Brian Stelter

On March 17, President Donald Trump defended two of Fox's right-wing opinion shows and criticized three of the network's news anchors. Most notably of all, he used Twitter to send a long message to Fox executives, urging them to "stay true to the people that got you there."  "Bring back @JudgeJeanine Pirro. The Radical Left Democrats, working closely with their beloved partner, the Fake News Media, is using every trick in the book to SILENCE a majority of our Country. They have all out campaigns against @FoxNews hosts who are doing too well.

Americans living in "news deserts" with few or no local news outlets may be in a bind now that it's time to vote in the midterm elections. Fewer and fewer reporters are employed by the papers that typically cover community and state-level races. More and more of the papers are going out of business altogether. As a result there is less vetting of candidates and more confusion about what's even on the ballot. Americans have new tools in their hands -- cell phones with access to Facebook and other websites -- but social networks don't fill the void left by local reporters.

Critics are calling Sinclair's promos pro-President Donald Trump propaganda.

"This is so manipulative." That's an anchor at a local TV station owned by Sinclair, describing the company's latest mandate, a promotional campaign that sounds like pro-Trump propaganda.

As a native New Yorker, Donald Trump has been reading the New York Times for decades. When I worked at the Times in the late 2000s, Trump sometimes sent me and my colleagues copies of our stories from the print edition with a compliment or a complaint scrawled in black sharpie pen. During his presidential campaign, Trump routinely called the Times "failing," often seemingly in response to stories he did not like. His campaign even threatened to sue The Times, but did not follow through.

What's President Trump hearing when he watches Fox News? He's hearing that special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation is "illegitimate and corrupt." That it's led by a "band of merry Trump-haters" who are trying to reverse the results of the election. And that it must be stopped. He's also hearing that the FBI is becoming "America's secret police," akin to the KGB in Russia, full of "sickness" and "corruption." These are all actual quotes from some of the president's favorite pro-Trump talk shows. The overarching message from "Fox & Friends" and "Hannity" is unmistakable: Mr.

Seeking to speed up government rule-making about the use of drones in newsgathering, CNN and the Georgia Institute of Technology said that they would jointly study how to operate unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) safely and effectively.

The partners called it a "research initiative" and said they will share data with the Federal Aviation Authority "as it considers regulations that will allow for the safe and effective operation of UAVs by media outlets."

The announcement comes amid widespread interest in newsrooms across the country in what's been dubbed "drone journalism," and equally widespread uncertainty about the legality of it. The FAA has severely limited the use of drones for commercial purposes, including newsgathering. It is due to develop new drone rules by September 2015.

In the short term, AT&T’s acquisition of DirecTV is unlikely to affect either company's customers. But the long term is another story.

AT&T -- like its rivals Verizon and Comcast clearly wants to sell bundles of broadband and television that deliver on the promise of anything/anytime/anywhere programming.

Wall Street analysts pointed to a number of other motivations for the deal.

"While this transaction has some strategic merits, it appears more to be structured to enhance AT&T's financial position," Vijay Jayant of ISI Group said. Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson agreed -- he commented that AT&T is "in dire need of a cash producer to sustain their dividend."

Moffett said he was struggling to find "greater meaning" in the deal. "It's a huge transaction, but I think it's very unlikely to change the landscape of pay TV very much," he said. Whether people want to sit back and watch live TV on a big screen, Netflix-style on a smart phone, or some other way that's still being dreamed up, AT&T wants to have a stake in it.

[Commentary] The future looks like a mash-up of these two modes of viewing -- a bundle of channels that are streamed via the Internet to any and every screen.

Lowell McAdam, Verizon's chief executive and others call the concept "over the top," and the idea came closer to fruition when The Walt Disney Company -- the owner of ESPN and ABC -- and Dish Network joined forces. If lots of people dropped the TV subscription, Time Warner Cable (which is trying to merge with Comcast) could respond in a few ways. It might raise prices on broadband to compensate. It could promote new discounts to keep me paying for both broadband and TV. Maybe it would sell its own "over the top" service, or try to distinguish itself with exclusive content.

[March 7]