White House Correspondents Insider

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

Media Insider Round-Up: Jobs, Jobs and JOBS

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It’s been an interesting day so far as jobs continue to be a issue while Rep. Lamar Alexander claims video games are worse than guns despite not ever being proven so! What else is going on that’s worth a read?

  • Bloomberg News confirms that Time is cutting 500 jobs.
  • YouTube is going to bring out premium pay channels ranging from $1-$5:
    “It’s not clear which channels will be part of the first paid-subscription rollout, but it is believed that YouTube will lean on the media companies that have already shown the ability to develop large followings on the video platform, including networks like Machinima, Maker Studios and Fullscreen. YouTube is also looking outside its current roster of partners for candidates.”

  • Washington Post unveils Truth Teller:
    “For the prototype, we focused on the looming debate over tax reform, both because of timing and its import for the country. The tax debate will play out over several months and naturally lends itself to deceit and deception — even moreso than many policy discussions. We hope that our application will help direct the conversation toward the truth as it is happening so that Americans get a fair shot at deciding this critical issue.”

  • Buzzfeed: Al Jazeera America received more than 8,000 job applications for 160 jobs. Don’t be upset if you don’t hear from them until 2014.
  • Ashton Kutcher, star of the new Steve Jobs biopic “jOBS,” got slammed at Sundance. But guess what make-up can do for claiming he looks nothing like the Apple co-founder?
  • Research in Motion is dead! Long live the Blackberry! RWW explains:
    “Heins said that Research In Motion is BlackBerry. All employees are working on BlackBerry and the brand is indentifiable only with BlackBerry. Hence, RIM, a company that has been in existence since the early 1980s, is no more.”

    Need more of an explanation? Buzzfeed points us toward the announcement video for Blackberry’s newest operating, the Blackberry 10:

    It’s cool now for companies to leap off things to promote their product. There was once a time in the District when you couldn’t walk ten feet on Capitol Hill without someone bumping into you due to their “crackberry” problem. IT guys would swear up and down that the iPhone or Apple couldn’t break into the Senate.

    • Insider Round-Up for the Day After The Inauguration

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    The Inaugural is over and now Capitol Hill can (supposedly) get back to business. Here’s what you need to read so you too can say, “What about the Al Roker snub?”

  • Al Roker got snubbed by ‘interviewed’ President Obama and Vice President Biden while walking to the parade box.
  • Photobombs were dropped left and right during the ceremonial swearing-in. From Bill Clinton to Joe Biden and even “Grumpy” Gohmert made an appearence.
  • At our event with Huffington Post and Third Way, we had Old Ebbitt Grill staples like mini-lobster rolls, chicken empanadas, tuna tartare, oysters, chorizo and manchengo…oh, the list goes on. Even the Inaugural Luncheon sounded good. While our event was fantastic according to Variety, the Inaugural Ball itself got the short end of the culinary stick with Presidential Cheez It.
  • The stars came out to the district according to Politico:

    “Guests who had less trouble getting to the event, held at the Harman Center for the Arts, included the Goo Goo Dolls, Richard Kind, Tim Daly, Melissa Leo (wearing a maroon velvet pantsuit), Evan Handler and Wayne Knight. Knight of ‘Seinfeld’ fame applauded President Barack Obama for speaking ‘from his heart’ during his inaugural address. Handler, known for his role on ‘Sex and the City,’ agreed. ‘He did a great job with his speech,’ the actor said.”

  • People were definitely not shouting “Boo-urns” at Rep. Paul Ryan according to the Huffington Post. (It was “Boo!”)
  • Beyoncé lip-synched at the Inaugural. Let the Internet go crazy!

    • Insider Round-Up: The Gun Control Annonucement

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    The Inaugural isn’t the only thing happening on Capitol Hill today, along with President Obama’s 11:55 a.m. gun control program. Below is our round-up for what’s worth reading.

  • The New York Times lays out President Obama’s talking points, fact sheet and executive orders including “improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system.”
  • CNN explains what “universal background checks” are hinting at:
    “The “universal background checks” now being pushed by some gun control supporters is code for closing federal loopholes on such checks at gun shows and other private sales.”

  • The Wall Street Journal asks what qualifies as an assault rifle:
    “The definition of assault weapon is in the eye of the beholder. How it’s defined will depend on whatever legislation is proposed in Congress. Many of the firearms identified as assault weapons are semi-automatic rifles that look like weapons used by the military. An example is the Bushmaster rifle used in the Newtown, Conn., shootings.”

  • Politico already thinks the gun plan is “doomed:”
    “Interviews with multiple House Republicans from the Midwest and Northeast reveal almost zero appetite to vote on any sort of sweeping gun bill. In the month after the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., none have brought up the issue with Speaker John Boehner. Without internal pressure from such center-right Republicans, and given his difficulties with restive conservatives in his conference, Boehner would seem to have little political incentive to move on guns.”

  • Polygon examines the importance of the president’s call for the Center of Disease Control and exploring the effects of violence from video games:
    “For years, the CDC and other federally funded scientific agencies have been barred by Congress from using funds to “advocate or promote gun control.” Some have argued that that ban prevented the organizations from conducting research into the causes of gun violence. Today’s Presidential Memorandum on the topic looks to discount that argument.”

  • Meanwhile, the NRA ad targeting the president’s kids is called “repugnant and cowardly” while the NRA defends itself to WaPo:
    “‘The main aim of the ad is to make sure that we all act to keep our children safe. It’s not aimed at anyone’s child in particular,’ he said. ‘Anyone who claims otherwise is intentionally trying to change the topic or missing the point completely.'”

  • And yes, as The Daily Beast points out, there is an NRA game for iOS:
    “The NRA did not respond to requests for comment on the app from The Daily Beast or, apparently, any other news organization. If the app were an ugly hoax, the NRA would have been justified in crowing that it had been set up, and the media bought it hook, line, and sinker. Instead, crickets—a tacit admission of at least some guilt. My guess is that the app had been commissioned and forgotten about. But silence ain’t going to make the thing go away. At least someone decided they’d better change the age appropriateness of the app to ages 12 and up—because that will make it all better.”

    • Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis Resigns Before Inauguration

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    Susan Axelrod, Secretary Solis, Wendi and Rupert Murdoch,

    Hilda Solis, the 25th secretary of labor, resigned this afternoon according to Buzzfeed.

    The resignation is abrupt as almost no one saw it coming. In their examination of Obama’s second-term cabinet, Politico mused “There’s not much discussion about Hilda Solis — who did not play a significant campaign role despite being a Latino woman with deep connections to unions. Labor isn’t seen as a department that’s likely to face a change soon[.]”

    She previously served in the House of Representatives from 2001 until her appointment as Secretary in 2009.

    Update: the official statement from President Obama:
    [Read more…]

    CNN Gets Tapper, ABC Has Their Own Shuffle and No Go on ''Plan B"

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    In case you thought it was the end of the world–well, it’s just another Friday for the District.

    In pre-Christmas media shuffle CNN announced that Jake Tapper is their new chief Washington correspondent and anchor. Mike Ryan’s Playbook backstory sheds light on what CNN seems to have in mind for the former ABC correspondent: “Tapper’s new show will initially air during one of the hours that CNN programming is in D.C., between 4 and 7 p.m., after which it will likely find a later time slot. The pitch to Tapper by incoming CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker was key to the hire. Before his White House gig, Tapper was a utility player at ABC News, doing stories on Iraq, the culture wars, and plenty of general assignment stories ranging from the Virginia Tech attacks to interviewing Larry David. A show that focused on a broader palette of story subjects, from politics to international affairs to sports to popular culture, has always been his main goal.”

    Which means over at ABC, Jonathan Karl has become their new Chief White House Correspondent and Martha Raddatz is bumped to Chief Global Affairs Correspondent, which the release notes will find her as “primary substitute for George Stephanopoulos on This Week and will contribute regularly to the roundtable” along with Karl.

    Going to the pundit side, Politico has Purple Stategies’ Rob Collins being vetted for the National Republican Senatorial Commitee.

    Would you call the failure to pass Speaker John Boehner’s “Plan B” proposal “embarrassing”? You’re not alone as nearly everyone lead with that description after last night’s rejection of his fiscal cliff spending plan. Here’s a sampling:

    Bloomberg: “The flawed approach left Boehner embarrassed and Republicans without a clear alternative to Obama’s proposal to raise $1.2 trillion in taxes on high earners and cut $1.2 trillion in spending.”

    Washington Post’s Right Turn: “House Republicans embarrassed their speaker Thursday night by shutting down his Plan B to protect all but millionaires from a tax hike, come Jan. 1. How close was the GOP to having enough support for Speaker John Boehner’s plan? A senior leadership aide replied glumly, ‘Not close enough.'”

    On Morning Joe, David Axelrod said: “But the fact that they couldn’t even pass that was an embarrassment. This is the longest day of the year and certainly true for John Boehner, I’m sure he’s scratching his head right now.”

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    Insider Round-Ups: How To Fix Fox, Stephanopoulos Stays At This Week and D.C. Loves Zero Dark Thirty

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    It’s hard to figure out what’s worth your time with all the first reads, politico blasts and tweets that race by before your third coffee of the morning. So let us provide some curation to your otherwise blur of a morning before your second conference call.

  • Ana Marie Cox thinks less work for Rove at Fox is more of a “promotion” than a network reorganization.
  • TV Newser has George Stephanopoulos at ABC’s This Week through 2013.
  • The D.C. Metro area film critics love Kathryn Bigelow‘s Zero Dark Thirty (and The Master!)
  • Buzzfeed speaks to a Cory Booker backer betting big–to hell with alliteration–for a 2016 run.
  • Politico reports:South Carolina demands the good Dr. Stephen T. Colbert.
  • NPR lays out the differences in President Obama‘s second inauguration.

    • That should get you through at least your first lunch-that-gets-turned-into-a-coffee-break.