election 2016

NEW YORK (AP) — Jon Stewart has told Donald Trump’s supporters they can’t take America back, because they “don’t own” the country in a riff that mirrored his signature segments on “The Daily Show.” Stewart was back behind a late night desk Thursday night, joining former Comedy Central colleague Stephen Colbert on a live version […]

If the Republican National Convention is a political circus, Media Row is definitely the can’t-miss sideshow. In a parking garage next to Quicken Loans Arena, Republican politicians, convention speakers, delegates and (mostly B-list) celebrities have made the rounds this week along a long, winding line of more than 160 TV, radio, and online media outlet booths.

It’s been an interesting week for Americans watching the nomination process in Cleveland this week. And local TV stations news operations are providing on Facebook a look at the events that is often raw and unedited, just as it happens on the streets in and around the convention.

Ted Cruz’s non-endorsement speech for Donald Trump Wednesday night gave TV viewers the moments of excitement they craved from the convention when the floor erupted in boos and chants of “Endorse Trump.”

CLEVELAND (AP) — A speechwriter for Donald Trump’s company said Wednesday she made a mistake and apologized for using passages from a 2008 Michelle Obama speech in the Republican party convention speech delivered by Melania Trump. In a statement issued by the campaign, Meredith McIver took the blame but made it clear that Mrs. Trump […]

Unlike Donald Trump, who has made his anti-media sentiments known, running mate Mike Pence, who was a leader in the persistent, but ultimately unsuccessful, effort in Congress to pass a shield law, has been a champion of freedom of the press. “As a conservative who believes in limited government, I believe the only check on government power in real time is a free and independent press,” Pence once wrote, “A free press ensures the flow of information to the public.”

As seemingly every journalist in the country has converged on Cleveland this week, even those inside the media are starting to wonder about the convention’s media overkill. “There’s a rule of thumb that the more unimportant the convention, the more the media covers it. This is preposterous,” says one journalist.

Donald Trump appeared briefly Monday night to introduce his wife Melania, but his backlit entrance to Queen’s “We Are the Champions” was reminiscent of a professional wrestler.

Margaret Sullivan says that Lesley Stahl blew an important chance to call Donald Trump out as a liar on his Iraq War position in her 60 Minutes interview Sunday. “Stahl — busy trying to herd the other rhetorical cats set loose in the interview — did not say what she should have,” she writes, kicking off what’s likely to be a healthy streak of meta-criticism on the media’s closer scrutiny (or lack thereof) of Trump’s claims.

The first day of the Republican National Convention offered its fair share of highlights, as well as a marked difference between the coverage on broadcast networks versus cable and PBS. “It’s a far different experience watching an hour of coverage on the ABC, CBS or NBC broadcast networks or the almost unlimited amount of time on the cable networks or PBS,” David Bauder writes about Monday’s coverage of the first night of the Republican National Convention.

Under the companies’ deal, Facebook will provide ABC News with exclusive, real-time data during major speeches that it will use across TV and digital platforms. ABC News hosts and correspondents also will incorporate viewer comments, questions and discussions in its Facebook Live coverage. ABC News, which has 8.6 million followers on its primary Facebook page, said it will have 24-hour live coverage across a variety of pages.

CLEVELAND (AP) — A video posted online shows “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert taking over the microphone on stage in Cleveland in a “Hunger Games” themed prank at the site of the Republican National Convention, which begins Monday. The video shows Colbert behind the podium saying it’s his honor “to hereby launch and begin the […]

Late-night comedians will be out in full force during this year’s Republican and Democratic presidential conventions. While the comics and their shows are scrutinizing speeches, delegates and party officials, looking to deliver laughs as rapidly as possible, they also have the opportunity to establish their hosts as the comedic conscience for this political era — to own that role as Jon Stewart did over 16 years as host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show.

The news media is gearing up to cover the national political conventions — but not just with pens, notebooks and TV cameras. This year, news organizations are issuing gas masks, flak jackets and other protective equipment to journalists who may find themselves covering street protests in Cleveland and Philadelphia, the sites of the Republican and Democratic conventions.

On the eve of this year’s political conventions, the five news networks that traditionally pool resources to provide video from the political events — ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Fox News and NBC News — have informed news outlets that aren’t members of the pool that they will need to begin paying significant new fees in return for access to live coverage, not just at the conventions but debates, presidential press conferences, and many other events. WSJ subscribers can read the full story here.

The attack in Nice, France, yesterday has upended the pre-convention media plans for both presidential candidates, including Republican candidate Donald Trump’s announcement of his running mate.

Hillary Clinton put to rest any doubt that Silicon Valley leaders — including many with close media and entertainment ties — want her to become the next president. Her campaign released this morning a list of supporters with A-list industry names including Netflix’s Reed Hastings, The Chernin Group’s Peter Chernin, Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, IAC’s Barry Diller, BET chief Debra Lee, and Alphabet’s Eric Schmidt — as well as legendary investor Warren Buffett.

Hillary Clinton Press Secretary Brian Fallon told CNN’s Brian Stelter over the weekend that part of the campaign’s strategy in the general election will be “to continue to do earned media opportunities with local TV affiliates and local radio outlets.” Clinton will be “very attentive” to local issues as she has in the primaries, he said. The remarks come at the 2:35 minute mark in this clip from Reliable Sources.