| | | | | Exec summary: My ten month old is on a sleep strike, so this newsletter will be a little shorter than normal! In the news: Trump TV auditions, DOJ v. AT&T, Sean Hannity's time capsule, the return of "Roseanne," and much more... | | | Is journalism a form of activism? I brought up this subject on Sunday's "Reliable Sources" broadcast... and it turns out I touched a nerve about the role of responsible journalism in a world full of opinion and noise. Even the NRA's Dana Loesch is now weighing in. So here's my story about the issue, incorporating lots of voices from the Twitter-fueled debate... | | Here's how the debate started | | In response to one of my Q's on Sunday's show, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student editor Rebecca Schneid said, "For me, the purpose of journalism is to raise the voices of people that maybe don't have a voice. And so I think that in its own right journalism is a form of activism."
Schneid's comment garnered thousands of replies and retweets. Many of the reactions were critical -- along the lines of "THIS is the problem with journalism" and "just report the facts." Some people said I should have corrected her. But Schneid had many defenders too, including people who pointed out that there's a long history of advocacy journalism... | | 2 of the most popular responses | | National Journal's Josh Kraushaar: "Journalism isn't activism; it's presenting the facts, honestly and objectively. It's this mentality that's killing trust in our profession."
The LAT's Matt Pearce took the other side: "Journalism *is* activism in its most basic form. The entire basis for its ethical practice is the idea that a democracy requires an informed citizenry in order to function. Choosing what you want people to know is a form of activism, even if it's not the march-and-protest kind." Pearce's point was that newsrooms are constantly picking and choosing what's worthy of coverage and what isn't.
Here's my full recap, including Schneid's reaction to it all... | | Trump "has become convinced of things that aren't true..." | | | "Per two senior administration officials, Trump continued to rail privately about the omnibus bill, and has become convinced of things that aren't true about it," NYT's Maggie Haberman tweeted Tuesday. She added: "Trump has been watching Fox, which had Coulter on Jeanine Pirro slamming Trump over the wall funding. That type of thing -- as well as his conviction it includes Planned Parenthood funding -- are animating him..." | | | This story in Wednesday's WashPost has a new tidbit about the Trump-TV feedback loop: "Trump will see a segment on TV and begin musing for someone in a job, creating uncertainty. For example, he saw Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta on 'Fox & Friends' one morning and asked an aide if he could be the next attorney general. The president has, for months, attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has so far survived the public belittling..." | | He's been staying off-camera... | | | CNN's Manu Raju tweeted: Wednesday "will mark the fifth straight day Trump will not have any public events, according to WH schedule..." | | | Scroll down for more of Today in Trump, including his uncharacteristic silence about Stormy... | | -- Margaret Sullivan says "the sliming of Parkland students shows the spreading stain of media polarization..." (WashPost)
-- New CNN polling: On the subject of the Russia probe, "Americans' views are settled and partisan..." (CNN)
-- Amid a "fierce internal rivalry" for the job, Trump "has had trouble finding a suitable fit" for communications director, Peter Nicholas reports... (WSJ)
-- This might amuse you: "Presidential misspellings create spike in dictionary searches," Sophie Tatum reports... (CNN)
-- Ken Doctor's latest: "Will Facebook's troubles finally cure publishers of platformitis?" (NiemanLab) | | Celebrating the Pulitzers | | Columbia U celebrated the "next 100 years" of the Pulitzer Prizes with an event at Michael's in NYC Tuesday night. Dana Canedy promised the winners, to be unveiled next month, showcase "the strength of the American press even in the most trying of times ... real news." Canedy is the first woman and first person of color to head the prizes...
Spotted: S. Mitra Kalita, Mike Allen, Diane Sawyer, Kyle Pope, David Fahrenthold, Danielle Belton, Nicholas Kristof, Eugene Robinson, Raju Narisetti, A.G. Sulzberger, Campbell Brown. Kevin Merida. Ruth Spencer, Lydia Polgreen, Lee Bollinger, Steve Coll, Marc Lacey, Sree Sreenivasan, Juan Williams, Sarah Glover, and many more... | | Seth Rich's brother sues over conspiracy theories | | | Oliver Darcy emails: The brother of Seth Rich has filed a lawsuit against The Washington Times and a pair of far-right activists that he alleges peddled false and unfounded claims about him. Aaron Rich's lawsuit says the defendants in his lawsuit acted "with reckless disregard for the truth..." and he is seeking damages for harm to his reputation and emotional distress. Read more... | | | Nieman's Joshua Benton tweeted: "This and the Brennan Gilmore lawsuit against Alex Jones are an interesting move: using the courts ( + not accepting settlement offers) to make conspiracy theorists feel some pain for what they do. Still, I get nervous whenever courts start getting involved in discourse boundaries..." | | -- Brian Steinberg's look inside ESPN is on the cover of this week's Variety... The package includes an interview with brand new president Jimmy Pitaro... (Variety)
-- This Bloomberg story has eye-popping #'s about how much $$$ Netflix is paying for execs, publicists, marketers, and more... (Bloomberg)
-- Former NYTer and CNNer Tanzina Vega is the new host of "The Takeaway," "succeeding John Hockenberry, who retired in August and was subsequently accused of engaging in sexual harassment and bullying behavior during his decade with the show." She'll start on the air on May 7... (NYT)
-- On a personal note: Want to know how I start my day? With a green smoothie made by my wife Jamie, who's already been at work for hours by the time I wake up. Jamie talked with Extra Crispy's Kat Kinsman about work-life-meal balance in the TV biz... (Extra Crispy) | | | A MEDIA CIRCUS IN THE MAKING | | Dylan Byers broke this news in Tuesday morning's PACIFIC: "After repeated calls for him to do so, Mark Zuckerberg has decided he will testify before Congress." When? Still TBD. But Zuck has "come to terms with the fact that he will have to testify before Congress within a matter of weeks, and Facebook is currently planning the strategy for his testimony..."
--> The WashPost adds: "Three congressional committees have invited Zuckerberg to testify, including the Senate Judiciary Committee at an April 10 meeting about data privacy. It is unclear how many hearings Zuckerberg will attend, and of which committees..."
--> LOBBYISTS WANTED: FB "is on a hiring spree in Washington," Bloomberg reports... | | FB stock down 18% since the scandal erupted | | | Facebook shares fell another 5% on Tuesday... Since the first stories about Cambridge Analytica hit, "Facebook's stock has plunged 18%, wiping out nearly $80 billion from the social networking giant's market value in the process," CNN's Paul R. La Monica notes... | | Trump's silence about Stormy | | | This was a topic across CNN's shows Tuesday afternoon and evening. Anderson Cooper called it the "sound of silence." Erin Burnett asked: "Why isn't the President fighting back?" And Jim Acosta said "the president has discovered a new ability to hit the MUTE button..." | | Darcy's take on Fox's coverage | | Oliver Darcy emails: Some of the anchors over at Fox News might want to consider rewatching the "60 Minutes" interview with Stormy Daniels. Since the special aired, some of the network's hosts have sought to dramatically downplay the story. Melissa Francis tweeted on Monday, "What I learned last night on 60 Minutes -- The thrice married president is a bad husband." On Tuesday afternoon, Greg Gutfeld said on-air, "All we have is a story about a romp a decade ago at a golf tournament."
The Stormy story, of course, is centered more around what happened after the alleged "romp," than it is about the alleged affair itself. Gutfeld and Francis know this. They know Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 before the election. They know there are questions about whether the payment may have violated election law. And if they watched "60 Minutes," they would know that Daniels said she was physically threatened by a man in a parking lot. But they are instead choosing to dismiss the story as a mere "romp" from a decade ago -- a true disservice to their viewers who turn to them for the news. The story isn't about the alleged affair. It's about what was done to cover it up, and whether such actions violated the law... | | "Call it the 'But Bill Clinton' defense..." | | | That's what Eli Rosenberg called it in this story for the WashPost. He's describing how conservative media heavyweights are deflecting attention away from the Stormy scandal "by propping up a well-worn target instead: Bill Clinton and the sexual misconduct allegations that have dogged him for many years." I talked with Rosenberg and said Sean Hannity's show sometimes feels like a time capsule... | | Former Disney star joins White House press shop | | Former Disney Channel star Caroline Sunshine, known for her role on "Shake It Up," is joining the W.H. as a press assistant," CNN's Betsy Klein reports. "The California native has established her career apart from the entertainment industry; she was most recently a White House intern..."
--> Klein adds: "Though she keeps a low profile in the press shop, she has more than 500,000 Twitter followers on her verified account and 235,000 followers on Instagram..." | | | For the record, part three | | | -- "NBC has fired longtime affiliate-marketing chief Scot Chastain following an internal investigation into alleged misconduct by the executive," Daniel Holloway reports. No comment from Chastain... (Variety)
-- Cardi B's "Invasion of Privacy" album will come out April 6, Chloe Melas reports... (CNN)
-- "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" is doing an "ad pod takeover" with Google's Nest on Tuesday night... (Variety) | | | Here's what happened in court on Tuesday: | | Dish Network exec grilled | | "AT&T and Time Warner's lead attorney is making the case that Time Warner content may not be as vital to distributors as the government is making it seem in the Justice Department's lawsuit to stop the two companies from merging. It might seem unusual for an attorney to argue that his client's product is not all that valuable, but it's an attempt to shake the government's assertion that Time Warner content is considered 'must have' by distributors and therefore shouldn't be placed in AT&T's hands," CNN's Hadas Gold and Jessica Schneider report.
Click here for the details of Dan Petrocelli questioning Sling prez Warren Schlichting... | | Wednesday: John Martin will continue testifying | | | More from their story: "Turner CEO John Martin took the stand late Tuesday as an adverse witness for the Justice Department... Martin's testimony will continue through Wednesday. The government also indicated they intend to call Cox Communications marketing executive Marty Hinson to the stand on Wednesday..." | | Breitbart getting into the live events biz | | Oliver Darcy emails: The far-right website Breitbart announced on Tuesday that it is holding a live town hall event on big tech, privacy, and free speech. The event, dubbed "Masters of the Universe," will be held April 5 in Louisiana and broadcast on Breitbart's website – and ironically on Facebook Live...
--> Context: Breitbart is "following the lead of other media companies seeking fresh sources of revenue," the NYT's Michael Grynbaum says... It's "an experiment for a site that has lately been confronting declining web traffic and turbulence in its top ranks..." | | "With suggestive statements, cryptic tweets, provocative lawsuits and must-see television interviews, Trump's adversaries are using some of his own tactics to grab — and keep — the spotlight..."
--The AP's Catherine Lucey and Jonathan Lemire... | | Tiger Woods doc in the making | | | Megan Thomas emails: "Alex Gibney and his Jigsaw Productions are developing a docuseries based on Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian's new biography on Tiger Woods," Variety reports. "The book went on sale Tuesday. New York Times best-selling author Benedict and Emmy Award-winning investigative journalist Keteyian will executive produce the project with Gibney..." | | The series re-premiere was on Tuesday night... Per People mag, the show explained the apparent death of John Goodman's character in the 1997 finale by joking, "I'm sleeping! Why does everybody always think I'm dead?"
--> NYT's Patrick Healy interviewed Roseanne Barr ahead of the premiere... Barr says it was her idea to make her Roseanne character a Trump supporter... | | | Brian Lowry emails from vacation with a short version of his "Roseanne" review: The band's back together and playing the same old song. Unfortunately, it's akin to the star's notorious rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner..." | | Ready for "Ready Player One" | | The reviews of "Ready Player One" keep coming in... And right now it's 84% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes... Variety's Rebecca Rubin says "Steven Spielberg's latest film is eyeing $38 million to $42 million over its four-day opening weekend. Given a light weekend of new releases, that number would likely be enough for 'Ready Player One' to dominate the domestic box office..."
--> Deadline's Pete Hammond: "It is virtually impossible to see Ready Player One, Steven Spielberg's wild ride into the world of virtual reality, just once. There is so much going on in this movie, both retro and futuristic, that it is hard to compute in one sitting..." | | "The Americans" is back on Wednesday | | | Megan Thomas emails: "The Americans" returns for its final season Wednesday night. (I've previewed the first three episodes and I'm jonesing for the rest.) No spoilers in this write from the Observer -- just a few subtle hints from showrunners Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg, who say they are stress eating through the final season... | | #WhoBitBeyonce: What you need to know | | | As Lisa Respers France says: "The world needs answers." Tiffany Haddish "opened a Pandora's box of pop culture intrigue when she said during an interview with GQ that an unnamed actress had allegedly bitten Beyoncé on the face," France writes. So many questions! "First of all, how is anyone even allowed to get close enough to bite Queen Bey's face? The whole thing has been burning up the internet and we don't want you left out of the conversation." So here's all the info... | | | And on THAT note... have a good night/good morning! | | | Email brian.stelter@turner.com... the feedback helps us improve this newsletter every day... Thanks! | | | | | | |
