| | | | | The future of the W.H. daily briefing | | I spent Wednesday afternoon at the White House, taping some interviews for an upcoming edition of "Reliable Sources," on a day dominated by talk about what might change. "Did you see what Reince said?" "What, no assigned seats?" "Will there be daily briefings at all?"
The uncertainty was palpable in and around the briefing room, among both reporters and Obama aides. Why? Because RNC chairman turned Donald Trump chief of staff Reince Priebus said in an interview with Hugh Hewitt that many W.H. traditions, such as the daily press briefing, need to be reconsidered.
The key quote: "Look, I think that many things have to change... You know, even looking at things like the daily W.H. briefing from the press secretary, I mean, there's a lot of different ways that things can be done, and I can assure you we're looking at that."
There are also "a lot of different ways" his comment can be interpreted. No need to overreact. Read Tom Kludt and Kevin Liptak's full story, putting it all in context...
-- When I spoke with outgoing press secretary Josh Earnest later in the day, he discouraged clinging to "tradition for tradition's sake," but was unequivocal about the symbolic and practical importance of daily press briefings... Details TK... | | Kludt asked Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks what specific changes the incoming administration might be considering, and whether the president-elect was at all concerned with any chilling effect the changes might have on the press.
She responded: "Chilling effect? How do you know these are not positive changes that will delight the press?"
Hicks did not respond to a follow-up email asking again what those changes could be... | | During his call with Hewitt, Priebus indicated that assigned seating at the briefings began under President Obama: "The first front row assigned seat issue, as I understand it, started in the Obama administration. In the Bush administration, you just took a seat, and I guess there were a couple of people that have had reserved spots. But for the most part, the more formalized reserved seating piece came in over the last eight years."
For what it's worth, that's not true. Assigned seating actually dates back decades, to the Reagan administration. And the seating chart is currently determined by the White House Correspondents Association, not the administration.
During Wednesday's briefing, Earnest said he "would recommend to the incoming administration that they collect and familiarize themselves with some basic facts as they consider what sort of policies they implement moving forward." Speaking of... | | | Jenn Psaki, the outgoing W.H. communications director, told me in an interview that the Obama admin has a big binder full of logistical information about presidential communications ready for the incoming administration, once it is known who will be taking over the comms jobs... Keep scrolling for that latest intel about that... | | | Julia Ioffe dismissed by Politico due to crude tweet | | Julia Ioffe's Wednesday afternoon tweet was clearly inappropriate: She referenced the news reports about Ivanka Trump potentially using East Wing office space (normally for the First Lady) and wrote that Trump was either sleeping with his daughter (she was much more explicit) "or he's shirking nepotism laws."
Ioffe (who was on last Sunday's "Reliable Sources") is a contributing writer at Politico Magazine, but not for much longer -- she is about to start a new job at The Atlantic. Post-tweet, Politico said, "We have accelerated the close of her Politico contributor contract, effective immediately." The editors said "we understand how absolutely infuriating it is to have incidents like this tarnish Politico... We feel the same..."
When Erik Wemple shared that memo, Ioffe tweeted at him: "The way it was explained to me was that they were already having problems with the Trump administration."
She followed up with this: "In Russia, the Kremlin rarely has to make the call to media organizations. The media bosses anticipate and do the censoring themselves." | | | Ioffe: "It won't happen again" | | As the day dragged on, Ioffe's apologies became more serious. First: "I guess my phrasing should've been more delicate." Later: "It was a tasteless, offensive tweet that I regret and have deleted. I am truly and deeply sorry. It won't happen again."
The Atlantic told Wemple it is "confident" Ioffe will adhere to the mag's standards...
-- Dave Weigel reacts: "Political correctness is bad, unless you're being rude about Trump. Then it's time for you to be fired." | | | Now for something different... | | | Did Santa tell the truth? | | Emanuella Grinberg and Tom Kludt write: "It was a story many wanted to believe: A terminally ill child gets his last wish to see Santa and dies in his arms. But the Tennessee newspaper that ran it first now says it can no longer stand by the account. The Knoxville News Sentinel story quickly went viral after it was published Sunday. USA Today republished the column, which was written by News Sentinel columnist Sam Venable. A host of national news outlets gave it additional coverage, including CNN, who spoke to Santa actor Eric Schmitt-Matzen about his interaction with the boy in his final moments... But in a note published online Wednesday, Venable and News Sentinel editor Jack McElroy said they were unable to verify the account after it was published..."
Bottom line: No one can find the child's family or the nurse who was said to be involved.
-- Key comment from McElroy and Venable: "The News Sentinel cannot establish that Schmitt-Matzen's account is inaccurate, but more importantly, ongoing reporting cannot establish that it is accurate. Therefore, because the story does not meet the newspaper's standards of verification, we are no longer standing by the veracity of Schmitt-Matzen's account..." | | | Here's the overarching point, from Grinberg and Kludt: The story began to unravel on Tuesday, when Snopes ran a piece scrutinizing Schmitt-Matzen's account. "The story kept spreading but with no second sourcing," Arturo Garcia, the Snopes reporter who wrote the follow-up, told CNNMoney. "I think part of the issue here is that a lot of outlets don't give their reporters time to vet these things." | | Variety's Daniel Holloway writes: "Vice Media has long hinted at a possible IPO. But 2017 may be the year his company finally takes the plunge." (Emphasis on the word "may"!) At a breakfast event on Wednesday, Shane Smith told Variety co-EIC Andrew Wallenstein, "We're talking to some banks and we're getting ready." He added: "Next year is going to be a banner year and now is the time to do it." There's a company board meeting on the books for January...
-- More: Smith also said his plan involves buying "some tech companies," some "TV companies, distressed media assets, of which there are a lot..."
-- Previously: Here's a Financial Times headline from December 2014: "Vice eyes 2015 'deal spree' and possible IPO" | | | Scripted TV shows coming to Facebook | | Facebook is talking with Hollywood studios and other producers about licensing "scripted, unscripted and sports content." That means sitcoms, dramas, sporting events and other types of programming could be coming to the FB mobile app in the coming months.
Recode's Peter Kafka broke the news on Wednesday morning. For now, Facebook is characterizing this as an experiment. The closest parallels are the company's recent payments to news organizations and other media companies to make live video, which helped to introduce Facebook Live to the public. Now Facebook is seeking pre-taped and scripted programming. Here's my full story... | | | "We're exploring funding some seed video content" | | | FB head of global creative strategy Ricky Van Veen's statement about the FB effort: "Our goal is to kickstart an ecosystem of partner content for the tab, so we're exploring funding some seed video content, including original and licensed scripted, unscripted, and sports content, that takes advantage of mobile and the social interaction unique to Facebook. Our goal is to show people what is possible on the platform..." | | -- They have a point: "BuzzFeed, Politico editors says 'it was worrisome' that press corps didn't stand up sooner for banned news outlets..." (Politico)
-- Syria brought some "fake news" to the United Nations on Tuesday, Donie O'Sullivan reports… (CNN)
-- The Daily Caller's Kevin Daley notes: Breitbart straight-up published, without proper notation, a Trump press release about Rex Tillerson... (Daily Caller)
-- Job alert! Want to become the next ombudsman for PBS? The job listing has been posted... (PBS, h/t Scott Nover)
-- How cool is this? Tom Hanks is going to guest-host NPR's "Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me!" for a weekend in January... (NPR) | | | "It was a very nice photo op." Not much more than that. "Nothing happened." The tech leaders who spent time at Trump Tower on Wednesday "ran out pretty quickly" afterward. That's what Kara Swisher told Don Lemon on "CNN Tonight." Others had somewhat more optimistic assessments of the meeting. There was talk of a quarterly get-together. And the WSJ created this helpful seating chart... | | | Chris Vlasto for comms director? No | | Wednesday's surprise name: Politico reported that veteran ABC News producer Chris Vlasto was in contention for the Trump White House's communications director role. Sources quickly confirmed that yes, Vlasto had held discussions with Trump aides about the role... but within an hour, the idea was extinguished. When I reached Vlasto by phone, he declined to comment, but he said in a statement: "I was approached about a job in the new administration. I had preliminary conversations with the transition team, and I've taken my name out of consideration." Vlasto will remain the E.P. of "GMA..."
-- So who will be comms director? Transition spokesperson Jason Miller? Read more... | | | Sean Spicer has "inside track" for press secretary | | | Dylan Byers and Jim Acosta report: "Sean Spicer, the RNC communications director, is a leading candidate to serve as White House press secretary under Donald Trump, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter. Spicer has 'the inside track,' said one transition source. A six-year veteran of the RNC, Spicer has well-established relationships with the DC press corps and is a familiar face on both cable news and the social circuit. Yet he can also be combative, and is known for unleashing his Twitter account on reporters and news organizations if he feels he's been wronged by them..." | | More from Acosta and Byers: "Other names under consideration for the press secretary post include Fox News personalities Laura Ingraham and Monica Crowley. Sources at both the transition and Fox News said they believed both were long shots for the position, though, in part because it would require taking a pay cut."
And there's more: On Wednesday evening Politico's Tara Palmieri and Hadas Gold said Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle "has emerged as a contender" for the job, even though Spicer is the frontrunner... Guilfoyle "is expected to have a third meeting with his transition team this week..."
-- Maggie Haberman tweets: "Whoever is floating Guilfoyle + Vlasto publicly is, in all likelihood, attempting to tank them/demonstrate strength of rival Trump faction..." | | | Trump press conference watch: 140 days | | | Tom Kludt writes: While virtually every modern president-elect has held a press conference within days of the election, Trump has not. His last press conference during the campaign was on July 27, 140 days ago. Trump had announced a press conference for Thursday in NYC, but his team abruptly canceled the event earlier this week, saying he still had to sort out issues related to his business operations, plans for which were to have been the subject of the press conference... | | | What Fox News viewers are hearing | | Mike Huckabee on Wednesday night's "O'Reilly Factor:"
HUCKABEE: [Trump] bypasses The New York Times. Why would you ever load a gun that's pointed at your own head? Why would he LET the news media be his filter? Why would he allow them to carry his water when they're going to taint it before they deliver it?
O'REILLY: So you agree with me, that no matter WHAT he does, that the national news media will hate him, and they're never going to give him credit, no matter what it is.
HUCKABEE: No matter what it is. I think this man could walk across the Hudson River, and The New York Times would say' Donald Trump can't swim.' That's how bad it is." | | | Fox News hires new HR chief | | Fox News has a new role: executive vice president of human resources. Kevin Lord, who has the equivalent role at Tegna currently, will join Fox in mid-January.
"Lord's appointment is meant to signal a change in the employment culture at Fox News" in the wake of the Roger Ailes scandal, the LATimes' Stephen Battaglio writes. Fox News SVP of HR Denise Collins will now report to Lord... | | | Yesterday I wrote that "Lidia Curanaj, a reporter for Fox's local station in NYC, filed a discrimination suit against Roger Ailes on Tuesday." That's not true -- the suit was against Fox News parent company 21st Century Fox, not against Ailes personally. I mis-read NYT's Emily Steel, whose story was correct... Here it is... | | -- Want a primer on CBS's All Access streaming service? Shalini Ramachandran has you covered... (WSJ)
-- Super Mario Run arrives on iPhones on Thursday! CNN's Rachel Crane interviewed Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto to mark the occasion... (CNNMoney)
-- "After months of speculation, Warner Bros.' film head Greg Silverman is exiting the studio. Toby Emmerich, currently president and COO of New Line Cinema, has been promoted to president and chief content officer, and will have creative oversight of both Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema..." (THR)
-- More from THR: Sean Hannity is "making his first foray into filmmaking as executive producer" by "partnering with Kevin Sorbo on a movie in which the former star of TV's 'Hercules: The Legendary Journeys' will play a world-renowned atheist whose beliefs are dramatically challenged..." (THR) | | Brian Lowry emails: Lee Daniels co-created a major hit for Fox with "Empire," and the network was hoping to catch lightning again with "Star," another musical drama that was introduced Wednesday night. To give the show a jumpstart, "Empire" moves up to 8 p.m. to give the new show a stronger lead-in. The reviews, however, haven't been particularly kind — "Star's" at a 42 on Metacritic — including mine, which invoked the dreaded image of the camp classic "Showgirls." Read the review here...
-- Context: Fox has plenty riding on the series, which after this preview comes back in January, basically hoping to keep "Empire's" seat warm until its return in the spring. Tune-in for "Empire" has declined, although it's still broadcast TV's top-rated drama in the key adults 18-49 demo... | | Lisa France wraps up the nominations for the 23rd annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, which were announced Wednesday morning:
"Manchester By The Sea" led the film performance nominations with four nods, followed by "Fences" and "Moonlight" with three. In the TV categories, Netflix newcomer "Stranger Things" got three nominations, as did "The Crown," "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story" and "Westworld." Read more... And here's the complete list... | | | For the record, part three | | | -- Via Chloe Melas: "He was the best man I ever knew." Robin Thicke shared this tribute of his father Alan Thicke...
-- Sandra Gonzalez emails: I caught up with Common after he helped announce SAG nominations, and he talked about the importance of art and storytelling during these divisive times...
-- Lisa France emails: A beloved animated story about a prodigal lion cub. An '80s comedy-drama about five teens coping with detention. A Hitchcock thriller about a town under attack by menacing birds. And a fairy tale about a young farmhand rescuing a princess. These are just a few of the films that have been added to the Library of Congress's National Registry... | | | What do you like about this newsletter? What do you dislike? Send your feedback to reliablesources@cnn.com. | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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