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** A CBS News controversy, a Washington Post exclusive, and some journalism recommendations
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Good Thursday morning. Today, an abbreviated version of The Poynter Report with a few weekend suggestions of essential, interesting and entertaining journalism to catch up on, as well as a few notable notes from the media world. There will be no Poynter Report on Friday. See you again on Monday.


** A controversial hire
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Mick Mulvaney during his CBS News debut this week. (Courtesy: CBS News)

CBS News is taking some grief for hiring former Trump administration official Mick Mulvaney as a contributor. Mulvaney will offer his political analysis as we approach the midterms later this year. He made his debut earlier this week on “CBS Mornings.”

The Washington Post’s Jeremy Barr obtained a recording ([link removed]) of comments made by CBS News co-president Neeraj Khemlani, who told the staff of the network’s morning show, “Being able to make sure that we are getting access to both sides of the aisle is a priority because we know the Republicans are going to take over, most likely, in the midterms. A lot of the people that we’re bringing in are helping us in terms of access to that side of the equation.”

Barr wrote, “The reaction from CBS News employees to Mulvaney’s hiring was as chilly as the reaction on social media, where many journalists and political commentators suggested that the network was jeopardizing its long history of journalistic excellence.”

Barr added, “In February 2020, while serving as President Donald Trump’s interim chief of staff, Mulvaney said that media coverage of the growing coronavirus pandemic was meant ‘to bring down the president.’ He also infamously defended a Trump administration decision to withhold military aid from Ukraine for political purposes, and predicted in a Nov. 7, 2020, Wall Street Journal opinion column that Trump would gracefully accept electoral defeat.”

MSNBC columnist Hayes Brown wrote ([link removed]) , “One can only assume that the CBS newsroom leadership has suffered a mass amnesia event. That is the only reason I can come up with to hire Mulvaney, a partisan hack devoid of any sense of ethics who lacks the authority to offer credible analysis on his own breakfast, let alone fiscal policy. Absent that excuse, the network’s decision to hire him is a detriment to its credibility and to the press as a whole.”

According to Barr’s report, several CBS News employees feel the same.

The headline on an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times from Kurt Bardella ([link removed]) called CBS News bringing on Mulvaney “journalistic malpractice.” Bardella wrote, “I’d expect this move from a Trump-aligned propaganda medium like Fox News. But from CBS News? Give me a break.”

Bardella added, “It’s as if the power-that-be at the network learned nothing from a tumultuous presidency that culminated with insurrectionists attacking the U.S. Capitol. The very people who rode shotgun in the effort to dismantle democracy are being rewarded with book deals, guest-host roles on TV shows and more. Let’s be clear: Democracy doesn’t die in darkness, it dies because of stuff like this.”

Brown detailed many of the things on Mulvaney’s resume and wrote, “Mulvaney was an awful chief of staff to a uniquely terrible president. He has made no amends for his time in office but still stands to gain from a whitewashing of his tainted record. As a congressman he advocated for decimating the federal social safety net and crashing the American economy. As a Trump crony, he readily abandoned whatever principles he claimed to possess. Now, it seems, CBS News is doing the same.”

A NOTE FROM POYNTER
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** Celebrate facts on International Fact-Checking Day
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Facts can be the deciding factor between right and wrong, life and death, or war and peace. But, fact-checkers and journalists can’t do it alone. Join the nonprofit Poynter Institute on April 2, and help improve the quality of the information we share online.

Make a meaningful contribution today ▸ ([link removed])


** A Washington Post exclusive
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Here’s quite the story from The Washington Post’s Taylor Lorenz and Drew Harwell. The headline alone is a stunner: “Facebook paid GOP firm to malign TikTok.” ([link removed])

It includes this whopper of an opening:

Facebook parent company Meta is paying one of the biggest Republican consulting firms in the country to orchestrate a nationwide campaign seeking to turn the public against TikTok.

The campaign includes placing op-eds and letters to the editor in major regional news outlets, promoting dubious stories about alleged TikTok trends that actually originated on Facebook, and pushing to draw political reporters and local politicians into helping take down its biggest competitor. These bare-knuckle tactics, long commonplace in the world of politics, have become increasingly noticeable within a tech industry where companies vie for cultural relevance and come at a time when Facebook is under pressure to win back young users.

Employees with the firm, Targeted Victory, worked to undermine TikTok through a nationwide media and lobbying campaign portraying the fast-growing app, owned by the Beijing-based company ByteDance, as a danger to American children and society, according to internal emails shared with The Washington Post.

Targeted Victory declined to respond to the Post’s questions about the campaign, only telling the Post that it has represented Meta for several years and is “proud of the work we have done.”

After the story was published, Targeted Victory CEO Zac Moffatt posted a lengthy Twitter thread ([link removed]) , saying the Post story “not only mischaracterizes the work we do, but key points are simply false.”

This is an eyebrow-raising story.


** Two more must-read reports from The Washington Post …
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* Matt Viser, Tom Hamburger and Craig Timberg with “Inside Hunter Biden’s multimillion-dollar deals with a Chinese energy company.” ([link removed])
* And as a companion piece: “Here’s how The Post analyzed Hunter Biden’s laptop.” ([link removed])


** Speaking of the Post
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Pulitzer Prize-winning opinion writer Jonathan Capehart has been promoted to associate editor at The Washington Post. Capehart has been at the Post since 2007, working on the editorial board and writing a weekly column exploring the intersection of social, cultural and political issues. He also hosts “The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart” on MSNBC and does a regular Friday segment on “PBS NewsHour.”

In the announcement ([link removed]) , Post publisher and CEO Fred Ryan said, “Over the past 15 years, Jonathan has built a loyal following that extends the pages of Post Opinions with ventures into podcasting, hosting Washington Post Live programs and anchoring his own national news show. Jonathan’s approach to dissecting the news in meaningful and conversational ways has made him an esteemed figure at The Post and in the media industry. We are thrilled to have him take on a greater leadership role.”

Before the Post, Capehart also worked at the Daily News in New York and Bloomberg News.


** Yes, a few more pieces on the Will Smith-Chris Rock slap at the Oscars
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* A guest essay in The New York Times from Roxane Gay: “Jada Pinkett Smith Shouldn’t Have to ‘Take a Joke.’ Neither Should You.” ([link removed])
* Washington Post sports columnist Sally Jenkins with “Like Richard Williams, Will Smith thinks it’s about him.” ([link removed])
* For CNN, media analyst Bill Carter with “For Will Smith, the damage has been done.” ([link removed])


** Recommended reading, listening and viewing
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* CNN’s Sean Lyngaas with “‘I can fight with a keyboard’: How one Ukrainian IT specialist exposed a notorious Russian ransomware gang.” ([link removed])
* The New York Times’ Ryan Mac, Mike Isaac and Sheera Frenkel with “How War in Ukraine Roiled Facebook and Instagram.” ([link removed])
* For CNBC, Eamon Javers and Meghna Maharishi with “How Google and Amazon bankrolled a ‘grassroots’ activist group of small business owners to lobby against Big Tech oversight.” ([link removed])
* Reporting on Myanmar, The New York Times’ Hannah Beech (with photos from Adam Dean) with “Driven From City Life to Jungle Insurgency.” ([link removed])
* You’ve never seen a lightning storm captured on video like this ([link removed]) , I bet.
* Former BuzzFeed deputy culture editor Rachel Sanders writes for The Nation: “BuzzFeed Doesn’t Deserve Its Newsroom.” ([link removed])
* The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Layla A. Jones with “How Philly reinvented TV news and harmed Black America.” ([link removed])
* For The Atlantic, Adrienne LaFrance with “The 12 Most Unforgettable Descriptions of Food in Literature.” ([link removed])
* Out just this morning: For her New York Times’ “Sway” podcast ([link removed]) , Kara Swisher talks to two journalists. First, Olga Tokariuk, an independent Ukrainian journalist and a researcher who has followed Russian President Vladimir Putin's escalating disinformation campaign. Then Swisher talks with Tikhon Dzyadko, the editor-in-chief of TV Rain — the last independent TV station in Russia before they suspended operations there.
* And finally, for something completely fun, The Ringer’s Derek Lawrence with “Every Ben Affleck Performance, Ranked.” ([link removed])

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


** More resources for journalists
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* Subscribe ([link removed]) to Poynter’s new Friday newsletter, Open Tabs ([link removed]) with Poynter managing editor Ren LaForme, and get behind-the-scenes stories only available to subscribers.
* Hiring? Post jobs ([link removed]) on The Media Job Board — Powered by Poynter, Editor & Publisher and America’s Newspapers.
* Immigration’s Impact on the U.S. Economic Recovery ([link removed]) (Webinar) — April 7 at 2 p.m. Eastern.
* Covering Political Extremism in the Public Square ([link removed]) (Seminar) April 4-13.

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