports The Verge’s Ariel Shapiro. “How the model will work is not entirely clear, but it appears that at least some of the audiobooks will be free,” she writes.
• The San Francisco Chronicle has launched a new initiative called SFNext, “a project aimed at finding solutions to historic problems that have grown even more acute since March 2020,” explains Emilio Garcia-Ruiz.
• The Wall Street Journal has launched a brand new commerce website called “Buy Side,” reports Axios’ Sara Fischer. Buy Site will feature hundreds of reviews for various consumer goods and personal finance products.
• Madeleine Lim of Bloomberg News reports that China released Bloomberg News staffer Haze Fan on bail in January, according to the Chinese embassy in D.C., more than a year after she was detained on suspicion of national security law violations. 

From the Muck Rack Team

PR pros are some of the most successful salespeople at Muck Rack. 

Ashley Mindnich, account executive, Zoe Chichelo, account executive, and Lindsay Cohen, SMB sales lead, each explain how they made the switch and how they repurposed their PR skills to find success in sales. They also offer up advice to PR pros considering the switch. 

We’re looking to bring on a new class of Account Executives, and there’s no one better positioned to sell Muck Rack than folks who currently use it, love it and know what it takes to be successful in PR. 

No SaaS sales experience required. To learn more, check out the open role here.