For the Record

Knight Foundation and Maynard Institute Announce Structural Diversity Initiative:

The Knight Foundation has announced a $1.2 million investment in a diversity, equity and inclusion program at the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, a nonprofit organization named after the former Pulitzer Prize Board member. "Maynard will use the new funding to launch its Equity and Inclusion Transformation Program, embedding specialists in newsrooms to help them better inform underserved communities and establish more equitable and inclusive workplaces," said LaSharah S. Bunting, the Foundation's director of journalism.

Gannett/GateHouse Merger Reverberates:

The Washington Post has reported that the Monday announcement of Gannett's merger with GateHouse Media will result in "an opportunity to slash up to $300 million in annual overhead costs within 24 months," possibly including positions deemed to be redundant. "We’re afraid of what happens when you have fewer journalists working in the state of Florida," said Andrew Pantazi, a reporter for the Florida Times-Union who heads the newspaper's collective bargaining unit. The agreement "may also mobilize other newspaper chains, including McClatchy and Tribune, to pursue their own mergers."

GateHouse/Gannett Merger Set to Unfurl:

The long-gestating merger between GateHouse Media and Gannett is expected to be announced Monday. If the merger goes through, the combined company would own 1 in every 6 newspapers in the United States, with a combined print circulation of 8.7 million.

Cloudfare Ends 8Chan Hosting Services:

According to CNN's Donie O'Sullivan, the image board 8chan "went offline Monday after internet infrastructure company Cloudflare stopped providing support for the website used by the suspected gunman in El Paso to post a hate-filled screed." The decision was lauded by founder Fredrick Brennan, who cut ties with the site in December 2018. "If it's going to keep on like this it should be shut down," he said. "They are letting their users incite violence."

White House Suspends Playboy Correspondent's Credentials:

In what Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham has characterized as a "preliminary decision," the Trump administration suspended Playboy White House Correspondent Brian Karem's "hard pass" press credentials for 30 days Friday following an argument between the journalist and former staffer Sebastian Gorka at a Rose Garden event on July 11. Karem, who has retained First Amendment attorney Ted Boutrous, will submit his response to Grisham on Monday.

Finland's War on Fake News:

The government of Finland has embraced an innovative approach to combating misinformation in the media, including adult education courses and units in high school social studies curricula. “What we want our students to do is […] before they like or share in the social media they think twice — who has written this? Where has it been published? Can I find the same information from another source?” Kari Kivinen, director of the Helsinki French-Finnish School, told CNN.

Pew: Newspaper Layoffs Continue:

A new Pew Research Center study has revealed that 27% of American papers "with an average Sunday circulation of 50,000 or more experienced layoffs in 2018." While this is down from 32% in 2017, "the number of jobs typically cut by newspapers in 2018 tended to be higher than in the year before" due to muliple rounds of layoffs and other factors. Mid-market papers were most likely to face layoffs.

The Decline of Newsprint:

NiemanLab's Ken Doctor reported Thursday that many newspaper publishers "are now seriously modeling and planning for the transformation of their businesses from seven-day newspapers to something [...] significantly less," including a primarily digital "7/1" model that would confine the print edition to Sunday and a "7/2" model oriented toward markets with significant midweek supermarket advertising. “Some have more power to pull away than others, and some are closer to the edge," said Ken Herts of the Lenfest Institute. "But the strong currents of print decline affect them all, and they need to move before it’s too late.”

Pearlstine Convenes All-Staff Meeting:

According to Poynter's Tom Jones, during a Thursday all-staff meeting, Los Angeles Times Executive Editor Norman Pearlstine "said he made a mistake not meeting with his newsroom before sending out a memo about the paper’s urgent digital subscription issue." The veteran editor continued: "In my own mind I don't think we were picking on anyone, but if that's how people perceived it, than that’s a mistake on my part."

Small Town Legacy:

Following its closure on May 7 after a 121-year run, the former staff of the Warroad (Minn.) Pioneer threw a "Bloody Mary Monday" party as community members reflected on the publication's legacy. "A lot of [news] is going to be word of mouth through kaffeeklatsches," said Todd Miller, a former member of the county commission. "And who knows what variant of BS gets passed around there."