For the Record

Bloomberg Announces New Economy Forum Lineup:

Bloomberg's New Economy Forum "is on track to challenge the likes of the World Economic Forum, The Aspen Ideas Festival and others," Sara Fischer of Axios reported Tuesday. The event, which will be "the first major global convening of business and political leaders in the wake of the U.S. election" due to the postponement of the World Economic Forum, will feature founder Michael Bloomberg, Henry Kissinger, Henry Paulson, Jr., European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore. The forum, which brought in $30 million last year, "makes up for more than half of the company's total live events business."

Journalism Philanthropy Leaders Release 'Call To Action':

Following a year of deliberations, officials from several journalism philanthropy organizations (including the Knight Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the Democracy Fund) have released "Equity First: Transforming Journalism and Journalism Philanthropy in a New Civic Age," according to Lea Trusty of The EJ Lab. The report calls for placing "communities directly affected at the center of decision-making rather than an afterthought" while "[mapping] and then [moving] decision-making power to affected communities." Trusty added: "A diverse staff does not automatically make for an equitable workplace. To get there, power and decision-making authority have to shift."

Bon Appétit Rebuilds Video Team:

Bon Appétit will revive its YouTube channel with a "new, diverse slate of eight new chefs, coming after seven hosts quit the food publication’s video roster over allegations of racial inequity," Todd Spangler of Variety reported Tuesday. The channel "has been one of Condé Nast’s biggest video outlets," drawing 6 million subscribers prior to the ouster of former Editor-in-Chief Adam Rapaport in June amid allegations of racial discrimination at the publication. "We've been listening, we’ve been evolving any practices that we think need that," said Condé Nast Entertainment President Agnes Chu, who recently was hired from Disney Plus. “Everything we do moving forward is very equitable and about treating everybody with great respect."

AP Announces Election Reporting Plan:

Past Pulitzer juror and Associated Press Executive Editor Sally Buzbee has delineated the news organization's election calling plan in an article for Nieman Reports. "To make our calls, we consider first and foremost the vote count and the amount of vote still to be counted, plus polling data from AP VoteCast — which surveys voters online, on the phone and by mail — and our own analytical tools, as well as an enormous amount of research," Buzbee said. Noting AP's late call of the 2004 presidential election, she said: "Not knowing the winner on election night does not necessarily indicate fraud or disaster. It may simply mean that states are taking their time and being careful about tabulating votes." (AP Vice President and Editor at Large for Standards John Daniszewski is a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board.)

Facebook and Content Moderation:

In an article published Monday, New Yorker Staff Writer Andrew Marantz explores content moderation at Facebook through Chris Gray, a moderator who wrote a "fifty-three-hundred-word memo to [CEO Mark] Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, the company’s chief operating officer, laying out his critiques of the content-moderation process" after leaving the platform. The company "is not committed to content moderation, does not have a clear strategy or even a good handle on how to do it, and the people trying to do the actual work are under immense pressure to shovel shit uphill without proper tools or direction," Gray said. "There is no leadership, no clear moral compass." 

New York Magazine Relaunches Curbed:

New York magazine has relaunched the real estate and urban design blog Curbed as a part its October 12-25, 2020 issue, "continuing the magazine’s core mission of the original city magazine," according to a press release published Monday. “We are launching the new Curbed at this extreme inflection point for New York and cities across America, and we thought it appropriate to make a little event out of the cover, to send a note of longing, mourning, and warmth into the sky," said Editor-in-Chief David Haskell. Vox Media, New York's parent company, purchased the blog for an undisclosed sum in 2013.

COVID-19 and Disability Reporting:

The COVID-19 pandemic "has opened up opportunities to report on disabled aspects of the ongoing health crisis in a way that the community has been speaking about for decades," according to John Loeppky and Julia Métraux of Poynter. Freelance journalist Sara Luterman, who covered nursing home abolition for The Nation in August, said she believes her piece reached a broader audience due to the pandemic. "I mean, [...] the independent living movement started in like the ’60s, but it’s not really something that people outside of our community ever really thought about," she said. "So finally, having an opportunity to expose people in the mainstream to those ideas has been actually very gratifying even if the reason that we're able to do it is horrifying."

Wildfire Preparedness Reporter Reflects:

In a recent piece for the Columbia Journalism Review, April Ehrlich, a wildfire preparedness reporter for Jefferson Public Radio in rural northern Oregon and California, explored how her recent experiences in the Almeda Drive Fire failed to dovetail with the emergency management procedures that she covered in recent years: "When I got [to an evacuation point], volunteers were encouraging people to sleep in their cars. Those who didn't have cars got lawn chairs. The fairgrounds didn’t have enough cots to provide one to each of the several hundred people who flooded through their doors, so they could only provide beds to people with disabilities." She added: "Like many people I’ve interviewed, I’m left with questions — about why the emergency alert system failed us, whether the air is safe to breathe. Above all, I want to know whether my community is prepared for next time."

New Yorker Festival Sees Record Ticket Sales:

With tickets 60% to 75% cheaper due to a virtual pivot prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, The New Yorker Festival "has hit a record number of ticket sales for only 17 events, approximately a third of the number of sessions the festival featured last year," according to Kayleigh Barber of Digiday. Condé Nast Chief Business Officer/Culture said that last year's total of 20,000 attendees has been surpassed, although he "declined to share the exact number." (New Yorker Editor David Remnick is a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board.)

Cuomo Condemns Alleged Press Attack:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-New York) condemned the alleged attack of Jewish Insider reporter Jacob Kornbluh by Hasidic demonstrators protesting "decision to close schools and limit houses of worship to a maximum of 10 people following an uptick in coronavirus cases" in Brooklyn's Borough Park district on Wednesday night. "There is no excuse for violence, especially against a reporter," said Cuomo, who also spoke to Kornbluh. "It was disgusting behavior."