The Latest: White House continues AP ban; WaPo cancels Musk ad; Journalists share SNL memories

Feb. 18, 2025

■ The White House bans the AP indefinitely over the use of ‘Gulf of Mexico’ (CNN) / Why Trump is targeting AP over ‘Gulf of America’ (Axios) / Does the White House blocking AP from press events violate the First Amendment? (Freedom Forum) / NPC statement on retaliation against The Associated Press (National Press Club)

■ Elon Musk calls for '60 Minutes' journalists to get a ‘long prison sentence ' (People) / What Elon Musk’s dangerous war with ‘60 Minutes’ is really all about (CNN)

■ Washington Post cancels 'Fire Elon' advertisement (The Wrap) / ‘Two groups struck a deal for an anti-Elon Musk ad—but just before publication, the Jeff Bezos-owned paper abruptly pulled a key part of it, offering no explanation .’ (Oliver Darcy)

■ As U.S. newspaper outages drag on , Lee Enterprises blames cyberattack for encrypting critical systems (TechCrunch)

■ New York Times goes all-in on internal AI tools (Semafor) / Generative AI is already being used in journalism – here’s how people feel about it (The Conversation) / The print army comes for AI (Puck)

■ Hearst CEO To Staff: There’s a difficult year ahead despite ‘record’ 2024 revenue (TV News Check)

■ ‘Babe wake up the new Politico leadership structure just dropped.’ (Ben Mullin) / The Wrap makes 4 high-level hires in business and media coverage, newsroom strategy and video (The Wrap) / Loveday Morris named Istanbul bureau chief (Washington Post) / Code and Theory taps Jess Giles to lead new publishing firm (Adweek) / Claire Brown joins climate desk at The New York Times (New York Times) / The Verge hires Galperina as senior tech editor (Talking Biz News)

■ Journalists share short sketches of ‘SNL’ memories (New York Times)

■ A new report suggests journalism support orgs, funders, and local newsrooms unite around four goals (Nieman Journalism Lab) / Knight Foundation invests $25M in American Journalism Project (Axios)

Narrative Journalism: How to make your characters come alive

“What underlies the art of bringing a character to life on the page is the reporting, which comes down to this: Listen. Watch. Let them be who they are. Listening does not mean half-listening to a response to one of your questions while the other half of you concentrates on what your next question will be. It means focused attention. It means being sincerely interested — and mostly silent. Watching is not passive. It is an intense activity that takes enormous concentration. It is the learned and practiced ability to see both big picture and small detail in the moment.”

-- Lauren Kessler , award-winning narrative nonfiction author, excerpt from “Character: The beating heart of narrative ” (Nieman Storyboard)

Leadership Tip: Moving from founder to leader

“Media entrepreneurship is hard. It’s a lot of work. It’s not for everyone. So you have to have a very clear vision, mission, impact and drive for it, and desire and interest to stretch yourself . If you only have been a journalist, there’s a lot of transferable skills, but you have to be willing to move from being a founder to being a leader. Lots of folks are ideas people, but not everybody can then take that idea and say: This is how we’re gonna get income. This is the structure of the thing. This is how I know my stories are actually impacting the community that I’m trying to serve.”

-- Andrea Faye Hart , membership director at Tiny News Collective, excerpt from interview with the Association of Health Care Journalists, “How to start a local news outlet ”

Resources

National Press Club Journalism Institute publishes Annual Report highlighting 2024 impact, accomplishments

The National Press Club Journalism Institute strengthened its impact in Washington, D.C., and beyond through its virtual and in-person programming, daily newsletter, and new opportunities for career support and skill-building in 2024.

In a year marked by a dramatic presidential election, the rise of disinformation and distrust in information, and changes to the business of journalism, the Institute was a go-to resource for 8,378 journalists and communicators, as outlined in its 2024 Annual Report , released Feb. 14 on its website.

The report includes:

A look at the Institute’s 25 unique training programs held in 2024, including our new Career Day at the National Press Club;
Highlights from The Latest, the Institute’s daily industry and craft newsletter thats serves over 5,310 subscriber journalists and media leaders;
A spotlight on the new Press Freedom Center at the National Press Club, for which the Institute is fiscal sponsor;
A thank you to the generous donors and sponsors who made the Institute’s work and special events possible; and
A summary of revenue and expenses.

Download the Annual Report .

Download the Institute's 2024 Impact Report.

Consider donating to support this work today.

This newsletter is written & edited by the National Press Club Journalism Institute staff: Beth Francesco, Holly Butcher Grant, Elliot C. Williams, and Mitch Harle. Send us your questions and suggestions for topics to cover.

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The National Press Club Journalism Institute promotes an engaged global citizenry through an independent and free press, and equips journalists with skills and standards to inform the public in ways that inspire a more representative democracy. As the non-profit affiliate of the National Press Club, the Institute powers journalism in the public interest. The Institute's tax ID number is 52-1750908.