| | | | | Hey there -- This is Oliver Darcy, continuing to fill in this week for Brian Stelter. I really enjoy tips/scoops, so I encourage you to get in contact with me if you have anything that might be of interest! I'm available via email and you can find me on Twitter. Now, let's get to the news... | | "None of this should have been hard" | | John Berman opened up "AC360" Monday night perplexed. Perplexed as to why it took the White House a storm of controversy to do what was right and offer praise for Sen. John McCain. "What took so long? And why was the president in the wrong place two full days after the senator died?" Berman asked. "What was so hard?" Berman added, "None of this should have been hard."
He's right -- none of this should have been hard. But the White House chose to begin the week with another self-inflicted PR wound, instead of doing what was right from the start. While the federal buildings in the surrounding area continued to lower their flags in honor of McCain, the White House did the opposite Monday morning. The flags were raised to full staff, igniting a whirlwind of controversy -- a controversy the White House ultimately had to quell by lowering the flags back to half staff and issuing a statement from the President. Talk about a PR blunder... | | | Throughout the day, at several different times, reporters asked Trump if he had any thoughts to share on McCain. Each of those times, Trump declined to comment. At one point he just chose to stare straight ahead as ABC's Jon Karl questioned him just a few feet away. Video of reporters asking Trump questions about McCain and the president awkwardly ignoring them played on cable news throughout the day. The optics were bad, to say the least. | | | NYT's Katie Rogers, Nicholas Fandos, and Maggie Haberman published new reporting Monday night about what was taking place behind the scenes at the White House. According to their reporting, Trump initially "refused repeated requests" from VP Mike Pence and John Kelly to acknowledge McCain's death with a statement... | | Something changed later in the day, and Trump finally released a statement lauding McCain's military service and ordering the flag to be lowered until Saturday. So what happened? That part is unclear. Asked about Trump's change in heart, Sarah Sanders told CNN that Trump's decision and statement "speaks for itself."
>> Jim Acosta on Twitter: "Make no mistake. The president and his team had every opportunity to get this right. It took nearly 48 hours for WH to do what should have been done Saturday -- issue a full, respectful statement honoring McCain along with a proclamation that orders flags to fly at half-staff." | | Bloomberg reassigned reporter after Wells Fargo CEO called to complain | | | Wells Fargo and Bloomberg News are facing some heat. Earlier today, I reported via sources that a Bloomberg News reporter who covered Wells Fargo was reassigned earlier this year after the bank's CEO phoned the news organization's editor in chief and complained about the reporter. That incident, I'm told, rocked the banking team and was a contributing factor in the departures of some of the unit's veteran reporters. You can read my full story here... | | >> The Bloomberg News reporter, Shahien Nasirpour, wrote a story in March that called Wells Fargo the "preferred financier for the U.S. gun industry."
>> After his story, Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan sent an internal memo to employees reacting to the story.
>> The Wall Street Journal obtained Sloan's memo and published a story on it. Nasirpour asked Wells Fargo PR for a copy of the memo, but the bank declined his request. A heated conversation ensued between Nasirpour and a spokesperson for the bank.
>> Following the contentious convo, a member of Wells Fargo PR contacted Caroline Gage, global executive editor for finance at Bloomberg News. Gage asked Nasirpour to apologize to Wells Fargo PR. Nasirpour agreed to do so and did.
>> Later in the month, Bloomberg EIC John Micklethwait summoned Nasirpour for a convo. He told Nasirpour that Sloan had called to complain about his conduct. Then, to Nasirpour's surprise, he said he had made the decision to reassign him to cover the Trump Organization. | | "We make decisions...purely on what is best for our readers" | | | In a statement, a Bloomberg News spokesperson told me, "Bloomberg publishes 5,000 stories a day and, like every news organization, we get push back from the companies we cover. We make decisions about how we cover those companies based purely on what is best for our readers." A Wells Fargo spokesperson declined comment. | | Warren slams Wells Fargo CEO | | | Reacting to the news, Sen. Elizabeth Warren issued a fiery tweet, writing that Wells Fargo customers "would be better off if CEO Tim Sloan focused more on addressing the dozens of scandals plaguing his bank, and less on getting a good journalist reassigned for doing his job (which includes reporting on those scandals)." | | | This whole episode has me wondering: How often does Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan phone news outlets to complain about reporters/press coverage? | | -- Craig Silverman has unmasked the identity of the person behind True Pundit, a fringe far-right website that has been "capitalizing on our conspiracy-laden, deeply polarized information environment..." (BuzzFeed)
-- Abby Ohlheiser writes about "the horror of mass-shooting videos streaming live..." (WaPo)
-- Ian Parker profiles Glenn Greenwald and highlights his "bruising crusade against establishment Democrats -- and their Russia obsession..." (New Yorker) | | Facebook bans Myanmar military chief | | Hadas Gold emails: Facebook took the unprecedented step on Monday of banning the Myanmar's commander-in-chief of the army, part of a slew of bans and other removals the social media giant announced as it tries to combat the spread of misinformation in a country roiled by violence against its Rohingya and Muslim minorities.
It's the first time Facebook has ever banned a military or government official. An independent United Nations investigation released earlier Monday called on military leaders in Myanmar to be investigated and prosecuted for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The report also highlighted the role of hate speech spread on social media platforms, including Facebook, in the violence perpetrated in Myanmar.
>> In addition to the army commander, Facebook removed 18 accounts and 52 pages, and banned 20 individuals and organizations from the site, likely accessed by some 12 million people... | | | Gold adds: Monday's efforts are part of a larger push by Facebook in countries like Sri Lanka and India, where rumors and hate speech help inflame underlying tensions. Facebook said in a statement, "While we were too slow to act, we're now making progress – with better technology to identify hate speech, improved reporting tools, and more people to review content." | | Lanny Davis says he was a source for CNN's Trump Tower story | | Lanny Davis told BuzzFeed's Steven Perlberg on Monday night that he was one of CNN's sources for a July story on the Trump Tower meeting. CNN, you'll remember, reported at the time that Michael Cohen claimed Trump knew in advance about the Trump Tower meeting. CNN's July story also said Cohen was willing to make that assertion to Robert Mueller. But over the last few days, Davis has told news organizations that he made a mistake in confirming the news...
That doesn't mean, however, that CNN's story is incorrect. As BuzzFeed pointed out, CNN's story cited multiple sources, not just Davis. A CNN spokesperson told BuzzFeed, "We stand by our story, and are confident in our reporting of it." | | Top Republicans caught fundraising with far-right site | | Several prominent Republicans were revealed on Monday to have been fundraising with Big League Politics, a fringe far-right website operated by a former Breitbart writer. NBC's Brandy Zadrozny and Ben Collins broke the news in their latest story. Among the Republicans to have worked with the site to raise money were: House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, Rep. Devin Nunes, Sen. Ted Cruz, and the National Republican Congressional Committee.
>> After contacted for comment, spokespeople for Scalise and Cruz said their campaigns would return any money raised and no longer work with it. Nunes and the NRCC didn't respond to NBC's request for comment... | | CNBC scores Kudlow interview. Doesn't ask about publisher of white nationalists being guest at his home | | Talk about a missed opportunity. CNBC's Wilfred Frost and Mike Santoli had the opportunity to interview Larry Kudlow on Monday -- and, per the transcript/video CNBC uploaded, they failed to ask him anything about hosting Peter Brimelow, publisher of white nationalists, being invited to his home earlier this month. During the nearly five-minute interview, Frost and Santoli asked about US trade relations with China and Mexico.
Sure, CNBC is a business network. But it was still really striking that neither Frost nor Santoli took a moment to ask Kudlow about Brimelow, considering it was a massive story only last week and had dominated headlines. It's fair to say Kudlow has already addressed the matter in a statement since the incident. (He said if he had known about Brimelow's views, he would "never have invited him" to his home.) But asking Kudlow to elaborate on this on camera would have been good. What happened? | | Putting the press on notice | | Donie O'Sullivan emails: If a 2018 election campaign gets hacked and the materials released, will we (the media) report as extensively on those materials as we did Clinton's emails in 2016? I took a look at the dilemma facing Democrats on whether to go public about being hacked. But the media will face a dilemma of its own.
Robby Mook, Hillary Clinton's former campaign manager, a proponent of making details of a hack public, says one of the advantages of doing so is "to educate the press about who is behind the attack." But would it make a difference? Would the media avoid reporting on hacked materials? Would it be possible to avoid doing so if it was all over social media, and being used by political opponents? | | -- Politico reports that Ben Berkowitz has backed out of a position as the next editor-in-chief of Storyful. Per Politico, Berkowitz will remain at WNBC. Storyful's CEO said Berkowitz's "decision to stay in his current role was a personal one..." (Politico)
-- Alisyn Camerota confronted former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu after he questioned CNN's reporting on "New Day." Camerota told Sununu, "We appreciate you coming on CNN...But I don't appreciate you denigrating our reporting..." (Mediaite)
-- CNET looks at the roles of Campbell Brown and Alex Hardiman at Facebook and how they are working to tackle misinformation on the platform... (CNET) | | Is Pam Bondi trying out for a Fox News role? | | | That was the question the Tampa Bay Times posed in a headline on Monday. The Florida newspaper noted that Pam Bondi -- who is the attorney general of Florida -- appeared as a co-host of "The Five" on Fox News three times last week. The newspaper also noted that "the situation was so unprecedented for a sitting elected official that Bondi first sought guidance from the Florida Commission on Ethics." Read more here... | | Craigslist founder's $1 million gift to journalism | | | An Phung emails: Craigslist founder Craig Newmark donated $1 million to Mother Jones on Monday -- his latest in a string of gifts to boost quality journalism and fight misinformation . He made headlines earlier this summer when he donated $20 million to the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism in NYC... | | | Brian Lowry emails: Newmark's $1 million gift to support journalism is welcome, if a bit ironic. The success of Craigslist and similar sites has long been cited as one of the challenges that hurt the business model of traditional local newspapers by undermining their reliance on classified advertising. | | | For the record, part three | | | -- Page Six reports that Matt Lauer recently told fans that he'll be "back on TV..." (Page Six)
-- NYT's "The Daily" podcast gets its first television ad... (NYT)
-- Neil Cavuto pays tribute to John McCain with a montage of videos from past appearances... (Fox News)
| | C-SPAN conducts polling on Supreme Court | | C-SPAN has just released polling it has conducted with PSB Research about the US Supreme Court. Included in the polling is a stat that shows that 69% of voters have been following news about Trump's SCOTUS nominees.
The CSPAN/PSB survey also found that a majority of voters would like more access to the high court. Specifically, the polling found that 64% of voters think the Supreme Court should allow television coverage of oral arguments, and 71% of voters think same-day release of audio from oral arguments should occur. You can take a look at the full survey here... | | | Brian Stelter emails: Hello from out east! Today I took a two hour nap by accident. I just thought Oliver would enjoy that detail. Tonight Jamie and I went to see a movie... it was Jamie's first time seeing a movie in a theater since Sunny was born 15 months ago... and we saw "BlacKkKlansman." Up next, later this week: "Crazy Rich Asians." This concludes today's vacation diary! 😃 | | -- "Who Is America?" ended without airing the segment Sacha Baren Cohen shot with Sarah Palin... (THR)
-- HBO released 3 seconds of footage on Sunday night from the final season of "Game of Thrones..." (Insider)
-- In a tribute to Neil Simon, Broadway theatres will dim the lights on August 30 for exactly one minute, starting at 6:45pm ET... (Playbill)
-- ICYMI: Here's Brian Lowry's tribute to Neil Simon, a comedy giant whose career spanned theater, film, and TV... (CNN) | | 'Sharp Objects' twisty finish can't redeem flawed run | | | Brian Lowry emails: Unlike a lot of others (based on the feedback, anyway), I was underwhelmed by HBO's "Sharp Objects," pretty much from the start to Sunday night's twisty finish (spoilers if you haven't watched). Read Lowry's full review here... | | First look at the long-awaited new season of 'True Detective' | | | Lowry adds: Meanwhile, HBO seized on the finale as a promotional opportunity, plugging the upcoming season of "True Detective." | | Ethan Hawke causes a stir | | | Lowry emails one more: Ethan Hawke has caused a bit of a stir within the film-criticism community by drawing a distinction between superhero movies and genuinely great films, which ties into the whole "popular film" Oscar debate. The actor/filmmaker dismissed the latest Wolverine film, "Logan" as "a fine superhero movie" but not a great film, adding, "There's a difference but big business doesn't think there's a difference. Big business wants you to think that this is a great film because they wanna make money off of it." | | |
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