I'm told that Murray told the hundreds of people attending that he doesn't *want* to know those figures because he wants them to settle out over time.
Oct 28 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
NEWS: More than 200,000 subscribers have canceled their digital subscriptions to the Washington Post after the revelation that owner Jeff Bezos blocked an endorsement of VP Harris.
That's about 8 percent of WaPo's subscriber base - a staggering sum
MORE npr.org/2024/10/28/nx-…
That's as of midday, according to two people with direct knowledge. The figure continues to rise.
A corporate spokesperson declined to comment, citing The Washington Post Co.'s status as a privately held company. / MORE
Oct 28 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
WaPost's @DavidHoffman has stepped down from the paper's editorial board warning of appeasing tyranny.
From his resignation:
"For decades, the Washington Post's editorials have been a beacon of light, signaling hope to dissidents, political prisoners and the voiceless. MORE
"When victims of repression were harassed, exiled, imprisoned and murdered, we made sure the whole world knew the truth... I believe we face a very real threat of autocracy in the candidacy of Donald Trump. I find it untenable and unconscionable that we have lost our voice." MORE
Oct 25 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
NEWS: The Washington Post will not be making an endorsement in this year's presidential race, the editor of the editorial pages has told colleagues at a tense meeting this morning
THREAD AND LINK: npr.org/2024/10/25/nx-…
This information according to a person with direct knowledge.
It is not clear whether Post owner Jeff Bezos or Publisher/CEO Will Lewis made the call
Shipley said the paper wanted to give readers an "independent" space in which to decide or whom to vote on their own /MORE
Jun 16 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
New: The ‘Washington Post’ newsroom is on edge as the past record of new publisher Will Lewis and top editor Rob Winnett in U.K. raise red flags
Lewis first pressured the Post’s editor not to cover the ghosts of his past *before starting the job*
🧵
npr.org/2024/06/15/nx-…
Among the episodes: a six-figure payment for a major scoop; planting a junior reporter in a government job to secure secret documents; and relying on a private investigator who used subterfuge to secure private documents from their computers and phones.
Jun 3 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Some WashPost thoughts, based on conversations with six people with knowledge of events, overlaid with a touch of analysis.
Let's even call it a 🧵
First: Will Lewis wanted to force out Sally Buzbee and bring a trusted pal to run the WaPo newsroom. He wanted to make his mark.
2/ Buzbee didn't want to give up her job for an ill-defined position.
Though Lewis praised her as "an incredible leader and a supremely talented media executive who will be sorely missed," Buzbee offered no comments in statement announcing her departure /con't
Mar 20 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
Wash Post publisher & CEO Will Lewis has been named today in court for alleged role in covering up Murdoch UK tabloid scandals while an executive there, by atty for Prince Harry - this per @BInvestigates
The Baltimore Sun's new owner, David D. Smith, met with staffers today for more than two hours. Many left on edge.
He claimed he had read the paper just four times. He grew up here; his family's local TV empire - Sinclair - is based in Baltimore Co.
Other highlights:
Smith said he paid nine figures, a seemingly staggering sum. (Bezos paid $250M for the WashPost.)
Unclear if the undisclosed figure includes the licensing fees required by Alden Global Capital, the hedge fund that sold the Sun. Smith will rely on Alden's CMS and other services.
Dec 19, 2022 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
A thread on my new investigation in collaboration with crackerjack team at Floodlight News - cannot say enough good things about @mirandacgreen@marioarizabaez
It's on the manipulation of news media on behalf of giant Florida & Alabama power cos: 🧵
npr.org/2022/12/19/114…
"Invisibility is more powerful than celebrity," reads a plaque at Matrix LLC.
Behind the scenes, Matrix maintained a complex web of connections to sites boosting Alabama Power and Florida Power & Light - which took on their political adversaries, critics & journalists.
Sep 6, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
NEWS: Shortly after the 2020 election, a Fox News producer begged colleagues not to let Jeanine Pirro back on the air. She was spouting election fraud conspiracies pulled from the web.
More in my NPR exclusive on Dominion’s $1.6B defamation suit agst Fox: npr.org/2022/09/06/112…
Pirro’s show didn’t appear on Nov 7, 2020, in favor of a Biden address. Still, she returned to air repeatedly carrying water for Trump’s lies about the election.
Unlike Lou Dobbs, who was unceremoniously shown the door, Pirro was elevated this yr to co host of the Five
May 26, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
News: Union members at multiple Tribune newspapers say they're told Alden Global Capital intends to seek voluntary buyouts company-wide.
Note: Alden just loaded Tribune w $278MM in debt for its $630+ acquisition of newspaper chain. Imagine layoffs ensue if buyout goals not met.
$60MM of that debt carries a 13% rate - it was borrowed from Media News - Alden Global's other newspaper division.
h/t to @benyt for initial tweet about NYDNews & memo
Apr 17, 2021 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
NEWS ON TRIBUNE SALE: medical device billionaire Hansjorg Wyss drops out of bidding for TribPub after reviewing finances of Chicago Tribune; hotel magnate Stewart Bainum Jr “more committed than ever” to make bid for whole chain exceeding offer from hedge fund Alden Global/MORE
Wyss and his foundation hopes to transform ChiTrib into national model like WaPo under Baron & Bezos; realized it would have taken too much $ and wrong mission - CTrib needs to serve region & city. Wyss pulled out Fri eve.
This from 2 people with direct knowledge to NPR. / more
Feb 19, 2021 • 7 tweets • 1 min read
CORRECTION: I misidentified official speaking at virtual event w Chicago Tribune staffers today
Quotes from Chicago Tribune editor and publisher Colin McMahon, not TribPub CEO Terry Jimenez
My apologies to both.
Corrected tweets to follow
NEWS: Chicago Tribune editor Colin McMahon told staffers - audio obtained by NPR
> praises staffers' journalism
> calls fears of Alden "valid"
> says "space" for mission will be "smaller than it is today"
> says Trib papers make 10-13% profits - says Alden will seek 20%+
Feb 16, 2021 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
UPDATE: For 2nd time, U.S. Office of Special Counsel has found Trump's former CEO at US Agency for Global Media probably committed wrongdoing.
Michael Pack hired McGuire Woods law firm to investigate top agency execs he wanted to fire; he paid firm $2M+ in taxpayer funds /more
This courtesy of attys at @GovAcctProj for execs who became whistleblowers
Earlier, special counsel found Pack probably committed wrongdoing in violating newsroom's independence at Voice of America, firing leaders of its sister networks & forcing out foreign journalists.
Feb 5, 2021 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
Ex VOA Director Robert R. Reilly argues VOA's dysfunction has corrupted its mission. At what should be essay's core, Reilly says VOA should be focused more squarely on making America's case to the world:
"News is a means, not an end."
BUT! (con't)
washingtontimes.com/news/2021/feb/…2/ Reilly is so intent on denigrating his former staff that he elides and does damage to the truth. Reilly speaks of
"original crime" being named by Trump's CEO for parent agency. Doesn't mention opposition to his mind-boggling writings on LGBTQ and Islam. npr.org/2020/12/11/945…
Jan 23, 2021 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Breaking NEWS: Acting USAGM CEO Kelu Chao has fired the presidents of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia & the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, as of 6pm.
RFE's Ted Lipien, RFA's Stephen J. Yates and MBN's Victoria Coates were appointed in late December /MORE
Unlike Voice of America and the Cuban broadcasters, these are technically private not-for-profit networks. Chao also fired the members of the corporate boards appointed by her predecessor, Trump's USAGM CEO, Michael Pack. /MORE
Jan 21, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
UPDATE: President Biden names senior VOA news executive Keli Chao as acting CEO over its parent agency, the US Agency for Global Media.
Chao had been named whistleblower in lawsuit that successfully alleged illegal acts by Michael Pack, whom she replaces whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/…
More on that lawsuit & Chao
NEWS: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty president Ted Lipien has signed contracts embedding USAGM CEO Michael Pack & his appointees on RFE board for next two years - only removable for crime now and only for cause after two years./con't
This according to NPR review of documents & two people with knowledge of events.
Executives at Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks have already agreed to similar language. 2/con't
Jan 12, 2021 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
NEWS: Major public radio stations in Los Angeles, DC, Chicago, Seattle, Dallas, Pittsburgh etc send joint protest to NYT in fallout over collapse of "Caliphate" series.
They cite "troubling" actions of "The Daily" host Michael Barbaro & presence of producer Andy Mills. /con't
2/ "The Daily" runs on public radio stations around the country as a news program, distributed by American Public Media.
Station officials: "We feel Barbaro's actions are in direct conflict with our ethical guidelines and they call his general credibility into question."/ con't
Dec 8, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
NEWS: USAGM CEO Michael Pack today removed acting Voice of America Director Elez Biberaj, NPR has learned.
He took action as part of an effort to consolidate greater loyalty with the agency and its networks ahead of the Biden administration coming to power. /MORE
Biberaj, a 40-year VOA veteran, is returning to his job as head of the VOA.
Pack is intending to name Robert Reilly, a conservative writer and former government official who briefly served as director of the Voice of America under George W Bush, to replace Biberaj. /MORE
Nov 24, 2020 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
NEWS: Fox News reaches settlement with Seth Rich's parents over May 2017 story baselessly alleging he had leaked 1000s of DNC emails to Wikileaks during the 2016 campaign. Fox also suggested - without any evidence - link between Dems and Rich's death in July 2016. /more
Joel and Mary Rich: “The settlement with Fox News closes another chapter in our efforts to mourn the murder of our beloved Seth, whom we miss every single day... We are pleased with the settlement of this matter & sincerely hope the media will take genuine caution in the future"
