The intrepid investigative reporter Wayne Barrett, who enjoyed a long tenure at the Village Voice in the newsweekly's heyday, died yesterday. Barrett's books included Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11 and Trump: The Deals and the Downfalls. The latter book, which was originally published in 1992, had a resurgence this year, selling for hundreds of dollars on Amazon until it was rereleased as an e-book with a new introduction by the author. Barrett remained an expert critic of Trump, who once had the reporter physically removed from a party, until the end. Barrett criticized many politicians, but in the process also won many local leaders' respect. Michael Bloomberg writes: "Wayne Barrett was a tenacious reporter in the tradition of the old muckrakers who could sniff out corruption and special interest politics a mile away. No elected official always saw eye-to-eye with Wayne, including me. But I always respected his deep sense of moral purpose and encyclopedic knowledge of city politics, accumulated through a lifetime of tireless research."
Guardian migration reporter and The New Odyssey author Patrick Kingsley will join the New York Times as an enterprise-investigative reporter.
After criticism from both conservative and liberal media, the Times is standing behind an earlier article that alleged Rick Perry did not initially understand the job of Energy Secretary, a role that he has been nominated for by the Trump administration. The article cited only one named source, former Trump transition official Michael McKenna, who later told the Daily Caller that his words were misinterpreted by the paper. In a statement to Politico, a Times spokesperson said, “We stand by our story, which accurately reflected what multiple, high-level sources told our reporters.”
The Hill reports that the Trump administration plans to defund the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, among other departments. According to Brian Darling, a staffer at the conservative Heritage Foundation, “Targeting waste like the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities would be a good first step in showing that the Trump Administration is serious about radically reforming the federal budget.”
At New York, Jonathan Chait details six books that can help readers understand “how the GOP went crazy.” Titles include EJ Dionne’s Why the Right Went Wrong: Conservatism—From Goldwater to the Tea Party, Kimberly Phillips-Fein’s Invisible Hands: The Businessmen’s Crusade Against the New Deal, and Paul Krugman’s Peddling Prosperity: Economic Sense and Nonsense in an Age of Diminished Expectations.
Women’s Wear Daily looks at which media outlets are allowing employees to attend the Women’s March on Washington as private citizens. The New York Times, the Washington Post, and BuzzFeed—all of which are sending reporters to cover the event—are only allowing reporters to attend if they are on assignment. Magazines don’t seem to be adhering to the same restrictions—Glamour staff who are not covering the event have chartered their own bus to DC, and employees at Hearst and Conde Nast are also reportedly attending.
At Time, Eddie S. Glaude Jr. writes that Americans should refuse to watch Trump’s inauguration, arguing that lower ratings might be the only form of protest that can get through to him. “We should blank out: we should refuse to watch the Inauguration on television,” Glaude writes. “Help raise funds for the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and Earthjustice. Spend time with the people you love. Disengage from the spectacle. Turn off the television.”
