News Items is a collection of news stories, commentaries, analyses, essays and research reports that I think are interesting or important, or both.
News Items makes you well informed. It is distributed at 6:45am ET or before.
What is It about?
A tale of two eras:
1) an age of disruption
2) an age of the most extraordinary scientific and technological advances in human history.
News Items covers “four baskets”: World in Disarray, Financialization, Science and Technology Advances, Politics: Foreign and Domestic.
About John Ellis
John Ellis is the founder and editor of News Items, a daily newsletter that covers global politics, financial news, advanced technologies and science. He has been in and around the news business for virtually all of his adult life, working for NBC News (as a political analyst), The Boston Globe (as a columnist), CNBC, Fox News, and Newscorp. In 2016, he launched News Items as a morning brief for executives and editors at Fox and Newscorp. In 2018, News Items became The Wall Street Journal CEO Council's morning newsletter. He restarted News Items as an independent newsletter in August of 2019.
Ellis is a graduate of Yale University (class of 1976) and was the Appleman Fellow at the Shorenstein Center at Harvard’s JFK School of Government (1989-1990). He also was a Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Politics (1991-1992) and a Senior Fellow at the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point (2002-2004), focusing there on “future threats.” He was awarded The Outstanding Civilian Service Award by the US Army for his work at West Point.
Ellis is married to Susan Smith Ellis. They have two children: Caroline, an attorney and Jack, a music industry agent and talent scout.
the team
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Joanna Thompson is a science writer based in New York. She graduated in 2015 with degrees in zoology and creative writing from North Carolina State University, where she also competed on the cross country and track teams. Upon graduating, she spent four years in the mountains of North Carolina pursuing a full-time professional running career. She realized she belonged in science journalism after losing her phone in a creek while hunting for salamanders.
In 2021, she graduated from NYU's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program. Her writing has appeared in Quanta, Scientific American, Vox, Audubon, Atlas Obscura, among other outlets. Between articles, she coaches track and cross country part-time at NYU while continuing to chase down her running goals.
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Jennifer Smith is a graduate student pursuing an MFA in Drawing at Clemson University. She graduated from Saint Louis University in 2022 with a BA in Graphic Design. She manages the website and contributes research.
contributors
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Tom Smith has more than 18 years experience in marketing research and analysis with leading national advertising and PR agencies, including as Vice President, Information Resources at Hill Holliday and as Vice President, Marketing Research & Strategic Planning at Brodeur. He has also worked in sales, real estate management and transportation, including a recent stint as a package delivery driver for Amazon. Following a brief retirement, Tom joined News Items as Associate Editor, where he oversees and conducts research for both News Items and Political Items.
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Previously she served as the Chief Marketing Officer at Getty Images and Managing Director Chief Marketing Officer at Morgan Stanley.
Prior to joining Morgan Stanley as CMO, Susan worked as a consultant on branding, creative and integration assignments from JP Morgan Chase, and Getty Images.
Susan was the Chief Executive Officer of Product (RED), a global marketing company whose partnerships with iconic brands like Nike, Apple and Starbucks helped raise millions to fight AIDS in Africa. In addition, during her tenure (RED) launched several content series including (RED)Nights, (RED)Wire and the documentary film: The Lazarus Effect. Susan was the Executive Producer of this acclaimed HBO documentary. Additionally she partnered with Sotheby's to raise $42 million at the (RED) Auction.
She served as the spokesperson for Product (RED) and its mission to fight the AIDS pandemic. Her efforts gained national recognition from media outlets and academic institutions. She was featured in Fortune magazine's Boards issue. She has been a keynote speaker for conferences at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, the Harvard Business School , Mashable Conference and Columbia Business School. Fast Company Magazine named her to its “Most Creative People In Business” and “Most Generous Marketing ‘Genius.’”
Prior to joining (RED), Ms. Smith Ellis served as an Officer and Executive Vice President of the Omnicom Group of Companies, the world’s largest advertising and marketing services corporation. She was an Executive Vice President at BBDO.
Presently, Susan serves on the board of The Southport School ,the Greenwich International Film Festival and is an Advisory Board member of I Relaunch.She was Executive Producer of the documentary “Get The Picture,” which featured much of Getty Images iconic photography.