| | | | | Exec summary: This edition has everything from James Clapper to Emilia Clarke, Comcast to Netflix, "Roseanne" to "13 Reasons Why," HBO to Univision, Breitbart to Facebook, Stephen Colbert to Sarah Silverman... | | President Trump is "amping up what for, all intents and purposes, is a deception campaign," Anderson Cooper said on Wednesday's "AC360." He said Trump is "branding a confidential FBI source" as "a deep state spy, directed at the campaign."
Per the AP, this was intentional on Trump's part: "Trump told one ally this week that he wanted 'to brand' the informant a 'spy,' believing the more nefarious term would resonate more in the media and with the public."
>> Carl Bernstein's view: "We're seeing an attempt by the president to bury the investigation and bury the investigators." He said "the lies from President Trump are unlike anything we have ever seen from a modern president of the United States. And it goes on day after day..."
>> Don Lemon continued with that theme on "CNN Tonight." He said "our country is in the middle of an extreme crisis..." The president "is lying to us, over and over and over again..." Here's the video of his monologue... | | There's a "tell" in many of Trump's comments about this controversy. Usually it's the word "if." Or "maybe." Or "possibly." Or "or!" The caveats give him some wiggle room while he's promoting a full-fledged conspiracy theory.
On Wednesday he tweeted that this "could be one of the biggest political scandals in history!" Notice the word "could?" He's hedging, but readers and viewers are left with the impression that he wants -- that there's some sort of sinister plot against him.
So journalists are having to work very carefully to fact-check the claims. Some outlets are rising to the challenge better than others. Here's my column about this... | | -- GQ's Jay Willis looks at how "conservative media transformed a small news item" into this national story...
-- The Daily Beast's Justin Miller argues that every time the Robert Mueller investigation "advances in the public eye, Trump counters with lies, exaggerations, or slander..."
-- CNN's Katelyn Polantz reports that Mueller's office is "hoping to deny an attempt by several media organizations, including CNN, to unseal documents in the Russia probe," by "arguing that the documents need to remain private because of the breadth of still-secret parts of the ongoing investigation..." | | James Clapper's book "Facts and Fears," released Tuesday, reached #1 on Amazon's constantly updated best sellers list on Wednesday.
Here's the thing: On Tuesday afternoon, it was hovering between #200 and #300. So I'm wondering if Clapper's book is the latest beneficiary of a Trump barb... Trump tweeted against Clapper on Wednesday morning (taking him WAY out of context), and Clapper responded later in the day in interviews, gaining more attention for the book... | | Trump on Thursday's "Fox & Friends" | | "Set your alarm," Sean Hannity told viewers Wednesday night. "You won't want to miss 'Fox & Friends.'"
Morning show co-host Brian Kilmeade taped a stand-up interview with Trump on Wednesday. It'll air Thursday A.M. You'll recall Trump called into "F&F" one month ago... Now he's back on... The show is one of his shelters from the storm... | | Fewer and shorter W.H. briefings | | It's not your imagination -- the W.H. press briefings are shrinking. Per CNN's Allie Malloy: "In the past 30 days there have been 10 on-camera press briefings... The average press briefing in the past 30 days was only 17.3 minutes long..."
>> Chris Cillizza's analysis: "It's not been a daily briefing for the past six weeks. It's been a twice-a-week briefing." He says the White House "is moving toward less interaction with the media, not more..." | | EPA blocks journos again: "They ain't doing the CNN stuff" | | Oliver Darcy emails: The EPA seems to enjoy being the subject of a negative news cycle. For the second consecutive day, the scandal-plagued agency earned negative headlines for blocking journalists from attending a national summit on water contaminants. "Oh, you're not allowed today," a uniformed security guard told a CNN reporter when the journalist presented his credentials. "They ain't doing the CNN stuff. What's this, the press?"
>> Politico editor Carrie Budoff Brown nailed it: She said her publication "would much rather be writing about the agency's efforts" at the summit to address chemicals in water "than about reporters being excluded" from covering it... | | Judge says Trump can't block users on Twitter | | Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute/friend of the newsletter, brought this case on behalf of several Twitter users that @realDonaldTrump had blocked. The judge ruled in their favor on Wednesday.
Jaffer said the ruling reflected "a careful application of core First Amendment principles to government censorship on a new communications platform. The President's practice of blocking critics on Twitter is pernicious and unconstitutional, and we hope this ruling will bring it to an end."
We'll see. The DOJ says "we respectfully disagree with the court's decision and are considering our next steps." Read Tom Kludt's full story here... | | -- The media angle to Wednesday's controversial ruling: "Now that the NFL has ruled that players can't kneel, the protests can no longer be used as an excuse for poor ratings," Ahiza Garcia writes... (CNNMoney)
-- "Six small papers joined up to cover the opioid crisis in Long Island." It's called the East End News Project... Check this out... (Poynter)
-- Have you read Mark Leibovich's latest piece yet? If not, what are you waiting for? "The Risky Business of Speaking for President Trump" (NYT Mag) | | Federal prosecutors are pursuing Weinstein | | Amid growing frustrations about local prosecutors not bringing charges against Harvey Weinstein, here come the feds:
On Wednesday the WSJ scooped that "federal prosecutors in Manhattan have launched a criminal probe into sex-abuse allegations" against Weinstein. The story said the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York is looking at whether Weinstein "lured or induced any women to travel across state lines for the purpose of committing a sex crime, an offense that could allow for federal charges..." | | | This just in from CNN's Brynn Gingras: "A Manhattan grand jury is hearing testimony and other evidence in the criminal sex assault case against Harvey Weinstein, a source with knowledge of the investigation confirms to CNN..." | | -- There were 80 potential buyers for Time, SI, Fortune, Money? That's what Joe Pompeo reports. "Meredith is presently engaging with around 15 serious suitors, with some bids for individual titles topping $200 million..." (VF)
-- Obama photographer Pete Souza, now known for his Instagram shade, is creating a book called "SHADE" (CNN)
-- The NYT has a new job listing for a media reporter position... It's a chance to replace Sydney Ember, who's moving over to politics... (NYT) | | "Good Morning America" in the afternoon | | "The Chew" is ending. A third hour of "GMA" is taking its place, starting in September. No, the name doesn't quite fit, since it'll air at 1pm ET, but this has been a long-held dream in "GMA" world. Arch-rival "Today" has four hours, and now "GMA" will have three.
"I hear the rationale behind the decision is that GMA is cheaper to produce and draws higher multiple from advertisers," Deadline's Nellie Andreeva writes... | | Brian Lowry emails: Frankly, it's surprising ABC didn't expand "GMA" sooner, given the relatively modest expense of spinning additional hours out of a franchise where all that infrastructure already exists. But wouldn't the obvious next step be a contiguous three-hour block, sliding the rest of its daytime lineup, instead of dropping another hour of "morning" in the early afternoon?
Yes, except Kelly Ripa is quite happy at 9am ET... Remember the last time there was a dispute between Ripa and ABC? | | About the "Roseanne" season finale ratings... | | | "Roseanne" premiered to 20+ million viewers, but then it settled at a lower total for the full season. Tuesday's season finale had 10.3 million viewers in the overnight #'s. It'll grow through DVR and VOD viewing of course. It was "the lowest-rated and least-watched episode of 'Roseanne' this season, but nevertheless it was still far and away the top show of the night in the demo," Variety notes... | | | For the record, part three | | | By Oliver Darcy:
-- Fox News host Pete Hegseth said on "Fox & Friends" Wednesday that he believes Kim Jong Un "doesn't love being the guy that has to murder his people all day long." Hegseth cited Un's desire to meet with Dennis Rodman and supposed love for western culture to conclude he "probably wants normalization..." (Mediaite)
-- Katie Pudwill is leaving her position as director of communications at Politico as she bids adieu to DC and moves back to the Midwest...
-- The lawsuits keep coming: "Six families of victims killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting, as well as an FBI agent who responded to the scene," just filed a defamation lawsuit against Alex Jones... (ABC) | | "Facebook knows it is at war" | | | That's according to Wired EIC Nicholas Thompson, who wrote on Wednesday about three new anti-"fake news" initiatives by FB. The company released a short film called "Facing Facts..." Announced a "public education campaign" to promote media literacy... And invited proposals from "academics eager to study false news on the platform..." | | Musk unleashes on the news media | | Oliver Darcy emails: Elon Musk, upset with recent critical coverage of Tesla, ripped the media on Wednesday, incorrectly suggesting in a tweet that journalists collude with advertisers to let them shape and influence coverage. Musk said "journos are under constant pressure to get max clicks & earn advertising dollars or get fired." He added, "Tricky situation, as Tesla doesn't advertise, but fossil fuel companies & gas/diesel car companies are among world's biggest advertisers." Musk finally concluded saying he would "create a site where the public can rate the core truth of any article & track the credibility score over time of each journalist, editor & publication. Thinking of calling it Pravda…"
--> It's astonishing that Musk, who deals with news organizations on a regular basis, fails to understand the basics of how a newsroom operates... | | Is Musk starting to sound like Trump? | | That's what Andrew Hawkins of The Verge observed, tweeting, "Musk continues his slow transformation into a media-baiting Trump figure screaming irrationally about fake news." Musk did not seem pleased with that comparison. The billionaire fired back in a tweet, writing, "Thought you'd say that. Anytime anyone criticizes the media, the media shrieks 'You're just like Trump!' Why do you think he got elected in the first place? Because no one believes you any more. You lost your credibility a long time ago."
Hmm… Now who does that sound like? 🤔 | | | For the record, part four | | | By Daniella Emanuel:
-- The story everyone is reading right now: Sopan Deb's interview with the cast of "Arrested Development," including Jeffrey Tambor. Wow... (NYT)
-- Speaking of Tambor: Netflix is submitting his work for an Emmy in the supporting comedy actor category, which is notable because Amazon decided not to submit his "Transparent" work... (Variety)
-- Sad sign of the times: A local Southern California newspaper now has only one reporter after three staff members left... But the paper is now hiring... (LA Business Journal)
-- Snap is launching a program to help discover "the next big media business..." (Recode) | | Comcast still isn't quite ready to actually bid for the 21st Century Fox assets that are up for sale. (It wants to see what the judge decides in DOJ v. AT&T first.) But on Wednesday the cable company confirmed that it plans to gate-crash Disney's deal.
The big change from last year's bid: Comcast is now promising a termination fee that "would be at least as favorable to Fox shareholders as the Disney offer." Jill Disis and Chris Isidore have details here...
>> Key detail from Dylan Byers' PACIFIC: "How much might Comcast offer? Our best sources predict it will be north of $60 billion, because all things being equal Rupert Murdoch would rather sell to Disney..." | | Meantime, Netflix just surpassed Comcast in market cap | | | Comcast stock slid almost 2% on news of the impending bid. (Disney closed down about 1.1%.) At the same time, Netflix gained another 4%. That was enough to push NFLX past CMCSA by 4pm... Here's the Bloomberg graph: | | Bloomberg's caveat: "It's the second time this month that Netflix has dethroned Comcast in valuation, but the lead may have more sticking power this time." Netflix is now within striking distance of Disney's market cap...
>> Hadas Gold says Recode's handy chart of the media landscape helps convey why this is the summer of the major media deals... | | CBS says Shari Redstone "poses a substantial threat" | | An update in the legal war over the future of CBS Corporation: CBS has updated its complaint against National Amusements and asked the judge to bless last week's jailbreak attempt. This back and forth is likely to continue for weeks and possibly months to come... Here's my latest...
>> The amended complaint is 25 pages longer than the first. It says Shari Redstone "has made clear that she poses a substantial threat to the best interests and welfare of the company..."
>> The response from Team Redstone: "We are confident the court will uphold NAI's action..." | | | For the record, part five | | | -- The UFC is moving from Fox Sports to ESPN: "The mixed martial arts organization has agreed to a five-year deal with ESPN," worth $1.5 billion... (Sporting News)
-- "Bruce Rosenblum is exiting as president of business operations for the Disney/ABC Television Group after less than two years in the position." A recent restructuring left him with a lot less to do... (WSJ)
-- NBC's Claire Atkinson: "HBO's 'Succession' party arrives just in time for real-life media intrigue..." (NBC)
-- "The Weather Channel is no longer publishing videos to Facebook..." (Digiday)
-- Lacey Rose's roundtables are always wonderful. This one is with drama actresses: Angela Bassett, Claire Foy, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Elisabeth Moss, Thandie Newton and Sandra Oh... (THR)
-- Correction: Last night I said I spotted Steven Perlberg at the Freedom of the Press Awards dinner. Turns out he was at dinner with his parents. And he does't have a twin, so, umm, I'm not sure who I was talking with at the reception! | | Breitbart loses one of its top editors | | | Oliver Darcy emails: Breitbart EIC Alex Marlow announced internally (in a Slack message I obtained) that Raheem Kassam, who served as editor-in-chief of Breitbart London, had left the company "to pursue other avenues." Marlow added, "We thank Raheem for his integral role in launching and making Breitbart London the success it is today, and we wish him all the best." He then directed his employees to not comment publicly on the matter and to "go through your email chains and filing/distribution lists and remove Raheem from them." Kassam confirmed to me that he had left Breitbart. When I asked what he was going to do next, Kassam replied, "Do my own thang.." | | | I missed this on Tuesday. Per Bloomberg's Nabila Ahmed "Univision Holdings Inc. is planning to name industry veteran Vince Sadusky as the Spanish-language broadcaster's next chief executive officer, according to a person with knowledge of the move, filling a role that's being vacated by Randy Falco..." | | HBO documentary shows McCain's serenity | | Brian Lowry emails: "John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls" is defined by extensive access to its subject, who exhibits notable serenity in the face of his cancer diagnosis. But the HBO documentary -- premiering on Memorial Day -- is also punctuated by interviews with practically every major political figure to pass through his orbit, including three former presidents.
Check out Lowry's full review here... | | Colbert's commanding lead among total viewers | | Brian Lowry emails: Today's end-of-season rating highlight belongs to CBS' "Late Show With Stephen Colbert," which turned a narrow win over "The Tonight Show" in 2016-17 into a commanding one in total viewers (3.85 million on average, versus 2.68 million) while narrowing Jimmy Fallon's continuing advantage in key demographics.
Overall, the audience for "Late Show" was up more than 20% year to year -- the host's version of a Trump bump... | | In defense of the "13 Reasons Why" rape scene | | Megan Thomas emails: Despite viewer warnings, controversy continues to surround a graphic depiction of a male teen being brutally raped by three other students in the Netflix drama "13 Reasons Why." In the season two finale, the traumatized assault victim later shows up to school with the intention of committing a mass shooting.
Vulture spoke with the show's creator Brian Yorkey, who defended the storyline, explaining that it developed out of research on real-life cases of sexual violence against teenage boys in high school: "When we talk about something being 'disgusting' or hard to watch, often that means we are attaching shame to the experience. We would rather not be confronted with it. We would rather it stay out of our consciousness. This is why these kinds of assaults are underreported. This is why victims have a hard time seeking help. We believe that talking about it is so much better than silence." More... | | By Lisa Respers France:
-- "The Voice" has crowned its youngest winner yet...
-- Speaking of "The Voice," coach Kelly Clarkson joked about her recent weight loss...
-- Add Holly Marie Combs to the list of former stars of the original not "Charmed" by the show's reboot... | | "Sarah Silverman Is the Troll Slayer" | | | Megan Thomas emails: GQ's Drew Magary has a really interesting interview with Sarah Silverman for the mag's comedy issue. Silverman spoke about politics, her comedic regrets and her ongoing friendship with Louis C.K., among other topics... | | | HEY, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS LETTER? Email your feedback and thoughts to brian.stelter@turner.com... the feedback helps us improve this newsletter every day... Thank you! | | | | | | |
