Press Pool or Swimming Pool?

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Article in The New York Times by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, 10/20/26

Headline: “Trump Pushes to Evict the Press From the White House”

Subhead:  “President Trump has talked about replacing the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room with an indoor swimming pool.”

“. . .Mr. Trump has told aides he would prefer to bring back the indoor pool President Franklin D. Roosevelt added in 1933 as therapy for his polio-afflicted legs; President Richard Nixon later covered it over to make room for the news media. Journalists who are credentialed to cover the White House work out of a small office space connected to the press briefing room.

“While moving the media out of the White House may be a relatively small debate considering Mr. Trump’s attacks on journalists more broadly, it would be highly symbolic. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/20/us/politics/trump-white-house-media.html

FCC Chair Doesn’t Carr about Hatch Act?

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Article in Reporters Without Borders by Staff. 10/19/26

Headline:  “USA: RSF and DDF file complaint against FCC Chairman Brendan Carr for potential misuse of office during partisan campaigning”

“Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and Democracy Defenders Fund (DDF) filed a complaint on October 19 asking the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) to investigate whether Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr and two other officials violated the Hatch Act by appearing with President Donald Trump at a campaign rally for Alaska Senate candidate Dan Sullivan. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://rsf.org/en/usa-rsf-and-ddf-file-complaint-against-fcc-chairman-brendan-carr-potential-misuse-office-during-0

Alternative Network for Alternative Facts

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Article in Poynter by Angela Fu, Ren LaForme and Amaris Castillo, 10/19/26

Headline:  “Opinion | The White House has a workaround when networks refuse to replace CNN”

Subhead:  “Since the White House restricted CNN’s press access, other networks have refused to replace it. It has turned to Real America’s Voice.”

“Over the weekend, CNN was once again blocked from traveling with President Donald Trump on Air Force One as part of the White House pool.

“And once again, conservative network Real America’s Voice was waiting in the wings, ready to provide pool footage after the other major networks declined to take CNN’s place. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/white-house-cnn-ban-real-america-voice/

Press Secretary – What’s That?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jem Bartholomew, 10/19/26

Headline:  “What Is a White House Press Secretary For?”

Subhead:  “Katie Zacharia was out after five days. Where that leaves the role—and the White House Correspondents’ Association—is uncertain.”

“. . .After a decade of Donald Trump’s breathless, impulsive rhetoric, it can be strange to remember that, not so long ago, the messaging of politicians and presidents was so stage-managed that it sometimes seemed as if the spin doctors were really in charge. The idea of Trump taking advice, let alone direction, from a communications strategist seems faintly absurd. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/what-is-a-white-house-press-secretary-for-katie-zacharia-five-days-correspondents-association-future.php

Separate Mainstream Media Coverage?

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Article in The Intercept by Adam Johnson, 10/15/26

Headline:  “Trump Is Targeting Ilhan Omar. Where’s the Elite Media Outrage?”

Subhead: “Unlike the raid on John Bolton, the targeting of Omar has elicited zero condemnation from NYT, WSJ, and Washington Post.”

“. . .But with rare exception, the response from the mainstream media’s pundit class has been largely muted, with the vast bulk of the coverage coming in the form of he said/she said, down-the-middle reporting. This is in stark contrast with how elite opinion-shapers responded with uniform outrage in the days after Trump’s also dubious raid on John Bolton. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://theintercept.com/2026/10/15/ilhan-omar-raid-corporate-media-coverage/

CBS Shouting-Incident Apology

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 10/15/26

Headline:  “Contrition on the CBS Cruise”

Subhead: “After an explosive all-hands meeting that left CBS News’ Foreign desk in turmoil. embattled editor Shayndi Raice attempted to make some amends during an awkward boat cruise, Status has learned.”

“On Wednesday night, just one day after an explosive all-hands meeting that reverberated across CBS News and the larger media industry, staffers on the network’s foreign desk gathered at a pier along London’s Thames River for a boat cruise. The three-hour excursion had been scheduled some time ago, I’m told, intended as a team-building activity for the journalists who make up the London bureau. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/cbs-news-israel-meeting-shayndi-raice-bari-weiss-holly-williams

WH Press Sec. Gone But Not Forgotten

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Article in The New Republic by Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, 10/15/26

Headline:  “Trump’s Press Secretary Admits She Was in ‘Sort of a Pyramid Scheme’”

Subhead:  “Katie Zacharia’s résumé included a stint at a fitness MLM.”

“Katie Zacharia’s long résumé includes stints as an unqualified legal commentator, an associate at a Chinese law firm, an uncredentialed general counsel, and—in her own words—a participant in ‘sort of a pyramid scheme.’. . .”

https://newrepublic.com/post/216714/trump-press-secretary-zacharia-pyramid-scheme-mlm

Not Even a Half of a Scaramucci!

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Article in The New York Times by Shawn McCreeshTyler Pager and Hamed Aleaziz, 11/16/26

Headline:  “Katie Zacharia Is Out After 5 Days as White House Press Secretary”

Subhead: “The ouster came as Ms. Zacharia was shadowed by questions about how she had presented her legal career and handled her first press briefing.”

“President Trump’s new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, was fired Friday, after less than a week on the job, according to three people familiar with the matter.

“Neither the White House nor Ms. Zacharia responded to requests for comment. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/16/us/politics/katie-zacharia-fired-press-secretary.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

Selective Analysis in NYT

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Article in Daily Kos by Oliver Willis, 10/15/26

Headline:  “New York Times cleans up Vance’s bigotry”

“Earlier this week, Vice President JD Vance became one of the most prominent Republican voices to attack Texas’ Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico with bigoted homophobic and transphobic remarks.

“But in covering these smears, The New York Times downplayed Vance’s hateful rhetoric and even sought out a justification from a friendly pro-Republican source. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/10/15/800112897/media/new-york-times-cleans-up-vances-bigotry/

Reporters Unwelcome

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Article in Poynter by Angela Fu, 10/15/26

Headline: “A shrinking local press is making it easier for public officials to restrict access”

Subhead: “Reporters across the country say they’re being denied credentials, shut out of government spaces and stonewalled by public officials”

“As CNN, Politico and MS NOW challenge their White House ban in court, a similar press access battle is playing out in Utah — one that dates back to the beginning of last year. . .”

“Across the country, journalists at the state and local levels are experiencing many of the same access issues as their national counterparts. They are being turned away from press conferences, stonewalled by politicians and excluded from government spaces they previously had access to. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2026/local-news-press-access-public-officials/