Sally Jenkins on the Washington Post, her move to The Atlantic and what comes next

If you read this newsletter regularly, you’ll know that I’ve written time and time again that Sally Jenkins is the best sports columnist in the country.

For three decades, Jenkins – the daughter of famed sportswriter Dan Jenkins — wrote columns for The Washington Post. She was fearless, unafraid to take on any athlete, team, league or owner. But she just didn’t swing a machete or fire off hot takes. She also filled the pages of the Post with columns that were smart, poignant, thought-provoking, nuanced and touching.

But this past summer, she stunned the journalism community by announcing she was leaving the Post to join The Atlantic.

Jenkins talked about her move with me on the latest episode of “The Poynter Report Podcast.”

“I was happy at the Post,” Jenkins told me. “I didn't leave out of any unhappiness. … The Washington Post has given me everything I've got in this life. Not just money, but purpose and an education. It was very formative. I went to work there at 24 years old, I was there for a sum total of 30 years. So I didn't leave out of unhappiness.”

The Post offered buyouts earlier this year and honestly, Jenkins said, the buyout for senior staffers like her was too good to pass up. But that was not the only reason.

She said, “You know, much as I love newspapers, and much as my heart is in it, there's always a little frustration that you can't write a longer piece and take more time to get it right. And I had spent some years as a magazine writer, so I knew the feeling.”

So, she joined The Atlantic where she can get that feeling again. Since joining them, she has written about a wide range of sports topics: sports statues, Robert Redford sporting movies, MAGA and Donald Trump and the UFC, the NBA gambling scandal, and a fascinating column about German documentary filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, whom Jenkins said was not a documentarian, but a propagandist for Hitler and the Nazi Party.

While she is no longer at the Post, Jenkins still has respect for the work being done in the Post newsroom.

She told me, “It's a magnificent newsroom full of dedicated people, and it's not going anywhere from that standpoint. … That newsroom is like Rasputin. You'll have to stab it and shoot it and wrap it in chains and throw it to the bottom of a river before those people stop doing great reporting, right?”

There is much, much more to my conversation with Jenkins, including her process for writing columns, what it’s like working at The Atlantic, her future book plans, and memories of working in a great Post sports department with the likes of Tony Kornheiser, Michael Wilbon, Thomas Boswell and more.

So be sure to watch it on YouTube, or listen to it on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

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A stunning post

In absolutely jaw-dropping Truth Social posts, President Donald Trump accused six Democratic politicians of sedition and said it was “punishable by DEATH.”

Trump was reacting to a video put out by the half-dozen Democrats reminding those in the military that they are not supposed to obey illegal orders. The video was shared by Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), and it included appearances by Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), and Reps. Jason Crow (D-CO), Chris Deluzio (D-PA), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), and Maggie Goodlander (D-NH). All of them are either military veterans or served time inside the intelligence community.

They said, “This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens. Right now, the threats to our constitution aren’t just coming from abroad, but from right here at home. Our laws are clear: You can refuse illegal orders. You can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders.”

In an initial post on Truth Social, Trump wrote, “It’s called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL. Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL. Their words cannot be allowed to stand - We won’t have a Country anymore!!! An example MUST BE SET. President DJT”

He then later called it “punishable by DEATH.”

During a press briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said “no” when asked if the president wants to execute members of Congress. She added, “If this were Republican members of Congress who were encouraging members of the military and members of our United States government to defy orders from the president and from the chain of command, this entire room would be up in arms. But instead it is the other way around, and I think that’s quite telling.”

What’s quite telling is the president calling the Democratic lawmakers “traitors” and saying their actions are “punishable by DEATH.”

The six Democrats put out a joint statement which said, in part, “What’s most telling is that the president considers it punishable by death for us to restate the law. Our service members should know that we have their backs as they fulfill their oath to the Constitution and obligation to follow only lawful orders. It is not only the right thing to do, but also our duty.”

Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman tweeted, “I strongly reject this dangerous rhetoric. Do not threaten Members of Congress. Republican or Democrat. It’s deeply wrong with no exceptions—ever.”

Mediate, which was founded by Dan Abrams and covers the latest in media news, typically sticks to an objective middle in their coverage. But they couldn’t shy away from this and put out a strongly-worded opinion column from Isaac Schorr.

The headline was: “Impeach, Convict, and Remove Trump From Office — Today.”

Schorr started by writing, “This morning ought to mark President Donald Trump’s last in the White House. It’s not so much an argument as it is regretfully axiomatic; just as it’s axiomatic that he will remain.”

Schorr later added, “Trump is almost singularly deficient of not only so many of the virtues one might expect of any leader — selflessness, self-control, honesty, integrity — but of capital-C Character. There is nothing to speak of there; no word, deed, or even thought resulting from anything but self-interest. No electoral or policy victory — and the president has many to his name — is worth the risk of entrusting such a man with so much power.”

Media news, tidbits and interesting links for your weekend review

• The Wall Street Journal’s Joe Flint and Isabella Simonetti with “‘I Wanna Blow This Up’: How Bari Weiss Is Trying to Overhaul CBS News.”
• The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell with “Larry Ellison discussed axing CNN hosts with White House in takeover bid talks.”
• NBC News’ David Ingram with “Elon Musk's Grokipedia cites a neo-Nazi website 42 times, researchers say.”
• Nieman Lab’s Andrew Deck with “Florida nonprofit news reporters ask board to investigate their editor’s AI use.”
• For Poynter, Mario Garcia with “What the iconic writers of New Journalism can teach us in the AI era.”
• For the Pew Research Center, Jacob Liedke and Luxuan Wang with “When Americans say they get news from TV, what do they mean?”
• The Washington Post’s Matt Schudel with “Paul W. Valentine, who covered civil rights and unrest for The Post, dies at 90.”
• Vanity Fair’s Lachlan Cartwright with “Rupert Murdoch’s Last Hurrah: Conquering Hollywood With the California Post.”
• This superb interactive piece in The New York Times from Bill Friskics-Warren: “The Grand Ole Opry at 100.”
• The Ringer’s Lex Pryor talks with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns in “The Stories We Tell Ourselves About the American Revolution.”

More resources for journalists

• Join 650+ women leaders transformed by this leadership program since 2015. Apply by Dec. 15.
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• Access a list of mental health reporting resources on funding, source-building and more.
• Experienced managers: Develop the must-have skills journalists need to lead media organizations of the future. Apply now.

Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at [email protected].

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