Transcripts For CNNW Reliable Sources 20180429 : vimarsana.c

Brokaw and a strange story about joy reid. Plus, an important new look at americas standing in the world when it comes to press freedom. But first, the debate is raging over last nights white house Correspondents Dinner, a night to celebrate journalism took a turn. The question now is whether comedian Michelle Wolf went too far and maybe damaged the journalism profession. Her performance is being called embarrassing and cringeworthy but hilarious and epic. Being cast as wildly inappropriate and others saying, hey, whats the big deal . She was very funny. It is clear the partisan warfare is under way. There are charges of liberal intolerance and conservative hypocrisy. Of course, this is all coming at a moment of incredible tension between the press and the president. Incredible distrust in the media. You have to ask if this performance made it worse. Lets talk about it with four cnn analysts here. To talk through all of it, they were all at the dinner last night. Washington post josh dossey, he will anna johnson, and margaret taleb, president of the White House Correspondents Association. Marking ye margaret, we start with you. There is so much theory about last night. Do you have any regrets this morning . Brian, ill tell you this. First of all, it was a great honor to be able to preside over last nights dinner and to represent all of the journalists who cover the produce and we were really appreciative to have so Many Administration officials in the audience, including Sarah Sanders at the head table last night. My aim and the way i sought to put together the program was to build a spirit of unity in that room, to rally around journalism and why its important. And i worked really hard to do that with my own speech, and with the selection of guests who sang and the woman to my side, an egyptianamerican woman, who was rescued by President Trump and is an advocate for press freedom. My only regret is that to some extent, those 15 minutes are now defining four hours of what was a really wonderful, unifying night. And i dont want the cause of uni unity to be undercut. Youre saying the celebration of the First Amendment was overshadowed by wolfs raunchy jokes. Well, to some extent look, the comedian when the entertainer is a comedian and as has been the case for most of the last 30 years or so, they are often controversial. They are often, you know, to some extent, polarizing or at least provocative. Yeah, definitely. And its a night about free speech. So by tradition, we do not vet their monologue. We dont censor it, we dont see it. So you dont see the jokes beforehand, thats interesting. I did sneak down to the rehearsal and walkthrough, just in case, but she wouldnt give anything up. Do you think she crossed a line . I think she brought to the night what she thought was important to say and her goal may not have been press unity and everyone rally around the room to support journalism. But i invited her. And i invited her because i thought she is a talented comedian who had a message to deliver and she delivered a message. I delivered a message, too. My message is the one that i hope represents the press corps and certainly represents me. It was about my own personal experiences, my family experiences. Why i believe the journalism is so important. Tell me about choosing her, though. Why select her this year . Look, i mean, shes a comedian on the rise, and shes a woman, and 2017, 2018, 2016, these were all important years for women. I thought she was provocative and had a message to deliver. And she did deliver it. I think she views the Trump Presidency as a crisis, as an emergency, and she was trying to speak truth to power, but she was criticized for personal comments about Sarah Sanders. Lets watch, keeping in mind that the press secretary is a few feet away. I actually really like sarah. I think shes really resourceful. Like she burns facts, and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smoky eye. Like, maybe shes born with it. Maybe its lies. Probably lies. And im never really sure what to call Sarah Huckabee sanders, you know . Is it Sarah Sanders . Is it Sarah Huckabee sanders, is it cousin huckabee, is it auntie Huckabee Sanders . Like whats uncle tom but for white women who disappoint other white women . Oh, i know, ann coulter. A lot of the criticism, wolf, has been about personal attacks against sanders. People saying she was criticizing sanders personal appearance. Wolf responded overnight on twitter saying i was trying to talk about her behavior. Her behavior as White House Press secretary. But keeping in mind that, you know, i saw you walked over to sanders right after the roast. Can you tell us about that conversation . I told her that i knew that this was a big decision, whether or not to attend the dinner and whether to sit at the head table and that i really appreciated her being there. I thought it sent an Important Message about the role of government and the press being able to communicate with one another and Work Together and that i appreciated her being there. Is there less of a chance shell attend next year because of this . I dont know and i hope not. Again, Michelle Wolf is a comedian, she speaks for herself and that is her right to do that under the free speech and First Amendment, which were celebrating. But you dont think having her there seems like an endorsement by the press corps . I think the comedian reflects, but i dont think the comedian speaks for the press corps. And in my message last night, i sought to explain to everyone that journalists are americans from all walks of life. We come from different partisan backgrounds, we come from different parts of the country. We care about america. And we care about truth and fairness and freedom and news. That is the message that i want everyone to take away. And i hope it is the message people do take away. But in this tense time, the presidency has obviously changed. The world has changed. And it seemed like youre trying to put on the same event. New president , every year, we should be clear, its a rotating job. Youre the president of the association a couple more months. Shouldnt the event change as the world changes . Maybe there shouldnt be comedians any more. Thats an interesting debate. Definitely we have and should keep having. The night is one to reflect what our members want to convey. Olivia knoc olivia knox will take over for me in july and will be thinking about all of those issues. But for us, i think there is value in entertainment. There is also value in serious Public Policy discussions and having the kind of mix of people we had in the room last night. And its vital we can all get together and sit together and eat and talk about the issues and the First Amendment. I mentioned the standards before the dinner. I was glad she was there, as well. I think its valuable for the white house to be represented at the dinner. But now in the aftermath of Michelle Wolfs what do we call it standup act, there are calls for apologies. Nbcs Andrea Mitchell saying that the association should apologize to sanders. Will there be an apology . What i told you is what i have already told Sarah Sanders. I speak for myself and the association in that my interest is in the spirit of unity and in the spirit of serious journalism. You know, Andrea Mitchell in her tweet said what started with an uplifting, heart felt speech by you ended with Michelle Wolf. She is saying the comedian was the worst of insults since clinton. Are some people being too sensitive about this . No, it was a fourhour program. And i hope everyone can remember that comedy is meant to be provocative. And it doesnt always hit the mark. And sometimes it hits the mark for some people and not for other people. But, again, my interests overwhelmingly was in unifying the country, and i understand that we may have fallen a little bit short on that goal. I hope everyone will allow us to continue to keep working toward that goal. Look, comedy is meant to provoke thought and debate. And it certainly has done that. But journalism also is meant to bring people together around common understandings. And im concerned that people now take away their own message from this. Lets open it up to our panel and take a look at a few of the other jokes from Michelle Wolf. I always enjoy the media critiques during these events. Lets take a look. You guys are obsessed with trump did you used to date him . Because you pretend like you hate him, but i think you love him. You helped create this monster, and now youre profiting off of him. You guys have got to stop putting kellyanne on your shows all she does is lie if you dont give her a platform, she has nowhere to lie. Weve got our friends at cnn here. Welcome, guys. Its great to have you. You guys love breaking news. And you did it. You broke it. Fox news is here. So you know what that means, ladies. Cover your drinks. Now i have to admit i shouldnt say this, because cnn gave me a ticket to the dinner, i left early. I wanted to watch Michelle Wolf on tv so i watched at a restaurant with a bunch of people who didnt give one hoot about the white house Correspondents Dinner. Just normal washingtonians. They didnt care about these jokes. But i do wonder since the three of you were there in the room with margaret, reactions to Michelle Wolf in the room. He will anna, was this a setback for journalism to have so many barbs directed at the Trump Administration . That it seems like the press is at war with the president . The routine was hit and miss. There were funny moments, and there wered Administration Officials who laughed at the funny moments. But the focus is overwhelmingly on the misses. She made abortion jokes that were not funny. She made really barbed jokes directed at particular individuals that werent funny. But i do think we have seen progress. Margaret, you pointed this out. There were no Administration Officials at the dinner at all last year. And this year it was nice to sit next to them and, you know, at every table, there were reporters chatting with Administration Officials. It was nice. So i think over time we have seen progress. The other interesting thing, i think, was that there was an absolute exodus of the sort of hollywood celebrities we saw in the obama administration. This used to be a sort of mingling of celebrities, reporters and lawmakers and government officials. I think that sort of speaks to the polarization of the country, because you couldnt get a single celebrity. There were some athletes there last night. There really werent celebrities. I saw kathy griffin, but really none others. So this isnt really just about a comedian and bad jokes. I think the White House Correspondents Association is taking undue blame for this. The country is polarized, and the dinner i think showcases that. Molly, your take . I think thats a good point. Its about the continuing rift between the way that, you know, trump and others have cast elites and so forth, and hollywood is a big part of that. I dont know what people were expecting. Given anyone who has seen a late night show in the last yearandahalf has to know where comedians writ large are on this presidency. And in a lot of ways, its a rich target. So if people werent expecting there to be a lot of jokes, probably pretty mean ones, i dont think and i also think that some of this outrage is a bit theatrical. I dont think theres anyone in that room who has never heard a dirty joke before. And maybe you didnt think some were funny, but others were. And i just have a hard time getting really riled up about it. To your point about it, the head of the american conservative union, he walked out, along with his wife, mercedes, a white house aide. He said, im tired of being mocked by the elites. Theyre obviously an elite couple in washington. Just like a lot of the people in the room. So there is some thee at tricks, i agree. At the same time, some hard jokes. Your point about the abortion jokes. Very uncomfortable. Not just for conservatives, for Many Americans who were watching this on tv or who were in the room. Josh dossey, i want to show you something jim acosta just tweeted, talking about his reaction to the dinner. His reaction to the jokes. He said, my problem with last nights dinner is not that we had a comedian who told some nasty jokes. Its that we did not address the nearly constant attacks on the press from the president. The dinner should change with the times. So we send a strong message to the world. What do you think on that . I think margaret did address that last night. There were lots of talks about the relationship between the press and presidency. I think he thanked administration folks for coming and you also talked about some of the sharp attacks on the president. I think a lot of the dinner should be about journalism and not the red carpet, the meanspirited jokes we saw last night. Some i thought were inappropriate. But, you know, i also was backstage and got to meet a lot of scholarship winners, journalism students from missouri, people who want to cover conflict. A lot of really impressive students winning awards and got to come up on stage, as well. I really enjoyed talking with them and i think its less about the red carpet. Its about honoring the best year. Think about the last year. Its been a pinnacle of investigative journalism. We have seen some of the best work from the new york city, politico, bloomberg. A lot of great work. And i kind of fear that in that kind of situation last night, that gets lost for the jokes. And i think, you know, a lot of it is about the work and the students and kind of what were doing here. I was going to say, i thought that Michelle Wolfs jokes about journalism and journalists were the funniest jokes of the night. Because there is a huge focus among journalists about trumps attack on journalists. But what we dont say is it is a great time to be a journalist. And journalists have profited enormously from the Trump Presidency. There really is a renaissance in journalism and i dont think there is enough focus on that from journalists who complain about his attacks on the press. And i noticed among the awards presented last night when the cnn team was up accepting an award, Sarah Sanders pointedly sat while everyone else was standing and applauding. Did you have a reaction to that margaret . Was that noticeable to you . I didnt notice it. I was so busy handing out the awards, i didnt notice. To me, that was a sign of the ongoing tensions that exist. To me, when you see the president , hes almost theres attacks against the media dehumanizing journalists. Thats why its invaluable to have white house aides at the dinner, because any time we have face time, its valuable. It shows the humanity of this job. Lets take a quick break. Right after this break, more about the president and his rally in michigan last night. That was the other big event of saturday. Well talk about his latest media attacks, and what the tone of it means, right after this. A wealth of information. A wealth of perspective. A wealth of opportunities. Thats the clarity you get from fidelity wealth management. Straightforward advice, tailored recommendations, taxefficient investing strategies, and a dedicated advisor to help you grow and protect your wealth. Fidelity wealth management. To help you grow and protect your wealth. Over 5 million americans signed our petition to impeach this president. This is not about political parties. We all understand that this president would be replaced by another republican. This is much bigger than washington politics. Its about the safety and security of our country. No one is above the law. Join us at needtoimpeach. Com. Lets Tell Congress that if they wont do something, well elect new representatives who will. Most people come to la with big dreams. We came with big appetites. With expedia, you could book a flight, hotel, car, and activity all in one place. Welcome back to reliable sources. The last president to skip a white house Correspondents Dinner was Ronald Reagan in 1981, because he was recovering from an assassination attempt. He still called in by phone. The last president to skip a dinner two times two dinners in a row was richard nixon. President trump has come up with a tradition of his own, counter programming the dinner with a rally, where he attacks the media and his other perceived foes. I was curious to see how far he would go last night. This to me was the key sound bite from the over hourlong rally. Is this better than that phony Washington White House Correspondents Dinner . I could be up there tonight, smiling like i love where theyre hitting you shot after shot, these people, they hate your guts. There are two ways to read that shocking statement. Either hes saying when hes up there smiling, pretending to enjoy it, they hate his guts, or what hes saying more broadly is that the American Media hates trumps voters. That they hate your guts. Its a troubling statement either way. Lets bring back the panel and talk more about this. Alana johnson and josh. Josh, you were tweeting about this statement, they hate your guts line. To me, this could be a message for the president in the mid terms, no matter how cynical and wrong it is. Obviously, none of us hate the Correspondents Dinner<\/a>, a night to celebrate journalism took a turn. The question now is whether comedian Michelle Wolf<\/a> went too far and maybe damaged the journalism profession. Her performance is being called embarrassing and cringeworthy but hilarious and epic. Being cast as wildly inappropriate and others saying, hey, whats the big deal . She was very funny. It is clear the partisan warfare is under way. There are charges of liberal intolerance and conservative hypocrisy. Of course, this is all coming at a moment of incredible tension between the press and the president. Incredible distrust in the media. You have to ask if this performance made it worse. Lets talk about it with four cnn analysts here. To talk through all of it, they were all at the dinner last night. Washington post josh dossey, he will anna johnson, and margaret taleb, president of the White House Correspondents Association<\/a>. Marking ye margaret, we start with you. There is so much theory about last night. Do you have any regrets this morning . Brian, ill tell you this. First of all, it was a great honor to be able to preside over last nights dinner and to represent all of the journalists who cover the produce and we were really appreciative to have so Many Administration<\/a> officials in the audience, including Sarah Sanders<\/a> at the head table last night. My aim and the way i sought to put together the program was to build a spirit of unity in that room, to rally around journalism and why its important. And i worked really hard to do that with my own speech, and with the selection of guests who sang and the woman to my side, an egyptianamerican woman, who was rescued by President Trump<\/a> and is an advocate for press freedom. My only regret is that to some extent, those 15 minutes are now defining four hours of what was a really wonderful, unifying night. And i dont want the cause of uni unity to be undercut. Youre saying the celebration of the First Amendment<\/a> was overshadowed by wolfs raunchy jokes. Well, to some extent look, the comedian when the entertainer is a comedian and as has been the case for most of the last 30 years or so, they are often controversial. They are often, you know, to some extent, polarizing or at least provocative. Yeah, definitely. And its a night about free speech. So by tradition, we do not vet their monologue. We dont censor it, we dont see it. So you dont see the jokes beforehand, thats interesting. I did sneak down to the rehearsal and walkthrough, just in case, but she wouldnt give anything up. Do you think she crossed a line . I think she brought to the night what she thought was important to say and her goal may not have been press unity and everyone rally around the room to support journalism. But i invited her. And i invited her because i thought she is a talented comedian who had a message to deliver and she delivered a message. I delivered a message, too. My message is the one that i hope represents the press corps and certainly represents me. It was about my own personal experiences, my family experiences. Why i believe the journalism is so important. Tell me about choosing her, though. Why select her this year . Look, i mean, shes a comedian on the rise, and shes a woman, and 2017, 2018, 2016, these were all important years for women. I thought she was provocative and had a message to deliver. And she did deliver it. I think she views the Trump Presidency<\/a> as a crisis, as an emergency, and she was trying to speak truth to power, but she was criticized for personal comments about Sarah Sanders<\/a>. Lets watch, keeping in mind that the press secretary is a few feet away. I actually really like sarah. I think shes really resourceful. Like she burns facts, and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smoky eye. Like, maybe shes born with it. Maybe its lies. Probably lies. And im never really sure what to call Sarah Huckabee<\/a> sanders, you know . Is it Sarah Sanders<\/a> . Is it Sarah Huckabee<\/a> sanders, is it cousin huckabee, is it auntie Huckabee Sanders<\/a> . Like whats uncle tom but for white women who disappoint other white women . Oh, i know, ann coulter. A lot of the criticism, wolf, has been about personal attacks against sanders. People saying she was criticizing sanders personal appearance. Wolf responded overnight on twitter saying i was trying to talk about her behavior. Her behavior as White House Press<\/a> secretary. But keeping in mind that, you know, i saw you walked over to sanders right after the roast. Can you tell us about that conversation . I told her that i knew that this was a big decision, whether or not to attend the dinner and whether to sit at the head table and that i really appreciated her being there. I thought it sent an Important Message<\/a> about the role of government and the press being able to communicate with one another and Work Together<\/a> and that i appreciated her being there. Is there less of a chance shell attend next year because of this . I dont know and i hope not. Again, Michelle Wolf<\/a> is a comedian, she speaks for herself and that is her right to do that under the free speech and First Amendment<\/a>, which were celebrating. But you dont think having her there seems like an endorsement by the press corps . I think the comedian reflects, but i dont think the comedian speaks for the press corps. And in my message last night, i sought to explain to everyone that journalists are americans from all walks of life. We come from different partisan backgrounds, we come from different parts of the country. We care about america. And we care about truth and fairness and freedom and news. That is the message that i want everyone to take away. And i hope it is the message people do take away. But in this tense time, the presidency has obviously changed. The world has changed. And it seemed like youre trying to put on the same event. New president , every year, we should be clear, its a rotating job. Youre the president of the association a couple more months. Shouldnt the event change as the world changes . Maybe there shouldnt be comedians any more. Thats an interesting debate. Definitely we have and should keep having. The night is one to reflect what our members want to convey. Olivia knoc olivia knox will take over for me in july and will be thinking about all of those issues. But for us, i think there is value in entertainment. There is also value in serious Public Policy<\/a> discussions and having the kind of mix of people we had in the room last night. And its vital we can all get together and sit together and eat and talk about the issues and the First Amendment<\/a>. I mentioned the standards before the dinner. I was glad she was there, as well. I think its valuable for the white house to be represented at the dinner. But now in the aftermath of Michelle Wolf<\/a>s what do we call it standup act, there are calls for apologies. Nbcs Andrea Mitchell<\/a> saying that the association should apologize to sanders. Will there be an apology . What i told you is what i have already told Sarah Sanders<\/a>. I speak for myself and the association in that my interest is in the spirit of unity and in the spirit of serious journalism. You know, Andrea Mitchell<\/a> in her tweet said what started with an uplifting, heart felt speech by you ended with Michelle Wolf<\/a>. She is saying the comedian was the worst of insults since clinton. Are some people being too sensitive about this . No, it was a fourhour program. And i hope everyone can remember that comedy is meant to be provocative. And it doesnt always hit the mark. And sometimes it hits the mark for some people and not for other people. But, again, my interests overwhelmingly was in unifying the country, and i understand that we may have fallen a little bit short on that goal. I hope everyone will allow us to continue to keep working toward that goal. Look, comedy is meant to provoke thought and debate. And it certainly has done that. But journalism also is meant to bring people together around common understandings. And im concerned that people now take away their own message from this. Lets open it up to our panel and take a look at a few of the other jokes from Michelle Wolf<\/a>. I always enjoy the media critiques during these events. Lets take a look. You guys are obsessed with trump did you used to date him . Because you pretend like you hate him, but i think you love him. You helped create this monster, and now youre profiting off of him. You guys have got to stop putting kellyanne on your shows all she does is lie if you dont give her a platform, she has nowhere to lie. Weve got our friends at cnn here. Welcome, guys. Its great to have you. You guys love breaking news. And you did it. You broke it. Fox news is here. So you know what that means, ladies. Cover your drinks. Now i have to admit i shouldnt say this, because cnn gave me a ticket to the dinner, i left early. I wanted to watch Michelle Wolf<\/a> on tv so i watched at a restaurant with a bunch of people who didnt give one hoot about the white house Correspondents Dinner<\/a>. Just normal washingtonians. They didnt care about these jokes. But i do wonder since the three of you were there in the room with margaret, reactions to Michelle Wolf<\/a> in the room. He will anna, was this a setback for journalism to have so many barbs directed at the Trump Administration<\/a> . That it seems like the press is at war with the president . The routine was hit and miss. There were funny moments, and there wered Administration Officials<\/a> who laughed at the funny moments. But the focus is overwhelmingly on the misses. She made abortion jokes that were not funny. She made really barbed jokes directed at particular individuals that werent funny. But i do think we have seen progress. Margaret, you pointed this out. There were no Administration Officials<\/a> at the dinner at all last year. And this year it was nice to sit next to them and, you know, at every table, there were reporters chatting with Administration Officials<\/a>. It was nice. So i think over time we have seen progress. The other interesting thing, i think, was that there was an absolute exodus of the sort of hollywood celebrities we saw in the obama administration. This used to be a sort of mingling of celebrities, reporters and lawmakers and government officials. I think that sort of speaks to the polarization of the country, because you couldnt get a single celebrity. There were some athletes there last night. There really werent celebrities. I saw kathy griffin, but really none others. So this isnt really just about a comedian and bad jokes. I think the White House Correspondents Association<\/a> is taking undue blame for this. The country is polarized, and the dinner i think showcases that. Molly, your take . I think thats a good point. Its about the continuing rift between the way that, you know, trump and others have cast elites and so forth, and hollywood is a big part of that. I dont know what people were expecting. Given anyone who has seen a late night show in the last yearandahalf has to know where comedians writ large are on this presidency. And in a lot of ways, its a rich target. So if people werent expecting there to be a lot of jokes, probably pretty mean ones, i dont think and i also think that some of this outrage is a bit theatrical. I dont think theres anyone in that room who has never heard a dirty joke before. And maybe you didnt think some were funny, but others were. And i just have a hard time getting really riled up about it. To your point about it, the head of the american conservative union, he walked out, along with his wife, mercedes, a white house aide. He said, im tired of being mocked by the elites. Theyre obviously an elite couple in washington. Just like a lot of the people in the room. So there is some thee at tricks, i agree. At the same time, some hard jokes. Your point about the abortion jokes. Very uncomfortable. Not just for conservatives, for Many Americans<\/a> who were watching this on tv or who were in the room. Josh dossey, i want to show you something jim acosta just tweeted, talking about his reaction to the dinner. His reaction to the jokes. He said, my problem with last nights dinner is not that we had a comedian who told some nasty jokes. Its that we did not address the nearly constant attacks on the press from the president. The dinner should change with the times. So we send a strong message to the world. What do you think on that . I think margaret did address that last night. There were lots of talks about the relationship between the press and presidency. I think he thanked administration folks for coming and you also talked about some of the sharp attacks on the president. I think a lot of the dinner should be about journalism and not the red carpet, the meanspirited jokes we saw last night. Some i thought were inappropriate. But, you know, i also was backstage and got to meet a lot of scholarship winners, journalism students from missouri, people who want to cover conflict. A lot of really impressive students winning awards and got to come up on stage, as well. I really enjoyed talking with them and i think its less about the red carpet. Its about honoring the best year. Think about the last year. Its been a pinnacle of investigative journalism. We have seen some of the best work from the new york city, politico, bloomberg. A lot of great work. And i kind of fear that in that kind of situation last night, that gets lost for the jokes. And i think, you know, a lot of it is about the work and the students and kind of what were doing here. I was going to say, i thought that Michelle Wolf<\/a>s jokes about journalism and journalists were the funniest jokes of the night. Because there is a huge focus among journalists about trumps attack on journalists. But what we dont say is it is a great time to be a journalist. And journalists have profited enormously from the Trump Presidency<\/a>. There really is a renaissance in journalism and i dont think there is enough focus on that from journalists who complain about his attacks on the press. And i noticed among the awards presented last night when the cnn team was up accepting an award, Sarah Sanders<\/a> pointedly sat while everyone else was standing and applauding. Did you have a reaction to that margaret . Was that noticeable to you . I didnt notice it. I was so busy handing out the awards, i didnt notice. To me, that was a sign of the ongoing tensions that exist. To me, when you see the president , hes almost theres attacks against the media dehumanizing journalists. Thats why its invaluable to have white house aides at the dinner, because any time we have face time, its valuable. It shows the humanity of this job. Lets take a quick break. Right after this break, more about the president and his rally in michigan last night. That was the other big event of saturday. Well talk about his latest media attacks, and what the tone of it means, right after this. A wealth of information. A wealth of perspective. A wealth of opportunities. Thats the clarity you get from fidelity wealth management. Straightforward advice, tailored recommendations, taxefficient investing strategies, and a dedicated advisor to help you grow and protect your wealth. Fidelity wealth management. To help you grow and protect your wealth. Over 5 million americans signed our petition to impeach this president. This is not about political parties. We all understand that this president would be replaced by another republican. This is much bigger than washington politics. Its about the safety and security of our country. No one is above the law. Join us at needtoimpeach. Com. Lets Tell Congress<\/a> that if they wont do something, well elect new representatives who will. Most people come to la with big dreams. We came with big appetites. With expedia, you could book a flight, hotel, car, and activity all in one place. Welcome back to reliable sources. The last president to skip a white house Correspondents Dinner<\/a> was Ronald Reagan<\/a> in 1981, because he was recovering from an assassination attempt. He still called in by phone. The last president to skip a dinner two times two dinners in a row was richard nixon. President trump has come up with a tradition of his own, counter programming the dinner with a rally, where he attacks the media and his other perceived foes. I was curious to see how far he would go last night. This to me was the key sound bite from the over hourlong rally. Is this better than that phony Washington White House<\/a> Correspondents Dinner<\/a> . I could be up there tonight, smiling like i love where theyre hitting you shot after shot, these people, they hate your guts. There are two ways to read that shocking statement. Either hes saying when hes up there smiling, pretending to enjoy it, they hate his guts, or what hes saying more broadly is that the American Media<\/a> hates trumps voters. That they hate your guts. Its a troubling statement either way. Lets bring back the panel and talk more about this. Alana johnson and josh. Josh, you were tweeting about this statement, they hate your guts line. To me, this could be a message for the president in the mid terms, no matter how cynical and wrong it is. Obviously, none of us hate the American Public<\/a>s guts or Donald Trumps<\/a> guts. Our executive editor, marty barron says were not at war, were at work. And i think thats an accurate depiction of it. The president is seen time and time again that a good for for him is the media. His base loves it, his supporters love it. Frequently when he goes up and goes after us on stage, he gets a large applause line. Some of the rhetoric is pretty, you know, sharp. Last night was pretty sharp when he says enemy of the american people. Thats a lot to handle. Obviously, were not the enemy of the american people. Obviously, we dont hate his guts or their guts. Were going to see more of it. When you have 2018, you have republicans trying to keep the house, you have the president doing rallies across the country. You know, i think what youll see at these rallies is what you saw last night. Sharp media criticism, long rants about the media. And its just it is reality in 2018. Thats all there is to it. So what should we learn from the cheers at the rallies, when there are cheers for these media attacks . What should we learn about that . I think the Trump Campaign<\/a> very successfully in 2016 by pitting elites, i dont think it was about journalists. I think it was about elites more broadly. It was people at the dinner last night were lawmakers, athletes, journalists. But pitting them against what he per sea perceives as the American Public<\/a> more broadly, that worked tremendously well for him. And i think that people who live in that part of the country do feel that they are not understood, their concerns arent felt by those in washington, d. C. , which is why its an issue that works for him. And hes going to continue to harp on that issue. And it may very well be successful in the midterms, even though it does look like theres a lot of energy on the democratic side that wasnt there in 2016. You know, about these attacks, margaret, you said at the dinner last night, im going to quote you, we reject efforts by anyone, especially our elected leaders, to paint journalism as unamerican, obviously talking about the president and other politicians there. You said that a few feet away from Sarah Sanders<\/a>. Im thinking that must have been uncomfortable for sanders, having to face that reality. I actually dont think so. We talk about this all of the time. In public and in discussions about coverage. You know, we seek to have a good working, productive relationship with every white house that we cover. But her boss is sending out a form of poison. Again, painting journalists as unamerican. How do you possibly have a relationship in that environment . President trump was elected. Hes the president of the united states. And we cover the president of the united states. And we cover every president of the united states. You know, in a fair way. We seek to get as much information as possible about the programs that they are, you know, rolling out and how they want to govern. And its not fun or comfortable to be used as a pawn in political play. But it doesnt change the way we do our jobs. And on this other question of voter anger, i think the president has tapped into something real. Really real. And it exists everywhere in this country. Places where people feel forgotten or disconnected or misunderstood. I think some has to do maybe with the decline of local newspapers and local television. Some has to do with what we cover in washington and whether it connects to them. And some of it just has to do with feeling frustrated and left behind, and feeling angry at a lot of pillars of the establishment, including the press. We are an establishment organization. To the extent that we are monolithic in any way, which we are not. But we are part of the establishment. And if you have anger towards the establishment, then your feeling about a group that covers the establishment entities, the white house, congress, it just makes sense that people are frustrated. I think we need to find a way to connect with people. And one thing the Correspondents Association<\/a> has been doing this year is beginning a program of visiting around the country to try to meet with constituents to try to meet with americans. To try to meet with readers and news consumers and people affected by politics. We had hundreds of people at the truman library. Were doing one at the Reagan Library<\/a> in simi valley next month. And we hope my term ends in july but under olivier and john c carlyle, there are lots of president ial libraries, and people come. And they want to talk about whats President Trump<\/a> like, how do you your jobs, how do you do anonymous sources, how come you use anonymous sources, why dont you cover education, why dont you cover whats happening in my community. Why are you always talking about russia, and its very valuable and useful. Not just for us, but i hope for the people we meet with to just feel that were not these, you know, people you see on a piece of paper or see on the tv screen. Were real people. We also have children, we also have health problems. We also have concerns. And at the risk of sounding too optimistic here as i close out the conversation, yes, there is a lot of frustration with journalists. Theres also a lot of people depending on the information right now, molly. And i see so much support for journalism at the same time i see so much anger and outrage. Its that tension, both are true at the same time. And thats i was going to say the same thing. There has been a backlash to trumps attacks on the press i have noticed since 2016. Yeah, i still get angry letters, ive gotten angry letters my entire career as a journalist. Whats new is a lot of people saying sort of ata girl, please keep doing what you do, its important. And its not liberal or conservative. Its just Everyday Americans<\/a> who have become more alert to the role of the press and their lives and the necessity of the press. And that is nice to hear for a change. So i think, you know, this is how polarization works. Its a twosided thing, right . So even as hes made some in his base very angry at the press, and i think as josh was saying, thats a fight we should not engage in, right . But on the other side, he has also galvanized some people to remember why they like us. To our panel, thank you so much for being here. Great to see you all. I just want to show one more data point about what the effects are of these kind of constant anti media messages. A few days ago, Reporters Without Borders<\/a> released its World Press Freedom<\/a> index. Its getting darker all around the world. There are author taritarian reg all around the world. In the u. S. , a drop of two spots from 43 to 45. Obviously, the press much more free in the u. S. Than in most of the world. But you see the world getting darker there. Thats the organization saying the press freedoms are being restricted in many countries around the world. To that data point, back here at home, you look at this new quinnipiac poll. The pollsters asked americans to choose you have to choose here between the press. Are they friend or enemy, basically. Among republicans, you see here, 51 of republicans saying they choose we call the news media an enemy of the people. The president s language. As opposed to a key part of democracy. Interesting data point there, and a reminder of the challenge journalists face, trying to show how they do function in this democracy. Up next, Anthony Scaramucci<\/a> is here. I have a lot of questions for him. Were going to get to it, right after the break. Is a tomato yok from farm, to pot, to jar, to table. And serve with confidence that its safe. This is a diamond you can follow from mine to finger, and trust it never fell into the wrong hands. This is a shipment transferred two hundred times, transparently tracked from port to port. This is the ibm blockchain, built for smarter business. 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If youd have told me three years ago. That wed be downloading in seconds, what used to take. Minutes. That guests would compliment our wifi. That we could video conference. And do it like that. snaps if youd have told me that i could afford. A gigspeed. A gigspeed network. Its like 20 times faster than what most people have. Id of said. Id of said youre dreaming. Dreaming definitely dreaming. Then again, dreaming is how i got this far. Now more businesses in more places can afford to dream gig. Comcast, building americas largest gigspeed network. Welcome back to reliable sources from washington today. President trump ended his drought of interviews by calling in live to vent on fox friends thursday morning. If you havent watched it, i recommend pulling up the entire thing on the web. You know, the president has limited his interview availability this year. I think its worth thinking about. Last year versus this year, he was new in office, he gave more than a dozen interviews in the first few months in office. This year theres been a real pullback. The president gave a couple short interviews in davos. Hes called into fox twice. And thats about it. It seems hes mostly limiting mostly avoiding giving interviews. He does do the press availabilities, where he answers questions with a small group of reporters. He holds the occasional joint press conference, but were not seeing him sit down for oneonone interviews the way past president s have. Lets look at the fox friends call, though. Because this phone call was rashable for so many reasons, including for the way the fox friends host tried to interrupt. So remember there was no way to break 270. I heard that on cbs and nbc and abc. Theyre all fake news. I heard that for so long. Right. From cnn. Mr. President you know, its very the economy is so strong and jobs are so good that i think were going to surprise mr. President , can i ask one question . I did watch a liarleaker, and his performance, by the way, was horrible. There is no collusion with me and russia and everyone knows it. We could talk to you all day, but it looks like you have a million things to do. Actually, it seemed like the president wanted to keep talking. Joining me now is former communications director, Anthony Scaramucci<\/a>. Anthony, there was a report from Maggi Haberman<\/a> that the president s aides did not want him to call into fox friends, did not want him to do it. Would you advise him to give more or fewer interviews . Well, i mean, first of all, good morning. But secondarily, i think one of the problems is he has a lot to say. And you have to remember that president is a television star. He was on nbc for 15plus years. Awardwinning show. And ive always said, let him go out there and let him talk and get him out on a number of different formats, because i think what happens is, hes getting the opportunity to speak, he knows hes got a big audience to speak to at fox news, and then he loaded the shotgun, basically. And then started to say all the things he said. If he went on nbc or the cbs evening news, he would have a much bigger audience than he gets on fox. If he had gone to the dinner last night, he would have had a big audience. Lets talk about abc and nbc first. Among the Major Networks<\/a>, he would. But after you have a war time declaration with the media, youre basically painted into a corner. And so who declared war . The thing has to be deescalated on both sides. I was watching the early part of your show. I have an enormous amount of respect for margaret which he does at the White House Correspondents Association<\/a>. It would have been very nice to give an apology, given what happened. I understand the freedom of the press and all of that other stuff, but she is also a free speaker, as well. She could use her First Amendment<\/a> right and look Sarah Huckabee<\/a> straight in the face and say, geez, im very, very sorry about that. This woman said what she said, we gave her the free speech to do it, but it was wholly and totally inappropriate, and in my opinion, just wrong. By not doing that, what happens is youve got escalation of hostilities on both sides. And i will say this to you, brian. I would have loved to have seen the president there. But im very happy that the president was not there to listen to that. Because, you know, he may have gotten up and walked out. And that would have been even more devastating to the tension thats going on between the white house and the press. President george w. Bush sat there while Stephen Colbert<\/a> laid into him about the iraq war and other matters. Thats part of the job for president s. Youve got to be able to take a joke, anthony. No question the president can take a joke. But see, this is what i think im not a washingtonian, and i was at a few parties on friday. And i think this is something the press misunderstands about the president and like normal people that like live here in new york. Is when youre hitting that hard, people have a tendency to react. I go to the National Press<\/a> club, i give a 90minute exposition of a number of Different Things<\/a> going on policywise, and then i get snark attacked in the Washington Post<\/a> and in a ridiculous, nonfactual way. And so im a normal person. I say, geez, is what happened . I had 10 or 15 friends there, even called Maggi Haberman<\/a> and asked her, hey, is that how i sounded or came across at the National Press<\/a> club . And so i think what you guys are missing, you think its totally okay to take a cheese graters to somebodys face, grate their face, drop the cheese grater and say, geez, part of your job is to have the right side of your face bleeding. And, so again, youre going to disagree with me. I see the body language from you, you disagree with me. You guys do what youre doing, the president is going to react in a way that i think is bad for the First Amendment<\/a>. I can its bad on both sides. I dont think theres a im a huge champion of the First Amendment<\/a>, brian. Let me tell you something you dont talk about. The First Amendment<\/a> is great for the economy. Because we teach our children how to think creatively and express themselves freely. Great point. And thats why so many of these Great Companies<\/a> are invented here in this these a o autocracies. So we definitely need the First Amendment<\/a>. But if youre asking me honestly, i think the hostilities need to be deescalated on both sides. Its n its not just the white house. What happened last night was an atrocity and it was like literally watching Michael Wolff<\/a> with a wig on. I thought Michelle Wolf<\/a> was Michael Wolff<\/a>, actually. Thats a good line. Ridiculous. Atrocity . There are some real crises in america. I dont think jokes at a dinner is one of them. Okay. Ill tell you why its an atrocity. Because it doesnt help what youre trying to achieve and what i think all of us are trying to achieve. Okay. Your logo says facts first. We want the white house, obviously, to be accountable. We want people in the we want an openness with the white house. But this constant barrage of attacks, people are human, brian. Theyre going to look at that and say, hey, im sorry, no mas. There is so much tribalism in the country, that kind of standup act does do damage to the standing of the journalism profession. But youre talking about deescalating. Do you think the president should be giving interviews to cnn im not expecting him to go on Rachel Maddow<\/a> shows right away. But cnn, nbc, other Major Networks<\/a> . I have said that from day one. You know, i had that job for 11 days. Why doesnt he take your counsel . I know you still talk to him. Why doesnt he take that advice . Well, i think he feels that hes not going to get a fair shake. I think he feels that if he goes into these situations again, ill just give an example. Im at the National Press<\/a> club. Go look at the tape and read the Washington Post<\/a> story. He feels that these things are going to get twisted and convoluted and feels much better going directly to people on twitter or going to washington township, michigan, and giving a speech. I think if people would treat him fairly and just let him speak and talk about the policies, the agenda, i mean, theres a huge story that went on last week that i dont think is really being covered properly. Whats that . He helped with mike pompeo and others on the his team, hr mcmaster, et cetera, to bring peace to the north and south of korea. And there has been a truce there and an arm aas i say but not a peace treaty. There has been a lot of attention. I think the coverage is like people are more shocked about it, and people are more begrudgingly giving the president credit, as opposed to telling the facts the way they actually are. This how are we going to measure how much credit hes supposed to get . Thats impossible. Okay, so brian brian, if you switched it around. If it was a democratic president , theres a lot of people on the republican side that think there would be a whole jamboree session going on in the media. So he helped to do that. And youve got to give the guy credit for it. If you guys want to give him muted credit or begrudging credit, it just comes across unfair to a lot of people. A lot of people tune it out. They watch it on tv and say why arent they giving him credit . He basically 65 years of intractable on the korean peninsula. I hear you. And now going for peace and denuclearizization. Nbc news in hot water. Controversies involving tom brokaw, denying Sexual Harassment<\/a> allegations against him. Also questions about where nbcs internal investigation is. Thats into matt lauer, of course. Details about all of it, right after this. If you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, Little Things<\/a> can be a big deal. Thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not an injection or a cream. Its a pill that treats psoriasis differently. With otezla, 75 clearer skin is achievable after just 4 months,. With reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. And the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. Otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Tell your doctor if these occur. Otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. Tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. Some people taking otezla reported weight loss. Your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. Other side effects include upper respiratory tract infection and headache. Tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if youre pregnant or planning to be. Otezla. Show more of you. With expedia you could book a flight, hotel, car and activity all in one place. Troubles at nbc news. Two very different stories. One involving tom brokaw, the other involving msnbcs joy reid. Andy lacken is promising results as soon as next week in the Ongoing Investigation<\/a> involving matt lauer. The harassment claim involves him and the broader culture at nbc news. Now there are shocking claims about news legend, tom brokaw. Variety and the Washington Post<\/a> have interviewed former reporter linda vester, who says brokaw made unwanted sexual advances in the early 1990s. She says she is speak out now because shes concerned that the network is not really investigating and making the necessary culture changes. Now brokaw has angry denied the allegations. Quote, i am facing a long list of grievances from a former colleague who left nbc news angry that she had failed in her pursuit of stardom. She has unleashed a torrent of criticism and attacks on me more than 20 years after i opened a door for her in a new job at fox news. Brokaw saying hes the true victim here. More than 100 women either working currently or formerly working at nbc news have signed a letter supporting brokaw. The letter includes names like Rachel Maddow<\/a> and Andrea Mitchell<\/a>. The letter says brokaw treated them with fairness and respect and given us opportunities for advancement and championed our successes throughout our careers. Many people standing with brokaw, but there are questions about whether other women could come forward in the future. Joining me now, david zero wick, media critic for the baltimore sun. Ive asked vestters attorney whether he has other accusations against brokaw. He wont say either way. But the Washington Post<\/a> story did cite anonymous women. How are they looking into this matter . Nbc has handled this matter really poorly, brian, with the internal investigation. I think they should have gone outside for credibility. Its going whatever they come up with inhouse is going to be met with skepticism. And im talking about lauer and all the other stuff that went before. But is that really fair . Its the head general counsel for nbc, a respected attorney, doing this investigation. Brian, the culture of any institution, but especially a network institution, makes them not want to find problems if they can avoid it. It may go all the way up to the president of the network, you know, and this person works for them. Its just human nature. You dont go inhouse. Im not saying anything about this particular investigator. I dont know anything about her. But the point is, that if you go outside, you do a thorough investigation, you have results that you can show to people and say, look, this is what we did. Were taking this seriously. Also, this has gone on for a long, long time. Its been five months since lauer was fired. And i thought it was telling in this Washington Post<\/a> interview, ann curry says for the first time she tried to speak out in 2012. She says to the post she approached two members of management, because, quote, a woman asked me tearfully if i could help her, because she was afraid of losing her job because she had an experience with lauer but was afraid to report it. Curry says she believed this anonymous woman and told management they had a problem with lauer. But she suggested nothing was done. Curry then lost her job later in the year. And that only adds to the skepticism involved here. 2012 is it a long time ago. And there is all this suspicion, and even enmity built up in the departure of curry from nbc news. It was people magazine, it was tabloid fodder continually. So there is this residue of people believing or thinking they know something they do about whether the network might have covered up because he was a money machine. Morning tv where the money is now. You have a morning anchor. By the way, i think some of this has been overrated of the power of these stars. Because the shows have done pretty well once they left. Yes, lauer since removed, the show is doing just fine. I a couple days ago, there were these reports that she had posted these homophobic blog posts more than a decade ago. She says she was hacked. Now she cant prove she was hacked. Now shes saying shes sorry. Is this going to hurt her again . This has been bubbling in the internet and in social media for a long, long time, okay . She brought it on her show saturday morning, nbc news now owes us an investigation of this, because, look, i watched it saturday morning live, i Read Everything<\/a> about it, my feeling is i dont know exactly what shes saying, even, im confused by what she says happened. But if it is what i think it is, that i was hacked, we couldnt find ed of the hack, i wrote some things in the past, but now i cant believe i wrote them because thats not me. Look, you you know, if you walk in the newsroom with a story and said Something Like<\/a> that, the editor would say, stelter, what do we know to actually be true here . A News Organization<\/a> needs the same thing, they need to offer its audiences clarity, and they need to offer their audiences some kind of credible information that they can believe. They owe it to do another kind of outside investigation. If were going to hold the administration accountable, we need to hold ourselves accountable. Thank you so much for being here. A story youre going to want to hear about dr. Sanjay gupta and his open letter about weed. With esurance photo claims, you could have money for repairs within a day. Wow that was really fast. So it doesnt have to hurt for long. Thats insurance for the modern world. Esurance, an allstate company. Click or call. We need to help more tocalifornians get ahead. D, thats why Antonio Villaraigosa<\/a> brought both parties together to balance the state budget with record investments in public schools. And new Career Training<\/a> programs. As mayor of la, he brought police and residents together to get illegal guns off the streets and keep kids out of gangs, and on the right path. Thats Antonio Villaraigosa<\/a>. A governor for all of california. Welcome back. Dr. Sanjay guptas next special about weed is airing tonight here on cnn. Theres been such a remarkable shift in Public Attitudes<\/a> about marijuana in the last 10, 15 years ago. Earlier i asked gupta, how much does he attribute Media Coverage<\/a> to this topic for this shift in opinion . I think what journalism has provided is the facts and the data and the truth around this. That was very hard to find, you had a lot of loud voices talking about the harms of cannabis, even at the federal level, in terms of the research they funded and not as many voices talking about the medicinal benefits, you heard about that in other countries and nongovernment funded labs, there wasnt much information out there, but now journalism has started to fill that gap. When did you change your mind . I wrote a story in Time Magazine<\/a> about nine years ago that basically said im not that impressed with Medicinal Marijuana<\/a>, i have looked at the data and i dont find it particularly compelling. About five years ago, i realized something very important that has a parallel to media. When i looked at the macroview of Medicinal Marijuana<\/a> in this country, and i looked at all the scientific literature, which is where i start. 94 of the studies were designed to find harm, what is the risk of addiction, what was the risk of cancer, what were the side effects. Only 6 were designed to find benefits. So you realize this is mainly problematic. Studies designed to find benefit were not getting funded. Researchers could not conduct studies. Thats when i started to i a, well, whats going on here, looking at patients. Looking at these other labs. These kinds of studies or surveys or kinds of research thats actually done by somebody with an agenda. So you wrote in your letter to sessions, i changed my mind, and i am certain you can as well. Is this letter, is this a step toward advocacy journalism for you . I dont think so, i think its a really fair question. But i think that actually getting this data in one place and being able to present it in a scientifically based way, full of truth and facts is actually really hard to do. It was hard for me to do. So i said, you know what . I spent five years doing this, let me assimilate what we have learned in as easy to read format as possible. So that we can communicate that in a way that people can understand. Thats something i think is helpful here. Cannabis can help treat pain, that is a consensus by the National Academy<\/a> of science. It can treat pain, it can treat the withdrawal when people are coming off opiods. That is not an opinion. Thats a fact. They can help heal an addicts brain so they dont continue to relapse. Thats a study thats happening at mt. Sinai hospital. These are things that the attorney general and other people in the administration should know. You can watch this full report, weed 4, pot versus pills, then bordaine returns at 9 00, a big night of prime time programming on cnn. Thats all for this weeks reliable sources, but you can sign up for my newsletter, we email it to you for free at the end of the day. Tonights newsletter will be a doozy, given all the information from washington about the Correspondents Dinner<\/a> and the after math. Well see you back here on tv this time next week. Rousing rally. President trump skips a big d. C. Dinner for his own party with a friendly crowd, and a lesser known washington. Washington, michigan. Is this better that that phony Washington White House<\/a> Correspondents Dinner<\/a> . Attacking his critics. I know things about tester. And if i said them, he would never be elected again. Republican Governor John Kasich<\/a> is here in moments, plus historic summit, psi","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia801003.us.archive.org\/6\/items\/CNNW_20180429_150000_Reliable_Sources\/CNNW_20180429_150000_Reliable_Sources.thumbs\/CNNW_20180429_150000_Reliable_Sources_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240617T12:35:10+00:00"}