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      Rex Murphy, a Dominant Pundit on the Right in Canada, Dies at 77

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      In newspaper columns and on radio and TV, he was his country’s “premier provocateur,” gaining a wide audience for his conservative attacks on liberals and environmentalists.Rex Murphy, a Canadian newspaper, radio and television commentator who delighted his country’s conservatives with sharp attacks on environmentalists, liberal politicians and what he called their “woke politics,” died on May 9 in Toronto. He was 77.His death, from cancer, was announced on the front page of The National Post, the widely read daily newspaper for which he wrote a column, one of several he had over the years in Canadian papers, including The Globe and Mail in Toronto. His editor at The National Post, Kevin Libin, said Mr. Murphy died in a hospital.In his heyday, in the 1990s, Mr. Murphy was the rare political commentator who commanded a countrywide audience, skewering Canada’s elites as well as its sometimes fragile sense of nationhood. His roots in Canada’s youngest province, and one of its most rugged, Newfoundland, informed a combative patriotism and an affinity for the country’s working class.For 21 years, from 1994 to 2015, he was the host of “Cross Country Checkup,” a popular weekly radio call-in show aired by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He would listen patiently as cranky listeners aired their views, then delivered his own back, pointedly. For much of that period he gave a weekly segment of commentary on the CBC’s main nightly TV news program, “The National.”“For a very long time, he was Canada’s premier provocateur,” said Tim Powers, a former CBC colleague and friend.In a 1996 profile, the Canadian newsmagazine Maclean’s wrote of Mr. Murphy: “He has become the unlikeliest of Canadian celebrities — a quirkily untelegenic presence who has defied the canons of conventional programming wisdom to etch himself upon the country’s consciousness.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Our Journalism

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      Joe Kahn, The Times’s executive editor, reflects on some of our most probing recent work.When Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, it ignited not only one of the worst conflicts in recent Middle East history, but also an ideological firestorm around the world. Some viewed the war through the prism of the Hamas attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and took an estimated 240 hostages. On the other side, Israel’s retaliatory bombing and occupation of Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, galvanized a global movement against the actions of the Jewish state.The intensity of the conflict and the emotions it set off has made this an especially challenging war to cover. Our commitment is to provide probing, independent journalism about the biggest stories, however strong the partisan feelings about them may be. This has been the most divisive story I’ve experienced in my more than three decades in journalism.After an Israeli bombardment in Gaza.Samar Abu Elouf for The New York TimesSo it was especially gratifying that our team of reporters, photographers and video journalists on Monday won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for their coverage of the war. We had earlier won similar honors from the George Polk Awards and the Overseas Press Club, which are among the most prestigious prizes in journalism.Our team is living through this conflict as well as covering it. Some of those reporting on it are Muslim, others Jewish. Some speak Arabic, others Hebrew. Some know people killed or captured on Oct. 7. Others were born and raised in Gaza, with relatives killed and scattered by the bombardment. We worked together to use our best visual storytelling tools to capture the horrors Hamas inflicted on Israel and the devastating toll of Israel’s assault on Gaza. We also revealed astounding Israeli intelligence failures and deadly miscalculations that allowed the Oct. 7 attack to happen.This is what we really mean when we talk about independent journalism: Coverage that commands attention, whatever your background, experience or perspective.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Why Al Jazeera is the Go To News Source for Student Protesters

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      Nick Wilson has closely followed news on the war in Gaza since October. But Mr. Wilson, a Cornell student, is picky when it comes to his media diet: As a pro-Palestinian activist, he doesn’t trust major American outlets’ reporting on Israel’s campaign in Gaza.Instead, he turns to publications less familiar to some American audiences, like the Arab news network Al Jazeera.“Al Jazeera is the site that I go to to get an account of events that I think will be reliable,” he said.Many student protesters said in recent interviews that they were seeking on-the-ground coverage of the war in Gaza, and often, a staunchly pro-Palestinian perspective — and they are turning to alternative media for it. There’s a range of options: Jewish Currents, The Intercept, Mondoweiss and even independent Palestinian journalists on social media, as they seek information about what is happening in Gaza.Their preferences embody a broader shift for members of Generation Z, who are increasingly seeking out news from a wider array of sources and questioning legacy outlets in a fragmented media ecosystem.Israel’s recent ban on the local operations of Al Jazeera has only elevated the network’s status among many student protesters. They prize coverage from reporters on the ground, and Al Jazeera has a more extensive operation in Gaza than any other publication. Students also noted the sacrifices it has made to tell the story there. Two Al Jazeera journalists have died since the start of the war.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Sam Rubin, Los Angeles TV Anchor and Entertainment Reporter, Dies at 64

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      Mr. Rubin began at the Los Angeles television news station KTLA in 1991 and became a staple of morning viewing through his interviews with celebrities.Sam Rubin, a journalist for the television station KTLA 5 in Los Angeles whose morning interviews with celebrities became requisite viewing for much of the entertainment industry and who endeared himself to Hollywood insiders with his geniality and knowledge of their work, died on Friday. He was 64.Mr. Rubin’s death was announced by a KTLA anchor, Frank Buckley. A tribute segment that aired on the station said the cause was a heart attack.In an industry known for its changing names and evolving trends, Mr. Rubin was for decades a mainstay for viewers across the city and an interview with him was considered a rite of passage for many stars.His ability to make celebrities feel comfortable as he asked them about their craft spanned generations.Although it was clear that Mr. Rubin was immersed in the minutiae of his beat, part of his enduring appeal came from the antics he himself brought to the studio and his ability to change the pace of what could be a rote interview.“Is it shampoo and conditioner, or just shampoo — what is the hair regimen, Jared?” he said in an interview with the actor Jared Leto.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ABC News’ President, Kim Godwin, to Step Down

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      The first Black woman to run a broadcast news division, Ms. Godwin had a rocky tenure defined by infighting and damaging leaks.Kim Godwin, the president of ABC News, told employees on Sunday night that she was leaving the network, capping a tumultuous three-year tenure.In an email to employees, Ms. Godwin said that she reached her decision to depart after a period of “considerable reflection.” “Anyone who’s passionate about what we do knows there’s no other business like it, so this was not an easy or quick decision,” Ms. Godwin said in her note. “I’m certain it’s the right one for me as I look to the future and prioritize what’s most important for me and my family,” she added.Ms. Godwin, the first Black woman to run a broadcast news division, told employees she was planning on leaving broadcast journalism altogether. Her departure comes at a delicate moment, as ABC faces a competitive election, a chaotic news cycle as well as an increasingly difficult economic landscape for broadcast news divisions throughout the industry. Ms. Godwin’s leadership role had been imperiled for some time. Nearly three months ago, Disney, ABC’s parent company, effectively demoted her by tapping a company veteran, Debra OConnell, to oversee a new division that included all of ABC News as well as local stations.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Talk of Escape: Trump’s Possible Return Rattles D.C.

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      At Washington dinner parties, dark jokes abound about where to go into exile if the former president reclaims the White House.It has become the topic of the season at Washington dinner parties and receptions. Where would you go if it really happens?Portugal, says a former member of Congress. Australia, says a former agency director. Canada, says a Biden administration official. France, says a liberal columnist. Poland, says a former investigator.They’re joking. Sort of. At least in most cases. It’s a gallows humor with a dark edge. Much of official Washington is bracing for the possibility that former President Donald J. Trump really could return — this time with “retribution” as his avowed mission, the discussion is where people might go into a sort of self-imposed exile.Whether they mean it or not, the buzz is a telling indicator of the grim mood among many in the nation’s capital these days. The “what if” goes beyond the normal prospect of a side unhappy about a lost election. It speaks to the nervousness about a would-be president who talks of being a dictator for a day, who vows to “root out” enemies he called “vermin,” who threatens to prosecute adversaries, who suggests a general he deems disloyal deserves “DEATH,” whose lawyers say he may have immunity even if he orders the assassination of political rivals.“I feel like in the past two weeks that conversation for whatever reason has just surged,” said Miles Taylor, a former Trump administration official who became a vocal critic of the former president. “People are feeling that it’s very obvious if a second Trump terms happens, it’s going to be slash and burn.”That’s all fine with Mr. Trump and his allies. In their view, Washington’s fear is the point. He is the disrupter of the elite. He is coming to break up their corrupt “uniparty” hold on power. If establishment Washington is upset about the possibility that he returns, that is a selling point to his base around the country that is alienated from the people in power.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Inside the Crisis at NPR

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      NPR employees tuned in for a pivotal meeting late last year for a long-awaited update on the future of the public radio network.After many tumultuous months, marked by layoffs, financial turbulence and internal strife, they signed in to Zoom hoping to hear some good news from NPR’s leaders. What they got instead was a stark preview of the continued challenges ahead.“We are slipping in our ability to impact America, not just in broadcast, but also in the growing world of on-demand audio,” Daphne Kwon, NPR’s chief financial officer, told the group, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by The New York Times.For the past two weeks, turmoil has engulfed NPR after a senior editor assailed what he described as an extreme liberal bias inside the organization that has bled into its news coverage. The editor, Uri Berliner, said NPR’s leaders had placed race and identity as “paramount in nearly every aspect of the workplace” — at the expense of diverse political viewpoints, and at the risk of losing its audience.The accusations, leveled in an essay published in an online publication, The Free Press, led to a deluge of criticism from conservatives, including former President Donald J. Trump, who called for the network’s public funding to be pulled. The essay also generated vociferous pushback internally, with many journalists defending their work and saying Mr. Berliner’s essay distorted basic facts about NPR’s coverage.But NPR’s troubles extend far beyond concerns about its journalism. Internal documents reviewed by The New York Times and interviews with more than two dozen current and former public radio executives show how profoundly the nonprofit is struggling to succeed in the fast-changing media industry. It is grappling with a declining audience and falling revenue — and internal conflict about how to fix it.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Terry Anderson, Reporter Held Hostage for Six Years, Dies at 76

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      The Beirut bureau chief for The Associated Press, he was kidnapped in 1985 by Islamic militants.Terry Anderson, the American journalist who had been the longest-held Western hostage in Lebanon when he was finally released in 1991 by Islamic militants after more than six years in captivity, died on Saturday at his home in Greenwood Lake, N.Y., in the Hudson Valley. He was 76.The cause was apparently complications of recent heart surgery, said his daughter, Sulome Anderson.Mr. Anderson, the Beirut bureau chief for The Associated Press, had just dropped his tennis partner, an A.P. photographer, at his home after an early morning tennis match on March 16, 1985, when men armed with pistols yanked open his car door and shoved him into a Mercedes-Benz. The same car had tried to cut him off the day before as he returned to work from lunch at his seaside apartment.The kidnappers, identified as Shia Hezbollah militants of the Islamic Jihad Organization in Lebanon, beat him, blindfolded him and kept him chained in some 20 hideaways for 2,454 days in Beirut, South Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.The militants, supported by Iran, indicated that they were retaliating against Israel’s use of American weapons in earlier strikes against Muslim and Druze targets in Lebanon. They also had been seeking to pressure the Reagan administration to secretly facilitate the illegal sales of weapons to Iran — an embarrassing scheme that became known as the Iran-Contra Affair because the administration had planned to use proceeds from the arms sales to secretly subsidize the right-wing Contra rebels in Nicaragua.Mr. Anderson was the last of 18 Western hostages released by the kidnappers. After his release, he married his fiancé, who had been pregnant when he was kidnapped, and, for the first time, met his 6-year-old daughter.While he had not been tortured during his captivity, he said, he was beaten and chained. He spent a year or so, on and off, in solitary confinement, he said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More