Connecting - Welcome to Connecting Archive
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Connecting - Welcome to Connecting Archive
Paul Shane <[email protected]> Connecting June 25, 2015 1 message Paul Stevens <[email protected]> ReplyTo: [email protected] To: [email protected] Thu, Jun 25, 2015 at 7:27 AM Having trouble viewing this email? Click here Connecting June 25, 2015 Click here for sound of the Teletype Top AP news Top AP photos Colleagues, Good Thursday morning. If you looked closely at Wednesday's Connecting, you may have noticed two new links at the top of the newsletter: one to "Top AP News" linking to AP's continuously updated breaking news site, The Big Story, the other to "Top AP Photos," The AP Images site of photos. The photo link was suggested by Connecting colleague Ralph Gage, and it only made sense to add stories as well. Even without fanfare, both links appeared to get clicks Wednesday. Let us know if you find adding them to the newsletter useful. Congratulations to all Associated Press staff who will be inducted into the 25‐year club during tonight's annual recognition event at AP headquarters in New York, and to all others who will be cited for reaching various milestones in their careers. It is a testament to your enduring loyalty and commitment to the news cooperative and to the millions of news consumers around the world it serves. Enjoy the day! ‐ Mark Mittelstadt AP halts commercial sales of images showing Ted Cruz with gun pointed at his head The Associated Press announced Wednesday it has decided to remove from further commercial sales five images showing a pistol pointed at the head of Texas senator and presidential candidate Ted Cruz. However, the photos will continue to be available for use by members and others who received them via AP's photo service. "On Saturday The Associated Press distributed a series of photos to our member news organizations and other subscribers showing Sen. Ted Cruz (R‐TX) at a gun range," AP Vice President and Director of Media Relations Paul Colford said in a statement e‐mailed to Breitbart News. "The images were not intended to cast the senator in a bad light and they remain available for use by those who received them on Saturday through our photo service. Five of the photos show Mr. Cruz with images of a pistol pointing at his head and upon consideration we have decided to remove those photos from further licensing through AP Images, our commercial photo syndication business." Asked whether the company had encountered outside pressure from politicians to remove the photos, Colford told Breitbart "this was entirely an in‐house decision." The photos, taken by photographer Charlie Neibergall at a "Celebrate the 2nd Amendment Event" at a gun range in Johnston, Iowa, showed the barrel of a gun on a poster pointing at the senator's forehead as he spoke. The images stirred quick outrage on Twitter and other social media, with political conservatives and gun rights advocates blasting AP for its choice of photos and accusing the news service of political bias. Matt Drudge linked to the controversy on his widely‐read news blog, Drudge Report. Cruz himself criticized AP, telling radio talk host Mark Levin: "There's no doubt that if they had run the same photo and it had been Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama that the entire world would have recoiled in horror and the editor who made the decision to run it would very likely have been fired... And there would've been a public apology." Cruz said there is a difference in how AP portrays him compared to President Obama. "It is not surprising to see," Cruz told Levin. "I've kind of enjoyed some of the contrast of all the AP photos of Barack Obama with a halo of lights behind his head versus me with a giant gun pointed between my eyes... That's their hostility coming out." Talking Points Memo reported that the photos have been removed from the AP site. Breitbart reported that several AP URLs to the gun poster photos in its original coverage are now broken links, producing the message "Oops! This image is not part of your portfolio. Please contact Customer Support." Calls to customer support about the photos are routed to the AP spokesman, Breitbart reported. Shane Vander Hart, a blogger and social media consultant, said he attended the same Iowa event. There were other photographs that could have been used but AP sent out several from that perspective to their clients. In his opinion, the photo was "not the finest display of photojournalism," he said. Dining with Michelle: White House recognizes AP editor's daughter for devotion to healthy food (Des Moines Public Schools) Mary McFetridge, 11, will board a plane to Washington, D.C. in early July to dine with First Lady Michelle Obama and tour the White House kitchen garden. She is one of 55 students nationwide who won the opportunity in the Healthy Lunchtime Challenge. Mary's is a recipe healthy foodies will love. "Mary's Garden Farfalle Feast" (Farfalle is Italian for 'butterfly') calls from many of the ingredients, which include fruits, vegetables, tofu and vegetable pasta, to be arranged in butterfly designs. Mary McFetridge "Caterpillars go through their metamorphosis," McFetridge said. "I'm eating the Farfalle Feast and following FoodPlate so my bones, brain and muscles will grow strong." Mary attends Cowles Montessori School and is the daughter of Des Moines news editor Scott McFetridge. Get Mary's award winning "Garden Farfalle Feast" recipe here. Same artist? Connecting friend Paul Shane noted some similarities in the current logos for The Associated Press and Yellow Pages. Connecting Mailbox Oklahoma City bombing was not motivated by race Lindel Hutson ‐ Kudos to former OKC staffer Pat Casey (Wednesday Connecting) for his tenacity in seeing the Guardian held accountable for the inaccurate story that Timothy McVeigh's goal in bombing the Murrah Federal Building was to start a race war. As OKC COB before, during and after the bombing, there was no indication race was a factor. African‐Americans were killed in the bombing and the pictures of tiny African‐ American kids and others bleeding and injured will stay with many of us forever. McVeigh was obsessed with the Branch Dividians and Waco. He also held a deep hatred of the federal government. There were several reasons he picked Oklahoma City. Among others, he thought orders for Waco came from the OKC FBI office. This because Bob Ricks, the OKC FBI agent in charge, was the spokesman for the FBI during the Waco siege. However, none of the Waco planning and strategy came from OKC. McVeigh thought the FBI office, as a federal agency, was in the Murrah Building. It was actually located in an office tower about five miles north. The Guardian's reporter, Andrew Gumbel, offered a lukewarm correction. Based on what I see, it dances around the real issue. Rather sad. It makes you question the veracity of some of the Guardian's NSA reporting. Casey was a good reporter and editor then, and now. I love my Fitbit! Ronald E. McConaughy ‐ Saw your post requesting Fitbit etc. users respond. One of my daughters gave me a Fitbit a little over a year ago. It is the small clip‐on or stick‐it‐in‐your‐pocket version and basically only records your steps. After wondering why I would ever use this and after losing it countless times due to its size, I gradually became completely hooked on it. I set a modest goal of 10,000 steps per day and generally didn't make it even though I work out at the gym daily. Fitbit Charge Activity Tracker Early this year I figured out how to add friends and see their progress. Then one of my friends did a weekend challenge among a group of us and my competitive spirit came to the surface and I was off to the "races." I added 20 minutes of early morning and late evening walking in the house (my wife thinks I am nuts) and added the tread mill at the conclusion of my workouts. Bingo, haven't missed achieving 10K+ steps since March 26, and am averaging close to 14K steps daily. I no longer accept weekend challenges because there is one real nut case in the friend group who is even more neurotic than me and I don't like to lose. Other than wearing out my home carpet, I love everything about my Fitbit! (NOTE: The writer is an Englewood, Colo.,‐based attorney and longtime of Connecting editor Paul Stevens.) AP photo of gun aimed at Ted Cruz's head Paul Shane ‐ The Cruz gun photo distribution is beneath The AP I knew. Happy Birthday Robert Naylor Cecilia White Stories of Interest At The Post and Courier, covering the news, and choking back tears (New York Times) CHARLESTON, S.C. Glenn Smith, the projects editor for The Post and Courier here, was with friends last Wednesday night when a colleague called. "He said: 'I've just heard that people have been shot at the church near your house. You need to get over there as soon as possible,' " Mr. Smith recalled. He began to run, in flipflops and shorts, in the direction of what would become one of the darkest, most infamous scenes in Charleston history. "I was calling people frantically on the way, and I had heard the gunman was still loose," he said. "So I stopped by Melissa Boughton, far left, and Grace Beahm of The my house and made sure my wife and Post and Courier at work outside Emanuel African daughter were inside." Methodist Episcopal Church. Credit Travis Dove for When he got to Emanuel African The New York Times Methodist Episcopal Church, just minutes from his home, he saw a huge police response, including armed officers, deputy coroners and a team of chaplains. The details soon emerged: Nine black churchgoers had been gunned down during Bible study by a young white man making racist statements. The call to Mr. Smith came at the start of an intense period for this newsroom of about 80, most of whom contributed to the newspaper's coverage. The staff of The Post and Courier, which is closely entwined with its community and has been family owned since 1895, found itself balancing a journalistic duty to report the news with sensitivity to the friends, and friends of friends, affected by an act of violence that stunned the country. Read more. David Bradley's heroic efforts to free U.S. hostages detailed (Poynter) David Bradley is the quintessential American selfmade man whose generosity of spirit and money apparently belies the intelligence, tenacity and skill of a street fighter, according to a stunning 25,000word New Yorker piece released Wednesday. The owner of Atlantic Media is the quiet, persistent protagonist of "Five Hostages," a detailed chronicle of how five families of U.S. hostages banded together because they felt abandoned by their government. In Bradley, they found a kindred soul who knew about tragedy in war after losing journalist Michael Kelly near the start of the second Iraq War. Kelly died in a David Bradley Humvee during an accident in what was a huge loss for Bradley and National Journal, which he owns. Kelly was the first journalist to die in the conflict and the pain was personal and professional for Bradley. It helps explain his deep, abiding and largely secret involvement in helping five families of hostages, including journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff. Bradley, 62, who owns The Atlantic, National Journal and Quartz, among other properties, is pale, nearly bald but "his courtly demeanor disguises considerable ambition and persistence," according to the New Yorker's story. That persistence prompted an aggressive, organized, largely futile effort to free U.S. hostages held by ISIS. The failed effort underscores weaknesses in how the government handles such situations. The lengthy chronicle by Lawrence Wright is of the roller coaster emotional ride taken by families, including those of journalists Steve Sotloff and James Foley. Read more. Denver Post wins top 2015 National Murrow Award (Denver Post) The Denver Post has won the prestigious 2015 National Murrow Award for overall excellence the Radio Television Digital News Association announced. Competing against online news organizations including the New York Times and the Washington Post and others, the Denver Post won for overall work. (The RTDNA site illustrates the win with the video/photo/editorial/graphic/multimedia package "State of Hope," about Colorado's role as a destination for a liquid form of marijuana to heal sick children failed by conventional medicine, representative of the year's work.) The Post also won in two other categories, news series and sports reporting. The Post was honored for best news series for "Mental Health in Colorado" about the broken mental health system, videos by Mahala Gaylord and the Denver Post video staff; and best sports reporting for "Bridal Veil Falls Ascent," video by Helen Richardson, edited by Eric Lutzens, about paraplegic climber Sean O'Neill's ascent of the frozen falls. The Post has won national Murrow honors before but this is the first overall excellence award. At a time of shrinking newsroom staff and budgets, the Post managed to beat much larger online news outlets. "This is an incredible performance and validation of the leadership, hard work and strategy that has gone into our multimedia efforts," Editor Greg Moore wrote in a congratulatory note to staff. The awards, traditionally regarded as broadcasting's version of the Pulitzer Prize, have been a coveted honor since 1971. The 2015 Murrow Awards will be officially distributed at a gala in New York in October. Full story. Rieder: Charleston mistake a cautionary tale for journalism (USA Today) It's a classic cautionary tale for journalism in the digital age and the era of social media. A Pulitzer‐winning New York Times reporter goes for the fake while doing a piece on Dylann Roof, accused of murdering nine people in a Charleston, S.C., church. She's taken in by a 16‐year‐old in England who has decided to dupe the news media. This comes after the Times is referred to him by a Facebook "friend" of Roof''s who, it turns out, didn't know the alleged assassin at all. There are lessons from this episode both current and timeless. The more recent one is that while social media can be a very effective reporting tool, it's one that has to be used very, very carefully. The ancient one is that you don't go with information (or "information") ‐ no matter how sexy it is nor how competitive the situation ‐ until you have it nailed down. But make no mistake: This is no occasion for schadenfreude. In the supercharged world of today's journalism, similar things happen often, probably far more often than we know. And they will continue to happen for the foreseeable future. Full story. Advice for journalists who've lost their jobs from journalists who've lost their jobs (Poynter) After news that Circa was shutting down, Editor‐in‐Chief Anthony De Rosa wrote a post about his staff: I can vouch for all the people above, but I worked as Editor In Chief and can uniquely speak for the skills of the team I led below. I'm providing short bios but can get into more detail about what I think their strongest skills are. Please do get in touch soon if you want them, there's actually a lot of demand and I'm happy to see that. Circa's staff are now going through something a lot of journalists have gone through for more than a decade. Layoffs and shutdowns happen at legacy organizations and they happen at startups. At Poynter, we've written both about those layoffs and shutdowns and how the journalists involved recover. I asked some journalists who have been through this themselves if they had any advice for Circa's staff. Here's what they said. If you have advice of your own, please add in the comments below. Full story. Veteran journalists respond to layoffs at the Wisconsin State Journal (Isthmus) Doug Moe describes his reaction as "surprised but not shocked." Surprised because there was no warning, and not shocked because, well, this is the newspaper business. Last Thursday afternoon, Moe was called in by Wisconsin State Journal editor John Smalley for a bad‐news conversation. As Moe recalls, "He talked about budgets and the need to hit some better numbers." Moe, who has written columns for the paper since 2008, when he was wooed away from the jointly owned Capital Times, was being laid off. Effective immediately. "This was certainly not how I would have desired to end it," he says. Moe, whose long career includes eight books and a stint as editor of Madison Magazine, says he was told his performance was not an issue. Year after year, he's been named by readers as the paper's favorite reporter. "I have the 2014 award hanging in my kitchen," he says. Also laid off last week were sports writers Andy Baggot, who has worked at the paper since 1978, writing a regular column for more than two decades, and Dennis Semrau, who has worked for The Capital Times and State Journal since 1991, mainly covering prep sports. Like Moe, both have large followings and deep experience covering their beats. Full story. Jim Hopson named interim publisher of new Gatehouse Media property The Columbus Dispatch (Columbus Dispatch) GateHouse Media, which bought The Columbus Dispatch last week, named veteran publishing executive Jim Hopson to be the newspaper's interim publisher. GateHouse said he will serve while it conducts a national search for a permanent president and publisher. In 1995‐2000 Hopson, 69, was CEO of Thomson Newspapers central Ohio operations. until it was sold to Gannett in 2000. He has held executive posts at the Press of Atlantic City, Community Newspaper Co., in he Boston area and Lee Enterprises in Madison, Wis. In the latter job, he was chairman of Capital Newspapers and publisher of the Wisconsin State Journal. He also has helped guide other GateHouse newspapers through transitions, including the Telegram & Gazette of Worcester, Mass., and the Las Vegas Review‐Journal. Since 2006, he and his wife have lived at Granville, Ohio, some 20 miles northeast of Columbus. Heatherly named publisher in Wichita (The Jackson Sun) Roy Heatherly, president and publisher of The Jackson Sun, has been named president and publisher of The Wichita Eagle in Kansas. Heatherly has served in his current role at The Jackson Sun since January 2008. His last day at The Jackson Sun will be July 6. Heatherly, 59, grew up in Wichita and graduated from the University of Kansas. Alessandra Stanley moves to new New York Times beat covering inequality in America (Poynter) New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet announced that Alessandra Stanley is returning to reporting to cover economic inequality in America. The memo to staff is copied below. "Colleagues: After a dozen remarkable years as chief television critic, Alessandra Stanley Alessandra Stanley has decided to return to reporting. As part of The Times's deepening focus on economic inequality in America, she will be creating a new beat: an interdisciplinary look at the way the richest of the rich ‐ the top 1 percent of the 1 percent ‐ are influencing, indeed rewiring, the nation's institutions, including universities, philanthropies, museums, sports franchises and, of course, political parties and government. This is a subject both intensely timely and well suited to Alessandra's skills as an observer, reporter and writer ‐ one that has fascinated her, she says, since she wrote about the first generation of Russian oligarchs as a foreign correspondent in the mid‐1990s. Now, she'll be reporting on what she describes as the "psychology, rituals, costs and contradictions" of a new generation of American titans. Her work will add to The Times's ongoing reporting on inequality in all its forms. More announcements will come on that front. There is not enough space here to do justice to Alessandra's exceptional work as TV critic. She covered the globe, whether the subject was Russian television news ‐ an awkward mix of pro‐Putin and opposition stories that she described as "a little bit NPR, a little bit North Korea" ‐ or addictive French crime dramas. Closer to home, she weighed in on election‐ night coverage, Oscar ceremonies, anchor meltdowns and of course the rise of the golden age of cable dramas. If it was on TV, she was game to write about it. Her insights, wit and rich experience as a political reporter and foreign correspondent tracked a once fading medium as it re‐emerged as one of the dominant art forms of the moment." Pittsburgh PostGazette defends its reporting after UPMC hospitals ban sale of the paper in their gift shops (Post‐Gazette) Some UPMC hospitals are banning the Post‐Gazette from sale in their gift shops, a move UPMC spokesman Paul Wood said was precipitated by "fairness issues" in the newspaper's coverage of the health system. At least three UPMC hospitals ‐‐ UPMC Shadyside, UPMC Mercy and Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC ‐‐ say they will no longer sell the newspaper. Twice in recent years, UPMC executives have canceled the health giant's advertising in the PG, citing dissatisfaction with the way UPMC was covered in the news pages and how it was portrayed in editorials and editorial cartoons. ''The Post‐Gazette is edited without regard to any special interest, and our news columns are not for sale, at any price,'' said John Robinson Block, publisher of the newspaper. ''We have been here since 1786, and have as our purpose the same goal that UPMC was established for ‐‐ to serve the public's interest, not a narrow purpose.'' Post‐Gazette Circulation Director Randy Waugaman said this week that PG delivery staff members were told by gift shop workers at UPMC Shadyside, UPMC Mercy and Children's Hospital that they would not display the paper for sale. "Our people tried to reason with them,'' Waugaman said, ''but the gift shop personnel said that they were ordered to do so by their superiors and it was out of their control." The Final Word Former AP newsman Greg Toppo, now USA Today's national K‐12 education reporter, shared with Facebook friends a recent example of his "fan mail." Unsigned, of course. But it did have a flag stamp. Today in History By The Associated Press Today is Thursday, June 25, the 176th day of 2015. There are 189 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On June 25, 1950, war broke out in Korea as forces from the communist North invaded the South. On this date: In 1788, Virginia ratified the U.S. Constitution. In 1876, Lt. Col. Colonel George A. Custer and his 7th Cavalry were wiped out by Sioux and Cheyenne Indians in the Battle of the Little Bighorn in Montana. In 1910, President William Howard Taft signed the White‐Slave Traffic Act, more popularly known as the Mann Act, which made it illegal to transport women across state lines for "immoral" purposes. In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was enacted. In 1943, Congress passed, over President Franklin D. Roosevelt's veto, the Smith‐Connally Anti‐Strike Act, which allowed the federal government to seize and operate privately owned war plants facing labor strikes. In 1959, spree killer Charles Starkweather, 20, was put to death in Nebraska's electric chair. Eamon de Valera was inaugurated as president of Ireland. In 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that recitation of a state‐sponsored prayer in New York State public schools was unconstitutional. In 1975, the government of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency aimed at cracking down on political opponents. (The state of emergency was lifted in March 1977.) In 1981, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that male‐only draft registration was constitutional. In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court, in its first "right‐to‐die" decision, ruled that family members could be barred from ending the lives of persistently comatose relatives who had not made their wishes known conclusively. African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela met with President George H.W. Bush at the White House. In 1995, Warren Burger, the 15th chief justice of the United States, died in Washington at age 87. In 2009, death claimed Michael Jackson, the "King of Pop," in Los Angeles at age 50 and actress Farrah Fawcett in Santa Monica, California, at age 62. Ten years ago: Hardline Tehran mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (mahk‐MOOD' ah‐muh‐ DEE'‐neh‐zhadh) was declared the winner of Iran's presidential runoff election. The NAACP selected retired Verizon executive Bruce S. Gordon to be its new president (however, Gordon abruptly resigned in March 2007). Stage and screen actor John Fiedler, 80, died in Englewood, New Jersey. Five years ago: Group of Eight leaders, including President Barack Obama, began meeting in Huntsville, Ontario, Canada. BP said its effort to drill a relief well through 2 1/2 miles of rock to stop the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was on target for completion by mid‐August. Edwin Jackson threw the fourth no‐hitter of the season, leading the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 1‐0 victory over his former team, the Tampa Bay Rays. One year ago: In an emphatic defense of privacy in the digital age, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled that police generally may not search the cellphones of people they arrest without first getting search warrants. Tim Lincecum pitched his second no‐hitter against the San Diego Padres in less than a year, allowing only one runner and leading the San Francisco Giants to a 4‐0 win. The NFL agreed to remove a $675 million cap on damages from thousands of concussion‐related claims after a federal judge questioned whether there would be enough money to cover as many as 20,000 retired players. Today's Birthdays: Actress June Lockhart is 90. Civil rights activist James Meredith is 82. Rhythm‐and‐blues singer Eddie Floyd is 78. Actress Barbara Montgomery is 76. Actress Mary Beth Peil (peel) is 75. Basketball Hall‐of‐Famer Willis Reed is 73. Singer Carly Simon is 70. Rock musician Ian McDonald (Foreigner; King Crimson) is 69. Actor‐comedian Jimmie Walker is 68. Actor‐director Michael Lembeck is 67. TV personality Phyllis George is 66. Rock singer Tim Finn is 63. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is 61. Rock musician David Paich (Toto) is 61. Actor Michael Sabatino is 60. Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain is 59. Actor‐writer‐director Ricky Gervais (jer‐VAYZ') is 54. Actor John Benjamin Hickey is 52. Rock singer George Michael is 52. Actress Erica Gimpel is 51. Retired NBA All‐Star Dikembe Mutombo (dih‐KEHM'‐bay moo‐TAHM'‐boh) is 49. Rapper‐producer Richie Rich is 48. Rapper Candyman is 47. Contemporary Christian musician Sean Kelly (Sixpence None the Richer) is 44. Actress Angela Kinsey is 44. Rock musician Mike Kroeger (KROO'‐gur) (Nickelback) is 43. Rock musician Mario Calire is 41. Actress Linda Cardellini is 40. Actress Busy Philipps is 36. Thought for Today: "A straight line is the shortest in morals as in mathematics." ‐ Maria Edgeworth, Anglo‐Irish novelist (1767‐1849). Share your stories Got a story to share? A favorite memory of your AP days? Don't keep them to yourself. Share with your colleagues by sending to Ye Olde Connecting Editor. And don't forget to include photos! Here are some suggestions: ‐ "My boo boos ‐ A silly mistake that you make"‐ a chance to 'fess up with a memorable mistake in your journalistic career. ‐ Multigenerational AP families ‐ profiles of families whose service spanned two or more generations. ‐ Volunteering ‐ benefit your colleagues by sharing volunteer stories ‐ with ideas on such work they can do themselves. ‐ First job ‐ How did you get your first job in journalism? ‐ Connecting "selfies" ‐ a word and photo self‐profile of you and your career, and what you are doing today. Both for new members and those who have been with us a while. ‐ Life after AP for those of you who have moved on to another job or profession. ‐ Most unusual place a story assignment took you. Paul Stevens Editor Connecting newsletter [email protected] Forward this email This email was sent to [email protected] by [email protected] | Update Profile/Email Address | Rapid removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy. Connecting newsletter | 14719 W 79th Ter | Lenexa | KS | 66215