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| Presented By Facebook |
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| Axios AM |
| By Mike Allen ·Feb 01, 2022 |
| Good Tuesday morning. Welcome to February ... Black History Month ... and Lunar New Year. - Smart Brevity™ count: 1,484 words ... 5½ minutes. Edited by Zachary Basu.
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| 1 big thing: New rules limit how teachers teach Black History Month |
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| Sixteen Black children, accompanied by four mothers, carry anti-segregation signs in Hillsboro, Ohio, in 1956. Photo: Bettmann Collection/Getty Images |
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| Schools and universities are marking Black History Month starting today — the first time it will be celebrated under some states' new restrictions on diversity education. - Why it matters: The constraints — under the guise of banning the teaching of critical race theory — limit what some state-supported institutions can discuss about the nation's racial past, Axios' Russell Contreras writes.
What's happening: Educators embracing Black history have received death threats. - Since last year, 14 states have imposed such restrictions through legislation, executive actions or commission votes, an Education Week analysis found.
35 states have introduced bills or taken other steps to restrict teaching critical race theory — a concept that focuses on the legacy of systemic racism — or limit how teachers can discuss racism and sexism. - Elementary school teachers, administrators and college professors have faced fines, physical threats and fear of firing.
Zoom out: New teaching on race has been criticized by the right and even some on the left. David Bromwich, an English professor at Yale, wrote in The Nation: "The new methods are marked by a certain severity, a pressure to cleanse or catechize." |
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| 2. Pandemic pits experts vs. media |
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| Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios |
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| Health care professionals and scientists no longer feel that they can rely on media companies to combat misinformation — so they're hitting the airwaves themselves, Axios' Sara Fischer and Caitlin Owens write. - Why it matters: The tension between the health and science industries and media and tech has been building for years. Now it's "on steroids," said Celine Gounder, an NYU infectious disease specialist.
What's happening: There's been a huge spike in doctors, nurses and scientists starting their own media channels, and building brands as medical news experts. Context: Health experts led the charge on Twitter last month to protest Spotify and "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast ... chastised Facebook for spreading misinformation ... and complained that mainstream news organizations too often amplify elected officials amplifying false claims. |
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| 3. Exclusive: Qatar reaches deal with Taliban to resume evacuations |
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| Qatari security personnel (left) and Taliban fighters stand guard as passengers board a Qatar Airways plane in Kabul in September. Photo: Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images |
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| Qatar has reached a deal with the Taliban to resume chartered evacuations out of Kabul's airport, ending a dispute with the Afghan government that's caused a months-long pause in flights, the Gulf nation's foreign minister told Axios' Zachary Basu. - Why it matters: The agreement for two flights per week, chartered by Qatar Airways, will allow the U.S. and other countries to evacuate thousands more of their own citizens and at-risk Afghans who face dual threats of Taliban retaliation and a humanitarian crisis.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani spoke to Axios yesterday in a wide-ranging interview at the Qatari embassy in Washington, following meetings with President Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. The big picture: Qatar's emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani yesterday became the first Gulf leader to visit Biden at the White House. The president announced he's designating Qatar as one of 17 major non-NATO allies. - Qatar Airways announced during the visit that it'll purchase up to 100 Boeing planes in a deal valued as high as $34 billion, delivering a win for Biden's efforts to revitalize U.S. manufacturing.
Keep reading. |
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| A message from Facebook |
| Working to stop harmful content and improve our platforms every day |
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| We're committed to stopping illicit content and keeping you safe on Facebook. That's why we've quadrupled our safety and security teams to more than 40,000 over the last five years. But there's more to do. See how we're working to help you connect safely. |
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| 4. Imagine Axios AM for your company |
| This GIF shows Axios HQ in action: Artificial intelligence suggests Smart Brevity edits. A brief detour from the news to take you inside Axios ... We've previewed for you the Axios big growth areas for 2022: expanding Axios Local into 25+ American cities + new paid Pro products with actionable intelligence for your job. - The third and final piece of our 2022 expansion: vastly — and, to me, magically — improving internal communications for organizations everywhere.
The big picture: We created an AI-powered software platform to help any company, leader or manager cut through the noise to align people around what truly matters. It's called Axios HQ. - 200+ top organizations big and small use it to produce essential, efficient newsletters like AM.
- They see our templates — proven formats for all-staff or team updates — and our analytics as the perfect communications tool to create and share critical information.
- They rely on our Smart Brevity guidance to write shorter, pick better words, delight readers with efficiency, make what matters pop — and be remembered.
- Want to learn more? Register to join Axios CEO Jim VandeHei and four communications leaders to hear the impact Axios HQ has had for their organizations.
Fun backstory: We were reluctant to create a software company inside our media operation, but so many organizations asked and it turned into a super-fast-growing business. Thanks! - Our clients include Delta Air Lines, Edelman, Takeda, EverFi and over 200 other organizations.
- This is so important to Axios that Roy Schwartz runs HQ full-time, while Jim and I focus more on media. You can reach out to Roy, our president and co-founder, directly to learn more: roy@axios.com.
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| 5. 📷 Pic du jour: Year of the Tiger |
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| Photo: Mark Schiefelbein/AP |
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| Lantern decorations hang on trees on the Olympic Green near the Olympic Tower in Beijing today to mark Lunar New Year. |
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| 6. IOC silent on China genocide |
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| Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios |
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| The International Olympic Committee is publicly backing China, where the Winter Games open Friday, and where there's an ongoing genocide against Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities. - Why it matters: The IOC has long stated it is committed to human rights, but it is declining to take a stand ahead of the Beijing Olympics — and insisting its only mission is to run the Games successfully.
By remaining silent and continuing to back Beijing, the IOC is deflecting pressure from the international community onto Olympics sponsors and athletes themselves, write Axios China author Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian and Axios Sports author Kendall Baker. - Despite growing criticism, the IOC has not denounced the Chinese government's policies in Xinjiang or raised the topic publicly. It has cut off talks with human rights groups asking for answers about the possibility of Uyghur forced labor in Olympic uniform supply chains.
- Uyghur activists are upset that the IOC has continued to allow the Chinese government to hold such a prestigious event.
Between the lines: The calls for boycotts, for sponsors to cut ties, and for NBC to include human rights coverage have put Olympians in a difficult spot, leaving some athletes unnerved and upset. - In an era of athlete empowerment, the Beijing Games are just the opposite. Athletes have been thrust into a geopolitical affair, given burner phones and warned they may face punishment for speaking out against the Chinese Communist Party.
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| 7. BuzzFeed's bad bet |
 Data: Yahoo Finance. Chart: Axios Visuals BuzzFeed is limiting hiring to critical positions, and will not be adding any new jobs unless there's a business case justification, CEO Jonah Peretti told staff last week. - Why it matters: BuzzFeed has to preserve cash after a high level of redemptions from SPAC investors ahead of its IPO merger in December, Axios' Sara Fischer reports.
Keep reading. |
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| 8. Drugstore by drone |
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| Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios |
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| Zipline, a leading drone operator, will begin delivering prescription medicines to patients' homes in a suburb of Charlotte, N.C., this year, helping usher in the long-anticipated era of routine drone drops. - Why it matters: With drones, our demand for "instant delivery" will be satisfied in less than 15 minutes, Axios transportation correspondent Joann Muller writes.
Zipline today will announce a partnership with the pharmacy unit of Magellan Health. The trial, which awaits an FAA nod, will take place in and around Kannapolis, N.C., where Zipline has a distribution center. - Zipline recently started a delivery-by-drone pilot with Walmart, dropping packages in customers' yards in rural Pea Ridge, Ark.
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| 9. 👓 Rachel Maddow goes to a break |
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| Screenshot: MSNBC |
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| Rachel Maddow, MSNBC's highest-rated anchor, told viewers last night she'll take a brief hiatus, beginning Thursday. She'll return in April. - Why it matters: Maddow is expected to leave her daily, primetime slot later this year. The hiatus gives MSNBC time to experiment with possible replacements, Axios' Sara Fischer notes.
Maddow will focus on other projects, including a new journalistic podcast for NBC, and a movie adaptation of her Spiro Agnew book, "Bag Man." - In the meantime, she'll be back on MSNBC for special coverage, including President Biden's State of the Union on March 1.
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| 10. 1 fun thing: Most common Wordle letters |
 Reproduced from Christopher Ingraham, The Why Axis. Chart: Kavya Beheraj/Axios Ta-da! The most common letters used in Wordle are E R A O T, Axios Markets author Emily Peck writes from an analysis of 221 games from Christopher Ingraham, a former Washington Post reporter. - Wordle was invented by Josh Wardle, a software engineer in Brooklyn, to amuse his friends and partner. It's now a daily obsession for many ( 🙋).
- Yesterday, The New York Times said it paid in the "low-seven figures" to acquire the game. (From the release: "At the time it moves to The New York Times, Wordle will be free to play for new and existing players.")
The intrigue: The letter N is much less common in Wordle than real life. - "Orate" could be a good starter word.
Reality check: "It didn't make the game any easier for me, but I'm glad I know this information," Ingraham said. |
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| A message from Facebook |
| Facebook puts your safety and security front-and-center |
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Since July, Facebook's safety and security teams have taken action on: - 1.8 billion fake accounts.
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But our work to stop bad actors is never done. Learn more about how we're working to help you connect safely. |
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