| | | | | President Trump's laser focus on his base, on the voters who adore him amid historically high disapproval ratings, was visible at his Wednesday night rally in Iowa. Sometimes it seems like he's only trying to reach the roughly 38% of Americans who say they support him. How should that change the way political reporters write stories and the way commentators size up this presidency? | | Rosen says Trump has abandoned "persuasion" | | NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen has been thinking and tweeting about this issue of persuasion. I asked him to elaborate, and he emailed:
"Something overlooked in all the coverage of briefings disappeared and spokesman jobs that no one wants and a communications shop that gets no respect: The larger changes Trump is bringing to the presidency, which make these things not as crippling as they seem to those, like John Kirby, a former spokesman at the Pentagon and State Department, who argue that the administration is only hurting itself by refusing to defend its policies and answer questions from reporters.
That's true only if you assume that Trump is trying to win the argument, persuade the doubters, or gain the approval of a greater percentage of the public. What if he's not? In campaigns you can quit trying to reach the undecided and just focus on turning out the base. Trump seems to have taken this approach to governing.
It's not just persuasion that he's abandoned. It's reason-giving and even sense-making. I know that sounds extreme, but it's just a description of what's different about this administration. Previous White Houses cared if the president contradicted something a spokesman said. This one doesn't. If a spox couldn't represent the president's thinking, that used to be a problem. It's not anymore.
If Trump's reasons for quitting the Paris agreement aren't clear, it's fine, really. The furor communicates to the base. It's time we saw the decay in communications as a feature of the Trump presidency, not a bug." | | At the rally, Trump lobbed his usual attacks at the media:
-- "We will never be intimidated by the dishonest media corporations who will say anything and do anything to get people to watch their screens or to get people to pay their failing papers."
-- "Fake news. It's fake news. Not all of it. Some of it's good, and some of the people are great actually, but some are real bad and really fake."
Fox News was the only major cabler to carry the whole speech live. CNN dipped in for a bit. MSNBC skipped it. | | Trump speaking with "Fox & Friends" on Thursday | | The president hasn't granted an interview in 40 days, but that will change on Thursday. "Just don't expect any hard-hitting questions," Tom Kludt writes. "Fox News announced Wednesday that Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will give an exclusive interview with 'Fox & Friends' co-host Ainsley Earhardt. It will be conducted Thursday at the White House, and will air Friday morning on Fox."
You may recall that Earhardt was lined up to tape an interview with Ivanka Trump on Thursday. Now that interview is slated to air next Monday... | | Another off-camera briefing... | | | Thursday's W.H. press briefing will be off-camera, and will be conducted by Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Possibly of note: during a gaggle aboard Air Force One on Wednesday evening, Lindsay Walters said Trump WILL have an answer about "tapes" this week... no equivocations... | | WSJ fires Jay Solomon for violating his 'ethical obligations' | | An astonishing story out of the Wall Street Journal. "The WSJ has fired one of its top reporters amid evidence that he was involved in a prospective business arrangement with a man who was also one of his sources," Dylan Byers reports. "Jay Solomon, the Journal's chief foreign affairs correspondent, entertained an offer from Farhad Azima, an Iranian-born aviation magnate who has reportedly had ties to the CIA, to buy a stake in a now-defunct private intelligence firm. In a statement, the Journal said Jay Solomon 'violated his ethical obligations as a reporter' and was no longer employed by the company."
How did the Journal find out? Thanks to a weeks-long AP investigation into Azima that came out on Tuesday. Solomon told the AP that he "clearly made mistakes" in his reporting, but never entered into any business with Azima. Read more... | | Mark Zuckerberg's first TV interview in years | | | When's the last time you saw Mark Zuckerberg interviewed on television? It's been a long time. But the drought is ending... CNN's Laurie Segall is interviewing Zuckerberg about the future of Facebook... pegged to Thursday's "Facebook Communities Summit" in Chicago. Zuckerberg will speak at the summit in the late morning... and Segall's interview will be on TV and online on CNNTech... | | Wenner selling Men's Journal to Pecker | | NYT's Sydney Ember scoops: "First, Wenner Media sold nearly half of its ownership of Rolling Stone. Then it sold its celebrity magazine Us Weekly. And now, on the eve of Rolling Stone's 50th anniversary, Wenner is selling another title, Men's Journal. American Media Inc., which publishes The National Enquirer and agreed to purchase Us Weekly from Wenner in March, plans to announce on Thursday that it will also buy Men's Journal, a men's lifestyle magazine, from Wenner." AMI CEO David Pecker says it's a way to attract new types of advertisers. Read more...
-- Separately on Wednesday, Rodale "said it was exploring 'strategic alternatives' that could include a sale of its male-targeted magazine, Men's Health. Mr. Pecker said he intended to pursue the magazine 'very aggressively...'" | | -- The press team won Wednesday night at the Congressional Women's Softball Game... CNN's Sophie Tatum has the full story here...
-- The judge in the Bill Cosby case released the names of the jurors on Wednesday... and one of them spoke with ABC News on condition of anonymity... revealing that two holdouts "prevented a guilty verdict..."
-- Fox News is competing with CNN and MSNBC with live 11pm programming more and more often... on Wednesday, for the second straight night, Bret Baier is back with an 11pm edition of "Special Report..."
-- A surprise announcement in Cannes: Publicis Groupe will skip Cannes Lions next year, "as well as other awards programs and SXSW and CES for good measure..." AdAge has details here... | | David Westin filling in for Charlie Rose | | | Former ABC News prez David Westin, the co-anchor of Bloomberg TV's morning show, will be swapping shows on Friday. He'll be filling in for Charlie Rose on "CBS This Morning," according to a CBS spokeswoman. Westin will be one of this summer's subs on "CTM" since Anthony Mason, a usual fill-in, is anchoring the "CBS Evening News." Other subs (due to summer vacations, etc) will include Jeff Glor, Maurice Dubois, and others from within CBS... Sounds like Westin is the only external player... | | Bezos: "Be riveting, be right and ask people to pay." | | Via CNBC, some highlights from the Jeff Bezos session at the Future of Newspapers conference in Turin, Italy:
-- "When you're writing, be riveting, be right and ask people to pay. They will pay."
-- "We run Amazon and The Washington Post in a very similar way in terms of the basic approach. We attempt to be customer-centric, which in the case of the Post means reader-centric." Not advertiser-centric -- "If you can focus on readers, advertisers will come."
-- "This is not a philanthropic endeavor. For me, I really believe, a healthy newspaper that has an independent newsroom should be self-sustaining. And I think it's achievable. And we've achieved it."
-- "Constraints drive creativity. The worst thing I could've done for the Post, I believe, is to have said 'Don't worry about revenue, whatever you need, just do the job.' Because I don't think that would lead to as much quality when there are in fact constraints." | | | THR's 100 most powerful people in Hollywood list is out. Top 10, starting with #10: Peter Rice, Oprah Winfrey, Alan Horn, Jeff Bewkes, Shari Redstone/Bob Bakish, the Murdochs, Les Moonves, Steve Burke, Reed Hastings/Ted Sarandos, Bob Iger. | | Candor from Steve Burke... | | Burke commented to THR about Megyn Kelly: "She's a big star, and there aren't that many big stars in the news business. Somebody with that kind of star power, it is complicated bringing her over without disturbing other people, but I think she's doing a great job." Is he alluding to the gossip column items about possible tensions between Kelly and "Today" show hosts?
-- Another Burke quote: This one about Jimmy Fallon: "It was a big risk to give him the show. But I think Jimmy is so likeable and talented and so much better than the other guys." | | By Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman:
-- Margaret Sullivan says the Senate drafting of the health care bill is not getting nearly enough attention from TV news...
-- BuzzFeed's Steven Perlberg writes about how Guardian US lost its mojo...
-- Two important stories on labor issues in journalism. Mashable's Rebecca Ruiz, writing for Poynter, describes how newsrooms can be "unfair" to journalists with children. And Gary Weiss, writing for CJR, documents the resurgence of news unions... | | A couple claimed they learned to live without food, and news outlets ate it up | | Oliver Darcy emails: The sky is blue. The grass is green. Humans need food and water to survive. Well, unless you believe a story published in several major news outlets over the past week. A so-called "breatharian" couple was spotlighted in several widely-shared news articles claiming that they are able to survive off "the universe's energy" and refrain from eating, save a piece of fruit or vegetable broth three times a week.
Publications like Yahoo, the NY Post, the Independent, and others ran with the story, largely presenting the couple's claims as unquestioned fact, despite it contradicting all known science pertaining to the human body. When I contacted Yahoo, a post from the outlet's Facebook page was deleted. The NY Post followed up by debunking the story in a separate article.
While this is far from the first fad to go viral on the internet, the consequences of following this particular practice can have severe consequences. Reports indicate individuals who have attempted trying the "breatharian" lifestyle in the past have died. And when I contacted the couple, I was told recent "mainstream" news stories have resulted in thousands of people reaching out with interest in the practice... Read the full story here... | | | For the record, part three | | | -- Austen Hufford wrote about media startups with a "lower cost model:" unpaid student writers... (WSJ)
-- Via "Reliable Sources" intern Howard Cohen: Trevor Noah, discussing the Philando Castile verdict on Tuesday night, spoke firsthand about his experience being racially profiled. He said that he'd been stopped 8 to 10 times by police... (Yahoo) | | "Bachelor in Paradise" contract exposed | | Chloe Melas emails: I've obtained a copy of the "Bachelor in Paradise" contract -- and it's downright shocking. The price reality contestants pay to be famous is unbelievable when it comes to the rights they sign away.
They agree that they might be portrayed negatively; misrepresented; and filmed naked. The contract goes on to say they agree to not sue for everything from contracting an STD to having "unwelcome or unlawful contact" from another contestant.
I also spoke with three attorneys who gave their opinions on whether such a one-sided contract is even enforceable. Read the full story here... | | | Brian Lowry emails: Chloe's story about the phone-book-sized contracts that participants in reality shows freely sign is one of the reasons why this THR piece suggesting that the "Bachelor" controversy "could reshape reality TV" seems far-fetched. As long as people desperately want to be famous, and viewers willingly suspend disbelief, it will take more than one scandal to change things... | | When "The Bachelor" franchise and race collide | | | Lisa Respers France emails: "The Bachelor" franchise has so long been the subject of complaints about its lack of diversity that the issue has been parodied on the drama "UnREAL." But this week race took the forefront in ways that Black America could relate to. Read more... | | If the news cycle has you feeling cynical, "The Big Sick" offers a cure... | | | Megan Thomas emails: Starring comedian and actor Kumail Nanjiani ("Silicon Valley") and produced by Judd Apatow, Nanjiani plays himself in a heartwarming and occasionally heavy film inspired by his life, love and family. I had a chance to attend a screening last night with Sandra Gonzalez, and I hadn't felt that good leaving a theater since "Hidden Figures..." | | The new math of "Transformers" | | | Brian Lowry emails: Critics (including this one) haven't been kind to "Transformers: The Last Knight." But U.S. reviews of this fifth edition might not matter much, since more than 75% of the total box office for the last movie came from outside North America. That's been a steadily growing trend, especially with this franchise, which will need a sizable international haul to offset what figures to be its lowest U.S. opening ever... | | Tig Notaro's worthwhile life-advice | | | Megan Thomas emails: I first became familiar with comedian Tig Notaro years ago when I heard her tell a hilarious story about frequent run-ins with singer Taylor Dayne on "This American Life." Since that time, Notaro's bold stand-up specials, a Netflix documentary, and her Amazon series "One Mississippi" have launched her to fame. I interviewed Notaro recently... and she doles out humor and wisdom in equal parts... | | | Brian Lowry emails: "GLOW" -- a rather pallid new Netflix comedy starring Alison Brie about the syndicated Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling series of the 1980s -- comes from the producer of "Orange is the New Black," which explains the decidedly "Orange"-ish tint to it... Read Lowry's full review here... | | | For the record, part four | | | | -- Chloe Melas with a programming note: Tune into Maggie Lake's newscast on CNNI Thursday at 9am ET for my sit-down with rapper French Montana on how he's working to raise awareness for better healthcare in Uganda... | | -- Via Lisa Respers France: No one believes you Daniel Day-Lewis! News of the esteemed actor's plans for retirement have been giving the Internet a chuckle...
-- Don't look for "Drake & Josh" to be rebooted any time soon. It looks like the former stars are not in a good place right now... | | | What do you like about this newsletter? What do you dislike? Email us... we're at reliablesources@cnn.com... we appreciate every email. | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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