 Ralph Peters |
Former Fox News military analyst Ralph Peters ripped several of the network’s on-air personalities for “assaulting our constitutional order and the rule of law” and consequently doing “a great grave disservice to our country."
Speaking to CNN's Anderson Cooper, the retired lieutenant colonel said special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian interference should continue, and that president Trump is running scared as regards his relationship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Peters' view of the Mueller probe contrasts with Fox’s most prominent host, Sean Hannity.
When Cooper asked Peters if Fox hosts actually believe what they are saying on air, Peters said, “I suspect Sean Hannity really believes it.”
He added, “The others are smarter.”
Hannity’s rhetoric is growing more extreme. He told viewers that witnesses in the Mueller probe should respond to demands that they turn over phones and all encrypted apps, along with the messages and emails within them by deleting all their emails, acid-washing the hard drives on the phones and then bashing them with a hammer “to little itsy bitsy pieces."
While Peters has become a stern critic of Fox and Trump, he was as strong a detractor of president Obama.
His labeling of Obama as “a total pussy” with respect to his dealing with Putin led to his being briefly suspended by Fox in 2015.
Peters resigned from Fox in March.
In an email sent to his Fox colleagues at that point, he wrote: “Fox has degenerated from providing a legitimate and much-needed outlet for conservative voices to a mere propaganda machine for a destructive and ethically ruinous administration.”
Underscore Media, a new creator-led media venture dedicated to New York sports, is built around three established New York sports personalities, Sal Licata, Jimmy Traina, and John Jastremski.
McClatchy, which owns 29 daily papers across 14 states (including The Miami Herald, Sacramento Bee and Kansas City Star), launches a wave of layoffs that extends to at least 13 of those papers... The Toledo Blade, which was founded in 1835, is set to shut down on Dec. 31, unless owner Block Communications manages to find a buyer for it... A bill awaiting approval by California governor Gavin Newsom would give local newsrooms a boost. 
Fox News Media issued a pretty sparse release to announce the departure of one of its stars. “Effective today, Maria Bartiromo is no longer with FOX News Media,” it reads.
Brunswick Group partner John Simons has joined CNN as senior director of business & media. He held top jobs at Time and the Wall Street Journal.
WNET, the nation’s largest public media company, names Edward O’Keefe its next president and CEO, effective September 21. O’Keefe succeeds Neal Shapiro, who becomes president emeritus and will retire at the end of the year... The Stealth Bot Prohibition Act, which would empower news publishers and other content providers to defend themselves by mandating transparency for all bots crawling their sites, in introduced in the House by Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL) and Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC)... Google gets socked by European Union regulators with a $1 billion fine for using the platform’s dominance as a search engine to illegally undercut competition.
