I did a lot of reporting overnight about Trump’s announcement that he wants Kari Lake to run @VOAnews. For now, that’s all it is: A suggestion, albeit a highly influential one. Here’s what I found… First things first: Presidents don’t ordinarily pick the director of Voice of America. In fact, Trump did no such thing during his first term in office. So the mere announcement about Kari Lake is a flex. A sign that he wants to wield his power more aggressively in his 2nd term.

I recently went back through the reporter notes from my 2020 book HOAX and realized that I had some newly relevant info about Pete Hegseth. In retrospect, I wish I had included these quotes in the book. 🧵 Tonight this material is part of a big new CNN story titled "As Hegseth’s public profile grew, he faced deepening private turmoil" cnn.com/2024/12/05/pol…

Elon Musk has called MSNBC "the utter scum of the Earth." He has said the channel "peddles puerile propaganda." Just a few days ago he said "MSNBC is going down." And now he is posting memes about buying the channel. So... could he? 🧵 Conventional wisdom holds that Musk and his friends are just joking. But Musk's posts are adding to the anxiety that MSNBC staffers are feeling about Trump's reelection and the recently announced spinoff of Comcast's cable channels. Over the weekend I spoke with lots of sources…

Stand by for news in this morning's @ReliableSources newsletter... According to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter, Scarborough and Brzezinski were credibly concerned that they could face governmental and legal harassment from the incoming Trump administration. cnn.it/3YVQ2mL

The election results put an exclamation point on pervasive concerns about distrust and dissatisfaction with the news media. Now a reckoning is underway. Media execs and rank-and-file reporters are wondering what needs to change. So here are some concrete ideas... 🧵 Podcasts, YouTube videos and other digital sources are ascendant while traditional news outlets are struggling to remain relevant. On social media, in-depth investigations get ignored while misleading memes get shared millions of times. Frankly, some journalists feel defeated.

Pete Hegseth is well-liked inside Fox News – but Trump tapping him as Defense Secretary is a total shock to his colleagues. As one of his fellow hosts said to me, flabbergasted, "You're telling me Pete is going to oversee two million employees?" cnn.com/2024/11/13/med… The Department of Defense has closer to three million employees, which only serves to underscore the point. Hegseth is a decorated Army vet who served in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But nothing in his bio suggests experience leading large organizations.

It's a mistake to dismiss real dissatisfaction with the economy and the government as merely a product of right-wing propaganda. But it's also a mistake to ignore the mis- and disinformation that permeates pro-Trump media from top to bottom. For example... Check out this @Ipsos poll from last month. People who answered factual questions about inflation, crime, and immigration incorrectly were "more likely to opt for Trump," Ipsos said, while those who answered correctly preferred Harris. ipsos.com/en-us/link-bet…

Of the five boroughs in NYC, Staten Island is Trump's stronghold. Yet today the borough's newspaper, the Staten Island Advance, "enthusiastically" endorsed Harris, calling her "the only choice in 2024," and delivering some tough love to readers 🧵 "We understand a significant portion of conservative-leaning Staten Island will disagree, some vehemently, in support of her opponent," the Advance wrote. But the editorial tells Trump fans, in effect, that he's lying to you silive.com/opinion/2024/1…

Journalists are typically most comfortable talking about what we do know. But sometimes the story is what we don't know. CAN'T know yet. And this is one of those times. We have to communicate uncertainty about the election. 🧵 "I spend more hours figuring out ways to say this race is close than New Yorkers spend in traffic," @ForecasterEnten quips. "I've used just about every adjective for 'close,' and 'even,' but that’s the message every time," @SalvantoCBS says.

News incoming about CBS and Trump... Exclusive: Lawyers for CBS News are rebuffing a legal threat from Donald Trump over the network's "60 Minutes" interview with Kamala Harris, telling the former president his demands are based on a "faulty premise." cnn.com/2024/10/23/med…

This morning an umbrella organization of civil rights groups is alerting the public to "digital voting disinformation" and imploring firms like X and Meta to take action. "There is still time for social media companies to step up and do what is right," @mayawiley says... Online platforms don't HAVE to be polluted with lies: "We have the power to and ability to balance free speech rights with verification, links, labeling and ensuring algorithms demote rather than promote dangerous disinformation." Here's my full story... cnn.com/2024/10/21/med…

Fox News anchor @BretBaier, who is about to interview Kamala Harris, is all too keenly aware that Fox's viewers want him to affirm what they already feel – namely, extreme disdain for Harris and overwhelming distrust of the media. His X feed says it all... 🧵 As soon as Baier announced his Harris sit-down, uber-skeptical commenters on this site replied with doubts and conspiracy theories. "This interview will be as watered down as they come." "No doubt she already has the list of Q's." "I don't trust Fox and I trust Baier even less."

In a move that critics are calling a flagrant abuse of power, Florida's Department of Health is threatening to bring criminal charges against local TV stations for airing a campaign ad about overturning the state’s six-week abortion ban. Today the @FCC chairwoman stepped in... The unusual warning from the Republican-controlled state agency prompted the Democratic chair of the FCC, @JRosenworcel, to issue a statement saying that stations should not be intimidated for airing political ads. cnn.com/2024/10/08/med…

Jack Smith's legal filing underscores Trump's chaos strategy. Three words sum it up perfectly: "CLOUD OF CONFUSION." The "cloud" is a key part of Trump’s toolkit... 🧵 The term "cloud of confusion" comes from Kenneth Chesebro, one of the architects of the fake electors plot. When Trump lost, Chesebro emailed a friend and offered to help Trump challenge the results in his native Wisconsin.

One caller asked for help finding her brother. Another needed info about evacuation routes. A third worried if a nearby dam was about to burst. And many callers said "I'm just so proud of my neighbors."

Local radio in western North Carolina is a literal lifeline right now 🧵 As Helene's waters recede, iHeartMedia's stations in Asheville are giving voice to the crisis – and giving hope to listeners. @newsradio570 and six other stations owned by iHeart are working together, simulcasting round-the-clock coverage. Live here: wwnc.iheart.com

I'm returning to @CNN in a brand new role as Chief Media Analyst. I'll be appearing on TV, developing digital content, and once again helming the Reliable Sources newsletter. We wanted Reliable Sources readers to find out first. So I wrote them a letter: cnn.it/4ea4ttr

Key quotes from Harris-Walz campaign memo about its ad spending plans: It is placing "$170 million in TV reservations" this weekend. That's "on top of what the campaign believes to be the largest digital reservation in the history of American politics at more than $200 million." The $200 million in digital reservations "only include connected TV/OTT, premium video, and digital audio" (Hulu, Spotify, YouTube) and do not include further spending on paid social, search, and other high-impact placements as well as video and display ads across the web."

The Summer Olympics have been a huge success for NBC. Ratings are way up. Revenues, too. I spoke with several NBC Sports and Peacock execs about what they've observed and learned 🧵 NBC's "no holding back" strategy is working: The company has given up on gatekeeping the hottest events of the day until U.S. prime time. Everything in Paris has been shown live. "We are here for the audience," said Molly Solomon, executive producer and president of NBC Olympics Production.

The New Yorker's story about Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. just landed >>> newyorker.com/magazine/2024/… New Yorker's @ClareMalone obtained a photo of RFK and the dead bear cub

>> @MorningMika: "Like many, I want to know, was this a one-off episode or a sign of what's to come? Can his team and the president himself move forward with more discipline and also manage the fact that he is 81?" But she's still fully on board with Biden. 🧵>>> Mika said "this moment in the race fits the entire narrative of Joe Biden's life." She spent about eight minutes reciting his comebacks over the years. "So now, after Thursday's abysmal debate performance, President Biden finds himself at rock bottom again," she said...

Watch this assessment by @clairecmc on @MSNBC. All 4 minutes. "Joe Biden had one thing he had to do tonight and he didn't do it," former senator Claire McCaskill said. "He had one thing he had to accomplish, and that was reassure America that he was up to the job at his age, and he failed at that tonight."