Good morning. 😷 Not there yet: "Nearly three months since the U.S. declared a national emergency over coronavirus, some states are reporting a rise in new cases as they lift restrictions meant to slow the virus’s spread," WSJ's Talal Ansari and Brianna Abbott report.

• News you can use: "When 511 Epidemiologists Expect to Fly, Hug and Do 18 Other Everyday Activities Again," via The Upshot.

Join the Market: 🗞️ Newsletter | 🎙️ Podcast

Mario Tama/Getty

New Times

James Bennet's resignation is a watershed moment in American journalism

Moving the Market: James Bennet has resigned as editorial page editor of The New York Times, the dramatic conclusion to four days of internal turmoil over the controversial op-ed from Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and a watershed moment in American journalism.

• In an email to staff, Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger said he and Bennet "agreed that it would take a new team to lead the department through a period of considerable change."

• Katie Kingsbury, a deputy editorial page editor, will serve as acting editorial page editor through the November election.

• Meanwhile, the Times has added a lengthy note to the top of Cotton's essay saying that it contains unsubstantiated allegations, was "needlessly harsh" and should not have been published.

• These changes come days after Times journalists waged a public campaign on social media to denounce Cotton's op-ed, which called for the president to mobilize the military against "rioters."

The big picture: Through public protest, Times journalists forced their paper to all but retract the words of a U.S. Senator, reassess its approach to opinion journalism and dispose of a veteran journalist who, up until last week, was among the top candidates to replace Dean Baquet as executive editor.

• They have also forced America's paper of record to rethink how it weighs its commitment to objectivity and neutrality against taking a moral stance on issues like racial injustice, police brutality and state power — even if it means alienating some conservatives.

• Similar debates are taking place in several newsrooms, as media columnists Ben Smith of the Times and Margaret Sullivan of The Washington Post note in new columns. "In this polarized, dangerous moment, what are journalists supposed to be?" Sullivan asks.

• Journalists at other outlets are also leveraging social media to force change at their organizations. At The Philadelphia Inquirer, top editor Stan Wischnowski has resigned amid protests over a headline on a column about property damage during the protests.

What's next: "How long Mr. Sulzberger and Mr. Baquet will put up with public pressure from their staff is not clear," Smith, the Times media columnist, writes in assessing the staff revolts taking place across the American news industry.

• Sulzberger told Smith not to interpret Bennet's resignation as a philosophical shift, and said the Times is "not retreating from the principles of independence and objectivity. We don’t pretend to be objective about things like human rights and racism."

Still, as Smith notes, "the shift in mainstream American media — driven by a journalism that is more personal, and reporters more willing to speak what they see as the truth without worrying about alienating conservatives — now feels irreversible."

Smith Collection/Getty

Future of speech

Mark Zuckerberg opens door to change on Trump tweets

Big in the Bay: Mark Zuckerberg released a statement Friday saying Facebook would review its policy around speech promoting state violence, a move that comes after internal and external protests over his decision to take no action on President Trump’s posts about looters.

• "We're going to review our policies allowing discussion and threats of state use of force to see if there are any amendments we should adopt," he wrote. That would include a review of "instances of excessive use of police or state force," he wrote. "Given the sensitive history in the US, this deserves special consideration."

The big picture: Zuckerberg has been steadfast in his defense of Facebook's stance on Trump's posts, erring on the side of free speech even as Twitter placed warnings on similar tweets and Snapchat announced that it would no longer promote the president's content.

• With Friday's announcement, the Facebook chief has at least opened the door to a potential change.

What's next: "More than 140 scientists funded by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative... sent Zuckerberg a letter Saturday [protesting] the social media site’s lax policy enforcement around inaccurate information and incendiary language," per WaPo's Nitasha Tiku.

Market Links

• Jay Y. Lee may be arrested again (Reuters)

• Alexis Ohanian resigns from Reddit board (TC)

• Jeff Bezos corrects 'all lives matter' customer (Verge)

• James Heckman starts salary cuts at Maven (DB)

• Roger Goodell admits the NFL fumbled (WSJ)

🇺🇸 What's next: 2020 Watch: "There are rising concerns that the push for remote voting prompted by the pandemic could open new opportunities to hack the vote," NYT's David Sanger et al report.

See you tomorrow.