Can this election cycle get any more chaotic?

Aliens could literally land on earth at this moment, one social media user wrote, and it might not be enough to keep up with all the events of the presidential election.

Meghan McCain, daughter of the late presidential candidate and Arizona Sen. John McCain, tweeted, “This is the most insane, intense, dramatic election cycle of my life and my Dad picked Sarah Palin as his VP without the campaign knowing her teenage daughter was pregnant…”

Donald Trump spoke Thursday night to close out the Republican National Convention. It was his first speech since the assassination attempt on his life last weekend in Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden is back home in Delaware, trying to fight off the effects of COVID-19, as well as the growing chorus of critics calling for him to step down from the 2024 race.

Stories that Biden could or should drop out of the race dominate media coverage as we close this remarkable week.

In some cases, the sources quoted are a little vague, which makes it difficult to determine just what to make of this story.

For example, NBC News used this quote to talk about Biden’s presidential future: “We’re close to the end.” Who said that? Well, it was “a person close to Biden.”

The Washington Post reports that former President Barack Obama “has been deeply engaged in conversations about the future of Biden’s campaign, taking calls from many anxious Democrats.” And how does the Post know this? Its sources were “people with knowledge of the calls, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.”

Or how about this eyebrow-raising quote from Politico: “This is an absolute debacle. Only amateurs see a path. The red is mushrooming all across the map.”

That comes from “one senior Democratic official who is close to congressional leadership.”

A headline on The New York Times website said, “People Close to Biden Say He Appears to Accept He May Have to Leave the Race.”

Look, this is a sensitive story, I realize that. It’s hard for people close to the Biden administration to go on the record. And I’m not questioning if the quotes and sources are real. I’m also not finger-pointing at just the news outlets above. Pretty much every news organization covering this story is relying on unnamed sources.

But in this frenzied race to find out the latest with Biden, you can’t help but ask what makes an anonymous source a big enough deal to quote in a story of this magnitude? Just how close do they have to be to the president? Just how many degrees of separation from the president are too many degrees to not quote?

While we ponder all that, it does appear to be true that storm clouds are getting darker around Biden’s candidacy.

On Thursday’s “Morning Joe” on MSNBC, co-host Joe Scarborough, an ally of Biden, seemed to push those close to Biden to convince the president to leave the race.

Scarborough said, “It’s really incumbent on people that are around Joe Biden to step up at this point and help the president, and help the man they love, and do the right thing. This is not going to end well if it continues to drag out. Look at the events of yesterday, the events of the last three weeks. … The anger that I hear is not at Joe Biden. The anger I hear are the people who are keeping him in a bubble.”

Several top Democrats (and more every day) are calling on Biden to step away, and there are reports that Biden is not as defiant as he once was.

NBC News’ Chuck Todd gave a to-the-point commentary, starting with, “Now, it’s impossible for Biden to stay in even if he wants to stay in because there are too many Democrats on the record saying he needs to get out.”

Live from … where?

Earlier this week, while flipping between various networks to watch the RNC, I came across MSNBC. Main anchor Rachel Maddow and a bunch of star analysts, including Jen Psaki and Joy Reid, appeared to be sitting high above the convention floor in Milwaukee. I certainly assumed they were in Milwaukee.

But it was a TV trick. Maddow and Co. were not in Milwaukee at all. They were in New York City. A giant LED screen behind them displayed a shot from inside the convention arena, giving viewers the impression that the MSNBC crew was inside the arena for the RNC.

All along, including last week, MSNBC did announce that Maddow and her roundtable of studio guests would not be in Milwaukee. In addition, an MSNBC spokesperson told The New York Times’ Michael M. Grynbaum, “At the top of every broadcast, hosts identify themselves as being in New York or at MSNBC headquarters.”

But if you’re not watching at the top of the hour, you might not know that.

Grynbaum wrote, “Still, MSNBC’s decision to place its Manhattan-based anchors in front of a live feed of the convention floor created some odd, and arguably misleading, moments. On Monday night, the NBC News anchor Savannah Guthrie led a 9 p.m. newscast, shown on NBC’s broadcast affiliates, from the network’s skybox inside the Fiserv Forum. At one point, she introduced the MSNBC host Ms. Psaki as an analyst. The women appeared in side-by-side onscreen boxes, each with the convention floor behind them. It appeared that Ms. Guthrie and Ms. Psaki were both speaking from different vantage points inside the convention hall. In fact, only Ms. Guthrie was there.”

This isn’t the journalism crime of the year. But it’s a little misleading, and unnecessary. Why didn’t they just use their normal studio? Dedicated MSNBC viewers would be fine with that, especially because they are putting on a good program and offering excellent analysis.

Lou Dobbs dies

Former CNN and Fox Business host Lou Dobbs, shown here in 2009. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Lou Dobbs, a longtime CNN anchor who eventually moved over to Fox News and became an outspoken supporter of Donald Trump, died Thursday. He was 78.

Dobbs joined CNN at the network’s start in 1980, and anchored a business show called “Moneyline.” After nearly 30 years at CNN, Dobbs left for Fox Business in 2009.

It was actually Trump who broke the news on his Truth Social, writing in part, “The Great Lou Dobbs has just passed away. A friend, and truly incredible Journalist, Reporter, and Talent. He understood the World, and what was ‘happening,’ better than others. Lou was unique in so many ways, and loved our Country. Our warmest condolences to his wonderful wife, Debi, and family. He will be greatly missed!”

Dobbs was a supporter of Trump — to a fault.

CNN’s Oliver Darcy noted, “After the 2020 election, Dobbs used his Fox Business program to repeatedly promote false conspiracy theories that the vote had been rigged by shadowy companies that flipped millions of votes from Trump to Joe Biden. These on-air comments helped spur voting technology companies Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic to sue Fox News for defamation. Fox News settled with Dominion last year for more than $787 million. But Smartmatic’s lawsuit — which also personally named Dobbs as a defendant — is still ongoing. After the lawsuits were filed, Fox Business canceled Dobbs’ show, taking him off the air in an abrupt move announced on a Friday in February 2021.”

At the time, Fox News mildly pushed back on the idea that Dobbs was fired over his false voting allegations and put out a statement saying the network had plans in place to make programming changes “post-election.”

In a statement Thursday, Fox News said, “We are deeply saddened by the passing of Lou Dobbs. An incredible business mind with a gift for broadcasting, Lou helped pioneer cable news into a successful and influential industry. We are immensely grateful for his many contributions and send our heartfelt condolences to his family.”

More media news, tidbits and links for your weekend review …

• Longtime Washington Post journalist Sally Quinn has a message for Dr. Jill Biden as Quinn writes about her late husband, Ben Bradlee, the legendary executive editor of The Washington Post: “My husband was slowing down. He needed protecting.”
• The New York Times’ Michael M. Grynbaum and Jim Rutenberg with “Tucker Carlson, Ousted by Fox, Roars Into Milwaukee as a Top Trump Ally.” In addition to reporting about Carlson’s close relationship with Trump, the Times asked Carlson about Rupert Murdoch — whose network (Fox News) fired Carlson last year. Carlson told the Times he was not bitter towards Murdoch, adding, “I’ve never felt anything but gratitude to him, and I mean that. It’s not the first time I’ve been fired and every time I get fired I thank god for it. It forces you to confront your own weaknesses and make a change, and it’s a great, great experience.” As far as why he was fired, Carlson told the Times, “I honestly don’t know what it was about.”
• And here’s The Wall Street Journal’s Bojan Pancevski with this essay: “Inside the Strange New World of Tucker Carlson.”
• Louis Jacobson of Poynter’s PolitiFact is in Milwaukee, covering his 14th party convention. He writes, “Technology has fundamentally changed how reporters cover political conventions — for the better.”
• Los Angeles Times columnist Anita Chabria with an amusing, yet sobering (yep, it’s a little of both) column: “The vibe at the RNC is worse than you can imagine.”
• Semafor’s Ben Smith writes from the RNC: “Dispatches from the happiest place on Earth.”
• Axios’ Aïda Amer with “How photographers view the photos of Trump’s assassination attempt.”
• The Washington Post’s Tatum Hunter with “An assassination attempt rattled the nation. Then came the memes.”
• My Poynter colleague, Amaris Castillo, with “Trump shooting fuels reflection for journalists who covered Gabby Giffords shooting.”
• For The New York Times, Adam Satariano and Roser Toll Pifarré with “An Algorithm Told Police She Was Safe. Then Her Husband Killed Her.”
• The Washington Post’s Kevin Sieff with “A double life: The cocaine kingpin who hid as a professional soccer player.”

More resources for journalists

• Get an AI ethics framework for your newsroom. Start here.
• Will Work for Impact brings investigations to life.
• Work-Life Chemistry six-week newsletter course: Ditch work-life balance for a more sustainable approach.

Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.

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