Dec. 16, 2025

■ 'After inviting Vanity Fair into the West Wing for the better part of a year, the Trump administration throws a kitchen sink of disavowals at the Susie Wiles profile.' (Philip Wegmann) / White House launches damage control over unfiltered Wiles interviews (Axios) / ‘You can tell how big a deal this Vanity Fair interview with Susie Wiles is based on the White House reaction to it.’ (Justin Baragona) / ‘I wrote for Vanity Fair for a couple years. The fact-checking process is INTENSE. Editors and fact-checkers probe your sourcing, your framing, your quotes. Thus Susie Wiles knew this story was coming and knew the quotes were legit. She can object to "context" but not quotes.’ (Brian Stelter) / Read the profile (Vanity Fair)

■ Trump files $10 billion suit over BBC documentary (New York Times) / ‘Donald Trump's defamation lawsuit against the BBC has been assigned to Judge Roy K. Altman, a Trump appointee.’ (Scott Nover) / Why is Donald Trump suing the BBC — and will he win? (Financial Times) 

■ How an AM radio station in California weathered the Trump administration's assault on media (Associated Press) 

■ Judge refuses to grant Sarah Palin a new trial in her libel suit against New York Times (Associated Press)

■ Kari Lake says USAGM to vacate studios, relocate to NASA building (The Desk)

■ ‘Fox News executives assumed Katie Pavlich would renew her contributor contract, but its smaller rival — with business before Donald Trump’s FCC — spoiled their plans during negotiations.’ (Status)

■ How Bari Weiss engineered her CBS News comeback in Hollywood (New York Magazine) 

■ ‘It has been 207 days since WaPo Tech Guild was recognized by the NLRB. And today they begin bargaining for their first contact...’  (Washington Post Guild)

■ Roxanna Scott joins ESPN as senior vice president, editor in chief (ESPN) / Alyssa Katz named next editor-in-chief of the Forward (Forward) / Joshua Molina returns to Santa Barbara News-Press, taking the helm as editor (Santa Barbara News-Press) / John M. Humenik named LMA/LMF chief strategy and operations officer (Local Media Association) / Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project hires Drange (Talking Biz News) / Howard Stern stays on SiriusXM with new three-year deal (Axios) / OpenAI’s chief communications officer is leaving the company (WIRED) 

■ Brown student journalist recounts ‘all-nighter’ reporting in aftermath of mass shooting (Boston Globe)

How social media videos enhance sports journalism

“TikTok videos can be really, really interesting ways of telling abbreviated stories. … First of all, the sound of great sports is unmistakable and unique, and it’s very hard to get that down in print. Some multimedia lends itself to that. The ability to get snippets of player interviews right after the game up on Twitter quickly. … That’s great for the audience, and that’s great for newspapers, or media organizations. There’s a potential for some kind of coherent, coordinated multimedia sports product that is very documentary, very immediate, that moves, but also has great writing.”

-- Sally Jenkins, sports reporter at The Atlantic, excerpt from "Sally Jenkins reflects on leaving the Post and the future of sports journalism" (Poynter)

Resources

• Making the transition from journalist to author (Dec. 18, 7 p.m. ET)
• APPLY NOW: Solutions Journalism Philanthropy Revenue Accelerator (Deadline: Jan. 6)
• Explore Your Career River: Navigate change in today’s media ecosystem (Journalism Courses by Knight Center)

This newsletter is written and edited by the National Press Club Journalism Institute staff: Beth Francesco, Holly Butcher Grant, and Elliot C. Williams. Send us your questions and suggestions for topics to cover.

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