For the Record

McCraw on Palin Libel Suit:

New York Times Deputy General Counsel David McCraw discussed Sarah Palin's recently revived libel suit against the publication with The Washington Post's Erik Wemple. "In our view, this was an honest mistake," said McCraw, referring to language penned by Editorial Page Editor James Bennet that erroneously linked Palin as an inciting force to the 2011 shooting of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. "It was not an exhibit of actual malice."

Karem Sues White House:

Playboy White House Correspondent Brian Karem has sued the White House for the immediate restoration of his press credentials. The suit lists President Trump and Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham as defendants. The dispute stems from an altercation with former White House staffer Sebastian Gorka in the Rose Garden on July 11.

Vindicator Brand Resuscitated:

The Tribune Chronicle of Warren, Ohio announced on August 16 that it will publish an edition branded as The Vindicator of Youngstown. "So they're buying the masthead, the URL, and the subscriber list," wrote NiemanLab's Joshua Benton. "Essentially, it's the right to create something that can call itself the Vindy. The journalists losing their jobs are still losing their jobs."

Epstein-Related Fallout at MIT Media Lab:

MIT Media Lab faculty member Ethan Zuckerman announced Tuesday that he plans to leave the university at the end of the 2019-2020 academic year because of Media Lab Director Joi Ito's undisclosed personal and institutional relationships with Jeffrey Epstein. "I no longer feel I can continue working on issues of social justice under the banner of the Media Lab," said Zuckerman, who also serves as director of the institution's Center for Civic Media. 

Investigating Reporters for Reporting:

Officials in Malheur County, Oregon have asked Sheriff Brian Wolfe to open a criminal investigation into the Malheur Enterprise's journalistic techniques, including phone calls and emails directed to county employees' personal phone numbers and email accounts. "Our news staff has sought information from county officials concerning important public business using standard and professional methods," Editor and Publisher Les Zaitz said. Amanda Waldroupe of the Society of Professional Journalists added: "It is not at all unusual for journalists to use any available contact information to contact a source. And, sources often share their personal contact information with journalists."

Spiegelman's Origin Story:

According to 1992 Special Citation recipient Art Spiegelman, many comic book superheroes that have endured in popularity for nearly a century were envisaged as "mythic — almost god-like — secular saviors to deal with the threatening economic dislocations that surrounded them in the Great Depression and gave shape to their premonitions of impending global war."

College Daily's "Post-Truth" Approach:

Publishing a mix of what The New Yorker's Han Zhang characterizes as "tabloid headlines and soft propaganda," the Chinese news site College Daily has cultivated an ardent audience among Chinese people studying abroad in the United States. "[I]n the age of new media, we want reporting and editing to work seamlessly and emphasize our appeal to our readers — we can’t just wait for news to happen to do stories," said Lin Guoyu, the site's founder.

The Ascent of Rogan:

With "The Joe Rogan Experience" ensconced as the No. 2 most-downloaded podcast on iTunes for two years running, freelancer Devin Gordon writes in The Atlantic that the show's "courting of a middle-bro audience that the cultural elite hold in particular contempt" encapsulates much of the complexity of contemporary American culture: "He just won't write people off, and then he compounds the sin by throwing them a lifeline at the moment when they least deserve it."

Greenwell Joins Wired:

Wired Editor in Chief Nicholas Thompson announced Monday that 2008 Breaking News Reporting contributor Megan Greenwell has been hired as editor of Wired.com. Greenwell, who served as editor in chief of Deadspin until last week, will oversee all of the magazine's digital properties.

Pacific Standard Postmortem:

According to Poynter's Kelly McBride, the sudden revocation of funding from Pacific Standard's lone donor points to the need for nonprofit newsrooms to form "a board and a leadership team that is working on Plan B from day one" barring the presence of an endowment. "If we truly believe that journalism is indispensable to democracy," said McBride, "the last 15 years should have taught us that the future is never secure."