For the Record

Katches Apologizes for Profane Vendor Tweet:

Tampa Bay Times Executive Editor Mark Katches apologized Monday for a profane tweet "sent by an employee of a Times technology vendor [Naviga, which operates the newspaper's push notification system] who was testing a news alert system." Katches reiterated that the tweet "came without warning or consultation with us" and said that the newspaper's staffers "are in vigorous conversations with [Naviga] to prevent any recurrence."

Condé Nast Unions Rally Around Wired:

Three Condé Nast unions (including bargaining units representing staffers from Ars Technica, The New Yorker and Pitchfork) and Wired's proposed bargaining unit sent an open letter to CEO Roger Lynch Monday demanding that the company "immediately recognize [the Wired] union and improve severance packages for our recently laid off coworkers," according to an accompanying tweet. The letter noted the "quick [recognition]" of earlier unions amid the loss of "indispensible members of our edit team as well as the entire San Francisco-based video team" at Wired.

Advertising Down, Subscriptions Ascendant at Boston Globe:

According to Kayleigh Barber of Digiday, Boston Globe Media has recorded a 35% increase in subscriptions despite a 30-35% decline in advertising since the beginning of the pandemic. Chief Commercial Officer Kayvan Salmanpour added that the company will rethink its classified advertising section, which he characterized as an "already declining product," while the GlobeDocs documentary festival has benefited from the switch to virtual due to its global nature.

Trump Lauds 'Reopen LI' Protesters:

According to Tom Brune of Newsday, President Trump praised the "protesters who harassed News 12 Long Island reporter Kevin Vesey when he covered a right-wing group Setauket Patriots’ rally in Commack, [N.Y.] this week demanding the reopening of Long Island's economy." In addition to posting a clip Saturday in which they characterized Vesey as the "enemy of the people" and "fake news," the president hailed the protesters as "great people." Although the group thanked Trump in a follow-up tweet, the group has since apologized to the broadcast journalist on its Facebook page.

Cuts Continue at Economist, Digital News Organizations:

According to Laura Hazard Owen and Sarah Scire of NiemanLab, hundreds of journalism positions were eliminated last week, "piling up alongside thousands of other media job losses that have accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic (and joining the more than 20.5 million jobs that have been lost in the U.S. since April)." Digital news organizations were disproportionately represented, including 55 domestic positions at Vice and 80 positions at Quartz, while The Economist announced that it would eliminate 90 non-editorial positions.

Pompeo Issues Statement Against Chinese Media Interference:

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement Sunday "warning China the U.S. would take action if authorities interfere with the work of American journalists in Hong Kong," according to Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian and Rebecca Falconer of Axios. Pompeo affirmed that "any decision impinging on Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedoms as guaranteed under the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law would inevitably impact our assessment of One Country, Two Systems and the status of the territory." China announced in March that it was "canceling the press credentials of most U.S. journalists from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal [...] and The Washington Post" and would restrict any potential activity from the news organizations in Hong Kong.

Washington Post to Work Remotely Until Labor Day:

In a Thursday memo, Washington Post Publisher Fred Ryan announced that the newspaper will continue to work remotely until Labor Day, according to Andrew Beaujon of Washingtonian. The decision echoes guidance from The New York Times (which told employees last week that it would extend remote work until the same timeframe) and Politico (which will not have a physical presence at the summer's national political conventions in addition to extending remote work to July 1).

Analyst: 200-300 Newspapers Decimated by End of Year:

In a Star Tribune feature on the decline of the Twin Cities' local press, Owen Van Essen, "a Minnesota native who is president of Dirks, Van Essen, Murray and April, a Santa Fe, N.M.,-based newspaper industry merger and acquisition firm," predicted to reporter Matt McKinney that as many as 200 to 300 "small, weekly newspapers that will not be around by the end of the year," while as many as 500 papers "will reduce their publication schedule this year."

Atlantic Gains 70,000 Subscribers:

In an interview with Sarah Scire of NiemanLab, Adrienne LaFrance of The Atlantic discussed the magazine's editorial strategy in light of a recent subscription boom coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic, including a new feature on the QAnon movement written by LaFrance. "[I]t proves a thing that we are doing more and more of here, which is getting a cross disciplinary group of brilliant people into a room to make something big," said the executive editor, who reports to past Pulitzer Prize juror and Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg. LaFrance also said that the publication has "extended our crossword puzzles" because "they’ve been so popular."

Last Days of The Plain Dealer:

In a piece for the Columbia Journalism Review, Anna Clark detailed the last days of Cleveland's Plain Dealer, which will cease to exist following parent company Advance Local's decision to lay off four remaining journalists on May 17. The metropolitan area will continue to be served by Cleveland.com, a non-union digital property that has co-published Plain Dealer content since its inception. "We've had a lot of guilt about the way things turned out," said Rachel Dissell, a former Guild Leader, in an April 15 interview. "We obviously didn’t want it to end this way."