| | | | | Massive news day! Oliver Darcy here, filling in for Brian Stelter, who is out west in Colorado for the Aspen Ideas Festival. I appreciate the feedback, so please do get in touch via email for find me on Twitter. | | | Exec summary: Bill Shine is heading to the White House... Disney wins anti-trust approval for Fox deal... Ocasio-Cortez's TV tour... Marco Rubio's reasoning for why Republicans don't criticize Trump when they disagree with him... and more.... | | How will the media cover the SCOTUS fight? | | If there's any indication of how parts of the media will cover the looming Supreme Court nomination fight prompted by Justice Anthony Kennedy's retirement -- and how the country will split -- the 9 p.m. hour on cable news tonight was it.
>> On the right, Sean Hannity was telling his viewers that the media is attempting to "scare" Americans. He told them, "Get ready for the lies, the propaganda, the misinformation."
>> On the left, Rachael Maddow laid out how consequential a fifth conservative Supreme Court justice would be for America. "As of today we embark on a four-month sprint," Maddow said, telling viewers that if pro-choice senators fight, they might have a chance of delaying a nomination until after the midterm election. "This is America," Maddow said. "Weird stuff happens." | | >> NBC's Chuck Todd: "About the last thing our politics can handle is an open SCOTUS vacancy and Kennedy's seat no less. Let's hope I'm wrong."
>> "Seismic," tweeted NYT's Maggie Haberman.
>> HuffPost sounded an alarm on its front page, calling the situation a "CODE RED." The liberal news organization later declared this to be the "DARKEST HOUR."
>> Laura Ingraham: "It's always a 'circus' when liberals are losing. Relax, Trump's SCOTUS list could have easily been compiled by a Pres. Jeb Bush."
>> Dan Rather: "Justice Kennedy retiring... If you are deeply disturbed, absorb the shock. But respond with even more determination. If you see this as a fight for the future of democracy, let those in power know that the will of the majority can still hold sway."
>> Front page of NY Daily News Thursday: "WE ARE F*#%'D"
>> Andrew Napolitano: "If President Trump nominates a pro-life nominee, you will see a titanic battle in the Senate and throughout the country."
>> Bloomberg's Steven Dennis: "I was struck today as I sprinted from Senate basement to Senate basement interviewing Senators, how Republicans mostly clammed up about their hopes for overturning Roe v. Wade when I asked about Kennedy's replacement. Even Ted Cruz wouldn't talk about Roe directly."
>> NBC's Benjy Sarlin on possibility Roe v. Wade could be overturned: "This would be the single biggest political and policy earthquake in many of our lifetimes and it's completely on the table."
>> Tom Kludt emails another reaction: Chris Matthews said on MSNBC that the Dems "have to fight this tooth and nail." | | Toobin: 'Roe v. Wade is doomed. It's gone because Donald Trump won the election.' | | Jeffrey Toobin has been on CNN since news broke of Kennedy's retirement -- and he's had one primary message: Roe v. Wade is dead. "Let's talk about facts. Let's talk about what America is like that is going to be different," Toobin told Brooke Baldwin Wednesday afternoon. "You are going to see 20 states banning abortion outright -- just banning abortion. Because they know that there are going to be five seats on the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade." Toobin added, "Roe v. Wade is doomed. It's gone because Donald Trump won the election. And because he's going to have the chance to appoint two Supreme Court justices."
>> Toobin continued to double down on his prediction during "AC360." Anderson Cooper said, "Jeff, I heard you say earlier that within 18 months abortion could be illegal in as many as 20 states." Toobin replied, "No. I said abortion will be illegal in as many as 20 states because Roe v. Wade is dead today." | | Bill Shine headed to the White House | | Fox News on Wednesday had the scoop about ex-Fox News president Bill Shine. The network's chief White House correspondent, John Roberts, first reported that Shine was in final talks to join the Trump administration as White House communications director, a position that has been tough to fill and was vacated earlier this year by Hope Hicks. Later in the day, Roberts reported that Shine had accepted a senior comms role.
A person with knowledge of the situation confirmed to Kaitlan Collins Wednesday evening that Shine accepted a senior position in the White House, but said his title would likely be deputy chief of staff in charge of comms, not comms director. Here's the story she and I wrote with all the details... | | Will Shine be the person that can rein Trump in? | | Shine is close with Sean Hannity. The two often attend events together and have known each other for more than two decades. A person familiar with the matter told me that Hannity had been pushing Shine for the WH comms director position behind the scenes "big time" over the last several months. A source also told WSJ that Hannity played a "key role in orchestrating the process."
That's important. We know that Trump listens to and respects Hannity and his opinions. So if Hannity is telling Trump that he needs to heed Shine's advice, perhaps Trump will listen. Jennifer Rubin put it like this on MSNBC: "If [Trump] listens to Bill Shine, who is not a raving lunatic, maybe there's something to be said there."
Alternatively, what will it mean for the Trump-Hannity relationship if Trump chooses to spurn Shine or publicly snipe at him in the way he has with so many of his other aides/advisors?
>> Hannity reacted to the Shine news on his radio program: "I think it would be great because he's great at his job. And he's one of the smartest people I've ever known and one of the nicest people I've ever known." | | This is what the Fox News presidency looks like | | Brian Stelter emails: Shine's road to the W.H. went through "Hannity." Remember: When Shine was about to be forced out of Fox News last year, Hannity called it "the total end of the F.N.C. as we know it." Observers wondered if Hannity was about to quit. A few days later, Shine resigned, in part due to lawsuits and complaints about his handling of the sexual harassment allegations against Roger Ailes. Shine denied all wrongdoing. Despite his heated words, Hannity stayed at Fox. Now, you could argue Hannity and Shine are working together again. His W.H. appointment is the latest sign of the Fox News presidency -- an unprecedented amount of coziness between a TV network and a president. Here's my full story...
-- Bill O'Reilly reacts to the Bill Shine news on Twitter: "Shine is smart and honest. But the President has to listen to him!"
-- Darla Shine says her husband is an "excellent choice" for a White House comms role. "No one better..." | | -- The border story continues: Vice has published audio of a phone call between a 7-year-old immigrant child and his mother in Guatemala. The boy is being held in an Arizona Office of Refugee Resettlement shelter... (Vice)
-- The Washington Examiner's Madeleine Morgenstern will join CNNPolitics as a deputy editor in July... (Twitter)
-- Emily Kohlman emails: Veteran journalist and Oklahoma State University journalism director Barbara Allen will become Poynter.com's managing editor in July… (Poynter)
-- More moves: The AP's Josh Lederman is joining NBC/MSNBC as a national political reporter... BI veteran Steve Kovach is joining CNBC as tech editor... | | Disney wins antitrust approval for Fox deal | | Hadas Gold emails: Disney just got the greenlight from the Justice Department to acquire the 21st Century Fox assets they've made a $71.3 billion offer for. Key points from the story I wrote with Jill Disis:
>> The decision does come with conditions – the government wants Disney to sell off 22 of Fox's regional sports networks, which Disney said it will do...
>> The deal still needs approval from a federal judge and company shareholders...
>> This deal complicates life for Comcast, which is also looking to buy those assets. It has not yet countered Disney's latest offer, though there is a wide expectation in the industry that it will. But it hasn't yet gone through the regulatory process, which will take even more time... | | Hard to ignore the speed with which this deal was approved | | Gold's observation: The announcement comes about six months after the merger was announced, a relatively quick timeline for the large size of the transaction. In contrast, the AT&T/Time Warner deal took more than a year and a half to close, including a trial that the Justice Department ultimately lost.
Though the two are very different deals involving very different companies, you can't escape the comparisons. Trump spoke much differently about the AT&T deal, vowing to block it because it concentrated too much power to one company, versus the Disney/Fox deal, where he called Rupert Murdoch to say congrats... | | This could be Thursday's biggest media world story... | | | Brian Stelter emails: The buzz here in Aspen is about this looming vote in California. "The Golden State legislature is due to vote Thursday on the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, which would require tech companies to disclose the categories of data they collect about consumers as well as the third-party entities, like advertisers, with whom they share that information," the WashPost's Tony Romm reports... | | | One of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's first interviews on Tuesday night -- moments after her stunning win -- was with The Young Turks, one of the progressive outlets that championed her campaign. By Wednesday morning, how "in demand" was she? So much that "CBS This Morning" was willing to take a live phoner with her in lieu of an on-camera interview. She also appeared on set on "Morning Joe" and live on CNN with Poppy Harlow... | | Progressive media saw the Ocasio-Cortez upset coming | | More from Stelter: Many national media outlets ✋ scrambled to catch up with the upset in NY-14. But The Intercept and The Young Turks read the tea leaves pointing to her victory. The Turks were interviewing Ocasio-Cortez months ago. And Ryan Grim, The Intercerpt's DC bureau chief, keyed in on the race early and assigned reporter Aida Chavez to the unfolding story. The Intercept not only featured Ocasio-Cortez -- lifting up her campaign to Dems across the country -- it pummeled Crowley, publishing investigations of his campaign donors and other matters. And Jeremy Scahill and Glenn Greenwald both conducted in-depth interviews with her. Ocasio-Cortez credited The Intercept with spurring other coverage, including from Refinery29, Vogue, etc. Here's my full story...
--> The Wing's Audrey Gelman: "Women, for all the factions and fractures between us, will emerge as the most powerful civic, economic, political and social force of this century. I am so floored by the grit moxie and courage displayed by @Ocasio2018..." | | | WashPost's Dave Weigel, who tracked her campaign, told me: "The left has discovered a media infrastructure that can bring attention to candidates who might be ignored because they don't fit a traditional, horse race media narrative." | | Brian Lowry emails: Regarding Ocasio-Cortez, beyond the politics and genuine surprise of it, it's worth remembering that TV is a medium obsessed with younger demographics. So having a 28-year-old congressional candidate – in New York, no less – is going to be catnip to news producers, talk shows, etc...
--> John Podhoretz tweeted: "Watching Ocasio-Cortez on Morning Joe and realizing she's going to be a political star for the next 30 years..." | | Rubio: Republicans don't criticize Trump because that means siding with the media | | Marco Rubio on Wednesday, commenting on a poll about media distrust, offered an odd explanation for why Republicans "won't criticize Trump even when they don't agree." Rubio tweeted it was because speaking out against Trump "means siding with a media that nevers cuts him a break, turns even little things he does into an act of evil, are also unfair to them & in the end will still attack you anyway."
>> The tweet earned Rubio immediate pushback: CNN analyst Ana Navaro tweeted, "Let me fix this for u, Marco: Many Republicans, including u, won't criticize Trump even when they know he's dividing the country, cheapening the Presidency, diminishing America's standing, causing unspeakable pain to families, & is all around horrible, BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO SPINE." | | By Julia Waldow:
-- How Facebook's changes have shaken up news sites: Internal data from Slate reveals that "for every five people that Facebook used to send to Slate about a year ago, it now sends less than one..." (Slate)
-- Snap is getting ready to launch a gaming platform this fall, The Information's Tom Dotan and Amir Efrati report... (The Information)
-- A new 2018 study on newsroom diversity from the RTDNA and Hofstra U says "the % of women and POC in TV newsrooms and in TV news management are at the highest levels ever measured, but while the minority population in the U.S. has risen 12.4 points in the last 28 years, the minority workforce in TV news is up just 7..." (RTDNA)
-- Newsroom favorite Slack was down for about four hours on Wednesday due to connectivity issues -- and people weren't having it... (USA Today) | | BuzzFeed France stays alive... for now | | A judge on Wednesday ruled in favor of BuzzFeed France employees who have gone to court to challenge BuzzFeed's closure of the French edition of its publication. An employee told me that the judge suspended the closing process of BuzzFeed France until BuzzFeed produces documents showing the state of BuzzFeed France's business. BuzzFeed France employees had previously gone on strike earlier this week over the dispute, though I'm told they're now back in the office working. Max Willens has more details in his DigiDay story here...
>> Statement from BuzzFeed: "BuzzFeed will comply with today's ruling and provide the Court with additional information, which we believe will further validate our decision to reevaluate our current operations in France. We remain firm in our intent and committed to providing our employees with the support they need throughout this process." | | | For the record, part three | | | By Daniella Emanuel:
-- Fox, Turner and Viacom are said to be taking part in Roku's new ad-sales market...(Variety)
-- Steve Lohr, a tech reporter for the NYT, reflects on how his job has changed with the internet. He used to pull data for stories from the "'morgue,' a large room where people cut out old stories and placed them in row after row of file drawers, grouped by subject..." (NYT)
-- Various celebrities, including Samantha Bee, Kathy Griffin, Michelle Wolf, and Bill Maher are featured in the RNC's new "Unhinged" ad... (Deadline) | | "Post dismisses reporter for lax attribution in 'aggregated' news stories" | | | That's the headline on Paul Farhi's story. Reporter Marwa Eltagouri "was let go last week before completing the newsroom's mandatory nine-month probationary period for new employees." The reason: "Inadequately attributing material and closely parroting sentences from other publications in articles based on outside news sources." The Post did not go so far as to call it "plagiarism." Details here... | | | For the record, part four | | | Emily Kohlman emails:
-- A 30-year-old mother from El Salvador gives her take on media coverage of child separation at the border. She was imprisoned at a detention center a few years ago… (CJR) -- Journalist-sourced reliability ratings of news outlets could have an effect on audience perceptions of the outlets' accuracy, a survey shows… (Poynter)
-- WaPo's The Lilly is building its Instagram aesthetic while sharing news with millennial women… (NiemanLab) | | Daily Beast launches subscription service | | | Daniella Emanuel emails: The Daily Beast launched a paid subscription service on Wednesday called "Beast Inside." It offers early and exclusive access to their content, as well as "the opportunity to have your voice on our site." "Founding members" will pay $50 for the first year, and then $100/year going forward... | | Lisa Respers France emails:
-- Joe Jackson, the musical family patriarch who helped launch the superstar careers of his famous children, including Michael and Janet, died Wednesday at the age of 89...
-- Sony has signed a deal for Prince's music with the late singer's estate...
-- Here's how Marvel chose which Avengers to kill off in "Infinity War..."
-- 50 Cent faced some backlash for mocking Terry Crews for his sexual harassment activism... | | Lowry reviews 'Ant Man and the Wasp' | | Lowry emails: After the epic scale of "Black Panther" and "Avengers: Infinity War," "Ant-Man and the Wasp" is a smaller Marvel movie that plays up the comedy. But with a weak villain and lacking an origin story, it's less appealing than the original.
Read Lowry's full review here... | | The US box office is chugging along | | | Frank Pallotta emails: We are right around the halfway point of 2018 and the box office is continuing to surge. I wrote last week about how the box office was up 6% from last year leading into "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom." The big weekend from the Universal creature feature has bled into the week, and the year-to-date domestic box office is now up 9.1% and crossing the $6 billion mark, according to comScore. Things should continue going in the right direction with "Ant-Man and the Wasp," Marvel's first film since "Infinity War," opening next week. | | That's a wrap on tonight's newsletter. Thanks for reading!
Your feedback is welcomed. Email your likes, dislikes, thoughts straight to me: oliver.darcy@turner.com.
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