| | | | | Exec summary: Counting down til the Eagles take on the Patriots! #FlyEaglesFly. NBC says Super Bowl ad time is sold out... Some viewers are more excited for "This Is Us..." But let's begin with the story that Sean Hannity says is "Watergate times a thousand..." | | The memo's out -- what now? | | | The GOP memo is out. Trump allies say it exposes "deep state/media collusion to destroy Trump." (That's a Breitbart quote.) Trump detractors say it just proves the GOP's attempts to discredit Robert Mueller are bogus. (TPM says the memo was "one big self-own.") Skeptics say this whole memo thing was underwhelming. And John McCain says these kinds of screaming matches are "doing Putin's job" for him. So what now? The answer depends on what you watch/where you click... | | The NYT's ledeall story says Friday's big reveal "fell well short of making the case promised by some Republicans." The WashPost's editorial board says the memo is a "giant, damaging distraction" that "shows the opposite of what Trump hoped it would prove."
Meanwhile, The AP says the document's release "is likely to further escalate an intra-government conflict that has divided the White House and Trump's hand-picked law enforcement leaders."
Sean Hannity sure hopes so! He says Mueller's probe "needs to be shut down immediately" and the charges against Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn "need to be dropped."
Hannity exists in an alternative reality. He says the alleged FISA abuses are "shocking," and this is "now is the biggest abuse of power/corruption case in American history." Fox journalists like Chris Wallace have a very different view. No, he told Shep Smith, "I wouldn't say this is worse than Watergate." But Chris! Sean says it's a "thousand" times worse.
Meanwhile, Mueller's team silently continues its work... | | | Noah Rothman's lunchtime prediction is already bearing out: "Right media will scoff at the elite liberals dismissing their concerns and left media will heap scorn on unmet expectations set by right media. It's unspeakably exhausting." | | "A dark moment in American history" | | | CNN's Jeffrey Toobin called this day "a dark moment in American history." The memo? "An absolute disgrace" -- It was "part of an effort to discredit the investigation of the president," and "it doesn't even work on those terms." | | What will happen on Saturday? | | | Jake Tapper on a special 10pm edition of "The Lead:" "Are we on the eve of a Saturday night massacre?" On Friday afternoon Trump refused to say whether he's considering firing Rod Rosenstein. But as Tapper noted, W.H. aides are now saying there will be "no changes at the Justice Department..." | | | Oliver Darcy emails: It was noteworthy how the memo was rolled out to the public on Friday. Key points appeared to have been released to news outlets friendly to the White House before the info was available to other media organizations. Both Fox News and the Washington Examiner reported on highlights from the memo while other outlets were still scrambling to get their hands on the doc. This raised eyebrows: Chuck Todd said releasing details to conservative media was "not a good look" and "only reinforces the partisan look to all this." And Maggie Haberman wrote on Twitter it was "quite the way to make it clear this isn't political..." | | | More from Darcy: It's not unusual for the government to brief select news organizations in advance of making the information widely available to other news outlets. But, it was noteworthy that these details were made available to conservative outlets likely to report the news in a way favorable to the White House. And the fact that Fox News was among the first outlets to report key details from the Nunes memo was especially striking, because in many ways the release was the culmination of a furor that the network helped create... | | What the past week was all about: | | | Much like Hannity or Alex Jones, Rep. Devin Nunes "successfully weaponized the pro-Trump media and its online viral outrage machine, ultimately forcing the country to obsess and speculate over a largely political document," BuzzFeed's Charlie Warzel wrote Friday night. The "breathless coverage, relentless tweets, and continual teases?" Straight from their playbook. "But while the congressman's tactics to release classified information feel cribbed from the pro-Trump media playbook," Warzel wrote, "Nunes appears to have made a crucial mistake: actually releasing the memo..." | | | Highly recommended: "The release of the memo mattered less than #releasethememo," Mark Mazzetti wrote in this piece for Saturday's NYT. The memo "didn't live up to the hype," but the campaign "may have a far more significant impact than the memo's contents..." | | Now Nunes says "stay tuned" for more | | | Nunes gave an interview to Bret Baier at 6pm. When Baier asked about the prospect of MORE memos, Nunes said "Yes, this completes just the FISA abuse portion of our investigation. We are in the middle of what I call phase 2 of our investigation," which involves the State Department. Hmmm. "There's more" became a theme on Fox all evening long. Matt Schlapp later in the 6pm hour: "This is one step. We're going to learn MORE." A banner on Tucker Carlson's show at 8 said "SOURCES: THERE ARE MORE MEMOS TO COME." Hannity continued the narrative at 9... | | | Quoting Andrew Sullivan's latest NYMag column is about tribalism: "Loyalty to the tribe -- and its current chief -- is enforced relentlessly. And this, it seems to me, is the underlying reason why the investigation into Russian interference in the last election is now under such attack and in such trouble. In a tribalized society, there can be no legitimacy for an independent inquiry, indifferent to tribal politics. In this fray, no one is allowed to be above it..." Not even the FBI... | | "Talk is cheap; the work you do is what will endure." | | | This was a remarkable message from FBI director Christopher Wray to the rank and file. News outlets got ahold of it on Friday evening. He praised the integrity and professionalism of his staff and said "I wish every American could see what I see." NBC's Tom Winter posted the text of the message... | | Great timing for Isikoff and Corn's book... | | | Michael Isikoff and David Corn -- the two journalists cited in the Nunes memo -- have a book about the Russia scandal coming out in March. It's titled "Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin's War on America and the Election of Donald Trump." Isikoff told me the book was literally going to print on Friday... But the authors hit pause so that they can add a brief bit about the Nunes memo... Meanwhile, the publisher started ramping up promotional efforts on Friday, taking advantage of this news peg... | | | Speaking of Isikoff, he will join me on Sunday's "Reliable Sources..." Along with Chris Ruddy, David Zurawik, Hadas Gold, Julian Zelizer, Margaret Sullivan, and Julia Ioffe, who tweeted out this list on Friday... | | "Some things the Nunes Memo does not explain away:
1) The hack of DNC servers by 2 Russian intelligence agencies
2) George Papadopoulos's contacts with the Russians
3) Michael Flynn's negotiations with the Russian ambassador
4) the Trump Tower meeting
5) Firing Comey" | | --A judge has denied a request from CNN and other news outlets "for Comey memos of Trump conversations..." (CNN)
-- Vincent Cirrincione "helped Halle Berry and Taraji Henson to stardom." Now, Tracy Jan reports, "9 minority women are accusing him of sexual harassment." Cirrincione has not commented... (WashPost)
-- The Charleston Gazette-Mail in West Virginia won a Pulitzer last year. Earlier this week, "staff learned that the newspaper was filing for bankruptcy ahead of a sale..." (NYT)
-- Here's David Folkenflik's latest on the LAT turmoil... He describes business editor's Kimi Yoshino "triumphant return" to the newsroom... (NPR)
-- "Former Washington Post executive editor Leonard Downie Jr. is writing a memoir about his nearly half-century at the newspaper..." (WashPost) | | Charles Harder's law partner quits | | | THR with the scoop: "Well-known free speech attorney Douglas Mirell is leaving the law firm he co-founded with Charles Harder, saying he feels the company's work for clients like President Donald Trump doesn't reflect his interest in protecting the First Amendment and that longtime clients were threatening to take their cases elsewhere..." | | Dow down 1,000 points this week | | | CNNMoney's Matt Egan: "Wall Street just suffered the worst day of the Trump presidency." Drudge went with the devilish 666 # to mark Friday's decline: | | | Philip Bump's headline on the WashPost web site: "Trump's favorite indicator of his success just took a beating." He pointed out that "for the week, the Dow fell 1,096 points. That's the third-worst week since 1980, following 9/11 and the economic crisis..." | | | It's almost finally game day... Will you be watching? Will the Super Bowl top last year's average of 108 million viewers in the U.S.? The high temperature on Sunday is expected to be 6 degrees... so if you're in Minneapolis covering the game, stay safe... | | Has the NFL "peaked?" Here's our new podcast | | | You should listen to this week's "Reliable Sources" podcast before kickoff! It's all about the NFL's stressful season and this Sunday's finale. My guests are CNNMoney's Ahiza Garcia and Frank Pallotta. We talked about ratings, protests, Trump, safety concerns, "This Is Us," and much more. Check it out on Apple Podcasts... or TuneIn... | | You hafta appreciate this Philly Inquirer cover... | | | This is the front of a 24-page special section in Friday's Inky: | | Boston and Philly's papers are sharing content... | | | ...And they're both working with the paper where the Super Bowl is being played. As Kristen Hare explains here, the Inquirer, Boston Globe and Minneapolis Star-Tribune are all benefiting from a "content-sharing partnership..." | | NBC's telecast is officially sold out | | New on Friday evening: From Dan Lovinger, EVP of ad sales, NBC Sports Group: "Super Bowl LII is sold out. We booked record revenue, and advertiser enthusiasm for the game is at an all-time high."
It would be fun to know who bought the very last ad spot! Jeanine Poggi's AdAge story has some details: "Earlier on Friday, Wix.com said it had made a last-minute buy in the game, despite previously saying that it would sit out this year's game. Wix.com CMO Omer Shai said the decision was based on getting a 'good deal' that they couldn't pass up. Toyota also said that it had made a late decision to increase its ad buy to three spots from two. And Wendy's has said its decision to return to the game was a recent one..." | | There's less "buzz" than usual about both the game and the ads. Maybe that means there will be more "surprise" ads...
-- But of the spots that are already out, the Doritos/Mountain Dew spot has had the most online views...
-- USA Today is already accepting votes for its annual Ad Meter...
-- I had wondered about this! Brad Stone explains why your Alexa won't light up when Amazon's Super Bowl ad says "Alexa..." | | Advertisers are "trapped" | | | Gerry Smith's latest for Bloomberg: "The NFL has lost millions of viewers in recent years. Advertisers are sticking around anyway. It's not that football sponsors are more loyal, they're trapped. In a fractured television landscape, NFL games -- and especially the Super Bowl -- are still the best way to reach a massive live audience, even if it is shrinking..." | | This is a great piece by Derek Thompson | | | Brian Lowry emails his latest: Fox's huge premium for NFL rights underscore what will be readily apparent over the next few weeks, with the Super Bowl followed by the Winter Olympics: Broadcasting, and especially the lure of live sports within that ecosystem, might be a dinosaur, but it isn't dead yet... | | Eagles and Patriots fans prep for emotional "This Is Us" | | Sandra Gonzalez emails: "This Is Us" fans everywhere are hoarding wine and Kleenex in prep for the big question-answering post-Super Bowl episode, but who are the real heroes of Sunday? Eagles and Patriots fans who also love "This Is Us." It's going to be an emotionally exhausting night of TV!
I spoke with some die-hard supporters of both teams about how they plan to cope... One of the best reactions came from Hamilton, NJ native Natalie DeAngelo, who's already planning to show up to work late on Monday. "I might need to sleep in a little bit," she said. (For the record, she thinks Jack and Rebecca would be rooting for the Eagles.) Read the rest here... | | | I have talked about it with Jamie. We are definitely not watching "This Is Us" live on Sunday. "Not a chance!" Jamie says. We'll be catching up via Hulu a day or two later... | | -- Nine-months-pregnant Poppy Harlow tweeted after her Friday newscast: "Time to get ready for baby #2! Big thanks to John Berman and the best team in 📺 @CNN! See you in a few months (and plenty sleep deprived)"
-- Dave Itzkoff's latest is about "SNL" and its Alec Baldwin problem: "Satirizing Trump as a bully and abuser while Baldwin supports men like Woody Allen and James Toback and brusquely dismisses women like Dylan Farrow..." (NYT)
-- Jamie flagged this one for me: Taylor Lorenz says "the new dating requirement" is "consuming all of your partner's #content..." (The Daily Beast) | | YouTube is labeling videos from government-funded outlets | | Hadas Gold emails: YouTube announced on Friday that the site will label content from government or publicly funded outlets. That means videos from Russian funded network RT, which has more than 2 million subscribers on its YouTube channel, will get a label stating that "RT is funded in whole or in part by the Russian government." Same for VOA: "Funded in whole or in part by the American government."
The labels are already starting to appear. There's also an "info" tag under the video that links to the Wikipedia article about the broadcaster. A YouTube rep told me the company trusts Wikipedia, even though anyone can edit those articles, because execs believe it provides a good aggregate of info and that Wikipedia's editors tend to catch outrageous edits. Read more... | | | More from Hadas: YouTube cautioned that the policy is new and will change. The company wants feedback. And PBS has some feedback: Labeling "PBS a 'publicly funded broadcaster' is both vague and misleading," the organization said Friday, because only a small percentage of its funding is from the federal government. "PBS is an independent, private, not-for-profit corporation, not a state broadcaster. YouTube's proposed labeling could wrongly imply that the government has influence over PBS content, which is prohibited by statute. If YouTube's intent is to create clarity and better understanding, this is a step in the wrong direction. We are in ongoing discussions with YouTube on this issue, but we have yet to reach a satisfactory solution," a spokesperson for the network said... | | HQ Trivia could be valued at $100 million+ | | Recode's big Thursday night scoop: "HQ Trivia, the popular trivia gameshow app, plans to raise money in a new round of financing that values the company north of $100 million, according to multiple sources. Founders Fund, the venture firm founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, is expected to lead the round of $15 million." HQ's shows routinely draw hundreds of thousands of viewers... The live viewership # in the corner of the screen makes the game show a communal experience...
--> But: Thiel's involvement stirred some backlash on Friday... Even some pledges to stop playing the game... | | Will this satisfy U.K. regulators? | | "Rupert Murdoch's Fox is hoping the creation of an independent editorial board to protect the news channel at bid target Sky will satisfy regulators and allow it to finally take control of the European pay-TV group," Reuters reported Friday.
Hadas Gold emails with this context: The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority had provisionally recommended against the merger unless Fox can somehow inoculate Sky News from Murdoch or his family's influence... The regulator did note that Fox might not own Sky for long, given the pending Disney deal...
-- More from Reuters: "Lawyers and consultants think Fox can land Sky by offering a fully independent board for Sky News and long-term funding, preventing it from having to make the more costly option of spinning off the channel or selling it completely..."
-- David Folkenflik's take via Twitter: Promises of an "independent board" have "proven BS at NY Post, WSJ etc. But buys time for Disney deal, which would include Sky..." | | Texas Monthly appoints ombudsman after recent cover controversy | | CJR's Alexandria Neason writes: "Texas Monthly is hiring an ombudsman. The magazine's move comes in response to a CJR story, published on January 26, that reported on an apparent deal made by Texas Monthly Editor in Chief Tim Taliaferro with Bumble, the female-centric dating app. Bumble's founder, Whitney Wolfe Herd, appears on the newsstand cover of the magazine's February issue."
The mag's chairman and CEO Paul W. Hobby said Friday that "the magazine did not and will not sell our covers." But he acknowledged the recent controversy and said Rich Oppel's appointment as ombudsman is "part of our commitment to protecting our editorial integrity..." | | Happy anniversary to the News Literacy Project! | | | NLP founder and CEO Alan Miller emails: "The News Literacy Project is celebrating its 10-year anniversary today! We officially founded NLP on Feb. 2, 2008. A year later, we launched our first classroom program." Miller says the organization is marking #10YearsofNLP throughout the year... Check out some of the support for the project on social media... | | "Black Panther" is going to break so many records | | Frank Pallotta reports: "Black Panther" is still two weeks away from hitting theaters, but advance ticket sales on Fandango are already outpacing all other superhero films -- and eclipsed every other movie that currently has tickets for sale on the site.
The movie opens on February 16... | | Lowry reviews "A Fantastic Woman" | | | Brian Lowry emails: "A Fantastic Woman," Chile's Oscar nominee for best foreign-language film, opens in limited release this weekend, crossing cultural and language boundaries with Daniela Vega's performance as a trans woman forced out of her home when her boyfriend suddenly dies. Read more... | | Sluggish box office weekend ahead? | | | Lowry adds: CBS Films, meanwhile, opted not to screen "Winchester," a horror movie starring Helen Mirren, in what figures to be a slow movie weekend with the Super Bowl clogging up Sunday... | | | Have a great weekend! See you Sunday morning on CNN and Sunday evening in your inbox after the game... | | | Email brian.stelter@turner.com... I love the feedback, corrections, suggestions, and tips. Thank you... | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
