For the Record

Dutch Public Broadcaster Develops 'Blind' Advertising System:

Following the implementation of the European Union's "landmark" General Data Protection Regulation law in 2018, Dutch public broadcaster Nederlandse Publieke Omroep developed a non-programmatic platform that only shows advertisers "information about what the user is looking at," according to Gilad Edelman of Wired. Although the system has been so successful that the broadcaster decided to abandon tracking cookies altogether in early 2020, Dutch law prohibits the broadcaster from licensing the system to other publishers. "We can’t do the same thing for other publishers," said Linda Worp, who co-designed the system. "We really want to. We want to complete the whole ecosystem with our solution.”

Twitter's Journalistic 'Microbubbles':

According to a new study by University of Illinois journalism professors Nikki Usher and Yee Man Margaret Ng, journalists primarily "cluster" in nine groups on Twitter, including informal groupings centered around CNN, television producers, local political news, regulatory journalists, foreign affairs, longform/enterprise reporting, congressional reporting, "elite/legacy" outlets (encompassing such outlets as The Washington Post and NBC News) and social issues. The duo added that 68% of the "elite/legacy" cluster's interactions with other journalists were confined to the group. "That also may mean they're not engaging, in the same kind of way, with the people who are actually on the ground getting these sorts of congressional microscoops, they're not engaging with the journalists who are the policy wonks," Usher said.

Condé Nast Considers Leaving 1 World Trade Center:

Condé Nast parent company Advance Publications "is trying to renegotiate or get out of the lease on its headquarters at 1 World Trade Center" in lower Manhattan, Brent Lang and Ramin Setoodeh of Variety reported Tuesday. Although the 25-year, $2 billion deal "seemed like a great deal for a prime real-estate location" in 2014, when the publisher departed its previous headquarters at 4 Times Square, economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic "has made the harsh realities of the magazine business more bleak." With the offices sitting "largely empty" due to the pandemic, the company has been "quietly touring possible space in more affordable neighborhoods in New York City in recent weeks." 

Gallup/Knight Study Tackles Perceptions of Media:

A Gallup/Knight Foundation biennial study based on responses from 20,000 people has found "that Americans’ hope for an objective media is all but lost, with many perceiving an "increasing partisan slant in the news, and a media eager to push an agenda," according to John Sands of the Foundation. Media distrust also "cuts along partisan lines," with 71% of Republicans possessing "a very or somewhat unfavorable opinion of the news media" as opposed to 52% of independents and 22% of Democrats. 

Shirley Ann Grau (1929–2020):

1965 Fiction winner Shirley Ann Grau died Monday in Kenner, La. following complications from a stroke. She was 91. Over a long career that encompassed six novels and three short story collections, Grau frequently wrote about the valences of race and culture in the Deep South, eliciting threats from the Ku Klux Klan. "I always answer threats with threats," she told The Washington Post. “I remind the people that I'm probably a better shot than they are," alluding to her childhood penchant for hunting. In an interview with John Pope of The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate, daughter Nora F. McAlister added: "She was fiercely independent and extremely private. She thought the term 'eccentric' was a positive one. To her, it meant you had the courage to follow your instincts, your dreams, your goals."

Trump Proposes Treasury Expropriation of TikTok Sale:

In an "unusual declaration" Monday, President Trump said that the United States United States Department of the Treasury would take a "substantial amount of money" derived from the sale of the TikTok video-sharing platform, according to Rishi Iyengar, Oliver Effron and Nikki Carvajal of CNN. If the Chinese service is not sold to a U.S.-based company by September 15, the president has indicated that he will "shut down" the app domestically. "Right now they don't have any rights unless we give it to them. So if we're going to give them the rights, then [...] it has to come into this country," Trump said.

Vietnam Photojournalists Reflect on Pandemic:

Amanda Darrach of the Columbia Journalism Review spoke to several photojournalists who covered the Vietnam War (including 1972 Feature Photography winner David Hume Kennerly) about parallels between the conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic. "I don’t think we understand the immensity of this, and everybody uses the same markers," said Kennerly. "Now we've reached the death toll of Vietnam. Now it's more than Iraq and Afghanistan put together."

Vogue Editions Unite for 'Hope' Issues:

For the first time in Vogue's history, all 26 magazine editions will "unite in solidarity under the theme of hope" in their August-September editions, Condé Nast Artistic Director/Global Content Adviser and Vogue Editor in Chief Anna Wintour announced Monday. "[A]t this tumultuous time, Vogue decided to bring all the global editions together around this optimistic, humane, forward-looking theme," Wintour said. The thematic content will include "letters of hope from celebrities, designers, models, public figures, and activists, thought-provoking fashion, and insightful essays on diversity and inclusion, the climate crisis, LGBTQ+ rights and more."

Tribune Publishing Announces Limited Duration Stockholder Rights Agreement:

Tribune Publishing has announced its board's approval of a limited duration stockholder rights agreement. According to Rick Edmonds of Poynter, the agreement "gives shareholders a right to buy stock at a discount or be paid a two-to-one premium if a holder assembles stock for a takeover bid" and typically serves as a "traditional defense to an unwelcome takeover attempt." However, a spokesperson "declined to amplify on the wording of the release." The board currently includes three "holdover Tribune representatives," three representatives from Alden Global Capital and CEO Terry Jimenez.

The 19th* Launches:

Co-founded by Pulitzer Prize Board member Emily Ramshaw (who also serves as the newsroom's chief executive), The 19th* launched Sunday. "We're giving women a one-stop shop to hone in on the politics and policy issues that most directly affect their lives," said Ramshaw to Angelina Chapin of The Cut. The "nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy" has raised $8.5 million through a "nonprofit revenue model that [relies] on a mix of philanthropic donations, digital ads, paid membership, and corporate sponsorships for live events."