As my colleagues wrote in Tuesday’s newsletter, Vice President Kamala Harris is drifting into unfriendly waters at this time by agreeing to be interviewed by Fox Information. Harris will sit down with Fox Information’s chief political anchor, Bret Baier, for an interview that’s anticipated to be within the 25-30 minute vary.
It’s a artful transfer by Harris for a number of causes, however not with out pitfalls.
Although she has been interviewed by “60 Minutes,” CNN and several other different reputable and revered information retailers, Harris can now stiff-arm her detractors who declare she solely sits down with pleasant interviewers. Agreeing to be interviewed on Fox Information is a daring transfer — or a minimum of one which actually will be claimed as a daring transfer.
After all, Donald Trump is already laying the groundwork that Baier will go simple on Harris as a result of he’s “gentle” on the left. (That technique is in the identical playbook of claiming the election goes to be rigged simply in case you lose.)
Whereas Fox Information’ greatest stars, particularly in prime time, proceed to prop up Trump whereas slamming Harris, Baier might be Fox Information’ most-respected journalist. You’ll hope he’s not going to lob up a bunch of softballs, however he additionally isn’t going to pander to the MAGA varieties and Fox Information diehards by hitting Harris with a bunch of unfair questions or low-cost pictures.
I might count on what you just about get with Baier: sturdy, powerful questions with aggressive follow-ups. In a phrase: truthful.
(However simply in your consideration, right here’s Media Issues’ Matt Gertz with “Three damning facts about Fox’s Bret Baier.”)
So far as Harris goes, certain there’s a threat that she may hit upon a troublesome query concerning the financial system or immigration or no matter. If I needed to guess, Baier goes to ask lots concerning the financial system.
Harris additionally has tried to delicately stroll the high-quality line of setting her imaginative and prescient for a brand new period and a recent voice whereas nonetheless embracing the work of the Biden administration. That, at instances, has been troublesome, particularly when Trump hyperlinks Harris with Joe Biden. It’s not all the time simple for Harris to concurrently embrace and distance herself from him.
Many Fox Information viewers strongly dislike the present administration. This interview is Harris’ probability to make a case to these viewers {that a} vote for her isn’t essentially a vote for Biden. A foul stumble may not price her any votes she at present has locked up.
However her efficiency, good or dangerous or mediocre, may affect just a few voters on the market. And despite the fact that there are lower than three weeks till Election Day, by agreeing to go on Fox Information together with all the opposite interviews she has accomplished, Harris can put to relaxation the criticism that she isn’t sitting down for critical one-on-one interviews.
There was a little bit of a dustup on social media Tuesday on how the interview was going to work. Baier described it as “as-live.” And that threw off many individuals.
It’s actually fairly easy. The interview might be taped, however there might be no stopping and no enhancing. Then it will likely be aired precisely as taped with no commercials.
Trump is also doing one thing with Fox Information. On Tuesday, he taped a city corridor in entrance of an all-women viewers in Georgia that was to principally deal with ladies’s points. It was moderated by Harris Faulkner and is scheduled to air at this time at 11 a.m. Jap.
I’m not practically as optimistic about Faulkner doing pretty much as good of a job with Trump as Baier will do with Harris. The codecs are a bit completely different, with Baier doing a proper interview, whereas Faulkner is facilitating a city corridor with viewers questions. However Faulkner nonetheless can have the flexibility to fact-check Trump and push him to offer any solutions he geese.
Will she? A lot of Faulkner’s on-air work as a supposed “information anchor” has veered into commentary — most of it right-leaning. She is nowhere close to the caliber of journalist as Baier. So, finally, as I stated, I’m not optimistic.
And, oh, talking of Trump. The previous president lashed out at Fox Information for having Harris’ spokesperson Ian Sams on the community earlier this week. Trump used a bunch of juvenile insults to criticize Fox Information host Neil Cavuto for internet hosting Sams. He added that Sams “nearly owns” Fox Information now. Then Trump praised Maria Bartiromo of Fox Information, calling her fantastic.
Then Sams went on Fox Information once more Tuesday.
New yr, identical story.
A new Gallup poll discovered that for the third straight yr, extra U.S. adults haven’t any belief in any respect within the media (36%) than belief it an amazing deal or truthful quantity. As well as, one other 33% of Individuals specific “not very a lot” confidence in it.
In the meantime, 31% stated they’d a “nice deal” or “truthful quantity” of confidence within the media to report the information “totally, precisely and pretty.” That’s about the identical as last year’s 32%.
Within the report, Gallup senior editor Megan Brenan wrote, “As has been the case traditionally, partisans have completely different ranges of confidence within the media to report the information totally, precisely and pretty. At present, 54% of Democrats, 27% of independents and 12% of Republicans say they’ve an amazing deal or truthful quantity of belief within the media.”
Try the report for a lot of extra particulars.
For this merchandise, I flip it over to Poynter media enterprise analyst Rick Edmonds.
As The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, The New York Occasions has despatched a cease-and-desist order to synthetic intelligence search engine startup Perplexity for allegedly pirating Occasions tales to create its content material.
Which raises a query that will have baffled me two months in the past: What the heck is Perplexity? Many savvy Poynter readers already know, however for others — particularly in my demographic — right here’s a bit primer.
The 2-year-old free service, backed by Jeff Bezos, can be utilized instead or complement to Google. Relatively than a ranked collection of articles, it supplies a brief reply with examples and hyperlinks.
At my home, my spouse, a monetary government, was trying on the draft of an necessary submission letter to a federal regulator. Sadly, it was written in such dense legalese that it was not simply infelicitous however laborious to observe.
So she queried, “Give me some examples of nice authorized writing.” This was Perplexity’s response — with each writing samples and tips.
The Journal story provides that a number of different publishers, together with Condé Nast and Forbes, have written Perplexity with the identical sort of authorized objections. One other group, together with the Journal’s mother or father firm Information Corp., has struck licensing offers.
The Journal stated that Perplexity is already valued at an estimated $1 billion.
Dallas Cowboys proprietor Jerry Jones, seen right here earlier than final Sunday’s Cowboys-Lions recreation in Dallas. (AP Picture/Jerome Miron)
No proprietor in North American skilled sports activities is extra outspoken and extra within the public eye than Dallas Cowboys proprietor Jerry Jones. He meets with reporters following most video games and even has his personal weekly radio phase — one thing normally reserved for coaches and gamers, however hardly ever for house owners.
As a former sports activities journalist, I find it irresistible. The proprietor of probably the most beneficial and, maybe, best-known franchise in all of sports activities always talks to the media? That’s nice. And it’s particularly nice when Jones reveals precisely what he’s considering.
Nevertheless, Jones could have crossed a line on Tuesday when he threatened to have the hosts of a radio present changed in his interviews as a result of he didn’t like a line of questioning.
Throughout his weekly look on 105.3 in Dallas, the flagship station of the Cowboys, Jones advised “Shan & RJ” hosts, Shan Shariff and R.J. Uneven, that he would “get someone else to ask these questions” as a result of he didn’t like how the dialog was going. It was Jones’ first radio interview for the reason that Cowboys have been embarrassed at residence in a 47-9 loss to Detroit on Sunday, which additionally occurred to be Jones’ 82nd birthday.
Jones was indignant that Shariff requested Jones concerning the lack of personnel strikes made by the Cowboys through the offseason.
After a little bit of a back-and-forth, Jones lastly stated, “Let me inform you what I’ll do about it. I’ll allow us to sit down and take a look at the selections we’ve made over the past a number of years. Now, in the event you suppose I’m on a rattling telephone name with you over a radio and sitting right here and throwing all the nice out with the dishwater, you’ve got to be smoking one thing over there this morning.”
Then Jones added, “This isn’t your job. Your job isn’t to let me go over all the explanations that I did one thing and I’m sorry that I did it. That’s not your job. I’ll get someone else to ask these questions, man.”
Jones, who was speaking on a telephone from an NFL house owners assembly in Atlanta, then stated, “I’m not kidding. You’re not going to determine what the crew is doing proper or improper. In case you are, or any 5 or 10 such as you, you must come to this assembly I’m going to at this time with 32 groups right here, you’re geniuses. You actually suppose you’re gonna sit right here with a microphone and inform me the entire issues that I’ve accomplished improper and with out going over the rights? Pay attention, we each know we’re speaking to plenty of nice followers, plenty of nice listeners. And I’m very sorry for what occurred on the market Sunday. I’m sick about what occurred Sunday. And I’m not speaking to those yay-hoos on the top of this telephone. I’m speaking to you, the followers, which might be listening this morning. And we will spend plenty of time going over zigging and zagging on the stupidest issues I ever accomplished that anyone has ever analyzed is purchase the Cowboys. It was an fool that did that. So fool issues can flip into good selections. Sensible issues can flip into dangerous selections. The information are that if you make one you don’t actually know whether or not it’s gonna be good or not on the time.”
The interview carried on for an additional 5 minutes or so with out incident.
ProFootball Talk’s Mike Florio wrote, “It’s as defensive as Jerry has ever been. Provided that he talks to the media as many as thrice per week through the season, it was inevitable that he’d take problem with questioning, even when it wasn’t all that aggressive.”
So why do I say Jones “could have” crossed a line? Nicely, whereas Jones did plenty of huffing and puffing, I’m not optimistic he was honest along with his menace to get another person to host his weekly radio spots.
As Awful Announcing’s Ben Axelrod wrote, “In the end, it’s laborious to view Jones’ reply as something apart from him lashing out in an try and defend the indefensible, whereas utilizing 105.3 The Fan’s standing because the radio residence of the Cowboys as leverage to bully a radio host asking the obvious of questions.”
However ESPN’s Shannon Sharpe wasn’t having it, saying on air, “He put a person in worry for his job. I hate, I detest, I despise somebody that may prey on the weak. And since Jerry Jones is in an advantageous state of affairs, as a result of he has the facility on this state of affairs, he would truly say that publicly. That tells me lots a few man. That tells me lots a few man that has energy and would abuse that energy to inform that man, ‘I’ll get somebody in right here to ask me favorable questions.’ … What do you suppose his job was?”
One other day nearer to regular right here in St. Petersburg following Hurricane Milton. Energy simply returned to my residence and to the Poynter Institute late within the day on Tuesday. We’re getting there! So now for extra media information, tidbits and fascinating hyperlinks …
- Helpful interactive piece from The Washington Submit’s Michael J. Coren, with Naema Ahmed and Kevin Crowe: “Where climate change poses the most and least risk to American homeowners.”
- FiveThirtyEight’s Nathaniel Rakich with “How Hurricanes Helene and Milton could affect the 2024 election.”
- The Atlantic’s Charlie Warzel writes concerning the misinformation drawback in “I’m Running Out of Ways to Explain How Bad This Is.”
- The New York Occasions’ Benjamin Mullin with “What Should a Music Magazine Be in the TikTok Era? Pitchfork Alumni Have an Idea.”
- The Related Press’ Gary D. Robertson with “North Carolina governor candidate Mark Robinson sues CNN over report about posts on porn site.”
- The St. Louis Post Dispatch announced Tuesday that, in January, it would cease utilizing its present presses to print the day by day newspaper and can outsource printing to a facility owned by Gannett in Columbia, Missouri. Meaning 72 staff — 48 full-timers and 24-part-timers — will not be employed on the newspaper. The paper will nonetheless print day by day, however deadlines might be a lot earlier, based on Submit-Dispatch government editor Alan Achkar, who wrote, “The transfer will lead to earlier deadlines for information protection, which is able to have an effect on late-breaking protection in print, particularly sports activities. Our protection of Cardinals NIGHT video games, for instance, is not going to seem within the subsequent day’s sports activities part.” He added, “However the print version will nonetheless characteristic our array of columns, evaluation, options and enterprise journalism. We stay dedicated to producing a robust print version, with the identical vary of comics and puzzles you now take pleasure in. … And for the newest breaking information and sports activities protection, after all, you may flip to our web site, stltoday.com, and our cellular app.” Try Achkar’s announcement for extra behind the transfer.
- The Athletic names Fubo its first official dwell TV streaming associate. Here’s the announcement from The New York Occasions.
- Entrance Workplace Sports activities’ Colin Salao with “WNBA Finals TV Ratings Grow in Game 2 Despite NFL Competition.”
- Los Angeles Occasions tradition columnist and critic Mary McNamara with “Inside the Kafkaesque experience of getting your car towed in L.A.”
Have suggestions or a tip? E-mail Poynter senior media author Tom Jones at [email protected].
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