Journalism

Shows hosted by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and other talk radio stars promoted debunked claims of a stolen election and urged listeners to “fight back.”

Tara Lachapelle: Distancing from the former president may hurt ratings for a while, but it will safeguard profits over the long term.

Television stations among the winners of the annual honors presented by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism included WNBC New York, KSTP Minneapolis, WFAA Dallas and KING Seattle.

A tape of the seige on the Capitol, compiled from several sources by the House impeachment managers, offered a chronological view of the former president’s statements on Jan. 6 and the actions by a mob of his supporters as they broke into the Capitol. It included several examples of rough language, including a chant, “f—- the blue,” apparently directed at police officers, and use of the word “motherf——-” by a rioter. The footage was aired on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC as part of live coverage of the trial’s first day.

Fox News Media canceled Lou Dobbs Tonight last Friday night and since then the former host, who is one of the network’s most outspoken allies of former president Donald Trump, has been on something of a tear ever since, retweeting dozens of tweets supporting him, including many that criticize Fox.

Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott has had her contract extended, according to Fox Corp. During the company’s Tuesday morning earnings call, CEO Lachlan Murdoch announced the new multi-year deal signed by Scott. She became the first female CEO of the company in 2018 after serving as president of programming for Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network. She’s been with Fox News for 25 years.

A Milwaukee PBS collaboration supported by Frontline combined the strengths of broadcast and print journalism to produce a two-episode documentary about Wisconsin’s changing rural economy.

The Rupert Murdoch-owned news network files a motion to dismiss Smartmatic’s blockbuster libel action. Now and down the road, the defendant will attempt to pin ultimate responsibility for wild tales of election fraud on Donald Trump and his lawyers.

Joe Ferullo: “With Donald Trump banned from Twitter and exiled to Mar-a-Lago, television news channels find themselves searching for a new tone and a fresh direction. Here’s a modest proposal: America’s overheated, hyper-dramatic cable personalities might want to take a page from Jen Psaki — because the White House press secretary is cool. And by that, I mean: “medium cool.”

For Jonathan Killian, NewsNation’s new VP for creative marketing and brand communications, one one of the first challenges is helping viewers find the fledgling national newscast, whose brand of center-of-the-road news has been slow to get off the ground with viewers.

Janice Johnston is only the fourth person to lead the show in its 40-plus years. She’s the first woman and the first Black producer to hold the job. Above, Johnston (l) with ABC News’ Robin Roberts.

As the 45th president’s second impeachment trial arrives on Tuesday, CNN viewers might want to recall how Trump’s presidency came about in the first place. It was in no small part the work of CNN chief Jeff Zucker, who announced last week that he will leave the network at the end of 2021. It started with Trump’s celebrity breakout on The Apprentice two decades ago. Zucker was the NBC executive who used Trump to boost the network’s troubled ratings. In the process, he made Trump himself a household name.