For the Record

Akhtar Assumes PEN America Presidency:

2013 Drama winner Ayad Akhtar will succeed 2011 Fiction winner Jennifer Egan as president of PEN America on December 2, the nonprofit free expression organization announced Tuesday. "Widening access and also supporting excellence in literary production is an important part of what we do, showing that literature has a place in our national life; it’s not just a pastime or something some people do because they have a taste for it," Akhtar told John Williams of The New York Times. "It can be part of our national discourse and can contribute to it in interesting ways."

Study: Journalists Find Local Stories Less Newsworthy:

According to a new survey of 1,510 American newspaper journalists by Florida State University political scientist Hans J. G. Hassell published this month in the International Journal of Press/Politics, "a story published by a local newspaper was seen as less newsworthy than one that hadn’t been published at all," with a pronounced effect "among journalists who didn’t work for small, local papers," Mark Coddington and Seth Lewis of NiemanLab reported Tuesday. "For local newspapers facing an existential crisis, other journalists' apparent low regard for the newsworthiness of the work they publish could be read as a stinging reminder of their place near the periphery of a field they once were a more prominent part of," they said.

Napier-Pierce Resigns at Salt Lake Tribune:

Although Salt Lake Tribune Editor Jennifer Napier-Pierce "resigned abruptly" in August, "neither she nor chairman-publisher Paul Huntsman were available then or have been since to discuss why," according to Rick Edmonds of Poynter. Edmonds reported that Napier-Pierce alluded to "differences of opinion about newsroom coverage, management and policies" in her farewell letter, possibly referring to the newspaper's coverage of Jon Huntsman's unsuccessful campaign for the state's Republican gubernatorial nomination.

Senators Ask Pentagon to Restore Stars and Stripes Funding:

A bipartisan group of senators has called on the Defense Department to "reinstate funding for Stars and Stripes, the editorially independent military newspaper whose future was put in doubt earlier this year after the Pentagon proposed shifting money away from the outlet," according to Justin Wise of The Hill. In a letter sent to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper Wednesday, the group "argued that funding for the newspaper represented a tiny fraction of the department's annual budget and that cutting it could have a 'significantly negative impact on military families.'" The acting director of the Defense Media Activity "told the newspaper last month to stop publishing on Sept. 30 and dissolve the organization by January in order to follow Esper’s decision."

Justice Department Plans to File Antitrust Charges Against Google:

The Department of Justice "plans to bring an antitrust case against Google as soon as this month, after Attorney General William P. Barr overruled career lawyers who said they needed more time to build a strong case against one of the world’s wealthiest, most formidable technology companies," Katie Benner and Cecilia Kang of The New York Times reported Thursday. While "a coalition of 50 states and territories support antitrust action against Google," some federal antitrust lawyers worry that Barr’s "determination to bring a complaint this month could weaken their case and ultimately strengthen Google’s hand" due to perceptions of politicization.

Reuters Partners With Facebook on U.S. Election Data:

Reuters announced Thursday that it will partner with Facebook to deliver "authoritative data" pertaining to the U.S. general election to the platform's Voting information Center and push notifications. The data will encompass "vote tabulation, exit polls and winner projections from the National Election Pool (NEP), a consortium comprising the four biggest U.S. networks, ABC News, CBS News, CNN and NBC News, and Edison Research." In a statement, Reuters President Michael Friedenberg said that the partnership "will provide billions of Facebook users with fast, accurate and trusted Election Day news." Facebook also will not accept new political ads in the final week of the campaign, although ads purchased previously may run through Election Day.

BuzzFeed Restores Salaries:

BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti said in an all-staff meeting Tuesday that the media company will "end its graduated salary reduction" stemming from the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, "restoring full salaries Sept. 16," Kerry Flynn of CNN reported via Twitter. Peretti "also plans to end BuzzFeed News' workshare this month" following discussions with the organization's union.

Google Launches Personalized Audio News Feature:

Google has launched Your News Update, an audio product previously reserved for Google Assistant that "leverages machine learning techniques to understand the news content and how it relates to the listener’s own likes and interests," on Google Podcasts, Sarah Perez of TechCrunch reported Wednesday. Perez added that the product's algorithms "don’t 'try' to personalize results based on your political beliefs or other demographic factors." Participating partners include The Washington Post, Fox News and Advance Local.

VOA Standards Editor Reassigned:

A Voice of America editor who oversaw standards and practices was "was reassigned to a corporate position earlier this summer and has since played no role in guiding coverage or scrutinizing stories flagged as problematic" amid parent organization U.S. Agency for Global Media CEO Michael Pack's alleged politicization of the broadcaster, David Folkenflik of NPR reported Wednesday. In a recent interview with Chris Bedford of The Federalist, Pack said: "My job really is to drain the swamp, to root out corruption and to deal with these issues of bias, not to tell journalists what to report."

AT&T Explores Potential Sale of Xandr:

AT&T "is exploring the potential sale" of its Xandr digital advertising unit, "a sign the telecommunications company is curbing its ambitions to become a force on Madison Avenue," according to Drew FitzGerald and Patience Haggin of The Wall Street Journal. Although the company acquired the assets "under a plan to challenge heavyweights such as Google owner Alphabet Inc. for a piece of the multibillion-dollar digital ad marketplace," the venture has struggled amid AT&T's "debt-laden balance sheet" despite generating $2 billion in revenue last year.