Exec summary: Congrats to the Red Sox on the World Series win... I'm sorry this newsletter is so short on celebratory news... Hopefully this week will be better than last week...
America can't catch its breath | | That's what "Reliable Sources" producer Shanta Covington said in our production meeting on Saturday. And she's absolutely right. It feels like America cannot catch its breath right now. We veer from a screaming match to a tragedy; from a controversy to a hate crime; from a scandal to an emergency. We are stronger than it seems — but it seems like some fundamental parts of the American fabric are being ripped apart.
LEAD STORY: The suspect in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting talked and talked and talked about his hatred of Jews. He filled up his Gab profile with anti-Semitic posts. And then he opened fire on Saturday morning, killing eleven people.
May their memories be a blessing
Here are CNN's profiles of the 11 victims.
What was the gunman reading and hearing?
According to his Gab postings, the suspect's anti-Semitism merged with his hatred of immigrants. He wrote about "invaders" six days before the shooting. The same term blanketed right-wing media in relation to the migrant caravan this month. And he apparently noticed. He wrote, "I have noticed a change in people saying 'illegals' that now say 'invaders'. I like this."
On Saturday morning, he specifically criticized the refugee organization HIAS when he said "I'm going in." The shooting began a few minutes later...
--> Recommended reading: "A conspiracy theory about George Soros and a migrant caravan inspired horror" by WaPo's Joel Achenbach...
--> Adam Serwer's blunt conclusion in this piece for The Atlantic: "Trump's Caravan Hysteria Led to This."
"The words are leading to people doing things like this"
Dr. Jeff Cohen, the president of Allegheny General Hospital and a member of the synagogue, spoke with the alleged killer on Sunday. Cohen told CNN's Alex Marquardt that "the gentleman didn't appear to be a member of the Mensa society. He listens to the noise, he hears the noise. The noise was telling him his people were being slaughtered. He thought it was time to rise up and do something. He's completely confused, and the words mean things. The words are leading to people doing things like this."
Anchors in Pittsburgh
In a sign of the shooting's gravity, the broadcast networks dispatched their top weekday anchors to Pittsburgh. David Muir, Lester Holt and Jeff Glor all anchored their respective nightly newscasts from the city on Sunday night. Glor will be back on "CBS This Morning" on Monday along with co-host Bianna Golodryga. Savannah Guthrie will co-host "Today" from Pittsburgh. And Amy Robach and Matt Gutman will report from there for "GMA."
On cable, MSNBC's David Gura anchored from Pittsburgh on Sunday. CNN's Victor Blackwell co-anchored "New Day Sunday" and joined several hours of programming...
THE SEEDS OF HATE
Radicalization | | The past few days are a reminder: Some of our fellow citizens are being radicalized right now, right here on the internet. The shooting suspect is an example. The mail bomb suspect is another example.
To be clear: Criminals are responsible for their crimes. But crimes don't happen in a vacuum. People in public life are responsible for the culture, the tone, the climate where crimes occur. Both things are true at the same time. We have to re-examine America's poisoned information environment...
MY POINT: It's easier than ever to go down digital rabbit holes of hate and conspiracy theories and hoaxes. That's exactly what some people are doing... And they're doing crazy things as a result... BF's Charlie Warzel has two must-read pieces about this...
Gab is down (for now)
Gab bills itself as an alternative to Twitter, a free speech utopia where almost anything goes... But in reality it's a favored site of bigots and hate groups. After Saturday's shooting, the site came under newfound scrutiny, as I reported here with Paul P. Murphy...
THE LATEST: Gab said it removed the alleged killer's profile and cooperated with law enforcement. The site vowed to stay online. But by Sunday evening, it shut down -- at least temporarily -- a notice to users said "we have been systematically no-platformed by App Stores, multiple hosting providers, and several payment processors." So "as we transition to a new hosting provider Gab will be inaccessible for a period of time..."
Fox has a Lou Dobbs problem
Oliver Darcy emails: Fox has a Lou Dobbs problem. The Fox Business anchor is prone to peddling dangerous conspiracy theories, and this week isn't the first time, and likely won't be the last time, he does so.
On Thursday night, Dobbs allowed a guest, Chris Farrell, to peddle what many people called an anti-Semitic trope about George Soros. The remark drew outrage after the episode was rebroadcast several times on Saturday, both before and after the Pittsburgh attack.
In a statement on Sunday afternoon, Fox Biz SVP Gary Schreier denounced the comment and said the episode would not re-air. And a Fox spokesperson said the guest would not be booked again. Read my full story here…
But what about Dobbs' own rhetoric?
Darcy adds: Fox was silent when asked if Dobbs, who did not push back when the guest made the remark, was culpable for the comment made on his air. Fox also did not respond to questions when asked about Dobbs' own rhetoric on Soros. In the past, Dobbs has referred to Soros as an "evil SOB," and "insidious." Dobbs has also peddled various conspiracy theories about Soros.
>> Also silent: "New Fox" comms chief Hope Hicks did not respond when I asked if the Murdochs had any comment...
>> Dobbs' rhetoric, per sources, has embarrassed some Fox staffers. One senior Fox employee told me, "It's people like Dobbs who really ruin it for all the hard working journalists at Fox." The big Q: What, if anything, will Fox do?
Kristol says it's time to speak up
Before Fox weighed in on the offensive Dobbs segment, Bill Kristol called out Farrell for repeating a "very familiar anti-Semitic trope." Kristol told me that some right-wing media outlets are part of a "toxic environment" in America. And he said it's past time for people to speak up about "appalling" content...
Lowry's take
Brian Lowry emails: Kristol's comments on CNN and Jennifer Rubin's comments on Twitter about Fox News' at-what-cost commitment to profit brought to mind a piece I wrote back in 2014, when Rupert Murdoch was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame. I asked then, as I would now, the extent to which Murdoch's toxic contributions to the media landscape offset his obvious, near-unparalleled influence in shaping it from a business perspective...
FT editor urges Fox boycott
Edward Luce, the US national editor for the Financial Times, went viral with this tweet on Saturday:
"The most effective thing Americans can do is boycott companies that advertise on Fox. They bankroll the poison that goes from the studio into Trump's head. The second is vote." Almost 8,000 RT's and counting...
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- Jim Rutenberg's Monday column asks: "How long will it take the news media come up with a more effective way to counter the litany of baseless claims washing through the news cycle? At this rate, a solution may come sometime in Mr. Trump's third term." (NYT)
-- Here's an example of a Trump lie that most people just skipped over. He "defended his choice" to hold a rally hours after the Pittsburgh attack "by saying NYSE opened a day after the Sept. 11 attacks." But "that isn't true," Devan Cole's story notes... (CNN)
My experience at a Trump rally
ICYMI, I talked about this on Sunday's show and wrote about it in this CNN Business column.
Did I feel like I was in danger at Friday night's rally in Charlotte? No. Not at all. But the jeers and the insults can feel intimidating. I left the rally even more sure that Trump is leading a hate movement against the media. No, not everybody at his rallies buy into it -- but some do. And that's a serious problem. Read the rest here...
BTW: Paul Farhi tweeted: "Number of Trump rallies in which he has bashed the news media so far this month: 15. Number of White House briefings in which the administration explains its policies and positions to the news media so far this month: One."
Yet another reckless Trump tweet
"The Fake News is doing everything in their power to blame Republicans, Conservatives and me for the division and hatred that has been going on for so long in our Country," POTUS tweeted Sunday night. "Actually, it is their Fake & Dishonest reporting which is causing problems far greater than they understand!"
For a much more clear-eyed assessment, lemme turn to Matt Lewis... | | Lewis: Cable news heightens America's rage
"By and large, cable news is a toxic shout-fest," both on the right and left, Matt Lewis told me on Sunday's show. "I think it contributes to the anger that we have in America right now." Margaret Sullivan responded by saying Lewis was making a false equivalency. Here's the clip.
But Lewis went on to make this point: While "we all have a part to play in this culture that we've fostered, there's nobody more important than the president" to set the tone.
As Julia Ioffe said later in the hour: "The buck stops with the president."
Does this feel like a "state of emergency?"
Journalists have "become targets," Bill Carter said on Sunday's show, citing the bombs mailed to CNN and other threats. "It's a terrible sign of our times," he said. "We're in a position I don't think we've ever been in in this country — I think this is kind of a state of emergency -- I've been around a long time, it's nothing like anything I've ever seen before, and I remember the Vietnam War and protests and everything else. This is at a height and a level of venom and hate that I've never seen..."
Another day, another newsroom evacuation
At the same time we were talking on CNN, WNYT TV in Albany was being evacuated. "A bomb threat was called into our newsroom Sunday morning," the station said on Twitter. A short time later, police gave the all-clear...
The big picture
Kathleen Hall Jamieson's advice: "Let's stop calling other people evil, and let's stop assuming that people are trying to destroy us when in fact they are not."
On "Reliable," she named three rhetorical cues -- "evil," "enemy" and "destroy us" -- that create a climate conducive to violence.
"Under those circumstances, we actually mobilize countries to kill people in other countries," she said. "Let's reserve that rhetoric for moments in which that's actually necessary."
| | Monday's editorial in the NYT:
"Maniacs have always existed in dark crevices of American life, and no amount of public condemnation will ever stop them from developing poisonous ideas. But in this harrowing time, more good speech, from more good people, can remind other Americans of the sorts of values that have, so far, managed to contain the divisions in their country..."
IN OTHER NEWS...
Megyn v. NBC update
I've been told to expect an announcement of Megyn Kelly's formal departure from NBC News sometime early this week.
Over the weekend, both sides were mum about the discussions and the exact timing of an announcement...
Destined to fail?
Kelly's morning show was doomed from the start, Bill Carter said on "Reliable Sources" on Sunday. "Management made a very ham-handed decision," he said. Margaret Sullivan said "she really never seemed to be the right fit for that job." As for Kelly's future, Sullivan said "it's hard to see quite how she resuscitates herself at this point..." Here's our full discussion...
Monday at 9 a.m. on NBC...
Who's going to host the 9 a.m. time slot now that Kelly's show has been cancelled? I know this is strange, but NBC News won't say who will be filling in on Monday. I think it will be revealed on the "Today" show shortly beforehand...
Media week ahead calendar
Tuesday: New iPads for the holidays? Apple is holding a product launch event at the Brooklyn Opera House...
Tuesday: Sony, Nintendo, Facebook earnings...
Wednesday: Halloween!
Thursday: Apple, NYT, and CBS earnings...
Saturday: Brian Lowry emails: "Shut Up and Dribble," LeBron James' docu-series response to Laura Ingraham, premieres on Showtime...
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- I missed this the other day: Rachel Abrams took a close look at the CBS inquiry into "what went wrong" in the Les Moonves era... (NYT)
-- ABC has ordered one additional episode of "The Conners," "bringing the Roseanne spinoff's total order to 11..." (THR)
-- Amy Kaufman's latest: "Actress Sarah Scott reported sexual misconduct on a Hollywood set and found a difficult path to a resolution..." (LAT)
| | Sherman's latest on Fox
In his latest for VF, Gabriel Sherman asks, in essence, "What would Roger Ailes do?"
"Trump's dominance of Fox is partly an accident, as a result of the lack of strong internal leadership," he writes. "And, of course, in ratings terms, it's been a happy accident. But the outcome is precisely the one Ailes had warned against: the network's identity is now inseparable from that of the president, a development that would have surely horrified Ailes."
He was a devoted Republican, of course, but Ailes "was sophisticated enough to know that Fox needed enough plausible distance from the subjects it covers to maintain the fiction of being 'Fair & Balanced.' Now Fox is effectively an arm of the White House..." Read on...
What happened to all the "false flag" lies?
The WaPo's Eli Rosenberg points out that Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and others stuck with conspiracy theories even after the mail bomb suspect was arrested on Friday. Did you think they'd walk it back? Well... no, they didn't...
Snap back to reality
I interviewed NYT publisher A.G. Sulzberger on stage at the CITIZEN by CNN conference the other day. And I really wanted to air this part of the interview on Sunday's "Reliable Sources."
Why? Because Sulzberger said, "We are now at a point where, according to recent polling, the majority of members of one political party answers affirmatively when asked the question 'is the press the enemy of the people?' And that is something I worry about every single day. Because, you know, an independent press is not a liberal ideal or a progressive ideal or a Democratic ideal. It's an American ideal, and it's one that all of our founders felt really strongly about. It's a baked-in assumption in a healthy democracy." | | He continued: "If you're a small-government conservative that's skeptical" of government overreach, what could you "possibly want more than, you know, a bad-ass reporter snooping around for bad actors doing bad things?" (Yes!) So "I think as a society it's really important that we find a way to communicate that independent media is in everyone's interests."
"The art of digging"
One more point that Sulzberger made: "Journalism in the abstract can be made into a menace. But the practical art of journalism is really the art of of digging and listening and learning and empathy. And it's hard to demonize that."
Here's another chunk of the interview — this is about the future of digital news and the need to make a market for $$$ subscriptions...
How to catch up on Sunday's "Reliable"
You can watch the video clips on CNN.com, watch the full program via CNNgo or VOD, or listen to the podcast via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, or other apps...
| | Weekend box office results
"As Halloween gets closer, 'Halloween' — the latest sequel in the fright franchise originated by John Carpenter — is creeping up the ranks and passing its predecessors," the NYT's Gabe Cohn reports. "Universal's slasher sequel was No. 1 at the box office for a second week and grossed an estimated $32 million this weekend, bringing its North American total to about $126.7 million." It is now the second-highest-grossing film in the 11-film series "when adjusting for inflation."
No. 2 for the weekend: "A Star Is Born." Note to Jamie: We still have to go see it! Maybe on Thursday?
That's a wrap on today's newsletter... Send me your feedback via email anytime... And see you tomorrow... | | | |
