For the Record

Former Pulitzer Administrator Reflects on Memoir Adaptation, Personal Journey:

In a vignette for The New York Times, former Pulitzer Administrator Dana Canedy reflected on the gestation of "A Journal for Jordan," the Denzel Washington-directed adaptation of her 2008 memoir. The film is set for wide release on December 25. "I wrote a memoir about the love I shared with the most honorable man I have ever known," she said. "His name was Charles Monroe King, and he was devoted to me in a way no other man has ever been. He called me his queen and treated me like one." She continued: "What made our love movie-worthy, though, was that my gentle warrior was also First Sgt. King, a highly decorated Army leader who in 2005 began to write what became a 200-page journal to our unborn son, Jordan, while deployed to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He told our son how to choose a wife, explained the power of prayer and wrote lovingly about how proud he was to be his father. Charles was killed in combat on Oct. 14, 2006, with only one month left on his tour of duty. I was a journalist at The New York Times then and wanted Americans to understand what it was like to open the front door to find military officials standing there to inform you that your soldier had just made the ultimate sacrifice. The article led to my book, 'A Journal for Jordan,' and ultimately to a movie of the same title directed by [Washington] and starring Michael B. Jordan as Charles and Chanté Adams as me." According to Canedy, the process has been vexatious at times. "I understand that I am living what must seem like a glamorous life, and much of the time, I truly am. I recently had a photo shoot with Denzel Washington. And who wouldn’t want a squad of stylists, makeup artists and hairdressers, or to be chauffeured around Hollywood? But it is not all champagne and Chanel. For context, there is actually nothing 'Hollywood' about me. I do not look like a starlet and never had any interest in being one. I am not trying to slip Denzel a screenplay to consider for his next movie. And I don’t give a damn about fame." She added: "I am profoundly grateful for the opportunity to share our movie with the world. And while parts of it are painful to watch, others are funny and uplifting. In the end, I was reminded that even the most difficult moments in life can come with blessings."

Washington Blade Receives Designated White House Briefing Room Seat:

The Washington Blade "has secured an officially designated seat in the White House James S. Brady Briefing Room, marking the first time an LGBTQ publication has been afforded the honor," the publication reported Monday. Founded in 1969, the D.C. metropolitan area-based periodical is the oldest LGBTQ newspaper in the United States and the third largest by circulation, currently ranking behind the Philadelphia Gay News and the Gay City News of New York. The decision (which will take effect on January 3) was announced by the White House Correspondents Association Friday as part of an updated seating chart. White House Reporter Chris Johnson will be the seat's regular assignee. CSPAN Radio White House Reporter and WHCA President Steven Portnoy "said in a memo changes were made 'to enhance diversity in the briefing room,' including seat designations for 'organizations that target Black, Hispanic and LGBTQ audience[s]' as well as publications 'across the ideological spectrum.'" The Blade will rotate its seat on a weekly basis with The Boston Globe and will be situated between seats shared with The Daily Caller and EWTN, a Catholic-themed global news network. In a statement, Editor Kevin Naff reflected on the decision. "Thank you to the Correspondents Association for this designation. This was decades in the making and a credit to the hard work of Chris Johnson and Lou Chibbaro Jr. before him. This will enable us to devote more focus to national political news impacting the LGBTQ community." Previously, The Blade was included in the White House in-town pool rotation ("a system giving reporters the responsibility of shadowing the president of the United States and reporting back on his movements and statements in the form of pool reports for the entire White House press corps") beginning in 2013.

Spotify Introduces Rating System:

Spotify announced Thursday that it is "launching a five-star rating system for podcasts," paralleling competitor Apple Podcasts' star rating system, according to Ashley Carman of The Verge. Subscribers or listeners "will be able to leave a rating after they listen to a show for at least 30 seconds, and the average rating will be displayed on a show’s landing page once at least 10 have been submitted," Carman added. The streaming platform said that the system "is meant to make it 'easier for listeners to decide when to try out a new podcast' and that these ratings will 'serve as the first chance to draw new listeners in.'" Although Carman believes that "trope of 'rate and review' on Apple Podcasts is silly" while also functioning as "a real driver for people to go to an app," reviews "often open platforms and their users up to harassment." He continued: "They do indeed offer a helpful first impression of a show but are also easy to game. I wrote a story two years ago about angry fans review bombing shows on Apple Podcasts. In a year, I could probably write the same about Spotify. (The opposite can always be true, too, of a podcaster review bombing themselves for good.) Does that mean we shouldn’t have ratings? Probably not. But does that mean I hope Spotify has a good bot detection system or even one to detect broad harassment? Yes." 

Lee Enterprises Rejects Alden Offer:

Lee Enterprises’ board "formally rejected Thursday a $24 per share cash offer by Alden Global Capital" also while announcing a "generally good earnings report for the quarter that ended Sept. 30," Rick Edmonds of Poynter reported yesterday. In a conference call with analysts, CEO Kevin Mowbray added that the company "has built paid digital-only circulation at its 77 daily newspapers to 425,000," an important milestone "on its way to a goal of 900,000 in five years." In a statement, Chair Mary Junck elaborated on the decision. "The Alden proposal grossly undervalues Lee and fails to recognize the strength of our business today, as the fastest-growing digital subscription platform in local media, and our compelling future prospects," she said. "We remain confident in our ability to create significant value as an independent company. [The] core of Lee’s strength and competitive advantage is steadfast commitment to high-quality local news.” According to Edmonds, the company "earlier instituted a so-called 'poison pill' takeover defense, which aims to block Alden over the next year from acquiring more than 10% of the company’s stock on the open market." Last Friday, it further "rebuffed Alden’s attempt to nominate three candidates for Lee’s eight-person board, saying the nominations did not comply with the company’s bylaws." Although Alden did not respond to Edmonds' request for comment, the hedge fund "could make a variety of countermoves in the coming days, including legal action or upping its offer." Lee's holdings include such former Pulitzer, Inc.-owned publications as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Tuscon-based Arizona Daily Star. Upon acquiring the Warren Buffett-owned BH Media earlier this year, it assumed ownership of several additional newspapers, including The Buffalo News, the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Omaha World-Herald. The publisher's stock "has been trading for several weeks at more than the $24 a share Alden offered Nov. 22, suggesting that Wall Street expects a higher offer or agrees that the company can grow if it stays independent." Following the announcements, its shares "were up another 11.8% in late morning trading to $27.90."

French Authorities: Khashoggi Suspect Misidentified:

The Paris General Prosecutor's Office announced Wednesday that a man arrested at the city's De Gaulle Airport "for allegedly being linked to the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was misidentified," according to Thomas Adamson of The Associated Press. "The [arrest] warrant does not apply to him," the statement said. French media reported that "that the mix-up was related to the fact that the detained man had an identical name to" suspect Khalid Aedh al-Otaibi, who is subject to arrest under a 2019 Turkish warrant. A judicial official "told The Associated Press that the suspect can be held until Thursday morning at the latest, but he will likely be released before." Previously, the Saudi embassy in Paris "always maintained that it was a case of mistaken identity, and the arrested man “had nothing to do with the case in question." A first cousin of Egyptian-British socialite Dodi Fayed and the nephew of high-profile Saudi parapolitical figure Adnan Khashoggi, the younger Khashoggi was educated at Indiana State University and served with the Saudi General Intelligence Directorate. He also worked in journalism, including a stint as a high-ranking editor at the Al Madina newspaper for much of the 1990s. In 2017, he fled Saudi Arabia in self-imposed exile and began writing a column for The Washington Post that September. In April 2018, he wrote that Saudi Arabia "should return to its pre-1979 climate, when the government restricted hard-line Wahhabi traditions [...] Women today should have the same rights as men. And all citizens should have the right to speak their minds without fear of imprisonment." While obtaining documents for his imminent marriage at Istanbul's Saudi consulate in October 2018, he was assassinated by agents of the Saudi government, allegedly acting on behalf of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, widely regarded as the kingdom's de facto ruler.

More Than 200 Newspapers Initiate Antitrust Lawsuits:

More than 200 newspapers across the United States "have been quietly filing antitrust lawsuits against Google and Facebook for the past year, alleging the two firms monopolized the digital ad market for revenue that would otherwise go to local news," Sara Fischer and Kristal Dixon of Axios reported Tuesday. "The intellectual framework for this developed over the last 3-4 years," said Doug Reynolds, managing partner of HD Media, the holding company that owns the Charleston Gazette-Mail and other West Virginia newspapers. In January, Reynols filed the first lawsuit of this kind on behalf of the company's publications with a group of lawyers. Firms retained for similar lawsuits include Farrell and Fuller, Fitzsimmons Law Firm, Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP and Herman Jones LLP. According to Fischer and Dixon, the "lawsuits are being funded via contingencies, which means the lawyers involved only get paid if and when the newspapers win settlements." If the litigation is successful, the papers "could be entitled to 'treble damages,' settlements that are three times the actual damages that are proven to have occurred," said Paul Farrell Jr., a West Virginia lawyer who was inspired to work on Reynolds' case "in part because of the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism of the opioid crisis" published by the Gazette-Mail. All of the lawsuits "were consolidated by a judicial panel over the summer in the Southern District of New York," with the News Media Alliance trade group (which is not directly involved in the litigation) "[filing] a declaration to have the cases consolidated there [...] with the hope that the attorney general there would be more sympathetic to the newspaper lawsuits." Currently, the consolidated lawsuits are still pending. Facebook has refused to comment on the matter. "These claims are just wrong," said Google in a statement. "The online advertising space is crowded and competitive, our ad tech fees are lower than reported industry averages, and publishers keep the vast majority of revenue earned when using our products. We are one of the world's leading financial supporters of journalism and have provided billions of dollars to support quality journalism in the digital age."

Philippine Court Allows Ressa to Attend Nobel Ceremony:

The Philippine Court of Appeals said Friday that it will permit journalist Maria Ressa "to travel to Norway to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, after the government tried to block her from attending the ceremony," according to Sui-Lee Wee of The New York Times. Ressa's lawyer, Ted Te, "filed the appeal last month for his client after the Philippines' solicitor general said the journalist could not travel to Norway." In its filing, the government alleged that Ressa was a flight risk because her "recurring criticisms of the Philippine legal processes in the international community reveal her lack of respect for the judicial system." Ressa, the first Nobel laureate from the Philippines, was awarded the prize in October along with Russian investigative journalist Dmitri Muratov for "their courageous fight for freedom of expression." She also is the chief executive officer of Rappler, "a digital news organization that is well known for its investigations on disinformation and of President Rodrigo Duterte's brutal five-year drug war." The Duterte government has since charged Ressa with seven criminal offenses, including "cyberlibel" and tax evasion. Earlier this week, the United Nations "urged the Philippines to let Ressa travel to Norway, saying it was 'very concerned' about the restrictions placed on her," while the International Press Institute "warned that blocking Ressa from the ceremony 'puts the Philippines in the company of some of history’s most repressive regimes.'" China prevented the late writer and dissident Liu Xiaobo from accepting the 2010 award, while German journalist Carl von Ossietzky was imprisoned in a concentration camp when he received the 1935 award. In other instances, the prizes awarded to Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, Poland’s Lech Walesa and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar were accepted by family members after they were barred by their respective governments from attending. "We'd like to think that the Court of Appeals reached the resolution independently of any public opinion," said Te. "But the Court of Appeals is composed of human beings who are aware of what’s going on. So, of course, anything they read could possibly have an influence on how they think."

Digital Media Companies Await BuzzFeed Stock Debut:

Digital media companies "considering going public are watching BuzzFeed's expected stock market debut next week to see how investors will respond," Sara Fischer of Axios reported Tuesday. Although many publishers (most notably Vice) elected to remain privately owned amid a downturn in the formation of special purpose acquisition companies (or SPACs) earlier this year, sources have told Axios that "much of investors' appetites in the sector will be contingent on how BuzzFeed trades in its first few months." If shareholders of 890 Fifth Avenue Partners (the "blank check company" enabling the merger) approve the agreement in a shareholder vote tomorrow, the deal and BuzzFeed's $300 million acquisition of fellow publisher Complex will close by the end of Friday, with trading of BuzzFeed stock then commencing Monday morning. While BuzzFeed is continuing to target a $1.5 billion valuation in the merger with 890 Fifth Avenue Partners, investor NBCUniversal is "reportedly concerned about the valuation [and] losing money on the deal." Among other companies, BDG Media (previously known as Bustle) "is still aiming to go public via a SPAC next year" alongside its proposed $150 million acquisition of parenting brand Some Spider Studios, while Vox is considering options ranging from a SPAC IPO to those " that may not lead to a public market play." In anticipation of the merger, BuzzFeed has "put forward aggressive revenue and growth predictions, including hitting over $1 billion in revenue by 2024," although the publisher and Complex are expected "to bring in $521 million in revenue this year, per company reports."

Miranda, Broadway Companies Honor Sondheim at 'Sunday' Tribute:

2016 Drama winner Lin-Manuel Miranda joined various singers (including Sara Bareilles, Josh Groban, Kathryn Gallagher and Lauren Patton) and "members of every Broadway company" in a chorus at Times Square yesterday "to sing 'Sunday,' the heartrending act one finale to Stephen Sondheim's 'Sunday in the Park with George,'" which earned the composer and lyricist the 1985 Drama Prize, according to Michael Appler of Variety. "Let us pass," the chorus sang, "through our perfect park," Appler added. "This felt like church,” Bareilles said following the performance. "In his remembrance, we did what theater does best. We sang and raised our voices and came together in community." Eschewing a formal speech, Miranda read an excerpt from "Look I Made A Hat," Sondheim's 2011 annotated anthology of post-1980 lyrics. "Once during the writing of each show, I cry at a notion, a word, a chord, a melodic idea, an accompaniment figure," he read. "In ['Sunday in the Park with George'], it was the word 'forever' in 'Sunday,'" he continued as he "[began] to choke up." "I was suddenly moved by the contemplation of what these people would have thought if they'd know they were being immortalized." Groban opined: "Everybody who's here has a touchstone for why Sondheim’s music has brought them to this place. And whatever part of the entertainment industry we’re in, everybody is here because we were first influenced by Sondheim's music. To mourn his passing is a crushing blow." The event was produced by Erich Bergen and co-presented by the Broadway League, the Times Square Alliance and Playbill, while Michael J. Moritz conducted the chorus. Remaining active through the final days of his life, Sondheim died Friday at his country home in Roxbury, Conn. He was 91.

Stephen Sondheim (1930-2021):

1985 Drama winner Stephen Sondheim died Friday at his country home in Roxbury, Conn. He was 91. According to Bruce Weber of The New York Times, the composer and lyricist "had not been known to be ill and that the death was sudden," as he celebrated Thanksgiving with friends in Roxbury the day before his death. One of the most important figures in the history of musical theater, Sondheim revolutionized the harmonic and lyrical depth of the form in a series of ambitious works, including "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" (1962), "Company" (1970), "Follies" (1971), "A Little Night Music" (1973), "Pacific Overtures" (1976), "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (1979), the Pulitzer-winning "Sunday in the Park with George" (1984), "Into the Woods" (1987) and "Assassins" (1990). The anthologization of his songs in a number of revues (including "Side by Side by Sondheim" [1976]) played an integral role in popularizing his oeuvre, while many works also were further imbricated in the popular consciousness by various standard-bearers of traditional pop's Great American Songbook, including Barbra Streisand and Frank Sinatra. Despite these achievements, his interests remained resolutely polymathic, as evinced by a brief stint preparing cryptic crossword puzzles for New York magazine in the late 1960s and his screenplay for "The Last of Sheila," an intricate 1973 neo-noir vehicle for friend and collaborator Anthony Perkins. Belying the traumas of an emotionally abusive childhood in the affluent milieu of New York's Central Park West, Sondheim was mentored throughout his adolescence by two-time Pulitzer winner Oscar Hammerstein II, who conducted a tutorial through the drafting of several unproduced works during this period. While enrolled at Williams College (where he received his undergraduate degree magna cum laude in 1950), Sondheim also completed private lessons with Princeton-based serialist avatar and 1982 Special Citation recipient Milton Babbitt, who encouraged the younger composer to retain his affinity for tonality. "I am [Babbitt]'s maverick, his one student who went into the popular arts with all his serious artillery," he would later recall. In addition to his own works (exemplified by long collaborations with Hal Prince and James Lapine, who also received the Pulitzer for "Sunday"), Sondheim contributed lyrics to two notable works largely conceptualized by others, including "West Side Story" (1957) and "Gypsy" (1959). A foray into film music under the aegis of Warren Beatty yielded such works as "Goodbye for Now" (written for "Reds" [1981]) and the Madonna-sung jazz ballad "Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)", which received the 1991 Academy Award for Best Original Song. In addition to his Pulitzer and Oscar, he received nine Tony Awards, eight Grammy Awards, a Laurence Olivier Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the latter conferred by Barack Obama in 2015. Theaters also were named for the composer in New York's Broadway district and in London's West End. Although the commercial appeal of his works oscillated wildly over time (with such epochal successes as "Company" and "Into the Woods" juxtaposed against the more ambivalent fate of the 1981 cult favorite "Merrily We Roll Along," which shuttered after 16 performances in its initial run and brought an end to his first period with Prince), Sondheim's unabashedly prolix style continued to resonate with and inform the work of younger creators, most notably 2016 Drama winner Lin-Manuel Miranda. In addition to a half-brother, Walter Sondheim, he is survived by his spouse, Jeffrey Romley.