Today is Donald Trump’s 100th day in office. That leaves 1,362 days to go.

Which prompts the question: What will the press in this country look like on Jan. 20, 2029, when Trump’s second term comes to an end?

As we’ve seen, the first 100 days have been a nonstop assault on the press, not only in words, but in action.

He and the administration have kicked the always-neutral Associated Press out of the press pool. Trump is suing CBS. He had already sued ABC. He is trying to end Voice of America. He is threatening the funding of NPR and PBS. He constantly attacks the media — including MSNBC, CNN, The New York Times, the major networks and even, on occasion, Fox News. His press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, consistently demeans the media during her White House briefings.

Again, this is just 100 days into his second presidency.

And yet, for as much as Trump seemingly despises the press, he also can’t quit them.

Tonight, ABC News will air an interview that Trump did with Terry Moran. He did a big interview with The Atlantic (more on that in a minute). Trump is expected to call into a NewsNation town hall event moderated by Chris Cuomo on Wednesday — an event that also is to include former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly and ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. And CNN’s Brian Stelter points out that there are rumors Trump might do a sit-down for NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Stelter added, “I can’t help but notice the White House’s emphasis on institutional media outlets.”

When it comes to the media for Trump, it’s a case of he can’t live with them and he can’t live without them. You can’t help but wonder if his sudden desire to be more accommodating to the media is due in large part to dreadful approval ratings, some of them among the lowest in seven decades for a president after 100 days.

At a time when Trump should still be in the honeymoon phase of his presidency, when his popularity after winning the electoral college vote should be among the highest of his presidency, Trump’s numbers are cratering.

A CNN national poll has Trump’s approval rating at 41%. A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll has it at 39%. A New York Times/Siena poll has it at 42%.

MSNBC’s Steve Benen writes, “Making matters worse for Trump, there’s no reason to believe a comeback is imminent. The data suggests much of the public has not yet felt the direct impact of the White House’s tariffs, for example. And once the consequences of the administration’s trade policies start affecting Americans’ lives and wallets, it’s easy to imagine Trump’s floor sinking further.”

Of course, Trump’s strategy has been to go after the messenger — that is, criticizing the pollsters and questioning their results. But it also might be doing what he likes most: talking. In lieu of rallies, he is now going to the press, thus agreeing to be interviewed by ABC, The Atlantic and maybe even “Meet the Press,” aside from his frequent appearances on Fox News and other conservative outlets.

About The Atlantic story …

Trump sat down with The Atlantic for this story that was published Monday: “‘I Run the Country and the World.’ Donald Trump believes he’s invincible. But the cracks are beginning to show.” It was written by Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer, two reporters who joined The Atlantic from The Washington Post.

That Trump even agreed to be interviewed by The Atlantic was a tad surprising. He almost didn’t.

First off, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was recently included on the text chain sent by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about American plans to strike Houthi targets in Yemen. That resulted in Goldberg being verbally assaulted publicly by Hegseth and many in the Trump universe.

Last month, Trump went off on The Atlantic, Parker and Scherer in a Truth Social rant when they reached out about interviewing him. Trump called The Atlantic a “third-rate magazine,” saying they were losing money and doing terribly, and that they should cease publishing.

He said Parker was a “radical left lunatic” and was not capable of doing a fair interview with him. He absurdly wrote, “To this date, she doesn’t even know that I won the Presidency THREE times.”

He also went after Scherer, saying he has “never written a fair story about me, only negative, and virtually always LIES.”

Normally, journalists are trained to not make themselves a part of the story, but it was a good choice for Parker and Scherer to start their latest story talking about how their interview — actually, two interviews — with Trump came about. It was a fascinating look into how the president thinks.

Parker and Scherer both figured that after Trump’s Truth Social post, there was not going to be an interview. “But,” they wrote, “we’ve both covered Trump long enough to know that his first word is rarely his final one. So at 10:45 on a Saturday morning in late March, we called him on his cellphone.”

Trump actually answered by saying, “Who’s calling?”

Parker and Scherer wrote, “Despite his attacks on us a few days earlier, the president, evidently feeling buoyed by a week of successes, was eager to talk about his accomplishments. As we spoke, the sounds of another conversation, perhaps from a television, hummed in the background.”

The two asked Trump questions. They wrote, “As ever, Trump was on the hunt for a deal. If he liked the story we wrote, he said, he might even speak with us again. ‘Tell the people at The Atlantic, if they’d write good stories and truthful stories, the magazine would be hot,’ he said.”

The story, buoyed by excellent reporting, then goes into great detail about Trump’s presidency. Just as the writers were about to write this extensive story, Parker and Scherer got a call saying to report to the Oval Office on April 24 for another interview, this time along with Goldberg. Trump said he was doing it out of “curiosity.”

Parker and Scherer wrote, “In private, Trump often plays against the bombastic persona he projects in larger settings — at rallies, on television, on social media. He was launching a charm offensive, directed mainly at Goldberg. There was none of the name-calling or hostility he regularly levels at our magazine.”

So there’s much more, so I encourage you to check out this insightful story. You can also check out the transcript of the April 24 interview at the White House, as well as this editor’s note from Goldberg: “Signalgate, Trump, and The Atlantic.”

Goldberg wrote in his note, “Covering Trump is a challenge for White House reporters. It is true that he never stops talking, and so he provides the press with limitless fodder. But it is also true that he tries to intimidate reporters — and, crucially, the people who own news organizations — in ways that are clearly dangerous to democracy. I reported on the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and though some stories displeased them and periodically made them angry, they responded with the self-restraint one traditionally associates with the presidency. Trump, by contrast, makes his feelings known in visceral and cutting ways, with the intent to humiliate and intimidate.”

However, Goldberg noted that this time was different, writing, “What I found in this particular meeting was a Trump who was low-key, attentive, and eager to convince us that he is good at his job and good for the country. It isn’t easy to escape the tractor beam of his charisma, but somehow we managed, and we asked him what needed to be asked.”

The other parties

While the White House Correspondents’ Association was holding a toned-down, more somber version of its annual dinner last Saturday, MAGA types were holding their own afterparties and gatherings in Washington, D.C.

Politico Playbook’s Adam Wren reported that very few Trump backers attended the WHCA dinner. Wren wrote, “At Butterworth’s, the Capitol Hill bistro and MAGA-set hotspot, owner Raheem Kassam of MAGA magazine The National Pulse and Steve Bannon’s ‘The War Room’ hosted a shadow event. Kari Lake and Secretary of State Marco Rubio posed for selfies as guests sipped cocktails dubbed the ‘FAKE NEWS FIZZ’ and ‘LEAKERS AND LIARS.’ They held cocktail napkins that read “NOT THE WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS’ ASSOCIATION.” The event was called ‘The Uninvited.’”

If they want to poke fun at the WHCA dinner, well, that’s OK, I guess. But this normalizing of words such as “fake news” and “leakers and liars” remains deeply troubling and should not be normalized.

The impact of the legendary Barbara Walters

Journalist Barbara Walters, shown here in 2008. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)

The latest installment of The Poynter 50 — a series reflecting on 50 moments and people that shaped journalism over the past half-century — is about one of the legendary figures in American journalism: Barbara Walters. My Poynter colleague, Amaris Castillo, has a terrific profile of the three main phases of Walters’ career: as co-anchor of ABC’s evening news with a frosty Harry Reasoner, her famous celebrity and political interviews, and being the driving force behind the creation of “The View.”

Any one of those things would make Walter memorable, but all three help make a career that is certainly one of the most influential over the past 50 years — or over any era. Walters died in 2022 at the age of 93.

I had a chance to talk to Castillo about her excellent piece.

Tom Jones: Hey, Amaris. This piece is packed with small but powerful details. Was there one particular detail you uncovered that made you say, “OK, now I really see her”?

Amaris Castillo: For me, it was learning about all that she endured in her anchor job at ABC alongside Harry Reasoner. Yes, she was earning a historic salary for a news anchor, but that time was very difficult for her. Barbara Walters wrote that she’d walk into the studio, day after day, and be met with silence. The crew, cameramen and stagehands had worked with Harry Reasoner for years, and Walters said if Reasoner didn’t approve of her, neither would they. Of that time, she wrote: “More and more, I felt as if I were drowning with no life preserver in sight.”

But she learned to navigate that by making bets on the New York Yankees with Harry or with members of the crew. She even cracked jokes at her own expense. We all navigate challenges at work differently, but Barbara Walters figured out early how to play the game to ensure she would stay in that anchor seat until another opportunity came to her.

It was all bittersweet to research and read about, but I also marveled at how she managed to do it.

Jones: What do you think Barbara Walters’ legacy says about journalism today, especially for women entering the field?

Castillo: She endured sexism, nastiness and her own internal insecurities to become Barbara Walters. Many women, particularly news anchors, are benefiting from the battles she fought decades ago — and hopefully shattering their own glass ceilings in their workplace.

Jones: If you had more space (or a second piece), what’s one part of her story you would have loved to explore more deeply?

Castillo: I would have loved to explore more of her personal life. She had a sister named Jackie who had a developmental disability and later died in 1985 of ovarian cancer. Barbara loved Jackie dearly, but there were times when she said she hated her sister. Barbara said she didn’t have birthday parties because Jackie didn’t, and rarely had friends over their house because they didn’t know what to make of her sister. Barbara Walters was a go-getter and very ambitious in life, and she admitted in her memoir that much of this need to prove herself and to achieve could be traced to her feelings about Jackie.

Simply put, I also would have loved to dive into her life outside of journalism. Though, as I learned, much of Barbara Walters’ life (as is clear in this Poynter 50 profile) revolved around work.

My thanks to Amaris, now onto the rest of the newsletter …

More fears of Trump crackdowns

My colleague, Angela Fu, has a new story out: “The Trump administration’s crackdowns on the press and universities fuel fear among international student journalists .”

Fu writes, “As President Donald Trump’s administration cracks down on both the press and higher education, some universities and campus papers are working to make international students more cognizant of the rights they have and the risks they face in pursuing journalism.”

Fu adds that “concern has skyrocketed in recent months due to his administration’s detainment of noncitizens who have expressed support for Palestine, including a Tufts University graduate student who co-authored an op-ed on the topic for her campus paper. The volatile political climate has led some campus papers to review their anonymity and takedown policies while journalism professors field questions from worried students.”

Check out Fu’s story for more of the details.

Seriously?

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has said quite a few ridiculous and simply untrue things during her press conferences, but Monday’s comments about, of all things, the NFL Draft, are right up there with the biggest whoppers. Then again, maybe she was just clowning around. Either way, let’s look at the tape, as they say.

First off, as if there aren’t enough topics to ask of the administration, Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked Leavitt if Trump believes he deserves to take credit for University of Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders being selected in the draft.

In case you haven’t been following, Sanders is the son of Colorado coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders. Shedeur was projected by most to be a first-round pick. But when Thursday’s round one of the NFL Draft came and went, Trump took to social media, writing, “What is wrong with NFL owners, are they STUPID? Deion Sanders was a great college football player, and was even greater in the NFL. He’s also a very good coach, streetwise and smart! Therefore, Shedeur, his quarterback son, has PHENOMENAL GENES, and is all set for Greatness. He should be ‘picked’ IMMEDIATELY by a team that wants to WIN. Good luck Shedeur, and say hello to your wonderful father!”

On Monday, when asked by Doocy about Sanders being drafted, Leavitt laughed and said, “All I will say is the president put out a statement and a few rounds later he was drafted. So, I think the facts speak for themselves now, Peter.”

Actually, here are the facts. After Trump’s post, Sanders went all day through Friday’s second and third rounds without being drafted, then all through Saturday’s fourth round without being picked, and then into Saturday’s fifth round before the Cleveland Browns took him with the 144th overall pick.

So, technically, Leavitt is right when she says that Sanders was taken “a few rounds later,” but in football speak, a “few rounds” is forever.

Big announcement

Winners of the 2025 Poynter Prizes will be announced today at 1 p.m. Eastern. The prizes honor the best in U.S. journalism from 2024, with categories for excellent writing, local accountability reporting, community-minded public service, justice reporting, editorial and column writing, innovation, diversity leadership, and First Amendment work.

Winners will be announced on Poynter’s social channels, LinkedIn, Bluesky and Threads, and then followed by the complete list posted on our website, poynter.org.

Media tidbits

• Mediaite’s Ahmad Austin Jr. with “‘New Media’ Reporter Straight Up Asks Karoline Leavitt to Tell Her What to Cover: ‘What Direction Do You Advise Me to Go In?’”
• The Verge’s Emma Roth with “An AI-generated radio host in Australia went unnoticed for months.”
• The New York Times’ Jessica Testa with “Spotify Has Paid More Than $100 Million to Podcasters to Take On Competitors.”
• Semafor’s Ben Smith with “The group chats that changed America.”
• Speaking of Ben Smith, New York Magazine’s Charlotte Klein talks to Semafor co-founders Ben Smith and Justin Smith (no relation) about their now three-year-old project: “What Is Semafor? The Smiths’ newsletter-and-events business is both a modern media mash-up and a throwback to a pre-Trump era.”
• The Washington Post’s Karen Tumulty with “Streaming services should step up to make C-SPAN great again.”
• Sewell Chan, who was abruptly dismissed as executive editor of the Columbia Journalism Review earlier this month, reportedly because of staff complaints over how he worked with them, has been named senior fellow for the USC Annenberg Center for Communication Leadership & Policy. He will focus on press freedom in the U.S. and abroad. The Wrap’s Josh Dickey broke the news and has more.

Hot type

• Catching up on this from Sunday. “CBS News Sunday Morning” and correspondent Lee Cowan with “F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ at 100.”

More resources for journalists

• Gain the tools to identify and approach vulnerable sources. Register for our webinar.
• Update your immigration policy expertise with Poynter’s Beat Academy. Enroll now.
• Craft your reporting into a captivating book. Apply by May 7.
• Revolutionize your investigative toolkit with Poynter’s Will Work For Impact. Enroll by May 8.

Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.

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