White House Correspondents Insider

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

Sex and the City’s Cynthia Nixon Mulls Run for NY Governor

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Cynthia Nixon accepting this year’s HRC Visibility Award, Photo Courtesy AP

Another celebrity is seriously considering joining the ranks of actors-turned-politicians like Al Franken, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sonny Bono, and Frank Grandy. Cynthia Nixon, of HBO’s “Sex and the City” fame, is reportedly weighing her options in a potential primary showdown with Andrew Cuomo, who many see as a strong contender for a presidential run in 2020, for governor of New York. While she is yet to make any sort of official announcement, she “is in serious conversations about jumping in and has begun reaching out to potential campaign staffers,” according to a new report in Politico.

Nixon has been vocal in her criticism of both Donald Trump and Governor Cuomo. In an op-ed published by CNN in January, she wrote, “President Trump’s first year in office has been a dark year for many in America. For those of us who value equal rights for all, or economic and racial justice, or want to combat climate change, we’ve taken huge steps backwards.”

Governor Cuomo, who many see as a strong contender for a presidential run in 2020, and his team were reportedly caught off guard by the news. Politico claims that the reelection campaign has not done any polling on Nixon or any other potential primary opponent.

You can read Politico’s full report on Nixon here.

Kellyanne Conway Cited for Multiple Hatch Act Violations

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White House Special Advisor Kellyanne Conway, Photo Courtesy Getty Images

White House Senior Advisor Kellyanne Conway has been hit with two ethics violations from the US Office of Special Counsel (not to be confused with the ongoing Robert Mueller investigation, which is overseen by the Department of Justice) on Tuesday, March 6th.

The violations stem from a “Fox and Friends” interview she gave on November 20th, and a CNN interview on December 6th. In each interview, Kellyanne either discouraged voters in Alabama from supporting Doug Jones, or suggested that Alabamians support Roy Moore, respectively.

According to the Special Counsel’s report, “While the Hatch Act allows federal employees to express their views about candidates and political issues as private citizens, it restricts employees from using their official government positions for partisan political purposes, including by trying to influence partisan elections.”

The report concludes that Conway “impermissibly mixed official government business with political views about candidates.” It also suggests that Kellyanne ignored multiple requests to explain herself in the face of these allegations.

While Kellyanne does not face criminal charges for the violation, the Special Counsel’s office, the report was sent to the Trump White House for disciplinary action.

 

CNN vs FOX: Washington Post Says Networks Are the Hatfields and McCoys of Cable News

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Matt Drudge, Tammy Haddad, Howard Kurtz, Tucker Carlson, Sheri Annis, and Barbara Comstock at the Washington Correspondents’ Garden Brunch in 2004

CNN and Fox are at war when it comes to President Trump, the Parkland school shooting survivors, and even each other’s Winter Olympics coverage, the Washington Post’s Paul Farhi reports in a piece published on Thursday, March 1st.

The inter-network squabbling, writes Farhi, “has taken on new intensity in the Trump era. Hosts at CNN and Fox now trade blows almost daily about whose coverage or commentary about President Trump is more distorted or unfair.”

According to Farhi, “In many ways, the Hatfields-and-McCoys act has become a proxy for the news media’s drift into more polarized camps, especially when it comes to covering Trump. The president has certainly stoked the perception that there are pro- and anti-Trump factions in the news media, singling out CNN and Fox in particular.”

Farhi asked both networks’ respective media correspondents what all the bad blood was about.

Brian Stelter, host of CNN’s “Reliable Sources” said that “Fox influences the president of the United States in a way not seen by any other network. Fox affects society in more ways than it did even three years ago. . . . If you only looked at CNN, MSNBC or CBS and you didn’t acknowledge Fox’s influence on the president, then you’d be missing the story.”

FOX media analyst Howard Kurtz says that, “Sniping by rival cable news hosts is a more polarizing sport in the Trump era and that now includes CNN, which fairly or unfairly is often at odds with the president over its coverage. I get why anti-Trump voices at other outlets try to lump Fox’s opinion hosts in with its news division to make it appear there’s one company line, which is clearly not true.”

Kurtz adds, “I make it my business to report fairly on CNN, criticizing or defending as the situation warrants. I treat Fox the same way, which is the ultimate test of fair media reporting.”

You can read the full Washington Post piece here.

Trump Fails To Make State of the Union Ratings Great Again

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Media Post’s  

Donald Trump has been called the “ratings” President, because of his propensity to use the TV industry term to refer to his Presidential performance, and because he’s an ex-reality TV personality and producer. But based on Nielsen’s official ratings, the performance of his first State of the Union Address wasn’t exactly huge.

While it’s true that the ratings of Presidential State of the Union addresses have been trending downward in recent years, Trump’s first SOTU ranks only eighth in terms of viewers among the last 25 to be aired on the major broadcast and cable networks carrying it live, according to an analysis of Nielsen data.

CNN Picks Up A Former White House and A Romney Staffer for New Day

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It’s been a busy week for CNN announcing a new YouTube partnership, a set date for their new show and two new hires to the set.

Stephanie Cutter and Kevin Madden both join the cable news network as commentators for the brand new and eponoyymously titled “New Day.” TVNewser reports the announcement and that the duo will “provide a decidedly younger voice than some of the people they replace.”

Cutter’s new firm, Precision, launched earlier this month.

Crossfire Gets Caught Back Up in New CNN

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It’s been nearly eight years since Crossfire broadcast from Washington, but that won’t stop CNN from bringing back the infamous debate show.

TVNewser floated the rumor on Friday that the once-iconic 23-year old debate show that taped at George Washington University could be returning to CNN under Jeff Zucker‘s reign. This comes after the 2005 cancelation when Jon Stewart appeared on the show, then hosted by Tucker Carlson (“on the right”), James Carville and Paul Begala (“on the left”); he then gave one of the most historic media smackdowns ever recorded, so much that the CNN executives canceled the show to lick their wounds.

Deadline confirmed today that the show will return in June. What isn’t confirmed, however, could fill that eight-year gap up to the very edge. No host, no setting and no team are confirmed for this new Crossfire. Nor do we know what Zucker is planning. But in three months there’ll be another show joining CNN’s murky programming–whether it is day or night remains to be seen.

Until then, to build anticipation, remember this delightful theme song:

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.”

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

VP Biden Surprises Axelrods at CURE Epilepsy Event

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CURE Epilepsy’s 2012 Key to the Cure event announced a new Slash The Stache campaign: CNN pundit and Purple Strategies’ own Alex Castellanos has volunteered to give up his moustache if he can bring in 500 more donors. At the event, co-hosted by Connie Milstein and JC de La Haye Saint Hilarie, Tammy Haddad and Susan & David Axelrod, David Axelrod started off remarks with a rhetorical question: “So what’s a mustache,” said Axelrod. “What’s a mustache mean? We got $1.1 million to remove it.”

Held at a private residence in Washington, D.C., Susan and David Axelrod, fresh from their Morning Joe appearance where he lost his iconic mustache, informed the assembled crowd about the DC campaign. “Alex called me and said ‘I’d be willing to join you in this Slash the Stache’ movement if that would be helpful. Tonight we announced on CNN if we can add another 500 donors to the 26 donors we added this month, he will shave his mustache off on CNN. Which, as Alex pointed out, for a Cuban is even harder than it is for me.”

Axelrod closed out his announcement by making way for a surprise guest: Vice President Joe Biden.

“He has great empathy for people who struggle,” said Axelrod in his introduction. “He came out and spoke at our dinner last year in Chicago. Everyone in that room felt like there was a family member there talking to them because he understood their struggles.”

“I came tonight,” said Vice President Biden, “because I think it’s appropriate to nominate Susan for the Nobel peace prize. Because it’s great to be at a bi-partisan event in Washington where everyone knows what to cut and who should pay for it.”

The Vice President went on to address the effects of epilepsy, including the fifteen million effected throughout the world by the disease along with 65,000 that perish from the disease. Referencing his own sister-in-law’s son, Vice President Biden described it as “not only a lightning storm in the brain, but a knife in the heart.”

“All you have to do is look in my sister-in-law’s eyes,” said Biden, “Look at this magnificent child and know there’s not a damn thing you can do to stop the seizure.”

Biden singled out the great scientific work of three top NIH doctors, Dr. Frances Collins, Dr. Story Landis and Dr. Tony Fauci. He also praised the “bi-partisan” efforts of Alex Castellanos in joining the DC Campaign. Washington veteran Heather Podesta is Castellanos co-chair of the new campaign.

Guests included Obama top aides Alan Krueger, Fred Hochberg, Alyssa Mastromonaco, Dan Pfeiffer, Jon Favreau, Ben Rhodes, Bruce Reed, Evan Ryan, Tony Blanken and Cody Keenan. Tech was well represented by Fred and Kim Humphries of Microsoft and Walt Mossberg of “All Things Digital.”The Defense Department’s Jeremy Bash and former Defense Department official Doug Wilson attended along with Dr Mark Dybul, the new head of the Global Fund for AIDs, Tuberculosis and Malaria. GOP Hill top aides Doug Heye (Cantor) and Michael (Boehner) and MK Steel were there to support the cause and Alex Castellanos. Media favorites Jonathan & Betsy Fischer Martin, Ed Henry, Bill Plante,Kimberly Dozier, Luke Russert, Gretel Truong, Kelley McCormick and Patricia Harrison, President of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Washington newcomer, New York Times Congressional reporter Jeremy Peters and partner, Dr. Brendan Camp were greeted by new Washington colleagues. Purple was well represented by Steve McMahon and Rob Collins.

You can watch the full video of the event including the Vice President’s remarks below:

Video streaming by Ustream

Friends and sponsors included Jim McGreevey, American Beverage Association, Dan Whyte, from Brookfield Renewable, Erik Smith from Blue Engine Message & Media, Microsoft, Walmart and American Airlines. Greta Van Susteren and husband John Coale were thanked for their support, friendship and co-sponsoring the event.

David Greenberg was the lucky 11 year old boy along with babysitter Lauren Campbell who were given a ride home by the Vice President in his motorcade!

From Vince Vaughn and The Producers of Singled Out and Jon Stewart Show Comes…Glenn Beck?

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The Pursuit of Truth Teaser

File this under the weirder announcement of an otherwise exciting humpday.

TV Newser has the press release that Glenn Beck‘s TheBlaze [sic] will be venturing into the realm of documentary programming, much like MSNBC and CNN before him.

Whereas the major cable networks skewed toward franchise series (Lockup, or any of Anderson Cooper’s reports), Beck is going a different route: he’s making a reality show first, producing a documentary second.

[Read more…]

CNN's Jim Walton to Leave as Worldwide Chief

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CNN Worldwide president Jim Walton announced today that he will step down as chief at the end of the year citing that “CNN needs new thinking.”  An statement from Walton came in an email to staff early this morning but he had been discussing this transition with Turner Broadcasting chairman, Phil Kent for quite some time.

Kent released a statement saying :

“Jim is the leader we all aspire to be: Smart and steady, tough and fair, business-savvy and respected by his team, and with a track record of great judgment when it matters most.  His vision has modernized and globalized our legacy news brand, enhanced CNN’s journalistic standing, positioned it at the forefront of multi-platform branded news content and challenged the organization to think bigger, reach further and do better.  I am honored to work alongside him and proud to call him my friend.”

In a piece by the Huffington Post, by David Bauder, Walton was credited with building “the company into a profitable international news organization in his 10 years as president of CNN Worldwide, and said it is on track for record profits this year. But the U.S. network is the most visible part of the business and is now entrenched in third place behind rivals Fox News Channel and MSNBC in prime time.”

Kent began his career at CNN in 1981 working as a TelePrompter operator and “ripping paper scripts off wire machines” working his way up over 22 years when he came president of CNN worldwide in 2003.

Read his full statement as released by TV Newser below:

After more than 30 years at this company and nearly 10 years as the leader of this great news organization, I have decided to leave my role at CNN on December 31, 2012.

For some time, I’ve been talking with Phil Kent about wanting to make a change, and he supports my decision. I’ve told Phil that I will cooperate with any transition timeline that he and Time Warner want to implement.  Phil requested that I work out the year and be available after that if needed, which I’ve agreed to do.

I am proud of what we have accomplished together over these last 10 years – innovative programming, the development of great talent in front of and behind the cameras, expansion in digital and mobile, significant investment and expansion in international coverage, financial success and, most importantly, great and trusted journalism.  Thank you for the role you have played in our successes.

CNN needs new thinking.  That starts with a new leader who brings a different perspective, different experiences and a new plan, one who will build on our great foundation and will commit to seeing it through.  And I’m ready for a change.  I have interests to explore and I want to give myself time to do it.

The next few months will be filled with election news and other important events that will require all of our focus to report the news with the quality and expertise the world expects of CNN.  I look forward to working alongside each of you, as I have over the past 30-plus years, to do just that.

Jim