For the Record

Impasse:

CNN reported Wednesday that MSNBC President Phil Griffin and New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet "met last week amid tensions between their two news organizations" concerning the appearance of Times reporters on programs deemed to be "too partisan" by the newspaper's masthead, including "The Rachel Maddow Show." However, the executives failed to reach an agreement during their lunch. Several Times staffers told CNN's Brian Stelter that the rule "appears to be a 'preference' more than a 'ban.'"

"Loyal Reader":

In an interview with Recode’s Peter Kafka at the 2019 Code Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz. Tuesday, New York Times Publisher A. G. Sulzberger revealed that readers' interest in President Trump "petered off" after he assumed office in January 2017 despite an ongoing increase in subscriptions. "We actually saw readership of political coverage decline […] on a relative basis compared to our non-political coverage," Sulzberger said.

Survey Says:

According to an Oxford University Reuters Institute of Journalism report released Tuesday, the "average [...] number of news subscriptions per person among those that pay is one in almost every country" despite the increased prevalence of paywalls. Additionally, news avoidance "has grown 11 percentage points" in Britain "due to frustration over the intractable and polarizing nature of Brexit," while "news brands are less important" to 18-to-24-year olds worldwide.

"We Stepped In":

Nearly a year after acquiring Gawker at a bankruptcy auction, Bustle Digital Group CEO Bryan Goldberg has vowed to relaunch the site as a haven for "deeply reported longform journalism." "I want Gawker to be a peer of Vanity Fair, the New Yorker, and the Atlantic," he told Bloomberg Businessweek. "It won’t happen on Day 1. We probably won’t be there a year in. But can we be there five years in? The answer is yes."

"A Meaningful Contributor":

Digiday has reported that Warner Media-owned sports news site Bleacher Report is on track "to make north of $200 million in revenue in 2019" through investments in events, longform content and other brands. "We had a killer year last year, and we’re now up 49% this year," CEO Howard Mittman said.

"Era of Images":

The New York Times no longer will publish political cartoons, Editorial Page Editor James Bennet told CNN Monday. "We're very grateful for and proud of the work Patrick Chappatte and Heng Kim Song have done for the international edition of The New York Times, which circulates overseas; however, for well over a year we have been considering bringing that edition into line with the domestic paper by ending daily political cartoons and will do so beginning on July 1st," he said. Bennet noted that the newspaper will continue to publish other forms of visual opinion journalism, as exemplified by "Welcome to the New World," a graphic narrative about Syrian refugees that received the 2018 Editorial Cartooning Prize.

"Marketplace Imbalance":

According to a News Media Alliance/Keystone Strategy survey, Google "received an estimated $4.7 billion in revenue in 2018 from crawling and scraping news publishers' content — without paying the publishers for that use." News Media Alliance President David Chavern said, "News publishers need to continue to invest in quality journalism, and they can't do that if the platforms take what they want without paying for it. Information wants to be free, but reporters need to get paid."

"China's Artful Dissident":

Chinese cartoonist Badiucao made his first media appearance without a disguise in an Australian Broadcasting Corporation documentary after receiving threats from his home country. The cartoonist has resided in Australia for the past decade. "Badiucao has displayed exemplary courage in the face of palpable threats from the Chinese state," said Terry Anderson, deputy executive director of Cartoonists Rights Network International. “Over the past decade his artwork has served to remind the wider world and in particular the Chinese diaspora [...] of unpalatable truths the CCP seeks to suppress."

"Outrage":

Russian investigative journalist Ivan Golunov "has been released from jail and placed under house arrest after being charged with intent to sell drugs in large quantities, according to his employer, the independent news site Meduza, citing his attorney." CNN reported: "the Committee to Protect Journalists [has] called for Golunov's release and an investigation into allegations that he had been beaten in police custody." Several Russian newspapers included messages of solidarity with Golunov on their front pages Monday.

"Potential Violators":

Facebook has removed the page of Natural News, a far-right outlet with nearly 3 million followers that publishes anti-vaccination and mass shooting conspiracy theories. According to The Daily Beast, founder Mike Adams "told the Gateway Pundit, another far-right site, that the apparent ban is evidence of a conspiracy against his website." "We've always banned individuals or organizations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology," a Facebook spokesperson said of similar bans of Milo Yiannopoulos and Louis Farrakhan last month.