White House Correspondents Insider

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

Samantha Bee to Host Trump Roast Same Night as White House Correspondents Dinner

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The Willard Hotel. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

Samantha Bee, host of TBS “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee,” is planning an roast of President Donald Trump in Washington April 29th titled “Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.”

Scheduled to be held at the Willard Hotel, Ms. Bee and her colleagues stated her event is not designed to compete with the White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner, to be held the same evening.

“We’re not trying to supersede it.  We just want to be there in case something happens – or doesn’t happen – and ensure that we get to properly roast the president,” Bee said in a telephone interview with the New York Times.

The television host and comedienne said she and her producers got the idea for their event after November’s election.  “We were talking out loud about whether we thought the White House Correspondents’ dinner would change during a Trump presidency, or if it would even exist.  And then we thought: Why don’t we just do one, just to do it in the way that we would want it done if we were hosting it?”

Although the White House Correspondents Association has not yet announced the entertainment for April’s dinner, Bee said she did not expect to be asked.  “My assumption is that that invitation is not coming, and I don’t blame them for that at all,” she said.

Bee’s roast will likely be broadcast on TBS, although she said the details were still under negotiation.  Attending guests also were still being worked out.  “We have binders full of people, but we don’t have any specifics to offer yet,” Ms. Bee said.

Proceeds from “Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner” will be donated to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

UPDATE: To see past WHCI coverage of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and related events, please click here.

Bloomberg’s Top Trump Reporter Adds TV Reporter to His Portfolio

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Howard Fineman and Kevin Cirilli. Photo courtesy Haddad Media.

Kevin Cirilli is one of the “original reporters” who followed the Donald Trump campaign since Day 1. While most of these reporters joined the White House beat Cirili was named Bloomberg’s Washington Top TV reporter.

A veteran of Politico and The Hill, Cirilii has extensive experience coveraging Congress and the financial committees.

More information can be found here at FishbowlDC.

Sessions Non-Committal On Prosecuting Journalists

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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.

New Venture Axios Aims to Fix News Industry

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Jim VandeHei, Jenny Licht and Mike Allen. Photo courtesy of Haddad Media.

The motto for Jim VandeHei, Politico co-founder and CEO of the new news venture Axios, is that “media is broken.” One way he hopes to fix it starts with how the industry obsesses on advertising revenue and site clicks, with journalistic quality an afterthought. He will have at his side, Washington’s top political journalist, Mike Allen.

The political and business news outlet began with a pre-launch platform Monday including an introductory slate of newsletter offerings and will launch in full Jan. 18.  The company begins with the premise that banner ads and long-form native advertising don’t work.

In its place, Axios will only offer advertisers a type of short-form branded content. It will fit all on one screen and will lie more naturally within its editorial concept of providing readers bite-size bits of hard news and information.

“People want more digestible news. They want it shorter and more shareable, so it makes no sense to not have ads structured the same way,” says VandeHei. “To keep doing the same thing as has been done in media nowadays means death.”

Axios launches with 10 advertising partners, including J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Boeing Co., BP PLC and PepsiCo.

Martha MacCallum Hosts New Show on Fox News

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Martha MacCallum on the floor of the DNC in Philadelphia. Photo courtesy of Twitter.

Martha MacCallum will take over for Tucker Carlson at 7pm on Fox News, kicking off the primetime lineup with a new news program, “The First 100 Days.” The show will chronicle the beginning of the new administration and run through President-elect Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office.

MacCallum will also co-anchor the network’s Inauguration Day coverage on Friday, January 20th alongside Chief Political Anchor Bret Baier.

“Martha is a versatile and skilled anchor who has proven to be an essential component of our news programming,” Executive Chairman of 21st Century Fox Rupert Murdoch said. “For the last 12 years, our viewers have trusted her reporting and we are pleased she will be part of our primetime line-up for the first 100 days of the new presidency.”

Fox News Channel has been the most watched television news channel for nearly 15 years, and according to a Suffolk University/USA Today poll, is the most trusted television news source in the country.

Carlson to Take Over Key Time Slot at Fox News

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Photo courtesy Haddad Media.

Tucker Carlson has only been on the job for two months, hosting a nightly news show at Fox News since November.  Even so, he will be moving to the 9 PM time slot being vacated by Megyn Kelly.

Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of Fox News parent company 21st Century Fox, said in a statement:

“In less than two months, Tucker has taken cable news by storm with his spirited interviews and consistently strong performance.  Viewers have overwhelmingly responded to the show and we look forward to him being a part of Fox News’ powerful primetime line-up.”

Carlson joined Fox News in 2009 as contributor after stints hosting shows at both CNN and MSNBC.  In 2013, he became one of the co-hosts of the weekend “Fox & Friends” show.  When Greta van Susteren vacated her 7 PM show in November, he moved into her time slot.

Carlson has succeeded as a host in generating strong ratings and creating viral stories and moments, highly sought after metrics on cable news.  His current show has averaged 2.8 million viewers and trailed only Bill O’Reilley in the 25-54 viewer demographic.

Kelly Leaving Fox News for NBC

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2016 Vanity Fair / Bloomberg White House Correspondents’ Dinner After Party. Photo courtesy of Haddad Media.

Fox News superstar Megyn Kelly has decided to leave the network, taking a new role at NBC News, according to individuals briefed on the negotiations.

At NBC, Kelly will host her own daytime news discussion program, take part in the network’s special political programming and event coverage, and anchor a Sunday night news show.

Kelly’s contract at Fox lasts through this summer, and it isn’t yet clear if Fox News will release her from any contractual obligations allowing a move to a competing network.

Sources declined to reveal Kelly’s new salary at NBC. As per the Wall Street Journal, her final year at Fox News would lead her to collect $15 million.

Former WH Press Secretaries Warn About Trump’s Press Relationship

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James Brady Press Briefing Room. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

In a recent interview with Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” several former White House press secretaries issued warnings and concerns about the incoming Trump White House and its relationship with the media.

“We’ve just elected a man who bullies female reporters at his rally as an applause line,” said Nicole Wallace, communications director under former President George W. Bush. “We have just elected a man who started a hot war with a female anchor instead of attending a debate she moderated. We are in a new place. And I don’t think it’s good. And I don’t think it has any parallels to the past.”

Bill Clinton’s press secretary, Joe Lockhart, warned over Trump’s tendency to ignore or simply make up facts. “It’s somewhat Orwellian, which, you know, you redefine the past, which means you can define the present and the future,” Lockhart said. “And that’s going to be very difficult for both sides to come to grips with.”

Ari Fleischer, who served as press secretary under Bush, addressed the mutual animosity between the press and Trump. Especially with public confidence in the press at historic lows, “the press has made itself vulnerable, because it lost the trust of their readers and their viewers — and Trump has widely taken advantage of it,” Fleischer concluded.

Record Breaking Number of Journalists Jailed in 2016

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Photo courtesy of Pixabay.

Latest news from the Committee to Protect Journalists reveals that a record-breaking number of journalists were incarcerated worldwide in 2016.

Largely due to a media crackdown in Turkey following the failed coup earlier this Summer, 259 members of the media were in jails as of December 1. This is the highest number reported by CPJ since they began keeping records in 1990.

At least 81 reporters and journalists are currently imprisoned in Turkey for reasons related to their work, the highest number of arrests by any single country at any given point in time, according to CPJ. There are also dozens more imprisoned in Turkey, although a direct link to their work could not be established.

“Every day that Turkey’s journalists languish in jail in violation of that country’s own laws, Turkey’s standing in the world is diminished,” said CPJ executive director Joel Simon.

China, Egypt, Eritrea and Ethiopia round out the top five worst jailers of journalists around the globe. North American journalists are in prison in Panama and Cuba.

Is Megyn Kelly Staying at Fox News?

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2016 Vanity Fair / Bloomberg White House Correspondents’ Dinner After Party. Photo courtesy of Haddad Media.

Rumors are swirling over Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly and her future.

Kelly’s contract with Fox expires in the summer of 2017, although the network has already offered her an extension at $20 million per year.

Even so, per Sarah Ellison at Vanity Fair, “Within the last month, according to a person familiar with the discussions, ABC has renewed, and perhaps sweetened, its effort to woo Kelly.”

Kelly spokesperson Leslee Dart replied saying no solid offers have been made by ABC.

“When I asked about the possibility of an offer, a Disney-ABC Television spokesman told me, ‘As much as we appreciate and admire Megyn Kelly’s talents, this is simply not true. There has never been an offer of any job, and therefore there is nothing that could be sweetened. End of story.’”

CNN chief Jeff Zucker also is attempting to bring Kelly to his news network, according to a recent headline on the Drudge Report.  Kelly herself responded to this story on twitter that people shouldn’t believe rumors about her until they hear it from her directly.