White House Correspondents Insider

In the wake of Les Moonves departure, CBS has installed six new directors it hopes will help run a tighter ship at the network in the years to come.

The six board members entering CBS are Candace Beinecke, a partner at the law firm of Hughes Hubbard & Reed, Barbara Byrne, former vice chairman of Barclays and Council on Foreign Relations member, Brian Goldner, CEO of Hasbro, Richard D. Parsons, former Citigroup chairman & former Time Warner CEO, Susan Schuman, CEO of SYPartners, and Strauss Zelnick, the founder of the video game publisher Take-Two Interactive Software.

The board members leaving CBS to make room for the departures are Arnold Kopelson, Leonard Goldberg, Charles Gifford, David Andelman, and Doug Morris.

Women’s advocacy group UltraViolet, which previously called for the board to fire Les Moonves, said in a statement, “This is proof that the era where powerful men abused and harassed women without consequence is starting to come to an end, and a testament to the enduring strength and power of the #MeToo movement.”

You can read more on the CBS Board of Directors shakeup here.

American University has named Emmy Award-winning former “Meet the Press” executive producer Betsy Fischer Martin to the School of Public Affairs’ Women & Politics as their new executive director.

Vicky Wilkins, the dean of AU’s School of Public Affairs, said in a statement, “We were looking for an entrepreneurial leader who is passionate about the empowerment and representation of women, and Betsy combines all of those attributes. We are thrilled to have her back in the SPA community in this important leadership role.

Fischer Martin said of the appointment, “I can’t think of a more exciting time to be at the epicenter of a university that recognizes the importance of women’s political leadership and is dedicated to furthering academic research and empowering students and young women to engage in the political system. The fact that American University played such a significant role in shaping my career in political journalism makes returning to lead WPI all the more meaningful to me.”

American University’s Women & Politics Institute offers graduate and undergraduate certificates and provides training programs for female students who want to get involved in politics.

Martin is one of the longest serving Executive Producer of Meet The Press. She began at NBC as an intern while attending American University and was there for 11 years, working with Tim Russert during his legendary run as host. Martin also co-hosted the Bloomberg Politics podcast, “Masters in Politics” during the 2016 election.

NBC Chairman Andy Lack has pushed back on claims that NBC executives tried to torpedo Ronan Farrow’s reporting on the Harvey Weinstein abuse allegations in a letter to employees on Monday, September 3rd.

In the letter, which addresses claims made by Farrow’s former producer Rich McHugh, Lack states that, “We spent eight months pursuing the story but at the end of that time, NBC News — like many others before us — still did not have a single victim or witness willing to go on the record. (Rose McGowan — the only woman Farrow interviewed who was willing to be identified — had refused to name Weinstein and then her lawyer sent a cease-and-desist letter.) So we had nothing yet fit to broadcast. But Farrow did not agree with that standard. That’s where we parted ways — agreeing to his request to take his reporting to a print outlet that he said was ready to move forward immediately.”

Lack continues, “We regret the deterioration of NBC’s relationship with Ronan, and genuinely wish we had found a path to move forward together. That is why, in August of 2017, when Farrow objected to his editors’ conclusion we convened an independent group of the most experienced investigative journalists in our organization to review his material with fresh eyes. We asked them — tell us what, if anything, we can broadcast. But their conclusion was unequivocal — this story is not ready for air. (Further, they found several elements in Farrow’s draft script which did not hold up to scrutiny — described in the accompanying document.) It was Farrow’s decision, in the midst of this process, to pursue the story elsewhere.”

McHugh responded to Lack’s statement in a tweet suggesting that Lack’s statement “only raises more questions than answers”.

NBC recently published a memo and “fact sheet” from Andy Lack regarding their handling of the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault story that was never aired.  Here is my response: pic.twitter.com/H9RbsW78jB

— Rich McHugh (@RichMcHughNBC) September 4, 2018

Ronan Farrow, who has been reluctant to weigh in on the drama, has put out a statement refuting certain claims in Lack’s memo while teasing that “They’ll be more to say at the right time.”

pic.twitter.com/8vBcYvsl52

— Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow) September 4, 2018

In a bombshell story published by The Daily Beast, Rich McHugh, a former producer for Ronan Farrow, the star reporter who wrote the landmark report detailing Harvey Weinstein’s years of sexual abuse against employees and actresses, has alleged that while Farrow was working on the story, NBC tried to prevent the story from going to print. Farrow’s series of articles on Weinstein’s abuse went on to win him a Pulitzer Prize in public service for the New Yorker, who shared the prize with The New York Times.

McHugh says the orders came from “the very highest levels of NBC.” The former producer claims that, in the days before planned to interview an alleged abuse victim, he was ordered not to follow through with the meeting and to “stand down on the story altogether.”

NBC denied that officials within the network did not try to quash the story, but rather that further reporting needed to be done before it went to print.

You can read more here.

The United States International Trade Commission has announced that it will block the Trump administration from implementing tariffs on newsprint from Canada, in a major win for the news industry and print publications.

The ITC voted 5-0 to reserve the tariffs due to a lobbying push from the News Media Alliance, an advocacy group fighting for the business interests of the news industry. NMA CEO David Chavern, in a letter to his staff, “We were able to develop a broad coalition of members of Congress — from both sides of the aisle — to not only support our view, but also testify before the ITC, advocate the Department of Commerce and introduce corrective legislation.” Chavern adds that the move is, “a great day for news publishing and journalism.”

NMA gathered 19 members of Congress from both parties to testify before the Commerce Department to urge them not to adopt these tariffs, which viewed as crippling to the news industry, especially print publications.

Chavern visited BNN Bloomberg to discuss what the latest development means for the news industry. You can watch his interview here.

The largest gathering of descendants of presidents gathered on the Kennedy Center stage for The Presidential Sites Summit. The once-every-two-years event hosts the operators and administrators of presidential libraries, historical sites, and the descendants of America’s presidents.

As part of the festivities, participants gathered at the Kennedy Center on Tuesday, August 28th. Kennedy Center president Deborah Rutter brought out Washington Post publisher Fred Ryan to welcome participants and kick off the night.

David Rubenstein, Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the Kennedy Center, then moderated a series of discussions including stories from the White House told by presidential descendants with Susan Ford Bales, Daughter of President Gerald R. Ford, Clifton Truman Daniel, Grandson of President Harry S. Truman, Massee McKinley, Descendant of Presidents William McKinley and Grover Cleveland, Lynda Johnson Robb, Daughter of President Lyndon B. Johnson, and Tweed Roosevelt, Great-grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt.

Rubenstein also hosted a discussion on “The White House Behind the Camera” featuring an introduction from Anita McBride, chair of the Presidential Sites Summit and the Chief of Staff to First Lady Laura Bush.

Panelists included Adan Canto, star of Designated Survivor, Tammy Haddad, President & CEO of Haddad Media and HBO, Mack McLarty, chairman of McLarty Associates, Chief of Staff to Bill Clinton, and consultant on Designated Survivor & White Down, Capricia Marshall, House of Cards consultant and Social Secretary to Bill Clinton, documentarian Kirk Saduski, and Jamie Vanderbilt, the writer and director of White House Down.

David Rubenstein asked Kirk Saduski, who produced the HBO miniseries’ John Adams and Band of Brothers, how hard it is to maintain accuracy when creating these films. Saduski agreed with Haddad that filmmakers demand precision in the way events in the White House are portrayed, from official White House protocols and hierarchies to the norms and social mores of living and working in the White House.

The segment ended with David Rubenstein telling his most embarrassing moments from working in the Carter White House.

You can watch more Presidential Sites Summit events live on CSPAN here.

 

Dog Tag Bakery, a disabled veterans hiring and education bakery, where President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden had lunch last month, is now accepting applications for the 2019 fellowship class. The application is open to all post-9/11 military veterans with service-connected disabilities, military spouses and/or caregivers.

Dog Tag works in partnership with Georgetown University to provide a professional development program designed for members of military families in order to help make the transition into the civilian workforce. The program combines business and entrepreneurship coursework, personal development opportunities, and hands-on rotations throughout Dog Tag Bakery, the small business venture.

During the Fellowship’s five months, fellows explore a variety of career paths and establish both personal and professional networks. When finished, the program provides graduates a certificate in Business Administration from the School of Continuing Studies at Georgetown University, scheduled rotations within different areas of the organization, as well as networking opportunities with business leaders and entrepreneurs. Being an alumnus of the Dog Tag Fellowship mean you will be business-ready, competitive, and employable.

You can read more about the Dog Tag Bakery Fellowship and apply here.

Interested in supporting the fellows? You can Visit, Donate, or have your event Catered with Dog Tag today! Together we are #BakingADifference in the lives of service-disabled veterans and military families!

Representatives from numerous social media and tech companies including Twitter, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Snapchat are convening in San Francisco on Friday, August 24th to discuss their strategy for the upcoming midterm elections. Invited by Nathaniel Gleicher, head of cybersecurity for Facebook, the representatives will assemble at Twitter headquarters for the talks.

According to emails obtained by Buzzfeed, “The meeting, the Facebook official wrote, will have a three-part agenda: each company will present the work they’ve been doing to counter information operations; there will be a discussion period for problems each company faces, and a talk about whether such a meeting should become a regular occurrence.”

These tech companies have come under intense scrutiny for their role in enabling misinformation to play a part in the 2016 election. The meeting comes days after Microsoft discovered and shut down six phishing sites registered by Russian military intelligence.

You can read more about the meeting here.

A post shared by President Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on Aug 11, 2018 at 3:01pm PDT

Omarosa Manigault’s new book Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House says that Fox News managers send talking points to President Trump every day. Now a new report, by Hunter Schwartz from CNN’s Coverline, reveals from May 22nd to August 22nd President Donald Trump’s Instagram account has reposted 85 photos or videos from either Fox News, Fox Business, or “Fox & Friends,”. That’s about 24% of Trump’s 358-total posts in that time frame.

The pattern appears to be: Trump tweets, then Fox News turns the tweet into a graphic, sometime later the graphic ends up back on President Trump’s accounts, creating a type of social media feedback loop.

You can read more here.