Jan. 9, 2025

■ Fire threatens Mt. Wilson broadcast transmitters as L.A. TV and radio stations on alert (Variety) / ‘L.A. news choppers are better able to survey the damage today vs. yesterday. KABC is flying over parts of the Palisades right now. Block after block is gone.’ (Brian Stelter) / ‘Thursday’s L.A. Times front page captures the horror … ’ (Margaret Sullivan) / Wildfire destruction is highly personal for some reporting on it (NBC News) / Two newsrooms stand out in their coverage of the nightmarish Los Angeles wildfires (Poynter)

■ ‘Let Me Finish’: L.A. mayor spars with reporter who questioned ‘lack of preparation’ for wildfires (Daily Beast) / Corporate media ignores the role of climate in L.A. fires (Democracy Now) / As Los Angeles burns, we’re seeing a conflagration of lies and disinformation (Mother Jones)

■ ‘Unionized employees at the Washington Post held a protest this afternoon outside Will Lewis' office criticizing the CEO for this week's layoffs and avoiding the paper's staff.’ (Max Tani) / ‘Top reporters and editors are fleeing the Washington Post amid a crisis of confidence. Meanwhile, CEO Will Lewis and his team have floated a goal of attracting 200 million subscribers.’ (Charlotte Klein) / ‘In response to a question at a meeting today, Matt Murray confirmed that he’ll continue as executive editor of The Washington Post...’ (Ben Mullin)

■ Vox Media shakes up leadership and lays off staff for the 2nd time in about a month (Business Insider) / ‘Statement from Vox Media on today’s layoffs at Vox dot com.’ (Max Tani)

■ ‘HuffPost EIC Danielle Belton is leaving the publication, per an internal note to staff this afternoon.’ (Max Tani)

■ Stephen Smith joining Metro at The New York Times (New York Times) / Jenna Pirog joins WP Ventures as senior editor (Washington Post) / Sarah Girgis takes the helm at The Aspen Times (Aspen Times) / The Information hires Ken Brown as senior finance editor (Talking Biz News) 

■ The New York Times told staffers from The Athletic today that it won't voluntarily recognize their effort to join the existing union of Times employees — it will now go to a National Labor Relations Board election.’ (Katie Robertson) 

■ Fox must face Smartmatic $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit, NY appeals court rules (Reuters) 

■ The TikTok ban heads to the Supreme Court tomorrow. Here's what to know about the case. (CBS News)

■ Net neutrality is dead (again). Journalism could suffer. (Columbia Journalism Review) 

■ An open letter to Mark Zuckerberg from the world’s fact-checkers, nine years later (The International Fact-Checking Network/Poynter)

Contextualizing climate change in wildfire coverage

“The more we cover wildfires as isolated events with clear boundaries, the more we abstract climate change. Storytelling needs to depict what it’s like to live with climate change as a continually developing crisis, and reveal the ways in which lives are being permanently altered. You may find yourself reporting in a community that is generally skeptical of climate change, though, or who want to focus instead on when and how they can rebuild their properties. The best approach in this situation isn’t to be heavy-handed, or overburden your stories with the opinions of experts. Instead, find people who are really living the experience of climate change. Put a clear and vivid example before your audience's eyes. Say: this is what it looks like; this is how you could be impacted. Once you have a powerful narrative, you can successfully fold in necessary facts and statistics. Covering wildfires isn’t just about fires: these are deeper stories about people’s lives. So make sure to change the formula to keep people engaged. And be aware that, though there are common trends and patterns, no story is the same.”

-- Excerpt from Dart Center reporting guide, “Covering Wildfires”

National Press Club news

• AP's Mike Balsamo elected as the 118th president of the National Press Club
• NPC Headliners: Historian, author, and commentator Heather Cox Richardson (Jan. 16, 6 pm ET)  
• NPC opens submission period for 2025 journalism awards (Deadline: May 5)

Resources

• Introduction to solutions journalism webinar (Jan. 14, 9 am ET) 
• Fact Checking: A global update (Jan. 14, 7 pm ET)
• Trump’s vowed to deport millions. Are you ready to cover the story? (Jan. 16, 1 pm ET)

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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