By Sara Fischer, CNN
We've got a packed show this week on Reliable Sources with guest host Frank Sesno, Director of The George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs. As a former CNN Washington bureau chief, Sesno will bring a unique perspective to this week’s media headlines.
We’ll kick off the show with CNN's Senior International Correspondent Arwa Damon, who will provide an update on the crisis in Syria, reporting live from Beirut. Conversation about the conflict will then continue with Tara Sonenshine, former Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs and Shibley Telhami, Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland, College Park.
CNN’s own digital political reporter, Peter Hamby, released a case study describing Twitter’s impact on the coverage of the 2012 presidential campaign. Hamby will speak with us live to discuss his research and experience and will be joined on a panel by Christina Bellantoni, politics editor for The PBS NewsHour and former senior Romney campaign advisor and CNN political commentator Kevin Madden
Then, we’ll sit down with former executive editor of The Washington Post, Len Downie, to get his take on Jeffrey Bezos’ purchase of Washington Post, a new study with the Committee to Protect Journalists on leaks from the Obama administration and stories this week about Edward Snowden
Finally, we’ll hear from POLITICO’s Susan Glasser about the impact and survival of long-form journalism.
Tune in Sunday morning at 11am ET.
By Elizabeth Cherneff, CNN
We've got a busy show planned for Sunday with this week’s Reliable Sources guest host Patrick Gavin of Politico. We’ll explore the state of conservative talk radio and discuss how HBO’s ‘The Newsroom’ depicts journalists and life in the newsroom, but until then, here are some other stories that caught our eye this week:
‘Why Democrats are laughing at the Republican digital strategy—and why they shouldn't be’
2016 may seem far away, but Washington insiders are already planning for the next election cycle. Following the RNC’s extensive review of the party’s 2012 election strategies, some Republicans are looking to maximize their web presence ahead of the next election. The National Journal this week highlights Phil Musser and partner Alex Skatell’s newest online venture, Media Group of America LLC, which claims its combination of digital consulting and web tools will help GOP candidates maximize their digital footprint in the next election cycle. When asked why he developed the site, Musser said, "You could pull together the top Republican talent and squeeze them into a conference room. As the Republican Party was psychoanalyzing itself to death, we put our heads down and built the tools to solve the problem."
‘The Hill reacts to the Hill’s 50 most beautiful people list’
This week, ‘The Hill’ released its annual ’50 most beautiful people’ list, featuring members of Congress, journalists and other faces around Washington. In typical fashion, Buzzfeed published their own gallery featuring several humorous (and anonymous) responses from Capitol Hill staffers on this year’s chosen names. This year marks the list’s tenth anniversary.
‘Chicago Tribune Kitten Test: Newspaper's Website Briefly Taken Over By Adorable Pet’
An interesting item appeared on the Chicago Tribune’s website briefly on Tuesday morning. Viewers visiting the site found a photo of a kitten, alongside a test block of sample text in the top left-hand section of the page. While the post only stayed online for approx. 15 minutes, it was quickly noticed and picked-up by readers and bloggers alike. In response to several posts about the glitch, Tribune editor Scott Kleinberg wrote, “Even dog lovers weren't upset. We do apologize and we’re working to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
'New site will tell you how many ladies got on the NYT homepage today'
On the heels of a study published in Poynter finding a notable gender gap among front page New York Times bylines, one creative developer came up with a potential solution. Website developer Andrew Briggs has designed 'WhoWritesFor,' a site that 'scrapes the NYT's online front page every 5 minutes.' Using a combination of algorithms to sort bylines by gender, Briggs' site updates in real time with updated counts of the gender breakdown of writers on the front page of the paper.
What stories are you reading this week? Sound off in the comments below and be sure to tune in to 'Reliable Sources' Sunday at 11a EDT.
Steve Roberts, Jane Hall, Terence Smith & Howard Kurtz discuss media coverage of this week's historic Supreme Court same-sex marriage rulings.
Bill Press, Tim Carney and Howard Kurtz on the GOP ‘autopsy’ report and whether the media was right all along on the Republican Party’s inability to reach out to minorities during the 2012 campaign.