‘This story contains disturbing images.’ That’s the warning atop CNN’s report, “Bodies of ‘executed people’ strewn across street in Bucha as Ukraine accuses Russia of war crimes.”
■ Associated Press journalists report at least two had their hands tied behind their backs.
■ The New York Times sees “mounting evidence of intentional and indiscriminate killings of civilians.”
■ Poynter’s Tom Jones: “The scenes are so ghastly that becoming numb should not be an option.”
■ CBS News: Russia’s attacks on hospitals and health care workers violate the 1864 Geneva Convention.
■ Times columnist Thomas Friedman: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin had “no clue … how many people would be watching.”
Grocery store shootout. A woman was killed and a police officer was hurt in their exchange of gunfire at a Food 4 Less store in the south suburb of Oak Forest.
■ That store is set to close this fall (April 1 link).
■ Chicago police say shootings—fatal and otherwise—were down for the first quarter of the year.
■ The Sun-Times reports that half of the 2021 murder cases Chicago police consider “solved” resulted in no charges.
■ The director of the Chicago Film Office, which oversees TV and movie production in the city, was under intensive care after a reported carjacking outside his home.
■ Updating coverage: California cops were hunting at least two people in the killing of six and the wounding of 12 early Sunday in Sacramento’s downtown entertainment district.
To boost or not to boost. The Atlantic’s Rachel Gutman says the risks of a fourth COVID-19 vaccination are small, so why not?
■ Complaining that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention prioritizes “the health of big business,” a coalition of “epidemiologists and physicians, artists and biologists” has declared itself “The People's CDC.”
The world’s ‘most dangerous man.’ That’s how President Biden reportedly described Fox News patriarch Rupert Murdoch last year.
■ Yale and Stanford researchers’ study found that Fox News viewers who were paid to switch to CNN became more skeptical that Fox would cover a story that reflected poorly on Donald Trump, even if it were true.
■ Republican New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu at Washington’s Gridiron Club dinner over the weekend: Trump is “f___ing crazy.”
‘Oops.’ Journalist and ProPublica founder Dick Tofel exposes “a journalistic fail” in an acclaimed 2021 movie about journalism.
■ Washington Post columnist Margaret Sullivan says CBS News’ hiring of ex-Trump aide Mick Mulvaney smacks of “galling cynicism.”
■ Twitter’s new biggest shareholder? Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
‘I thought the joy of plunging into old records and tracking down relations was a personal quirk. Apparently not.’ Columnist Neil Steinberg shares tips for diving into the newly released 1950 U.S. Census database.
■ No one seems to know why Census Bureau records remain secret for 72 years.
■ Hi, Grandpa Sol and Nana Anna.
Know an aspiring journalist? Spread this word from the Chicago Headline Club. April 11’s the deadline to apply for the Les Brownlee Memorial Scholarship. A worthy undergrad attending a Chicago-area or Illinois institution can land $5,000. Apply here.
Just a joke. Friday’s April Fools edition of Chicago Public Square, which brought you “an experimental format” filled with “guess what” teases, managed to dupe a few readers.
■ But, in fact, that teasy presentation style did result in an above-average click rate and a slightly above-average unsubscribe rate …
■ … although one of those three readers came back after learning it was just a prank.
Guess what wasn’t a joke. The invitation for fans to share photos of themselves wearing those new Square T-shirts—an offer first accepted by reader Ann Arellano.
