The Latest: Access on the campaign trail; MS NOW issues correction; CNN’s AI content deal

Oct. 15, 2026

■ BBC asks judge to force Trump to sit for deposition in his own lawsuit against the channel (Los Angeles Times) / Trump team seeks to push back BBC deposition until January 2027 (The Hill)

■ Judge extends ban on Trump taxpayer-funded ads past Election Day (Bloomberg)

■ UMD reporter Cat Murphy dared to record Rep. Andy Harris — and kept going (The Banner) / Student journalist responds after congressman threatens to have her prosecuted (CNN) / Candidates are increasingly icing out reporters on the campaign trail (The Washington Sun)

■ MS NOW corrects report on FBI director Kash Patel landing in Russia: ‘We regret this error’ (Deadline) / FBI rips MS NOW over Kash Patel Russia report: 'Sources are familiar with nothing ' (TheWrap)

■ ‘New White House press secretary, beset with reports she overstated legal credentials ... sits down for exclusive interview with noted conspiracy theorist to put concerns to rest.’ (David Folkenflik) / Watchdog files complaint against Zacharia with California bar (The Hill) / White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia didn’t pass bar exam (Wall Street Journal)

■ CNN strikes multiyear AI content deal with Google (TheWrap) / ‘Email to CNN staff on the company’s new AI deal, which notes that CNN's articles will help inform AI-generated responses to news-related searches across Google's products, with attribution to our original reporting.’ (Max Tani)

■ Fox $22 billion Roku deal approved by shareholders of both companies (Variety)

■ ESPN says it remains ‘committed to journalism’ after ex-producer suggests otherwise (Sports Media Watch) / ‘I’m not going to have blood on my hands ’ (Columbia Journalism Review)

■ WOUB employee sues licensee over handling of sexual harassment allegations against former GM (Current)

■ A new open-source reporter joins Visual Investigations (New York Times) / A new hire joins Business (New York Times) / Lucy Hodgman is the San Francisco Chronicle’s new wine reporter (SF Chronicle) / TEGNA taps proven revenue leaders for top sales roles (TEGNA)

■ Every Voice, Every Vote awards $1.4 million to expand civic news and engagement (Lenfest Institute)

Designing ‘Sizing Chaos’: Creating engaging, interactive visuals (Nov. 3, noon ET)

👀 COMING SOON: Creating engaging, interactive visuals

What are the keys to visual storytelling that pops off the page?

Join the Institute for a free training on making design choices that make complicated data accessible and keep readers interested.

🗓️ Tuesday, Nov. 3 | ⏱️ Noon ET | 📍Virtual via Zoom | 🎟️ Free

The training will be led by Amanda Sakuma and Jan Diehm, the journalists behind “Sizing Chaos ,” the visual essay published in The Pudding that won the Institute’s 2026 Pamela Tobey Award for Excellence in Visual Storytelling.

“Sizing Chaos” highlights the confusing and inconsistent systems of women’s clothes sizes that can make buying clothes an unnecessarily stressful experience. Sakuma and Diehm will share how they approached the reporting and design of the intensive project, which award judges commended for creatively presenting data with an engaging user experience.

Participants will learn:

The story behind the story of “Sizing Chaos,” and how Sakuma and Diehm brought the award-winning visual essay to life.
Tips on the craft of visual storytelling that powers The Pudding, a decorated media platform where innovative design meets culture journalism.
How to use data and present visuals that capture readers’ attention and tell journalistic stories in unique ways.

Leadership Tip: Helping teams thrive during uncertainty

“When teams face challenging times and are overwhelmed by negative news, failures, roadblocks, or uncertainty, the learned helplessness and pessimism they feel can erode engagement, energy, and performance. Leaders cannot remedy the situation with forced positivity; instead, they need to encourage resilient optimism — the ability to see challenges clearly while still believing that action matters — in three ways. First, they should model constructive behavior by directing attention toward purpose and progress, prioritizing visibly rather than spreading urgency, and treating restoration as part of sustainable performance. Second, they should help employees reframe stress as useful information, using practices such as signal checks and ‘yes, and’ language to acknowledge difficulty while encouraging people to problem-solve. Finally, they should actively create and amplify positive moments — through praise, small acts of support, and renewed connection — so that their employees begin to see evidence that their efforts still make a difference.”

-- Michelle Gielan , psychology researcher and author, excerpt from “How leaders counter pessimism in trying times ” (Harvard Business Review)

National Press Club honors The New York Times with John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award for defending First Amendment rights

The National Press Club will award The New York Times with its highest honor for press freedom, the John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award, for exemplifying the courage and institutional resolve essential to a free and independent press.

The National Press Club Board recognizes The New York Times for its sustained commitment to challenge restrictive anti-press policies at the Pentagon through the courts. By advocating for the rights of reporters to freely cover the Pentagon, The Times has courageously pushed back against department attempts to restrict access to those most involved in major national security decisions – even as the U.S. remains engaged in a major war with Iran, the Board noted.

“At a time when access to our government and source protections are being undermined by the Trump administration and challenged in courts, The New York Times has stood firm, not just for its own journalists, but for the American public’s right to know,” said Mark Schoeff Jr., president of the National Press Club. “The Times has demonstrated exactly what the Aubuchon Award is about: the refusal to yield when press freedom is under threat. We are proud to recognize the institution’s courage with our highest honor.”

The National Press Club will present the 2026 Aubuchon awards, along with the Neil and Susan Sheehan Award for Investigative Journalism, during its annual Fourth Estate Award Gala on November 12 in Washington, D.C. Tickets and sponsorship information for the event can be found here.

GET TICKETS NOW

The John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award is named for a former National Press Club president who fervently advocated for press freedom. Each year, the Club’s Board of Governors selects both a domestic and an international honoree. The gala dinner is a fundraiser for the National Press Club Journalism Institute, the Club’s nonprofit affiliate, which provides training to equip journalists with the skills and standards to inform the public in ways that inspire civic engagement.

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The National Press Club Journalism Institute promotes First Amendment values by equipping journalists in Washington, D.C., and nationwide with the skills, knowledge, standards, resources and networks to empower and inform the public. As the non-profit affiliate of the National Press Club, the Institute powers journalism in the public interest. The Institute's tax ID number is 52-1750908.