‘The problem isn’t solved by simply swapping out the faces on screen’

‘SNL cast exits highlight cracks in the show’s armor’

Jason Bailey at Bloomberg

Recent cast exits “highlight two cracks in ‘SNL’s armor — cracks that deserve more attention, but that creator and long-time producer Lorne Michaels seems intent on ignoring,” says Jason Bailey. “SNL” is “no longer the trampoline that propels comedy stars to bigger and better things” because of the “splintering of a once-homogenous comedy culture that helped ‘SNL’ become ubiquitous in popular culture.” Michaels should “take a hard look at his creation and acknowledge the role he’s played.”

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‘An attack on diplomacy itself’

Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi at The Washington Post

Qatar has been a “trusted mediator in some of the world’s most complex conflicts,” says Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi. Israel’s “missile attack on Doha last week violated the most basic principles of sovereignty and nonintervention enshrined in international law.” If “mediators can be bombed with impunity, then who will host peace talks? Without safe channels for diplomacy, war becomes the only option, civilization recedes, and the rule of law is replaced with brute force.”

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‘The podcast presidency’

Noah Rothman at the National Review

We have “ample evidence to support the conclusion that Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show was placed on ‘indefinite’ hiatus for cause,” says Noah Rothman. It’s “not beyond the realm of comprehension that ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’s network and affiliates were genuinely put off by the host’s initial comments.” We “can at least hold out the possibility that a private firm with a fiduciary responsibility to investors and shareholders would take a dim view of such conduct in any employee.”

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‘Remembering Robert Redford, star of one of the greatest movies ever made about journalism’

Tom Jones at the Poynter Institute

Robert Redford was “much more than an actor,” says Tom Jones. Aside “from his remarkable career on the big screen, Redford was an Oscar-winning director, an activist and a champion of independent movies through his founding of the Sundance Film Festival.” But “most of all, he was a movie star in the truest sense of the words.” Redford’s film “All the President’s Men” about the “Post’s coverage of Watergate is considered one of the greatest movies ever made about journalism.”

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