NEW YORK (AP) – Reports about Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ two meetings with Russia’s U.S. ambassador became a textbook illustration of the vastly different shapes a story takes in today’s media world.
The story moved with lightning speed Thursday across the media ecosphere, from the Washington Post’s initial revelation the night before, to hours of political combat, finally to Sessions’ announcement – broadcast live Thursday afternoon on broadcast and cable news networks – that he would remove himself from any investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 election.
“This is really going to take the temperature down on Capitol Hill,” MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt said following Sessions’ news conference.
Perhaps. The story about Sessions’ meetings with the Russian ambassador, with the backdrop of still unanswered questions about Russian ties to Trump, had enough mystery to make it politically malleable: why did they take place and what was said? Some Democrats called for Sessions’ resignation, while many Trump supporters saw nothing wrong.
Less than 24 hours after the Post story broke, the chyron on CNN’s screen read “Sessions Under Siege.” He was in a “firestorm.” Meanwhile, the Breitbart News web site had another take: “Fake news: Media, Democrats distort remarks to target Jeff Session.”