Journalism

Justice Department officials are slated to meet with a nonprofit journalism organization on Thursday as the administration moves to revisit its rules on whether to subpoena reporters who receive classified information. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press will meet with individuals in the Justice Department’s public affairs office to discuss new subpoena guidelines.

The pursuit of digital readership broke the New Republic — and an entire industry. Data have turned journalism into a commodity, something to be marketed, tested, calibrated. Perhaps people in the media have always thought this way. But if that impulse existed, it was at least buffered. Journalism’s leaders were vigilant about separating the church of editorial from the secular concerns of business. We can now see the cause for fanaticism about building such a thick wall between the two.

The new White House press secretary is more understated than her predecessor, Sean Spicer, but she still speaks for a president at war with the media.

Raycom’s CBS affiliate dominates social media actions in Savannah over the last six months according to data from audience insight firm Shareablee. WTOC has almost four times the number of actions than its nearest competitor. Sarah Smith, WTOC’s digital content manager: “We make sure that we’re hitting our audiences on all platforms, everywhere we can reach them digitally. We share as much on Facebook as we would anywhere else, as much as we would on the air.”

Media bashing has become one of the organizing principles of Donald Trump’s presidency. But behind the scenes, the Trump machine is eagerly promoting the nuggets of positive press they receive from the very outlets the president seeks to discredit.

Despite widespread speculation to the contrary, AT&T will not sell CNN after its acquisition of parent Time Warner closes, according to AT&T Entertainment Group chief John Stankey. In his first interview since being named to oversee assets such as Warner Bros. and HBO when AT&T’s acquisition of the media company is closed, Stankey also expresses support for Warner’s CEO Kevin Tsujihara: “He’s a talented guy.”

Rachel Maddow of MSNBC is cable’s new primetime ratings champ. Her network achieved other milestones in July, including its closest finish to Fox since 2000 and largest margin of victory over CNN ever. The numbers illustrate a surge in popularity at MSNBC, where politics has become primetime entertainment. Like late-night comic Stephen Colbert can attest, having President Donald Trump as a regular punching bag is great for business.

Two decades ago ago, Barbara Walters had a groundbreaking idea. She wanted to launch a talk show where she could stop by, on top of her full-time job on 20/20, to spar with a multi-generational panel of women about the headlines of the day. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of a show that changed the rules of daytime TV, ABC is re-airing the first episode of The View this Friday.

There are rumblings at the highest executive levels that AT&T’s top executives are considering divesting some Time Warner assets — including news organization CNN and celebrity gossip site TMZ — after they merge.

The Washington Post’s director of video and senior editor will highlight a conference gathering news, technology and digital executives to discuss the newspaper’s aggressive video strategy and role as a multiplatform news competitor.

The host is currently under investigation following reports of his texting an inappropriate photo to colleagues.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday announced a government-wide crackdown on leakers, which will include a review of the Justice Department’s policies on subpoenas for media outlets that publish sensitive information.

The hour-long forum will air next Tuesday at 7-8 p.m. and will also be livestreamed on WBRC’s digital properties including WBRC.com, the WBRC FOX6 News app, Roku/Amazon and Facebook.