Press

There’s nothing the media love more than a story about themselves. And if it isn’t about them, they’ll make it so.

Retiring senator Arizona Jeff Flake accused President Donald Trump of reckless disregard for the truth Wednesday, saying that the White House had launched an “unrelenting daily assault on constitutionally protected free speech.”

The late North Korean tyrant Kim Jong-il had thousands of Hollywood movies in his personal collection, furnishing him with what he thought was a deep knowledge of a country he would never see. He was particularly fond, reportedly, of The Godfather—so much so that he ran his country like a Mafioso.…

The late North Korean tyrant Kim Jong-il had thousands of Hollywood movies in his personal collection, furnishing him with what he thought was a deep knowledge of a country he would never see. He was particularly fond, reportedly, of The Godfather—so much so that he ran his country like a Mafioso.…

Jim Acosta, senior White House correspondent for CNN, has acquired a certain renown lately for his habitual, and carefully staged, verbal confrontations in the White House press room with President Trump’s press secretary, Sean Spicer. You could make the argument that both Spicer and Acosta, in…

Jim Acosta, senior White House correspondent for CNN, has acquired a certain renown lately for his habitual, and carefully staged, verbal confrontations in the White House press room with President Trump’s press secretary, Sean Spicer. You could make the argument that both Spicer and Acosta, in…

Donald Trump declared in a tweet on February 17 that the mainstream press is "the enemy of the American People." This inflammatory remark was greeted by outrage mixed with anxiety. Chuck Todd of NBC's Meet the Press spoke for many journalists when he responded, "This is not a laughing matter. I'm…

Donald Trump declared in a tweet on February 17 that the mainstream press is “the enemy of the American People." This inflammatory remark was greeted by outrage mixed with anxiety. Chuck Todd of NBC's Meet the Press spoke for many journalists when he responded, "This is not a laughing matter. I'm…

An elementary lesson of life is that systems are often invented by geniuses but usually administrated by less gifted individuals. This explains a lot about zero-tolerance policies in schools, prosecutorial discretion, and other topics of recurring interest. The best-known example, in popular…

White House press secretary Sean Spicer turned heads on Saturday evening when he called reporters to the briefing room and read from a written statement: "This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration—period—both in person and around the globe." Spicer drew intense criticism because…

The press was forbidden from filming Hillary Clinton boarding her private plane, said an ABC reporter covering the leading Democratic candidate.

President Obama went golfing in Hawaii yesterday and called the press over when he reached the 18th hole. The commander in chief then made what ABC News describes as a 40-foot chip shot:

At a press conference today at the Ritz Carlton in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, President Obama warned the media not to empower terrorists. The terrorists, he said, are just "a bunch of killers with good social media."

Ever since the start of the campaign, Hillary Clinton boosters have been complaining about coverage of their candidate in the New York Times. And today the paper announced that Washington bureau chief Carolyn Ryan is being demoted -- or shifting roles! -- at the paper. 

On Monday Hillary Clinton posted a picture on her Facebook Page alongside a caption, "Hillary’s hosting her first Facebook Q&A of the campaign this afternoon. She'll be chatting live about her vision for a better economy—add your question below, and the post will be updated when she’s ready to…

The Hillary Clinton campaign forbid young supporters from talking to the press at an event last night in Iowa: 

Longtime Clinton aide and defender Paul Begala called the roping off the press "horrible, horrible" this morning on CNN:

The top spokesman in the Hillary Clinton campaign says the press cannot get in the way of Clinton's ability to campaign. That's how Jennifer Palmieri, the communications director for Clinton's campaign, explained the press being roped off at a July 4 event for Clinton over the weekend.

The press was roped down by aides today at Hillary Clinton event in New Hampshire. Photos of the press corps following Clinton at a July 4 parade were shared today on Twitter and Snapchat.

Summer means it's wedding season, and in Washington that means plenty of potential for conflicts of interest. Consider the wedding of one Hillary Clinton aide, attended by several members of the national political press covering Clinton and her rivals for the White House.

Hillary Clinton finally made herself available this afternoon for her first press conference of the 2016 presidential campaign, and the crowd cheered. The cheers came after Clinton wrapped up her quick press conference.

In his first two days as a presidential candidate, Democrat Martin O'Malley took "over 70 uncensored questions" from the press and general public, according to deputy campaign manager Lis Smith.

Florida press is knocking Hillary Clinton for hiding during her visit to the Sunshine State.

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz had a simple question to a reporter who asked whether he had a "personal animus against gay Americans."

Ed Henry of Fox News dared to ask Hillary Clinton a question at an event today in Iowa.

Over the weekend, Vox published an article headlined "Hillary Clinton personally took money from companies that sought to influence her." Given Vox's overwhelmingly liberal audience and the astounding lengths the publication's top editors will go to defend liberal politicians, the fact they're…

If anyone needs further evidence of why the news agencies often can’t be trusted to report accurately on Israel and the Palestinians, and why major news outlets such as the New York Times and the BBC should stop repeating agency copy without verifying it, here is an important example from this…

President Obama's former top political adviser, David Axelrod, says that "It would be a terrible mistake" for Hillary Clinton not to take questions from the press. Axelrod also once worked for the Clintons.

It's been a month since Hillary Clinton officially announced that she was running for president. On April 12, Hillary launched her presidential campaign by releasing a video--and then going into hiding as she road-tripped half-way across the country.

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with editor William Kristol on the week that was in Washington, London, and around the world.

"Do you have a statement for the Palestinians?” “What about your gaffes?” “Do you feel that your gaffes have overshadowed your foreign trip?”

The director of press advance at the White House has joined the press. The Los Angeles Times announced this morning the hiring of Johanna Maska, an aide to President Obama.

The U.S. State Department is looking to design and facilitate a media ethics course for journalists in India, and has even proposed appropriating the name of Robin Thicke's 2013 hit "Blurred Lines" as a title for the course. The U.S. consulate general in Hyderabad, India is looking for a non-profit…

President Barack Obama's top adviser, Valerie Jarrett, went around the table and kissed reporters before an interview this morning on MNSBC's Morning Joe. The moment was briefly captured on live television before the network cut away to a commercial break. 

Rand Paul told CNN that he's "short-tempered" with not just female reporters, but also with male reporters.

The State Department has cancelled daily press briefings in Washington, D.C. three days in a row as John Kerry continues to try to strike a nuclear deal with Iran. Matt Lee of the Associated Press notes the schedule changes:

Since Politico, a politics-focused website and newspaper, launched its subscription-based news service Politico Pro in 2011, government agencies have increasingly turned to the service to keep abreast of the latest developments in their spheres of policy. Government records show fiscal year 2011…

During her press appearance today, Hillary Clinton acknowledged that about 60,000 emails, including sent and received, went through her home email server that she used during her tenure as secretary of state. About half of those, she said, were work related. UPI reports:

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with senior writer Stephen F. Hayes on the Cotton Letter to Iran, the media, and its response.

Hillary Clinton will be holding a press availability today at the United Nations in New York City. But all members of the press won't be able to attend. Only those who requested credentials 24 hours before the event (or about 18 hours before news of the availability leaked out) will be credentialed.

Another official from the Obama administration has been hired by the media. The latest is White House lawyer Michael D. Gottlieb, who's been hired by the National Journal Group.

How are the ongoing nuclear negotiations between the U.S. and Iran playing out in the Iranian press? Well, the U.S. is being portrayed as desperate.

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow complained on her TV show tonight that no one from NBC would come on her show to discuss the suspension of anchor Brian Williams:

Since Politico, a politics-focused website and newspaper, launched its subscription-based news service Politico Pro in 2011, government agencies have increasingly turned to the service to keep abreast of the latest developments in their spheres of policy. Government records show fiscal year 2011…

President Obama, Michelle Obama, and Malia Obama are dining at the home of CNN executive Virginia Moseley tonight, according to the White House pool report. Moseley's husband is Thomas Nides, a former (and probably future) aide to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. 

Vice President Joe Biden had an interesting exchange with the president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko. The two were speaking in front of reporters at the Munich Security Conference. 

Michael Bloomberg expressed interest in buying the New York Times, a new report in New York magazine says. "For years now, it has been speculated in media circles that Mike Bloomberg could be a white knight and save the New York Times. Now it appears he may actually have tried to do it," reads the…

President Obama sat down "interviews" with YouTube stars this afternoon. As one of the interviews ended, one of the stars, Hank Green, asked Obama for an autograph:

After the State of the Union Address next week, President Obama will turn to YouTube personalities to answer questions.

President Obama will face the press: He'll host a press conference later today, following his party's terrible election yesterday.

Last night at a Democratic fundraiser in Chicago, President Obama mentioned that there are some "unpaid bills" on his desk in Chicago--which he left when moved to the White House after winning the presidential election in 2008. Here's what he said:

The NBC News crew that was working with the NBC freelance cameraman has been ordered into quarantine after violating their self-imposed separation.

Robert Gibbs, the first White House press secretary in the Obama administration, calls President Obama's "we don't have a strategy yet" comment about dealing with ISIS a "wince-able moment."

After nearly four years of procedural delay, the trial of former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling is set to open shortly. Sterling was indicted at the end of 2010 for leaking information about a top-secret CIA operation to James Risen of the New York Times in violation of the espionage statutes. It is…

Agence France-Presse State Department correspondent Jo Biddle is claiming on Twitter that members of the media traveling with Secretary of State John Kerry to China "have had their bank accounts hacked."

Jennifer Bendery reports that a woman fainted in the White House press briefing today, almost immediately after spokesman Josh Earnest finished his second day on the job as press secretary.

Maggie Flick of Reuters is reporting that:

The professional press corps has been frozen out of Michelle Obama's swing through China. But the White House has partnered with CNN to bring in amateurs. Katie Hawkins-Gaar, a CNN editor, coordinated the effort to solicit and accumulate submissions from "iReporters" interested in asking questions…

A CBS reporter from Arizona reveals that President Obama's press secretary, Jay Carney, receives questions from the press in advance of his daily press briefing. In fact, she says, the reporters often receive the answers in advance of the briefing, too.

Matthew Continetti, writing at the Washington Free Beacon, describes how many in the mainstream media tried to dismiss the Beacon's extensive reporting on archives from Hillary Clinton's close friend during Clinton's time as First Lady. Here's Continetti:

White House press secretary Jay Carney is concerned that the press in China -- the foreign press there -- is facing "restrictions."

Appearing with Piers Morgan on CNN, Barbara Walters summed up The Grand Disillusionment this way

Matthew Continetti, writing in the Washington Free Beacon:

On Thursday, a scathing article by Ron Fournier titled, "Obama’s Image Machine: Monopolistic Propaganda Funded by You, at National Journal, took the White House to task for shutting out press photographers from presidential events in favor of official White House photos taken by White House…

A reporter proposed a deal to White House press secretary Jay Carney: How about Obama "delay Obamacare for a year if Republicans would agree to delay heart attacks for a year?"

Blame it on Rouhani Fever. Earlier this week, Foreign Policy’s website reported that for the first time in decades an Iranian official used the word “Israel”—“not Zionist entity,” “not occupying regime”—to describe the Jewish state. Later acknowledging their story was wrong (“Death to Israel” after…

NBC announced today that it would be launching a week of programming to help Obamacare get off its feet, according to a press release sent out by the network. The law has been widely opposed by all Republicans and supported by most Democrats, including President Obama.

Occasionally the White House conducts "background briefings" for reporters, often in the form of a conference call in which "senior administration officials" participate. The officials, though known to the reporters, are not to be named by the reporters in their stories; hence the term…

Under the headline, "Veteran Journalist Douglas Frantz Heading To State Department," Michael Calderone of the Huffington Post reports on one Secretary of State John Kerry's latest hires.

Earlier this week, Maurice Bonamigo had strong words for the White House on its Egypt policy. “The Obama administration failed to assess the situation in Egypt,” Bonamigo told Egypt’s flagship English-language media organ, the Egypt Independent. “It did not appreciate the power of the Egyptian…

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama attended a cocktail party this evening at the Martha's Vineyard home of National Public Radio host and special correspondent Michele Norris, according to the White House pool report. Norris's husband, Broderick Johnson, is a lobbyist who worked…

Details of President Obama's West coast trip this week, information usually reserved for pre-screened media outlets, were apparently inadvertently posted on the White House website for about 24 hours this weekend before being abruptly removed without comment on Monday morning.

Matthew Continetti, writing for the Washington Free Beacon:

Texas state senator Wendy Davis has been on a whirlwind media tour since her filibuster (and a screaming mob) blocked a vote on a bill that would ban most abortions during the final four months of pregnancy and improve safety standards at abortion facilities.

At the Radisson Blu in Dakar, Senegal, President Obama tried to get reporters to write about issues he believes are important. "[M]illet and maize and fertilizer doesn’t always make for sexy copy, but I very much hope that all the press who were in attendance today generate a story about this,"…

President Obama stopped by the press cabin on Air Force One, as the presidential plane made its way to South Africa. While there, the press had a chance to ask the president about major issues concerning Americans: the scandals, the controversial Supreme Court decisions, immigration, and many…

The White House defended Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to invite press to an off-the-record briefing by saying Holder "is interested in having a constructive policy discussion with professional journalists about a subject most people think is a complex policy issue." White House spokesman…

Senator Schumer's off-the-shelf solution to any problem, real or merely perceived, is to form a "gang of eight" that comes up with a bipartisan fix.  As Keith Laing reports on the Hill, Schumer appeared onFace the Nation and:

White House spokesman Jay Carney refused to answer questions about the federal government monitoring the Associated Press's telephone records. Instead, Carney "referred questions" to officials in the Justice Department. 

The Associated Press reports:

CBS anchor Scott Pelley said at a speech at Quinnipiac University that journalists "are getting big stories wrong, over and over again."

Not front page material in the Grey Lady's news judgment.  But good enough for page A-11.  With the third paragraph reassuring readers that an agency spokesperson had insisted 

The Newseum, a museum in Washington, D.C. that chronicles the news industry, plans to add two dead terrorists to its "Journalists Memorial."  The announcement to include these terrorists on the memorial, which "pays tribute to reporters, photographers and broadcasters who have died reporting the…

First Lady Michelle Obama will do a book signing event at a local Washington, D.C. bookstore, the White House announced today. The event, aside from a brief photo-op, will be closed to the press.

President Obama will make a rare appearance in the White House press briefing room today where he'll do something even more unusual: take questions from the press.

Tonight is the occasion of the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, which Ron Fournier deplores:

An interesting moment from today's quick Oval Office press availability with President Obama:

The White House announced today that President Obama will be observing a moment of silence today for Boston bombings last week. The event is "closed press."

During remarks last night at the Gridiron Club at a hotel in downtown Washington, D.C., President Obama flattered the press. "[T]he truth is," Obama told the club of journalists, "our country needs you and our democracy needs you."

President Obama is meeting the press tonight in Washington, D.C. He'll be having dinner tonight at the Gridiron Club, an organization of journalists, at a downtown hotel.

Mitt Romney's wife, Ann Romney, said this morning that the media is at least in part to blame for her husband's failure to win the last presidential election:

At the White House today, Obama ended his remarks by saying, "And with that, what I want to do is clear out the press so we can take some questions:"

Josh Earnest, a White House deputy press secretary, answering a reporter's question aboard Air Force One on Friday, inadvertently painted with a broader brush than he intended. The reporter asked why Republican senators were linking Chuck Hagel's nomination for defense secretary with a bid to…

President Obama has returned to Washington, from his solo vacation. He finally talked with the press on the ride back.

After not seeing Barack Obama all weekend, the press are finally being let into the Floridian, the exclusive golf club that's hosted the president the last few days. Via the pool report: 

The president, down in Florida for vacation without his family, will spend the day golfing. The press, meanwhile, is on a "party bus," according to the pool report:

President Barack Obama had lunch today with members of the press. But we likely won't find out what was discussed: The entire luncheon was off the record.

On its website, the Iranian propaganda outlet Press TV has an article titled, "Journalism is dead and buried in West." The propaganda reads:

In a letter to the White House, four members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence asked President Obama whether recent disclosures to the press of classified information on the Benghazi terrorist attacks were authorized by the Obama administration or illegal leaks subject to…

A Huffington Post writer caught political reporters talking on Politico's livestream, predicting that there's "a 40% chance that [Mitt Romney] says something stupid." Via Twitter:

There are two U.S. economies. Well, not really. But there is the economy reported in the New York Times as part of its pre-election coverage, and far different one reported in the authoritative financial press.

The Tampa Bay Times, the paper that puts out (and funds) the supposedly unbiased PolitiFact, has just enthusiastically endorsed President Obama for a second term.  The Times writes that “[w]ithout hesitation” it “recommends Barack Obama for re-election as president.” The paper cites Obama’s “steady…

One can’t help being in awe of the New York Times. The ingenuity it displays in running down Mitt Romney, if applied to a more useful project, would be a national treasure.

In today's headlines:

White House records reveal that the moderator of last night's vice presidential debate, Martha Raddatz, visited Vice President Joe Biden at his official residence on March 26, 2012. Raddatz is an employee of ABC News.

The White House has not held a press briefing in the last 15 days, according to records on the White House's website. The last one was held on September 24, 2012, by White House press secretary Jay Carney.

Most of the post-debate punditry has focused on Barack Obama’s failure to win last week's head-to-head match-up. Both the left and right seem to agree that Obama lost, with disagreement as to why that happened, naturally.

Seems like the press are being kept far away from Joe Biden--and Iowans--at the vice president's rally today. Jennifer Jacobs of the Des Moines Register reports on Twitter:

Mark Halperin, this morning on Morning Joe, said the media is neither scrutinizing President Obama's questions nor asking critical questions:

Matt Continetti, writing for the Washington Free Beacon:

The gap between the way the media characterizes the presidential race and what is actually happening is growing larger by the day. In particular, we see a systematic emphasis on news items that favor the president and a discounting of evidence that disfavor him.

Vanity Fair writer Michael Lewis agreed to allow the White House to approve the quotations he used from President Barack Obama in his story about the president in this month's magazine.

Politico executive editor Jim VandeHei last night admitted that the "Mainstream media tends to be quite smitten with the Obamas."

Vice President Joe Biden gave his answer to the press to the question of whether Americans are better off now than they were four years ago: 

Newsweek's cover this week is decidedly not favorable to President Obama:

On the Today Show this morning, Mark Halperin said the media basically does what the Obama campaign wants them to do: 

Jonathan Martin of Politico reports that aides to Vice President Joe Biden have taken the unusual step of wrangling the press for edits to pool reports: 

Politico's Patrick Gavin reports: 

Jerusalem

Bill Burton, a founder of President Obama's super PAC and former White House official, partied last night with "Reporters from nearly every outlet in town," the Washington Examiner reports.

Matt Continetti, writing in the Washington Free Beacon:

Listen to the audio of the media horde screaming questions at Mitt Romney just after he had finished paying his respects at Poland's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and tell me you don't sympathize with the pithy comment by his aide, Rick Gorka.

Warsaw, Poland

A deputy press secretary for Barack Obama's reelection campaign married an ABC reporter over the weekend. The ABC reporter, Matthew Jaffe, "covering the 2012 presidential campaign," according to his biography on the website of ABC News. "For the past year he traveled around the country covering the…

Barack Obama's reelection campaign has seized on this blind quotation in today's edition of the British newspaper the Telegraph: 

I first began reading the Washington Post sometime in 1956-57, whenever I learned to read in the course of first grade. One of my parents had declared that newspapers were deliberately written at a fifth-grade level, and I was determined to find out what “fifth-grade level” meant. I discovered that…

National Public Radio media enterprise is so essential, according to backers, that it requires government support. But, as its supporters always point out, in an amount equal to merely 2 percent of the NPR budget.  Which leads one to ask if the outfit couldn't find a way to spend two percent less…

Most journalists will swear that, despite the fact they vote Democratic, they treat both sides fairly. Indeed, it is a rare event to read a news article that directly attacks the Republican party or one that praises the Democratic party.

White House press secretary Jay Carney had an odd exchange with a reporter at today's press briefing—in Russian! Via the official White House transcript: 

Politico is still promoting ex-reporter Joe Williams, who is no longer working at the publication after saying that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is uncomfortable around people who are not white.

New York City

How convenient! How coincidental! Time magazine put its latest issue to bed on Wednesday evening—and 36 hours later the Obama administration announced that it would be using "prosecutorial discretion" not to deport young illegal immigrants who "do not present a risk to national security or public…

White House press secretary Jay Carney used today's briefing to tell members of the press how to do their job. "You all ought to do your jobs and report on context," Carney said in response to a question on President Obama's Friday comment Friday that "the private sector is doing fine."

The story of the Stuxnet and Flame cyber exploits is so compelling that you almost don't care where it came from or if it represents a serious breach of national security. Almost. You can read David Sanger in the Times and Jonathan Last, here at THE WEEKLY STANDARD, and you crave more. Including…

According to Politico, “Obama’s exasperation with modern journalism, like his contempt for modern politics, is rooted in his disappointment with the current state of its practitioners…”

Washington Post White House reporter Amy Gardner tweeted that the "WH is serving us margaritas at the press file center in Reno."

President Obama is currently speaking at Washington-Lee High School, a luxury school just outside Washington, D.C., about the high cost of education. The president's mission is, we learn from the pool report, "to discuss the cost of college education and to build pressure on Congress to extend the…

The men and women who go the hard yards to cover the White House belong to an organization that calls itself the White House Correspondent's Association. This outfit puts on a little soiree every year, where members can decompress after the tortures of being condescended to, hour after hour, by…

Some words and phrases from this Reuters story about the morning's GDP numbers:

White House spokesman Jay Carney reacted to the publication of photos in the Los Angeles Times of U.S. soldiers posing with corpses in Afghanistan by  saying the Obama administration is "disappointed.. [with] the decision to publish two years after the incident," according to a pool report.

There's a profile of the late Andrew Breitbart in the New York Times "Sunday Styles" section by reporter David Carr. Carr's a talented and fair journalist, by Times standards, and the piece is mostly fair enough. But in the middle of it is this striking sentence, or rather this striking parenthesis:

Lee Smith: "Who Leaked Israeli Iran Plan? Some analysts say the White House leaked details of Israel’s alleged attack plan to discourage the Jewish state. Others call the idea ‘absurd.’"

Tonight, ABC News will broadcast Barbara Walters’s interview with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. The network hasn’t released the full transcript yet, but so far press releases suggest that the big news is that Assad is denying any responsibility for the almost 4,000 Syrians killed since the…

The Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) new media policy rightfully has journalists up in arms:

John Kerry announced today on Morning Joe that he believes the media should take some responsibility for keeping the Tea Party and its ideas out of our public discourse:

Senior writer Matt Labash reveals tricks of the trade in a recent interview with Fishbowl D.C.: 

Tom Gross, a Middle East analyst based in Israel, recently gave an interview to Radio Farda, the pro-democracy branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that broadcasts in Iran. Gross discussed Iran, Israel, democracy, and the Middle East, among other topics. The interview was translated into Farsi…

Is the mainstream media the Obama administration's farm team? With the hiring of the Washington Post's Shailagh Murray to be Joe Biden's new communications director, which happened after the vice president's old press guy (Jay Carney, formerly of Time magazine) was called up to the major leagues to…

Kiev – At around 10 a.m. Moscow time on March 23, the world saw another example of just how dangerous it is to be an investigative reporter in Russia. Sergei Topol, a 55-year-old political journalist, was beaten by two men outside of his apartment building at 1 Kotelnicheskaya Naberezhnaya—one of…

Obama's townhall event at Facebook was quite the thing to behold. To say it was a friendly atmosphere for the president would be something of an understatement. The president enjoyed lots of softballs and applause and was never challenged on his answers. Based on his interaction with a local Texas…