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** OPINION
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** Meet the new media covering the Donald Trump White House
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt addresses the media at the White House last month. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Perhaps the most significant part of the Trump administration’s press strategy — aside from constantly attacking it with punishment, lawsuits, insults and threats — is the embracing of the so-called “new media.”

This is especially true when it comes to the press pools — the smaller group of a dozen or so media members who cover the president when space is too limited for the full press corps.

The press pool is there, essentially, to represent all media.

Typically, the pools have been made up of bigger, major news organizations that are responsible, reach the greatest number of citizens, and can be counted on to ask the critical questions of the president. It has usually included wire services such as The Associated Press and Bloomberg, as well as major TV and cable networks (CBS, CNN, Fox News, etc.) and outlets such as The New York Times, NPR and the like.

But now it might include outlets such as The Daily Wire; The Epoch Times; Merit Street Media, which was created by Dr. Phil; and Zero Hedge, which has been accused of spreading right-wing conspiracy theories and Russian propaganda — a claim Zero Hedge has denied — and has published stories under the byline of the “Fight Club” character “Tyler Durden.”

Among this “new media” group are some legitimate journalists from legitimate news organizations, from places such as Semafor, CNBC and Telemundo, to name a few. But many of the others are a collection of bloggers, podcasters and others who can’t really be defined because their work and their organizations fit no description. They are part pundit, part commentator and a big part cheerleader for Trump, the MAGA movement and conservatism.

To understand them, you first have to know who they are.

So I point you to a superb and detailed story from my Poynter colleague, Angela Fu: “Meet the 32 ‘new media’ outlets the White House invited to its press pool.” ([link removed])

Fu writes, “The majority are conservative or right-wing — often explicitly so — but the rest defy easy categorization. There are three religious networks, all of which lean conservative, as well as a mix of outlets that includes a legacy paper, television networks and a digital outlet powered by artificial intelligence and Web3.”

Fu provides even more context: “The occupants of the new media slot have been, more often than not, conservative and friendly to Trump. Of those 32 outlets, 19 provide reporting, analysis and opinion from a conservative viewpoint. That is a higher proportion than in the group of news organizations that rotate through the print slot. Of the 34 outlets that have occupied the print slot, less than a fifth could be considered conservative.”

When the White House first announced this idea of “new media” coverage, there was reason to be somewhat receptive. After all, audiences today are receiving news and information in new ways, such as podcasts and video.

But the danger, of course, is Trump and his administration loading up on media that are going to be biased, friendly or push his agenda. When the White House took over the pool from the White House Correspondents’ Association, WHCA president Eugene Daniels said, “In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps.”

Check out Fu’s excellent story ([link removed]) for more.

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** Celebrating 50 years: NABJ, Poynter look ahead in special webinar
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The National Association of Black Journalists and the Poynter Institute are each turning 50 in 2025. As we celebrate decades of impact, we’re also looking ahead.

Join us for a special webinar ([link removed]) featuring influential leaders in news, education and media strategy as they tackle the real issues shaping journalism today.

Register now. ([link removed])


** What’s your name?
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(Courtesy: Versant)

Comcast’s cable TV spinoff group finally has a new name: Versant. The company includes MSNBC, USA, CNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel, as well as digital properties Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow, GolfPass and SportsEngine.

Until now, the company had been temporarily called SpinCo. Mark Lazarus, CEO of the newly-named Versant, said in a memo to staff that it’s a “blueprint for versatility, growth, and innovation.”

He added, “VERSANT represents more than a name — it speaks to our adaptability and embraces the opportunity to shape a new, modern media company. There were many considerations for a suitable name. Our internal team of incredibly skilled and experienced brand marketers, designers and media tacticians took into account our overarching goal to influence culture, connect communities and signify a unified direction forward. We would be foolish to expect everyone to love the name of our new company immediately. There were certainly some others that we could have gotten behind, but after sitting with VERSANT for a couple of weeks now, I believe it will suit us well, evoke a sense of energy, and underscore our role in driving progress.”

As CNBC’s Alex Sherman notes ([link removed]) , “The rest of Comcast’s NBCUniversal portfolio, including the broadcast network (NBC), Peacock streaming service, Universal Studios, the theme parks and Bravo, will remain with Comcast.”


** Who took the famous photo?
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In this 2022 photo, Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Nick Ut, center, flanked by Kim Phuc, left, holds the" Napalm Girl,” his Pulitzer Prize-winning photo. Kim Phuc is the girl in the photo fleeing her village after it was accidentally hit by napalm bombs dropped by South Vietnamese forces. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

One of the most famous news photographs ever was taken on June 8, 1972. It was called “The Terror of War,” but it became better known as “Napalm Girl” — a haunting photograph of a naked little girl, along with several others, running from a napalm attack in Vietnam during the war there. It helped to change public opinion.

The photograph won a Pulitzer Prize and, for decades, was credited to Nick Ut, a then-21-year-old staffer in the AP’s Saigon bureau. But a documentary film called “The Stringer” released at the Sundance Film Festival in January raised questions about who actually took the photograph. In the film and in interviews, a man named Nguyen Thanh Nghe, a freelance photographer, claims he took the photo. The AP conducted a six-month investigation and, in January, concluded it had “no reason to believe anyone other than Ut took the photo.”

On Tuesday, the AP released findings of a second investigation and found “no definitive evidence” to change the photo credit away from Ut.

Its findings, though, were less than definitive. The report said it was “possible” Ut took the photo, but found no proof that Nguyen did.

Derl McCrudden, an AP vice president who heads global news production, told the AP’s David Bauder ([link removed]) , “We left nothing uncovered that we’re aware of and we’ve done it with a great deal of respect to everybody involved. It makes no difference to us if we changed the credit, but it has to be based on facts and evidence. And there is no definitive evidence proving that Nick Ut did not take this picture.”

Bauder wrote, “The report revealed inconsistencies on both sides. The prize-winning photo was apparently taken on a Pentax camera, not a Leica as Ut had long claimed. Nguyen told AP he was not working for NBC that day, as was earlier asserted. Of 10 people on the scene that day that the AP reached, Nguyen is the only one who believes that Ut didn’t take the picture, the report said. The report said that believing Nguyen’s story would require several leaps of faith, including believing that the only time he ever sold a photo to a Western news agency it turned out to be one of the most famous images of the century.”

Ut was pleased by the AP’s latest investigation. In a statement, he said, “This whole thing has been very difficult for me and has caused great pain. I’m glad the record has been set straight.”


** Taking it seriously
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President Donald Trump is only 107 days into his second term and there is already talk about running for a third term. And that’s all it has been: talk. The Constitution states he cannot run for president again. Yet, it’s out there. There are hats. Trump has made comments. Republican lawmakers have floated the idea.

Many on the right insist it's all just a joke, and that Trump is merely trolling folks because he keeps getting asked about it. And even though Trump told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker last weekend that he has no plans to run again, the topic won’t go away.

On Tuesday, The New York Times editorial board thought it was serious enough to address in an editorial: “Trump’s Third-Term Jokes Deserve a Serious Response.” ([link removed])

The board wrote, “But Mr. Trump’s third-term fantasizing is more dangerous than this response suggests, and it deserves more forceful pushback. He has a history, after all, of using seemingly outlandish speculation to push ideas he genuinely favors — such as overturning an election result — into mainstream discourse. He tests boundaries to see which limits are actually enforced. Even when he backs away from a provocation, he often succeeds in raising doubts about those limits. His behavior is consistent with a president who indeed wants to serve a third term, if not more, and who keeps raising the idea in the hope of getting Americans comfortable with it.”

They added, “More broadly, Mr. Trump has repeatedly demonstrated his disdain for constitutional checks on a president’s power.”

The board insists no one, especially Republicans, should laugh off suggestions that Trump will run again.

They close with, “What they should not do is pretend that any part of the Constitution is merely a suggestion. It’s the law.”


** Still going strong
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Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark walks on the court during the first half of an exhibition women's basketball game against Brazil, on Sunday in Iowa City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

It would appear as if Caitlin Clark’s massive popularity is not waning. On Sunday, the WNBA star returned to where she played college basketball — the University of Iowa — as her Indiana Fever played an exhibition game against Brazil’s national team.

The game drew an audience of 1.3 million viewers on ESPN. The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch checked in ([link removed]) with ESPN and found that only two of ESPN’s 57 NBA preseason games since 2010 have drawn a higher audience. And both of those games featured LeBron James.

The Clark Effect cannot be overstated.

Deitsch writes, “Last year, the WNBA had 22 regular-season games that averaged more than 1 million viewers — the first time since 2008 that a WNBA game topped one million viewers. If you add the WNBA All-Star Game and the WNBA Draft, it makes 24 programming events during the 2024 calendar year that topped 1 million viewers (Clark was part of all but three of these windows, per Sports Media Watch).”

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** Media tidbits
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* My Poynter colleague Nicole Slaughter Graham with “Bloomberg’s CityLab won a Pulitzer for Criticism. Get to know the site behind the win.” ([link removed])
* The Associated Press’ David Bauder with “On the attack: Trump’s media response in Abrego Garcia story is notably vigorous.” ([link removed])
* Speaking of the Pulitzers, media reporter Oliver Darcy wrote ([link removed]) in his Status newsletter that Washington Post publisher Will Lewis, for the second year in a row, was not in the Post newsroom to celebrate the Pulitzers. The Post won two Pulitzers on Monday and was a finalist in three other categories. Darcy wrote, “Executive Editor Matt Murray explained to staffers that Lewis was on a ‘long-planned trip.’ Murray did, however, relay that Lewis is ‘very proud’ of the winners and will congratulate them in person when he returns.”
* For Columbia Journalism Review, Meghnad Bose with “A Student Journalist Covered a Pro-Palestine Protest. Soon, Her Graduation Came Under Threat.” ([link removed])
* Axios’ Sara Fischer with “The Guardian plots U.S. expansion following record revenue year.” ([link removed])
* The New York Times’ Cade Metz and Karen Weise with “A.I. Is Getting More Powerful, but Its Hallucinations Are Getting Worse.” ([link removed])
* Awful Announcing’s Matt Yoder with “NBA on NBC will use AI to bring back original promo voice Jim Fagan.” ([link removed])
* The Hollywood Reporter’s Steven Zeitchik with “What Donald Trump Is Really After With Movie Tariffs.” ([link removed])
* Rachel Stassen-Berger has been named executive editor of The Des Moines Register. Stassen-Berger served in senior editing roles at the Register from 2018 to 2022 and will lead the Gannett-owned news outlet beginning June 2. She takes over for Carol Hunter, who retired in January after 20 years with the Register. The Register’s Lucas Grundmeier has more ([link removed]) .
* Media mogul Barry Diller has a new memoir — “Who Knew” ([link removed].) — coming out later this month. On Tuesday, New York magazine ran an excerpt about his long relationship with Diane von Fürstenberg: “Barry & Diane — The truth about us, after all these years.” ([link removed])


** Hot type
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* Something light to finish the newsletter. The New York Times with “15 Unforgettable Looks at the Met Gala.” ([link removed])


** More resources for journalists
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* New reporters: Get essential reporting techniques, effective storytelling methods, and newsroom navigation skills. Register today ([link removed]) .
* Learn how to “lead your leaders” in this virtual intensive for journalism managers handling big responsibilities without direct reports. Apply today ([link removed]) .

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