White House Correspondents Insider

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

Fox News Could Not Find Any Republican to Defend Trump On-Air Regarding Charlottesville Statement

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Fox News building on 6th Avenue in NYC. Photo courtesy Jim Henderson via Wikimedia Commons.

On Wednesday, Fox News host Shephard Smith announced on-air that his network failed to find a Republican willing to defend President Donald Trump and his comments on the violence in Charlottesville last weekend.

“Our booking team — and they’re good — reached out to Republicans of all stripes across the country today,” Smith said during his broadcast. “Let’s be honest, Republicans often don’t really mind coming on Fox News Channel. We couldn’t get anyone to come and defend him here. Because we thought, in balance, someone should do that. We worked very hard at it throughout the day, and we were unsuccessful,” he continued.

Following violence at a white supremacist rally on Saturday in Charlottesville that resulted in the death of 32-year old Heather Heyer and injured nearly 20 other counter-protesters, President Donald Trump said “both sides” were to blame, while also claiming there were some “very fine people” in attendance of the white nationalist rally.

“And,” Smith continued, “of those that are condemning the president’s condemnable actions, I’ve not heard any prominent leaders, former presidents, members of the House or the Senate use his name while speaking in generalities,” Smith said.

UPDATE:  Other networks have announced similar problems.

Chuck Todd, NBC:  “We invited every single Republican senator on this program tonight, all 52.”  Plus a dozen House Republicans.  “None of them agreed to discuss this issue with us today.”

Wolf Blitzer, CNN: “We did reach out to Republican leaders throughout the day.  They all, at least for now, refused to join us.”

Trump Campaign Accuses CNN of Censorship

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Photo courtesy Josh Hallett.

President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign has accused CNN of censorship, saying the network has blocked its most recent ad, “The President’s Enemies.”  The network has stated it has not rejected the ad.

The ad itself blasts Democrats and the media, implying they are “the president’s enemies.”  Several clips of journalists are displayed during the ad, including many who work at CNN including Don Lemon, Anderson Cooper, Dana Bash, Brian Stetler and John King.  Other journalists featured in the ad include American Urban Radio’s April Ryan and MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, Rachel Maddow and Chuck Todd.

“Today, CNN provided further proof that the network earns this mistrust every day by censoring President Trump’s message to the American people by blocking our paid campaign ad,” campaign executive director Michael Glassner said in a statement. “Clearly, the only viewpoint CNN allows on the air is CNN’s.”

The network said it did not reject the ad, but requested changes to make it factually correct.  CNN also pointed out it makes this request routinely with all ads they run.  According to the network, the request for changes was sent to the campaign, which asked for the request in writing.  It then issued a press release blasting the network before CNN could send over the changes.

According to CNN, they “would accept the ad if the images of reporters and anchors are removed. Anchors and reporters don’t have ‘enemies,’ as the ad states, but they do hold those in power accountable across the political spectrum and aggressively challenge false and misleading statements and investigate wrong-doing.”

The network has aired at least five pro-Trump advocacy ads since February.  It had rejected one ad in May on the grounds that it contained a graphic calling mainstream media “fake news.”

Trump Tweets, Deletes Cartoon of Train Driving Into CNN Reporter

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Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

President Donald Trump retweeted a cartoon image Tuesday morning showing a train running into a person appearing to represent the cable news network CNN. He soon after deleted his post.

The meme carried the headline: “Fake news can’t stop the Trump train” and pictured a train with Trump’s name on both the front and side hitting a person with a CNN logo covering his face.

Over the weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia, a man attending the “Unite the Right” rally supporting neo-Nazis and white supremacists drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters demonstrating peacefully. One woman named Heather Heyer was killed and nearly 20 others injured.

Huckabee Sanders: Televised White House Briefings to Remain ‘For Now’

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Photo courtesy Pixabay.

Last week, new White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders gave tepid support to returning to the tradition that White House press briefings would likely remain on-camera, potentially defusing an issue of contention with the press corps.

“Yeah, I think for now,” she said in an interview with The New York Times. “We’ll see what happens.”

Sanders was promoted to press secretary after her predecessor, Sean Spicer, resigned following the announcement that Anthony Scaramucci would be appointed White House communications director. Less than two weeks later, Scaramucci was fired by incoming chief of staff John Kelly.

She also recently took over the White House press secretary’s Twitter handle from Spicer, which has been handed down to staffers in that role since the Obama administration.

Chuck Todd Announces He Will Ignore Any Subpoena from Department of Justice’s Leak Investiation

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NBC International Information Bureau. Photo courtesy Jeff Maurone via Flickr.

NBC’s “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd said he would ignore any subpoena issued from the Department of Justice to him in the agency’s recently-announced investigation of White House leaks.

On Friday, Todd stated on Twitter that:

“If DoJ media source threat is real (I assume it’s not; just a show presser to please WH) then I look forward to ignoring that subpoena”


Attorney General Jeff Sessions said earlier on Friday that the Department of Justice was reviewing policies regarding media subpoenas.  “We respect the role that the press plays and will give them respect, but it is not unlimited.  They cannot place lives at risk with impunity.”

Todd followed up his tweet with another: “The worst way to stop leaks: threats”

Israel Makes Moves to Ban Al Jazeera

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Al Jazeera English Newsdesk. Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Over the weekend, the nation of Israel joined other Middle Eastern nations in moving to ban the news network Al Jazeera from operations within the country and also the occupied Palestinian territories.

Israeli communications minister Ayoob Kara announced Saturday that press cards for the network’s reporters would be revoked, and the network’s Jerusalem bureau closed with cable and satellite transmissions shut down.

These actions follow four Arabic nations in the region — Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain — demanding Al Jazeera close, following diplomatic strains with the nation of Qatar, which is accused of promoting terrorism in the region.  Al Jazeera Media Network receives significant funding from the ruling royal family in Qatar.

“Lately, almost all countries in our region determined that al-Jazeera supports terrorism, supports religious radicalization,” said Kara. “And when we see that all these countries have determined as fact that Al Jazeera is a tool of the Islamic State, Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, and we are the only one who have not determined that, then something delusional is happening here.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote in a Facebook post that tensions with the network centered over a holy site in Jerusalem.

“The Al-Jazeera channel continues to incite violence around the Temple Mount,” he wrote.  “I have appealed to law enforcement agencies several times to close the Al Jazeera office in Jerusalem… If this is not possible because of legal interpretation, I am going to seek to have the necessary legislation adopted to expel Al Jazeera from Israel.”

The networked denounced the announcement, saying Israel could not substantiate their allegations by referring to “a single news bulletin or situation” to defend their actions.  They called the actions “undemocratic.”

Al Jazeera said it would take all necessary legal measures, and would continue to cover “news and events in the occupied Palestinian territories in a professional and objective manner in accordance with the common journalistic standards set by the relevant international organizations, such as the British Broadcasting Code of Ofcom.”

Attorney General Announces Review of Policy Regarding Subpoenaing Reporters in Leak Crackdown Efforts

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

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a government-wise, comprehensive effort to crackdown on government “leakers,” including a review of the Justice Department’s policies toward media outlets that publish information that is considered sensitive.

Joined by Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, the attorney general said agencies will direct additional resources into investigations of leaks, and would focus on prosecuting individuals that relay sensitive information to the media or foreign agents.

“We respect the important role the press plays and we’ll give them respect, but it’s not unlimited,” Sessions said. “They cannot place lives at risk with impunity. We must balance the press’ role with protecting our national security and the lives of those who serve in the intelligence community, the Armed Forces and all law-abiding Americans.”

Sessions declined to elaborate on specific investigations, but noted that four individuals have already been charged with the unlawful release of government information.

UPDATED: Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci Cancels Live Stream Event

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Photo courtesy Pixabay.

UPDATE:  Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci has cancelled his plan for a live stream event on Friday, citing family and work.

Original Story:

After being fired by newly-installed White House chief of staff John Kelly, former communications director Anthony Scaramucci told CNN he will hold an online forum on Friday.

Scaramucci served as White House communications director for only ten days, before being removed by Kelly on Monday.

The event will be available on several public outlets throughout the day, with the help of former Fox News executive Bill Shine.

The former White House staffer told CNN he believes his tenure was a success.  Both former press secretary Sean Spicer and chief of staff Reince Priebus resigned during his time on staff.

After Friday’s event, “the Mooch” expects to step back from the public spotlight until after Labor Day, as he evaluates his next venture.

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.

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.