For the Record

Major Philanthropies Announce Local Journalism Initiative:

A group of more than 20 philanthropies "announced Thursday a plan to commit more than $500 million over the next five years to a new initiative called 'Press Forward' that will support local journalism across the country," according to Sara Fischer of Axios. The consortium "has major commitments from about two dozen groups," including the the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's Archewell organization, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Lenfest Institute for Journalism. In addition, the Knight Foundation "has pledged $150 million over the next five years, doubling its annual commitment to journalism initiatives broadly," while the MacArthur Foundation "has committed to doing at least $150 million in grants over next five years" along with "$25 million in impact investments." The fiscal operations of the initiative will be managed by a staff under the auspices of the Miami Foundation, which administers more than $400 million in assets focused on the city's metropolitan area. Press Forward "has identified four key priorities that will guide its grant-making process for allocating funds," including "strengthening local newsrooms that have the trust of local communities"; "accelerating the environment for news production and dissemination"; "closing longstanding inequalities in journalism coverage and practice"; and "advancing public policies that expand access to local news," Fischer added. "You've got to build the road before you can put a lot of cars on it," said Knight Foundation Vice President of Journalism Jim Brady, who noted that contemporary newsrooms must be "connected to their communities in meaningful ways [...] not just traffic-guzzling." Alongside its Press Forward obligations, the Knight Foundation also will administer an "additional $15 million in commitments to support six different local news and journalism initiatives across the country," Fischer wrote, while Press Forward "will work with More Perfect, a bipartisan initiative focused on advancing democratic goals, as part of its efforts." According to Fischer, "more than 2,000 newspapers have shuttered in the U.S. over the past 15 years, leaving roughly 20% of America's population without access to local news that covers their communities." Although "nonprofit newsrooms backed by large philanthropic donors have launched more frequently in an effort to fill the void," 45% of nonprofit local news revenue remains tied to foundation funding. Press Forward envisages a 2024 start for much of its grantmaking and will continue to explore opportunities with other philanthropies. 

Photojournalists, NYPD Reach Landmark First Amendment Settlement:

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) "has agreed to [...] settlement terms with five photojournalists who were attacked and arrested by NYPD during the racial justice protests of 2020," according to a Tuesday press release issued by the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA). The settlement "reinforces the First Amendment rights of the public and the press, provides new protections for journalists operating in New York, and according to the terms of the agreement will improve police training and reinforce proper behavior toward the press," according to the NPPA. Under the terms of the agreement, journalists "with press credentials issued by New York City’s Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) will not need to leave the area when an order to disperse is issued to the general public and members of the press will not be subject to arrest for documenting police activity or for not leaving the general area," while the NYPD "will not arrest journalists with government-issued credentials for alleged low-level offenses (such as disorderly conduct or obstructing governmental administrations) without prior approval by an incident commander or a Deputy Commissioner, Public Information official." Additionally, "any summons for such arrests will presumptively be issued to the journalist on site instead of at a police station, thereby discouraging the practice of unlawfully detaining journalists at police stations for hours before charges against them are dropped." In a historic measure, the agreement also prohibits NYPD officers "from arresting, restricting, or interfering with members of the press for merely observing or recording police activity in public places," and the department also will "recognize the legitimacy of press passes that are issued by jurisdictions outside New York City." Having "formally [acknowledged] that the press has a clearly established First Amendment right to record police activity in public places" for the first time in its history, the department is now "required to provide journalists with access 'to any location where the public is permitted,'" and NYPD officers are now "barred from putting up crime/accident/incident scene tape or establishing 'frozen zones' for the purpose of preventing members of the press" from working in public places. "Journalists are an essential part of a functioning, civil society and it's essential that they be allowed to conduct their work free of harassment and assault, especially from state actors,” said Mickey H. Osterreicher, general counsel to the NPPA. "On behalf of our members and all visual journalists, who perform a vital role as watchdogs and witnesses to history, I am very pleased with the terms of this agreement and the changes to police behavior that it demands." The settlement also "requires that the NYPD provide extensive annual training to all of its officers—ranging from Police Academy cadets to high-ranking executive personnel—on the First Amendment rights of the press and establishes a police-media relations committee to monitor and discuss future incidents involving the press," while "a committee headed by the New York City Department of Investigation will monitor police activity at protests to ensure that the NYPD complies with its commitments to respect the rights of peaceful protesters, journalists, and legal observers."

Google Unveils AI Watermarking Tool:

Google has announced a new tool that "embeds a digital 'watermark' directly into the image that can't be seen by the human eye but can be picked up by a computer that's been trained to read it," according to a Tuesday report by Gerrit De Vynck of The Washington Post. Accorded the moniker of SynthID by the multinational tech company, the tool "is resistant to tampering, making it a key step toward policing the spread of fake images and slowing the dissemination of disinformation," De Vynck wrote. "AI image generators have been available for several years and have been increasingly used to create 'deepfakes' — false images purporting to be real," he added. "In March, fake AI images of former President Donald Trump running away from police went viral online, and in May a fake image showing an explosion at the Pentagon caused a momentary crash in stock markets. Companies have placed visible logos on AI images, as well as attached text 'metadata' noting an image’s origin, but both techniques can be cropped or edited out relatively easily." Longtime Rep. Yvette D. Clarke (D), whose Congressional district encompasses the greater Flatbush section of Brooklyn, "has pushed for legislation requiring companies to watermark their AI images," with Clarke opining to De Vynck: "Clearly the genie’s already out of the bottle [...] We just haven't seen it maximized in terms of its weaponization." Because SynthID is restricted to files derived from Google's Imagen platform and only available to certain customers of Google's cloud computing business, "the company says it's not requiring customers to use it because it's still experimental." However, Google DeepMind Vice President of Research Pushmeet Kohli (who "cautioned that the new tool isn't totally foolproof") said "the ultimate goal" of Google "is to help create a system where most AI-created images can be easily identified using embedded watermarks." Although Google and its competitors (most notably OpenAI) have "pledged to create tools to watermark and detect AI-generated text, videos and images" (prompting Microsoft to "[start[ a coalition of tech companies and media companies to develop a common standard for watermarking AI images," among other endeavors), "images made with open-source AI generators would be still be undetectable," while Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has "released a video that included fake images of Donald Trump hugging former White House coronavirus adviser Anthony S. Fauci." Dan Purcell, founder of the AI-powered Digital Millennium Copyright Act compliance firm Ceartas, told De Vynck that a "massive increase in deepfakes" over the past nine months has trickled down deleteriously to "people who have had their social media images used to make AI-generated pornography against their will"; previously, the company’s "main clients have been adult content makers trying to stop their videos and images from being illicitly shared." With Clarke noting that "something as simple as putting out a visual depiction of an essential voting place that has been shut down" could be used to mislead voters, Kohli confirmed that Google will not share the "underlying research" associated with SynthID. "If people know how we have done it, they will try to attack it," he said.

Texas Tribune Announces Round of Layoffs:

Nonprofit newsroom The Texas Tribune "executed layoffs Wednesday for the first time in its 14-year history" amid "unsteady economic conditions and changes in the media industry," according to Angela Fu of Poynter. In an internal email, CEO Sonal Shah "wrote that 2023 has been a particularly challenging year for the outlet, which many have come to see as a model for nonprofit journalism," Fu said. "At a time when newsrooms across the country are shrinking, the Tribune has maintained a largely upward trajectory, growing both its staff and budget as it expands its coverage of the state. That momentum appeared to come to a halt Wednesday when several longtime journalists were laid off." Although a spokesperson "did not answer a question about how many people were laid off," former Tribune reporter Elise Hu said that "two multimedia reporters were part of the cuts" in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), while copy chief Emily Goldstein "also posted that the paper's entire copy desk was eliminated." Additionally, "senior editor and writing coach David Pasztor shared that he and the paper's demographics and criminal justice reporters were all laid off." Shah added: "This year has proven more challenging for us than others — changes in the industry, the unsteady economy and the need to explore new platforms and modes of storytelling are all things the Tribune must address head on. We know we must change to stay ahead. There are, of course, other challenges facing the media industry: AI, uneven news readership and engagement, changing audience behaviors and the growing phenomenon of news avoidance. There is no media company — commercial, nonprofit or public — that isn’t experiencing some version of this." However, the Tribune "will continue to grow its revenue team as the outlet had previously announced internally," while Shah "also noted that the outlet needs 'investments' in its development team." Co-founded in 2009 "by venture capitalist John Thornton and Texas journalists Evan Smith and Ross Ramsey, who had noticed a decline in the number of statehouse reporters," the Tribune raised $5 million in its initial funding round "and recruited many of the state’s top political reporters." It has "consistently made a profit" after first breaking even in 2012; in 2022, the news organization earned $11.9 million in revenue and undertook $10.3 million in expenses. Currently, the newsroom employs more than 100 staff members. "The layoffs come at a time of turmoil within the news industry," Fu continued. "Dozens of news outlets have initiated layoffs this year, including nonprofits and newsrooms that had previously been regarded as relatively stable. Those cuts include NPR, which laid off roughly 100 employees in March, and the Los Angeles Times, which announced 74 cuts in June, its first layoffs since billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong acquired the paper five years ago. Global employment firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas estimated in June there were at least 17,436 layoffs in the media industry during the first five months of 2023 — a record high." (Pulitzer Prize Board member Sewell Chan is the incumbent editor in chief of The Texas Tribune, while Pulitzer Board member Emily Ramshaw previously held the role. Los Angeles Times Executive Editor Kevin Merida also is a member of the Pulitzer Board.)

California Teacher Placed on Leave After Assigning 'Angels in America':

Temecula Valley High School teacher Greg Bailey "is unwillingly at the center of a culture-war drama, vilified as a groomer and unable to teach his life's passion while in investigatory limbo" after local resident Tracy Nolasco "complained that her 15-year-old daughter became distressed after being forced to read the play 'Angels in America' in Bailey's class," according to a recent report by Jeff Horseman of The Press-Enterprise. (The school is situated roughly 90 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles in Riverside County, Calif., while the first part of Tony Kushner's play, subtitled "Millennium Approaches," received the 1993 Drama Prize.) Bailey, who resides in nearby Menifee and has taught in the Temecula Valley Unified School District employee since 2018, was placed on paid leave immediately thereafter. Although the play (centered around the formative years of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s) "contains graphic sex scenes, profanity and adult themes," Bailey "said he never forced anyone to read 'Angels in America,' one of 10 plays students can read for an end-of-year assignment on Pulitzer-winning American playwrights." He added that "he didn't learn of Nolasco's misgivings until a month after the assignment and that he warns students in advance about the play's explicit content." (Other plays that students can read in the course include Tennessee Williams' 1948 Drama Prize-winning "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "The Crucible," written by 1949 Drama winner Arthur Miller.) "On the very first days of class, I let [students] know that there is never a time that they should feel uncomfortable in my room," Bailey said. "I tell them ["Angels in America" is] about the AIDS epidemic,” he continued. "I tell them that there is adult language in it. I tell them there are sexual situations in it. I also tell them that it is an epic piece of theater, that it won the Pulitzer Prize." In a phone interview, Nolasco "insisted Bailey 'did not prepare [students] for what exactly was going to be read." She added: "My problem with 'Angels in America' and with Mr. Bailey is the fact that that [play] was offered as a choice. It was hidden in the [school] library for over 20 years. And he took it upon himself to make copies and to distribute it to my daughter." Bailey countered: "I keep that play because I have had numerous students who read it and it has changed their life [...] I'm not talking about LGBTQ+ students. I'm talking about students who are expanding their worldview or gaining empathy by thinking about other people's experiences." After failing to reach the school administration, Nolasco "spoke at the school board's May 16 meeting about her concerns with the play," with Board President Joseph Komrosky opining: "Once that kind of concept enters the child's mind, the sexualization, it's over. It's in there." According to Horseman, "The day after Nolasco addressed the school board, Bailey said he was removed from the classroom in the middle of taking attendance. He said Riverside County sheriff's investigators visited his home and spoke with him for about 45 minutes, but no charges were filed." Although "412 Church Temecula Valley Pastor Tim Thompson, a leader in the effort to elect and defend Temecula's conservative school board majority, called for Bailey’s firing and accused him of being a 'groomer' and of 'perverted behavior,'" a group of "Bailey’s supporters, including his students and parents, held a June 2 rally for him near Temecula Valley High School." As of the report, Bailey "said he was ordered to report to the district office" in lieu of the school as the new academic year begins, although a potential meeting to discuss the results of an investigation was scheduled for this week.

Marion County Record Search Warrant Withdrawn Amid Public Outcry:

Following a week of "intense criticism and national headlines, the local prosecutor behind a controversial police raid on a Kansas newspaper office has agreed to withdraw the search warrant and return items taken from the paper," Paul Farhi of The Washington Post reported Wednesday. "The reversal, first reported by TV station KSHB and confirmed by the attorney for the Marion County Record, followed days of outraged reactions from press advocacy organizations, which called the police seizure Friday a violation of state and federal laws," Farhi continued. "Attorney Bernard Rhodes told The Washington Post that County Attorney Joel Ensey withdrew the warrant Wednesday and would return computers, cellphones and records taken by Marion police and sheriff's deputies from the newspaper headquarters and the home of Eric Meyer," a former associate professor of journalism at the University of Illinois whose family has owned the newspaper since 1998. (Meyer currently serves as its editor and publisher.) According to Farhi, Meyer's 98-year-old mother, Joan, collapsed and died a day after the raid, with the newspaper "[attributing] her death to stress brought on by the search of the home she shared with her son." Rhodes "suggested that this is unlikely to be the end of the incident," having "urged state officials to investigate how the raid came about, including the role played by Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody, who led the search." The attorney asserted that "The Record had been investigating Cody's departure from the Kansas City, Mo., police force this year, and he had threatened to sue the paper if it published allegations of misconduct." Farhi added: "The raid of the small weekly newspaper — virtually unprecedented in the United States — was apparently prompted by a dispute involving a local restaurant owner in Marion, a town of about 1,900 residents located about 60 miles from Wichita. Kari Newell claimed that the paper's reporters had illegally stolen her identity to access a government database that contained records of her arrest for drunken driving in 2008. The newspaper denied it had done so, but the allegation led officials to seek a search warrant from a local magistrate judge to search the newspaper and the Meyer home." Although Rhodes characterized the withdrawal of the warrant as "a promising first step” in restoring press freedom, he noted that it "doesn't do anything to undo the past and regrettably, it doesn’t bring back Joan Meyer." The Freedom of the Press Foundation has "called on the Kansas Bureau of Investigation to conduct an investigation into the raid, including why a magistrate judge, Laura Viar, signed the search warrant. On Tuesday, it announced that it had "launched a criminal probe but did not specify whether it was focused on the actions of the newspaper or the behavior of the police," Farhi continued. "The agency said Wednesday that its investigation remains open, though it said it would no longer consider the items being returned as evidence."

Associated Press Releases AI Newsroom Guidance:

The Associated Press "has released guidance on how it uses generative artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT and updated its AP Stylebook to reflect a new era for newsrooms," Alex Mahadevan of Poynter reported Wednesday. "Accuracy, fairness and speed are the guiding values for AP's news report, and we believe the mindful use of artificial intelligence can serve these values and over time improve how we work," wrote Amanda Barrett, the news organization's vice president for standards and inclusion. According to Mahadevan, the "internal guidelines, which stress the importance of human editing, warn about the myriad pitfalls of generative AI: its tendency to 'hallucinate' and produce misinformation, the ease at which bad actors can produce disinformation and privacy issues concerning what users put into ChatGPT." The standards reiterate that AP “has a licensing agreement with OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, and while AP staff may experiment with ChatGPT with caution, they do not use it to create publishable content [...] Any output from a generative AI tool should be treated as unvetted source material. AP staff must apply their editorial judgment and AP's sourcing standards when considering any information for publication." Mahadevan added that a reporter "may use ChatGPT to generate an article summary"; however, it "must be edited like any other content" prior to publication. "I want to emphasize that this is a tool we can use, but does not replace the journalistic smarts, experience, expertise and ability to do our jobs in a way that connects with audiences," Barrett said in a phone interview. Per the guidelines, generative AI may not be used to alter "any elements of [AP's] photos, video or audio," and the news organization will "refrain from transmitting any AI-generated images that are suspected or proven to be false depictions of reality." AI-generated media can still serve as "the subject of a news story [...] as long as it [is] clearly labeled as such in the caption." The guidelines also enjoin journalists to "exercise the same caution and skepticism they would normally, including trying to identify the source of the original content, doing a reverse image search to help verify an image’s origin, and checking for reports with similar content from trusted media." Barrett, who likened the current moment to the "rise of the internet" in the mid-to-late 1990s, "said the AP Stylebook's updated guidance for covering the burgeoning AI industry is as important as the new internal standards." The Stylebook guidance recommends that journalists "should beware of far-fetched claims from AI developers describing their tools, avoid quoting company representatives about the power of their technology without providing a check on their assertions, and avoid focusing entirely on far-off futures over current-day concerns about the tools." Mahadevan noted that "other organizations are also working on guidance for newsrooms looking to use generative AI," as exemplified by the nonprofit Partnership on AI, which is "seeking feedback on a draft of its AI Procurement and Use Guidebook for Newsrooms." The 27 page document "delves much deeper into the use of AI in the newsroom" and draws upon "experts at Gannett, McClatchy and the AP." (Pulitzer Prize Administrator Marjorie Miller formerly served as the AP's vice president and global enterprise editor. Past Pulitzer Prize Board Co-Chair John Daniszewski is the AP's vice president and editor at large for standards.)

Raid of Kansas Newspaper Elicits Concern, Condemnation:

On Sunday, more than 30 "news organizations and press freedom advocates, including The New York Times, The Washington Post and Dow Jones, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, signed a letter from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press" to Marion, Kan. Chief of Police Gideon Cody "after the local police force and county sheriff’s deputies raided the office of The Marion County Record" Friday, according to Steven Lee Myers and Benjamin Mullin of The New York Times. "Raids of news organizations are exceedingly rare in the United States, with its long history of legal protections for journalists," Myers and Mullin added. "At The Record, a family-owned paper with a circulation of about 4,000, the police seized computers, servers and cellphones of reporters and editors. They also searched the home of the publication's owner and semiretired editor as well as the home of a city councilwoman." They continued: "The searches, conducted on Friday, appeared to be linked to an investigation into how a document containing information about a local restaurateur found its way to the local newspaper — and whether the restaurant owner's privacy was violated in the process. The editor of the newspaper said the raids may have had more to do with tensions between the paper and officials in Marion, a town of about 2,000 north of Wichita, over prior coverage." In an interview, Eric K. Meyer (the newspaper's owner/editor and a former associate professor of journalism at the University of Illinois) said that the newspaper "did not publish an article about the government record, though [he] said that it had received a copy from a confidential source and that one of its reporters had verified its authenticity using the state’s records available online." Cody declined to discuss the case but opined that the "judicial system that is being questioned will be vindicated" in an email to Myers and Mullin. Meyer, 69, "has a family connection to The Marion County Record: His father, Bill, worked there for half a century beginning in 1948, rising to be its top editor," Myers and Mullin wrote. "In 1998, his family bought the newspaper and two others nearby — the Hillsboro Star-Journal and Peabody Gazette-Bulletin — from the previous publisher, the Hoch family, who had owned them for 124 years." Beginning on August 2, the dispute was foregrounded when local restaurateur Kari Newell "asked the police chief to remove [...] Meyer and a reporter, Phyllis Zorn, from" a "meet-and-greet" reception held at her establishment for Rep. Jake LaTurner (R), who represents Kansas's 2nd congressional district. "After the newspaper published an article about the episode, Zorn received a private message on Facebook, Meyer said, from someone who shared a letter to Newell from the Kansas Department of Revenue," Myers and Mullin wrote. "The letter detailed the steps she needed to take to restore her driver's license, which had been suspended after a drunken driving citation in 2008, according to the newspaper." They continued: "Last Monday, Newell appeared at a City Council meeting seeking approval to operate a liquor-serving establishment. She accused the newspaper at the meeting of illegally obtaining the letter and giving it to a councilwoman, Ruth Herbel. Herbel, whose home was also searched on Friday, did not respond to a request for comment. Meyer said that the newspaper had not shared the document with Herbel. He added that Newell had later told the newspaper that the release of the information might have been related to her ongoing divorce proceedings. A search warrant for the raid, issued by a judge roughly an hour before the search on Friday morning, mentions Newell and cited potential violations of laws involving identity theft and the illegal use of a computer." Seth Stern, the advocacy director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, "said federal law allowed the police to search journalists when the authorities have probable cause to believe the journalists had committed a crime unrelated to their journalism." However, journalists "suspected of committing crimes as part of news gathering" may instead be subpoenaed through legal channels. "You can’t say, 'I'm allowed to raid the newsroom because I'm investigating a crime,' if the crime you're investigating is journalism," he said. Despite lacking access to drafts of articles and public notices, Meyer and his staff will attempt to publish this week's edition of the newspaper Wednesday. "If we don't fight back and we don't win in fighting back, it's going to silence everybody," he said.

Diana Marcum (1963-2023):

2015 Feature Writing winner Diana Marcum died Wednesday night after falling into a coma following the removal of a glioblastoma from her brain last month. She was 60 years old. According to an obituary by Los Angeles Times Staff Writer James Rainey, "the lifelong Californian left The Times late in 2022 and went in on the purchase of a second home in Portugal’s Azores — a world away from" her longtime base in Fresno — "where she had planned to write what would have been the third of her travel memoirs." Pulitzer Prize Board member and Los Angeles Times Executive Editor Kevin Merida lauded Marcum as "an extraordinary writer, with a strong, resonant voice and exquisite observational skills." Merida "recalled a day-long tour of Central Valley farms, homes and businesses that the reporter took him on when he started his job two years ago and how there was 'such respect and genuine affection for her at every stop we made,'" Rainey wrote. Although she had dreamed of a literary or journalistic career as a child in Loma Linda, Marcum was forced to take a series of improvisatory jobs while attending community college after the death of her adoptive parents from cancer. "When I met her she was determined to work and keep her brother out of the foster care system, which she succeeded in doing,” said Janet Sluis, a close friend from that period onward who confirmed her death. "Diana had the attitude that life was short, and that she wouldn’t ever really plan for the future." Although she was unable to complete her undergraduate degree, Marcum obtained full-time reporting positions at The San Bernardino Sun and The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, eventually moving to The Fresno Bee as an enterprise reporter and columist. "Her pieces ran the gamut, from dispatches on Barack Obama's first inauguration to a profile of a group of ice-cream loving nuns and an ode to a taco truck that became the glue for one small mountain town," Rainey continued. "While she initially worried about her lack of formal education, Marcum's view evolved. 'I came to see that there are advantages to having come up my own way,' she told the Portuguese American Journal. 'Because I will never be writing about 'them.' I am a 'them.' I will always be writing about 'us.'" Upon taking a buyout from The Bee, Marcum managed to gather the material for her first book on the Azores but returned "dead broke" to the United States. Then-Los Angeles Times State Editor Carlos Lozano began to assign Central Valley-based freelance pieces to Marcum (fourteen of which made the front page), leading to a full-time staff position in 2011. The 2014 pieces that "would win her the Pulitzer Prize were classic Marcum," Rainey wrote. She didn’t propose a large 'project' on the California drought — and demand months of time to do the work — but merely began talking to people in communities like Huron, Terra Bella, Madera and Stratford. Marcum and photographer Michael Robinson Chavez found the disaster struck haphazardly, in part because of uneven allocations from struggling water districts. That meant green crops and contented owners operated just across the way from desiccated fields and emptied farm camps." Before leaving The Times, Marcum published her books, experimented with a new beat focused on "joy" and completed a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University during the 2018-19 academic year. In addition to Sluis, she is survived by her partner, former Fresno Bee photojournalist Mark Crosse.

Private Equity Firm Acquires Simon & Schuster:

Private equity behemoth Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR; best known for its 1989 leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco and the 2007 buyout of Texas utility TXU) has agreed to acquire publisher Simon & Schuster from Paramount in a $1.62 billion, "[putting] control of the cultural touchstone behind authors like Stephen King and Bob Woodward in the hands of a financial buyer with an expanding presence in the publishing industry," Elizabeth A. Harris, Lauren Hirsch and Benjamin Mullin of The New York Times reported Monday. The reporters added: "While private equity investors have had a significant footprint in the book business — different firms have owned literary agencies, publishing houses and the retailer Barnes & Noble — the acquisition of one of the largest publishers in the country vastly increases the hold of financial interests in the business." In an interview with the team, longtime Simon & Schuster CEO Jon Karp (who will remain in his role after the acquisition is completed) said he was "thrilled with the result [...] They plan to invest in us and make us even greater than we already are. What more could a publishing company want?" KKR media advisor Richard Sarnoff (who formerly chaired the Association of American Publishers trade organization) played an integral role in the agreement, with Karp remarking that he "understands the nuances of the book business as well as anyone I know" in a letter to its staff and authors. "A sale to another publisher would mean the new management would understand the book business," Harris, Hirsch and Mullin wrote. "But it would also mean further consolidation in the industry, with potentially fewer players available to bid on big books, and the chance of layoffs as redundant jobs were eliminated. It could also raise regulatory scrutiny: Paramount’s first attempt to sell Simon & Schuster, to Penguin Random House, was derailed by government antitrust concerns." New York University business professor Gustavo Schwed "said the sale would allow KKR to invest in a business that was no longer viewed as core by its seller"; however, the "amount of debt KKR uses to finance the acquisition will help determine the publisher's financial constraints." He continued: "Sometimes, despite your best intentions, things crash and burn — and the more leverage you use, the more risk there is of that happening." Under the agreement, Simon & Schuster employees also will "receive an ownership stake in the company, part of a program KKR developed to improve engagement among those who work in the companies it buys." Although the deal failed to match Penguin Random House's $2.18 billion offer, "the difference in the price is partially offset by the termination fee paid to Paramount" and recently robust earnings at Simon & Schuster, according to Harris, Hirsch and Mullin. "Paramount doesn't want to traipse through another deal that goes bust," said University of Michigan business professor Erik Gordon. "It wants to sell the business without more surprises." (Past Pulitzer Administrator Dana Canedy is the former publisher of Simon & Schuster's eponymous flagship imprint. Former Pulitzer Prize Board Co-Chair Mindy Marqués Gonzalez is a vice president/executive editor at the firm.)