Newsrooms are slowly starting to reopen; 'clashing with workers;' removing deadnames; FEC fining National Enquirer; four POVs about Naomi Osaka

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Brian Stelter here at 11:33pm ET Tuesday. I snapped this photo from a deserted corner of CNN New York when the offices were almost completely closed due to the pandemic. Now things are opening back up...

Tuesday was the first day since March 2020 that Oliver Darcy and I sat in the office and called sources and brainstormed stories and swapped info and gossiped and did all those things that we took for granted in the Before Times.

I have to tell you, dear reader, it was divine.

So let's take a snapshot of how the news is getting made right now, at a moment when American cities are reopening and Covid case counts are hitting record lows. News pros are returning to offices... slowly.

At CNN and NBC News and a number of smaller outlets, Tuesday was a milestone day: Fully vaccinated staffers who had to work from home for 15 months were welcomed back to the office on a purely voluntary basis. In some newsrooms these are being called "pilot" programs. In others, "soft" reopenings. Here's why return-to-the-office is such a fraught topic:

-- Frontline workers in many fields, from health care to food processing, have been in the office all along, and should never be erased from the picture.

-- Many media offices have stayed open throughout the pandemic too, and everyone from printing press operators to field correspondents have continued to show up in-person, sometimes at significant personal risk.

-- The work-from-home shift happened suddenly, at a moment when journalists were covering one of the biggest stories of their lives, with hardly any time to adapt. Staffers have sacrificed in all sorts of ways.

All that said, here's what the media landscape looks like in June 2021: Some bosses are back in the office and want their employees back too... Some employees want to be back at their desks and back to "normal" ASAP... But many of the people responsible for producing the American news diet are still working from home, and they want to retain that flexibility for the long term. Some are even willing to quit or change jobs to preserve it. For many bosses and employees, there's no going back to the rigid 9-to-5 schedules of 2019.

It's easy to imagine the tension that this generates. Different jobs need different amounts of flexibility. Different staffers on the same team may want very different degrees of in-person versus remote interaction. And so forth. So newsrooms are easing back into it...

Face-to-face time

At Quartz, the New York office reopened on Tuesday, with a few rules and reminders, according to CEO Zach Seward: First, vaccination was required. Second, "Quartz is a work-from-anywhere company," which means there's "no expectation to use the office just because it's there," he wrote on Twitter. "But we've got this great, unnecessarily large space for another year, so we plan to make the most of it."

June 1 was a soft reopening date for other offices too. As an anchor, I've been coming into CNN's New York workspace throughout the pandemic, but it felt more welcoming on Tuesday, the start of a voluntary return for the wider workforce. The signs about mandated masking and social distancing have come off the walls – thanks to the vaccines. Masks have become optional – again, thanks to the vaccines. More co-anchored shows, like "Early Start" and the 2 to 4pm ET hours of "CNN Newsroom," have returned to their proper studios.

One of Fox's biggest shows has resumed in-person production, too. "Notice anything different?" Jesse Watters asked when "The Five" started in its old studio on Tuesday. "Boy, does it feel strange," he said. "No more remote set-ups. No more two-second delays. We are finally back here face-to-face." As almost any TV host will tell you, face-to-face is objectively better.

Jake Tapper articulated this argument in CNN.com's new immersive feature "2020 In Our Words." He said his team "has done an unbelievable job and I'm really proud of them, but I can't wait to get them back —- not only because I miss them, but because I know we'll be even better when we see each other and can talk and communicate. A TV news show is completely collaborative —- I'm the one in front of the camera, but there are dozens of people contributing to what I say, what I ask, who's there, who's booked, the order, ideas for questions — and all of that will be so much better when everybody is vaccinated and we can get them to come back."

Clearing off the dining room table

Up above, I showed an empty office building floor. Now here's the inverse: A newly-empty dining room. Sarah Stierch, a self-employed reporter in Sonoma, California, posted this picture before heading back to her co-working space for the first time on Tuesday. "I have reclaimed my dining room table," she quipped...

The coming clashes

Across print and digital publishers, the circumstances are quite different. In some cases, staffers are now living a state or a time zone away from the office. Employers are at risk of losing talent if they're not respectful of pandemic-era changes. Bloomberg's Anders Melin and Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou wrote on Tuesday that "the drive to get people back into offices is clashing with workers who've embraced remote work as the new normal."

It was striking to read that, since it came from Bloomberg, where journalists have been nudged to get back to the office once vaxxed. "Clashing" has been one of the results. Mike Bloomberg's infamous February 2 memo about returning to HQ said, "Any questions? I'm at my desk." Much more to come on this...

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- Facebook said last week that "offices in Manhattan will open July 12 at 25% capacity..." (Bloomberg)

-- Ad agencies and other media firms are also trying to figure out this new normal. Omnicom Group's tens of thousands of employees were recently told by CEO John Wren that "we will return to an office-centric culture as our baseline..." (AgencySpy)

-- Omnicom "did an assessment that found that most people want to be in the office 'most of the time while having some flexibility to work remotely...'" (MediaPost)

-- Embryo, a digital marketing agency, emphasized the word "slowly" while touting Tuesday's return to the office: "We can't wait to slowly see our team back..." (Twitter)

-- Over the weekend CNN's Michael Smerconish highlighted a study that found 90% of Millennial and Gen Z employees do not want to return to the office full-time... (CNN)

-- Jill Filipovic's new CNN Opinion piece is about ending the exploitation of workers: "Millions of vacant jobs add up to a massive wake-up call..." (CNN)

One year ago today...

It was the day Donald Trump strode across Lafayette Square for a strange photo op amid the worst spasm of US civil unrest since the 1960s. "The specter that haunts American politics on this June 1, 2021, is the one that we saw in all its ugliness on June 1, 2020," Chris Hayes said on MSNBC. "One year ago today... Trump ordered the forces of the state to attack protesters entirely unprovoked."

Later in the evening, unrest continued in New York, St. Louis and other cities. I remember calling into CNN TV and trying to convey the scale of the looting I was witnessing in midtown Manhattan. But the biggest story of all was the peaceful organizing against police brutality. Not the bands of thieves, not the Trump parade. One year ago today, CNN veteran Bernard Shaw said, "There is a new movement being born right now." He was right...

Biden quote of the day

A rare acknowledgment that POTUS does watch The Shows:

"I hear all the folks on TV saying, 'Why doesn't Biden get this done'? Well, because Biden only has a majority of effectively four votes in the House and a tie in the Senate, with two members of the Senate who vote more with my Republican friends."

Commenters said he was taking swipes at Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema...

WEDNESDAY PLANNER

Biden will deliver remarks on Covid-19 and vaccines at 1:15pm ET...

In NYC, WABC will host the first in-person mayoral debate of the Democratic primary...

Removing deadnames

Kerry Flynn writes: "Trans writers have long struggled with removing their deadnames from old articles. Rachel Metz and I interviewed people in academia and in media about the process. What we uncovered is that some places simply do not have policies in place, and some newsrooms, including NYT and LAT, just refuse to do so. Read our piece on why it all matters..."

'Changing the Game' gives trans high-school athletes a forum to tell their stories

Brian Lowry writes: "'Changing the Game' is a sensitively told Hulu documentary about trans kids in high-school sports, focusing on three distinct stories as states pass legislation aimed at barring their participation. My only quibble would be with the title, since, when it comes to the use of LGBT rights to create what many see as a political wedge issue, that game really hasn't changed at all." Read Lowry's full review here...

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- "Everything's becoming a subscription, and the pandemic is partly to blame," Heather Long and Andrew Van Dam report... (WaPo)

-- Word of a forthcoming book "by" Dr. Anthony Fauci, consisting of "inspiring words of wisdom" compiled "from hours of interviews," was mostly met with criticism and derision from right-wing outlets on Tuesday... (The Hill)

-- Barack Obama talked about the media's "bad habits," and many other topics, in this new podcast interview with Ezra Klein... (NYT)

-- Chris Matthews returned to his old time slot on Tuesday to talk with Joy Reid about his new memoir "This Country..." (TVNewser)

-- Erik Wemple followed up on my Sunday interview with Brian Carovillano... (WaPo)

-- Sara Fischer reports that the radio company Audacy has opted to air Dana Loesch's show instead of Premiere's replacement for Rush Limbaugh... (Axios)

Hannity the ad-maker?

Michael Bender of the WSJ announced his new Trump book on Tuesday, by way of a revealing scoop: Bender reported that "Sean Hannity scripted a TV ad for Trump in final weeks of the race and the campaign paid $1.5 million to air it on his Fox show.⁩"

The hypocrisy, it burns. As Maggie Haberman said, "Hannity, who routinely lectures journalists about journalism from his show, had a hand in writing a campaign ad." Hannity denied having a role in the ad-making, but Bender is a very well-sourced reporter. His book "'Frankly, We Did Win This Election:' The Inside Story of How Trump Lost" will come out August 10. (What a title!)

FEC fines National Enquirer over Trump hush money payments

CNN's Erica Orden reports: "The FEC on Tuesday said it had fined National Enquirer publisher American Media Inc. and its former CEO for their role in a 'hush money' payment." Remember this? "The $187,500 fine came after the commission found that AMI made an illegal corporate campaign contribution by paying $150,000 during Trump's first presidential campaign to prevent former Playboy model Karen McDougal from going public with her claims of an affair. Trump has denied the affair."

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- Matt Lewis writes: "'It Can't Happen Here' is a dystopian novel about the rise of an American dictator that Sinclair Lewis wrote in 1935. 'It Should Happen Here' is an even more dystopian idea, authored by Mike Flynn in 2021, and it's non-fiction..." (Beast)

-- "The left is building an army of volunteers to counter right-wing disinformation on social network," Cat Zakrzewski reports... (WaPo)

-- Facebook says that the US is the top target of disinfo campaigns... (Axios)

-- Casey Newton's latest is about "how censorship is becoming a crisis for social networks. More governments are cracking down on dissent; content moderation systems are failing..." (Platformer)

-- For another POV on this, Rishika Pardikar writes about how social media companies are "censoring dissent..." (Jacobin Mag)

Four POVs about Naomi Osaka

-- Her withdrawal from the French Open "highlights the tenuous relationship between athletes and the media," CNN's Scottie Andrew writes. Some experts say "the outdated press conference model doesn't serve athletes or media..."

-- Andrew Marchand of the NY Post, sticking up for the sports media, says the news coverage "makes you, the fan, care more," so "that is why the player-reporter give-and-take that begins in press conferences and grows is vital for sports. While far from perfect, it leads to more understanding than less..."

-- "We can applaud Naomi Osaka without disparaging the media," Deadspin columnist Jane McManus writes...

-- Lindsay Crouse of the NYT says Osaka "was sending a message to the establishment of one of the world's most elite sports: I will not be controlled. This was a power move -- and it packed more punch coming from a young woman of color..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- WaPo has debuted a new platform called Voices Across America that it says is dedicated to "showcasing writers from across the country who are uniquely positioned to provide on-the-ground points of view..." (WaPo)

-- Twitter is teaming up with climate vet Eric Holthaus to launch a local weather news service... (Quartz)

-- Speaking of Twitter: The company said Tuesday "it will begin testing ads on its disappearing posts feature called Fleets, as it works to offer more options for advertisers," Sheila Dang writes... (Reuters)

-- Maghan McDowell writes about how social apps are "recognizing the power in building shopping into their platforms..." (Vogue)

-- Union Square Ventures "has invested in crypto publishing tool Mirror.xyz at a $100 million valuation..." (The Information)

"The stuff that dreams are made of"

Kerry Flynn writes: "The guessing game is over. Speaking from the Warner Bros. lot at an event streamed for all WarnerMedia employees, Discovery CEO David Zaslav revealed the name and tagline for the future combined company: Warner Bros. Discovery, 'The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of.' The tagline is a line from the 1941 Warner Bros. movie 'The Maltese Falcon.' So in both cases, the company is trumpeting the significance of the Warner Bros. name. Zaslav said it means 'this is a creative content company. This is where the best and the brightest come to tell their stories.' Jason Kilar hosted the conversation with Zaslav..."

Awaiting regulatory approval...

A notable line at the end of Ben Mullin's WSJ recap: "Toward the end of the meeting, as the two executives discussed the possibilities for Warner Bros. Discovery, Mr. Zaslav said he was excited to continue speaking with Mr. Kilar — clarifying that the pair would talk about the industry generally, not the merger, which still requires regulatory approval. Mr. Kilar laughed, adding, 'There'll be lawyers all around us for the next year.'"

>> Speaking of Mullin, he's also out with a new story about CNN's streaming service plans...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

By Kerry Flynn:

-- Ashley Carman reports on a new collective that "will share a podcast feed to make money off Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces..." (The Verge)

-- Speaking of podcasts, Nicholas Quah asks, "Can CNN Become a Podcasting Powerhouse?" (Vulture)

-- Outside is launching a membership program, Sara Fischer reports... (Axios)

-- Amber Payne has joined The Boston Globe as co-EIC of The Emancipator. She had just finished a Nieman fellowship... (Twitter)

-- Nicholas Braun, aka Cousin Greg from "Succession," is British GQ's July cover star... (British GQ)

FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX

-- The Coachella and Stagecoach festivals will return next April, Chloe Melas reports... (CNN)

-- "Hashtags felt dated and cringeworthy. So why are influencers still using them?" Brian Contreras has answers... (LAT)

-- Frank Pallotta has the latest on AMC shares soaring again... (CNN)

"Mare of Easttown" finale #'s

Brian Lowry writes: "The 'Mare of Easttown' finale drew nearly 3 million viewers across all HBO platforms on Sunday night, a number that will grow in the days ahead. While that's hardly 'Game of Thrones' territory, the network reported that the show joins 'The Undoing,' another murder mystery, as the only HBO show to gain audience with each successive episode, reflecting what was anecdotally pretty clear -- that the series built buzz over its run..."

>> Here's more from TheWrap's Tony Maglio and Tim Baysinger: "The streaming portion of the viewership make the 'Mare of Easttown' finale the most-watched episode of any HBO or HBO Max original series on HBO Max..."