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

This echoes NPR’s earlier reporting.

https://twitter.com/binvestigates/status/1770418301534900261

NPR reported these allegations in December; @LachCartwright followed up in Daily Beast in January.

Little other attention stateside but in UK, these allegations are part of cases that Harry and Hugh Grant brought against Murdoch press there.

npr.org/2023/12/20/121…

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.

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.

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

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

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

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%+

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.

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…

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

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

npr.org/2020/11/20/935…

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

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

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

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"

Here's a little fun fact about the imbroglio at the Voice of America

USAGM CEO Michael Pack has justified turning the agency upside down by invoking the Q of security clearances and possible espionage / con't Pack has not publicly specified any harm.

To Federalist, he said, “To be a journalist is a great cover for a spy – famous journalists like Kim Philby who worked for the BBC… It’s just a great cover. And from the beginning of the Cold War, even earlier, they’ve been penetrated."

Thread: It may seem like some quaint vestige of a time gone by.

But let me spell out why I think developments at the Voice of America and its parent agency are important to track, even as so many crises are unfolding before our eyes. /cont

My latest: npr.org/2020/10/04/919… The VOA reaches 280MM+ people abroad each week. It provides a service for lands that don't have a free press and serves as a symbol of American political liberty & open debate by covering all sides.

Staffers tell me its credibility is being damaged by its CEO, appointed by Trump

NEWS: 14 veteran journalists at the Voice of America send letter of protest against Trump's appointee as parent agency's CEO, Michael Pack, saying he is harming US aims and imperiling its reporters / more

My story:
npr.org/2020/08/31/907… Pack's comments and decisions "endanger the personal security of VOA reporters at home and abroad, as well as threatening to harm U.S. national security objectives," the letter to VOA Acting Director Elez Biberaj reads. / more

Pittsburgh PG executive editor Keith Burris re ⁦@alexisjreports⁩:

“No fair person could make the case that our actions were race-based. We will not apologize for upholding professional standards in journalism or attempting to eliminate bias.” /MORE
post-gazette.com/local/region/2… 2/ Burris says Johnson was barred from coverage because her tweet betrayed bias.

Does not address case of white colleague warned about tweet disparaging man accused of looting was allowed to keep writing about protests until union pointed out disparity - as NPR reported Monday /

Secretary Pompeo asserts (without evidence) that NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly lied twice - saying their interview was only to focus on Iran and that post-interview exchange was to be off record.

A point about each: /con’t In interview, transcript shows Pompeo did not contradict @NPRKelly when she noted she confirmed w his aides she’d ask about Ukraine too. (Aide was in room.)

Don’t take my word - here’s State Dep’t transcript:
state.gov/secretary-mich…

/con’t

NEWS: Astros assistant GM Brandon Taubman was targeting a female reporter wearing a purple bracelet on domestic violence.

She has tweeted frequently on DV; he complained about her tweets offering info on DV hotlines when Roberto Osuna appeared in Astros games in 2018. My story:

https://twitter.com/davidfolkenflik/status/1186753828189851649

This account is based on interviews with three witnesses to Saturday's incident and another four interviews. Osuna was considered damaged goods when his contract was obtained in a trade from the Toronto Blue Jays - in financial terms, a distressed asset acquired at a discount.