Sean Penn Scored on Ethics of "El Chapo" Interview

Gun Lobby Issues "Humorous" Guidelines for Journalists

"In what passes for humour by the US gun lobby, a 'shooting sports' website has produced 'The journalist's guide to gun violence coverage,'Roy Greenslade reported Thursday for the Guardian.

"Clearly, the people who run Ammoland have been stung by the relatively mild antagonism aired in America's media towards the use of guns following a string of mass murders.

"They also lampoon President Barack Obama for his tears as he talked about the 2012 murder of 20 children at Sandy Hook, Newtown, Connecticut, while advocating gun controls.

"So, using a hammer to crack a nut — or should that be a Kalashnikov to shoot a mouse? — it has a produced 4,300 words of advice to reporters. . . ."

• Charles M. Blow, New York Times: Gun Control and White Terror
  
  
• Helen Lewis, NiemanReports: How Newsrooms Handle Graphic Images of Violence
  
  
• Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Gun madness should bring us all to tears
  
  
• Beth Schwartzapfel, Marshall Project: Gun Control is One Thing, But What About Bullets?

15 Taking Buyouts at Seattle Times

Photographer John Lok and page designer Teresa Scribner are among 15 staff members taking voluntary buyouts at the Seattle Times, Heidi Groover reported Saturday for the Stranger, an alternative publication in Seattle.

"About a month ago, Seattle Times editor Kathy Best sent the newspaper's staff a memo announcing 'significant staff reductions' and gave employees until December 31 to decide whether they'd take voluntary buyouts," Groover wrote. "Yesterday afternoon, Best announced to the staff who'd be leaving the paper, a list that includes some editors and staffers who've been at the paper for decades.

"Best told The Stranger last month that the Seattle Times is 'reducing the newsroom budget by 6 percent through a variety of cuts, including people.' The Times has about 200 reporters, editors, and other newsroom staffers.

"In an e-mail to employees yesterday afternoon, Best said 14 people submitted expressions of interest in the buyout — one week of pay for each year of work at the paper up to 13 weeks — and all of those were accepted. The total list of people leaving the paper is 15. . . ."

Lok has been shooting for the Times since 2003; Scribner also teaches at Cleveland High School in Seattle.

Others, Groover wrote, are Marilyn Bailey, news desk editor; Misha Berson, a theater critic who wrote a book about West Side Story; Becky Bisbee, a business editor who's held that position for 15 years; Jack Broom, a general assignment reporter who's been at the paper for almost 39 years; Denise Clifton, the visual strategy editor who helped lead the paper's recent website redesign, and Ave Delph, news desk editor.

Also, Brian Gallagher, assistant lifestyle features editor; Kristin Jackson, who has written and edited for the paper's travel section since 1984; Bob Payne, whose job title is 'editor, partnerships and audience engagement,' a position he's held since 1998; Richard Seven, a news desk editor who has held different positions at the paper for nearly 30 years; Gail Scott, executive assistant to the editorial staff who has been at the paper since 1986; Jennifer Sullivan, a crime reporter who was part of the team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2010 for the paper's coverage of the shooting of four police officers; and Bob Warcup, a page designer who has worked on some of the paper's special projects, including its yearlong investigation into hazardous lead at shooting ranges.

• Lukas I. Alpert, Wall Street Journal: New Republic Owner Chris Hughes Puts Magazine Up For Sale
  
  
• Jeremy Barr, Advertising Age: Huffington Post Cuts Dozens of Employees as Part of Video Pivot
  
  
• Jeff Gammage, philly.com: Lensfest donates newspapers, website to new media institute
  
  
• Keith J. Kelly, New York Post: Daily News carnage reaches 'safe' digital staffers