Reliable Sources is going on spring break next week while I take my family to meet Mario and Mickey Mouse. This newsletter will be back in your inbox on April 28. I miss y'all already! Now to today's news... |
Some of the best journalism right now comes in two distinct sizes. There are skinny must-read scoops about President Trump and his government's norm-shattering actions in very specific ways. (Examples: Recent stories about the IRS by CNN, The AP and The New York Times.) Then there are XXL-sized stories, columns and segments that connect all the dots.
"The tariffs, the treatment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the DOGE moves — they're all fundamentally about the same thing," Trump's "thirst for one-man rule," veteran columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. writes.
In a new piece for the FT this morning, Yuval Noah Harari says Trump's vision of the world is a "zero-sum game in which every transaction involves winners and losers."
These XXL-sized columns help people see the broader pattern at work. This is being done on TV too, with the benefit of then-versus-now video clips.
"The president who complained about the government being weaponized against him" is turning the government "into ammo to help his allies and punish his perceived enemies," CNN's Abby Phillip said at the top of last night's NewsNight.
Her segment connected the dots between Trump's pardons, his demands for DOJ investigations of critics, his administration's targeting of Harvard, and the looming funding threats against PBS and NPR, to name a few.
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When Trump was asked about Garcia yesterday, he answered like a passive observer of his own government and claimed he didn't know "the truth" of the matter: "I've heard many things about him, and we'll have to find out what the truth is."
It's a little bit late for that, right?
Principled voices on both the right and left are raising alarms. National Review's Jeff Blehar wrote earlier this week that "a test of the rule of law is coming." The NYT's Ezra Klein said on his podcast yesterday that "the emergency" is here: Trump "intends to send those he hates to foreign prisons beyond the reach of U.S. law. He does not care — he will not even seek to discover — if those he sends into these foreign hells are guilty of what he claims. Because this is not about their guilt — it is about his power."
"And if he is capable of that," Klein asked, "if he wants that, then what else is he capable of? What else does he want? And if the people who serve him are willing to give him that, to defend his right to do that, what else will they give him? What else will they defend?"
>> One of the top "trending" pieces on the NYT website this morning is by the usually cool, calm and collected David Brooks, who says "it's time for a comprehensive national civic uprising" to confront Trump's "authoritarian assault."
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Earlier this week GOP Senator Lisa Murkowski said on-camera what many elected officials have said off camera and off the record: They're afraid of MAGA retaliation.
"We are all afraid," Murkowski said, acknowledging that "I'm oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice, because retaliation is real. And that’s not right."
The senator's candid comments gained national news attention on Thursday, but they were made back on Monday, and we only know about it because the Anchorage Daily News was in attendance when Murkowski spoke with a group of Alaska nonprofit leaders. Thankfully the publication had a multimedia journalist there, too, so there is YouTube video of the exchange.
>> Quick, guess how many times Fox News highlighted Murkowski's admission yesterday? Just one time, and it was to mock her as a "bad actor" who hurts Alaska. |
The Committee to Protect Journalists has released a safety advisory for journalists and media workers who are traveling to the United States. "Increased border control, inconsistent enforcement, and broad discretionary authority among border agents suggest an unpredictable environment which warrants proactive preparation," the group says.
Here is the complete advisory...
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Trumpworld notes and quotes |
>> CNN's Daniel Dale caught the White House lying while trying to defend a Trump lie about gas prices. (CNN)
>> Speaking of prices, some news outlets are launching "grocery price trackers," Laura Hazard Owen reports. (NiemanLab)
>> Trump has "appointed Fox News host Mark Levin and former Fox News contributor Bo Dietl to his Homeland Security Advisory Council." (Mediaite)
>> "Process as punishment:" Renee DiResta went back in time for this essay, observing how "the House Un-American Activities Committee operated for decades—until targets learned to fight back." (Lawfare)
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AP v. Trump White House updates |
There was no immediate ruling after Thursday's appeals court hearing in AP v. Trump White House. The appeals panel "appeared skeptical" of some Trump admin arguments, Politico's Hassan Ali Kanu reported. CNN's Katelyn Polantz notes that Judge Trevor McFadden will hear further arguments in the case later today.
The AP is included in the photo pool again today. Under the press office's new policy (which hurts all the wire services by dropping the dedicated daily wire spot) The AP is expected to get a turn in the print rotation by Sunday, according to a government court filing. In other words, the White House is really trying to convince the court that it's not committing viewpoint discrimination (anymore).
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The great Google reckoning |
"Right now, it's all tech antitrust, all the time," as The Information's Martin Peers says. Thursday's landmark ruling against Google is being hailed by media industry advocates like the News/Media Alliance, which says Google's monopolistic tactics "have starved content creators of the revenues they deserve and need to sustain quality journalism." Digital Context Next called the ruling "a significant step toward restoring competition and accountability in the digital advertising ecosystem."
Of course, the remedies phase will take a while. (And Google is vowing to appeal.) In the Justice Department's other case against Google, the court will begin remedy hearings on Monday...
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Meantime, at the Meta trial... |
Both Google and Meta "are facing unprecedented legal threats over tactics they used to reach dominance," the WSJ's Meghan Bobrowsky and Jan Wolfe wrote this morning.
On the stand yesterday, Sheryl Sandberg said "that the social media giant faced strong competition and that it nurtured and grew Instagram after buying the app, countering accusations that the company illegally stifled rivals," Mike Isaac and Cecilia Kang reported in this NYT recap...
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>> "The rise of the infinite fringe:" Tina Nguyen says this is her grand unified theory of why American politics has gone haywire, and it has a lot to do with digital media. (The Verge)
>> "Pam Bondi stars in Trump's made-for-TV Justice Department:" Ryan Bort documents how "federal prosecutors are serving as the president's spokespeople — and vice versa." (Rolling Stone)
>> Former VOA reporter Liam Scott makes the case that "Trump's media crackdown endangers reporters worldwide." (Foreign Policy)
>> Lauren Watson covers how student journalists are "navigating a surge in requests to take down previously published material." (CJR)
>> Huo Jingnan examines how Mario Nawfal, "Elon Musk's favorite news influencer," has benefited from his preferred status. (NPR)
>> Gene Park's take on the "viral pandemonium" of "Minecraft" movie: "If all we’re feeding kids is memes, they will produce meme waste." (Wash Post)
>> "Even Netflix can't escape the Black Mirror treatment," Emma Stefansky writes, assessing the new season. (The Atlantic)
>> Accountants are finally getting the sequel "to their favorite film," Mark Maurer writes. "The Accountant 2" comes out next week. (WSJ)
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>> "A Palestinian artist and photojournalist who is the protagonist of a documentary due to premiere in Cannes in May has been killed in an Israeli air strike," Melanie Goodfellow reports. (Deadline)
>> A portrait of a wounded Palestinian boy has won the Press Photo of the Year competition. (CNN)
>> "As TikTok joins X and Meta in crowdsourcing fact-checks," Poynter assesses "what could go right — and very wrong." (Poynter)
>> Chris Matthews says he is reviving "Hardball" on Substack. (THR)
>> Congrats to this year's Peabody nominees! (Peabody Awards)
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Netflix shares are back above the $1,000 mark after the company posted another even-better-than-expected earnings report yesterday. "Our revenue and profit growth outlook remains solid, with no change to our 2025 guidance forecast," Netflix's letter to shareholders said, signaling strength to investors despite all the economic uncertainty.
"Historically, in tougher economies, home entertainment value is really important to consumer households, and Netflix is a tremendous value," Ted Sarandos noted on the analyst call. Looking ahead to the upfronts, Greg Peters said the company isn't seeing "any signs of softness from our direct interactions with buyers."
>> Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings is taking another big step back, shifting to chairman of the board "and in a non-executive director position."
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Send in your video podcast pitches |
When asked on the analyst call if he thought video podcasts could perform well as a category on Netflix, Sarandos said this: "As the popularity of video podcasts grow, I suspect you'll see some of them find their way to Netflix." Sarandos said "we're looking for the next generation of great creators, and we're looking everywhere," not just in Hollywood... |
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>> Semafor's Shelby Talcott reports: "Trump tells me they will 'just delay' the TikTok deal with China 'until this thing works out,' reiterating that it's subject to China." (The Verge)
>> "New Jersey has sued the social gaming platform Discord for allegedly failing to adequately protect underage users from predators, the first state to do so." (NBC)
>> "Facebook traffic appears to be a growing part of the social pie again at three-quarters of the world’s biggest news websites." (Press Gazette)
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