| | | | | Exec summary: Sunny turns one on Monday! She loved her birthday party over the weekend. Oh, wait, you're expecting media news? 😊Here you go: "Deadpool 2" won the weekend... President Trump's "demand" has DC abuzz... And if you missed the "SNL" season finale, scroll down for the highlights... | | All of a sudden, the top story in the country is about "spying" and "infiltration" and "surveillance" of the Trump 2016 campaign. Where did these claims come from? Why is the president "demanding" an investigation? How did this theory take over the news cycle? And why are so many people inclined to believe it?
HERE'S WHAT'S TRUE: "Sunday's developments came in the wake of reports that a longtime U.S. intelligence source assisted the investigation into Russian election interference now overseen by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III," the WashPost reported.
"Trump and his allies have seized on the informant's role to claim that the FBI spied on his campaign," The Post said. "There is no evidence to indicate an intelligence source was embedded within the campaign, as the president has suggested." No "evidence," but there's tons of conjecture out there... | | Trump allies -- seeking new avenues to discredit the Mueller probe -- have been calling for the OUTING of the informant for weeks now. Per CNN's latest, "officials from the Justice Department, FBI and Office of the Director of National Intelligence have maintained that turning over that information that congressional Republicans have requested on the source would pose a grave risk to the source's life."
>> The Post and the NYT say they know the name, but are not reporting it, citing safety and security concerns. But some right-wing web sites are naming someone and strongly suggesting it's the informant, so the info is widely available.
>> How did we get here? Lawfare unpacked it really well. The WSJ's Kimberly Strassel, "far-right pro-Trump bloggers," Fox's Gregg Jarrett, and others on Fox played key roles in getting POTUS talking about this... | | What this is really about | | To those on the right who believe the "deep state" tried to stop Trump from winning the election, this tale has it all. This tweet from Trump booster/event planner/HUD official Lynne Patton captured the feeling. "Dear fellow Americans," she wrote, "forget Russian interference." She claimed there is "definitive proof" that the FBI infiltrated Trump's campaign to help Clinton. "Trump was right all along," she wrote. She included "he's your president" as a hashtag.
Some members of Trump's inner circle are getting in on the action, too. On Sunday Dan Scavino tweeted out a link to a Wash Times piece titled "Obama spied on Trump's campaign. Where's the outrage?" | | Make so much noise... so people will stop listening? | | On Sunday's "Reliable Sources," John Avlon said he thinks Trumpworld is "trying to go for a split-screen." Negative stories about Trump filling up the screen? The pro-Trump media machine offers an "alternative cast of characters to create an equivalence."
"At the end of the day, I don't think they really expect anybody except their hard-core partisans to believe this stuff," Max Boot added. "But they are basically trying to do is to throw a bunch of information out there, a bunch of claims, and have people just say, 'I don't know what to believe anymore.'"
--> Flashback: Steve Bannon quoted earlier this year: "The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit." | | Jesse Lee, a former special assistant to President Obama, now the VP of comms for CAP Action, tweeted on Sunday:
"Reporters need to stop acting like we are waiting for Watergate, and realize that we are already in it." | | Media week ahead calendar | | At any time: A possible update in CBS v. Redstone...
Tuesday: John McCain's book "The Restless Waves" hits bookshelves...
Tuesday night: The annual Freedom of the Press Awards Dinner in NYC...
Wednesday night: Chris Cuomo hosts a town hall with Nancy Pelosi on CNN...
Wednesday night: The penultimate episode of "The Americans" on FX...
Thursday night: "Solo: A Star Wars Movie" lands in theaters...
Friday: General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) goes into effect in the European Union...
Sunday night: Showtime starts showing "The Fourth Estate..." | | Looking forward to "The Fourth Estate..." | | | Brian Lowry emails: "The Fourth Estate," a four-part docuseries inside the NYT, premieres on May 27. Full review to come, but it's certainly an engrossing fly-on-the-wall look at the challenges covering the Trump administration from the paper's perspective, as well as other key stories (Bill O'Reilly, etc.) that broke during the period... | | Here come Facebook's new political ad rules | | Facebook is expected to roll out its new ad transparency features in the coming weeks -- the WSJ reports some features might go live as soon as Tuesday...
--> Donie O'Sullivan emails: You're going to have to prove who you are to Facebook if you want to run an ad that even mentions a candidate or is about a long list of issues, including: abortion, budget, civil rights, crime... the full list here... I went through the verification process to see how it works. Facebook needs your Social Security #, a picture of your passport or driver's license, and your mailing address. If your ID checks out, FB sends a pin code out through the postal service that will authorize your account to buy political ads. We'll have a lot more on this during the week... | | -- Margaret Sullivan's Monday column is about Michael Avenatti: "Stormy Daniels's lawyer is a media star. So why is he threatening journalists?" (WashPost)
-- Speaking of Avenatti: On "Reliable," I asked the panel if he's overexposed at this point. John Avlon raised the prospect of an "Icarus problem," but both Avlon and Max Boot said Avenatti has been remarkably effective... (CNN)
-- Another subject on "Reliable:" Is there a strategy behind Rudy Giuliani's interview gauntlet? Sabrina Siddiqui said "he's full of contradictions and has been wildly loose with the facts..." (CNN)
-- Insightful: In an interview with Politico, EIC Chad Nackers "explained The Onion's approach to satirizing the Trump administration..." (Politico) | | Big audience in the USA... | | | Per Nielsen PR: "On Saturday, May 19, 2018, an estimated 29.2 million people tuned in to the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry of Wales and American actress Meghan Markle which took place at Windsor Castle in England." That's 29 million across 15 channels... just in the USA... A significantly higher total than Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding in 2011. On that day, the wedding started a little earlier in the morning... on a weekday... and a combined 22.8 million viewers tuned in. Saturday's higher # makes sense -- an American woman was marrying a prince... | | | Over in the UK, William/Kate was still higher-rated than Harry/Meghan. "Almost 18 million Britons watched coverage of Saturday's royal wedding, making it by far the biggest television event of the year," The Guardian reports. The 2011 wedding averaged 24 million viewers there... | | | Who are the two board members who voted "no" along with Shari Redstone last Thursday? Let William D. Cohan introduce you to Robert Klieger and David Andelman, "the muscle behind Shari Redstone's war..." | | | "Reliable Sources" highlights | | | My Sunday morning interview with Kellyanne Conway came in three parts. Here are the video clips:
1. Where is the president getting his info? When he claims Mueller has found "no collusion" and "no obstruction," who's telling him that?
2. What's behind the W.H. "leak" problem?
3. Why is the president granting so few interviews? Why hasn't he held a solo press conference at the W.H. in more than a year? | | -- I asked: "Five days ago, the president tweeted that the probe was costing $10 million. Today, he said almost $20 million. Again, where is he getting this information from?" Conway: "I don't know, but people know it's a taxpayer-funded enterprise and that's why they have a right to know..."
-- Conway minimized the impact of the constant leaking, but also affirmed that there's an active investigation into W.H. leakers. She wouldn't say whether any staffers have been fired as a result...
-- On leaking: Trump "understands people make up things." Hmm...
-- Is Trump going to hire a new W.H. comms director? She would not say, but she indicated that she's helping build a new "structure" for the comms dept. She said "the president is a great communications director and he's got wonderful people supporting him..."
-- Re: Trump's reluctance to give interviews: "I tell the president all the time, he should go out more because I think he's the best communicator we have, hands down..."
-- "He's not trying to tear down news outlets. He's trying to get some fair and full coverage...."
-- "He's got great ratings. He's the president." | | How to catch up on the show | | | Yes, Trump's Saturday typo misspelling his wife's name was newsworthy, because it's the latest in a long, long list of typos and misspellings. On Sunday, he also misspelled "collusion." Call it sloppiness, call it carelessness... But if you can't get the small stuff right, what about the big stuff? | | Hillary's advice: Buy a newspaper | | | At Yale's Class Day on Sunday, Hillary Clinton talked about building" democratic resilience" and said it begins with "standing up for truth, facts and reason." One of her bullet points: "It means calling out ACTUAL 'fake news' when we see it, and supporting brave journalists and their reporting, maybe even by subscribing to a newspaper." The comment received a few hollers and cheers from the crowd... | | -- What a remarkable oral history: "The Last Days of Time Inc." (NYT)
-- The other day Keith Kelly said "bidding for Time, Fortune, and Money" has been "surprisingly strong..." (NYPost)
-- "A rape investigation has been launched against one of France's best-known film directors, Luc Besson, the Paris prosecutor's office told CNN on Saturday..." (CNN)
-- Anderson Cooper's report on Sunday's "60 Minutes" was about the assault allegations against Mario Batali... And it included this kicker: The NYPD confirms "that there is an ongoing criminal investigation into Mario Batali..." (CBS) | | Kelly Clarkson, hosting the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday night, two days after the mass murder in Santa Fe:
The organizers "wanted me to say that, obviously we're going to pray for the victims and pray for their families, but they also wanted me to do a moment of silence. And I'm so sick of moments of silence. It's not working… So why don't we NOT do a moment of silence? Why don't we do a moment of action? A moment of change?" | | De-emphasizing the killer | | Earlier in the day, on "Reliable," I asked "Columbine" author Dave Cullen, "Is less more? Meaning, is the amount of media attention that these 'spectacle murders' get part of the problem?"
We also talked about the evolution in news coverage... de-emphasizing the killer, emphasizing the victims and survivors... Here's video of the segment... | | Hollywood's gun-filled summer | | "Anyone who suggests that film violence translates into real violence is over-simplifying a vastly complicated equation," Deadline's Michael Cieply writes.
Nonetheless, he says "Hollywood might do well to check its messaging..." Pointing out that "in the current spring-summer season, every major studio is selling one or more films with posters, billboards, promotional photos or trailers featuring big guns."
Even when the movies are rated R, the ads are seen by all ages... | | "Deadpool 2" tops "Avengers" | | | Frank Pallotta emails: The three-week box office reign of "Avengers: Infinity War" has come to an end thanks to the raunchy "Deadpool 2." The R-rated superhero flick netted $125 million in the US, which ranks as the second biggest domestic opening for an R-rated film ever, behind the first "Deadpool," which pulled in $132 million for its opening. Read the rest here... | | Current "Avengers" total: $1.8 billion | | | Pallotta adds: Even though "Avengers" lost its crown, it's still a king. The Disney film has made $1.8 billion globally in less than a month. All good things come to an end, Disney. If only you had another big film from a blockbuster brand like "Solo: A Star Wars Story" opening in a few days. If only... | | What Netflix bought at Cannes | | Brian Lowry emails: Cannes provided kind of a perfect metaphor for Netflix's approach to traditional media. Disrespected by the film festival, the streamer responded by snapping up rights to a couple of key films.
Message: You can try to ignore us, but it's hard to ignore our money... | | "SNL" ends its season with a Trump/Sopranos skit | | Here's the cold open on YouTube in case you haven't seen it yet. Frank Pallotta recapped it here.
"This SNL sketch worked because its use of 'The Sopranos' finale rings true," comedian and Trump critic Dean Obeidallah wrote for CNN.com. "In many ways, the Trump world looks and feels like a crime family. Just consider how many people in Trump's orbit have pleaded guilty, are under indictment or are being actively investigated..."
--> Plus: Here's the show's "Morning Joe" send-up...
--> And here are "Eric and Donald Trump Jr." on "Weekend Update..." | | | 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! | | | | | | |
