| | | | | Exec summary: Vox is laying off staffers, The Atlantic is hiring, Newsweek is struggling, Ryan Coogler is saying thanks... | | At the very beginning of Wednesday's "Stand Up: The Students of Stoneman Douglas Demand Action" broadcast, Jake Tapper said this was going to be a "historic exchange." And he was right.
CNN's town hall in Florida was tremendous. If you missed the live broadcast, hopefully you'll see some of the clips on Thursday. There was something so empowering -- something so unusual -- about seeing students and parents and teachers challenging their elected officials in front of a nationally televised audience. Check the CNN.com home page for full coverage... | | Thank you to the lawmakers... | | Thank you for showing up. Thank you for taking the questions and trying to answer. Especially Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who knew the students would boo some of his answers. His Democratic colleague Bill Nelson gave him credit on stage: "He had guts, coming here, when in fact there is no representative of the state of Florida -- our governor did not come here, Governor Scott -- but Marco did." Rubio later responded to Nelson: "Being here tonight is not courage. Courage is what you did, what you guys are doing," he said, pointing to the students.
NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch also deserves credit for appearing in front of a very skeptical audience of students... | | | WashPost's Erik Wemple tweeted during the broadcast: "This CNN town hall event on gun violence is riveting. Great format, perfect timing." He added: "A lot of credit here goes to Jake Tapper, who understands that the idea here is to keep low profile and let the community face off against the pols..." | | Tweets during the broadcast: SPJ's Andrew Seaman: "I had a lot of concerns about this town hall, but this is amazing." Yashar Ali: "Pretty incredible that they got this CNN town hall together just a week after the shooting." OANN's Trey Yingst: "This is raw. This is authentic. This is dialogue." The New Yorker's Evan Osnos: "Watching a teenager fundamentally challenge Rubio's talking points feels like watching a generation call B.S. on a whole form of politics."
Right afterward: Politico's Susan Glasser: "That town hall was an amazing public service." CNN's Athena Jones: "This feels like some kind of turning point. Is it? (Or is this an echo chamber moment?) You tell me..." | | | Both Fox's Greg Gutfeld and The Daily Wire's Ben Shapiro tweeted that the town hall was a "show trial." Gutfeld said "this divides, not unites." And Shapiro said the town hall audience's cheers for banning semi-automatic weapons "may be good for ratings, but it's crappy politics." He tweeted: "So do it. Do it, Democrats. Propose full repeal of the Second Amendment and see how that plays at the polls. I dare you..." | | | "Watching the astonishing, inspiring uprising of these #NeverAgain kids over the past week -- and in the face of such skepticism, antagonism, and putrid, conspiracy-theory-mongering hatred -- I've rarely felt as hopeful about the future of this country," John Heilemann tweeted... | | Trump's listening session | | President Trump's hour-long meeting at the W.H. was carried live by all the cable newsers. And it was remarkable in its own right. The NYT's headline on Page One: "In Halls of Power, Gun Survivors Urge Action."
The WashPost's Jenna Johnson summed up the event this way: "Trump listened intently as students, parents and teachers shared ideas for preventing school shootings. But he remained focused on the solution he often proposes after a mass shooting: increasing the number of people with guns."
Indeed, arming teachers was one of the main takeaways afterward... This idea is going to drive a lot of Thursday's coverage... | | | On CNN Wednesday evening, Gloria Borger referred to some of the current ideas and proposals as "nibbling around the edges." There's so much discussion, from POTUS on down, about "school shootings" -- specifically about keeping students safe -- which means we're not discussing the overall daily death toll from guns all across the country. According to the CDC, there are 92 firearm deaths in America every day. Almost two-thirds of the deaths are suicides; the rest are homicides... | | Three things I heard while channel-surfing | | CNN: David Axelrod on "AC360:" "These kids are so inspiring, so impressive. And they are just asking us to suspend our cynicism -- to throw off the political shackles that campaign contributions and threats from the NRA represent -- and finally live up to our responsibilities..."
FOX: 8pm host Tucker Carlson: "Demagogues" on other cable news channels "use the traumatized children of Parkland as a human shield. Ask them what they're calling for, ask them to describe these policies that will supposedly fix everything, and these child-less news anchors screech that you're attacking the children..."
MSNBC: Chris Matthews on "Hardball:" "The one group of Americans who lack the First Amendment right to freedom of speech are our politicians on the topic of guns. They don't speak honestly about guns because they FEAR to..." | | | On Wednesday there was widespread coverage of the conspiracy theories and smears that tried to discredit the Parkland student survivors... | | My latest column for CNNMoney, sparked by last night's newsletter: Viral conspiracy theories are a form of pollution, contaminating the media environment, making us all sick.
I understand why it's tempting to ignore the pollution so you don't add to it/make it any worse. But that doesn't actually clean up the environment.
My view: This info pollution is getting more and more oppressive. So what can we do? Well, politicians can provide leadership. Tech companies can do a LOT. And newsrooms can help too... Read more... | | "We'll try to do better next time" | | | Seth Fiegerman nails it in this new piece for CNN Tech: "The most common line in Silicon Valley right now may be: We'll try to do better next time." Read his story for all the recent examples... | | -- Charlie Warzel's latest must-read: "The pro-Trump media has its match in the Parkland students." He says these students are "innately capable of waging an information war" because they grew up online... (BuzzFeed)
-- "The right-wing sliming of Douglas High students can't be ignored. It's too disgusting for that," Margaret Sullivan says... (WashPost)
-- Daniella Emanuel emails: Media coverage of Parkland may be following a different pattern than previous shootings... (Vox) | | | Oliver Darcy emails from MD: I'm in my Uber en route to the Gaylord in National Harbor right now as I type this out. Both Tom Kludt and I will be at CPAC for the next couple days. If you do happen to spot either of us, please do say hi! | | 10:35am: VP Mike Pence
11:35am: Marion Maréchal-Le Pen
12:30pm: Don McGahn
1:55pm: Ted Cruz
2:15pm: Betsy DeVos
9pm: Sean Hannity hosting his show from the conference | | Oliver Darcy emails: A panel featuring the Gateway Pundit's Jim Hoft was scrapped on Wednesday, making this the third consecutive year a last-minute speaker cancelation has stolen the limelight of the annual conference before it had even begun. Pamela Geller, who had organized a panel on the "suppression of conservative views on social media," said she had been asked by the sponsoring organization of the event on Tuesday night to remove Hoft as a speaker.
CONTEXT: Hoft generated controversy this week after his website spread conspiracy theories about a Parkland survivor. Geller told me she refused to remove Hoft from her panel and instead opted to cancel the even altogether... | | -- CNN's SVP of national news Terence Burke is leaving the company... "Virginia Moseley will now lead CNN's domestic reporting teams across the country..." (TVNewser)
-- Ben Fritz's story about Tom Schumacher: "At Straitlaced Disney, a Star Producer's R-Rated Behavior Draws Complaints..." (WSJ)
-- Sinclair "plans to sell Tribune Media's TV stations in New York and Chicago to comply with FCC ownership limits..." (Variety)
-- Ken Doctor's latest: "Will Michael Ferro double down on newspapers or go digital?" (NiemanLab)
-- Lawyers for Harvey Weinstein "said Tuesday in federal court in New York that the proposed class-action lawsuit filed by six women should be rejected because the alleged assaults took place too long ago and they failed to offer facts to support claims of racketeering..." (AP) | | It was a "productive" meeting... | | The investors who want to buy Weinstein Co. assets, led by Maria Contreras-Sweet, met with NY A.G. Eric Schneiderman's office on Wednesday. Sources on both sides who were briefed on the meeting confirmed that it took place and told me that it was "productive." So: More to come on Thursday?
--> Meanwhile: Weinstein Co. COO, David Glasser, who was fired last week, is planning to sue for wrongful termination, according to his lawyer... | | | It's been a long, painful media winter. The latest cuts are at Vox Media. The company said Wednesday "that it's laying off about 50 people, and is offering new positions to roughly a dozen other employees. The Racked, Curbed, SB Nation and Video Services teams will all be affected," CNNMoney's Julia Horowitz reported. It's about 5% of the workforce. CEO Jim Bankoff attributed the layoffs to "industry changes over the past few months," as well as the long-term budgeting process... | | Julia Waldow emails: The Atlantic will be adding 100 staffers to its ranks (half in editorial), representing a "30% boost in personnel," president Bob Cohn wrote to his staff Wednesday. Editorial initiatives will pay particular attention to "the Washington story," "technology," "Hollywood," "family," "opinion and ideas," and "Washington ideas," and the company also plans to expand its "data, consumer marketing, and engineering" power. Axios' Sara Fischer has a write-up here...
--> Key graf in NYT's story by Jaclyn Peiser: "The ramping up comes six months after Emerson Collective, an organization run by the philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, acquired a majority stake in The Atlantic..." | | Hadas Gold emails: Late Tuesday night, Newsweek staffers posted a stunning story investigating the connections between their parent company and the Christian college Olivet University and an ongoing Manhattan D.A. investigation into the company's finances. The story included the fact that a town in New York was offered free ads in Newsweek because Olivet hoped to get tax breaks from the town to build a campus. It also included the first on-the-record admissions from one of the co-founders of Newsweek's parent company Newsweek Media Group.
--> Gold adds: What was even more stunning was the backstory, partly revealed in an editor's note placed on top of the article: Newsweek's top editors and two of their reporters nearly resigned because they were being blocked by executives from posting the story. They got the piece up. But on Wednesday a curious post was published on IBTimes.com, Newsweek's sister website... In the post, Newsweek Media Group's co-founder Jonathan Davis said he is committed to Newsweek's independent newsroom -- but that he hopes they can work more closely with Olivet University in the future...
--> Bottom line: Newsweek staffers are skeptical. Many were already looking to leave. Newsweek as we once knew it, may be officially gone... Here's Gold's full write-up... | | By Julia Waldow:
-- AT&T's 5G network will be rolled out in Dallas, Waco and Atlanta... Before coming to additional cities... (CNNTech)
-- A batch of Facebook Watch shows -- "We Need to Talk," "Strangers," "Ball in the Family," "Returning the Favor," and "Loosely Exactly Nicole" -- have been renewed for a second season. The question: Have you heard of any of these shows? (AdWeek)
-- Via Digiday: "'Twitter is having a comeback:' What's on the minds of European publishers..." (Digiday)
-- "Media companies have a fake follower Twitter problem, too," Quartz says... (Quartz) | | Olympics ratings on thin ice? | | Frank Pallotta writes: "The combined prime time viewership" of the Winter Olympics "on NBC and NBC Sports Network are down 8% through Friday, according to the network. The two networks are bringing in a combined viewership of 21.9 million in prime time, which is down from the 23.7 million viewers who tuned into NBC for the Sochi games in 2014, when the Winter Olympics were aired only on the main network during prime time." Here's the thing: "NBCSN did not provide prime time coverage four years ago. NBC's viewership alone fell 16% compared to Sochi."
--> The most important stat: "For the 18 to 49 years, the demographic most coveted by advertisers, the drop is a startling 24%. NBC and NBCSN together has seen the demo drop 17% compared to four years ago..."
--> So what does this mean for NBC for the next 18 years? It owns the US media rights to the games until 2032... | | | For the record, part three | | | By Daniella Emanuel:
-- Staggering #'s. A USA Today survey of 843 women in the entertainment industry found that 94% have been sexually harassed or assaulted... (USA Today)
-- A podcast Q&A between The Guardian readers and EIC Katherine Viner on the future of journalism... (The Guardian) | | "Journalist or Terrorist? Kashmir Photographer Is Jailed, Pending Answer" | | | David Klein flagged this story: A 21-year-old Kashmiri photographer is still in jail thanks to India's strict definition of what constitutes a journalist. From the article: "They said he could not possibly be a journalist because he never takes any pictures of government developmental projects or the inaugurations of hospitals, schools or bridges..." | | Lisa Respers France emails: "Black Panther" director Ryan Coogler has been blown away by his film's record-breaking success... So he penned an emotional thank-you to fans...
"Deep down we all hoped that people would come to see a film about a fictional country on the continent of Africa, made up of a cast of people of African descent," Coogler wrote. "Never in a million years did we imagine that you all would come out this strong." | | | He added at the end: "P.S. Wakanda Forever" | | Lowry reviews "Annihilation" | | | Brian Lowry emails: A mixed verdict on "Annihilation," a cerebral sci-fi thriller from "Ex Machina" director Alex Garland that, to use Olympic terminology, doesn't quite stick the landing. (Paramount, incidentally, has its own misgivings about the film, based on its pre-release deal to sell the international rights to Netflix, partly mirroring its direct-to-streaming bailout with "The Cloverfield Paradox.") Read the full review here... | | Why Wendy Williams is taking some time off | | | Chloe Melas emails: Wendy Williams is taking a three-week hiatus from her show due to her ongoing battle with Graves' disease... It's an "autoimmune disorder that causes overstimulation of the thyroid, which can lead to puffy eyes, anxiety, fatigue, insomnia and elevated blood pressure, according to endocrineweb.com..." | | | For the record, part four | | | -- Via TheWrap: "With 'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' coming out in theaters this summer, Universal has announced a third installment of the series, set to be released on June 11, 2021..."
-- Chloe Melas emails: Jay Hernández has been cast as the new "Magnum P.I..."
-- Lisa Respers France emails: Don't panic "Stranger Things" fans. Netflix says the Duffer brothers are not leaving... | | | Email brian.stelter@turner.com... the feedback helps us improve this newsletter every day... Thanks! | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
