White House Correspondents Insider

(February 1, 2019) — Big news is doubling-down on big tech. David Chavern, the president and CEO of the News Media Alliance, is the voice of the business of news. In Thursday’s New York Times op-ed, he makes the case for the systemic issues facing the news media industry, stemming from the Facebook/Google duopoly.

Chavern, a Chamber of Commerce veteran who has led the NMA since 2015, challenges why these two tech giants are not only hoarding the majority of online ad revenue, but they are also controlling the frequency and visibility of news through algorithms.

He writes, “More important [than ad revenue], the platforms now act as ‘regulators’ of the news business — determining what information gets delivered to whom, and when. With the flick of an algorithmic finger, those two companies decide what news you see and whether a publisher lives or dies.”

“The demand for the news product is soaring, with high levels of readership and engagement across every platform, as well as a growing willingness to pay for content. I strongly believe that these core economic drivers are a tremendous cause for optimism in the industry.” -David Chavern, President & CEO, News Media Alliance  

The op-ed notes that Facebook and Google “flatly refuse to pay for news” even though they license many other types of content.

Chavern is leading the charge to protect news by negotiating a fair, equitable deal with the tech giants. He contends that news organizations deserve the same intellectual property protections as songwriters and producers, a position European regulators are currently considering.

But beyond ad revenue and IP protections, Chavern faults Facebook and Google for the growing decline of local news:  “A study by the University of North Carolina’s School of Media and Journalism found that more than 1,300 American communities have completely lost sources of local news.”

The NMA is encouraged by legislation sponsored by Rep. David Cicilline (D-Rhode Island) that would allow news publishers to collectively negotiate a deal on revenue, data, and algorithms with Facebook and Google without violating antitrust rules.

Chavern is optimistic that a deal can be reached. “All it would take,” he says, “is a little enlightened self-interest and a real commitment to the continued existence of quality news.”

About News Media Alliance

The News Media Alliance, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., was founded in 1992 through a merger of seven associations serving the newspaper industry and was originally known as the Newspaper Association of America (NAA).

NMA’s work focuses on the key challenges and opportunities of today’s news environment: Freedom of the press, public policy and legal matters, advertising growth, new revenue streams and audience development across all platforms. The News Media Alliance is dedicated to working with its members, as well as other partner organizations, to advance the industry through advocacy, critical research and resources and events that connect and inspire.

January 28, 2019 — If you want to know how some of the most successful people got to the top of the mountain, subscribe to Jennifer Morgan’s new podcast, A Call to Lead. She is SAP’s Americas’ President and the host of their SAPPHIRE NOW conference, where she interviews presidents, captains of industry, and the most fascinating people. Jen debuted as a member of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women list in 2018.

The podcast serves as the newest development of Jen’s annual discussion at SAP’s SAPPHIRE NOW conference — the world’s largest and most innovative business technology conference. From former U.S. presidents, first ladies, and secretaries of state to business titans from every industry and corner of the globe, Jen has hosted prestigious leaders and now she’s bringing the conversation to her new podcast, which is aimed at mid-career, emerging leaders.

A member of SAP’s Executive Board, Jen Morgan is one of the top female leaders in tech. In episode one, Jen sits down with Arianna Huffington of Thrive to discuss all things women in tech and to share Arianna’s keen business savvy for success with the next generation of emerging business leaders.

Fortune recently profiled Jen Morgan, highlighting:  “The first-ever American woman to sit on SAP’s executive board, Morgan is also known for investigating—and closing—SAP North America’s gender pay gap. A 2016 audit demonstrated the effectiveness of Morgan’s efforts. The results showed that more than 99% of its male and female employees in the U.S. were paid equally. Within the less than 1% that did not have pay parity, SAP said it “proactively” increased those employees’ compensation.”

Early interviews include Bobbi Brown, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Frances Frei.
Watch the trailer here.

A Call to Lead is available on iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher.

About SAP

One of the world’s largest, most respected global tech companies, SAP serves more than 404,000 customers in over 180 countries. SAP runs the world’s largest business network, transacting more than $2 trillion in goods and service annually. Roughly 77% of the world’s transaction revenue touches an SAP system. SAP customers produce 78% of the world’s food. SAP facilitates the production and distribution of 82% of the world’s medical devices

On the latest episode of Volta Insider, Rachel Greenberg sat down with Bloomberg TV’s Chief Washington correspondent, Kevin Cirilli. Rachel first met Cirilli in 2016 at the Iowa Caucus, and bonded after a daylong bus trip that included a Bernie Sanders’ speech, and rallies featuring Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Cirilli was covering the Donald Trump campaign for Bloomberg, an eighteen month assignment that took him all across the country. Cirilli shares that on election day, he was exhausted and sick with strep throat, and could barely believe that he would now be a White House correspondent.

While on break from studying at NYU, Greenberg sat down with the up and coming journalism star to talk about the future of reporting, as well as some of the highlights of his career. Cirilli is passionate about his work and is a natural storyteller. He cut his teeth as a student reporter at Penn State University, and rose to the national level when covering the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse case that rocked the Penn State University football team and the PSU community for Newsweek/The Daily Beat and Philadelphia Magazine. Cirilli caught the eye of POLITICO and has been covering all things Washington ever since. 

Now, he has a new show on Bloomberg Radio called “Sound On with Kevin Cirilli.” Listen as he shares with us his thoughts on what is important in the changing landscape of digital media journalism, what it’s like to cover Donald Trump from the campaign to the White House, and how to love what you do for a living.

Subscribe to Volta Insider on iTunes here.

Follow Rachel Greenberg on Twitter, @VoltaInsider

Follow Kevin Cirilli on Twitter, @kevcirilli

Bloomberg’s Kevin Cirilli delivered a big headline with an exclusive interview with Michael Cohen’s attorney, Lanny Davis on Bloomberg Podcast “Sound On,” Michael Cohen, President Trump’s longtime lawyer and fixer-turned-key witness in the Robert Mueller investigation, will appear in front of a Congressional Committee to testify about his role in a number of Trump-related scandals.

According to Cohen’s attorney Lanny Davis, “There will come a time after Mr. Mueller is done with his work that Michael Cohen will be sitting in front of a microphone before a congressional committee and what he has to say about the truth will be judged by the members of Congress listening and then will be up to people to decide whether he has got the facts or not.”

Listen to the full interview here.

In a letter shared with friends on Monday, December 3rd, the day George HW Bush’s body was laid in repose at the Capitol before his funeral, former Congressman Tom McMillen memorializes the late president with memories of working with him on Capitol Hill including on the authorization to go to war in Iraq in 1991.

In one memorable tale he writes, “I ventured into the House gym to work out and I could see from all the Secret Service agents that President Bush was playing racquetball with some of his former House colleagues (as a former House member, he still had gym privileges). As I was working out, I was watching CNN and an announcement came over the network that Saddam Hussein had surrendered. By then, President Bush was in the sauna with his buddies. I turned to the Secret Service agents and asked if the President knew about this development, and they told me to go tell him the good news. So I opened the door of the sauna and with steam blocking my view, I said to the President that I had just heard that the war was over. He said, “Tom—that is truly great news and thanks for letting me know.” I’ve wondered how often someone has the opportunity to tell a President that a war is over.”

President George HW’s body will lie in state until Wednesday, December 3rd where it will then be moved to Houston, Texas for his official funeral.

A new petition has been making its way across the internet in response to the White House Correspondents’ Association’s decision to forgo the tradition of allowing a comedian to roast the sitting president at the dinner in order to bring in Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential biographer Ron Chernow who is expected to give a sobering assessment of President Donald Trump and defend the First Amendment on the big night in April.

The petition was posted to Care2, a social petition tool focused on making positive change. The request for Michelle Wolf to create an alternative to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was created by Care2’s senior director of engagement Rebecca Gerber, calls on comedian Michelle Wolf, who provided last year’s stand up routine, to host her own rival Correspondents’ Dinner, comedy included.

The petitioner writes, “Sorry haters, but Michelle Wolf was just speaking the truth—and she was hilarious. That’s why after learning that the WHCD wouldn’t even let a comedian host this year, I decided to ask Michelle Wolf to host a separate event. So, if Trump can’t take a joke at this formal event and the event is going to bend to his will, let’s ditch it all together for a more powerful and more helpful event.”

As of Tuesday, November 27th the petition has gathered over 16,000 signatures. You can sign it here.

The White House Correspondents’ Association recently named, author and historian, Ron Chernow as this year’s featured speaker at the 2019 White House Correspondents’ Dinner. President Donald Trump took to Twitter.

So-called comedian Michelle Wolf bombed so badly last year at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner that this year, for the first time in decades, they will have an author instead of a comedian. Good first step in comeback of a dying evening and tradition! Maybe I will go?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2018

Trumps says the changes in this year’s dinner are due in large part to last year’s performance by former Netflix host Michelle Wolf.  “The so-called comedian really ‘bombed,’ ” tweeted Trump. President Trump also goes on to suggested that he himself could possibly attend the 2019 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which would be a change of pace since he has skipped the dinner twice during his presidency. Meanwhile, the Washington Post asks previous dinner comedians to weigh in. You can read more about that here.

 

The White House on Monday restored CNN correspondent Jim Acosta’s hard press pass following a federal court order. But it’s new rules for press could make it easier for the White House to pull press credentials moving forward.

Nearly two weeks ago, the White House revoked Acosta’s hard pass after sparring with the president during a press conference. Although Acosta’s White House pass has been restored and CNN’s lawsuit vacated, others contend the new press rules overwhelmingly favor the Trump administration.

“These rules give the White House far too much discretion to avoid real scrutiny,” Ben Wizner, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, said in a statement. “The rules should be revised to ensure that no journalist gets kicked out of the White House for doing their job.”

As part of the new rules, the Trump administration put in place a ban on follow-up questions. Journalists will be permitted to ask a single question with no follow-ups, unless explicitly allowed by President Trump or the White House official running the press briefing.

The rules are as follows: 1) A journalist called upon to ask a question will ask a single question and then will yield the floor to other journalists; 2) At the discretion of the president or other White House official taking questions, a follow-up question or questions may be permitted; and where a follow-up has been allowed and asked, the questioner will then yield the floor; 3) “Yielding the floor” includes, when applicable, physically surrendering the microphone to White House staff for use by the next questioner; 4) Failure to abide by any of rules (1)-(3) may result in suspension or revocation of the journalist’s hard pass. (See full statement from WH Press Secretary below.)

 

What Others Are Saying;

White House Correspondents’ Association President Olivier Knox, in a statement, said, “The White House did the right thing in restoring Jim Acosta’s hard pass.” The statement continued, “The White House Correspondents’ Association had no role in crafting any procedures for future press conferences. For as long as there have been White House press conferences, White House reporters have asked follow-up questions. We fully expect this tradition will continue. We will continue to make the case that a free and independent news media plays a vital role in the health of our republic.”

Bloomberg reporter Steven Dennis tweeted, “Under the new White House rules, if the president flat-out lies to you, you can only ask a followup challenging it if he agrees to let you. Otherwise they can pull your hard pass. They can also pull your hard pass if you ask two questions instead of one.”

Fox News’ Sean Hannity, on his Monday night broadcast, said the White House’s new rules “may have ultimately made it easier to kick out people.”

“Respondents decisively side against the media when it comes to fair and unbiased coverage of the President and Republicans,” says a new survey from McLaughlin & Associates. The study highlights that only 9 percent of Americans now say that news coverage in general is “fair or not biased” regarding President Trump and the GOP.

White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) president Olivier Knox announced today that presidential biographer Ron Chernow will headline the 2019 White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

Following last year’s presidential roast by comedian Michelle Wolf, Ron Chernow brings a decidedly different approach to the nearly 100-year old dinner. Chernow, a famed presidential historian, will turn the focus from humor to the power and significance of the 1st Amendment.

Chernow, who wrote the biography that inspired Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway hit “Hamilton,” is the prize-winning author of six books and the recipient of the 2015 National Humanities Medal. His first book, The House of Morgan, won the National Book Award. In 2011, Chernow won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography for Washington: A Life.

“I’m delighted that Ron will share his lively, deeply researched perspectives on American politics and history at the 2019 White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” said Olivier Knox, WHCA’s president, in a statement. “As we celebrate the importance of a free and independent news media to the health of the republic, I look forward to hearing Ron place this unusual moment in the context of American history.”

In response to the announcement, comedian Michelle Wolf tweeted:  “The @whca are cowards. The media is complicit. And I couldn’t be prouder.”

In addition to Wolf, past headliners of the Correspondents’ dinner include:  Wanda Sykes, Jimmy Kimmel, Jon Stewart, Drew Carey, Keegan-Michael Key, among many others.

Each year, the star-studded WHC Garden Brunch hosted by Tammy Haddad and friends serves as the official precursor event to the WHC dinner. The Garden Brunch highlights charitable causes making a difference. Past non-profits include Wells Fargo’s Homes4WoundedHeroes home give-a-way program for veterans, the White Ribbon Alliance, and DogTag Bakery (DogTag’s veteran-made Christmas baskets are available to order here).

The selection of biographer Ron Chernow marks a stark contrast to the usual line-up of comedians that host the annual “nerd prom” dinner. It’s clear that the WHCA is shaking up the format and sending a message with the announcement of Ron Chernow.

“The White House Correspondents’ Association has asked me to make the case for the First Amendment and I am happy to oblige,” said Chernow, in a statement. “Freedom of the press is always a timely subject and this seems like the perfect moment to go back to basics. My major worry these days is that we Americans will forget who we are as a people and historians should serve as our chief custodians in preserving that rich storehouse of memory. While I have never been mistaken for a stand-up comedian, I promise that my history lesson won’t be dry.”

The 2019 White House Correspondents’ Dinner will take place on Saturday, April 27th, at the Washington Hilton.

About the WHCA

Founded in 1914, the White House Correspondents’ Association exists to promote excellence in journalism as well as journalism education, and to ensure robust news coverage of the president and the presidency. The WHCA supports awards for some of the best political reporting of the past year, as well as scholarships for young reporters to promote vibrant journalism for years to come. The inaugural White House Correspondents’ dinner took place on May 7, 1921.