THE DAILY NEWSLETTER - WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 2022

Media Winners & Losers

MEDIA WINNER:
Clarissa Ward, Trey Yingst

It was a moment where journalistic rivalries were rendered totally inconsequential, and correspondents for competing networks came together in a staggering show of unity.

According to the Wall Street Journal, CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward and Fox News foreign correspondent Trey Yingst worked together out of a Kyiv hotel suite — which was serving as a makeshift CNN newsroom — in the wake of an attack which killed Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and local Ukrainian producer Oleksandra “Sasha” Kuvshynova, and also wounded Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall.

The Journal reports that Ward and Yingst were calling morgues, hospitals, and Ukrainian military officials in an effort to locate Zakrzewski and Kuvshynova, helping to relay information about their last known whereabouts. Eventually, Fox News’s security team got a tip that Zakrzewski and Kuvshynova's remains had been identified.

Ward and Yingst have earned their reputations as experienced journalists reporting from a wide variety of war zones over the years. We've named them both our Media Winners of the Day on an individual basis multiple times before, and they've continued that stellar track record from the front lines in Ukraine.

This cross-network cooperation, obviously, goes far beyond just doing a good job as reporters, and we'd be remiss if we didn't tip our hat in respect.

MEDIA LOSER:
Stephen Colbert

Late Show host Stephen Colbert mocked Fox News reporter Peter Doocy for asking President Joe Biden a “ridiculous question” at a recent press conference -- and then followed that up with a truly ridiculous suggestion. 

“Yesterday, President Biden held a press conference, and he was asked a ridiculous question by a ridiculous man: Fox News reporter and that one kid in high school who wears a suit to gym class, Peter Doocy,” Colbert said on Tuesday night.

In the clip from the press conference, Doocy asked Biden to clarify his previous remarks that a chemical weapon attack would "trigger a significant response," and Biden refused to answer, telling Doocy, “Why would I tell you? You gotta be silly.”

Colbert then brought up Will Smith's infamous slapping of Chris Rock at the Oscars Sunday night, joking that while he had previously said that slapping is "never ever the answer," he was willing to make a "one-time exemption" for Biden, encouraging him to slap Doocy. 

Doocy's question was an entirely normal and appropriate query for a reporter to ask the president about a very serious topic. Biden might not have wanted to answer it, but it's far from the pushiest question Doocy has lobbed at the White House, and certainly did not rise to the level of deserving a slap.

Colbert's former colleague Jon Stewart used to try to duck criticism by saying he was just a comedy show. That's no excuse for this sort of nonsense, attacking a reporter just doing his job. 

The A-Block

'Beautiful and Profound'

Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer honored photographer Pierre Zakrzewski on-air Wednesday after traveling to Dublin to attend his funeral the day before. Zakrzewski was killed in mid-March when the vehicle he was traveling in with Fox correspondent Benjamin Hall, who suffered serious injuries, was struck by incoming fire in Ukraine.

Oleksandra “Sasha” Kuvshynova, a Ukrainian journalist working for Fox News, was also killed in the attack.

Hemmer described the service as "a beautiful ceremony...beautiful and profound" to his co-anchor Dana Perino, telling her how he had been thinking a lot about "how great that guy [Zakrzewski] is and I’ve known him for a long time."

It was a moving tribute to a long-time colleague.


🇺🇦 FOR LATEST UKRAINE COVERAGE CLICK HERE


In Other News...

Susan Collins Will Vote to Confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court

Morning Joe Rips Trump's Call for Russia to Release Dirt on Bidens: 'Taking the Side of Vladimir Putin!'

Dan Abrams Mocks CNN's 'Obsession' With Sean Penn: Why Do They Keep 'Having Him On?'

‘Copping Out’: Fox News Criticizes White House For ‘Refusing’ to Condemn Will Smith Slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars

LUCIANO: Jon Stewart Interviewed a Complete Lunatic and Agreed with Her


Ratings... The Five Draws Biggest Audience in Cable News For Coverage of The Slap

Must See Clip

“Why? Why! You can’t do this on a podcast!”

Paul Rudd brought his favorite gag to Conan O’Brien’s podcast, and the host somehow fell for it … again.

To recap the long-running prank, Rudd joined O’Brien on Late Night in 2004, ahead of Friends‘ series finale, and said he had brought in a clip from the episode.

The footage ended up being a video from the 1988 film Mac and Me, which is about an extraterrestrial that gets stranded on Earth and forms a friendship with a boy in a wheelchair named Eric.

You gotta love it.

Links We Like

Cancel Only the Cancelers
- Dan McLaughlin, National Review
Apologist Press Is ‘Raving’ Mad For Biden — But Americans Say Otherwise
- Michael Goodwin, New York Post
ESPN Honors 75th Anniversary of Jackie Robinson Breaking the Color Barrier
- Stephanie Holland, The Root
4,000 letters and four hours of sleep: Ukrainian leader wages digital war
- Cat Zakrzewski, Washington Post
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