By Steve Rhodes
“Senior White House officials are in a state of shock, and facing huge questions about their handling of the crisis, over the resignation of Staff Secretary Rob Porter after his two former wives went on the record to allege physical abuse,” Mike Allen writes in his (influential, sigh) Axios newsletter this morning.
Why he matters: Porter, 40 – a clean-cut Harvard and Oxford standout who was chief of staff to Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) – managed (and partly controlled) the information flow to President Trump, including clippings and briefings.
Colleagues tell Axios’ Jonathan Swan they can’t reconcile the Rob Porter they know (consummate gentleman) with the Rob Porter they’re reading about, with a police report and photos of a black eye by a former wife.
Because a clean-cut (white) “Harvard and Oxford standout” isn’t the type of person who commits domestic violence?
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The next item from Allen, by the way: “Two possible solutions as trust in media tanks.”
1. “An emphasis on reviving local news outlets, which help us break out of our national filter bubbles.”
Sounds great! Maybe Axios should start by making some major local investments.
2. “More content from businesses and employers, which have a higher level of trust than the media.”
Yes, that’s what we need: more content marketing! Like the native advertising in Allen’s newsletter that doesn’t affect the editorial coverage at all!
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Allen’s brand of journalism doesn’t exactly inspire trust, either.
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How An Alt-Right Leader Lied To Climb The Ranks
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On This Day In . . .
2017: Chicago’s minimized minimum wage. Plus: Serial liars, journalism and the Muslim Ban hearing.
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ChicagoGram
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ChicagoTube
Chicago Ice Racing.
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BeachBook
The Expanding Secrecy Of The Afghanistan War.
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TweetWood
A sampling.
Three north side aldermen, @AldermanSmith43 , @ward32chicago , Ald Brian Hopkins acknowledge the $2 billion incentive package for Amazon won’t be the final tally… more city subsidies will have to be on the table to lure the online giant pic.twitter.com/l8WGX8Yxnc
— Paris Schutz (@paschutz) February 7, 2018
When, if ever, is the public let in on the deal?
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Weinstein-BlackCube surveillance claim exposes aggressive tactics to kill a story https://t.co/Po1tS69Icy via @pressfreedom
— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) February 8, 2018
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So tired of news articles consisting almost wholly – and sometimes wholly – of competing statements and e-mails. I’d rather read that subjects refused to answer questions than read unvetted, self-interested, unquestioned claims. Moratorium, please? #journalism
— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) February 8, 2018
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This went about as well as you would expect. https://t.co/rG2Pxl5UUa via @reddit
— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) February 8, 2018
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The Beachwood Tronc Line: Interactive.
Posted on February 8, 2018