| | | | | Dylan Byers is at the CNN DC bureau... I'm in NYC... and we both recommend "deep breaths." Dylan writes: It is going to be a long night. The memo to reporters at almost every news organization right now is this: Be cautious. Be accurate. Better to be right than first. Being wrong is not an option... | | | From my survey of anonymous Clinton beat reporters: "This will be an election that my kids and grandkids are going to ask me about. We bitch a lot about the tone of this election, but who doesn't want to live through — and document — a big moment in history?" | | | What if the networks call the race for Clinton... | | | But Trump doesn't concede? | | Hillary Clinton allies believe it's a matter of "when" she wins, not "if." So if at, let's say, midnight ET, the networks project Clinton to be the president-elect -- what then? The Clinton campaign will give Trump some sort of grace period to call and concede. But that grace period won't last long. If Trump "refuses to acknowledge reality," spokesman Brian Fallon told Jake Tapper, that won't stop Clinton from stepping on stage at the Javits Center and declaring victory.
And then what? Will Trump speak at his party over at the Hilton? What will he say? So much depends on what tone he strikes...
-- Reminder: This is a night when moms and dads might let their girls and boys stay up late to watch the president-elect speak. Circa Obama 2008... | | | By 8pm ET, Ohio and (most) NC polls will have been closed for half an hour. Then the polls in FL, NH and PA will close. So we'll start to have a better understanding of what's happening in battleground states... | | | Fox looking for a path... | | | Brian Lowry has been watching Fox News all day. He emails: There's been a lot of talk on Fox about Trump's path to victory. On Shep Smith's show, the commentary made it look less possible than earlier in the day, with Chris Wallace basically citing the potential loss of Florida as a game-over scenario, and veteran GOP strategist Ed Rollins saying it would require "a miracle" for Trump to surpass the required 270 electoral threshold... | | | The Spanish language TV factor | | Univision executives like to say that the road to the White House runs through the Hispanic community. Today "this argument will be tested" by Donald Trump, Jorge Ramos told me this morning. For what it's worth, Clinton aides agree with the Univision POV. They believe a surge in Latino voters will be a big part of the story come Wednesday.
The contrast between the two could not be more dramatic. Clinton's deputy comms director Kristina Schake told me her team "started talking with Univision and Telemundo in the spring of 2015." On the other hand, Trump never agreed to sit down with Ramos, and top campaign reps were nowhere to be found on Univision. Here's my full story... With much more from Ramos... | | | Diversity on the air and online | | | -- Dylan emails: We usually talk about the growing power of the Latino voting bloc in political terms. But what about media terms? After 2016, shouldn't news organizations be incorporating more Hispanics into coverage? | | | Dozens of ways to watch tonight | | | -- The cablers have been up and running for hours/days...
-- CNN is streaming its coverage on CNN.com, no cable log-in needed...
-- NBC, ABC and CBS will begin wall to wall coverage at 7pm ET. Fox broadcast will also offer affiliates a special report anchored by Shep Smith starting at 7...
-- BuzzFeed is producing TV-style election night coverage on Twitter...
-- The WashPost and NYT are streaming all-night-long shows on their web sites...
-- On Facebook Live, NPR will paint a map of the U.S. in red and blue as results come in...
-- Vox's Elizabeth Plank will be live-streaming from Clinton's party via FB... ABC and tons of other outlets have big plans for FB Live as well...
-- Variety has a guide to other online viewing options... | | | Exit polls could be especially problematic this year thanks to the Trump factor, Dylan Byers reports. Sources at several networks say they'll be extremely cautious in assessing the data, because the response from Trump supporters might be extremely unpredictable... | | | No more campaign ads on TV! But... | | | Brian Lowry emails: How much money are the cablers going to make today? A pretty good tipoff is the fact a fair number of unconventional advertisers — like upcoming movies — are popping up in the midst of the daytime shows, bracketed by the familiar staples, like health/pharmaceutical products, gold and insurance. Should be interesting to see how many holiday movies try to capitalize on the primetime coverage... | | | "Breitbart and Bannon ain't gonna go quietly" | | | Dylan Byers emails: If Trump loses, the conservative media that has rallied around him -- from Breitbart to Sean Hannity to Drudge Report -- is almost certain to use his loss as an opportunity to advance the argument that the system is rigged, the political-media establishment is to blame, and any Republican who didn't jump on board the Trump train deserves to be cast out of office. "Look for Trump to advance the sentiment of a 'rigged' process, hint that his supporters should not accept the election and make media bias a central narrative to set up the next few months," Kurt Bardella, a former spokesperson for Breitbart Media says. Read Dylan's full story here... | | | Dylan adds: What does Steve Bannon have to say about that? I texted Bannon earlier today and asked how Trump and Breitbart would respond to a loss. His response: "We r not losing." | | | Bush 43 spokesman says "Rush is wrong and should apologize" | | | Jamie Gangel and Dylan Byers report: Rush Limbaugh's claim that George W. Bush and Laura Bush voted for Clinton is wrong, a spokesman for the former president said this afternoon. "Rush is wrong and should apologize," the spokesman said... | | | Surveying the Clinton press corps | | Now that the campaign coverage is over, some of the reporters on the Clinton beat are willing to admit it: There were times they wished they covered Trump instead. Trump was "certainly the more flashy story, that drew the most clicks," one of the reporters who spoke to me on condition of anonymity said. Trump's campaign "was the story of this election, and it was tough to miss out on it/constantly cover the Clinton campaign's sober and measured responses to him," another reporter said.
Others on the Clinton beat strongly disagreed, however. "Controversial opinion: Hillary is more of a challenge," one of them said. Check out what the reporters told me about access to Clinton, the narratives of the race, etc... Click here... | | | The first female nominee of a major party was covered by a largely female press corps. "A piece of this story was gender, and women are just better at picking up on that and writing it," one of the reporters told me. "Her press corps would often ask questions about sexism — like whether 'stamina' questions were sexist — which I think would not have been as frequent from men. But I also think gender was not as big of an issue as everyone thought it would be." Read more... | | | Surveying the Trump press corps | | On Monday I summed up surveys of 15 Trump beat reporters. Here are a few of the "lessons learned," in their own words:
— "That all previous rules of American politics don't apply and that all the mores and cultural norms that guided us in the past are no more."
— "I learned that our country is bigger than I thought and there are many more perspectives than I thought. I saw firsthand parts of our country and communities in our country that I think many of us have overlooked."
— "I've encountered so much hate throughout this campaign that I didn't think existed anymore."
— "I learned to trust my instincts. To be fair but to call out inconsistencies when I see or hear them — which is near constant out here with Trump and his campaign."
— "One lesson: Get out of the prediction business. Reflect what is happening and provide context. Don't try to guess what is going to happen next." (Amen!) | | | Will it rain frogs tonight? | | Bob Schieffer on Monday's "CBS Evening News:"
"I've run out of ways to say I've never seen one like this. It is as if the nation is enduring some kind of curse. What should we expect next – that it will rain frogs? I wouldn't bet against it. We tend to call every election the most important of our lifetime, but this one might well be..." | | | The "Late Show" and "Daily Show" are live | | | Frank Pallotta emails: Fallon, Meyers, Kimmel and Corden are all getting pre-empted tonigh for election night coverage, but that doesn't meant that late night will cede the space altogether. "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" will be going live on Showtime at 11pm ET for an uncensored live special while "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah" will be live on Comedy Central at the same time. Other hosts will be watching at home, but don't be surprised if we see them pop up on social media tonight, especially if the results get crazy... | | Chloe Melas emails: The voting sticker is the accessory every celebrity must have today. Celebs took to social media to proudly display their "I Voted" sticker with a selfie. Drew Barrymore, Eva Longoria, Halle Berry, Kate Hudson, Seth Meyers, Live Schreiber and Nick Jonas are just a few of the big names that proudly showed the world.
-- More: Sandra Gonzalez shared some celeb "voting selfies" here... | | | Will these celebs leave the country? | | | Lisa France emails: We'll have to wait to see if they have to make good on their promise. But these celebs have said they plan on fleeing the country if Trump becomes president of the United States. And it's not just Canada they are looking at... | | | Trump's extreme attacks against the media | | Throughout the endless election season, Trump exploited the public's existing distrust of media and sought to strip news outlets like CNN and the NYT of all legitimacy. He targeted journalists individually. He withheld press credentials. Toward the end of the campaign, he even claimed the "corporate media" was part of a massive conspiracy to block him from the White House.
Bottom line: Trump engaged in the most extreme anti-media talk we have ever heard from a modern presidential candidate. Here's my full column about that... | | | Trump made fact-checking great again | | This is the year of the fact-checker. PolitiFact editor Angie Drobnic Holan told me: "All of the media has embraced fact-checking because there was a story that really needed it." She's talking about Trump. When it comes to Trump, "the level of inaccuracy is startling."
-- Data point: WashPost's Glenn Kessler, who works on a "Pinocchio" scale, says "Trump earned significantly more four-Pinocchio ratings than Clinton" -- 59 versus 7, to be exact. "The numbers don't lie, and we frequently reminded readers of the differences..."
Will fact-checking remain front and center? I explored that in my story... Check it out here... | | | Boldface media names of the election year | | | Brian Lowry emails: People are already taking inventory of which reporters and anchors' stock rose — MSNBC's Katy Tur, CNN's Brianna Keilar -- and fell (Matt Lauer) during the campaign. But Trump's media background drew in more unorthodox personalities as well, from a Bush (Billy) and Bee (Samantha) to Howard Stern. Read more here... | | | What do you like about this newsletter? What do you dislike? Send your feedback to reliablesources@cnn.com. We appreciate every email... And we'll be back tomorrow with another special edition... | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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