White House Correspondents Insider

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

Chris Hayes Takes Ed Schultz' Primetime Slot at MSNBC

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Ed Schultz

MSNBC has outed Ed Schultzand replaced him at the 8 o’clock hour with Chris Hayes. The two on-air talents will be trading roles as Hayes moves to weekdays and Schultz goes off to host weekend blocks according to Dylan Byers. The changeover is scheduled for April 1, a scant 26 days before the White House Correspondents Dinner in D.C.

Brian Stelter theorizes the shift is age and lead-in to Rachel Maddow:

“The change is predicated on the belief that MSNBC can win a wider audience with Mr. Hayes than it did with Mr. Schultz, a champion of the working class whose bluster didn’t always pair well with Ms. Maddow and the channel’s other prime-time program, ‘The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell.’ Mr. Hayes, on the other hand, is just as wonky as Ms. Maddow and Mr. O’Donnell, and is a regular contributor to both of their programs.”

Schultz, who has spearheaded a blue-collar vibe for MSNBC, will become host of a series of weekend specials for MSNBC. While the network has been trying to get the established anchor out from his slot for a while–remember when Ezra Klein was a bold-faced name floated for this in November? Hayes has gained steam and popular press with how he’s formatted his weekend program “Up with Chris Hayes,” especially when it comes to conservative commentators. It’s apparent MSNBC hopes he’ll be the last nail in order to drive away Fox News’ O’Reilly juggernaut. Until then, here’s hoping Hayes will join Maddow behind the bar at the White House Correspondents Dinner after-party in April.

Favreau Joins The Beast of the Northern Wild

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Photo: Haddad Media

So much for Los Angeles for former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau. The recently departed director of communications made his media farewell tour and we had all assumed he set sail for greener pasteurs inspired by (now canceled) 1600 Penn. Instead it seems Favreau figured out there was another Favreau in town and decided to go the traditional route for former presidential speechwriters: a bi-weekly column at The Daily Beast. This comes after the fact that Favreau is yet another former White House staffer looking to open his own specialized communications firm in Washington. But at least he’s following in the time-honored footsteps of the Beltway!

Fishbowl NY has the full memo for News|Beast Editor-in-Chief Tina Brown:
I am thrilled to announce that President Obama’s former director of speechwriting Jon Favreau is joining The Daily Beast as a bi-weekly columnist. It’s wonderful to have his combination of writing talent and sophisticated insight as commentary on the political scene.

Says Jon, “I’m excited to join the talented variety of writers and political observers who contribute to The Daily Beast, and hope I can add a new perspective from time to time based on the experiences I’ve had over the last several years.”

Please join me in welcoming him to The Daily Beast!

Best,
Tina

Obama Announces Additional Nominations for State Dept, Heritage Abroad

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Earlier this morning President Barack Obama announced the next three individuals for positions in the administration. “It gives me great confidence that such dedicated and capable individuals have agreed to join this Administration to serve the American people. I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come,” said President Obama.

They include Ambassador Deborah K. Jones, currently Scholar-in-Resident at the Middle East Institute, for Ambassador to Libya; Ambassador James Knight, currently Assistant Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, for Ambassador to the Republlic of Chad. And Lesley Weiss, currently Director of Community Services and Cultural Affairs for NCSJ, to be Member and Chair for the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad.

Both Jones and Knight will require nominations to be approved in upcoming Congressional sessions while Weiss will be appointed at an upcoming date.

The Donald Denied Reopening White House Tours, Obama May Anyway

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Not even The Donald can reopen The White House tours shuttered by the sequester. Or to be more accurate, The White House said “No thanks” when the notable centerpiece of NBC’s The Apprentice took to his new beloved medium of Fox News to take on the administration.

In the ultimate act of media ourobouros, Politico quoted White House Senior Adviser Dan Pfeiffer on CNN earlier after Trump commented on a Tweet from Newt Gingrich. So much back and forth between the news mediums makes our head spin as pundits go from Twitter to TV to Politico and back again. So why exactly can’t it work? Pfeiffer explained earlier:

“It doesn’t work that way; we can’t have private individuals paying the Secret Service — so that’s not how it works. This is about a very tough budget cut that the Secret Service has to take because of the sequester. It’s why we should have avoided the sequester to begin with.”

Already Yellowstone announced a late opening–by a week–that has caused tourists and small businesses to grumble about experiencing the Great Outdoors. Meanwhile this morning President Obama may review the suspended tours for school trips and students according to Post Politics. From his interview with ABC News:

“I’m always amused when people on the one hand say the sequester doesn’t mean anything and the administration’s exaggerating its effects and then whatever the specific effects are, they yell and scream and say, ‘Why are you doing that?’ Well, there are consequences to Congress not having come up with a more sensible way to reduce the deficit.”

Politico Pro Bono Later This Month

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Politico has announced Politico Pro will become a free quarterly magazine while keeping exclusive web-only content for subscribers. Fishbowl NY announced the new quad-nual publication from Allbritton. While it is hyperlocal in covering catch-all issues like energy, technology, lobbying and health care with the slogan “We’ll spare you the boring, jargon-laden stories,” Pro has built itself steadily online over the last year.

Nieman points out the “pricing starts at $3,295 per year. But most Pro subscribers are part of a group membership, and those start at around $8,000 per year for licensing content from a single vertical to five people.” Share the content and you get banned. It’s like all the giddy exclusivity from 2003 of having Hotline sent to your Blackberry and printed for your daily media packet at 6 a.m.

You can hardly put a cost on information in Washington if you recall the exorbitant fees for Hotline. Even if, in the case of “House of Cards,” that information is incorrect it’s still the sexy type of power that makes folks want to eat ribs and address an unseen fourth wall. Still, if Politico Pro could tell us where to find decent ribs to eat while lamenting our attempts to be Secretary of State, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad? We’ll wait to see when the new quarterly “will be distributed on Friday, March 22 to every member of Congress, the White House and all federal agencies as well as to 160 newspaper boxes and 100 Washington-area Starbucks. Like POLITICO’s newspaper, the magazine will be free with a circulation of nearly 40,000.”

“When we launched POLITICO Pro in 2011 our mission was to deliver exclusive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting and dominate coverage of the most important policy areas,” said POLITICO Chief Revenue Officer Roy Schwartz. “We are thrilled with how quickly Pro became the essential news source for thousands of policy professionals working at the country’s most influential organizations.”

If you’re feeling particularly generous via social media, you can always use their hashtag: #GoPro2013.

Sequester Goes Too Far With White House Tour Cancelation

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Starting March 9th, the sequester will take one of Washington’s few government benefits: the Official White House Tour.

Talking Points Memo confirmed, re-confirmed and then followed up with the White House phone reservation system:

What does The Daily Caller’s related article have to say about this? (“RELATED: Bob Woodward claims President Barack Obama lied repeatedly about sequester trigger”).

With hours to go before Washingtion is buried under the Snowquester who knows what terrible non-important fallout we’ll experience?

Conan O'Brien Returns as Host of White House Correspondents Dinner

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Late night comes back to the White House Correspondents Dinner with Conan O’Brien. The TBS host that once called NBC home is coming to D.C. to preside over the 2013 WHC Dinner on April 27th according to–of all places–Ed Henry‘s Twitter.

The 2013 Chairman went on the social media platform rather than the origination’s own website, which still hasn’t been updated. Henry followed up on his Twitter, citing that O’Brien “was terrific at ’95 correspondents dinner w/[sic]Clinton[.]”

This will mark the second time that the self-described “Basic Cable” host will stand at the Hinckley Hilton dais. Unfortunately, he still has two more times to go until he ties the current record holder for most performances (Jay Leno). Over on O’Brien’s official site, Henry gave a more formal remark:

“Conan is one of televisions most innovative and influential talents and I am absolutely thrilled that he has agreed to be this year’s featured act,” said Henry. “As social media has changed all aspects of the media business, Conan has embraced this shifting landscape to become a creative force both online as well as in the traditional television model. We are grateful that Conan will be also be using that creativity to bring more attention to the WHCA’s commitment to helping needy journalism students.”

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.

    • Inaugural Insider Round-Up

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    Good morning and happy Inauguration Day/Martin Luther King Jr. Day! Here’s all you’ll need to know while waiting in the parade line and fidgeting for AT&T service.

    Know how there’s supposed to be less attendees at the Inaugural? It’s still in six figures, but a more manageable six figures. The gridlock around downtown D.C. will be like a Monday multiplied by Wednesday’s Metro Fail.

    Huffington Post profiles the episcopal priest that replaces Gigligo:
    “[The Reverend Louis] Leon’s own parish is known for welcoming openly gay members. The church, which has openly gay, non-celibate priests and has had a gay bishop, announced this summer that it would bless same-sex partnerships and ordain transgender priests. This month, the Washington National Cathedral, an Episcopal church, announced that it would also begin same-sex marriage ceremonies.”

    The AARP profiles Charlie Brotman, the man who will be announcing his 16th Inaugural Parade today:
    “Brotman, now 85, has been the official announcer for every inaugural parade but one since then. He didn’t man the microphone for President Dwight Eisenhower’s first parade in 1953, but ironically, it was Eisenhower who probably made him the go-to voice from then on.

    Here’s how it happened. In 1956, Brotman, who as a child lived with his parents and sister behind the family’s corner grocery store in the nation’s capital, landed a dream job as the stadium announcer for Washington’s baseball team, the Senators. When President Eisenhower came to throw the first pitch on opening day, it was Brotman who squired him around and introduced him to the team. Eisenhower liked him so much that the White House asked Brotman to announce the president’s second inaugural parade, in 1957.”

    WaPo historically breaks down weather patterns over the Inaugurals:
    “The 1985 swearing-in ceremony remains the coldest of all presidential inaugurations since D.C. weather records began. Ironically, it was preceded by the warmest January inauguration just four years earlier. When President Reagan took the oath of office in 1981, the temperature was 55ºF at 12 p.m., and peaked at 56 degrees later that afternoon.”

    Metro’s operating schedule is like all the worst parts (Peak fares) with the worst of the weekend (Yellow Line ends at Gallery Place-Chinatown.)

    The Christian Science Monitor has an Inaugural quiz to test your knowledge. Cabs are a $1 more from 4 a.m.until midnight, which even effects UberTaxi.

    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.”