A review
The New York Times’ Jennifer Szalai reviewed the Tapper-Thompson book about Biden: “A Damning Portrait of an Enfeebled Biden Protected by His Inner Circle.”
Szalai writes, “The result is a damning, step-by-step account of how the people closest to a stubborn, aging president enabled his quixotic resolve to run for a second term. The authors trace the deluge of trouble that flowed from Biden’s original sin: the sidelining of Vice President Kamala Harris; the attacks on journalists (like Thompson) who deigned to report on worries about Biden’s apparent fatigue and mental state; an American public lacking clear communication from the president and left to twist in the wind. ‘It was an abomination,’ one source told the authors. ‘He stole an election from the Democratic Party; he stole it from the American people.’”
Shut out on Air Force One
Here’s another example of President Donald Trump and his administration thumbing their noses at the press and, in a way, the American people.
Trump traveled to the Middle East, but none of the wire services — The Associated Press, Reuters or Bloomberg — were permitted on Air Force One, where Trump often answers questions from the small traveling group of pool reporters.
In a statement, the White House Correspondents’ Association said, “The White House pool was created to be representative of the different types of media outlets that serve different readers. Leaving out the wires is a disservice to Americans who need news about their president, especially on foreign trips where anything could happen and the consequences can impact the entire world. If you have read or watched the news, you’ve relied on the words written and transmitted immediately by wire reporters from The Associated Press, Bloomberg or Reuters. Their reports are distributed quickly to thousands of news outlets and millions of readers throughout the world every day, so all have equal access to coverage of the presidency. This change is a disservice to every American who deserves to know what their highest elected leader is up to, as quickly as possible.”
The WHCA says it's the first time since the White House press corps started traveling with American presidents abroad that no wire service reporter was aboard Air Force One.
Trump has been feuding with the AP for weeks because he is upset that the AP is calling the body of water between Florida and Texas the “Gulf of Mexico” instead of what he wants it called — the “Gulf of America.”
Last month, a federal judge ruled in favor of the AP, saying Trump could not punish a news organization for the content of its speech. So, as a way to get around that while they appealed, the White House changed its media policy. Instead of letting the WHCA choose which outlets are in the small pool, the White House overtook those responsibilities. Typically, the WHCA made sure at least one wire service was in the pool because wire services reach the most people. But under the White House’s news policy, wire services might be left out of the pool — as they were this week.
The WHCA said in their statement, “The WHCA is disturbed by this new restriction on who can cover this White House and continued retaliation for independent editorial decisions. The WHCA is advocating for the wire service journalists to return to their seats on Air Force One where they have reliably covered every president for decades, not for us but for the millions of Americans who depend on their reporting every day.”
Speaking out for a free press
The New York Times published an essay from publisher A.G. Sulzberger on Tuesday evening that was originally a talk at the Notre Dame Kellogg Institute for International Studies: “A Free People Need a Free Press.”
It’s difficult to summarize the piece in just a few sentences, but it’s an important essay and I encourage you to read it.
Sulzberger writes about a need for a strong press, adding, “A subservient press, meanwhile, makes it easier for leaders to keep secrets, to rewrite reality, to undermine political rivals, to put self-interest above public interest and ultimately to consolidate and cement their power. In the words of the political director for Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister often cited as a model for President Trump: ‘Whoever controls a country’s media controls that country’s mind-set and, through that, the country itself.’”
He continued by writing, “Let me pause to say plainly that as a champion of independent journalism, I believe our job is to cover political debates, not to join them. We’re not the resistance. We are nobody’s opposition. We’re also nobody’s cheerleader. Our loyalty is to the truth and to a public that deserves to know it. That is the distinct role that independent news organizations like The Times play in our democracy. That means we will cover the Trump administration fully and fairly, regardless of what attacks it sends our way. We will continue to provide unmatched coverage of its abuses and failures. We will also cover its successes and achievements and explore its support across a large and diverse swath of the country.”
He then adds, “Holding fast to our independence in the face of intimidation is not appeasement or acquiescence, as some would suggest. It’s certainly not a form of complicity. It’s a refusal to allow ourselves to be pressured by anyone into distorting our mission to follow the facts and bring the public the full story. However, as the steward of a leading news organization, I also have a responsibility to speak out about any efforts by the government to undermine the public’s right to know.”
Naming their name and price
ESPN unveiled the name and price for its new direct-to-consumer product, and it’s what everyone thought it would be.
The name will be called — hold onto something — ESPN. And it will be offered for $29.99 per month without the need for a cable or satellite subscription. Most figured the price point would be between $25 and $30 a month.
We don’t know its official launch date, but it’s expected to be in the fall.
At a press conference in New York City, ESPN chair Jimmy Pitaro said, “It’s going to redefine our business.”
People will still be able to get ESPN the way they always have — through traditional cable and satellite services, as well as certain platforms such as YouTube TV and Fubo. But with the direct-to-consumer ESPN, you won’t need any of those to get ESPN programming, as well as ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPNU, ESPN’s college league networks, ESPN+ and any games on ABC.
ESPN announced that there will also be bundling opportunities for the ESPN unlimited plan with Disney+ and Hulu, including a special offer at launch for $29.99 a month for the first 12 months.
The $29.99 monthly price is for an unlimited package. There will be a select option for $11.99 a month. In a statement, ESPN said, “The select plan will provide subscribers with access to all content available on ESPN+, including more than 32,000 live sports events annually, a robust library of exclusive studio shows, on-demand replays, acclaimed original content, and more.”
This direct-to-consumer product is meant to help ESPN deal with the changing cable environment. As The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand wrote that “in the digital age, with competitors like Netflix, Amazon Prime and others, subscribers — especially those uninterested in sports — have either cut the cord or, in the case of a younger generation, have never even considered adding cable or a cable-like system. In the old setup, which had benefits for big and small channels, ESPN reigned supreme, as it was on the basic tier, meaning anyone with cable was paying for ESPN even if they never watched it. At the end of last year, Nielsen reported that ESPN had 65.3 million subscribers.”
It most definitely is, pardon the pun, a game-changer.
Washington Post sports media columnist Ben Strauss wrote, “It will mark the first time the entire network’s menu of live sports, including the College Football Playoff and NBA Finals, will be accessible without a cable subscription, a major shift for the company and the cable bundle that once defined entertainment and sports viewing.”
The pope’s post
