Journalists Urge White House Correspondents’ Association to Confront Trump at Dinner: ‘These Are Not Normal Times’ More than 250 former journalists sent a letter to the White House Correspondents’ Association on Monday urging the organization to “forcefully demonstrate opposition to President Donald Trump’s effort...

Journalists Urge White House Correspondents’ Association to Confront Trump at Dinner: ‘These Are Not Normal Times’

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The Media Front: AI Arrives at the Newsroom Bargaining Table AI has become a major sticking point in the union bargaining for newsrooms across the country, including CBS News 24/7.

“I think every single newsroom contract going forward will mention artificial intelligence,” NewsGuild-CWA president @jschleuss.com tells me for this week’s Media Front newsletter

AI arrives at the newsroom bargaining table:

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NPR receives $113 million from two donors after federal funding cut Billionaire Connie Ballmer and an anonymous donor showered the radio giant in donations, months after Congress stripped federal dollars for public media.

NPR announced Thursday it recevied a $113M windfall from two donors — months after Congress stripped federal funding to public media.

One anonymous donor gave $33M.

Connie Ballmer gave $80M, the largest single gift for a living donor in NPR's history.

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Compare Don Lemon's decision: “I'm not interested in dressing up in a tuxedo, sipping champagne, and pretending everything is normal..." with Dylan Byers, "very exclusive party ahead of the White House Correspondents’ Association" with its "bipartisan comity."

Hegseth Gets Biblical in Latest Media Attack, Likens Press to ‘Pharisees’ | Video Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth invoked the Bible on Thursday is attacking the media.

Hegseth Gets Biblical in Latest Media Attack, Likens Press to ‘Pharisees’

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‘Outrageous’: American journalist detained in Kuwait after posting Iran war video YouTube video by MS NOW

“This is the most clear-cut example of criminalizing journalism and speech. It is outrageous,” says Chris Hayes on Kuwaiti-American journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin’s ongoing detention in Kuwait after sharing a publicly available, verified video.

White House Correspondents’ Dilemma: Toasting the First Amendment as Trump Tramples Over It | Analysis Journalists are split on whether to attend the White House Correspondents' Dinner with Donald Trump as the honored guests, as he sues them.

“It looks like we’re having a weekend of fancy parties with the guy — and his administration — who are actively trying to take away our ability to cover them,” said the reporter, who suggested a number of journalists may quietly skip

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White House Correspondents’ Dilemma: Toasting the First Amendment as Trump Tramples Over It | Analysis Journalists are split on whether to attend the White House Correspondents' Dinner with Donald Trump as the honored guests, as he sues them.

Why @donlemonofficial.bsky.social is skipping White House Correspondents’ Dinner

“I'm not interested in dressing up in a tuxedo, sipping champagne, and pretending everything is normal”

More in my piece: “Toasting the First Amendment as Trump Tramples Over It”

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Judge Dismisses Trump’s Lawsuit Against the Wall Street Journal, Rupert Murdoch Over Epstein Reporting A federal judge found Trump’s complaint did come “close” to the standard of actual malice

Judge dismisses Trump’s defamation suit against the Wall Street Journal over its Epstein reporting

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Trump’s Iran Ultimatum Turns Apocalyptic Threat Into Prime-Time Spectacle| Analysis Donald Trump drew widespread condemnation for threatening to wipe up Iran, as a grim countdown continues

Alongside the potentially catastrophic nature of Trump’s Iran threat is a countdown clock that turns a global crisis into grim appointment viewing

My @thewrap.com column on an apocalyptic threat set to a primetime deadline

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Trump Threatens to Jail Journalist Over Alleged Leak on Missing Airman in Iran President Donald Trump on Monday vowed to prosecute a journalist who reported how U.S. forces rescued an airman downed by Iran last week and searched for a second one, claiming the reporter must give ...

“News organizations have a First Amendment right to publish stories about matters of public importance—including stories the government would prefer to suppress.”

@jameeljaffer.bsky.social on Trump’s threat to jail a journalist if over alleged Iran leak

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Social Media’s Legal Reckoning Has Begun: ‘We Are in a New World’ | Analysis Two landmark cases open the door to future claims over social media addiction, experts say, and could trigger design changes

Social Media’s Legal Reckoning Has Begun: ‘We Are in a New World’ | Analysis

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Judge Rules Pentagon’s Press Policy Violates First and 5th Amendments in Victory for New York Times The New York Times-Pentagon case could have major repercussions for the press.

Major press decision just now:

Judge Rules Pentagon’s Press Policy Violates First and 5th Amendments in Victory for New York Times

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Molly Jong-Fast Sees Midterm ‘Blowback’ Against Trump 2.0: ‘On the Back Foot’ | Video Author and political columnist Molly Jong-Fast knows discusses Trump 2.0, the media and midterms

Molly Jong-Fast Sees Midterm ‘Blowback’ Against Trump 2.0: ‘On the Back Foot’

From @mollyjongfast.bsky.social’s conversation at yesterday’s Power Women New York breakfast

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Team Trump Steps Up Attacks on Media as Iran War Deepens | Analysis Pete Hegseth’s assault on the “anti-Trump press” Thursday reflects a familiar tactic, as the administration ratchets up “treason” rhetoric.

For Pete Hegseth, the questions at a press conference are almost beside the point.

My latest @thewrap.com column on Team Trump’s attack on the media as Iran war deepens

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MS NOW Overhauls Lineup With New Shows for Stephanie Ruhle, Ali Velshi and Alicia Menendez MS NOW said on Wednesday it was overhauling its daytime, primetime and weekend lineups.

MS Now overhauls lineup, with dayside, primetime and weekend programming changes

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Erin Burnett on rumors that her job could be in jeopardy when David Ellison takes over CNN:

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New York Times Case Against the Pentagon Heads to Court as Iran War Escalates | Analysis At a Friday hearing, the paper will argue that the Pentagon’s press restrictions are unconstitutional — a First Amendment fight.

Big hearing tomorrow in New York Times’ case against the Pentagon — a First Amendment fight playing out during wartime

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Donald Trump’s Muddled Iran Message Thickens the Fog of War | Analysis Instead of an Oval Office address and East Room press conference, Donald Trump has opted for a Mar-a-Lago video and brief phone interviews.

Trump has taken questions from at least 19 reporters by phone, quick interviews leading to pieces of information, sometimes contradictory, but has yet to face sustained questioning in public.

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FBI executes search warrant at Washington Post reporter’s home The reporter, Hannah Natanson, covers the federal workforce and has been part of The Post’s most sensitive coverage of the first year of the second Trump administration.

A clear and appalling sign that this administration will set no limits on its acts of aggression against an independent press. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Media Goes on Offense as Trump Steps Up His War on Journalism The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Guardian U.S. tell TheWrap how they’re upholding journalistic standards.

News orgs are not only defending their work in court amid legal threats from Trump and others, but in the court of public opinion.

“Letting the journalism speak for itself is an approach from a bygone era,” says the Times’ Patrick Healy.

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Katie Couric, Margaret Sullivan Furious at Trump’s Insults to Journalists: ‘News Organizations Should Push Back, Hard’ What's the right response when President Trump calls a woman journalist "Piggy"? Or pronounces another woman journalist "a terrible person"?

Great @sharonwaxman.bsky.social column on Trump’s ugly personal attacks on journalists, with thoughts from @katiecouric.bsky.social and @sulliview.bsky.social

“They should not be tolerating this level of bullying and demeaning and insulting language,” says Couric

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Former Washington Post Editor Calls Trump’s Jamal Khashoggi Comments 'A Disgrace' | Exclusive Martin Baron, who was the Post’s top editor when the columnist was killed, tells TheWrap: “Just when you think Trump has gone as low as possible, he goes still lower”

Marty Baron condemns Trump’s Khashoggi comments: "A Disgrace"

“Just when you think Trump has gone as low as possible,” Baron tells me, “he goes still lower”

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As MS NOW Studios Take Shape, Network Stars Welcome a Post-NBC Future President Rebecca Kutler and anchors Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Michael Steele, Jen Psaki and Stephanie Ruhle talk about the 2025 elections and the network’s new future.

Network execs and hosts showed off the new MS NOW studios today and discussed last night’s election results

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Jubilation at Zohran Mamdani's Election Night Party: 'The Future Is in Our Hands' The newly elected New York City mayor gave a rousing speech focused on his ambitious, progressive agenda

My dispatch from Mamdani’s election night bash in Brooklyn

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Great question from Karen at yesterday’s NY Press Club event.

This was @thewrap.com piece I mentioned on stage

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Patrick Soon-Shiong Wants to Raise $500 Million for the LA Times, but Who Would Invest? | Analysis Patrick Soon-Shioing is circulating a private placement offering doc that is laden with the downsides that overshadow much happy talk.

My colleagues Tom Lowry & @calderone.bsky.social dug into the querulous bid by DrPatSoonShiong to raise $500 million to IPO the Los Angeles Times, bleeding $50 mill last year. As he demonstrates, the numbers don't add up, leading to the question: who would buy in? www.thewrap.com/la-times-pat...

Opinion | Democrats Need to Chill About the Electability of Women

One of the biggest problems facing Mikie Sherrill’s bid for governor may have nothing to do with Mikie Sherrill and everything to do with a certain pundit-class miasma about the supposed unelectability of women.

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Zohran Mamdani’s Flood-the-Zone Media Strategy Looks Like a Winning One | Analysis The NYC mayoral frontrunner is urging Democrats to “take the case to every person.” They should pay attention.

Looking at Zohran Mamdani's media strategy this past year, from a viral video speaking to Trump voters to speaking to Trump on Fox News, the NYC mayoral frontrunner has been remarkably consistent in hammering home his affordability message.

My @thewrap.com column:

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NBC News’ 150 Layoffs Guts Black, Latino, Asian American and LGBTQ+ Diversity Teams The cuts affected teams across the NBC News operation and came as the network no longer needed to support two different news operations. MSNBC has begun growing its own newsroom, hiring swaths of tale...

NBC News’ layoffs today include eliminating “teams dedicated to covering issues affecting Black, Asian American, Latino and LGBTQ+ groups.”

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