Politico

New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet took aim at CNN and Fox News for their coverage of the presidential race, calling the cable news channels' coverage of this election cycle “ridiculous” and “bad for democracy and those institutions.” “This mix of entertainment and news, and news masquerading as entertainment, is kind of funny except that we now have a guy who is a product of that world nominated as Republican presidential nominee,” Baquet said. Baquet called CNN’s decision to hire Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski “outrageous,” and criticized Fox News for what Baquet said was pandering to a partisan audience.

“Fox News at its heart is not a journalistic institution,” he said. “Megyn Kelly is a great journalist, Chris Wallace is a great journalist, but it is some weird mix of a little bit of journalism, a little bit of entertainment, a little bit of pandering to a particular audience … I don’t think Roger Ailes will go down as one of the great journalists of his time.” Baquet also defended the Times’ coverage of Trump. The Times raised eyebrows earlier this election cycle when it flatly called Trump’s statements about President Barack Obama’s birthplace a “lie," and the Republican candidate has regularly criticized the Times' political coverage, and even threatened to sue. “I am not opposed to his presidency, that is not my job,” Baquet said. “But my job is not to beat around the bush when a candidate lies.”

In July 2015, Hillary Clinton ally Neera Tanden, who is head of the progressive think tank the Center for American Progress, passed along advice that Hillary Clinton should try to set up a meeting with The New York Times publisher, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., to get more favorable coverage from the newspaper.

In the e-mail, which was released Oct 26 as part of the WikiLeaks’ ongoing release of e-mails from Clinton campaign manager John Podesta, Tanden said that former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg used the tactic to “[change] the coverage moderately.” Tanden said in the e-mail that the advice came from “Howard,” presumably a reference to former New York City Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson, a longtime Democratic strategist who is now a senior adviser to Bloomberg. “[W]hen Bloomberg was having problems w the times he called Arthur Schulzberger (sic) and asked for coffee,” Tanden wrote in an e-mail to Podesta, dated July 9, 2015 and labeled as “Howard’s advice” in the subject line. “He made the case that they were treating him like a billionaire dilettante instead of Third term mayor. It changed the coverage moderately but also aired the issues in the newsroom so people were more conscious of it." Tanden added this caveat: “But Arthur is a pretty big wuss so he’s not going to do a lot more than that.”

Donald Trump pushed back against rumors that he has been looking into launching a media venture, telling a Cincinnati (OH) radio station that he only had “one interest” — winning the presidential election on Nov 8. “No, I have no interest in Trump TV,” Trump said. “I hear it all over the place. I have a tremendous fan base, we have a tremendous base. We have the most incredible people, but I just don’t have any interest in that.”

On Oct 24, Trump’s campaign launched a half-hour show on Trump’s Facebook page that is serving as a lead-in to Facebook livestreams of Trump’s campaign rallies. The live show, which is being filmed from Trump Tower in New York, is scheduled to continue every weeknight through Election Day. The show is similar to a pre- and post-debate live show on Trump’s Facebook page that the campaign launched to cover the final presidential debate last week as an alternative to mainstream media coverage of the debate.

Federal Communications Commissioner Mignon Clyburn’s summer pursuits are fueling speculation about whether she's eyeing an eventual run for her father's seat in Congress. Her just-completed cross-country tour and policy conference in DC have the trappings of someone looking to set the stage for a bigger role, and many expect that her 7-year stint at the FCC is nearing its end. Rep Jim Clyburn (D-SC) has shown little sign he's getting ready to step down. But key South Carolina Democrats who know Commissioner Mignon say the congressional role is squarely on her radar -- and state Democratic powerbroker Dick Harpootlian says she would immediately be the front-runner. DC folks in her orbit, however, are less convinced she will go the Capitol Hill route -- and they have their own thoughts on what she might pursue after the FCC.

Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante submitted her resignation to Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, a Library spokesperson confirmed. Pallante had been removed as head of the Copyright Office and was reassigned to be a senior adviser for digital strategy -- but she's not taking the job. In a statement, House Judiciary Committee leaders Bob Goodlatte and John Conyers called her departure "a tremendous loss" for the office and for American creators. The lawmakers, who are in the middle of a broad review of copyright law, also suggested it might be time for a reassessment of how the register of copyrights is selected -- right now, the decision is up to the Librarian of Congress.

Apparently, Aaron Black, an associate with Democracy Partners and a former Occupy Wall Street organizer, coordinated with reporters from the conservative news site Breitbart during the primaries to cover his disruptions of events for candidates such as Sen Marco Rubio (R-FL). Black worked with the pro-Trump site Breitbart, tipping it off about his stunts, exchanging raw video and coordinating coverage, according to an unnamed source. Black coordinated with Breitbart via email, phone and in person, including when he dressed up as a robot and trolled Marco Rubio’s events. The relationship was described as very friendly. An article subsequently published on Breitbart featured video footage of a physical confrontation between Black and Rubio's New Hampshire campaign chairman.

Sen Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and her progressive allies are pushing Hillary Clinton to curb the market power of tech giants like Apple, Amazon and Google - putting the Democratic nominee in a bind over how hard to police an industry that's showered her with money and support in 2016. If she wins in November, Clinton would have to fill a raft of positions at the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, the government's twin cops on the competition beat.

The tech industry - which has largely avoided major showdowns with Washington's antitrust regulators during the Obama Administration - could easily face new scrutiny if Clinton bows to the Sen Warren wing and appoints people with a tougher eye for enforcement." Another name being circulated for a Clinton antitrust position is Daniel Weitzner, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who served in key roles at the Commerce Department and the White House during Obama's presidency. There's also chatter about whether Sharis Pozen, now the vice president for competition at GE, could return to government. During her tenure as acting assistant attorney general at DOJ, she oversaw the agency's landmark effort to block AT&T's proposed purchase of T-Mobile - and she also brought DOJ's successful case against Apple for the way it priced its ebooks. Two Federal Communications Commission aides - Gigi Sohn , an adviser to Chairman Tom Wheeler, and Travis LeBlanc, the agency's enforcement chief - are also seen as contenders for an FTC commissioner post.

It’s not clear if a Donald Trump administration would approach tech and telecom policy the same way as conventional Republicans, but putting unknowns aside, a look at four issues where Trump could attempt to undo President Barack Obama’s tech legacy. 1) On the subject of network neutrality, a Trump Federal Communications Commission could try to repeal the Open Internet Order, but it would likely take a time-consuming notice-and-comment rulemaking process. 2) When it comes to internet governance, Trump has previously echoed Sen Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) opposition to the ICANN transition, which shifted the internet domain naming and numbering system to a nonprofit, from US government oversight. Trump might attempt to reverse the transition, but the options to do so are limited. 3) Regarding encryption, Trump has previously panned Apple’s stance versus the FBI and has the potential to appoint law enforcement heads who could more aggressively push the issue. 4) Media is another area where Trump could take a different tact, with an opportunity to “open up” libel laws and use the FCC to take action against outlets he disagrees with.

After Oct 20’s third and final presidential debate, on cable and network television, Donald Trump surrogates rushed to spin Trump’s assertion that he would not accept the results of the November election, and some cable television post-debate panels descended into screaming matches. But on Donald Trump’s Facebook page, which had already livestreamed a pre-debate show, followed by the debate itself for a little fewer than 200,000 concurrent viewers, and a post-debate program full of panels, pre-recorded bits and complete with anchors and all the other trappings of a news program, an alternate reality was being established.

Proclaiming itself an antidote to the “mainstream media” which Trump has said is guilty of tipping the scales of this election against Trump and the American people and in favor of a Clintonocracy, the nearly three hours of programming on Facebook cycled through Trump surrogates, family members and former Apprentice cast members, all of whom praised Trump endlessly. Right Side Broadcasting Network, a conservative online media network that live streams Trump rallies, filmed the pre- and post- debate show, on which the common refrain was: “The mainstream media is against us.” Another common refrain following Trump's debate performance: “By far his best debate. A clear and decisive victory.” Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn, who served a a co-host along with Trump adviser Cliff Sims, declared it “the greatest Republican debate performance since Abraham Lincoln.”

A new letter to the Federal Trade Commission by Rep Hank Johnson (D-GA) and friends asks the agency to probe the “increasing difficulty that app developers have in reaching and communicating with customers in some app ecosystems.” But the note has a pretty clear target: the war between Apple and Spotify. The letter appears to side with Spotify, which has fiercely opposed Apple’s practice of collecting 30 percent of all new subscriptions to services that are sold through the Apple App Store. The two companies have clashed repeatedly over the issue since Apple began making plans to enter the music-streaming business — with Spotify arguing that Apple is acting anti-competitively.