| | | | | Press freedom is your freedom | | When those of us in the news media talk about "press freedom," we're not just talking about our freedom. We're talking about your freedom... Your freedom both to consume and create content... Your freedom to know what's really going on. That was the closing message on Sunday's "Reliable Sources," our live last edition of the year.
The goal: to connect the dots between Obama's war on leaks, Trump's war on the "dishonest" media, and new protests in Poland. Because... Let's be honest... Sometimes this stuff sounds like "news for the newsroom" (to borrow a Jonathan Wald phrase), but it's not... | | Have you heard about what's going on in Warsaw? Matthew Day writes for CNN: "A bitter political crisis in Poland worsened over the weekend... The spark for the parliamentary unrest was a government plan to limit media access to the Polish Parliament."
The political fighting devolved from there... But the protesters took the streets partly to defend their local reporters' ability to question and challenge lawmakers.
The BBC quoted former Polish Prime Minister/current European Council president Donald Tusk as saying that without media access, "democracy becomes dictatorship." | | | Meanwhile, back in the USA... | | Donald Trump's words are chipping away at the power and legitimacy of the press. At Saturday night's rally in Mobile, he called the media "dishonest" at least seven times and went on several tangents about campaign coverage.
So-- if you agree with this, and/or you want to share the video clip, here it is-- "Don't let government devalue and delegitimize journalism. Because press freedom is your freedom." | | | CPJ annual survey out Monday morning | | | The Committee to Protect Journalists will be releasing its annual report about journalist deaths on Monday... You'll be able to find it at CPJ.org in the morning... | | | Trump has an off the record chat with the press corps | | | "Trump held an off-the-record conversation with reporters on Sunday evening," The Hill's Cyra Master reports. The meeting happened at a cocktail party... With members of Trump's traveling press corps... And it lasted about 30 minutes... | | | Mike Allen posted this picture, saying Trump was "relaxed and chatty..." | | | Trump press conference watch: 144 days | | | His last press conference was on July 27, 144 days ago, when his general election campaign was just beginning. | | "It's as if Mr. Trump's media attacks have combined with the heightened attention on the perils of fake news to create one big fat advertisement for the value of basic journalism," Jim Rutenberg writes in Monday's NYT. He invokes Taylor Swift... Here's why...
In Monday's WashPost, Margaret Sullivan asks Warren Burrett, Jay Rosen, Carl Bernstein, and others about what to expect in the months ahead. Some of the answers: "Unprecedented conflict between the administration and the media... The weakening of journalism in the heartland... More pressure than ever on dominant news organizations..." | | | "Reliable Sources" highlights | | -- "All we can do is tell the truth:" Jane Hall and Jeffrey Toobin talked about the Trump challenge during the A block...
-- Trump as the "Say Anything" president? This segment highlighted Trump's much-repeated misinformation about the murder rate...
-- Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy told me that "biased news" mattered more than "fake news" during the campaign... Mediaite's Ken Meyer summed up his comments here...
-- Richard Stengel, in his first 1-on-1 interview since leaving the State Department, described Voice of America and other U.S.-funded media efforts as "one of the weapons in the arsenal" of the government to "combat disinformation" from Russia... And he refuted concerns about VOA turning into "Trump TV..." Watch... | | | Facebook's warning label: "So far, so good" | | PolitiFact is one of the initial partners for Facebook's "fake news" flags. While the test is in its "early days," editor Angie Drobnic Holan told me it's "so far, so good." On Sunday's show, she said: "One of the reports that we did and published, the web site that put out the fake news got back to us and said, 'Oh, we're sorry. We're taking our report down.'" I also asked Holan about criticism of her fact-checking... Watch here...
-- ICYMI: On Friday I wrote about how right-wing media outlets are raising concerns about Facebook's labeling... | | "The fake news business is going to be great for journalism in the long run. Proper news organizations should thrive under this."
--Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter in an interview with the aforementioned Rutenberg... | | | 'Rogue One' beats Death Star-sized expectations | | | Frank Pallotta emails his weekend box office story: The rebels of "Rogue One" helped expand Disney's "Star Wars" empire with an impressive $290.5 million global opening. The $155 million U.S. opening is roughly $100 million less than the record-breaking debut of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" last year. But with "Rogue One" being Disney's first "Star Wars" spinoff, the opening is a huge success for Disney showing that the franchise can produce hits away from the core story. Not to mention, the film's popularity should also stir excitement for next year's highly anticipated "Episode VIII," which could become the biggest blockbuster in movie history. So see you all in 361 days, and as always may the Force be with you... | | -- "Drain the swamp -- in Trenton." Numerous New Jersey newspapers ran front page editorials on Saturday... Here's why... (Asbury Park Press)
-- Thomas Roberts writes: "It is true I won't be keeping my current show weekdays on MSNBC. My last show was Thursday..." No word on what he's doing next... (Facebook)
-- Stephen Battaglio has an in-depth look at the network TV morning show wars... (LATimes)
-- Hope Hicks spoke on camera this weekend! (Eight words) (Twitter video) | | | Media week ahead calendar | | -- Monday: Apple's AirPods will start arriving...
-- Monday evening: Oprah Winfrey's interview with Michelle Obama airs on CBS...
-- Thursday: Putin's end-of-the-year press conference promises to be very, very interesting...
-- Friday: The "tenth anniversary of a United Nations resolution condemning attacks on journalists..." (via CBS)
-- Sunday: Christmas! | | | "SNL" likens Trump to a monkey with a machine gun | | Maybe Trump liked Alec Baldwin's impersonation this time? (Juuuust kidding.) Trump didn't publicly respond to Saturday's end-of-the-year "SNL" episode. (If you missed it, CNN's Madison Park has the highlights here.)
Here's Michael Che's memorable "Weekend Update" line: "Taking the presidency away from Donald Trump now is like giving a monkey a machine gun and then trying to wrestle it back from him. At this point all we can do is pray that he can't figure out how it works, gets bored and just puts it down and walks away."
Bill Carter's Twitter reaction: "Looks like 'Weekend Update' has signed on to 'Resist' movement... Nobody at SNL getting chilled by the Twitter denunciations from on high -- yet..."
-- Programming note: Carter and I will be back on "New Day" Monday at 8:45am ET... | | | Jane Hall's message on Sunday's show: "We are not supposed to be a Tweetdeck for Donald Trump..." We don't have to "talk on every talk show about what he just said, because that plays totally into his hands..." Of course, the counterargument is that when the president-elect says something, it's "news..." | | | W.H. Correspondents Association wants to meet with Team Trump | | Amid all the talk about Trumpworld rethinking the daily White House press briefing, I interviewed White House Correspondents Association president Jeff Mason on Sunday's show.
Mason described a "wait-and-see approach," not wanting to presuppose anything, but he also said that the association's requests to talk with Trump aides have been met by phone calls and emails, not in-person meetings. "We haven't had as much contact as we would like, but we are in talks with them and expect to have even more," he said... Watch here... | | | My exit interview with Obama press secretary Josh Earnest will air on our Christmas show, but in this preview clip, he talked about the "spirit" of the briefing room, the importance of "holding people in power accountable for their actions," and the "symbolic accountability" of the daily briefings... Watch... | | | Here's a term I haven't heard anyone use before: On the latest "Keepin' it 1600" podcast, Chuck Todd is talking about the media + the election, and he references "concierge media" -- what he calls outlets that candidates "can just call up" and "they'll do your bidding." Seems like he's talking about the Hannitys of the world? Todd comments that "they've drowned out real journalists…" | | -- "Preaching the Gospel of Diversity, but Not Following It." This column by public editor Liz Spayd is a must read... (NYT)
-- Noteworthy: "According to the Fashion Spot's annual report, magazine covers were more diverse than ever this year..." (Essence)
-- For NYT's "the year in style 2016," Vanessa Friedman wrote about Megyn Kelly, who "wears what she wants..." (NYT) | | | A&E orders "Generation KKK," premiering in January | | A big, controversial announcement by A&E on Sunday:
"The cable network, on a buying spree of serious-minded documentary fare of late, has embedded cameras with the KKK over the last year in an effort to facilitate a dialogue between a handful of leaders in the hate group and members of their family who want to get out," THR's Michael O'Connell writes. A&E "has handed out an eight-episode order to 'Generation KKK,' set to premiere in January...." | | | Kludt profiling Jennifer Rubin | | | Tom Kludt emails: Coming on Monday... My profile of Jennifer Rubin, the conservative blogger for the WashPost. It wasn't long ago when Rubin was assailed as a "shill" for Mitt Romney; now her biggest critics are the supporters of this year's GOP nominee, who she has described as "evil incarnate." I asked her why she thought Romney, who was scathing in his criticism of Trump throughout the campaign, sought a job in the incoming administration. "You got me," she said. "I don't know what was going through his head. I would like to think he was trying to be good and patriotic citizen. I thought it was quite frankly never going to happen..." | | | Remembering Zsa Zsa Gabor | | | Zsa Zsa Gabor died Sunday in Los Angeles. "She became one of the most recognizable figures in Hollywood, with her trademark gowns, elaborate jewelry and Hungarian accent -- famous for being famous," Nischelle Turner says. "She was thought to be 99," according to the NYT... | | | Hey, thanks for reading. What do you like about this newsletter? What do you dislike? Send your feedback to reliablesources@cnn.com. We'll be back on Monday night... | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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