Marta McLellan Ross
Movers & Shakers, from news media leaders to political beat reporters and on-air correspondents, are what media-spend decisionmakers and PR pros should pay attention to this week. NPR has big news. It also seems COVID-19 coverage needs a local journalism booster shot, while Bloomberg is doing some investigative data journalism with vaccines. Meanwhile, national media has been reporting on corporate action against new voter restriction bills, the latest being a move by Major League Baseball to remove the All-Star Game and draft from Georgia. Stacey Abrams has other tactics. Voting Rights Reporter Ari Berman cited the Brennan Center, showing 361 bills to restrict voting rights were introduced in 47 states.
And, unfortunately, the Capitol is back in the news on Friday after a driver rammed a barricade, killing one U.S. Capitol Police Officer and injuring another. The suspect was shot and died later in the hospital. Punchbowl News Founder Jake Sherman was on scene as the events unfolded. The news is reminiscent of the Jan. 6 insurrection, as stated by USCP Acting Chief Yogananda Pittman.
🚨🚨A helicopter just landed on the east front of the Capitol. I’ve never seen anything like this before. ever. pic.twitter.com/LxV0mywRSe
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) April 2, 2021
Bloomberg Senior White House Reporter Jennifer Jacobs tweeted President Biden landed at Camp David at 12:53 p.m., shortly before Capitol incident. “White House aides with the president are Bruce Reed, Yohannes Abraham, Anthony Bernal and Stephen Goepfert.”
Returning to Movers & Shakers, there were 74 new roles this week, not including some notable departures, beat changes and contact updates. These are a select few:
- Director of Legislative Affairs at the Defense Logistics Agency, Marta Ross, is joining NPR as vice president for government and external affairs. Here is the announcement.
- Yahoo News White House Correspondent Hunter Walker is leaving to team up with Luppe Luppen (@nycsouthpaw on Twitter) to write a book about the rise of the New American Left and its future.
- Spectrum News’ Kevin Frey is now covering New York politics from Capitol Hill.
- Axios scooped that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL, 1) is eyeing an early retirement to possibly take a job at Newsmax. This came just before a whirlwind of news about a Justice Department inquiry and a media strategy that is now without Communications Director Luke Ball.
- Lara Trump joined Fox News as a contributor, while former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany is becoming a co-host on Outnumbered.
- Nausicaa Renner is now the Washington Editor at The Intercept.
- Elizabeth Kennedy is leaving The AP to become White House editor at The New York Times.
- Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez is now covering business, money and politics at Fortune.
- Politico added an economy and business unit, while John Yearwood becomes global news editor on the world/national security team.
- See new roles for Mark McQuillan, P.J. Joshi, Toby Eckert, Zach Warmbrodt, Lorraine Woellert and Greg Mott.
- In healthcare, Eli Reyes joined as head of the team.
- Emily Birnbaum will start on Monday as a tech lobbying reporter.
- Brakkton Booker also started at Politico this week and is penning “The Recast” newsletter, focusing on the intersection of race, power, politics and policy.
To cap this briefing, News of Note:
- Reuters Institute digs into the numbers on race and leadership in news media: data from five markets.
- Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) discussed his recently-introduced bill, which would reform Section 230. Leadership Connect’s Megan Kashtan has details from the conversation.
- NiemanLab does a Q&A with former Vox Editor-in-Chief Lauren C. Williams about Capital B.
- Patrick Soon-Shiong is close to finding a leader for the Los Angeles Times.
- Two Texas Tribune leaders announce their departures.
- After being banned from Twitter following the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, former president Donald Trump launched a website to serve his personal office.
- New Yorker staffers vote to authorize strike after negotiations break down with Condé Nast.
- Bloomberg Senior Healthcare Editor Drew Armstrong reports the team is tracking U.S. vaccine availability by week, and comparing it with manufacturer projections.
We’ve noticed the momentum of most pandemic coverage has shifted to vaccines. Poynter has some context on that narrative.
Local news outlets — newspapers, TV stations, radio — must continue to closely monitor local numbers, which clearly show in most places that now is not the time to ease off the gas pedal.https://t.co/g3VMTrJmwx
— Poynter (@Poynter) March 31, 2021
