March 30, 2021

Top stories ■ Two top journalists leave Texas Tribune: ‘...after the brutal intensity and pace and stress of the last year, Stacy-Marie Ishmael & Millie Tran have decided to step away from their roles’ (Evan Smith) / ‘I’m taking a break. I’m stepping down from @TexasTribune, where I’ve spent the last year operating at a relentless and breakneck pace to ensure that our journalism could rise to the demands of this moment. It did. We did. And in the process, I *totally* burned out.’ (Stacy-Marie Ishmael) / ‘I realized it’s essential to give as much care to the entirety of my life as I do my work. So I’m leaving @texastribune & will stay in New York. Strength in leadership can & should look like a lot of things; prioritizing your whole self should be one of them.’ (Millie Tran) ■ Who will lead America’s newsrooms? (Poynter)  ■ Fox Corp CEO Lachlan Murdoch heads to Australia as Fox News faces headwinds (NPR)  ■ Rep. Matt Gaetz eyes early retirement from Congress to take job at Newsmax (Axios) / The 3 most surprising parts of Trump's new website (The Wrap)  ■ Who gets vaccines in D.C.? 1,700 lawyers, 1,400 journalists and 218 ride-hailing drivers have gotten shots so far. (Washington Post) ■ ’By my count, Jen Psaki today holding her 42nd formal WH Press Briefing, same number as predecessor Kayleigh McEnany held during 9 months as Press Secy. Average length of Psaki briefings: 47 mins., compared to average 23 mins for McEnany.’ (Mark Knoller) ■ CNN's Don Lemon mourns George Floyd for 9 minutes, 29 seconds: 'That's a long time' (LA Times) / The teenager who recorded George Floyd's death on video says it changed her life (USA Today) / ‘I stay up nights apologizing to George Floyd,’ says teen witness who filmed arrest (Washington Post) / The trial of Derek Chauvin, and the debate about cameras in court (Columbia Journalism Review) ■ Harvard student finds KKK photo on campus, documents school's modern history of racism (Washington Post) ■ Daily News nixes pandemic bonuses for journalists — but pays the bosses (New York Post) ■ McClatchy is cutting at least 26 jobs, outsourcing page design and typesetting (Poynter) ■ Substack raising $65 million in venture capital amid newsletter boom (Axios)  ■ America's digital defender is underfunded, outmatched and ‘exhausted’ (POLITICO) ■ Morning News photographer Jim Mahoney could tell the whole story, one photo at a time (Dallas Morning News)

Today’s journalists need to check more than their facts. In this cut-and-paste digital world, journalists also need to check their rights. Join the National Press Club Journalism Institute for an overview of copyright perils and solutions, presented by three lawyers with the Media & Entertainment Law Group from the Washington, D.C. office of Ballard Spahr LLP: Chuck Tobin, Alia Smith and Mara Gassmann. Participants will leave the program with:  Best practices for the “fair use” of unlicensed work Tips to calibrate how much is too much when quoting or using someone else’s work  Ways to quickly determine rights to an image and how to license it, even via social media Registration is now open for this program, which will take place online from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, March 31, 2021. The program is free to attend; donations will support the Institute’s programs.

Be the calm in the storm Are you a reactor or a responder? In moments of stress, do you reflexively react emotionally or do you pause to recognize the emotions suddenly slamming you around then respond thoughtfully? Your team counts on you to de-escalate drama, orient everyone around a common purpose, and behave intentionally. That’s grace under pressure — and it’s good leadership.  Advice from Jill Geisler, Bill Plante Chair in Leadership & Media Integrity, Loyola University Chicago, Freedom Forum Fellow in Women’s Leadership Click here to read Jill’s previous posts.

Resources Energy Journalism Initiative (Accepting applications) Journalism and cultural literacy: Addressing racial blind spots in news (April 1, 1 p.m. ET)  The words we use to cover criminal justice, jails and prisons (April 21, 12 p.m. ET)

National Press Club news NAACP President Derrick Johnson to speak on issues of representation in arts and entertainment (March 31, 2 p.m. ET) CEO of American Association for the Advancement of Science will discuss federal science spending (April 5, 11 am ET) Watch: Former White House press secretary Dana Perino discusses book, ‘Everything Will Be Okay’ Interested in becoming a Club member? Learn more.

This newsletter is written & edited by the National Press Club Journalism Institute staff: Beth Francesco, Holly Butcher Grant and Julie Moos. Send us your questions and suggestions for topics to cover. Get this from a friend? Subscribe, and view the archives.

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