July 6, 2015

Good morning. Here are 10 media stories.

  1. ‘America will see more of her’

    Months into her campaign for the presidency, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has decided to adopt a more open posture toward the media and will grant national television interviews soon, Howard Kurtz reports. Clinton has ducked the press for much of her nascent campaign — as of mid-May, she had only taken nine questions from reporters since she declared her candidacy. So why the change? By granting more interviews, Clinton hopes to diminish the relative importance of each interview she gives, making her less open to “gotcha” questions from the press, says campaign spokesperson Jennifer Palmieri. “‘The more media interviews you do, the less any one interaction matters,’ Palmieri says.” (Fox News) | Not everyone is buying this logic. “When an interview actually makes news, doesn’t matter how many other non-newsy interviews there are.” (@alexburnsNYT) | Flashback: “So, stop thinking you’re special because reporters are out to get you. They’re out to get everybody — and that’s a good thing. The only thing in your control is how incendiary these inevitable clashes will be.” (Politico) | The big question: Who will be among the first to book the new, press-friendly Clinton?

  2. Meanwhile, Clinton corrals the press

    The Democratic party frontrunner announced her media blitz one day after her team cordoned off press access as Clinton was marching in a Fourth of July parade. “Initially, Clinton’s campaign was not using a rope to corral the press, allowing journalists to get close to her and ask her questions. But campaign aides said they brought the rope out because they feared the press scrum of around a dozen reporters and photojournalists would obstruct the view of New Hampshire voters attending the parade.” (CNN) | In June, Olivia Nuzzi described the scene on Roosevelt Island as Clinton was making a major campaign speech, likening her control of the press to “a serene summertime police state — wherein campaign staffers told reporters to stay in their designated area, away from attendees—pleasant and creepy at the same time.” (The Daily Beast)

  3. White House press corps demands more access

    Faced with ever-shrinking access to the presidency, the White House press corps this weekend issued a plea for more press conferences, more on-the-record briefings and limited use of embargoes, Poynter’s Jim Warren writes. “The principles and a set of proposed practices reflect a growing frustration with the administration of President Barack Obama and a sense by those who cover the White House daily that they are increasingly kept in the dark.” (Poynter) | The correspondents announced in April that they were banding together behind a case for more access. (Poynter)

  4. Barack Obama ditches press pool

    The press got separated from their quarry this weekend after the commander-in-chief left a golf outing without notifying White House scribes, writes CBS News’ Mark Knoller: “Secret Service says presidential motorcade departed Andrews from different gate, didn’t let press vans know & they were left behind.” (@markknoller) | The poolers were referred to the Secret Service for comment on the mix-up: “POTUS returned to the White House at around 3:04, according to Peter Veltz via another White House Official. The pool vans pulled in a few minutes later, at 3:13. Still unclear why we were separated.” (Gawker) | Obama has left behind the pool before: In 2010, the president “quietly breached years of protocol” when he left the White House sans press to attend one of his daughter’s soccer games. (The Associated Press)

  5. Sunday shows remain dominated by white guys

    Jake Tapper, host of CNN’s “State of the Union,” defended on Sunday his attempts to book Sunday show guests that reflect racial and gender diversity. Here’s one of his tweets: “We had two presidential candidates on. The woman running for the Democratic nomination hasn’t sat down to do one Sunday show yet.” (@jaketapper) | Tapper’s comments were in response to a tweet from ThinkProgress editor Judd Legum, who noted there were 11 male guests on five of Sunday’s shows but only one female. (‏@JuddLegum) | Left-leaning news watchdog Media Matters noted earlier this year that in 2014, Sunday show guests were “overwhelmingly” white and male. (Media Matters)

  6. Trump goes after NBC

    Real estate mogul turned presidential hopeful Donald Trump will be “taking action” against NBCUniversal in response to the company’s refusal to broadcast the “Miss USA” pageant in the wake of Trump’s racist comments about Mexicans. Alan Garten, general counsel for The Trump Organization, explained the pending legal action in an interview for CNN’s “Reliable Sources.” An arbitration clause between The Trump Organization and NBCUniversal requires disputes to be settled by mediation rather than a public trial, Garten said. “We will obviously be following the contract. I think that represents the difference between how we as an organization act and how NBC has acted. We follow the contract. They have not.” (CNN) | Trump has already announced a $500 million lawsuit against Univision, which also dropped “Miss USA.” (NPR)

  7. 19 percent of Americans say First Amendment ‘goes too far’

    Nearly one-fifth of Americans queried for a survey conducted by the Newseum Institute say the First Amendment “goes too far in the rights it guarantees — the freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition.” This is down from 2014, when nearly 40 percent of Americans surveyed said First Amendment freedoms were too permissive. A full 70 percent of respondents said they think the news media is biased. (Newseum)

  8. Front page of the day, curated by Kristen Hare

    Newsday, like a lot of other newspapers, celebrated the U.S. win in the Women’s World Cup. (Courtesy the Newseum) WCFront
     

  9. Job moves, edited by Benjamin Mullin

    Jessica Davies will be UK editor at Digiday. Previously, she was news editor at The Drum. (Digiday) | Charles Apple is now deputy design director for the Houston Chronicle. Previously, he was managing editor for visuals of the Victoria (Texas) Advocate. (@charlesapple) | Maria Rozman is now news director for WZDC in Washington, D.C. Previously, she was working for CNN en Espanol. (Rick Gevers) | Job of the day: Bloomberg is looking for a senior editor. Get your résumés in! (Bloomberg) | Send Ben your job moves: bmullin@poynter.org.

Corrections? Tips? Please email me: bmullin@poynter.org. Would you like to get this roundup emailed to you every morning? Sign up here.

Support high-integrity, independent journalism that serves democracy. Make a gift to Poynter today. The Poynter Institute is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, and your gift helps us make good journalism better.
Donate
Benjamin Mullin was formerly the managing editor of Poynter.org. He also previously reported for Poynter as a staff writer, Google Journalism Fellow and Naughton Fellow,…
Benjamin Mullin

More News

Back to News