Newsweek Fighting Its New Owners

February 22, 2018 2:03 PM

Why Is the Manhattan DA Looking at Newsweek’s Ties to a Christian University?
posted by MovableBookLady (9 comments total)

Hell of a note from the editors on this one:

Note From the Editors: As we were reporting this story, Newsweek Media Group fired Newsweek Editor Bob Roe, Executive Editor Ken Li and Senior Politics Reporter Celeste Katz for doing their jobs. Reporters Josh Keefe and Josh Saul were targeted for firing before an editor persuaded the company to reverse its decision. As we continued working on the story, we were asked to take part in a review process, which, we ultimately learned, involved egregious breaches of confidentiality and journalism ethics. We believe that subjects of the story were shown parts of the draft, if not the entire piece, prior to publication by a company executive who should not have been involved in the process. At an on-the-record interview with the subjects of this story, a company official asked editors to identify confidential sources. On-the-record sources were contacted and questioned about their discussions with Newsweek Media Group reporters. We resisted their efforts to influence the story and, after learning of the review’s ethical failings, the reporters and editors involved in this story felt they would be forced to resign. At that point, a senior Newsweek Media Group executive said the company's owners would ensure independent review and newsroom autonomy going forward. This story was written and edited Tuesday, free of interference from company executives.

Signed: Dayan Candappa, Nancy Cooper, Cristina Silva, Ross Schneiderman, Michael Mishak, Josh Keefe, Josh Saul.
posted by zabuni at 2:10 PM on February 22, 2018 [16 favorites]

Also, hell of a footnote: Celeste Katz contributed reporting to this article before she was fired.
posted by splitpeasoup at 3:04 PM on February 22, 2018 [10 favorites]

Also, hell of a footnote: Celeste Katz contributed reporting to this article before she was fired.

It doesn't really matter at this point: the publication is tarnished, they may be charged, making any association a nightmare, and what you are seeing now is a disintegration of a sketchy, hot mess. This is not good for people working under that toxic banner, this is not good for journalism, and, this is not going to do the profession any favours at all. When you are a reporter, and you work for a place that gets raided, it says something about your observational skills -- fairly or not. It's like working at a bank, and then it gets raided -- explaining to customers that your bosses are to blame is not going to convince many of them to do business with you anymore. It's just bad.
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 3:59 PM on February 22, 2018 [3 favorites]

I don't know, when you're a reporter, and you're investigating your publication's new owners, and they get raided during the course of the investigation, it says something about your journalistic instincts, at least.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:32 PM on February 22, 2018 [9 favorites]

From Expensing Yachts to Chasing The Onion: I Watched the Newsweekly Die From the Inside

An article in Newsweek on the girlfriend of the suspected Las Vegas gunman breathlessly purported to have discovered that she was married to two men simultaneously. (Not true.) One piece touted a new poll in Japan that showed its citizens were eager to go to war with North Korea—a startling headline that raised alarms in a region fraught with nuclear tensions, and where Tokyo’s occupation of the peninsula during the Pacific War is still raw. (Oops. Not true.) President Donald Trump can defend himself, but Newsweek ran a story following Charles Manson’s death that was both banal and a slur: They both use words to influence people. It had to be walked back. One of the most embarrassing for me as a political reporter is a story from January 2018 announcing that Hillary Clinton, she of the 2016 election, could still become president “if Russia probe finds conspiracy evidence.” What followed was a far-fetched theory of Trump’s removal and Mike Pence handing the reins to Hillary, which seems a tad unlikely.

And just the other day Newsweek retracted their regurgitation of the "Bots took down Franken" nonsense.

There are probably some good reporters still left at Newsweek, but as a whole, the thing is a tire fire.
posted by BungaDunga at 4:38 PM on February 22, 2018 [4 favorites]

Maybe they’ll change the name to WeakNews.
posted by Autumnheart at 4:55 PM on February 22, 2018 [5 favorites]

I don't know, when you're a reporter, and you're investigating your publication's new owners, and they get raided during the course of the investigation, it says something about your journalistic instincts, at least.

Not really. It's a game of spin and optics, but I remember covering the business of journalism, and it was quite often that reporters wouldn't even know their companies were bought or by whom until someone called them to get a sound bite about it. Sometimes they'd know 30 minutes before the public announcement, but not always. This isn't the first time a media owner was under some sort of criminal investigation and the entire newsroom was clueless all along.

This is just another day late, dollar short catastrophes in this profession that seems incapable of self-reflection and admitting there is a problem. I keep saying I want to hold an intervention. If any profession needs a reality check, it's journalism, but there is always an excuse to deflect criticism, and it's not helpful.
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 6:09 PM on February 22, 2018

> This isn't the first time a media owner was under some sort of criminal investigation and the entire newsroom was clueless all along. [...] If any profession needs a reality check, it's journalism, but there is always an excuse to deflect criticism, and it's not helpful.

While you doubtless have a point, it's a really shitty response to this particular situation. "Too bad you got fired, but you were a pathetic, clueless excuse for a journalist, so suck it up!" Reminds me of things I won't mention for fear of inflaming the discussion, so I'll just say you should probably reflect on how deeply you've fallen down your own rabbit hole.

Thanks for the post, MovableBookLady, it's a real eye-opener.
posted by languagehat at 11:18 AM on February 23, 2018 [5 favorites]

Slate cover story "How Newsweek Collapsed", and it's a doozy. Goes from the purchase of Newsweek by IBT, short-term benefits as IBT financed some growth, then a shift to merciless click-chasing once IBT got busted/re-algorithmed down for click-chasing. Then the bonus of management firing anyone who had any questions about anything.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 7:56 AM on February 24, 2018