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

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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.

 

RT America Ignores Justice Deadline to Register as Foreign Agent

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Photo courtesy the Kremlin.

RT America, the DC-based television network’s bureau partially funded by the Kremlin, has ignored an October 17 deadline set by the Department of Justice to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

“Our legal team has been doing everything possible for RT to avoid having to register under FARA and the dialog is ongoing,” RT communications director Anna Belkina said in a statement.  “On their advice we are not discussing further details at this time.”

The Justice Department demanded action by RT America in September, along with establishing the October deadline.  Experts say deadlines accompanying FARA registrations are rare, but can happen in instances Justice suspects they will not get voluntary compliance.

There is currently no clear plan to address next steps in the situation; one likely possibility could be that the DoJ again requests RT to register under FARA.  RT could also file an injunction to stop the government from forcing it to file.

Federal investigations are probing the role played by RT America in Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election.  An intelligence report issued in January said RT “conducts strategic messaging for [the] Russian government” and “seeks to influence politics, [and] fuel discontent in the U.S.”

FARA was created in 1939 to prevent German propaganda from swaying the American public prior to the onset of World War II.  Companies or individuals working on behalf of foreign governments are required under the legislation to disclose their funding the the relationship with the Department of Justice, but registration does not prohibit any news agency from operations.

Other media outlets funded by foreign governments are registered under FARA and continue working in the United States, such as Japanese broadcaster NHK and Chinese newspaper The China Daily.

Judge Dismisses Russian Billionaire’s Libel Lawsuit Against AP

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Photo courtesy Michael Wuertenberg via Wikipedia.

A libel suit against the Associated Press by Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, who has close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, was dismissed by a federal judge Tuesday.

In a 21-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle said Deripaska’s lawsuit over a March story about his business relationship with former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort had “cherry-picked” statements from the story that he wrongly claimed were defamatory.

“Deripaska has cherry-picked sentences and strung them together to give the AP’s article an effect it does not have when read in full,” the judge wrote. “But whole context is how courts determine whether there is defamation.”

Huvelle wrote that the lawsuit failed to show the AP story was written with disregard for the truth or published maliciously, a legal standard Deripaska would have to meet for the case to move forward.  Instead, the suit complained that the story ignored background information Deripaska considered critical.

“As the AP points out,” Huvelle wrote in her decision, “this simply is not enough to make out a plausible case of actual malice.”

The story in question reported on how Manafort had proposed a business strategy to Deripaska a decade ago, supporting pro-Russian political parties and influencing politics and news coverage in the United States and Europe.

The lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice, meaning Deripaska cannot file it in court again.

 

White House Reporters: “Thank God We Have His Tweets”

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Photo courtesy Pixabay.

Four notable journalists talked about the positives and negatives of covering the current White House during a wide-ranging panel discussion at SVA Theater during the annual New Yorker Festival.

Titled “All the President’s Reporters,” New York Times’ Jo Becker, CNN’s Carl Bernstein, The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer and Washington Post’s Greg Miller talked about the unique aspects covering Donald Trump’s presidency.

His habit of engaging in tweet-storms several times a week was noted as an important pathway to understand the president’s thoughts on issues of the day.

“Thank God we have his tweets,” said Carl Bernstein.  “It’s like a road map to the mind of Donald Trump.”

Greg Miller agreed, calling the president’s tweets “footage” recording the turbulent first period of the administration.

Jo Becker brought up the divisions across different media organizations, with the landscape starkly different from outlet to outlet that things can play out as dramatically and surprisingly as the 2016 campaign coverage showed.  She pointed out much of today’s discourse happens within media outlets, in stark difference to Bernstein’s coverage of Watergate, where CBS News’ Walter Cronkite would laud the reporting of the Washington Post in its coverage, putting the issue on the national agenda.

“It would be [MSNBC’s] Rachel Maddow preaching to the converted, and then Fox News would go after you and Bob [Woodward],” Becker made the point to Bernstein.

Jane Mayer emphasized her belief that regardless of stonewalling and “fake news,” the truth always comes out eventually.

“The truth comes out.  It sometimes takes a while, but it comes out.  There’s a strong public-service streak that people in public office have when they see power being abused.”

Following the panel discussion, questions turned to the division between media outlets and the hyper-partisan viewpoint of readers.  “I have my friends from school and I have my friends from Washington,” Miller said while describing growing up in a remote California town of 500 residents.  “My school friends all think I’m fake news.  They didn’t think I was fake in 5th grade but now I do.”

Bernstein wrapped up the panel noting that individuals no longer tune into national news broadcasts nightly, but rely on outlets portraying a specific political viewpoint with which they agree.  “We’re losing a large part of the country [which ignores mainstream media].  And I don’t think they’re coming back.”

Indiana State Lawmaker Proposes Legislation Requiring Journalists to Register With Police

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Indiana State Capitol. Photo courtesy Pixabay.

A state lawmaker in Indiana has proposed legislation requiring state police to license professional journalists.

Rep. Jim Lucas, a Republican from the city of  Seymour in the southern region of the state, has been critical of press coverage of his efforts to repeal laws requiring a permit to carry a handgun.  He claims the media has frequently mischaracterized his proposal in news stories, editorials and columns.

“If I was as irresponsible with my handgun as the media has been with their keyboard, I’d probably be in jail,” Lucas stated.  “Why wouldn’t I push for it? If one constitutional right is OK to license, then they all are.”

The bill to license journalists, which Lucas claims is designed to grab attention instead of seriously be considered, is nearly identical to Indiana’s law requiring a license to carry a handgun.  The proposal would require professional journalists to register with state police.  They would be fingerprinted and pay a $75 fee for a lifetime license.  Applicants with a prior felony conviction could have their application rejected.

Andrew Seaman, chairman of ethics for the Society of Professional Journalists, notes that the First Amendment is not without restrictions.

“The truth is that there are already a number of restrictions on the First Amendment.  We have libel laws, copyright laws and countelss others that rein in the speech and press rights under the First Amendment.”

Lucas’ bill to license media in Indiana is one of many efforts to seek publicity on social issues.  In December, he posted on Facebook an image of a woman in a car trunk with the title: “Wanna know who loves you more your wife or your dog? Lock them both in your trunk and see who’s happy to see you when let them out (sic).”

And in June, Lucas posted a letter he wrote to a reporter at the IndyStar advocating arming women, suggesting they learn “how not to be a victim.”

The post was condemned by advocates of domestic violence, prompting Lucas to issue an apology.

AXIOS’S MIKE ALLEN Wins the Facebook Booking War: Lands Sheryl Sandberg

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Mike Allen, Tammy Haddad and Daniel Lippman. Photo courtesy Haddad Media.

Mike Allen scored one of the most significant interviews of the cycle, announcing this morning Axios will host a series of exclusive interviews with notable influencers at Facebook.  Starting the series this Thursday, Allen will talk with COO Sheryl Sandberg.  You can watch the interview on Axios’ Facebook page or Axios.com.

Throughout the series, Axios editors and reporters will delve into important aspects and dimensions with the social media giant — including technology, politics, economics and privacy.  Axios notes it will strive to focus on the collision of these topics, and will control both the questions asked and the coverage itself.

Interviews will be on-the-record, and available on Axios’s Facebook page as a Facebook Live video, as well as on Axios’ website itself.  Facebook will also make the interviews reachable through their Hard Questions blog, which explores areas facing their global community.

U.S. Adults Spend Half Their Day Consuming Media

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Photo courtesy Pixabay.

A study released by eMarketer reveals that people in the U.S. currently spend more than half their day consuming media – 12 hours, one minute spent with major media every day.

In the study, “US Time Spent with Media,” eMarketer measured every minute of daily media consumption across platforms.  Simultaneous usage of two or more media devices – such as watching television while utilizing a smartphone – counted individually toward the total.  Thus, total media consumption time continued to grow, even as the number of minutes in a day remained the same.

“Multitasking via mobile is primarily responsible for the overall increase in time spent with media. Consumers are spending more of their time on mobile devices conducting attention-heavy activities like video viewing and mobile gaming, but also with less visual activities like audio listening that enable continuous media intake,” stated eMarketer in a release accompanying the study.

Television remains the most-used means of consuming media for U.S. adults, with 3 hours, 58 minutes of use each day.  And with the rise of mobile, even with multitasking, that figure is down seven minutes from 2016, and below their forecast for this year at 4 hours, 19 minutes.

New Poll: Public Confidence in News Media Rises, Trust in Trump Falls

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Photo courtesy Pixabay.

According to data released by Reuters / Ipos, the public is placing more trust in the news media, while also increasingly distrusting the administration of President Donald Trump.

The poll found that 48 percent of adults say they have either a “great deal” or “some confidence” in the press, an 11-point increase since November 2016.  Additionally, 45 percent say they have “hardly any” confidence in the press, measurably down six percent from a similar study in January.

“What you’re seeing now is a gradual recognition of the importance of the press,” said Martha Kumar, a political scientist at Towson University and director of the White House Transition Project.

Simultaneously, public confidence in President Trump has been declining across partisan lines since taking over the White House this year.  Forty-eight percent of adults say they have a “great deal” or “some” confidence in the Trump administration, down from 52 percent in January.  Republicans’ trust in the president has decreased six percent since January, and three percent among Democrats.

The Reuters / Ipsos opinion poll surveyed 14,328 adults from August 24 through September 5th.  This survey is the third so far this year on confidence in major public institutions.

Pew: News Media Focuses on Trump’s Character More than Policy

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Photo courtesy Wikipedia.

A new study released by Pew Research Center showed that nearly three-fourths of all stories on President Donald Trump during his first 100 days in office focused on his character and leadership skills instead of policy issues.

“Coverage was much more likely to be framed around Trump and the administration’s leadership and character than around policy,” Pew wrote.

Compared to past presidencies, policy-centered news accounted for 31 percent of all stories regarding Trump, with higher numbers during the starts of prior administrations Obama (50 percent), George W. Bush (65 percent) and Clinton (58 percent).  Stories were deemed “positive” if it had at least twice as many positive as negative statements, with the reverse true for negative stories.

“[T]he evaluations of Trump were far more negative and less positive than those of his predecessors,” the study notes.

The study pointed out five topics dominating coverage of the administration.  These topics ranged from the president’s political skills (17 percent of stories) to immigration (14 percent), presidential nominations and appointments (13 percent), Russia (13 percent) and health care (9 percent).

Articles and stories from right-leaning news outlets tended to be more sympathetic to the President, while left-leaning platforms leaned more negatively in their reporting perspective.  Left-leaning or neutral outlets also were more likely than right-leaning to “fact-check” or refute the President and administration, adding to their negative ratings in the study.

“Stories with a greater mix of voices were more likely to have an overall negative sense of the president’s actions or statements,” concluded Pew’s director of journalism research Amy Mitchell.

Additionally, Pew found that right-leaning news outlets “cite fewer source types – including fewer experts, issue groups and the administration.”  These news organizations “were roughly one-fourth as likely as outlets with a left-leaning audience to cite at least one outside expert in their stories (5% compared with 22%) and about one-third as likely to do so as outlets with a more mixed audience (16%).  Right-leaning media outlets also were half as likely as left-leaning or neutral groups to cite both Democratic and Republican politicians in the same story (7% versus 14%).

While some may read this study as evidence of media bias against the Trump administration, Mitchell warns against drawing any conclusion of the type from the study.  “It is speaking about, from the public’s perspective, what is the overall evaluation of the particular event that is being discussed in this news story related to Trump and the administration,” she said.

You may review the study by Pew Research Center by clicking here.

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.”