Today's Reliable Sources lead:
Trump will say just about anything — anything — to get through a news cycle. That's the simplest way to explain his evasions and contradictions about the war in Iran.
Shawn McCreesh of The New York Times caught him in the say-anything act: cnn.it/4bmc5cD
Today's Reliable Sources lead was inspired by this @rbreich.bsky.social post cnn.it/4dcpIgR
Jam-packed Monday morning edition of Reliable Sources — feat. Rupert Murdoch, Ticketmaster, Estefany Rodriguez, "Melania," Simon & Schuster, Rashida Jones, Jeffrey Goldberg, "Hoppers," and many more cnn.it/4dcpIgR
News Analysis: The many similarities between the White House’s justification for war in Iran and Russia’s messaging on Ukraine underscore the risks of a vaguely defined, open-ended war.
‘Proof that fighting for press freedom matters’
@brianstelter.bsky.social on Kari Lake and the Voice of America lawsuit
www.cnn.com/2026/03/07/m...
Sunday special edition of Reliable Sources with the latest on VOA, "Fox & Friends," Grok, "60 Minutes," Bill Maher, and more: cnn.it/4bvzhpU
ICYMI last night:
Reporters Without Borders, which joined Voice of America staffers in filing this lawsuit, says the outcome is “proof that fighting for press freedom matters.” www.cnn.com/2026/03/07/m...
In a victory for Voice of America staffers, a federal judge has ruled that Kari Lake unlawfully ran the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) for several months last year. Here's my full story: www.cnn.com/2026/03/07/m...
"The judge's ruling that Kari Lake’s actions shall have no force or effect is a powerful step toward undoing the damage she has inflicted on this American institution that we love," the plaintiffs say
A remarkable rebuke of Kari Lake by Judge Royce C. Lamberth today: He has ruled in favor of Voice of America employees and nullified months of actions taken by Lake at the US Agency for Global Media, including mass layoffs. The plaintiffs say they feel "vindicated and deeply grateful" >>>
From today's Reliable Sources: The criticism of correspondent Fred Pleitgen's reporting from Iran is unfair and suggests an all-too-common unfamiliarity with the basic tenets of journalism... cnn.it/4rUYM9W
i don't have the ability to do so. i'm sorry.
The thing I keep wondering as David Ellison does this spiel: What if the truth doesn’t happen to align with what the “70% of centrist Americans” whom Ellison defines as his audience want to see on the news?
(Via @brianstelter.bsky.social)
Friday's Reliable Sources lead:
The reality of reporting under Israel's military censor during wartime
cnn.it/4rUYM9W
"We are aware that stuff is happening that we should care about, but the fog of bullshit surrounding this stuff is so thick that we can barely make out its shape or heft..." www.newyorker.com/news/fault-l...
Paramount CEO David Ellison has pledged to support editorial independence at CNN, saying it “needs to be maintained,” amid widespread concern about his company’s plans for the news network. Here's our writeup of his CNBC interview: www.cnn.com/2026/03/05/m...
NBC says Savannah Guthrie plans to come back to "Today." Penguin Random House says it is publishing Eric Dane's memoir. Dario Amodei says Sam Altman has given "dictator-style praise to Trump." All that and much more in today's Reliable Sources digest: cnn.it/4boUoKC
When I recapped the controversy about Trump's "Call of Duty" video on CNN International, anchor Becky Anderson, from her desk in Abu Dhabi, said: "We've had 1,072 drone attacks here; eight cruise missile attacks; and 196 ballistic missile attacks here. So I can tell you it's not a video game."
Of course, as The Washington Post's great tech reporter
@drewharwell.com said in a TikTok last night, "this has been a meme presidency." And sometimes the trolling is the point. The outrage is the goal. Because it all translates to attention.
What steps will the White House take to sell an unpopular war in Iran to the American people? Well, here's one answer: A social media video that literally likens the war to a video game by mixing "Call of Duty" game footage with clips of American missile strikes.
CNN, CBS and the ideological creep of both newsrooms is something I am following closely, in the belief that their Orbanization may already be underway.
If my language is more cautious than yours, I can live with the criticism that follows.
view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/177...
"Nearly $1 trillion in taxpayer money flows into the department, and decisions being made by the secretary are literally life and death decisions about putting American troops in harm’s way — the public deserves to know what their military is doing, especially in times of war."
NYT: Iran's official TV networks and aligned social media accounts are "waging an information war parallel to the real-world fighting, blending fact and fiction, often using unproven claims and fake videos generated using artificial intelligence." www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/b...
As Pete Hegseth says the US is "accelerating" its strikes in Iran, Pentagon reporters say they are not getting answers to key questions about the military operations. "Lots of chest-thumping, less concrete data" is how one reporter put it. My latest: www.cnn.com/2026/03/04/m...
Today's Reliable Sources newsletter lead:
I checked in with six longtime US military reporters, and they said they're struck by the lack of day-to-day details about the ongoing military operations cnn.it/4aOnRgP
Key context for today's Gayle King contract renewal news: Bari Weiss has been brainstorming how to reinvigorate the third-place "CBS Mornings" show, according to people familiar with the matter. www.cnn.com/2026/03/04/m...
A huge tip-of-the-hat to all the journalists covering this war.
CBC News has been speaking with Iranians crossing the border into Turkey. Many of the people Briar Stewart interviewed there "feared speaking" publicly: "They often requested that their name or image be withheld because they feared facing reprisal." www.cbc.ca/news/world/i...
