E&P Reports with Mike Blinder

Jennifer Kho loves that Chicago is a "two-newspaper town." She's the new executive editor at one of those two newspapers, the Chicago Sun-Times.

Kho was E&P Publisher Mike Blinder's guest on this 148th episode of E&P Reports vodcast. Prior to being named executive editor, Kho was the managing editor at HuffPost and, before that, managing editor at The Guardian (US). While at HuffPost, she became the director for strategic innovation and created an innovation team. She was laid off by the digital news outlet and spent approximately 14 months looking for a job and bridging the employment gap by offering consultative services.

Kho hadn't even fully moved from Los Angeles to Chicago when the Chicago Sun-Times' newsroom faced the monumental and solemn challenge of reporting on the July 4th mass shooting in Highland Park. That day, a single shooter, with the aid of high-capacity weapons, murdered seven people and injured dozens, terrorizing and traumatizing the community.

Delano Massey was covering several executive-level jobs at CNN, including supervising producer of both race and equity and crime and justice reporting, when he joined the team at Axios as managing editor of Local, just as the company launched a dozen new markets.

Having spent over three years at AP and attending Maynard Institute's Media Academy at Harvard University, he gained national recognition when he was selected as one of MIPAD's 2021 "Most Influential People of African Descent."

But over the years, Massey's journalism career took different turns, spending almost a decade as the metro editor at the Lexington Herald-Leader and then leaving to work as a senior digital producer in TV broadcast news.

In this 147th episode of "E&P Reports," we go one-on-one with Delano Massey, Managing Editor of Axios Local, exploring their mission to continue to provide "smart brevity" reporting not only at a national news level but now expanding into dozens of local markets, with plans to launch more by year's end. We also talked with Massey about his views on establishing equity, diversity & inclusion within our newsrooms, based predominantly on his experiences working with then CNN President Jeff Zucker on creating the network's Race & Equity team.

On their website, JaxTrib.com, the team of Jacksonville, Florida's newest news outlet, posted, "Before it's too late, we must rethink what news will look like and how it will be delivered in our community. For the Tributary, the future of local journalism is about accountability and accessibility. This nonprofit news hub feeds investigative stories to area partners, filling a gap in coverage of entrenched problems and solutions to strengthen the entire Northeast Florida news ecosystem."

Founded by two newsroom veterans of Gannett's Jacksonville (FL) Times-Union, Andrew Pantazi, the founding editor and Deirdre Conner, board chairman, worked for over one year to establish the nonprofit entity and find the necessary funding to establish an investigative news outlet that proudly shares their stories with other area media companies.

Moreover, Pantazi, who, while working for Gannett, helped organize the Times-Union's newsroom into the NewsGuild-CWA, now boasts in his recruitment ads that the Tributary operates as a "workplace democracy" where the team makes all decisions collectively on hiring, compensation, budgeting, and the actual stories they cover and how they are edited before being published.

In this 146th episode of "E&P Reports," you will meet two integral founders of Jacksonville, Florida's newest nonprofit news start-up, The Tributary. On this broadcast are Andrew Pantazi, the founding editor and Deirdre Conner, board chairman, who will talk about the challenges of building a nonprofit media entity along with their new, innovative model of providing an investigative news outlet that shares content with other local news media.

On June 29th, 2022, the Local News Initiative at The Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications of Northwestern University released their latest study, "The State of Local News 2022, Expanding News Deserts, Growing Gaps, Emerging Models." The primary author of the report is Penelope Muse Abernathy, who is nationally known for her "news deserts" research and acts as visiting professor at Northwestern and has served as Knight Chair in Journalism at the University of North Carolina. Abernathy has also held executive positions with The New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

The study confirms that U.S. newspapers rapidly continue to close at an average rate of more than two a week, with the country losing more than one-fourth since 2005 as of publication date leaving only 6,377 surviving papers with 1,230 reported as dailies and 5,147 as weeklies.

Moreover, the study states that this loss of local journalism has been accompanied by the "malignant spread of misinformation and disinformation, political polarization, eroding trust in media, and a yawning digital and economic divide among citizens." And when a local news source dies, so does voter participation while corruption in both government and business rise along with taxes.

In this 145th episode of E&P Reports, we have an insightful dialogue with Penelope (Penny) Muse Abernathy, visiting professor at Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism and Tim Franklin, Senior Associate Dean, Professor and John M. Mutz Chair in Local News, about the Local News Initiative's latest study on the "State of Local News 2022." It reveals that U.S. newspapers continue to close down rapidly, creating "news deserts" that become fertile ground for the growth of misinformation, government corruption and lack of voter participation.

Juana Summers knew she wanted to be a reporter since high school in Kansas City, where she started writing for her school newspaper. After graduating in 2009 from the University of Missouri with a degree in Convergence Journalism, she has quickly established a remarkable career with reporting positions covering politics for CNN, AP, Mashable and National Public Radio (NPR).

Summers will join All Things Considered Starting on June 27th, filling the hosting position left vacant by Audie Cornish and will be joining the show at a time when questions about NPR's diversity in its internal structure and within its audience have been making industry headlines.

In a recent NPR interview, Summers, who is Black, said she "hopes to further expand All Things Considered's reach to new and diverse audiences. She aims to reach more people whose experiences are not typically represented in the media and empower them to tell their stories on air. She also said she hopes to do more in digital spaces to reach younger audiences."

In this 144th episode of E&P Reports, meet National Public Radio's (NPR) new cohost of 'All Things Considered,' Juana Summers, who will talk about her new job, the internal culture of NPR and offer some advice to young journalists of color on how to advance within the industry.

While most news publishing outlets are downsizing, the Hearst Connecticut Media Group (HCMG) continues to grow its operations with a recent expansion statewide and in Greater Hartford, the backyard of the now hedge fund-owned Harford Courant. In March 2022, HCMG announced hiring 13 new staff members, including 11 journalists who will focus their reporting on statewide topics, and local news and enterprise in the state capital area. They will publish that content online within the one-year-old CTInsider.com website and eight daily newspapers and community weekly publications.

As E&P reported one year ago, CTInsider.com began a major expansion for HCMG to become a statewide news powerhouse. Today it seems that they are well on their way to achieving their goal of having 100,000+ paid print and digital subscribers across their entire network. Furthermore, HCMG has also seen consecutive monthly growth in digital subscriptions since early 2019.

In this 143rd episode of "E&P Reports," we revisit with Mike DeLuca, Group Publisher and President of Hearst Connecticut (HCMG), and Wen­­dy Metcalfe, the Senior Vice President of Content & Editor-in-Chief, about the strategies and formulas they are deploying to become what is now is arguably the most successful local news operation in the nation in achieving reader growth.

In the summer of 2019, the Boston Globe surprised the industry by launching an initiative just 53 miles down the I-95 corridor in neighboring Providence, Rhode Island. When most local news operations were aggressively downsizing, the Globe had already shown an appetite for expansion by hiring more journalists and launching new verticals covering marijuana, health, life sciences and even the Catholic Church.

However, this expansion placed them in the backyard of one of the nation's most respected news outlets: The Providence Journal, which in its heyday had multiple bureaus with hundreds of journalists and a lengthy list of Pulitzers and Peabodys for their famous investigative reporting. Today, due to subscriber and advertising revenue declines and Gannett corporate downsizing, there are less than thirty full-time reporters at the ProJo.

Perhaps that is one of the reasons that The Boston Globe is increasing its commitment to their Providence bureau that contributes daily to their online vertical dedicated to the Ocean State, called "Globe Rhode Island." The team includes ProJo veterans Maria Caporizzo, Edward Fitzpatrick, Amanda Milkovitz and Brian Amaral, Providence Business News alumna Alexa Gagosz, former WPRI-TV reporter Dan McGowan, and digital and audience engagement editor Carlos Munoz, who moved to Rhode Island from Florida to join the team. Together, they cover politics, business, health, education, the economy, the arts, and more, along with a popular weekly Podcast called "Rhode Island Report" and a new RI Food & Dining section. Plus, with Gannett now cutting back on providing editorial content throughout the company, Globe Rhode Island has also expanded its Commentary platform.

The Globe has already had a strong impact on the local media landscape: subscriptions to the digital product and its email newsletters are growing rapidly, and the Globe Rhode Island team recently won 27 reporting awards from the Rhode Island Press Association, sweeping the Investigative and Health Care reporting categories.

In this 142nd episode of E&P Reports, meet the Boston Globe Rhode Island's editor, Lylah M. Alphonse, and one of the original bureau hires, Dan McGowan, who produces their daily "Rhode Map" newsletter. They will talk about the Globe's growing southward expansion and their commitment to providing statewide news content. Also appearing is Michelle Micone, the Boston Globe's Vice President, Innovation and Strategic Initiatives, who will speak to the Globe's overall strategy in expanding into new content areas and neighboring markets.

Children of celebrities often have difficulty finding their path. There are countless stories of their wrong choices. However, Peter Funt, son of Allen Funt, creator of Candid Camera, one of TV's longest-running and most popular shows, was able to walk the fine line between honoring his father's achievements and forging his own – and very successfully.

Peter became a member of the Candid Camera family at an early age. He portrayed a shoeshine boy at the age of 3 and offered shines to businessmen on the streets of New York. Peter was instructed to ask for $10 per shoe he shined, an outrageous charge at the time, to elicit those "candid" and amusing reactions that were the show's premise.

During a recent "E&P Reports" Vodcast episode Funt was asked about his life, his love of newspapers, his views on news media's current and future status, which have often been the topics of his many op-ed pieces and the books he has published.

"Many people mistakenly assume the Funt homelife was one practical joke after another," said Funt. "My father wasn't a practical joker. He created Candid Camera to reveal people truly as themselves when they didn't know they were being observed.

"My dad and I spent our lives finding things that tickled us. It didn't have to be a big deal and didn't even have to be laugh-out-loud funny, but enough to be amused. He looked at life that way, and so do I." (An excerpt from Peter Funt's book: Self-Amused: A Tell-Some Memoir. Now available at most local and online bookstores.)

Although Peter continued his affiliation with Candid Camera, becoming a co-host during 1987 and eventually the producer and host, his goal at an early age was to be a journalist.

Interestingly, his parents bought Peter a subscription to Editor & Publisher. They also included the annual Data Book, listing all the newspapers in America, among Peter's Christmas gifts every year from the age of 10. Many children would have thought they had received a giant lump of coal, but Peter used the gift to contact many of the listed newspapers, asking for a recent issue and even the paper mache mattes of the front page.

Peter earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in mass communications and journalism at the University of Denver. His early days as a freelance journalist in New York were the starting point for a career in journalism, eventually writing op-ed pieces for The New York Times, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal.

"In my view, America can't afford to lose the very biggest and very smallest papers. The biggest papers report in-depth about the most important international and national news. The smallest newspapers are the informational glue that holds local communities together. People need to know about the last school board meeting and the workings of their local government.

"I think the renewed focus on community newspapers is a great opportunity for young people who want to enter journalism and gain valuable experience. Local dailies are anxious to hire people to write for them, even if they have no journalism experience or degree," added Funt.

In this 141st episode of "E&P Reports," meet TV host/ producer and columnist, Peter Funt who today still stars in and produces the iconic TV show "Candid Camera," along with penning op-eds for The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times as well as a weekly column, distributed by the Cagle Syndicate. His book, "Cautiously Optimistic" contains dozens of his best columns and essays. In this episode Peter chats with E&P Publisher Mike Blinder and Associate Publisher Robin Blinder about his years in media from black & white TV to the digital world of today

Francesca Chambers is the new White House Correspondent for USA Today. However, she is not new to reporting on D.C. politics, having covered presidents, vice presidents and politicians, including former Presidents Obama and Trump, former Vice President Pence, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Senators Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, and Lindsey Graham. Before this new position at USA Today, Chambers covered politics and the White House for McClatchy, DailyMail.com and the Daily Mail.

In this 1140th episode of "E&P Reports," publisher Mike Blinder interviews Chambers about what's it like to be part of the White House press pool and what advice she can offer other aspiring journalists who may have a passion for politics on how to advance and grow within the industry.

• Follow Francesca Chambers on Twitter
• Read Francesca Chambers latest reporting for USA Today=
• Learn more about the White House Correspondents' Association

Jon Marshall teaches media history and reporting as an associate professor at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications. In his new book "Clash: Presidents and the Press in Times of Crisis," he examines the adversarial relationship between presidents and journalists amid periods of national crisis.

Some administrations he explores within the pages of "Clash" include how in 1798, John Adams used a newly enacted Alien and Sedition Act to muzzle his press critics. Or, how in 1917, Woodrow Wilson, who had similar ideas to cease the probing of his administration by white house reporters, used legislation outlawing expressions of disloyalty to prosecute and jail journalists. And it was in the late '60s that Richard Nixon was the first to attempt to delegitimize journalists by being the first to brand them as "elites" and describing them as "the media," to change the public perception of the press as something that was wrong with America, not unlike crime or drugs.

In this 139th episode of "E&P Reports," professor and media historian Jon Marshall offers an overview of his latest book, "Clash: Presidents and the Press in Times of Crisis." During the broadcast, he discusses some of the most interesting ways that over 200 years of various white house administrations dealt with the press.