New books from legendary reporter Bob Woodward, PolitiFact founder Bill Adair launch today

Good morning. The Poynter staff is still finding its footing in the wake of Hurricane Milton. Today’s newsletter is a short dispatch of media news, tidbits and interesting links. We hope to be back in your inbox with a typical newsletter later this week.

• Legendary reporter Bob Woodward is out with a new book today. “War” has already made headlines for some of its revelations. Perhaps the most notable: Donald Trump’s alleged frequent post-presidency phone calls to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump sending Putin COVID-19 tests in 2020 when they were in short supply. For more, NPR’s Scott Detrow Courtney Dorning and Avery Keatley write “Bob Woodward takes NPR behind the headline-grabbing moments in his new book.”
• PolitiFact founder and Duke professor Bill Adair also launches a new book today. “Beyond the Big Lie: The Epidemic of Political Lying, Why Republicans Do It More, and How It Could Burn Down Our Democracy” reveals how politicians lie and why. In a piece for The Atlantic, Adair writes, “When I launched PolitiFact in 2007, I thought we were going to raise the cost of lying. I didn’t expect to change people’s votes just by calling out candidates, but I was hopeful that our journalism would at least nudge them to be more truthful. I was wrong. More than 15 years of fact-checking has done little or nothing to stem the flow of lies.”
• Last week, Adair appeared on “The Daily Show” and spoke at length with Jon Stewart about PolitiFact’s founding and his new book.

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• Continuing her blitz of traditional and nontraditional media interviews, Vice President Kamala Harris shared her prospective policy plans for Black men with The Shade Room. The outlet known as a cultural force in the Black community reported Harris’ plans as “providing 1 million fully forgivable loans to Black entrepreneurs and others to start businesses, championing educational resources to assist Black men in attaining good-paying jobs in high-demand industries, and launching a National Health Equity Initiative focused on Black Men.”
• Harris will also appear on what The New York Times perhaps kindly called a “not-so-friendly outlet” — Fox News. She’s slated to sit for 25 to 30 minutes of questions with Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier on Wednesday, shortly before his show, “Special Report,” airs at 6 p.m. Eastern. “Ms. Harris will have a chance to deliver her message to a viewership that may be skeptical of her candidacy,” Michael M. Grynbaum writes for the Times. “Her willingness to appear on Fox News may aid the perception that she is open to facing tough questions. And she can reach a swath of independent voters, more of whom watch Fox News than CNN or MSNBC, according to research by Nielsen.”
• A year ago, Variety’s Brian Steinberg wrote about Baier’s hunt for “big newsmakers” to bolster his program. “Bret Baier is trying a few new maneuvers at ‘Special Report,’ one of the longest-running programs at Fox News Channel,” Steinberg wrote. “About six months ago, he says, he talked to his staff about getting more ambitious. ‘We had a talk about what the show should look like,’ he recalls. ‘Most days, you take singles and doubles and you cover the news and you do it as best you can, but the occasional triple and home run sometimes lend themselves to other big plays.’”
• On his Truth Social, Trump has already railed against Harris’ interview with Baier, calling Baier “very soft,” and claiming that his once-favored network “has grown so weak and soft on the Democrats.”
• We’ve written a lot about the spread of misinformation in the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Some of that misinformation has kept people who were the worst affected from getting valuable help. And then there’s this, which is a whole new level. The Guardian’s Edward Helmore writes “North Carolina hurricane recovery team relocated amid threat of ‘armed militia’.”
• In an unusual move, there will be two Spanish-language simulcasts of the Super Bowl this year: Fox Corp’s Fox Deportes and NBCUniversal’s Telemundo. “The move gives NBCU a chance to generate both Super Bowl audiences and advertisers in a year when Fox would typically have both to itself, because it has rights to telecast next year’s event,” Variety’s Brian Steinberg writes.
• The Washington Post’s Ashley Parker and Josh Dawsey write “Trump wages campaign against real-time fact checks.” “Donald Trump and his campaign have waged an aggressive campaign against fact-checking in recent months, pushing TV networks, journalism organizations and others to abandon the practice if they hope to interact with Trump,” they write. “… The moves are the latest example of Trump’s long-held resistance to being called to account for his falsehoods, which have formed the bedrock of his political message for years. Just in recent weeks, for example, Trump has seized on fabricated tales of migrants eating pets and Venezuelan gangs overtaking cities in pushing his anti-immigration message as he seeks a second term in office.”
• The New York Times editorial board writes “A Reporter’s Shield Law Is Vital to Prevent Abuses of Power.” The editorial begins: “Governments often chafe at the presence of a free press. The reason is simple: A robust and independent news media keeps a sharp eye on government and, when necessary, exposes abuse of power, corruption, incompetence and waste.”
• This is a week and a half old but wild enough to share anyway. The New York Times’ Gina Cherelus writes “Her 8-Year-Old Drove Herself to Target and Became an Internet Star.”

Today’s Poynter Report was written by managing editor Ren LaForme and contributor Amaris Castillo.

More resources for journalists

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Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at [email protected].