For the Record

Mellon Foundation Awards Poets Laureate Fellowships:

The Academy of American Poets "announced on Thursday the 23 recipients of its Poets Laureate Fellowships, who will use the $50,000 grants for civic projects throughout the United States, even as the coronavirus pandemic limits the in-person, community-based initiatives they typically develop," according to Concepción de León of The New York Times. The program is sponsored by the Mellon Foundation, whose president, Pulitzer Prize Board member Elizabeth Alexander, is a poet. Alexander said that "the financial impact of the coronavirus has made supporting artists even more urgent."

2020 National Book Festival Goes Online:

The 2020 National Book Festival will be moved from August 29 "to the weekend of Sept. 25-27 and presented online only" due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Ron Charles of The Washington Post. Charles added: "With authors unable to travel amid social distancing restrictions, most major literary festivals this year have been canceled or shifted online." The event, which was started in 2001 under the direction of then-First Lady Laura Bush, "has been underwritten in recent years by Washington-area philanthropist David M. Rubenstein," with The Post as a charter sponsor.

Merkel Mail Shutters After 130 Years:

The weekly Merkel (Tx.) Mail published its last edition Wednesday after remaining in publication for 130 years, according to Ronald W. Erdrich of the Abilene Reporter News. Former Reporter News reporter and lifetime Merkel resident John Starbuck, who served as its editor since 2001 and purchased the paper nine years later, was its only full-time staff member as of this year. 

News Corp Announces Massive Digital Shift, Layoffs in Australia:

News Corp Australia "has confirmed that more than 100 local and regional newspapers will become digital only or disappear entirely, and there will be a significant number of job losses," according to Amanda Meade of The Guardian. Thirty-six papers will close altogether, while 76 "will remain as online mastheads." The media company did not specify the number of layoffs. News Corp Australasia Executive Chairman Michael Miller thanked the departing employees for their “professionalism, dedication and contribution."

Larry Kramer (1935-2020):



1993 Drama finalist Larry Kramer died Wednesday in Manhattan from complications of pneumonia. He was 84. A Columbia Pictures executive who segued into a dramatic and literary career through his Academy Award-nominated screenplay for Ken Russell's adaptation of D. H. Lawrence's "Women in Love" (1969), Kramer also was known for his HIV/AIDS activism, co-founding Gay Men's Health Crisis and the direct action organization ACT UP. Actor and comedian Scott Thompson said that his speeches from the height of the AIDS crisis were "like hearing God roar," while Dr. Anthony Fauci recalled their "extraordinary 33-year relationship."
 

Seattle Times Digital Journalists Announce Unionization Effort:

Fifteen digital journalists at The Seattle Times who are not represented by the newspaper's unit of the NewsGuild's Pacific Northwest local announced their intention to join the unit Tuesday. "We are producers, video journalists, news developers and engagement editors," the group said. "We work side by side — and often interchangeably — with reporters, copy editors, photographers, desk editors, graphic artists and others who have a voice in our workplace, while we do not."

Publishers Retain New Subscribers:

A variety of news organizations (including Bloomberg, The New York Times and The Guardian) "anecdotally say they are seeing signs of stronger retention rates from subscribers who have signed up since February and March," according to Lucinda Southern of Digiday. Additionally, the first-month attrition (or "churn") for monthly auto-renewing subscriptions dropped by 17% compared with the average churn in previous months on subscription platform Piano, which tracks 300 publishers. "Even flat churn is impressive, given the big increase in new subscriptions during March," said Michael Silberman, Piano's senior vice president of strategy.

Twitter Deems Trump Tweets 'Potentially Misleading':

According to Brian Fung of CNN, Twitter appended fact checks to two of President Trump's tweets "that falsely claimed mail-in ballots would lead to widespread voter fraud" Tuesday, constituting the first such actions against Trump's account. After the labels were applied, the president asserted in subsequent tweets that the platform "is interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election" and "stifling FREE SPEECH," while some users "faulted Twitter for not explicitly saying in the label that Trump's tweets contained false information."

Widower Asks Twitter to Remove Trump Tweets:

The husband of a woman who died accidentally in an office of then-GOP Rep. Joe Scarborough two decades ago is demanding that Twitter remove President Donald Trump’s tweets suggesting Scarborough, a Trump critic, murdered her. “My request is simple: Please delete these tweets,” Timothy J. Klausutis wrote to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Twitter did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the letter.

Pack Nomination Clears Committee:

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee "voted along party lines" last week to "move forward with the nomination of filmmaker Michael Pack" to serve as chief executive of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the independent federal agency "that oversees the Voice of America and other government-backed international broadcast outlets," according to Ted Johnson of Deadline. The nomination, which was "pending just shy of two years," had been delayed by what Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) characterized as "serious vetting issues," including an ongoing investigation of Pack's nonprofit organization by Washington, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine.