if i have a morning without a ruth marcus column, i'm thinking, what's wrong? we have sitting next to me jen psaki, the white house communications director who has been both a participant and an observer of the role of media in campaigns, in politics and in our political system. i want to thank you both for being here. and i would like to start with the question, in terms of the role of media, how is this election different from previous elections? and there's a little allusion there, but you don't have to catch that. >> but i did. >> and what lessons can we learn from this election for the future? kind of wide open, then we'll hone in. jen, do you want to start on this? >> oh, okay. thank you. all right. well, i think there's a lot of ways to go with that question that you alluded to with a bit of a wink. i will start with the media-specific area. i think that is one of the areas i think, is that people consumed information through social media and news through social media at a much greater percentage than any past election. i think that's something that peop

the breaking story and the trump transition, erin political common at a or the and amy home and ruth marcustor at the washington post. now, the story was leak into the washington post and some had it and if this is so important, why not go public rather than using the sources? >> well, obviously it was leaked because the administration officials did not want to be big targets and the kind of criticism that james did in october when he resurfaced the investigation. >> so they were hiding behind the protect themselves from criticism? >> absolutely. >> i'm shocked about that. >> let's play the interview with donald trump that aired this morning. >> so why would the cia put out a story that the russian wanted you to -- >> i'm not sure that they put it out. i think the democrats are putting it out and that's the greatest defeats if the history of politics in the country. >> so it's a part sons. >> was it the cia or disgruntle people that did not like the election. they have to investigate what happened here and that's the national security and has to do of course with the electoral process and b

. >> the conference, white askew medications director jen psaki and columnist ruth marcus talk aboutthe political news media, social media and fake news. >> so our next panel is changing role of the news and social media. we have two remarkable panelists. on my far left is ruth marcus, the deputy editor for the editorial page editor for the "washington post." she's been writing columns for the post -- [inaudible] for a number of years. [inaudible] we had sitting next to me jen psaki who is the white house communications director who has been mostly participant and an observer of the role of media in campaigns, in politics and in our political system. i want to thank you both for being here. i'd like to start with the question, in terms of the role of media, how is of this election different from previous elections? there is a little -- you don't have to catch that. what lessons can we learn from this election for the future? kind of wide open and then will hone in. do you want to start? >> sure. thank you. well, i think a lot of ways to go with that question that you alluded to with

dan balls and ruth marcus and michael steele. he is a former rnc chairman and subscriber of "the washington post." >> ha ha. >> appreciate it. i still get the ink on my fingers. >> good. this even goes to there is a comedian, a muslim comedian who just wrote up something for buzzfeed and sitting next to eric trump and asked him about the muslim ban and he is quoting him, he's a comedian, don't take all of that literally. dan balls, this is a challenge for all of us at this table. >> of course, it is. i mean, we are in a business in which we seek the truth and we try to hold people accountable for things they say they will do or don't do. i don't know how we begin to judge. i mean, i think that all we can do is continue to go with the standards that we have applied for many, many years, which is if somebody says something, particularly the president of the united states, we assume he or she means it. >> by the way, we didn't always take him literally when ed things. when he called obama the founder of isis, plenty of people, inclu