Mediaboss Marketing

This weekend, listen to a collection of narrated articles from around The New York Times, read aloud by the reporters who wrote them.

For the three decades after the title was formally introduced in 1950, the chess grandmaster was a rare species. But when the chess governing body started expanding into more countries in the 1980s, the label became more accessible and less exclusive nearly 2,000 players have become grandmasters since 1950.

Gradually, the label ceased being a ticket to a great future in chess. Young players and their often obsessive parents needed something to set them apart. The title of the youngest grandmaster turned into one such springboard.

For some players, securing a prestigious title meant more than just playing well. It is an open secret in chess that many players cut side deals with tournament organizers and other top competitors that help them achieve norms they might have struggled to get legitimately.

In December, the media mogul Rupert Murdoch received a dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. Afterward, he urged everyone else to get it, too. Since then, however, a different message has been a repeated refrain on the prime-time shows on Mr. Murdochs Fox News Channel.

The hosts Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham and guests on their respective shows have said on the air that the vaccines could be dangerous; that people are justified in refusing them; and that public authorities have overstepped in their attempts to deliver them.

The comments may have helped cement vaccine skepticism in the conservative mainstream, even as the Biden administrations campaign to inoculate the public is running into resistance in many parts of the country.

Written and narrated by Emma G. Fitzsimmons

New York is one of a handful of major cities where voters have yet to elect a woman as mayor, along with Los Angeles, Detroit and Philadelphia.

In the recent New York mayoral elections, under the new ranked-choice voting system, two candidates, Kathryn Garcia and Maya Wiley, won more than 380,000 first-choice votes between them, or nearly 41 percent of the votes. Ms. Garcia finished just one percentage point behind Eric Adams, who finished first.

But their loss felt like a missed opportunity for those who believed that New York would at long last elect a woman.

Im disappointed and sad, said Christine Quinn, the former City Council speaker who ran for mayor in 2013. I give a lot of credit to Eric Adams, but I want a woman to be mayor of New York. It is truly, truly disheartening.

Written and narrated by Alex Coffey

At about 5:30 p.m. on the last day of June, two old friends met in front of the media gate on the west side of the Oakland Coliseum. It was the first time theyd seen each other in over a year, but they had endured longer stretches.

Their lives were never on parallel tracks. One was a generational ballplayer. The other a part-time baseball scout who spent his days patrolling the streets of Berkeley, Calif., as a police officer.

On his draft day back in 1976, Rickey Henderson, who was 17 at the time, sensed he would stay connected to J.J. Guinn.

That moment wasnt about the game, Henderson said. I was a single-parent kid. I didnt have that father figure. J.J. was interested in you, in what you were doing, in teaching you. He looked after us.

Written and narrated by Jer Longman

For seven months, Emmanuel Durn, 19, and Fred Gracia, 57, have been trying to escape the brutal, viral reason most people have heard their names.

Their violent encounter came during a high school football game in December. Durn was ejected after being flagged for three penalties on the same play. He went to the sideline, then rushed back onto the field, slamming into Gracia, the referee. Four college scouts were reportedly in the stands that night.

The event and its aftermath raised important questions: When a young athlete commits an egregious act, where should punishment intersect with compassion? Does the athlete deserve a second chance? And how does a teenager begin again after facing nationwide disgust and cancellation?

The Timess narrated articles are made by Parin Behrooz, Claudine Ebeid, Carson Leigh Brown, Anna Diamond, Aaron Esposito, Elena Hecht, Elisheba Ittoop, Emma Kehlbeck, Marion Lozano, Anna Martin, Tracy Mumford, Tanya Perez, Margaret Willison, Kate Winslett and John Woo. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Ryan Wegner, Julia Simon and Desiree Ibekwe.

Read more from the original source:
The Dark Side of Chess and Vaccine Skepticism on Fox News: The Week in Narrated Articles - The New York Times