| | | | | Exec summary: Les Moonves is on the cover of Variety... Disney is "digging into" the disappointing start for "Solo..." Code 2018 is getting underway... And the Trump "lie" debate is raging... | | Summer is (unofficially) here, and the month of June is poised to bring some dramatic changes to the media landscape.
-- The decision in U.S. v. AT&T is due two weeks from Tuesday... And it's still possible it could come early...
-- The AT&T result will determine if Comcast goes all in to upend Disney's bid for 21st Century Fox...
-- The CBS-Redstone tug of war will continue both in court and in public. The futures of both CBS and Viacom are on the line...
...Oh, and beyond the media beat, President Trump may or may not meet with Kim Jong Un. As Trump would say: "We'll see!" | | Here's our media week ahead calendar... Submissions welcome...
Tuesday: Steven Brill's "Tailspin" hits bookshelves...
Tuesday afternoon: Code Conference gets underway... Here's the schedule...
Tuesday evening: President Trump is holding a rally...
Wednesday: Michael Smerconish's "Clowns to the Left of Me, Jokers to the Right" hits bookshelves...
Wednesday night: The series finale of "The Americans" on FX...
Sunday night: HBO's "Succession" premieres... | | John Berman's "New Day" debut | | | Morning show ch-ch-changes: With Chris Cuomo heading to 9pm, John Berman will take over as co-host of CNN's "New Day" on Tuesday morning... "Cuomo Primetime" starts next Monday... | | Four must-reads for the A.M. shows | | -- In Tuesday's NYT: "With 'spygate,' Trump shows how he uses conspiracy theories to erode trust"
-- In Tuesday's WashPost: "'The only one': In new West Wing season, Trump calls the shots and aides follow"
-- In Tuesday's WSJ: "Stormy Daniels's lawyer Michael Avenatti complicates Michael Cohen probe..."
-- Brand new from The Daily Beast: "TMZ Goes MAGA: How Harvey Levin's gossip empire became Trump's best friend." The mythical "elevator tape" is part of this story... | | Local TV news crew killed while covering storm | | Terrible news from Polk County, NC: WYFF reporter/anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer were out covering hazardous weather conditions when a tree crushed their news van on Monday afternoon. Both men were killed.
The incident has not been directly attributed to subtropical storm Alberto. But heavy rain, partly from the fringes of the storm, has caused flooding concerns across the region.
WYFF, the NBC-affiliated station in Greenville, SC, reported the news at 6pm. "Mike and Aaron were beloved members of our team, our family," co-anchor Carol Goldsmith said. Here's my full story... | | The two men were apparently driving on Highway 176 when the tree collapsed. Geoff Tennant, the fire chief in Tyron, NC, said it was a "freak of nature" incident. Tennant had just taped an interview with McCormick: "We talked a little bit about how he wanted us to stay safe and we wanted him to stay safe. Then of course 10 or 15 minutes later we get the call and it was him and his photographer."
WYFF is also a CNN affiliate. Our hearts go out to the WYFF family... | | -- Elon Musk continues to rail against the media while proposing a credibility ratings system... Jackie Wattles has a recap here... (CNNMoney)
-- Margaret Sullivan has some wise words for Musk... She pointed out that "the field of those aiming to improve media trust is already plenty crowded..." (WashPost)
-- New from Erin Biba on writing about Musk and triggering his Twitter mob: "When female journalists like me dare to question the SpaceX and Tesla founder, there's a predictable result: we get called bitches, idiots, and worse..." (The Daily Beast) | | | This is the cover of the next Variety... Coming out on Tuesday... | | | Right now we're in between chapters of the CBS saga. So far as I can tell, there isn't another hearing scheduled in the Delaware Court of Chancery at the moment... But CBS amended its filing last week and asked a judge to weigh in... In Tuesday's WSJ, Keach Hagey and Joe Flint have a "how did we get here?!" story... | | "Trump recently has been hunting for aides who have shared damaging information with journalists without authorization, demanding that 'leakers' be caught and punished..."
--Tuesday's WashPost story... | | Friday: Politico investigates Garrett. Monday: He retires | | The headline of Politico's investigation into Rep. Tom Garrett (R-Va.) last Friday: "Ex-aides say congressman made them his servants."
The story noted that "the congressman has spent the past week in turmoil."
Monday evening's headline: "Garrett to quit Congress amid servant scandal, alcoholism..." | | Trump puts the "Me" in "Memorial Day" | | I'd love to ignore this, but it really needs to be called out.
Trump's Monday morning "Happy Memorial Day" tweet read: "Those who died for our great country would be very happy and proud at how well our country is doing today. Best economy in decades, lowest unemployment numbers for Blacks and Hispanics EVER (& women in 18years), rebuilding our Military and so much more. Nice!"
CNN's Brianna Keilar, a military spouse, said it best: "It's impossible to speak for thousands of war dead. And it's disrespectful to co-opt their sacrifice for politics - on this somber day of remembrance or any other day." | | About that W.H. official who "doesn't exist" | | | If you got through the long weekend blissfully unaware of this Trump tweet, consider yourself lucky. But if you still want to catch up on it, here's my story and video about the very real W.H. official who, according to Trump, "doesn't exist..." | | Trump tweeted several other whoppers over the weekend, reigniting a debate in media circles about when to say he "lied." We made this the lead story on Sunday's "Reliable Sources." My POV: Trump is a liar, he lies, but not everything he says is a lie. We need to distinguish between a deflection, an exaggeration and a straight up lie, the same way we note the difference between a two-alarm fire and a five-alarm fire.
What I hear Trump detractors saying to journalists: Acknowledge that YOU see what WE see! He lies to us constantly! Even his small lies do damage! It's a disinformation campaign! You all have to rethink how you do your jobs! DO something!
What I hear Trump supporters saying to journalists: Why do you all hate our president so much? Why won't you give him a chance? | | How Trump's lying should be covered | | On "Reliable," CNN's Sarah Westwood, The Nation's Joan Walsh, and The Toronto Star Trump-checker Daniel Dale joined me for a conversation about this issue. CNNMoney's Jackie Wattles recapped the segment here.
Walsh said some news outlets go too far to "AVOID the word lie." But Dale said "we have to stick to what we know is true." Sometimes, he said, it's clear he lied -- definition: "intentionally false" -- but other times he's "confused."
--> I thought Dale was really on point here: "This is a central feature of his presidency, the incessant dishonesty. And I think it's still often tweeted as kind of a side show rather than the show, rather than the central story." It's a "central story!"
--> After the program, Dale followed up in this excellent Toronto Star piece... | | When Trump claims anonymous sources don't exist, he "exploits the people's unfamiliarity with the news-gathering process to try to undermine the credibility of all the press," Westwood said during the "A block" on Sunday.
She also said Trump "exploits our journalistic impulses, knowing that we are going to have to discuss the context around any one of his claims," even when it's an outlandish claim... So even the fact-checking spreads his claim... | | BTW: There was only one W.H. press briefing last week... | | | ...How many will there be this week? No briefing is scheduled for Tuesday since POTUS is traveling to Nashville... | | -- Rudy Giuliani getting booed at Monday's Yankees game is the most viral story of the moment... (NYPost)
-- Giuliani basically admitted to Dana Bash that his assignment is to undermine Robert Mueller: "We have to," he said... "because eventually the decision here is going to be impeach or not impeach..." (CNN)
-- Carl Bernstein didn't mince words on Sunday's "Reliable Sources:" He said that if Mueller releases a report, then "the American people will be able to judge what happened with Donald Trump and foreign powers and corruption as well. And THAT is what Donald Trump is trying to prevent..." (CNN) | | More headlines from "Reliable" | | -- Why EPA chief Scott Pruitt is hiding from the press: Mother Jones reporter Rebecca Leber and Democratic lawmaker Dan Kildee joined me with answers...
-- Mistreatment of migrant kids has gone "viral:" It's not new, it's not just a "Trump issue," but due to a new Trump policy, more children will suffer. Here's how we covered it on the program... Joan Walsh asked: "Where do we draw the line in cruelty?"
-- Countering Hannity's bid to discredit Mueller: The NYT's Jim Rutenberg joined me to talk about that, "The Fourth Estate," and more...
-- Carl Bernstein at the end of the broadcast: It's a "perilous moment for our country right now..." | | 👍 👍 for "The Fourth Estate" | | Showtime's four-part documentary about the NYT is getting rave reviews from news junkies... The first episode premiered on TV on Sunday night, but all four episodes are already out on VOD and streaming...
>> David Zurawik's review: "After watching Showtime's 'The Fourth Estate,' I am starting to believe Liz Garbus is the best documentary filmmaker going." He says the series is great nonfiction TV "but it is also a document for future generations, a chronicle of what it was like to be in the trenches when the chief executive of the United States went to war against the press and a fact-based information ecosystem for this democracy..." | | The White House as "Game of Thrones" | | | It's not a new thought, but it's back in a big way... This is a key graf from the WashPost story I mentioned earlier: "At least two people in Trump's circle -- one current White House official and one former -- likened the dynamic in the West Wing to HBO's 'Game of Thrones.' They chose the show, they said, not because of the internecine conflicts and deadly family feuds, but because of the general sense of confusion and seesawing fortunes..." | | "Solo" disappoints at the box office | | | Disney and Lucasfilm's "Solo: A Star Wars Story" made an estimated $103 million domestically for its four-day weekend opening. "That makes 'Solo' the smallest opening for a 'Star Wars' film since 2002," well below expectations for the film, Frank Pallotta reports... | | Speaking with THR, Disney distribution chief Dave Hollis pointed out that "Solo" closely followed "Avengers" and "Deadpool 2."
"There's a question of frequency, and how many times people will go to the movies," he said. "Is this too much and too soon for a third time in a five-week period?"
Hollis also acknowledged the film's poor international performance so far: "We have a lot of work to do in trying to understand this. We are all over it and will spend a lot of time digging into why things happened the way they did in various markets. We have a year and a half before Episode IX comes out..." | | Brian Lowry emails: The postgame analysis on "Solo" is already in overdrive. But the notion of "'Star Wars' fatigue" might wind up being overstated, amid a mix of factors that include the inherent narrative limitations of these prequels, a stronger "Not without Harrison Ford" sentiment than anticipated, and the decidedly mixed fan response to "The Last Jedi."
The weekend, meanwhile, offered a strange mix of stories, split between hand-wringing over what a disappointment the movie was commercially and click-bait-y pieces (many no doubt put in motion pre-opening) obsessing over "Solo" minutia and what spin-off Lucasfilm might unleash next... | | | For the record, part three | | | By Lisa Respers France:
-- Eminem has responded to a Nicki Minaj dating rumor after fans started buzzing about a potential new rap super-couple...
-- Here's the breakdown of Kim, Kanye and the Donda House controversy... | | | HEY, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS LETTER? Email your feedback and thoughts to brian.stelter@turner.com... the feedback helps us improve this newsletter every day... Thank you! | | | | | | |
