| | | | | Exec summary: President Trump is calling news outlets the "enemy of the people" again, the LA Times is saying good riddance to Tronc, "Incredibles 2" is having an incredible opening, and much more... Scroll down for details... | | The top story on Father's Day | | "Something disgraceful is happening, something that can be stopped."
That's how CNN's Ana Cabrera framed the story on Saturday. She was covering the treatment of migrant families that have been separated after crossing the border illegally.
This is not a purely partisan issue -- many prominent Republicans (like Laura Bush) are joining Democrats in speaking out against the Trump administration's so-called "zero tolerance" policy. And journalists are speaking up for basic American values... family values... morality... in a way that reminds of the "s---hole" controversy.
But many Trump supporters believe the real scandal is that people are crossing the border illegally in the first place... | | This story is getting bigger by the day. Here are some of the reasons why:
-- Every day the policy is in effect, more families are affected...
-- Journalists are being granted limited access to some of the detention centers...
-- Trump's "blame the Dems" rhetoric is forcing journos to fact-check him and explain what's really going on...
-- Dem lawmakers are seizing on the issue by holding events in border states...
-- Immigration advocates are getting louder and helping personalize the issue...
-- Father's Day was on everyone's mind this weekend... | | -- This story has broken through because of "dogged reporting, on the ground reporting," Olivia Nuzzi said on "Reliable Sources..."
-- Brian Karem added: "The president has made the decision to do it. He's lied to the American people about how it's being done. He could change it if he wanted..."
-- And Doug Heye: "As somebody who is pro-life, I know that if you're pro-life, you can't be pro-separating parents and children. This is a very real story..." | | On Sunday's show, I asked Brian Karem if he has any regrets about his outburst at last Thursday's W.H. briefing. "Come on," he said to Sarah Sanders, "you're a parent! Don't you have any empathy for what these people are going through?"
"Um, I have an apology to make," Karem told me. "I apologize to every human being who's had to suffer, who has less than I do," that "I did not come to the table sooner. I'm sorry to those people for waiting so long and holding my temper. I'm sorry that I am extremely angry with this administration that has lied to me, continues to lie to me."
We went back and forth, and Splinter thought I was too tough on Karem... NewsBusters didn't think so... Judge for yourself, here's the segment... | | "The children aren't in cages" has been a talking point from the pro-Trump media in the past few days. Let's see what they say now that CBP has shared photos of children surrounded by fences at a McAllen, TX facility...
We'll see. "CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King will be "reporting from the border in Texas" on Monday, the network says... | | Trump is reprising his "enemy of the people" thing | | A few days ago Trump said "fake news" was America's "greatest enemy." Now he's reprising his February 2017 rhetoric, saying "the enemy of the people Fake News" are known to "put their own spin" on info.
The Atlantic EIC Jeffrey Goldberg tweeted in response: "Reminder: 'Enemy of the people' is a Stalinist term whose use has led to profoundly unhappy consequences for those who have been its target..." | | | Scroll down for the rest of the day's Trump-related news... | | | Media week ahead calendar | | | Monday: Cannes Lions begins in the south of France... Here's the full schedule...
Monday: Tiffany Haddish hosts the 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards...
Wednesday: Instagram holds a press event, likely announcing a long-form video hub...
Wednesday: POTUS holds a rally in Minnesota...
Thursday: "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" opens stateside...
Thursday: The Summer Solstice, a/k/a the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere... | | The Fox board will meet this week... | | | Wednesday, to be precise... The meeting was scheduled BEFORE Comcast made its bid for the 21st Century Fox assets... But the board knew the bid to top Disney was in the works. On Wednesday, Rupert Murdoch and co. will consider "how to proceed," Bloomberg notes... | | "CBS is open to being wooed" | | Rather than merging with Viacom, what if CBS is sold "to someone else?" It would put "a merciful end to one of the great corporate soap operas of the decade," the WSJ's Elizabeth Winkler wrote Saturday.
Key graf: "CBS is open to being wooed, according to people familiar with the matter. The recent drama with Viacom wasn't about having a problem with doing a deal -- just with doing that deal..." | | LA Times says goodbye & good riddance to Tronc | | | Sunday was the last day of Tronc's ownership... On Monday, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong takes control of the LA Times, San Diego Union-Tribune, and several smaller Southern California papers. Here's Sunday's LAT front page heralding the news: | | This transition has been a cause for celebration for LAT staffers. The paper is returning "to local ownership after 18 turbulent years under Chicago control," LAT reporter Meg James wrote in her front page story. James says "changes will be felt almost immediately." Most staffers will relocate from downtown LA to El Segundo "by the end of July..."
>> HOW SOON-SHIONG HAS BEEN PREPARING: He's been seeking input from Norm Pearlstine, Dean Baquet, Marty Baron, Donald Graham, Al Hunt, Tom Johnson, Judy Woodruff, and others...
>> THE PLAN: Pearlstine, now an adviser, says "I don't think he's looking to make a lot of money, but he's certainly going to run it as a business. He does feel like there is content that people will pay for."
>> HIS MESSAGE: Soon-Shiong published a note to readers in Sunday's paper... He says "we" (his family) "view the publications we acquired as a quasi-public trust..." | | BTW: He knows Tronc is a silly name | | | Soon-Shiong is still Tronc's second-largest shareholder. And he has no plans to sell. This is a fun detail at the end of James' story: He says "I hope that I can convince the board to drop the name Tronc. I think we need to go back to Tribune…. The legacy of this [company] needs to be respected and I always thought Tronc was a silly name." | | The staff of the Denver Post has been protesting its hedge fund owner for several months. Now eight former Post reporters and editors "are creating their own news outlet, The Colorado Sun," the NYT's Jaclyn Peiser reports. "They will be partnering with the Civil Media Company, an ambitious New York start-up that aims to use blockchain technology and crypto economics to start 1,000 publications nationwide by the end of the year."
Sun co-founder Larry Ryckman told me the website's "ad-free, online model" will "rely on public support through subscriptions, donations and investment." Civil is providing grant $$ to get started... And the Sun is trying to raise $75,000 via a Kickstarter in the next 30 days...
>> Former Post editorial page editor Chuck Plunkett is part of the startup...
>> There's a presser scheduled for Monday morning... And the Sun's website is up now... | | Globe suspends Cullen for three months | | | Via the NYT: "The Boston Globe suspended its columnist Kevin Cullen for three months without pay on Friday after a review found fabricated details and inconsistencies in comments he made in radio interviews and at public appearances about the Boston Marathon bombings." More... | | -- Legendary BBC broadcaster David Dimbleby is stepping down as host of "Question Time..." He says he's returning to his "first love," reporting... (BBC)
-- Dan Pfeiffer's book "Yes We (Still) Can: Politics in the Age of Obama, Twitter, and Trump" is out Tuesday... And VF just published an excerpt... (VF)
-- Carlos Lozada's latest review: A set of books about the Russia scandal... (WashPost) | | | The AT&T-Time Warner deal took effect on Thursday, WarnerMedia was introduced on Friday, and now the media co's new CEO John Stankey is introducing himself to employees... He'll be criss-crossing the country, holding town halls with HBO, Warner Bros and Turner... | | Farewell from Jeff Bewkes | | | Deadline published retiring CEO Jeff Bewkes' video farewell to staffers. "As storytellers, as journalists, as business leaders and catalysts for change, our work is never really done," he said. "We can only run our leg of the relay, then pass the baton." Watch the vid here... | | What it means to own the news | | On Sunday's "Reliable," I pointed out that AT&T hasn't really been in the news business until now. Delivering the news is different than delivering phone calls. Both are important, but news divisions have a special place in people's lives. Newsrooms thrive when there's investment and wither when there's interference. I said Stankey's recent comments about CNN's independence were welcomed.
Quoting from the segment: CNN staffers "just want to be sure that the new bosses can withstand the heat -- that they can shrug off an advertiser's complaints or a president's attacks. That's the challenge for AT&T, that's what it means to own the news." | | Monday morning: Stankey's first TV interview | | | Following up on our CNNMoney interview from Friday, Stankey will be on CNN's "New Day" for his first TV interview since becoming CEO... Look for it in the 7am hour on Monday... I'll be joining John Berman and Alisyn Camerota at the desk... | | -- On Sunday's "Reliable," I spoke with Reeves Wiedeman, the author of this NYMag story about Vice Media. He says Vice was "built on hype" but is now facing reality... Nancy Dubuc took charge just a couple of weeks ago... (CNN)
-- Interesting idea here. Will advertisers bite? Fox Networks Group is enlisting TBWA\Worldwide to make "inspirational videos" that run during commercial breaks, and "Fox hopes to get marketers to sponsor them..." (Variety)
-- The Onion has "declared war" on Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook... (Vulture) | | President Trump's dishonesty was a major topic on the Sunday shows. "How," NBC's Chuck Todd asked, "can we believe a president who routinely says things that are provably false?"
On "Reliable," I asked, "Are we actually reaching a boiling point? Because it sure seems that way to me..." | | On ABC's "This Week," Jon Karl had an exclusive live interview with Steve Bannon. Here's a notable excerpt:
KARL: "He says things that are not true all the time."
BANNON: "I don't believe that."
KARL: "Come on."
BANNON: "I think he speaks in a particular vernacular that connects to people in this country." | | My interview with Rob Reiner | | Filmmaker Rob Reiner is seriously concerned about the media ecosystem. Big outlets like Fox are "feeding the base of Donald Trump," and "they are only getting information in one way," he told me on Sunday's show. "It's much easier to say, 'fake news,' 'witch hunt,' 'no collusion' and repeat that over and over, than to explain to people what actually happened, how the democracy was attacked, what the connections to the Trump campaign are, were there any obstructions of justice? These are things that are very complicated to explain. But in order for our democracy to survive, we have to explain it, and we have to be vigilant."
Reiner called pro-Trump outlets "essentially state-run media..." Here's the video of our conversation... | | Here's how to catch up on Sunday's show | | | I know I was competing with a World Cup match on Sunday morning. So if you missed "Reliable Sources," here are three ways to catch up: Listen to the podcast, watch the video clips on CNN.com, or watch the full program via CNNgo or VOD... | | How Haberman describes Trump's Twitter feed | | After POTUS had a particularly active day on Twitter, Maggie Haberman commented:
"Since the Cohen raid a few months ago, the president's personal Twitter feed is delivering little actual information or even White House messaging and has become a rapid response operation against Mueller, interspersed with false claims about his own policies..." | | Will Strzok testify on live TV? | | Some important news over the weekend: "Peter Strzok, the FBI agent removed from the Russia probe for sending anti-Trump text messages, is willing to testify before the House Judiciary Committee or any other congressional committee, his lawyer wrote in a letter to the committee on Saturday."
Hopefully the committee will invite Strzok to testify in public. It would be must-see TV... and hugely informative... | | | MSNBC's "Kasie DC" compiled EPA chief Scott Pruitt's "many, many scandals" on a single page of text. The font had to be quite small to fit all the stories. Here's the graphic... If you want to zoom in, I tweeted out the screen grab too... | | | The WashPost reminds us that "the filing of Mueller's report could trigger a political firestorm." Newt Gingrich says he and other Trump allies are "prepared for war..." | | ICYMI: Podcast with George Lakoff | | | Renowned linguist and awowed Trump critic George Lakoff was my guest on this week's "Reliable" podcast, available via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or TuneIn. Great minds think alike, because Margaret Sullivan also interviewed him for her Monday WashPost column... | | | For the record, part three | | | -- Van Jones interviewed Kim Kardashian and Seth Meyers on his Saturday evening show. Meyers highlights here... (CNN)
-- ICYMI: Joe Pompeo revealed a "closely guarded New York Times secret." Warren Buffett rebuffed the NYT's request for a financial lifeline back in 2009. Carlos Slim eventually "came to the rescue..." (VF)
-- Check this out: "Help CNN investigate hurricane-related deaths in Puerto Rico..." (CNN) | | AMC suspends Chris Hardwick's show after allegations of abuse | | AMC host Chris Hardwick "is facing career fallout amid allegations by his ex-girlfriend, actress Chloe Dykstra, that he sexually and emotionally abused her," CNN's Steve Almasy reports. The timeline:
THURSDAY: Dykstra posted an essay accusing Hardwick of wrongdoing. She didn't name him, but it was clear who she meant.
FRIDAY: Nerdist, which he founded, scrubbed him from the website...
SATURDAY: AMC said it has sidelined his show "Talking with Chris Hardwick" while "we assess the situation."
Here's the full story. Hardwick says his relationship with Dykstra was "not perfect," but "I'm devastated to read that she is now accusing me of conduct that did not occur... I do not condone any kind of mistreatment of women..." | | NBC taking a wait-and-see approach | | | Hardwick also hosts the NBC game show "The Wall." Here's what the network is saying: "These allegations about Chris Hardwick took us by surprise as we have had a positive working relationship with him. However, we take allegations of misconduct very seriously. Production on 'The Wall' does not begin until September, and in the meantime we are continuing to assess the situation and will take appropriate action based on the outcome." | | "Incredibles 2" crushes animation box office record | | Here's Frank Pallotta with all the details:
-- "Incredibles 2" premiered to an estimated $180 million at the domestic box office...
-- The sequel "soared past the record for biggest animated film opening in box office history by $45 million." The prior record-holder? "Finding Dory..."
-- So far "I2" has made $231.5 million around the world. It had "the third largest opening of the year..."
What a relief for Disney after "Solo." Read Pallotta's full story here... | | Beyoncé and Jay-Z drop joint album! | | | "Beyoncé has retained her title as queen of the surprise music drop," Lisa Respers France writes. "This time she had some help, as she and husband Jay-Z released a joint album, 'Everything Is Love,' Saturday on his Tidal streaming service. The project has long been rumored and comes as the pair have been thrilling audiences in Europe with their 'On The Run II' tour, which will hit North America in July..." | | MTV Movie & TV Awards on Monday night | | This is going to be a trip -- the 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards are on Monday night -- and Tiffany Haddish is hosting.
Chloe Melas writes: "'Black Panther' and 'Stranger Things' lead with seven nominations. This is the second year the popcorn awards have included television categories. Also like last year, there will also be no gender-specific categories." More here... | | | LAST, BUT DEFINITELY NOT LEAST! | | | Happy Father's Day, everybody. Thank you, Jamie and Sunny, for turning me into a father. To end this newsletter with a smile, here's a picture of Sunny I snapped when she surprised me at work this morning... | | Feedback welcome!
Email your likes, dislikes, thoughts to brian.stelter@turner.com... the feedback helps us improve this newsletter every day... Thank you! | | | | | | |
