A week ago, former President Donald Trump said he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to any NATO country that didn’t make its payments to the alliance on time.
It was such a flabbergasting comment that here we are, a week later, and it is still a major topic of discussion, showing up often in the Sunday morning news programs.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley told ABC News’ “This Week,” “When you hear Donald Trump say in South Carolina a week ago that he would encourage Putin to invade our allies if they weren’t pulling their weight, that’s bone-chilling because all he did in that one moment was empower (Russian President Vladimir) Putin.”
But many Republicans continued to defend Trump, even if they can’t defend his actual comments. Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Ohio Republican Congressman Michael Turner downplayed Trump’s NATO remarks, saying, “This is what I know. Donald Trump’s political rallies don’t really translate into Donald Trump’s actual policies.”
According to The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham seemed surprised to even be asked about Trump’s remarks, telling the Times last week, “Give me a break — I mean, it’s Trump. All I can say is while Trump was president nobody invaded anybody. I think the point here is to, in his way, to get people to pay.”
MSNBC’s Jen Psaki noted how many Republicans are in lockstep with Trump, despite his comments. Psaki also noted that ousted Fox News prime-time host Tucker Carlson just got back from interviewing Putin — an interview so soft that even Putin thought so.
Psaki said on her Sunday show, “Donald Trump and the mega wing of the Republican Party just cannot seem to quit Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. This week, House Republicans also officially spiked a bill that would have provided billions of dollars in funding for Ukraine at a time when Russia is gaining ground. So just to recap, we’ve got Donald Trump encouraging Russia to do whatever the hell they want. We’ve got a United States senator praising Putin for being on top of his game, and we’ve got House Republicans choking off crucial aid to the country Russia invaded. Oh, and I almost forgot. We’ve also got one of the most popular right-wing media personalities in the country parading around like Moscow, like some sort of deranged brand ambassador.”
She finished with this hammer: “See, Donald Trump doesn’t just like Putin. … He wants to be like Putin. His defenders in the Republican Party are all for it. Too many of them are. You better believe Russia is watching all of this.”
It also hasn’t been lost on many that Trump has yet to condemn the sudden and mysterious death of 47-year-old Alexei Navalny, a rival and outspoken critic of the Kremlin who died in a Russian prison on Friday. The only mention Trump has publicly made is a ridiculous Truth Social post that said he is being persecuted by President Joe Biden the way Navalny was persecuted by Putin.
Haley said during a campaign stop on Saturday that maybe Trump hasn’t commented because he’s distracted by all his legal troubles, adding, “There’s a lot of them. We know he said he’s going to be spending more time in the courtroom than he’s going to be spending on the campaign trail.”
CNN’s future
In last Friday’s edition of the Poynter Report, I mentioned that The Wrap’s Emily Smith reported how CNN, led by boss Mark Thompson, wants to make a major pivot to digital and that transformation could include slashing the salaries of on-air talent.
“But in speaking to people in and around CNN,” Semafor’s Ben Smith wrote on Sunday, “I think Thompson’s approach may be less obvious. He knows as well as anyone that news is shifting toward talent, not away from it, and spent the rest of the week calming his stars down.”
As I did mention, when Thompson sent out a memo to staff last month, he did say, he “passionately believe(s) that outstanding and high-profile talent will continue to be a central thread in the CNN story.”
But reports then came out at the start of last week that Thompson said in an all-bureau meeting, “Immense change is coming, and I don’t use that lightly.”
Smith wrote, “The most obvious cuts, meanwhile, are grimly operational: CNN produces different content for international and domestic audiences, on digital and linear platforms, and can save money combining them.”
Snow announces change
NBC News’ Kate Snow. (Courtesy: NBC News)
Kate Snow, who has been anchoring Sunday’s “NBC Nightly News” since 2015, announced on the newscast Sunday evening that she was leaving that position after next Sunday.
She is not leaving NBC. Snow said she wants to concentrate on her weekday newscast, “NBC News Daily,” which airs on NBC News NOW and NBC affiliates. Snow typically co-hosts from 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern.
“Our audience on ‘NBC News Daily’ is growing fast and I have decided after a lot of thought to focus my attention Monday through Friday on that role,” Snow said.
No word yet on who might replace Snow on the Sunday newscast, but the Los Angeles Times’ Stephen Battaglio reports that a rotation of guest anchors will be used until a permanent one is named.
Local station apologizes for offensive content
A Portland TV station has apologized for a racist image that appeared during a live TV show last week.
KGW8, an NBC affiliate owned by Tegna, airs a nightly program called “The Good Stuff.” Last Thursday, the show had a segment called “Throwback Thursday” in which viewers were asked, via social media, to “share a photo from your past that makes you smile.”
There was one offensive image.
According to The Oregonian’s Shane Dixon Kavanaugh, “The image appears to have been taken years ago and shows children at a fair or amusement park throwing balls toward a placard that displays a racist slur and depictions of Black people. A caption accompanying the image reads, ‘Boy scouts in the ‘50s.’”
In an apology posted on its website, KGW said they “deeply regret and apologize for the distress caused by the inadvertent airing of offensive content.”
“Despite our rigorous policy of thoroughly screening all content for standards and accuracy before broadcast, we acknowledge our failure to uphold our own standards in this instance,” the statement continued. “We understand the profound hurt this image inflicted upon our viewers and staff, particularly members of our Black community. To those who were exposed to the image and were hurt by it, we offer our sincerest apologies.”
The statement said it would reevaluate policies for user-submitted content. The statement also included comments from Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and Portland NAACP leaders.
Smith’s dumb comments
NBA star Stephen Curry, left, and WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu pose for photos following their competition at the NBA basketball All-Star weekend on Saturday. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
The NBA held its All-Star Weekend on Saturday and Sunday and a TNT announcer tried his best to throw a wet towel over one of the weekend’s top moments.
Saturday night’s skills competition included a three-point shooting showdown between two of the best shooters in basketball: the NBA’s Steph Curry and the WNBA’s Sabrina Ionescu. And it was a heck of a competition with Curry barely beating Ionescu, 29-26.
It was just about perfect until TNT announcer Kenny Smith said, “She should have shot it from the women’s line. That would have been a fair contest. I still root for Sabrina. … But she should have shot from the three-point line that the women shoot from.”
The WNBA’s three-point line is about three feet closer to the basket than the NBA’s.
TNT broadcaster Reggie Miller — one of the greatest shooters ever and whose sister, Cheryl, is in the Basketball Hall of Fame — immediately said out loud what viewers were thinking: “Why are you putting those boundaries on her? She wanted to shoot from there.”
But Smith doubled down, saying, “She should have shot from the line. There is a women’s tee in golf and there is a men’s tee for a reason.”
There was a little more, but that was the gist of it. It should be noted that Ionescu’s 26 points equaled what Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard had to win the official three-point contest Saturday night.
Social media blasted Smith for his misogynistic comments. The most on-point analysis came from ESPN and Andscape’s Justin Tinsley, who tweeted, “Still thinking about Kenny Smith’s commentary during the Steph/Sabrina event. Sabrina ended up with the same amount of points Dame did when he won the three point contest. To say she should’ve shot with a women’s and from WNBA distance came off condescending as hell.”
He added, “Even Reggie Miller was trying to reel him in but he just kept going. Kenny probably doesn’t remember me, but he’s been great every time I’ve interviewed him. I think highly of him — that’s why those comments are still sticking with me. Soured the moment IMO.”
It did sour the moment.
And it led to a good point from WNBA all-time great Sue Bird, who tweeted that TNT should have had a woman on that part of the broadcast, adding, “So much nuance & storytelling missed.”
Awful Announcing’s Chris Novak wrote, “It’s a solid point, and when you take the time to think about it, it feels like a miss on TNT’s behalf. Because it’s not as if the network lacks women who can hang in the booth.”
In fact, Candace Parker was on the call for the actual All-Star Game Sunday night.
Novak added that we’ll never know if Smith would’ve said what he said with a woman next to him, “But in an ideal world, you’d figure he’d have enough sense not to say the things he did with Parker beside him in the booth. There’s a respect factor, and while it’s inexcusable that it didn’t exist last night, it could have been tangible.”
Media tidbits
- The Washington Post TV critic Lili Loofbourow with “Jon Stewart saves ‘The Daily Show’ (and vice versa).”
- Journalism professor Margot Susca has a new book: “Hedged: How Private Investment Funds Helped Destroy American Newspapers and Undermine Democracy (The History of Media and Communication).” Politico’s Jack Shafer has a Q&A with Susca.
- The New York Times’ Jessica Testa with “The ‘Daddy’ Will See You Now. The success of Alex Cooper’s ‘Call Her Daddy’ podcast has birthed a new media company. Can this millennial solve the riddle of what Gen Z wants?”
- The Los Angeles Times’ Chuck Schilken with “How Allie Clifton became first woman to call Lakers game: She had 60 hours to prepare.”
Hot type
- The New York Times’ Eli Saslow (with photographs by Erin Schaff) with “A Family Ranch, Swallowed Up in the Madness of the Border.”
More resources for journalists
- Subscribe to PolitiFact’s weekly newsletter. Get facts delivered straight to your inbox.
- Essential Skills for Rising Newsroom Leaders (Seminar) (May) — Apply by March 26.
- Reporters Toolkit (Seminar) (May 7-June 11) — Apply by April 28.
- Got a story you’d like to write for Poynter? Email pitch@poynter.org with your idea, approximate timeline and word count.
Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.
The Poynter Report is our daily media newsletter. To have it delivered to your inbox Monday-Friday, sign up here.
