WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Three CNN journalists, including a Pulitzer Prize-winner, have resigned after the American news outlet was forced to retract a story it published linking a Trump transition team member to the Russia-related investigations.



CNN said Thomas Frank, who wrote the story in question; Eric Lichtblau, an editor in the unit; and Lex Haris, who oversaw the unit, have all left.



Thomas Frank is a veteran reporter who covered Iraq War, and was once nominated for Pulitzer-Prize. Assistant Managing Editor Lichtblau, who recently joined from the New York Times, is a Pulitzer winner himself. Lex Haris is the executive editor in charge of investigations.



The exclusive story, published late last week on the web and shared on social media, cited an anonymous source saying that the Senate Intelligence Committee was investigating ties between a Russian investment fund chief and Trump ally and financier Anthony Scaramucci.



The report also said that two Democratic senators wanted to know whether Scaramucci had indicated in the meeting whether sanctions against Russia would be lifted, a decision that could impact the investment fund.



Scaramucci denied any wrongdoing, and wanted the story to be deleted. CNN obliged Friday with an apology. CNN explained that it retracted the story because 'editorial processes were not followed,' and that the retraction did not mean the facts of the story were necessarily wrong.



President Donald Trump lashed out at CNN following the developments.



'Fake News CNN is looking at big management changes now that they got caught falsely pushing their phony Russian stories. Ratings way down!,' he tweeted Tuesday.



He added that NBC, CBS, ABC, New York Times and Washington Post 'are all Fake News!'



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX </s> In a show of solidarity, major U.S. media outlets are backing the CNN’s legal fight against the White House for revoking the ‘hard pass’ of Jim Acosta.

CNN said it had asked the court for an immediate restraining order requiring the pass to be returned to Acosta and would seek permanent relief as part of the process.

The White House Correspondents Association had also said that it “strongly supports” the suit against the Trump’s administration.

‘Hard pass’ gives holders expanded access to the White House complex.

Acosta’s pass was suspended last week after he sparred with Trump during a press conference.

Fox News, which anchors and shows are generally supportive of President Donald Trump and his policies, has filed a “friend of the court” brief in federal court in support of CNN’s lawsuit.

Fox News President Jay Wallace said Wednesday that the network would file an amicus brief with the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

Wallace said in a statement: “Secret Service passes for working White House journalists should never be weaponised.

“While we don’t condone the growing antagonistic tone by both the President and the press at recent media avails, we do support a free press, access and open exchanges for the American people.”

CBS News also announced in a statement that it would be filing an amicus brief in support of CNN, saying it supports the White House Correspondents Association and CNN’s legal fight to restore Acosta’s access.

“We do not believe that revoking White House press credentials is an appropriate remedy for a disagreement the White House may have with a particular reporter.

“We intend to file a friend of the court brief in support of CNN’s lawsuit to defend its constitutional rights,” CBS News said in the statement.

A group of other news organisations, including Fox News, NBC News, the New York Times, the Washington Post and two wire services – AP and Bloomberg – also said they would file a joint amicus brief in support of CNN.

The law firm, Ballard Spahr, issued a statement on behalf of The Associated Press; Bloomberg L.P.; First Look Media Works, Inc.; FOX News; Gannett; National Press Club Journalism Institute; NBC News; The New York Times Co.; POLITICO; Press Freedom Defense Fund; E.W. Scripps Company; USA TODAY NETWORK; and The Washington Post.

“Whether the news of the day concerns national security, the economy, or the environment, reporters covering the White House must remain free to ask questions.

“It is imperative that independent journalists have access to the President and his activities, and that journalists are not barred for arbitrary reasons,” the statement read.

The White House has filed its memo of opposition against CNN and Acosta’s lawsuit ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, arguing that the First Amendment did not guarantee access to the White House.

In a 23-page memo, the White House argued: “The president and his staff have absolute discretion over which journalists they grant interviews to, as well as over which journalists they acknowledge at press events.

“That broad discretion necessarily includes discretion over which journalists receive on-demand access to the White House grounds and special access during White House travel for the purpose of asking questions of the President or his staff.

“No journalist has a First Amendment right to enter the White House and the [resident need not survive First Amendment scrutiny whenever he exercises his discretion to deny an individual journalist one of the many hundreds of passes granting on-demand access to the White House complex”.

The White House memo also claimed that Acosta was given sufficient notice about the suspension of his credentials, adding Acosta “received notice of the reasons for his pass’s revocation the night it happened and again the next day”.

The White House had said last week that Acosta’s ‘hard pass’ was suspended because he refused to give up a microphone to a White House intern who tried to take it away from him during the press conference.

The White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders accused Acosta of placing his hands on the intern and distributed a video of the incident.

Sanders called the lawsuit “just more grandstanding from CNN”.

Trump told the Daily Caller on Wednesday that “Jim Acosta is just somebody who gets up and grandstands, he doesn’t even know what he’s asking you half of the time”.

The president added that he thought reporters like Acosta were “bad for the country”. (NAN) </s> (AP) — News organizations including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, CNN and Politico were blocked from joining an informal, on the record White House press briefing on Friday.

The Associated Press chose not to participate in the gaggle following the move by White House press secretary Sean Spicer.

“The AP believes the public should have as much access to the president as possible,” Lauren Easton, the AP’s director of media relations, said in a statement.

Several news organizations were allowed in, including the conservative website Breitbart News. The site’s former executive chairman, Steve Bannon, is chief strategist to President Donald Trump.

The White House defended the decision not to include some news organizations.

“We invited the pool so everyone was represented. We decided to add a couple of additional people beyond the pool. Nothing more than that,” said White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders.

Earlier Friday in a speech before the Conservative Political Action Conference, President Donald Trump railed against the media.

“Nothing like this has ever happened at the White House in our long history of covering multiple administrations of different parties. We strongly protest the exclusion of The New York Times and the other news organizations. Free media access to a transparent government is obviously of crucial national interest,” Dean Baquet, the Times’ executive editor, said in a statement.

“This is an unacceptable development by the Trump White House. Apparently this is how they retaliate when you report facts they don’t like. We’ll keep reporting regardless,” CNN said in a statement. </s> Connect with the definitive source for global and local news

More from AP </s> CNN and its “Reliable Sources” host, Brian Stelter, are pushing back against claims the network staged an anti-terror demonstration in London after Saturday night’s attack.

At least seven people died and over 50 were injured this weekend after three men turned vehicles into weapons before stabbing additional victims near London Bridge. CNN correspondent Becky Anderson’s coverage of the aftermath on Sunday quickly spread on social media when a local man shared behind-the-scenes footage. Producers appeared to direct protesters and officers.

“CNN creating the narrative #FakeNews,” wrote Twitter user Mark Antro after uploading his video.

“CNN caught staging news!” added lawyer and filmmaker Mike Cernovich on Medium. “They even brought “peace group’ printed out papers and props.”

Mr. Stelter blasted “bloggers” for misrepresenting the network’s actions.

“Far-right twitterers are misleading folks about this video. Bloggers saying CNN was caught ‘staging fake news’ (1/2),” the host wrote Sunday. “Police allowed demonstrators thru cordon ‘so they could show their signs’ to media, @CNNPR says. CNN, BBC, AP ‘simply filmed them doing so.’ “

The network also told Mediaite on Monday that charges of “fake news” are “nonsense.”

“The group of demonstrators that was at the police cordon was being allowed through by officers so they could show their signs to the gathered media,” the network said. “The CNN crew along with other media present simply filmed them doing so.”

Mr. Antro also noted that two white officers walked out of camera range and were replaced by minority cops for the live shot.

“Note the white police officers leaving before the CNN shot & the Asian officers coming in. They then left after they went off air!” he said Sunday.

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Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission. </s> News organizations including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, CNN and Politico were blocked from joining an informal, on the record White House press briefing on Friday.

The Associated Press chose not to participate in the gaggle following the move by White House press secretary Sean Spicer.

"The AP believes the public should have as much access to the president as possible," Lauren Easton, the AP's director of media relations, said in a statement.

Several news organizations were allowed in, including the conservative Breitbart News. The site's former executive chairman, Steve Bannon, is chief strategist to President Donald Trump.

The White House defended the decision not to include some news organizations.

"We invited the pool so everyone was represented. We decided to add a couple of additional people beyond the pool. Nothing more than that," said White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders.

Earlier Friday in a speech before the Conservative Political Action Conference, President Donald Trump railed against the media.

"Nothing like this has ever happened at the White House in our long history of covering multiple administrations of different parties. We strongly protest the exclusion of The New York Times and the other news organizations. Free media access to a transparent government is obviously of crucial national interest," Dean Baquet, the Times' executive editor, said in a statement.

"This is an unacceptable development by the Trump White House. Apparently this is how they retaliate when you report facts they don't like. We'll keep reporting regardless," CNN said in a statement. </s> NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Times and The New Yorker won the Pulitzer Prize for public service Monday for breaking the Harvey Weinstein scandal with reporting that galvanized the #MeToo movement and set off a worldwide reckoning over sexual misconduct in the workplace.

The Times and The Washington Post took the award in the national reporting category for their coverage of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and contacts between President Donald Trump's campaign and Russian officials.

The Press Democrat of Santa Rosa, California, received the breaking news reporting award for coverage of the wildfires that swept through California wine country last fall, killing 44 people and destroying thousands of homes.

The Washington Post also won the investigative reporting prize for revealing decades-old allegations of sexual misconduct against Senate candidate Roy Moore of Alabama. The Republican former judge denied the accusations, but they figured heavily in Doug Jones' victory as the first Democrat elected to the Senate from the state in decades.

One of the biggest surprises of the day came in the non-journalism categories when rap star Kendrick Lamar was awarded the Pulitzer for music, becoming the first non-classical or non-jazz artist to win the prize.

The Pulitzers, American journalism's most prestigious awards, reflected a year of unrelenting news and unprecedented challenges for U.S. media, as Trump repeatedly branded reporting "fake news" and called journalists "the enemy of the people."

The New York Times won three Pulitzers and The Washington Post and Reuters received two apiece.

In announcing the journalism prizes, Pulitzer administrator Dana Canedy said the winners "uphold the highest purpose of a free and independent press, even in the most trying of times."

"Their work is real news of the highest order, executed nobly, as journalism was always intended, without fear or favor," she said.

A string of stories in The Times and The Washington Post shined a light on Russian interference in the presidential election and its possible connections to the Trump campaign and transition — ties now under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller. The president has called the investigation a "witch hunt."

The Pulitzer judges commended the two newspapers for "deeply sourced, relentlessly reported coverage in the public interest."

In stories that appeared within days of each other in October, The Times and The New Yorker reported that movie mogul Weinstein faced allegations of sexual harassment and assault from a multitude of women in Hollywood and had secretly paid settlements to keep the claims from becoming public.

The Pulitzer judges said The Times' reporters, led by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, and The New Yorker's Ronan Farrow produced "explosive, impactful journalism that exposed powerful and wealthy sexual predators" and forced the issue of sexual abuse into the open.

"By revealing secret settlements, persuading victims to speak and bringing powerful men to account, we spurred a worldwide reckoning about sexual abuse that only seems to be growing," New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet said in remarks to the newsroom.

"People have been saying for decades that this kind of behavior is endemic in society," New Yorker editor David Remnick said, adding that he hoped the stories would "help not only bring it to light but change the culture."

Weinstein was ousted from the studio he co-founded and now faces criminal investigations in New York and Los Angeles. He has apologized for "the way I've behaved with colleagues in the past" but denied any non-consensual sexual contact.

The stories' impact spread beyond Weinstein to allegations against other powerful men in entertainment, politics and other fields, toppling such figures as "Today" show host Matt Lauer, actor Kevin Spacey, newsman Charlie Rose and Sen. Al Franken. Men and women, famous or not, have spoken about their own experiences with sexual harassment and assault in what has become known as the #MeToo movement.

"This moment gets called a reckoning, but we just started telling the truth about old abuses of power," Farrow tweeted Monday.

Weinstein spokeswoman Holly Baird declined to comment on the Pulitzer except to suggest similar recognition should be given to Tarana Burke, an activist who founded the #MeToo movement on Twitter about a decade ago to raise awareness of sexual violence.

In other categories, the Arizona Republic and USA Today Network won the explanatory reporting prize for a multi-format look at the challenges and consequences of building the Mexican border wall that was a centerpiece of Trump's campaign. The project included footage from a helicopter flight along the entire 2,000-mile border.

The local reporting award went to The Cincinnati Enquirer for what the judges called "a riveting and insightful" narrative and video about the heroin epidemic in the area. More than four dozen reporters and photographers dove into the drug's toll over one week.

Clare Baldwin, Andrew R.C. Marshall and Manuel Mogato of Reuters won the international reporting award for their coverage of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte's deadly crackdown on drugs, and the news agency's photographers received the feature photography prize for their images of the plight of Rohingya refugees who have fled Myanmar.

The breaking news photography award went to Ryan Kelly of The Daily Progress of Charlottesville, Virginia, who captured the moment a car plowed into counter-protesters demonstrating against a white nationalist rally in the college town. The car killed counter-demonstrator Heather Heyer.

Kelly made the photo on his last day at the newspaper before moving on to a job at a brewery. In a text Monday, Kelly described the prize as an "incredible honor" but added: "Mostly I'm still heartbroken for Heather Heyer's family and everybody else who was affected by that tragic violence."

Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, a freelance writer for GQ magazine, took the feature writing award for a profile of Dylann Roof, the avowed white supremacist convicted of killing nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina.

The commentary award went to John Archibald of Alabama Media Group in Birmingham, Alabama, for pieces on politics, women's rights and other topics. Art critic Jerry Saltz of New York magazine won the criticism award .

Andie Dominick of The Des Moines Register received the editorial writing prize for pieces about the consequences of privatizing Iowa's administration of Medicaid.

Freelance writer Jake Halpern and freelance cartoonist Michael Sloan were awarded the editorial cartooning prize for a graphic narrative in The New York Times about a family of refugees fearing deportation.

The Pulitzers were announced at Columbia University, which administers the prizes. This is the 102nd year of the contest, established by newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer.

Winners of the public service award receive a gold medal; the other awards carry a prize of $15,000 each.

Associated Press writers Justin Lynch and Colleen Long in New York and Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia, contributed to this report. </s> Please enable Javascript to watch this video

WASHINGTON-- CNN and other news outlets were blocked on Friday from attending an off-camera White House press briefing that other reporters were hand-picked to attend, raising alarm among media organizations and First Amendment watchdogs.

The decision struck veteran White House journalists as unprecedented in the modern era, and escalated tensions in the already fraught relationship between the Trump administration and the press.

The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Politico, BuzzFeed, the BBC and the Guardian were also among those excluded from the meeting, which was held in White House press secretary Sean Spicer's office. The meeting, which is known as a gaggle, was held in lieu of the daily televised Q-and-A session in the White House briefing room.

When reporters from these news organizations tried to enter Spicer's office for the gaggle, they were told they could not attend because they were not on the list of attendees.

In a brief statement defending the move, administration spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the White House "had the pool there so everyone would be represented and get an update from us today."

The White House press pool usually includes representatives from one television outlet, one radio outlet and one print outlet, as well as reporters from a few wire services. In this case, four of the five major television networks -- NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox News -- were invited and attended the meeting, while only CNN was blocked.

And while The New York Times was kept out, conservative media organizations Breitbart News, The Washington Times and One America News Network were also allowed in.

"This is an unacceptable development by the Trump White House," CNN said in a statement. "Apparently this is how they retaliate when you report facts they don't like. We'll keep reporting regardless."

New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet wrote, "Nothing like this has ever happened at the White House in our long history of covering multiple administrations of different parties. We strongly protest the exclusion of The New York Times and the other news organizations. Free media access to a transparent government is obviously of crucial national interest."

The White House press office had informed reporters earlier that the traditional, on-camera press briefing would be replaced by a gaggle in Spicer's office, reporters in attendance said. Asked about the move by the White House Correspondents Association, the White House said it would take the press pool and invite others as well.

The WHCA protested that decision on the grounds that it would unfairly exclude certain news organizations, the reporters said. The White House did not budge, and when reporters arrived at Spicer's office, White House communications officials only allowed in reporters from specific media outlets.

CNN reporters attempted to access the gaggle when it began at about 1:45 p.m. ET. As they walked with a large group of fellow journalists from the White House briefing room toward Spicer's office, an administration official turned them around, informing them CNN wasn't on the list of attendees.

Reporters from The Associated Press, Time magazine and USA Today decided in the moment to boycott the briefing because of how it was handled.

Asked during the gaggle whether CNN and The New York Times were blocked because the administration was unhappy with their reporting, Spicer responded: "We had it as pool, and then we expanded it, and we added some folks to come cover it. It was my decision to expand the pool."

Several news outlets spoke out against the White House's decision.

"The Wall Street Journal strongly objects to the White House's decision to bar certain media outlets from today's gaggle," a Journal spokesman said. "Had we known at the time, we would not have participated and we will not participate in such closed briefings in the future."

The White House move was called "appalling" by Washington Post Executive Editor Marty Baron, who said the Trump administration is on "an undemocratic path."

Politico editor-in-chief John Harris said that "selectively excluding news organizations from White House briefings is misguided."

Said BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith: "While we strongly object to the White House's apparent attempt to punish news outlets whose coverage it does not like, we won't let these latest antics distract us from continuing to cover this administration fairly and aggressively."

The Associated Press said it "believes the public should have as much access to the president as possible."

The White House Correspondents Association also protested the move.

"The WHCA board is protesting strongly against how today's gaggle is being handled by the White House," it said in a statement. "We encourage the organizations that were allowed in to share the material with others in the press corps who were not. The board will be discussing this further with White House staff."

Hours earlier, at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington, President Trump mocked and disparaged the news media. He said that much of the press represents "the enemy of the people."

"They are the enemy of the people because they have no sources," Trump said. "They just make them up when there are none."

He also said reporters "shouldn't be allowed" to use unnamed sources. </s> WASHINGTON — CNN and other news outlets were blocked on Friday from attending an off-camera White House press briefing that other reporters were hand-picked to attend, raising alarm among media organizations and First Amendment watchdogs.

The decision struck veteran White House journalists as unprecedented in the modern era, and escalated tensions in the already fraught relationship between the Trump administration and the press.

The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Politico and BuzzFeed were also among those excluded from the meeting, which was held in White House press secretary Sean Spicer’s office. The meeting, which is known as a gaggle, was held in lieu of the daily televised Q-and-A session in the White House briefing room.

When reporters from these news organizations tried to enter Spicer’s office for the gaggle, they were told they could not attend because they were not on the list of attendees.

In a brief statement defending the move, administration spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the White House “had the pool there so everyone would be represented and get an update from us today.”

The White House press pool usually includes representatives from one television outlet, one radio outlet and one print outlet, as well as reporters from a few wire services. In this case, four of the five major television networks — NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox News — were invited and attended the meeting, while only CNN was blocked.

And while The New York Times was kept out, conservative media organizations Breitbart News, The Washington Times and One America News Network were also allowed in.

“This is an unacceptable development by the Trump White House,” CNN said in a statement. Apparently this is how they retaliate when you report facts they don’t like. We’ll keep reporting regardless.”

New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet wrote, “Nothing like this has ever happened at the White House in our long history of covering multiple administrations of different parties. We strongly protest the exclusion of The New York Times and the other news organizations. Free media access to a transparent government is obviously of crucial national interest.”

The White House press office had informed reporters earlier that the traditional, on-camera press briefing would be replaced by a gaggle in Spicer’s office, reporters in attendance said. Asked about the move by the White House Correspondents Association, the White House said it would take the press pool and invite others as well.

The WHCA protested that decision on the grounds that it would unfairly exclude certain news organizations, the reporters said. The White House did not budge, and when reporters arrived at Spicer’s office, White House communications officials only allowed in reporters from specific media outlets.

CNN reporters attempted to access the gaggle when it began at about 1:45 p.m. ET. As they walked with a large group of fellow journalists from the White House briefing room toward Spicer’s office, an administration official turned them around, informing them CNN wasn’t on the list of attendees.

Reporters from The Associated Press, Time magazine and USA Today decided in the moment to boycott the briefing because of how it was handled.

Asked during the gaggle whether CNN and The New York Times were blocked because the administration was unhappy with their reporting, Spicer responded: “We had it as pool, and then we expanded it, and we added some folks to come cover it. It was my decision to expand the pool.”

Several news outlets spoke out against the White House’s decision.

“The Wall Street Journal strongly objects to the White House’s decision to bar certain media outlets from today’s gaggle,” a Journal spokesman said. “Had we known at the time, we would not have participated and we will not participate in such closed briefings in the future.”

“Selectively excluding news organizations from White House briefings is misguided and our expectation is that this action will not be repeated,” said Politico editor-in-chief John Harris.

“While we strongly object to the White House’s apparent attempt to punish news outlets whose coverage it does not like, we won’t let these latest antics distract us from continuing to cover this administration fairly and aggressively,” said BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith.

The Associated Press said it “believes the public should have as much access to the president as possible.”

The White House Correspondents Association also protested the move.

“The WHCA board is protesting strongly against how today’s gaggle is being handled by the White House,” it said in a statement. “We encourage the organizations that were allowed in to share the material with others in the press corps who were not. The board will be discussing this further with White House staff.”

Hours earlier, at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington, President Trump mocked and disparaged the news media. He said that much of the press represents “the enemy of the people.”

“They are the enemy of the people because they have no sources,” Trump said. “They just make them up when there are none.”

He also said reporters “shouldn’t be allowed” to use unnamed sources.
(AP via The Washington Post) (NBC News) (BBC) (CNN) (The New York Times) (Reuters)