Could Reporting Do What Rights Groups Could Not?
"So much for a belated honeymoon period. A day after gaining widespread praise in the media for his address to a joint session of Congress, President Trump is facing a barrage of potentially damaging stories," PR Week wrote in a Thursday morning headline.
"The good vibes in the media from President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress didn't last long," the story began. "A troika—that's a Russian term — of potentially very damaging stories to the Trump administration broke Wednesday night.
If that takes place, the media reports will have accomplished what attention to Sessions' civil rights record could not.
It also said, "In January alone, the NAACP earned in support of its #StopSessions campaigns gained 43,000 new Twitter followers, generated hundreds of posts earning over 14.5 million views and more than 370,200 engagements.
"With Facebook, our supporters churned out 573,000 page 'likes,' and posts were seen 4.1 million times, while videos were watched 1.07 million times in January alone. These numbers represent the floor of our potential activity in mobilizing support for the protection of civil rights rather than its ceiling.
Asked whether he would step aside from investigating alleged ties between Trump's surrogates and intermediaries for the Russian government, Sessions told NBC News, "I have said whenever it's appropriate, I will recuse myself. There's no doubt about that," NBC's Tony Capra and Erik Ortiz reported.
Lauren Smith and Laura Smith-Spark, CNN: Democrats call for Sessions to resign over meetings with Russian envoy, some Republicans [call] for recusal.
The topics for commentary on Donald Trump seem limitless. In this animated cartoon, Mike Thomas of the Detroit Free Press focuses on Trump's ability to profit handsomely from the presidency.
"President Donald Trump campaigned promising a return to 'law and order,' Chiraag Bains reported Tuesday for the Marshall Project.
That wasn't the message Trump delivered later Tuesday in his address to a joint session of Congress.
Fact-checkers who reviewed Trump's speech, which was praised by many as "presidential" for its marked evenness in tone, found it premised on other false assumptions and assertions.
"How is this number developed? Well, there is a civilian noninstitutional population of 254.1 million people, and 159.7 million are in the labor force. The difference yields the 94.4 million figure.
"But the unemployment rate is only 4.8 percent because just 7.6 million people actively are looking for a job and cannot find one. They are considered part of the overall labor force. In other words, you have to be seeking a job to be counted in the labor force.
"Who are the 94 million not in the labor force? The BLS has data for the year 2015. It turns out that 93 percent do not want a job at all. The picture that emerges from a study of the data shows that the 95 million consists mostly of people who are retired, students, stay-at-home parents or disabled.
Andrés Oppenheimer, Miami Herald: President Trump, stop scaring away foreign tourists. Take a lesson from Costa Rica.
"ABC News President James Goldston has pledged to 'stand with our colleagues who cover the White House' and 'protest' if the White House does not operate with transparency, he said Wednesday in response to a petition imploring the broadcasting company to take a stand over the White House's decision to exclude news organizations from a press gaggle last Friday," Kelsey Sutton reported Wednesday for Politico.
Sutton also wrote, "Earlier Wednesday, Goldston received a petition signed by more than 230 former ABC News executives, correspondents, producers and other former staffers calling on him to refuse to take part in White House briefings if news organizations are barred from attending.
Perlberg and Carrasquillo said that among the attendees were NBC's Chuck Todd and Lester Holt, CNN's Jake Tapper and Wolf Blitzer, Univision's María Elena Salinas and Telemundo's Jose Diaz-Balart and TVOne's Roland Martin.
On Monday night, Trump held an off-the-record dinner meeting with 18 local television reporters, representing six station groups, Kevin Eck reported for TVSpy.
In Asia, "In a sign that President Trump's criticism of the news media may be having a ripple effect overseas, a government spokesman in Cambodia has cited the American leader in threatening to shutter foreign news outlets, including some that receive money from Washington," Mike Ives reported Tuesday for the New York Times.
Stephen J. Farnsworth, S. Robert Lichter and Roland Schatz, Washington Post: News coverage of Trump is really, really negative. Even on Fox News.
Adam Liptak, New York Times: Barring Reporters From Briefings: Does It Cross a Legal Line?
"After Kellyanne Conway was photographed sitting on her feet on an Oval Office couch, the Internet reached for its best material — and behold, a new meme was born," Lindsey Bever reported Tuesday for the Washington Post.
Karen Mizoguchi wrote Tuesday for People magazine, "Kellyanne Conway spoke out about the couch controversy and offered an explanation as to why she was kneeling on the Oval Office furniture.
"I was very busy today and didn't follow a lot of it, but I know there are a couple of reports at least showing what happened. And what happened is we had the largest gathering of men and women to date in the Oval Office for a picture," the White House adviser explained on Tuesday's episode of Fox News' Lou Dobbs Tonight.
"I was being asked to take a picture in a crowded room with the press behind us. I was asked to take a certain angle and was doing exactly that. I certainly meant no disrespect, I didn't mean to have my feet on the couch," she continued.
"As a new columnist and editor at large at The Undefeated, William C. Rhoden is looking toward the future, and not just his own," Corinne Grinapol reported Tuesday for Fishbowl. "In his new role, Rhoden will not only be writing columns on sports, culture and race, but is also setting up an internship program to support a new generation of sports journalists.
" 'John Skipper and Kevin Merida have helped turn a dream into reality,' Rhoden said in a statement. "Through The Undefeated, ESPN has provided me with an unprecedented opportunity to identify, mentor and sponsor talented young journalists from Historically Black Colleges and Universities. I look forward to passing the torch I received from Sam Lacy and many others to a vibrant, new generation,' he said, referring to the black sportswriter who worked during and experienced the effects of segregation and also served as a mentor to many generations of journalists.
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists Tuesday added its voice to those protesting Univision's dramatization last Saturday of the deadly mass shooting nine months ago at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.
In a response from a Univision representative whose name was redacted in the letter posted on the NAHJ website, the company said, ". . . We deeply respect the outpouring of feelings and opinions we have received this week, including yours. We consulted with numerous family members of the victims and survivors in order to accurately reflect their viewpoints and testimonies.
"As the city experiences a boom in new skyscrapers, the house that EBONY/Jet founder John H. Johnson built remains a decaying relic that's up for sale as hungry developers push the limits of their projects into unchartered waters," Erick Johnson wrote Wednesday for the Chicago Crusader.
In 2010, Johnson Publishing Co. announced that it had sold the building to Columbia College Chicago. Last June, Columbia College announced its intention to sell the building.
"Completed in 1971, the building not only represented the city's once mighty position as a publishing powerhouse, but as the home of Ebony and Jet magazines, the modernist high-rise was a beacon of Chicago's African American business community," AJ Latrace reported Feb. 3 for Curbed Chicago.
In Chicago, "ABC7's Hosea Sanders announced Tuesday that he will undergo surgery for prostate cancer," WLS-TV announced on Tuesday. "Sanders says he was first diagnosed several weeks ago and will undergo surgery on Wednesday as part of the treatment. . . ." Sanders' announcement on Facebook had garnered more than 7,672 "likes," 1.445 shares and 4,990 comments by Thursday morning.
In Cincinnati, Byron McCauley "has returned to The Enquirer after 10 months away," Editor Peter Bhatia told Journal-isms Tuesday by email. "He is in the process of developing a local column and will have some other duties we're still sorting out. He's a terrific journalist and an outstanding person. We're thrilled to have him back." McCauley left the editorial board a year ago to become communications director for the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now, an education advocacy group.
Belize native Kendis Gibson has been named co-anchor of "America This Morning" and the overnight "World News Now," joining Diane Macedo, ABC News announced on Tuesday.
Cash Michaels, contributing writer for the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Chronicle and the Carolina Peacemaker in Greensboro, will be celebrated Friday and Saturday at the annual African American Festival in Cary, N.C., the town announced on Monday. Michaels is also a staff writer and columnist for the Wilmington (N.C.) Journal and contributing writer for the New York Amsterdam News.
Hugo Pérez, news director at KRWG-TV in Las Cruces, N.M., Victor Ramirez, assignment editor/producer at CNN Newsource in Atlanta, Terra Hall, digital multimedia reporter at KSHB-TV, Kansas City; and Chanteé Lans, reporter at WBZ-TV in Boston, are among 12 producers, reporters, and editors to become Fellows in Europe in June as part of the German/American Journalist Exchange Program, the Radio Television Digital News Foundation announced on Wednesday.
"I have come to depend on Richard's column as one of my main avenues of news and information on how we are doing as a profession in meeting the needs of our diverse communities.
— Arlene Notoro Morgan, assistant dean for external affairs at Temple University's School of Media and Communication.