All around Washington, and across cyberspace, reporters are uttering two words: "Signal me." They are encouraging people who are affected by President Trump's wrecking-ball approach to U.S. government to get in touch and share what they know.
All of a sudden, obscure government agencies are the center of attention, and there are obviously so many stories to be told. Journalists are trying to get sourced up – and the emphasis on Signal is no accident. While not perfect, the messaging app provides added layers of privacy protection.
>> One of the best sources of information is r/fednews, the "Reddit hub for federal employees," where people post about how to navigate the "Fedpocalypse."
>> Scrappy Substack publishers are also leading the way. This Reuters story, "CDC orders pullback of new scientific papers involving its researchers," credits Jeremy Faust's Inside Medicine Substack with the scoop.
>> Collecting anonymous tips: The Bulwark's Sam Stein put out a call for messages from federal workers and shared some of the dozens he received in this YouTube video last night. He said workers described "chaos, paranoia, anger and confusion in their agencies."
>> Speaking of anonymous contributions: Yesterday Slate published a piece by a federal civil servant "who has been granted the use of a pen name to protect them and their family from reprisals."
>> This national story is also a local story: The Kansas City Beacon, for example, pointed out that the federal government is the city's biggest employer, and "experts warn the region’s economy will feel the pain when jobs disappear."
>> And sometimes individual stories speak volumes. ABC News wrote about one federal employee who replied to OPM's "Fork in the Road" email accepting the "deferred resignation" offer. "Nearly a week later," the employee hasn't heard anything back and doesn't know what to do.
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A photo from a USAID office obtained by CNN. |
Feeling ecstatic or overwhelmed? |
Here are the headlines on the front page of today's Washington Post: "Trump agrees to pause tariffs on Mexico, Canada;" "Trump preps order to dismantle Education Dept;" "Musk does 'dirty work' to enact Trump agenda;" "Prosecutor issues legal threat over DOGE;" "Work is halted at CFPB on acting head's orders." Reading the stories might leave you feeling like Jamelle Bouie, who says "simply repeating the straight reporting of what is happening in the executive branch makes you sound like you have lost your mind."
While the right delights in hearing about the chaos, the left is trying to organize resistance. "If you are watching the news right now, and feeling overwhelmed by the constant headlines and developments... first of all, know that you are not alone," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on an Instagram Live last night. And second, "this is exactly what this administration is trying to get you to feel." She said "the paralysis and shock that you feel right now is the point. They are trying to induce a state of passivity among the general public."
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Scoops lift WIRED subscriptions |
Liam Reilly writes: We mentioned yesterday that WIRED's reporters have published scoop after scoop about DOGE, Musk and his friends in the last few weeks. Their work has paid off, the publication says, in "a record-breaking increase in subscriptions" on Sunday, "with numbers soaring to ten times their usual rate." The boost has been driven by politics coverage...
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Here's the thing about Musk... |
With great power usually comes great responsibility and some accountability. But "unlike the president, Musk cannot be impeached, because he holds no office. Unlike a cabinet secretary, his authorities are not defined by law. Unlike a civil servant, he cannot be subject to ethics or transparency laws," Andy Craig, a fellow at the Institute for Humane Studies, writes at The UnPopulist.
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CBS complies with FCC inquiry |
Yesterday CBS responded to the FCC's inquiry and supplied the transcript and tapes of last October's "60 Minutes" interview with Kamala Harris.
Now FCC chair Brendan Carr will review the material. This is "a rare situation," Carr told me by phone, noting that CBS opened itself up to a "news distortion" complaint by airing two different Harris soundbites in response to the same question. "I don't see how the FCC can reasonably adjudicate this claim of news distortion without seeing what was actually said" in the interview, he said.
>> The counter-argument: This whole fight is based on a faulty premise (that CBS doctored the interview to help Harris beat Trump) that Carr feels compelled to pursue because Trump huffed and puffed and sued CBS over it.
>> In other FCC news, Adam Candeub, "a leading critic of Big Tech," will be nominated as general counsel, Semafor reports...
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According to the NYT, Bill Owens, who runs "60 Minutes," told staffers yesterday, "There have been reports in the media about a settlement and/or apology. The company knows I will not apologize for anything we have done." Perhaps that's an allusion to the fact that ABC expressed "regret" when it settled its own Trump lawsuit last December.
Will Paramount Global pay to make Trump's "60 Minutes" suit go away? Rather, will Trump accept Paramount's settlement offer? Still TBA...
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Another public media funding fight |
Lawmakers allocate about $535 million a year to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which disburses funds to local PBS and NPR stations across the country, benefiting red states and blue states alike. Any official who seriously wanted to achieve billions in cost savings would obviously start elsewhere – like the $874 billion spent on national defense. So it's rather revealing that the "first target" of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's House DOGE Subcommittee is publicly-supported media. She won't be finding big cost savings, but she'll be scoring cheap political points.
Yesterday Greene asked the heads of NPR and PBS to come testify about their "systemically biased news coverage." Politico's Katherine Tully-McManus wrote that it was the very first move made by the subcommittee. No doubt some of Greene's constituents want her to beat up on the media at a hearing – but during Trump's first term he proposed slashing public media funding every year, and Republican lawmakers ignored him, every year. Key question: Will Congress actually strip the funding this time around?
>> A reminder via Michael Swerdlow's piece for CJR: "Fifteen peer democracies spend an average of $70 per person on public media. In this country, we spend a measly $3 per person." That's counting state funding as well as federal...
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What was Rupert doing at the WH? |
Rupert Murdoch was sitting in the Oval Office while Trump held forth with the press corps yesterday afternoon. Why? CNN's Laura Coates asked me that question last night, and I posited that both men got that they wanted out of the interaction. Murdoch, who has always coveted access to political power, got to bend the president's ear in private, and Trump got to criticize his Wall Street Journal editorials in public.
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Political media notes and quotes |
>> Jake Tapper: "Surely parts of the federal government could be whittled down but what we've seen so far is an axe being brandished and swung recklessly." (CNN)
>> In a statement that was "light on details" yesterday, Trump said "TikTok could be acquired by a newly proposed US sovereign wealth fund." (CNN)
>> Charlie Warzel proposes that it's "helpful and important to stop thinking of X as a social media platform and see and talk about it for what it is: a political weapon." (Bluesky)
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>> "The Los Angeles Times has offered voluntary buyouts to any employee who has worked at the legacy newspaper more than two years," so in essence, almost everyone... (TheWrap)
>> "Tegna has eliminated its national Verify fact-checking team," slashing about 20 jobs and "marking the end of the company's centralized effort to debunk" disinfo. The local broadcaster says its stations will continue producing their own Verify segments, but this is a serious retrenchment. (NewscastStudio)
>> "Nielsen and Paramount have settled a months-long contract dispute." (THR)
>> Fox Corp shares are up 4.5% in premarket trading thanks to a "blowout earnings report." (THR)
>> And Spotify shares are up about 8% after reporting its first full year of profitability. (Yahoo)
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Trump will hold a joint presser with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Senate Finance Committee will vote on RFK's nomination.
Alphabet and Snap will report earnings after the bell.
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Today's new nonfiction releases |
Today Eoin Higgins is out with a new book, "Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left," that singles out two loud voices in particular, Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi. His publisher calls it "a biting exposé of journalistic greed, tech-billionaire ambition, and a lament for a disappearing free press."
Also new in stores today: "Source Code: My Beginnings" by Bill Gates, "Inevitable: Inside the Messy, Unstoppable Transition to Electric Vehicles" by Mike Colias, and "Food for Thought: Essays and Rumination" by Alton Brown...
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WhatsApp hacking targeted journalists |
Last week Meta-owned WhatsApp said it had "disrupted a hacking campaign that targeted around 90 users, including journalists and members of civil society." Yesterday the first target came forward. Francesco Cancellato "is the director of Fanpage.it, an Italian news website that is known for investigations into corruption, organized crime, the Catholic Church, and the youth-wing of the far-right ruling party in Italy, led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni." He told TechCrunch's Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai he felt "violated" by the attack...
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Apple raises concern over porn app |
Clare Duffy writes: For the first time, iPhone users in Europe can download a porn app. And Apple is not happy about it. A third-party app store called AltStore.io publicized the app on Monday. This is all because the EU Digital Markets Act, which took effect last year, requires device operators like Apple to allow European users to access apps through third-party app stores or face heavy fines, in an effort to rein in "gatekeeper" big tech companies. Apple had aggressively opposed the requirement.
>> Apple responded to the unwelcome new app by saying "we are deeply concerned about the safety risks that hardcore porn apps of this type create for EU users, especially kids..."
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January: "President Biden plans to write a book after leaving office, the White House confirmed to Axios."
February: "Biden has signed with Creative Artists Agency, which represented him between 2017 and 2020." THR's Erik Hayden has more here. Surely a book deal is just part of the plan...
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AP apologizes to Babyface |
On the Grammys red carpet on Sunday, Krysta Fauria and Leslie Ambriz were interviewing Babyface when Fauria spotted best new artist nominee Chappell Roan, and called out Roan's name to get her attention. A video clip of Babyface being pushed aside soon went viral. On Monday, CNN's Lisa Respers France reports, The AP said "we are deeply sorry for cutting our interview with Babyface short..."
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Sports + entertainment highlights |
>> Love this Kyle Feldscher dispatch: "Inside the wacky world of Super Bowl Opening Night" (CNN)
>> The Kansas City Chiefs are launching Foolish Club Studios, a production company that will "develop scripted and unscripted content for both shortform and longform platforms," Alex Weprin reports. (THR)
>> Attorneys for Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni appeared in court for the first time Monday, and the judge told them not to fight their case through the media, Sandra Gonzalez reports. (CNN)
>> CBS and Sony's battle over "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel of Fortune" is getting even more intense. (THR)
>> The first trailer for "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" is out! (IGN)
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