| | | | | Exec summary: Scroll down for Cannes bingo, Rolling Stone's new editor, Pew's survey about fact v. opinion, MTV Movie & TV Awards highlights, and more... | | The story about family separations at the border grew little by little until it erupted over the weekend. Now there's sustained, almost nonstop coverage. Many news outlets are calling it a crisis and staffing it accordingly. Jeff Zeleny's Q at the W.H. briefing crystallized the controversy: How is this not "child abuse?"
But will the coverage last? And will the coverage matter?
As the WashPost's Paul Farhi tweeted: "Have to wonder how long the family-separation issue remains front and center for WH press corps. With Trump, new controversies and scandals tend to bump old ones. Does this issue have longer legs?" | | Nearly 70 separations a day | | Yesterday I listed a bunch of reasons why this story broke through: President Trump's lies about the policy, sustained outrage among immigration advocates, organized protests by Democratic lawmakers, limited access to the detention centers.
But I probably left the most important reason off the list. LA Times theatric critic Charles McNulty wrote to me, "Every human being knows what it's like to be a frightened child." So "this separation policy is a nightmare come true."
Per DHS, nearly 70 children are being separated from adults each day, per May/early June stats... | | The power of this audio tape | | Recording is prohibited when the detention centers allow tours for journalists. So news outlets are stuck using the photos and videos that the government will provide. Still, the photos of children in cages have horrified much of the country.
But what if you could hear from the kids? Hear their voices? That's what ProPublica provided on Monday -- audio of sobbing children. It was recorded last week. "Many of them sound like they're crying so hard, they can barely breathe," Ginger Thompson wrote.
The tape is getting widespread attention now. Olivia Nuzzi played a portion of it during the W.H. briefing, hoping to get DHS secretary Kirstjen Nielsen's attention.
Nielsen "said just now that our posting of the audiotape today reflected 'the agenda' of those posting it. That is true," ProPublica's Richard Tofel tweeted. "Our agenda is to bring the American people facts for their consideration..." | | So the coverage keeps ramping up. Gayle King co-hosted "CBS This Morning" from McAllen on Monday, appeared on the "CBS Evening News," and will co-host Tuesday's morning show from the region too.
Lester Holt arrived in TX on Monday and anchored "NBC Nightly News" from there... He'll report from the border on Tuesday's "Today" show, along with "Today" correspondent and MSNBC anchor Craig Melvin.
On MSNBC, Stephanie Ruhle will be live from TX at 9 and 11am Tuesday... Melvin at 1pm... Chris Hayes at 8pm... and Lawrence O'Donnell at 10pm... | | | "There's nothing political about wincing or shedding a tear at the sight of a child left alone, one caught up in dizzying circumstances not of their own making, and crying for their families," Holt said at the end of Monday's broadcast. "And yet it's naive to suggest that politics is not to some extent at the core of our dilemma. What is happening here is testing our better angels, on multiple fronts, challenging our competing values of protecting our sovereignty and honoring our hearts. As the local border chief here told me today, 'it's complicated and many-layered,' to which I thought to myself, 'Isn't that the way it is with most matters of the heart.'" | | Seven CNN crews in the region | | | Per CNN, Ed Lavandera is in the Rio Grande Valley, Dianne Gallagher is in McAllen, Nick Valencia and Polo Sandoval are in Brownsville, Rosa Flores is in San Diego, Gary Tuchman is in Nogales, AZ, and Martin Savidge is also in AZ... | | -- About that briefing: Chris Cillizza lists "5 ways Kirstjen Nielsen's press conference on family separation was a total disaster..."
-- Chris Cuomo to Kellyanne Conway on "Cuomo Prime Time:" "It's a phone call away from getting changed and stopping those kids from crying. Let's see what happens..."
-- Earlier in the day, Wolf Blitzer had an intense interview with W.H. legislative director Marc Short. Blitzer said "I'm not editorializing -- I'm reflecting the views of an overwhelming majority of the American public..."
-- Blunt language in Tuesday's NYT: "President Trump sent his clearest signal yet on Monday that he intends to make divisive, racially charged issues like immigration central going into the campaign season..."
-- This is one of those instances when people are going on Fox News and appealing directly to the president... I wrote about a couple of the examples here... | | | As I noted in this story, lots of viewers see journalists speaking up for basic American values, FAMILY values, morality. But others see anti-Trump bias... Trumpworld's media bashing is very effective with a subset of the population... | | CNN's Monday night lede: "The White House, facing mounting outcry and contradictory statements about President Donald Trump's practice of separating children from their parents at the US border, entered damage control mode on Monday."
Both the NYT and WashPost are out with stories that say Trump is suspicious of the (government-provided!) photos/the resulting news coverage. He thinks he's being "mistreated by the media," the NYT says.
Key graf from the WashPost: "Trump has been closely monitoring the coverage, but has been suspicious of it, telling associates he believes the media cherry-picks the most dramatic images and stories to portray his administration in a negative light, according to one senior administration official. The images in the media contrast with more positive photos Trump's aides have shown the president depicting detained children smiling, playing video games and exercising outside..." | | The pro-Trump media leaps into action | | | Oliver Darcy emails: Among Trump's top allies in the media, two narratives quickly emerged on Monday. Some members of the right-wing press sought to portray immigrants seeking entry into the United States as threats, while others went as far as to suggest the scenes of children being detained in cages are part of an elaborate, fictitious plot... And then there's the whole attempt to redefine the word "cage..." | | More from Darcy: That's what one of the top headlines on the Fox News homepage screamed on Monday morning -- "DANGER" -- linking to an "exclusive" story about DACA recipients with arrest records.
The Drudge Report also attempted to paint danger on the border, pairing a photograph of Syrian children holding toy guns with a headline about the children being detained at the border. The photo was later taken down, but the implication was clear: That minors being held in detention facilities posed a potential threat. The photographer who captured the image, Christiaan Triebert, told me it was an "obscene misrepresentation" of his work... | | Fox's support in prime time | | Tucker Carlson at 8pm: "This is one of those moments that tells you everything about our ruling class. They care far more about foreigners than about their own people." He says "their goal is to change your country forever..."
Sean Hannity at 9: "No one likes the idea of separating any child from any parent, but this issue has been in the hands of Congress. And right now, the whole issue can be fixed. Every law can be changed, and if they did their job, it would happen..."
Laura Ingraham at 10: The detention centers are "essentially summer camps..." | | Is this all "phony" outrage?! | | | More from Darcy: That's effectively some members of the conservative media told their audiences. Laura Ingraham said on her radio program that it was "phony border outrage." Rush Limbaugh said the entire thing is an "entirely manufactured crisis." He added, "It's all about people attempting to invade our country, not emigrate here." And Ann Coulter called children wailing at detention facilities "child actors" and implored Trump not to "fall for the actor children..." | | -- What I'm wondering: Germany just recorded its lowest crime rate since 1992. Trump falsely claimed "crime in Germany is way up." He's misleading the public... but I'd love to know... who is misleading him? (CNN)
-- Jeff Greenfield tweeted: "In a media universe consumed by the outrage of children torn from their parents, the FORBES Magazine reporting of the flat-out scandalous financial deeds of Commerce Sec. Ross is going to slip under the radar. It shouldn't..." (Forbes)
-- "Rolling Stone has named Jason Fine as editor in advance of the relaunch of the magazine, website and live event business in July..." (Variety) | | There was champagne served in the LA Times newsroom Monday as Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong completed his $500 million purchase of Tronc's southern California papers.
Soon-Shiong in a memo to staff: "There's no agenda, other than to make this the best journalistic institution..." Frank Pallotta has details here... | | Step one: Soon-Shiong named veteran newsroom leader Norman Pearlstine the new EIC of the LA Times. "During the last two months, Pearlstine, 75, has served as an advisor to Soon-Shiong, charged with creating a transition plan. He will now help execute that plan," the LAT's Meg James wrote. Key details from her story:
-- S-S tried to woo Dean Baquet and Marty Baron, knowing both men were long shots...
-- "Other top prospects were hesitant to join The Times with its revolving door of managers." Pearlstine says part of his job is to prove that "the turmoil is behind us..."
-- Still, "Pearlstine acknowledges that he might be in the job only a year or two..." He says "one of the most important things I can do is to find my successor..."
-- Love this detail from the story: "Pearlstine said he is energized by his new task. He has lost 50 pounds in the last year and has taken up boxing in a gym." Here's James' full story... | | | Brian Lowry emails: Newspapers have suffered broadly over the last 20 years, but in terms of sheer tumult and turnover, the LA Times has had it especially bad. So employees (and alumni, including yours truly) should be entitled a degree of cautious optimism about the paper's new local ownership, with the hope that as billionaire owners go, Patrick Soon-Shiong is a lot closer to Jeff Bezos than former Tribune owner Sam Zell... | | Ben Jacobs made an important point on Twitter: "While everyone is justly celebrating the LA Times's liberation from Tronc today, worth noting that there are great journalists at places like the Baltimore Sun and Chicago Tribune who are still dealing with them."
So, with that in mind, Keith Kelly's Monday scoop made a lot of people happy, even if it's just symbolic: "Tronc, one of the most lambasted corporate name changes of the digital era, is going to return to its original name, Tribune Publishing."
Kelly quoted a source saying that the Tronc/Tribune board "actually approved the name change a month ago, but was waiting for the completion of the California deal..." | | -- "Noah Kotch, the editor-in-chief of Fox News Digital, has been named the new editor-in-chief of DailyMail.com and MailOnline..." (The Guardian)
-- NYT's Matt Apuzzo is "joining the international desk as an investigative correspondent based in Brussels..." (NYT)
-- P&G wants to have women "direct at least half its commercials by 2023." The company is also committing "to pushing for gender equality in top marketing and creative jobs at advertising agencies..." (CNNMoney) | | Introducing Katie Couric Media | | Keach Hagey's latest for the WSJ: Katie Couric is "striking out on her own, expanding her own production company with outside investment so that it can find its own sponsors and distribution outlets."
Katie Couric Media -- the umbrella company for her podcast, NatGeo series, etc -- has a new deal for a "a short-form online video series for digital-media outfit theSkimm." It'll be sponsored by the aforementioned P&G.
Per Hagey, Couric's company has funding from "roughly a dozen investors, including Horizon Media founder Bill Koenigsberg and Lyrical Partners managing partner Jeffrey Keswin." Couric will be in Cannes on Tuesday, which brings us to... | | | I'm not there this year. Are you? Email me any tidbits. I loved QZ's bingo card -- full of "the ad industry's top buzzwords in 2018" -- here it is: | | What John Stankey is focusing on | | On CNN's "New Day" Monday morning, new WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey made clear that his goal is to "invest in this business" and innovate. At CNN, he'll back up the network's reporters, he said, while asking questions like this: "How can we broaden the distribution of the great content you guys build every day?"
John Berman, Alisyn Camerota and I spoke with Stankey... and I thought this exchange was the most telling of all:
CAMEROTA: I think you should bring back "The Sopranos" and "Sex and the City." Have you considered that?
STANKEY: That's their -- My job is to stay out of the content decisions and facilitate capital allocations.
Stankey said "I'm going to watch" shows, "but I'm certainly not going to get involved in the decisions." He lit up while talking about the "battle for customer engagement," the battle for hours spent per week. One way to win more hours? If autonomous vehicles = more free time in the car, and 5G networks "enable ubiquitous distribution of video no matter where you are," then "there's going to be an opportunity for more consumption of content." That seems to be Stankey's focus... Thinking 1/3/5 years out... | | WarnerMedia week one: More headlines | | >> THR: Stankey told Matthew Belloni that "we intend to support CNN, we intend to maintain its editorial independence. I know that that's going to mean that there will be some tough decisions that occur as a result of that and you will see us be very rigorous around how we do that. I think we 're ready for that..."
>> Reuters: "AT&T promises fewer ads, tailored programing after merger..."
>> CNNMoney: AT&T is racking up serious debt, but CEO Randall Stephenson says that "within four years, we'll be back to our normal levels of debt..." | | | For the record, part three | | | -- How does The Daily pod get made? Michael Barbaro shared some of the secrets in this chat with Kara Swisher... (Recode)
-- David Axelrod's guest on the newest episode of his "Axe Files:" Rachel Maddow... (Apple Podcasts) | | How well can you tell factual from opinion statements? | | Hadas Gold emails: How good are you at separating "factual" statements from "opinion" statements? A new Pew Research Center survey found that this basic skill is lacking in many Americans. The center gave a survey to 5,035 adults, asking them to read a statement and identify whether it was "factual" or "opinion." One example: "Immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally have some rights under the Constitution."
A majority of Americans correctly identified at least three out of five factual and opinion statements, but Pew notes that's little better than random guesses. Those who identified themselves as digitally savvy, with high political awareness and those who place high levels of trust did the best on the quiz.
Take the quiz yourself here... And read the full report here... | | In light of Sunday's WashPost story about yet another undisclosed meeting between members of Trumpworld and Russians, CNN's Marshall Cohen added 'em all up:
"According to CNN's latest count," he wrote, "at least 14 Trump associates had contact with Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign and transition. Manafort, Gates, Kushner, Trump Jr., Papadopoulos, Page, Sessions, Stone, Gordon, Flynn, Prince, Cohen, Caputo, Berkowitz."
Cohen noted that some interactions were straightforward, like a public handshake with the Russian ambassador, with others were more controversial... | | Caputo's interview circuit | | | Brian Lowry emails: In the latest installment of inexplicable interviews involving former Trump campaign associates, it's a little mystifying why Michael Caputo -- especially given his PR background -- would appear all across cable news on Monday to discuss his contact with Russians in 2016, and even harder to imagine that he would think saying "I have zero legal exposure" is a good look... | | From Viceland to Showtime... | | | Viceland tried to hold onto these two, but Showtime won out. "Showtime has closed a deal for its first weekly late-night show starring Desus & Mero's Desus Nice and The Kid Mero," Deadline reports. "The half-hour program" is slated to debut in 2019... | | "Incredibles 2" hit Disney's box office sweet spot | | Frank Pallotta emails with his latest: Animation and superheroes. That's how Disney and Pixar's "Incredibles 2" became the biggest opening for an animated film ever.
Since its inception, Disney has been synonymous with animation, but over the last decade it added superheroes to its content arsenal. "Incredibles 2" was the best of both worlds. Read the rest here...
--> Paul Dergarabedian: "'Incredibles 2'' perfectly combined Disney's two greatest areas of expertise, and the results were irresistible to audiences who have come to trust that nobody delivers these genres like Disney..." | | Brian Lowry emails: Both movies are pretty good, but "Incredibles 2" is a huge hit, and "Solo: A Star Wars Story" isn't -- another mixed message from audiences about their appetite for sequels and spinoffs, as well as a reminder that the expectations game associated with box-office tracking is hardly an exact science.
Read Lowry's full column here! | | The MTV Movie & TV Awards aired on Monday night... | | Chloe Melas emails from L.A.:
-- See the full list of the winners here...
-- Chadwick Boseman gave his award to the Waffle House hero...
-- Nick Robinson and Keiynan Lonsdale won the award for "Best Kiss," making it the second year in a row the award has gone to a same-sex couple...
-- And Chris Pratt presented his nine rules for living... | | Megan Thomas emails: When all feels wrong in the world, leave it to the Carters to give the masses a reason to hope. Here's a selection of analysis about their new album:
-- The New Yorker: Beyoncé and Jay-Z's ode to happiness
-- Vulture: On 'Everything Is Love,' Beyoncé and Jay-Z are performing a marriage in real time
-- NYT: Beyoncé and Jay-Z: The State of the Union is strong
-- The Root: A list of things that happen within the first hour after Beyoncé drops new music | | Here's how to catch up on Sunday's "Reliable Sources" | | | If you missed Sunday's show, here are four ways to catch up: Read the transcript, listen to the podcast, watch the video clips on CNN.com, or watch the full program via CNNgo or VOD... | | | On "Reliable," I asked, "Are we actually reaching a boiling point? Because it sure seems that way to me..." | | | Later in the hour, 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... | | What it means to own the news | | With AT&T taking control of CNN and the rest of Time Warner, now named WarnerMedia, 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 new CEO John 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." | | 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... | | Feedback welcome!
Email your likes, dislikes, thoughts to brian.stelter@turner.com... the feedback helps us improve this newsletter every day... Thank you! | | | | | | |
