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Archives for July 2017

Scaramucci Removed as White House Communications Director

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SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci speaks at the 2016 SkyBridge Alternatives “SALT” Conference at the Bellagio Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Photo courtesy Wikipedia.

President Donald Trump has removed Anthony Scaramucci from his role as White House communications director, as reported by The New York Times.

The Wall Street financier was brought to Washington just 10 days prior, which resulted in several staff members to leave, including Sean Spicer as press secretary and Reince Priebus as chief of staff.

The decision came as former Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly began his tenure as new chief of staff.  Several people with knowledge about the decision said the president removed Scaramucci at Kelly’s request.  Scaramucci had said he was to report directly to the president, instead of the traditional role answering to the chief of staff.

“Anthony Scaramucci will be leaving his role as White House Communications Director,” said press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in a release. “Mr. Scaramucci felt it was best to give Chief of Staff John Kelly a clean slate and the ability to build his own team. We wish him all the best.”

There was no clarification as to whether Scaramucci will remain a White House employee in a different position or out of the administration altogether.

New York Times Reports Strong Second Quarter Profits, Increases in Both Subscriber and Ad Revenue

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Photo courtesy Wikipedia.

The New York Times announced one of its most profitable quarters in years, following strong digital growth and rising online advertisement revenue.

The latest report shows a $15.6 million net profit for the second quarter of 2017, compared to a $211,000 loss over the same quarter of 2016.

The Times also revealed on Thursday that revenue from online services rose 23% to $55 million in the second quarter of 2017. That figure has grown to approximately 42% of all ad revenue for the newspaper, compared to roughly one-third over the same period last year.

Additionally, an additional 93,000 digital-only subscriptions for news products helped power a 46% increase in subscriptions income over the second quarter of 2016, reaching $83 million for the quarter.

Some traditional areas of the company had seen falling profits for the New York Times, as it has across the media industry overall. Print advertising revenue fell 11%, to $77 million. However, bolstered by the uptick in digital income, overall ad revenue rose slightly over the same period last year to $132 million.

“We believe that more and more people are prepared to pay for high quality in-depth journalism that helps them make sense of the world,” said Times chief executive Mark Thompson.

Overall, the New York Times brought in $407 million in revenue for the second quarter of 2017, a nine percent increase over second quarter of 2016.

CNN’s Alisyn Camerota Book Party at Newseum

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Washington’s Bad Ass media women hosted a book party to celebrate one of their own, CNN Anchor Alisyn Camerota. Dana Bash, Juleanna Glover, Ana Navarro, Daniella Landau, Megan Murphy, Hilary Rosen and Tammy Haddad brought together colleagues and friends to celebrate the publication of her novel, Amanda Wakes Up, on July 20th at the Newseum. It was a fitting place because Ms. Camerota is donating all the proceeds of the book to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Ms. Camerota is a veteran of ABC News and Fox News and has been hitting new ratings heights this year as co-host of CNN’s “New Day” with co-host Chris Cuomo. Guests included Chris Coons (D-Del.) and his son, Michael,  Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Valerie Jarrett, Chris Cillizza, Fox News host Steve Hilton, Carol Melton, Tom Forrest, Carl Hulse, Katie Hinson, Rachel Pearson, Rob Flynn, Robin Goldman, Gloria Borger, Victoria Espinel, David Chalian, Sally Flynn, David Gelles, Betsy Klein, Kevin Cirilli, Ashley Killough, Laura Jarrett, Craig Gordon, Jeff Zeleny, Robert Draper and Kirsten Powers, Kate Bennett, Katie Hinman, Lauren Pratapas, and Jackie Kucinich.

Newseum Alisyn Camerota Book Party July 20, 2017

The book has just been released and is available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Amanda-Wakes-Up-Alisyn-Camerota/dp/0399563997

Survey: Plurality of Republican Adults Favor Courts Shutting Down Media Outlets for “Inaccurate” Stories

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Photo courtesy Pixabay.

A new survey released by The Economist and YouGov suggests that a plurality of Republican adults favor courts being able to shut down media outlets.

“Generally speaking, do you favor or oppose permitting the courts to shut down news media outlets for publishing or broadcasting stories that are biased or inaccurate – or haven’t you heard enough about that yet to say?” the poll asked of 1,500 U.S. adults.

By a margin of 45% to 20%, Republicans said courts should have the authority to control the media and free speech.  (35% of respondents said they haven’t heard enough to make a choice.)  The number dipped when looking at conservative respondents, 37% in favor to 23% opposed.

Similarly, respondents that voted for President Trump in 2016 agreed with the notion that courts should be able to curtail the First Amendment and shut down media outlets by similar margins, 45% supporting to 24% opposing.

Reports: Attorney General Jeff Sessions to Announce Criminal Investigations of Intelligence Leaks

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By U.S. Customs and Border Protection (160120-H-NI589-0103) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Unnamed officials are saying that Attorney General Jeff Sessions will announce in the upcoming few days a number of criminal leak investigations based on news reports containing sensitive intelligence information.

During an interview on Wednesday morning’s “Fox & Friends” program, White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci confirmed plans exist to launch the probe.

“I think he has got a plan that he has put together and at some point, I don’t know if it will be today, tomorrow or next week, he will announce that plan,” he said on the program.

Sessions’ actions come amid a days-long public admonishment of the attorney general by President Donald Trump, primarily on Twitter and in various interviews.  The president has strongly suggested that Sessions will not remain in his cabinet for much longer, but the attorney general has refused to resign his position.

White House Communications Director Scaramucci Begins Purge of West Wing Staff

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Photo courtesy Pixabay.

On Tuesday, White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci publicly threatened to fire his entire team in attempts to stop anonymous leaking coming from the West Wing.

“If they don’t stop leaking, I’m going to put them out on Pennsylvania Avenue – it’s a very clear thing,” Scaramucci said. “I’m going to fire everybody, that’s how I’m going to do it. You’re either going to stop leaking or you’re going to get fired.”

Asked about recent press reports suggesting he had already started purging staff members, Scarmucci singled out articles saying the communications director was on the verge of firing senior assistant press secretary Michael Short specifically. An article was posted on Politico hours earlier naming Short as the first on the list for upcoming staff purges.

“The fact that you guys know about it before he does really upsets me as a human being and as a Roman Catholic, you got that? So I should have the opportunity, if I have to let someone go, to let the person go in a very humane, dignified way,” Scaramucci stated.

Short resigned shortly after publication of the Politico article saying he was to be terminated, before being fired by Scaramucci.

MSNBC Edges Out Fox News as Most-Watched Prime Time Cable Network

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Photo courtesy Jeff Maurone via Wikimedia Commons.

For the first time ever, Nielsen data shows that MSNBC was the most-watched cable network during weekday prime time.

Averaging approximately 90,000 viewers more than second-place rival Fox News, during the week of July 17 through July 21, MSNBC had 2.34 million viewers during weekday prime time. Fox News racked up 2.25 million viewers. In third place, Disney Channel received 1.74 million viewers. USA Network and HGTV made up the remainder of the top five channels for the week.

Rachel Maddow continued winning the 9 PM time slot over all other news programs. During the week, hers was also the second most-watched program of all cable, behind only WWE Entertainment.  The network’s lineup from 7 PM through midnight also was first among cable networks.

“MSNBC was previously #1 in cable news in weekday prime during the weeks of May 15, 2017 (behind TNT) and September 3, 2012 (behind USA) among total viewers, but this was the 1st time MSNBC was #1 among all of cable,” the network commented in a statement.

Fox News still held in at first place in “total day” viewers, which measures from 6 AM to 6 AM, extending its streak over all basic cable channels to its 29th week.

CNN finished in ninth place in total viewers in prime time, averaging 875,000 viewers.

New York Times Requests Retraction from Fox News for “Malicious” ISIS Story

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Photo courtesy Wikipedia.

On Sunday, the New York Times asked Fox News for an on-air retraction and apology, after a story aired that appeared to blame the paper for publishing intelligence information that the show claimed led to the escape of a top ISIS leader.

“I am writing on behalf of The New York Times to request an on-air apology and tweet from Fox & Friends in regards to a malicious and inaccurate segment ‘NY Times leak allowed ISIS leader to slip away,’” the letter to Fox News read.

The on-air segment in question aired Saturday during the morning program Fox & Friends and claimed ISIS leader al-Baghdadi was “able to sneak away in the cover of darkness after a New York Times story went to print in 2015.” The story was based off an article published Friday evening on Fox News’ website, co-written by national security reporter Catherine Herridge.

Later in the day, Fox News responded by noting the article by Herridge had been updated and accused the Times of “hyperventilating to the media about a correction.” In a statement, the network said that “the New York Times didn’t reach out to anyone at Fox News until Sunday afternoon for a story that ran Friday night.”

President Donald Trump tweeted about the Fox News story on Saturday:

The Times noted in an article on Sunday that the Pentagon itself issued a press release containing the intelligence information three weeks before the article was published in the newspaper in 2015. “No senior American official complained publicly about the story until now, more than two years later.” The paper also noted the Pentagon was aware of the details of the article before publication and did not object.

Spicer Resigns as White House Press Secretary

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Daniel Lippman, Tammy Haddad, Sean Spicer. Photo courtesy of Haddad Media.

Sean Spicer has resigned as White House press secretary, following President Donald Trump’s appointment of Wall Street financier Anthony Scaramucci as communications director.

According to a report in the New York Times, the president asked Spicer to remain on as press secretary, but Spicer told Trump he believed hiring Scaramucci was a major mistake.

Scaramucci Expected To Be Named White House Communications Director

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SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci speaks at the 2016 SkyBridge Alternatives “SALT” Conference at the Bellagio Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Photo courtesy Wikipedia.

Multiple news agencies are reporting Friday morning that President Donald Trump has selected his close friend and ally, Wall Street financier Anthony Scaramucci, to be the new White House communications director.

The director position has been vacant since May, when Mike Dubke resigned after only three months on the job. Since then, press secretary Sean Spicer has assumed most of the responsibilities of this position. NBC News and Axios both report that sources say Spicer is expected to stay on as press secretary.

Scaramucci is a former Goldman Sachs banker and was a member of Trump’s transition team. He is a major Republican donor, having held fundraisers for Scott Walker and Jeb Bush during the 2016 presidential primary, and supported Trump in the general election last year. Known as “Mooch” to his friends, he is a regular guest on Fox News and longtime friend of Sean Hannity.