From a New York Times review by James Poniewozik headlined “Hemingway Is a Big Two-Hearted Reconsideration”:

One of the more unsettling moments in “Hemingway,” the latest documentary from Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, finds Ernest Hemingway, big-game hunter, chronicler of violence and seeker of danger, doing one thing that terrified him: speaking on television.

It is 1954, and the author, who survived airplane crashes earlier that year in Africa, had been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He agreed to an interview with NBC on the condition that he receive the questions in advance and read his answers from cue cards.

From a Wall Street Journal story by Cara Lombardo and Luke I. Alpert headlined “Rival Group Makes Fully Financed, Roughly $680 Million Bid for Tribune”:

A Maryland hotel magnate and a Swiss billionaire have made a bid for Tribune Publishing Co. that the newspaper chain is expected to favor over a takeover deal it already struck with hedge fund Alden Global Capital.

A special committee of Tribune’s board has determined that a roughly $680 million, $18.50-a-share bid submitted late last week by Choice Hotels International Inc. Chairman Stewart Bainum and Hansjörg Wyss is reasonably likely to lead to a proposal that is superior to Alden’s $635 million deal. That is legal deal-speak indicating Alden may need to raise its bid or risk losing the deal.

From a Washingtonian magazine interview by Rob Brunner of novelist Morowa Yejidé”:

Written over the course of 17 years, Morowa Yejidé‘s new book, Creatures of Passage, is set in DC’s Anacostia in 1977 and follows twins—one living, one dead—who share names with the Egyptian gods Nephthys and Osiris. But that barely hints at the richness and complexity of the book’s many strands. “The novel brings to mind the best of Toni Morrison,” George Pelecanos recently wrote in the Washington Post. “It’s that good.”

This is a hard book to know how to talk about. How do you respond when people ask what it’s about?

From a post on niemanstoryboard.org headlined “The power and purpose of a writer’s voice”:

Are you wondering how you can break out of writing brief news items into writing longer, more engaging narrative articles? Mark Kramer, the founding director of the Power of Narrative conference, focused a breakout session on a tool that is crucial for moving from straight news to narrative: voice.

Newspapers all speak with more or less the same voice, and have for decades. “It’s the voice of authority,” Kramer says. It’s an official voice that every reporter adopts to show that they are not speaking for themselves, but for the organization, he says. That institutional voice doesn’t offer much emotional range.

From a Times Insider column by Noor Qasim headlined “125 Years of Writing: The Evolution of the Book Review”:

On Oct. 10, 1896, The New York Times announced, “We begin to-day the publication of a Supplement which contains reviews of the new books … ”

What has followed, over the subsequent 125 years, is an evolution of literary journalism — reviews, news, essays and interviews that have shaped the course of American letters.
This year, the Book Review is celebrating that history…and I have been unearthing gems from our archive in articles, on our podcast and in a book coming out this fall….

From a story on editorandpublisher.com about the next generation of news professionals:

Kayleen Holder, 33
Editor, The Devine News
Devine, Texas
Education: Texas A&M University, bachelor of arts, education English language arts

What advice do you have for other young professionals in the news industry?

Find the good in your community. Helping people is just as important as the hard-hitting news. When it comes to covering tough issues in a small town, write it in a way that makes it clear you are part of the community.

From a post on niemanstoryboard.org headlined “Chipping away at the opacity of power with David Fahrenthold”:

The competition to prove — or disprove — claims that former President Donald Trump made about his wealth was fierce. Of special interest were Trump’s long-denied tax returns, something all modern presidents before him released.

In the midst of that flurry, David Fahrenthold of The Washington Post calmly turned story after story, biting off bit by bit of the truth of the Trump financial empire. His efforts scored early in the administration; Fahrenthold won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in national reporting for a collection of pieces that disrobed Trump’s claims about his charitable giving….

From The Writer’s Almanac:

It was on this day in 1968 that Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his final speech in Memphis, Tennessee, where he had come to support striking sanitation workers.

He said, “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land!”

From a Wall Street Journal column by Ben Zimmer headlined “A Monster Of a Name Has Taken On a Life Of Its Own”:

Godzilla, that prehistoric mega-lizard supercharged by nuclear radiation, is stomping its way onto the silver screen yet again. In the 36th installment of the Godzilla franchise, the King of the Monsters is taking on its gigantic counterpart, King Kong. “Godzilla vs. Kong”…

The enduring appeal of Godzilla as a pop-cultural icon is evident from the creature’s name becoming a symbol of gargantuan power, in contexts far removed from monster movies. When the grounded container ship the Ever Given got pulled out of the Suez Canal by supersize tugboats earlier this week, one maritime expert said that the 3,700-ton Alp Guard was “the Godzilla of tugboats.”

From a feature on vox.com headlined “Ask a book critic: Constance Grady provides book recommendations”:

Are there any fiction books which you think might mirror the nonfiction ones I have liked?

It sounds like you are in a place for books that spend a lot of time thinking about how media is shaping the way we think. Luckily, there’s actually a ton of ambitious fiction coming out right now about just that!