For the Record

Gittens on The City, Service Journalism:

The City Deputy Editor Hassan Gittens spoke to Delia Cai of Deez Links Friday about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the nonprofit local New York City news site, which launched last year in response to the closure of The Village Voice and similar news organizations. "In the coronavirus era, we've really expanded our efforts to get people to reach out to us. We put call-outs and Google Forms in every single story, and we've really tried to make all our stories — even the ones full of data and numbers and policy explanations — about people and communities and what matters to them," he said.

19th Forges Ahead:

The 19th CEO and Pulitzer Prize Board member Emily Ramshaw discussed the future of the nonprofit newsroom (described as a "nonpartisan look at women and politics") amid the COVID-19 pandemic with Laura Hazard Owen of NiemanLab. "It just became obvious to us that the story of this moment, in particular when it comes to women of color, was so pronounced that, if covering disparities was our bread and butter, we had to stay engaged and, in some ways, we had to speed up our plans," Ramshaw said. "We’re intending to launch late this summer. I don’t have an exact launch date yet, but we’re moving full speed ahead toward developing and producing our platform so we have a place for our original journalism to live."

High School Journalists Perservere:

Clare McNeil of the Tampa Bay Times has profiled Marin Fehl, editor-in-chief of Hillsborough High School's student newspaper and the oldest high school newspaper in Florida, as she oversaw coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic in her final semester. “What we’re doing is important,” she said to colleagues on a late April video chat. "I don’t give inspirational speeches — but you’re great."

Business Intelligence Firms Merge:

According to Max Willens of Digiday, Insider Inc. announced Wednesday that Business Insider Intelligence and eMarketer have been rebranded as Insider Intelligence. Barbara Peng, who serves as president of the combined company, told Willens that she sees the divisions as being "complementary," as "eMarketer is strongest in digital media and technology, while BI Intelligence's biggest base of customers is in financial services." The B2B business intelligence company offers reports on such disparate subjects as "AI in Supply Chains and Logistics" and "Blockchains in Advertising."

Union Consortium Lobbies for Electronic Elections:

A consortium of unions (including the AFL-CIO, SEIU and the Communications Workers of America) sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer Wednesday urging the lawmakers to "include funding and a directive for the National Labor Relations
Board (NLRB) to develop a system and procedures for conducting union representation elections electronically." The effort comes as several unions in Gannett-owned newsrooms have been unable to conduct elections due to the company's resistance to mail-in ballots.

Times: Return No Earlier than Sept. 8:

According to an internal New York Times memo obtained by Oliver Darcy of CNN, the newspaper will ask employees to stop working remotely no earlier than September 8, the Tuesday after Labor Day. The memo, which was signed by Publisher A. G. Sulzberger, CEO Mark Thompson, COO Meredith Kopit Levien and CFO Roland Caputo, added that the leadership team "will explore ways of partially reopening our offices before September if we can."

Schoofs to Succeed Smith at BuzzFeed:

BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti announced Tuesday that 2000 International Reporting winner Mark Schoofs will succeed Ben Smith as editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed News. Schoofs, who founded the news site's award-winning investigative unit, will continue to serve concurrently as visiting professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, "allowing BuzzFeed and the school to build a unique collaboration" that will encompass an internship program and courses taught by Peretti.

A Tale of Two Bookstores:

As Italy begins to lift its aggressive lockdown instituted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, two bookstore owners spoke to Stacey Vanek Smith and Cardiff Garcia of NPR about their uncertain futures. Although Diego Bressan of Gorizia's Ubik Bookshop plans to enforce social distancing measures and the wearing of protective gear, Mattia Garavaglia of Turin's Golem Bookstore fears that a return to normalcy will impact his successful delivery business. "This month is, like, the biggest boom month of my life," he added.

News Corp Appoints Dow Jones CEO:

News Corp announced Monday that Almar Latour will serve as chief executive of Dow Jones and publisher of The Wall Street Journal effective May 15. Latour has been publisher of the Barron’s Group division since 2016. "Over nearly a quarter century at The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones, Almar has ascended from roles as a news assistant and staff reporter, becoming a bureau chief and managing editor, and more recently serving as an editor-in-chief, executive editor and publisher," said News Corp CEO Robert Thomson. "He has shown distinguished leadership, editorially and commercially, and brings a deep understanding of digital challenges and opportunities."

U.N. Marks World Press Freedom Day:

The United Nations observed World Press Freedom Day (held May 3) Monday with a virtual "High-level Dialogue on Press Freedom and Tackling Disinformation in the COVID-19 Context" featuring Secretary-General António Guterres, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay and High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet. "I could not do my job without the courageous, creative and often deeply moving work of the media," Guterres said. "Reporters regularly bring to light major cases of corruption and nepotism, human rights violations, ethnic cleansing, sexual and gender-based violence. These reports are crucial in the pursuit of justice, laying the foundations for more detailed investigations that may lead to prosecutions."