Wednesday 11 July 2018

Covering Trump and Putin; Time's next cover; Gawker's auction; CNN's additions; Kylie's empire; Facebook's InfoWars problem; Cohen's secret show

By Brian Stelter and CNN's media team
View this email in your browser right here!
FB
Fwd
Tweet
Exec summary: Scroll down for the first look at Time mag's new cover... Plus, Emmy nominations are coming out on Thursday... The ruins of Gawker are going up for auction... And Showtime is promoting Sacha Baron Cohen's new show with super-secret screenings...

Trump's European adventure

All eyes are on Brussels for President Trump's meetings at NATO HQ. WashPost's main headline right now: "Trump won't take yes for an answer at NATO summit." And on the NYT home page: "As Trump Insults NATO, Merkel Hesitates to Take Him On Alone."

But I'm already thinking about how Trump's time with Vladimir Putin is going to be covered...

"A most unusual session"

I asked The New Yorker's Susan Glasser, one of CNN's newest contributors, how the press should be framing the upcoming meeting in Helsinki. Here's what she told me:

"Presidents, especially this one, love the pageantry of summits, the notion of great men making big decisions. But, beyond the aggrandizement and the mystery of President Trump's continued praise of President Putin and seeming affinity for the Russian strongman, why is this meeting taking place now? What is even on the agenda? Arms control? Syria? Ukraine? Remarkably, it's not clear, and that in and of itself marks this as a most unusual session. Is that really coming through in the stories that Americans are reading and watching?"

Glasser added: "Along those lines in the coverage I'd love to see more reporting as well around President Putin -- what does he want out of this one-on-one meeting with Trump that both of them have pursued so ardently? A bit of a sense of history is warranted here: Trump will be the fourth consecutive American president to meet Putin like this, and all three of his predecessors, despite their different political approaches, have found themselves traveling an equally frustrating path..."

Are you "numb?"

"Much of the nation has become nonplussed about Moscow's attack on America and numb toward Trump's treachery," David Corn says in his latest for Mother Jones. Corn's "Russian Roulette" co-author Michael Isikoff will join me on the "Reliable Sources" podcast, out Thursday evening...

Anchors in Europe

John Berman will be co-anchoring CNN's "New Day" from London starting Thursday morning... NBC's Andrea Mitchell and Hallie Jackson will anchor their MSNBC shows from there, too... On Friday, Lester Holt will helm "NBC Nightly News" from London...

And on Sunday, we'll see many top anchors broadcasting from Helsinki...
FIRST LOOK

New cover of Time: Why democracy "will prevail"

A very timely edition of TIME: Former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO (and contributor to the mag) James Stavridis has a cover story about the rise of strongmen and the challenges to democracy around the world.

In the U.S., Stavridis says that "finding a voice to counter" anti­democratic rhetoric from Trump et al "is proving surprisingly hard, so far…" But "The media remain strong and determined to tell the truth, and the courts remain rigorously independent..."

 >> The cover story will be out on Thursday morning...

Emmy noms on Thursday morning...

The announcement time is 11:35am ET. Brian Lowry emails: There are a few interesting subplots, including the return of "Game of Thrones," the absence of "Veep" (opening up the comedy field) and the heightened competition among the streaming services, with "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" (Amazon) and "GLOW" (Netflix) among the possible breakthroughs, and "The Handmaid's Tale" still expected to be a big factor. Also, some smaller players, like BBC America with "Killing Eve," could snag some major nominations.

We'll have full coverage on CNN.com...

The "Handmaid's" season finale is up

Have you watched yet? What'd you think?

Brian Lowry emails: Just in time for the Emmy nominations, "The Handmaid's Tale" closed its second season with an episode that was alternately shocking and cathartic. It also invited questions as to how long the show -- which has been somewhat divisive this season -- can reasonably sustain this searing pace... Read more...

 >> And for those wondering, Sandra Gonzalez has this look ahead to season 3, including what showrunner Bruce Miller had to say at a screening of the season finale...
For the record, part one
 -- Here are Thursday's headlines in the British papers, reacting to Croatia's improbable World Cup semi-final win over England... (BBC)
 
-- On Wednesday morning, "21st Century Fox said it had reached a deal to buy Sky" that valued Sky at about $32.5 billion. Then on Wednesday night, Comcast made a new bid valuing Sky around $34 billion. The Bob Iger-Brian Roberts competition continues... (CNNMoney)

 -- The NYT's Thursday lede about the bidding: "Comcast's bid to acquire the bulk of 21st Century Fox's entertainment assets appears to be over. Instead, the cable giant will focus on fighting Fox for control of Sky, one of Europe's most prized media companies..." (NYT)

 -- Jill Disis's latest: A look at how Disney and Fox together would become the "Walmart of Hollywood..." (CNNMoney)

Enrolling Jim Jordan in Journalism 101

CNN, like other news outlets, has been pursuing the Jim Jordan story. Jordan stands accused of ignoring abuse dating back to his time at Ohio State. He has repeatedly denied having any direct knowledge of sexual abuse. Jordan tweeted on Wednesday: "Now @CNN is contacting all 100+ of our former staff and interns asking for dirt on me. Getting desperate! How can you ever trust such #fakenews?"

Countless reporters reacted by saying "this is how journalism works." But Erik Wemple noted that Jordan's claim may nevertheless work among a segment of his supporters who are hostile to journalism: "He's inoculating his people against whatever CNN's investigation finds — while at the same time helping the network round up sources for the piece..."

Keilar's new time slot

CNN's senior DC correspondent Brianna Keilar, the primary fill-in anchor for "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer," will soon anchor her own show at 1pm ET. Jeff Zucker announced her new assignment at a town hall on Wednesday. "Her program will begin in the fall when she returns from maternity leave," CNN PR said...

Three more pieces of CNN news...

 -- Clarissa Ward, also on maternity leave at the moment, is becoming CNN's chief international correspondent. The previous person to hold that title, Christiane Amanpour, is now chief international anchor, with her eponymous program on PBS and CNNI...

 -- Bloomberg anchor Julia Chatterley is jumping to CNN, "where she will host a new program on CNN International beginning this autumn," per PR...

 -- Two new CNN contributors were named on Wednesday: Mark Mazzetti and the aforementioned Susan Glasser...
For the record, part two
 -- A "post-partisan marriage:" Margaret Hoover and John Avlon are profiled on the front page of Thursday's Style section... (NYT)

 -- Amanda Whiting asks: "More reporters are covering Trump from outside of DC. Is that a good thing?" (Washingtonian)

 -- H.R. McMaster is writing a book titled "Battlegrounds..." Harper says it is scheduled to come out in 2020... (Twitter)

 -- Keeping tabs on the competition: Claire Atkinson is now helming The Query, "the NBC News Media Blog," covering the media biz... (NBC)

You can bid for Gawker.com on Thursday

"The bones of Gawker.com" will go up for auction at a Manhattan law firm on Thursday, Ryan Holiday reports here. "Will it be purchased as some kind of relic of a bygone era of the internet? Possessed by a philanthropist or a sworn enemy? Will an upstart publisher try to turn it into something new? Will a major media empire buy it and try to put flesh back on the bones and revive the corpse?"

Bidding will start at $1.3 million...

Silent Shine

Over the weekend I noted that the White House and new deputy chief of staff Bill Shine were staying silent about the racist and conspiratorial ideas shared by Shine's wife Darla. Now CNN's KFile team has published new examples of her controversial views. When Darla Shine hosted a radio show in the late 2000s, she devoted much of the time to "spreading unfounded and debunked conspiracy theories about vaccinations." Much more here...

Key graf: "The White House did not respond to CNN KFile's request about whether Bill Shine endorses his wife's views."

Want to celebrate Spicer's book? Buy a ticket

Oliver Darcy's newest scoop makes me feel like such an amateur. When I wrote a book, I paid for the book party out of my own pocket, well, via the publisher's advance! Apparently there's another way to do it...

Darcy emails: Want to attend Sean Spicer's opening book launch party later this month? Tickets are being sold by organizers with prices starting at $30 and going up to as much as $1,000. Spicer stressed to me that the admission fees are being charged by organizers, not him, and that the ticket prices are aimed at defraying costs associated with the party, not making a profit. The party will be held on July 24 on the Wharf in DC...

What's going to happen to "Game Change 3?"

Mark Halperin and John Heilemann are "at odds over the remains of their shattered political-journalism partnership," the WashPost's Paul Farhi reported Wednesday. "Heilemann has made clear that his collaboration with Halperin is over" due to the harassment allegations against Halperin. BUT Halperin holds key notes and transcripts for any future 2016-themed book/movie/etc. 

So, Farhi said, "the question is, what's Halperin's reporting worth? The two men have been unable to agree on a price for Halperin's material, which has made it impossible for any project based on it to go forward..."
For the record, part three
 -- Trump's latest attempt to drive a wedge between "good" and "bad" news outlets: He said "good morning" to the press on Wednesday, "the legitimate media and the fake-news media..." (The Hill)

 -- Donie O'Sullivan emails: Democratic lawmakers looking into Russian meddling want more details from Facebook about its relationship with a Russian internet conglomerate. We'll have more on this story coming Thursday morning...

 -- Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group CEO John Amato has resigned "amid an investigation into how the publication handled coverage of harassment allegations in the music industry..." (NYT)

 -- "The family of James Foley — a journalist who was tortured and beheaded by the Islamic State group in 2014 — brought a $200 million complaint Tuesday to hold the Syrian government liable..." (Courthouse News)

Facebook's InfoWars problem

Oliver Darcy emails: Facebook invited me to a Wednesday evening event at which the company touted its commitment to fighting "fake news" and misinfo. I asked the e xecs, if they're serious about fighting misinfo online, why do they permit InfoWars to continue to operate on their platform? Let's just say, I didn't get a great answer.

Read Darcy's full story about it here...

Christening CBS's new newsroom

On Wednesday CBS News "opened its new newsroom, named the CBS News Hub, where every unit in the company is going to be represented," TVNewser's A.J. Katz reported. Here's a photo...
For the record, part four
By David Klein:
 
 -- On the fifth anniversary of the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag, Pew examined activism in the age of social media… (Pew)

 -- Another agency freezing out the press? USDA to stop giving media early access to crop reports..." (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
 
 -- Chinese officials are apparently urging state media to stay away from Trump when criticizing the trade war... (Reuters)

Twitter is purging suspicious accounts

Julia Waldow emails: In an effort to combat fraud, Twitter will begin removing millions of suspicious accounts from users' followers on Thursday. In a twist that shows the power of reporting, the company's decision partly stems from an investigation that the NYT conducted back in January about "social media's black market..."

Kylie Jenner, the almost-billionaire

This Forbes must-read is titled "How 20-Year-Old Kylie Jenner Built A $900 Million Fortune In Less Than 3 Years."

The mag says "another year of growth will make her the youngest self-made billionaire ever, male or female, trumping Mark Zuckerberg, who became a billionaire at age 23..."
For the record, part five
By Emily Kohlman:

 -- A female professor's tweet, referencing the #TimesUp movement for sexual assault awareness and prevention, convinced RateMyProfessors to drop the "chili pepper" rating for attractiveness… (Poynter)

 -- Two Danish journos evaluated 54 newsrooms in 9 countries. They concluded that "the crisis of journalism and legacy news media is structural, and not just a matter of technological challenges or broken business models..." (Nieman Lab)
 
 -- A new research effort by the Media Deserts Project aims to map the ways many rural communities are lacking fresh local news and information, allowing users to find their local media outlets by ZIP code… (CJR)

"BuzzFeed makes a play for the Charlie Rose void"

I missed this on Tuesday: BuzzFeed is "increasing its TV footprint with a Sunday night interview show" hosted by NPR's Audie Cornish, VF's Joe Pompeo reported...
 -- Via The Information: "This is the sixth show in two years to originate from BuzzFeed's news division, headed by Ben Smith. In contrast, BuzzFeed Studios, the production arm of the company tasked with creating original film and television content, has only sold one television show, an Oxygen docu-series developed with BuzzFeed News..."

"A landmark moment in the rise of competitive video gaming"

That's how Dylan Byers describes ESPN's deal with Activision Blizzard "for TV rights to the Overwatch eSports league."

Details: "The multi-year deal brings the Overwatch League playoffs and finals to ABC, ESPN, ESPN 2 and Disney XD. It will mark the first time eSports have aired on ABC and the first time ESPN has carried the event in primetime." More...
The entertainment desk

Is all press good press for Sacha Baron Cohen?

Brian Lowry emails: Showtime must be doing cartwheels over Sarah Palin's public denunciation of Sacha Baron Cohen punking her for his new series, "Who is America?" Considering that Cohen has been doing a variation of this bogus-interview shtick since "Da Ali G Show" (which premiered in the U.K. In 2000, and on HBO three years later), it's remarkable the show is generating this much buzz -- thanks both to its targets and the stealthy way in which it was dropped -- in advance of Sunday's premiere...

NDA's and night-vision goggles at the screening

I think Cohen has some questions to answer about Palin's allegation that he posed as a disabled veteran to snag an interview with her. Did he, really? Or does the series portray something else?

We'll all see in due time... In the meantime, Showtime is letting the suspense build...

The network has been letting some TV critics see the first two episodes -- but with serious security measures in place. Attendees at a Wednesday night screening in NYC had to sign an NDA and place their phones in leak-proof cases. AND security guards scanned the room with night vision goggles during the screening, just to be safe...

Lowry's review of "Skyscraper"

Brian Lowry emails: Dwayne Johnson's fourth movie in a little over a year, "Skyscraper," serves up "Die Hard"-esque thrills, evening up the star's theatrical batting average over that stretch — creatively speaking, anyway — at .500. 

Read the rest here...

The Rock says hi on Twitter

Frank Pallotta emails: On Monday night, I saw an early screening of "Skyscraper," and because my thoughts are of utter importance to the world I put my review on Twitter. "'Skyscraper' may be @TheRock's most outrageous film," I tweeted. "I liked it." And to my surprise, the actor replied back, "Haha thanks brother! What about the film where I 'smolder' the whole time or the one where I slap Kevin Hart into next week. My bad that's the same film lol."
For the record, part six
By Lisa Respers France:

 -- Cardi B announced the birth of her first child, daughter Kulture Kiari, on Wednesday...

 -- Speaking of Cardi, here's why you're seeing pictures of the rapper as a 5-year-old everywhere...

 -- "Little People, Big World" star Jeremy Roloff is quitting the show...

 -- Posthumous music by Tom Petty is set to be released in September...
Thanks for reading! Email your likes, dislikes, thoughts straight to me:

brian.stelter@turner.com

See you tomorrow.
FB
Fwd
Tweet

® © 2018 Cable News Network, Inc.
A WarnerMedia Company. All Rights Reserved.
You are receiving this message because you subscribed to
CNNMoney's "Reliable Sources" newsletter.


Our mailing address is:
Cable News Network, Inc.
Attention: Privacy Policy Coordinator
One CNN Center, 13 North
Atlanta, GA 30303

unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences
Download CNN on the App Store Get CNN on Google Play