Politico

The Commission on Presidential Debates responded to Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee's complaints about the debate schedule with a message on July 31: The schedule is set. "The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) started working more than 18 months ago to identify religious and federal holidays, baseball league playoff games, NFL games, and other events in order to select the best nights for the 2016 debates," the commission said. "It is impossible to avoid all sporting events, and there have been nights on which debates and games occurred in most election cycles. A debate has never been rescheduled as a result."

Donald Trump and RNC officials have complained that two of the three scheduled presidential and one vice-presidential debates overlap with NFL games. The presidential debates are slated for Sept 26 at New York’s Hofstra University, Oct 9 at Washington University in St. Louis and Oct 19 at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. The vice-presidential debate is set for Oct 4 at Longwood University in Virginia.

Republican Vice Presidential nominee Mike Pence (R-IN) said the Trump campaign is having conversations about lifting the blacklist it has applied to certain media outlets.

Speaking to radio host Hugh Hewitt, Gov Pence defended his own history of dealing with the news media, saying he authored legislation while in Congress to help protect journalists’ confidential sources. “We’re going to have those conversations internally and I fully expect in the next 100 days we’re going to continue to be available to the media, whether they’re fair or unfair," Gov Pence said. The Trump campaign has blacklisted certain outlets, including Politico, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post and others, from attending his events because of what he considers unfair coverage. CNN’s Chris Cuomo said he is blacklisted from the Trump campaign “because of how we conduct our interviews.”

Trump may be the Republican nominee, but the Republican National Committee refuses to get involved or even comment on Trump’s treatment of the news media, instead diverting all questions to the campaign.

The attack in Nice, France has upended the pre-convention media plans for both presidential candidates. Donald Trump announced that he was postponing his vice presidential announcement, originally scheduled for July 15. Additionally, Trump told Fox News' Bill O'Reilly he was likely also postponing a planned joint interview with his vice presidential nominee on the CBS newsmagazine "60 Minutes." "Well, in light of what's happened tonight, in light of this, you know, absolutely horrific attack, you know, I'm not sure that I'm feeling good about doing 60 Minutes and I'm not sure that 60 Minutes is going to want to do anything other than this attack," Trump said in his second phone-in interview on Fox on July 14.

Dozens of literary and media luminaries -- from Margaret Atwood, Jay McInerney, Martin Amis and Judy Blume, to Robert Caro, Kurt Andersen, Jill Lepore and Janet Malcolm -- are calling on the presidential candidates to "uphold freedom of the press and end intimidation toward journalists" at their nominating conventions these next two weeks.

The writers are among more than 20,000 people, as of the morning of July 15, who have signed a petition that PEN America, the century-old literary and free expression organization, will deliver on Monday to the Trump and Clinton campaigns, as well as to the Republican and Democratic national committees. Other organizations and media outlets, including The Nation, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders and The Intercept, partnered with PEN to collect signatures. “I think our members and partners are growing increasingly concerned with a climate of hostility toward the press in the context of the campaigns, and tactics that risk curbing press freedoms,” said PEN America executive director Suzanne Nossel. She cited recent episodes of “threats directed at journalists” and “remarks about the tightening of libel and defamation laws.”

The Senate has confirmed Carla Hayden to be the next Librarian of Congress. She was approved by a vote of 74-18. Hayden, the CEO of Baltimore's Enoch Pratt Free Library, was nominated by President Barack Obama five months ago. She replaces James Billington, who resigned as Librarian of Congress in September after 28 years on the job.

In 2003, Hayden, then president of the American Library Association, rallied librarians across the country to oppose the USA PATRIOT Act, saying the national security law passed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks gave law enforcement "unprecedented powers of surveillance — including easy access to library records with minimal judicial oversight." The Librarian of Congress manages a vast national collection of some 160 million works. While it's a somewhat obscure post, the Librarian wields considerable power behind the scenes, particularly in the area of copyright. She decides, for example, whether Americans can tinker with their copyright-protected devices like smartphones, tablet computers and even software systems in cars. President Obama, in announcing the pick in February 2016, said of Hayden: "Her understanding of the pivotal role that emerging technologies play in libraries will be essential in leading the Library of Congress as it continues to modernize its infrastructure and promote open access and full participation in today's digital world." She becomes the first woman and first African-American to fill the post.

It’s been more than two months since Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) pulled out of the presidential race. But he’s still bitter at Fox News. On a radio program, Sen Cruz responded to Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, who questioned why Sen Cruz was meeting with Donald Trump and had agreed to speak at the GOP convention when he had previously excoriated the presumptive Republican nominee.

"I didn’t watch what she said and If I got dismayed every time somebody on Fox News attacked me, you know what, life is too short to worry about, that is an institution that can express its own corporate opinions, and it has done so at great volume during the course of the primaries. And I’m not going to worry about their attacks. Our country is in an extremely challenging position right now, and there are a lot of people who played an active role in putting us in this position,” Sen Cruz said.

Donald Trump has slashed his regular cable television appearances and is largely restricting himself to "friendlier terrain" on Fox News, according to Howard Kurtz, the channel's media analyst and host of "Mediabuzz." According to Kurtz's report, Trump's staff is not notifying him of every interview request. It's part of an effort to tamp down on the "risk of the candidate making mistakes or fanning minor controversies."

"Several weeks ago, high-level staffers concluded at a meeting that the boss should be limited to no more than three interviews a week, print reporters included. He wound up meeting that quota in just half a day. But aides now vet whether certain reporters can ride on his plane, which used to be a snap decision by Trump," Kurtz reports. Trump's last interview with CNN was June 13. =The presumptive Republican nominee's last interview with MSNBC was in May with "Morning Joe".

The line between news reporting and opinion is blurring in Ferguson (MO) as some national journalists inject their perspective and even themselves into the story.

The conduct of a few prominent members of the press on the ground has drawn the attention of media observers and prompted the wrath of conservatives who see an anti-law enforcement bias in the Fourth Estate.

David Plouffe, the former campaign manager and White House adviser to President Barack Obama, is taking his political secret sauce to Uber in late September as senior vice president of policy and strategy.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said Uber “is trying to win hearts and minds,” adding: “There’s an incumbent … the big-taxi cartel … and we’re the challenger.” Plouffe, 47, will be one of the top few executives at the booming transportation disruptor, in charge of global branding, communications and policy -- as Kalanick put it, Uber’s “campaign manager.”

Forty-eight media organizations -- ranging from the Associated Press to Fox News to The New Yorker and the National Press Club -- sent a letter to law enforcement authorities in Ferguson (MO) to protest the police's treatment of reporters and ask for greater transparency regarding the death of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African-American who was shot and killed by police.