For the Record

Olive Branch:

In 2017, Qatar paid several "Trump influencers" informally consulted by the president on policy issues — including attorney Alan Dershowitz, radio host John Batchelor and Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy — to visit the capital city of Doha. "You can see from the meeting with the emir [Qatari constitutional monarch Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani], the body language and the words, that the outreach to Trump has been successful," said Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a Middle East studies fellow at Rice University. However, Dershowitz and other influencers have said, "they feel duped because they hadn’t known the trips were part of a state-lobbying effort."

"Dodging Raindrops":

A group of Twitter users has "[called] a number of aspects of [the] work" of New York Post columnist Salena Zito "into question," including misrepresentation of interviewees' political affiliations and potential fabrication. Although Zito insists that she usually is accompanied by a photographer and records all interviews, she has refused to provide clarifying evidence to her critics. Conservative commentators such as Jordan Schachtel have maintained that Zito is being singled out because "she explained the coalition that elected Trump." 

"We Disputed the Characterizations":

After tendering his resignation on August 17, former NBC News producer Rich McHugh alleged that NBC interfered with Ronan Farrow's reporting on Harvey Weinstein. Weinstein allegedly threatened to smear Farrow. When Farrow and McHugh were told to stand down, Farrow self-financed a scheduled interview and took the story to The New Yorker, where it received the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. NBC News asserted that the "absolutely false" allegations were "clearly contradicted by the fact that Oppenheim assigned the story on Harvey Weinstein in the first place."

Averted:

The United States International Trade Commission announced Wednesday that it reversed newsprint tariffs imposed by the Commerce Department "after concluding that Canadian imports of uncoated groundwood paper do not cause material harm to the U.S. paper industry." "The ITC's decision will help to preserve the vitality of local newspapers and prevent additional job losses in the printing and publishing sectors," said David Chavern of the News Media Alliance.

"A Long Time To Come":

Craig Newmark Philanthropies has made a $20 million gift to Mother Jones to support its investigative journalism efforts. Newmark, who founded classified advertising website Craigslist in 1995, said that the gift was prompted by "the online information war [...] the stakes are a free press, an informed public, and strong democratic institutions." 

"Chain Of Value":

The Associated Press announced a two-tier partnership Tuesday with Civil Media Company, "a startup that aims to support a network of high-quality news outlets through the sale of cryptocurrency." In addition to providing for the licensing of AP content to the Civil Media network, both organizations will collaborate "on a blockchain based-technology that will let Civil newsrooms track the flow of their content and enforce licensing rights." 

Bulking Up:

USA Today has hired Amy Pyle of the Center of Investigative Reporting to run an expanded investigations unit that will triple in size to 24 journalists. The unit will continue to stand apart from work conducted with local affiliates under the USA Today Network imprimatur. According to Editor-in-Chief Nicole Carroll, "It’s our mission. It’s what we’re here to do."

Imbalance:

In surveying 100 recent interviews in The New York Times' By the Book feature, University of California, Berkeley information scientist David Bamman discovered that "women mention men and women equally in response to 'What on your bookshelf?' " while "men mention other men four times as often." The data set included contributions from such authors as Roz Chast, Zadie Smith, Calvin Trillin and John Waters.

Ambiguity:

Michael Cohen attorney Lanny Davis said in an interview "that he is no longer certain about claims he made to reporters on background and on the record in recent weeks about what Cohen knows about Trump’s awareness of" the Trump Tower meeting. However, CNN reported last month that Cohen "claimed to have witnessed Trump being informed of [...] the meeting by Trump Jr. and that the then-candidate approved the meeting." In response to Davis' statement, a CNN spokeswoman said, "We stand by our story, and are confident in our reporting of it."

"Straight Shooter":

Following the death of John McCain on Saturday, Matt Laslo reflected on the Arizona senator's relationships with the press. "Whether I was interviewing him for a small local outlet with only tens of thousands of listeners or for publications that reach millions," he said, "there was no difference in how McCain responded to questions. Put another way: McCain was always himself with the nation’s reporters, often to the annoyance of his communications team."