Lane, Weigel, Berman. A Town Hall and Summer Interns

Dear Colleagues,

 

Shattered Glass is a movie about 24-year-old Stephen Glass, an up-and-coming journalistic talent at The New Republic. Glass was charming, endearing, prolific. He was also a fabulist. Of the 41 stories he wrote for the magazine, 27 were largely or wholly fabricated. We’ll watch the 90-minute film in my office this Wednesday afternoon at 12:30 pm.

 

On Friday at 11 am in my office, Charles (“Chuck’) Lane, the TNR editor played by actor Peter Sarsgaard in the film, joins us. Chuck ran the controversial investigation against the popular writer that led to Glass’s firing in 1998. The story was a national scandal. Chuck is a former Supreme Court correspondent for the Washington Post, a former member of the Post’s editorial board, a columnist with The Free Press, and senior fellow at American Enterprise Institute. He has thoughts about journalistic ethics, then and now.

 

George Weigel is a leading Catholic theologian and papal biographer. I’ve asked him to speak to us about Pope Leo’s recent encyclical, a framework for ethics in the time of artificial intelligence. George also has thoughts about the role of human rights and democracy in U.S. foreign policy. He’s been a champion of U.S. international broadcasting. We’ll host George for a discussion in my office on Thursday at 11 am.

 

On Monday at 11 am, Ilan Berman from the MBN board is with us. Leila and Abed (together with Andres and Roya) will host Ilan for a talk plus an interview. Ilan is an inveterate Iran watcher. He’s also just back from an interesting week of meetings in Rabat.

 

Wednesday Town Hall

 

On Wednesday at 11 am, we’ll hold our next town hall meeting. On the agenda:

 

Our 2026-2027 editorial strategy. This includes buildout of our China work and a new “Emerging Threats” vertical. I’ll ask Min and Matt to report.

 

Tech acquisition. We’re interested in traditional and generative AI — with strong journalistic ethics. An integrated, state-of-the-art workflow system will bring exciting opportunities to MBN. I’m asking Leila to brief us (she’s been spending time with MIT).

 

Plans to expand our marketing and outreach. I’ll give Dan the floor. We’ll have Leila and Matt say a word about new audience growth capacities as well.

 

Retention and recruitment strategy. I’ll ask Billy to speak about performance awards, a cost of living adjustment, a boost in our 401(k) policy, and compensation enhancement.

 

There’s more. We’ll also discuss on Wednesday a June 23 reception. It’s time to welcome friends and colleagues from across the city to visit the new MBN headquarters.

 

Summer Interns

 

Tremendous work is being done across the company including excellent reporting including on Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Egypt, Turkey, and Syria. I’m grateful.

 

I’m delighted our work is being supported this summer by a terrific group of interns. Please welcome this week:

 

Abigail George from Pepperdine and the Washington Institute. Abbey will work with the government relations and comms team.

 

Alexis Thomas is also pursuing an MA in Middle East Policy Studies with the Pepperdine-Washington Institute program. Alexis will work with the editorial team.

 

Asher Boiskin is a rising junior at Yale pursuing a BA in political science. Asher will work in editorial.

 

David Gheorghiu comes to us from GW’s Elliott School of International Affairs. David will work in the office of the

president.

 

Henry Reichman arrives from Boston College and will do stints with editorial and the office of the president.

Inaara Gangji is a Master of Journalism candidate at UC Berkeley. Inaara will be with editorial.

Josh Epstein started last week, and works with the office of the president. Josh is studying music at the University of Maryland’s Baltimore campus.

Leo Goldberg is a rising junior at Duke University, pursuing a B.A. in Public Policy and History with a minor in Journalism. Leo joins the editorial team.

Waleed Saleh is a rising senior at McGill University, where he’s pursuing a B.A. in International Development and Psychology with a focus on the Middle East. Waleed will be with editorial.

Yeyya Wane is pursuing a dual M.S. in Journalism and Master of International Affairs at Columbia University. Yeyya will work with our editorial group.

Have a look at the memo that goes out on Monday from Leila and Matt. They’ve included detail on our summer interns. Each and every one,  they’re all impressive.

We’re fortunate.

Thanks to all of you there’s wind behind MBN sails.

My best, Jeff