White House Correspondents Insider

Behind the scenes of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.

David Cameron Tells Trump “Fake News” Act is Dangerous

By

Photo courtesy Pixabay.

At the annual Transparency International UK lecture in London, former British prime minister David Cameron called President Donald Trump’s attacks on the mainstream media was dangerous, with the true threat to democracy coming from sources like Russian twitter bots.

“When Donald Trump uses the term ‘fake news’ to describe CNN and the BBC, that is not just a questionable tactic.  It’s actually dangerous,” the former prime minister said in his remarks.

Cameron noted that “of course” journalists occasionally makes mistakes. But Trump’s use of “fake news” as an attack on the media “is an attempt to question the whole legitimacy of organizations that have an important role in our democracy.”

“Let me put it like this. President Trump, ‘Fake news’ is not broadcasters criticizing you. It’s Russian bots and trolls targeting your democracy, pumping out untrue stories day after day, night after night.”

“When you misappropriate the term ‘fake news’,” he continued, “you are deflecting attention from real abuses. Ignoring what’s happening on social media is facilitating a form of corruption that is undermining democracy.”

Cameron resigned as prime minister in 2016, immediately after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in their “Brexit” vote, which Cameron opposed.  Many point to the similarities between the surge in nationalistic movements surrounding the Brexit vote and the 2016 U.S. presidential elections that placed Trump in the White House.

 

California Governor Vetoes Bill Requiring Presidential Candidates to Release Tax Reforms

By

Photo courtesy Neon Tommy / Annenberg Digital News.

Late Sunday, Gov. Jerry Brown (D) vetoed pending legislation requiring presidential candidates appearing on California’s ballot releasing their federal tax returns to the public.

Although the bill passed the Democratic-controlled legislature, Brown warned the measure could eventually lead to requirements of candidates to release other private information, such as health records or birth certificates.

“While I recognize the political attractiveness — even the merits — of getting President Trump’s tax returns, I worry about the political perils of individual states seeking to regulate the presidential elections in this manner.  Will these requirements vary depending on which political party is in power?” the governor wrote in his veto message.

Sunday was the deadline for Brown to sign or veto this measure from the 2017 legislative session.  The measure’s prime sponsor, state Sen. Mike McGuire (D) did not comment on the veto message.

Mark Halperin and John Heilemann Sign Deal with Penguin Press for Game Changer 3

By

Photo courtesy Haddad Media.

On Thursday, Penguin Press revealed that political journalists and analysts John Heilemann and Mark Halperin will write a third installment of their “Game Change” series.  HBO has also purchased the book for a mini-series, with Jay Roach signing up to direct and produced by Tom Hanks.

Speaking about the book’s focus, Heilemann said “We’ll be looking at all the big unanswered questions of the race, some of them obvious, some of them are less obvious.  But of course we’re interested in breaking news.”

Some interesting areas of focus include WikiLeaks, potential Russian collaboration, FBI Director James Comey’s actions, and more.

“Despite all the coverage, we don’t know the answers to those questions,” Heilemann said in an interview.  “We think there’s still an awful lot to write about here.”

Penguin Press has scheduled the book for publication in early 2018.

Sessions Non-Committal On Prosecuting Journalists

By

Sessions speaking at a campaign event for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on August 31, 2016. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), nominee for Attorney General under President-election Donald Trump’s incoming administration, dodged a question posed to him during his Senate confirmation hearings on whether he would prosecute journalists for their work.

During the confirmation hearing, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) asked Sessions whether he would continue current regulations in the Justice Department that require federal prosecutors to receive approval for subpoenaing or prosecuting reporters.  She probed him to pledge not to “put reporters in jail for doing their job.”

His answer was non-committal.

“Senator Klobuchar, I am not sure,” Sessions replied. “I have not studied that, those regulations. I would note that when I was the United States Attorney, we knew, everybody knew, that you could not subpoena a witness or push them to be interviewed if they’re a member of the media, without approval at high levels of the Department of Justice. That was in the 1980s. So I do believe the Department of Justice does have sensitivity to this issue.”

He expanded his answer to take a pessimistic view on journalists reporting about classified information from sources in the federal government.

“For the most part, there is a broadly recognized and proper deference to the news media,” he testified. “But you could have a situation in which media’s not the unbiased media we seen today, and they could be a mechanism through which unlawful intelligence is obtained. There are other dangers that could happen with regard to the federal government that normally doesn’t happen to the media covering murder cases in the states.”

Sessions has opposed a federal shield law in the past, which would prevent journalists from being forced to reveal their confidential sources during investigations by the federal government.

Past Attorneys General, including Loretta Lynch and Eric Holder both serving in the Obama administration, publicly pledged not to imprison journalists.  The Obama administration has subpoenaed reporters to testify in cases prosecuting government employees.  Members of the media refusing to comply were threatened with jail time.  Although no journalists were jailed during the current administration.

Hillary Clinton Calls on Congress to Tackle Fake News “Epidemic”

By

Photo courtesy of Pixabay / Geralt.

2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is calling on Congress to take action to fight the “epidemic” of fake news online.

Speaking on Capitol Hill, Clinton said that “The epidemic of malicious fake news and false propaganda that flooded social media over the past year — it’s now clear the so-called fake news can have real-world consequences.”

Individuals spreading fake news articles have continued to focus their ire toward Mrs. Clinton, including a high-profile “story” involving a pizzeria in Northwest Washington targeted as the center of a child-trafficking ring operated by Clinton and her top advisors.  A gunman from North Carolina recently was arrested for firing an assault rifle inside the pizzeria after driving six hours to see the situation for himself.

Speaking at a ceremony honoring retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Clinton said “lives are at risk — lives of ordinary people just trying to go about their days, to do their jobs, contribute to their communities.”

“It’s a danger that must be addressed and addressed quickly,” she said.

FBI Investigating Huffington Post Editor for Tweet

By

Photo courtesy of Pixabay / Edar.

Nick Baumann, a senior enterprise editor for the Huffington Post, has been contacted by the FBI for joking about destroying election ballots for Donald Trump.

On October 31, 2016, Baumann tweeted:

“I love my job working at a voting site in washington dc destroying trump ballots [sic]. ”

The following day, Baumann said the tweet was “a joking reference” to a fake news report circulated on right-wing blogs and social media, relying on a forged Wikileaks email stating that Democratic consultants and activsts were “pre-programming” voting machines in favor of Hillary Clinton.  The erroneous news item was picked up by Drudge and Limbaugh as well.

Baumann says an FBI agent contacted him regarding his tweet.  “We recently received some complaints regarding some online postings that were made. I don’t know if you know what that’s in reference to, but would you be willing to sit down with us for a couple minutes tomorrow morning, by chance?”

Although the meeting has yet to take place, Baumann writes that the “investigation is ongoing.”

Denzel Washington Blasts Media for “B.S.”

By

Washington at the premiere of The Equalizer in 2014. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

Washington at the premiere of The Equalizer in 2014. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

Hollywood star Denzel Washington, in DC Wednesday for the premier of his new film “Fences,” blasted the mainstream media for selling “B.S.”

“If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you do read it, you’re misinformed,” Washington told ITK at the movie premier, held at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Denzel Washington is no stranger to false news reports. During the presidential election, a fake news story was wildly circulated that he was changing his support from Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump. He blasted those picking up and circulating the story on “the need to be first,” instead of the motivation on reporting the truth.

“In our society, now it’s just first — who cares, get it out there. We don’t care who it hurts. We don’t care who we destroy. We don’t care if it’s true,” Washington said.

“Just say it, sell it. Anything you practice you’ll get good at — including B.S.”

Washington’s new film “Fences,” based on an award-winning play of the same name and featuring Viola Davis, centers on the life of a black family in 1950s Pittsburgh. Washington also starred in the film and directed it. The movie is set to be released on Christmas.

CNN’s Amanpour Strikes Back Against Media Bashing

By

BizBash's David Adler and CNN's Christiane Amanpour. Photo courtesy of Haddad Media.

BizBash’s David Adler and CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. Photo courtesy of Haddad Media.

CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour struck back at critics of the mainstream media, saying her “blood ran cold” seeing tweets from Donald Trump claiming protests following his election as president were “incited by the media.”

Several statements by Trump in recent weeks, such as calling reporters “despicable and dishonest,” “liars” and “crooks” lay the groundwork for a dangerous and unstable political narrative.

“They target the press and set the press up as an opposition to the government, and they do it by subtly ratcheting up the accusations against the press — so, inciting, sympathizing, associating, actually being terrorists and subversives,” she said speaking to CBC News’ The Investigators.

Amanpour continued that Trump’s language is strikingly similar to political leaders in non-democratic countries, where journalists are regularly criticized, harassed and even imprisoned for their reporting.

“And, as you know, journalists around the world are routinely locked up, put in jail, put on trial on phony charges. So that’s why that worried me very much, and I felt I had to push back on that and take a stand against that.”

Amanpour received an award Wednesday for “extraordinary and sustained achievement in the cause of press freedom” by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

 

LEARN MORE:  “We Tracked Down A Fake-News Creator In The Suburbs. Here’s What We Learned” by Laura Sydell at NPR

Meeting Between Trump, Press Execs Goes Off the Record

By

mir-studio-lead16.9

Throughout the transition, much attention has been paid to those coming and going from Trump Tower in New York City.  Among recent visitors includes executives and anchors from TV news, attending an “off the record” meeting with the president-elect.

Organized by Kellyanne Conway, the Trump campaign manager, attending networks include ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and Fox News.  Spotted via a C-SPAN camera, notables such as CNN’s president Jeff Zucker and anchor Wolf Blitzer were in attendance.  Also spotted was NBC News president Deborah Turness and MSNBC president Phil Griffin.

According to Brian Stelter, other meeting participants included NBC’s Chuck Todd and Lester Holt; CNN’s Erin Burnett; CBS’s Norah O’Donnell, Charlie Rose, John Dickerson, and Gayle King; and ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, David Muir and Martha Raddatz.

The New York Times released a statement prior to the meeting announcing that publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. “and others are meeting with the President Elect tomorrow at the request of his team.  There will be a small, off the record meeting first, followed by an on the record session with Times reporters and editorial columnists.”

A report on Politico also pointed out that even as he asked for a “cordial” relationship, Trump complained that NBC had used unflattering pictures of him.

But Trump also attempted to build the groundwork for a positive relationship between his incoming White House team and the media. One meeting participant said that a New York Post account – described as Trump giving the attending media a “dressing down” — was overstated.

However, Trump cancelled this morning’s “on-the-record” meeting himself over Twitter.

Eileen Murphy, the top spokeswoman for the New York Times, said the paper “was unaware that the meeting was cancelled until we saw the President-Elect’s tweet this morning.”

FORMER WH PRESS SECRETARY CALLS FOR NEW RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WHITE HOUSE, PRESS CORPS

By

Mike McCurry and Tammy Haddad. Photo courtesy of Haddad Media.

Mike McCurry and Tammy Haddad. Photo courtesy of Haddad Media.

During a Q&A session with National Journal, Mike McCurry, White House press secretary during Bill Clinton’s presidency, suggested a new relationship between the incoming Trump administration and reporters, especially dealing with protective press pools and televised daily briefings.

Recently, the Trump transition team has breached protocol by travelling multiple times unannounced without his assigned press pool and by failing to notify reporters of the President-elect’s schedule.

Speaking about the protective press pools, McCurry said they can often be a waste of time.

“I think having a bunch of talented journalists sitting around a country club sipping Arnold Palmers while the president plays golf is an utter waste of time and a drain on news organization budgets that are already strained,” McCurry said, referring to where the pool normally works from while President Barack Obama is golfing. “So, yes, I think adjusting the terms of engagement for the protective pool makes sense.”

Instead of focusing on press pools that could result in reporters’ time spent on non-newsworthy information, McCurry called on the media to fight for more reliable access to senior transition and administration officials.

“The White House press corps should fight for things that really matter like access to senior officials, more openness when it comes to sharing of documents and regular ‘real’ briefings from senior decision-makers and staff,” McCurry said.

He also criticized the current state of daily briefings, stating they have devolved into stagesmanship instead of producing newsworthy information.

“The daily briefing has become less than helpful and I bear responsibility for that because I let it become a televised event. It should not be,” McCurry said. “It should be embargoed until completion and not carried ‘live’ except in unusual circumstances…like real news happening.”