Exec summary: Hello from a late-night train from DC to NYC... And let me be one of the first to wish you a Happy Valentine's Day! I wish this entire edition were heartwarming... Alas, there's a lot of bad news in the news right now...
"Hold the line" | | Ressa arrested
The Philippine government is on a crusade to silence Rappler, a pioneering news website that has challenged the government's policies and claims.
On Wednesday the site's exec editor Maria Ressa was arrested in connection with dubious "cyber libel" charges. She spent the night in jail and arrived in court for bail proceedings on Thursday morning in Manila. According to Rappler's coverage, she posted bail and the court issued a release order.
Journalists and press freedom advocates are rallying around Ressa, believing that Rodrigo Duterte's harassment of her website has hit a new low. NYU's Jay Rosen said Wednesday that Ressa is "perhaps the most important free press figure in the world right now."
Here's my story about why this case matters so much... And here's the main CNN.com story with the very latest...
What's at risk
Ressa (who ran CNN's bureau in Manila before launching Rappler) is "one of the most optimistic and energetic people I've ever met," CPJ's Steven Butler wrote in this column. "She conveys an infectious enthusiasm for her craft and profession -- digging deep and reporting the news."
Butler urged people who believe in the power of a free press to "make a big noise" about what's going on -- Not just in The Philippines, but across Asia, "where press freedom is in retreat."
Ressa sometimes ends her speeches by saying "we will hold the line." She said it again on Thursday right after being released. "When I look back a decade from now," she said, "I want to make sure that I have done all I can. We will not duck. We will not hide. We will hold the line."
That's what this moment is about...
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- Bill Shine's wife Darla went on an outrageous "pro-measles, anti-vax rant" on Wednesday... (The Daily Beast)
-- 🔌 Re: Shine, I'll be on CNN's "New Day" along with Dr. Sanjay Gupta to discuss this issue on Thursday morning...
-- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette publisher JR Block returned to the newsroom on Wednesday for the first time since this disturbing incident last Saturday... Colin Deppen has the latest here... (The Incline)
-- LAT's Matt Pearce tweeted: "300+ journalists at the L.A. Times, including Pulitzer winners and our top columnists, have signed a letter of protest over the company's proposal on intellectual property, which we think would be the worst in the industry..." (LAT Guild) | |
The National Enquirer's source was...
Oliver Darcy emails: Michael Sanchez was the leak. Yes, the brother of Lauren Sanchez, the woman with whom Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was in a romantic relationship, was the person who tipped off the National Enquirer, two people with knowledge of the matter told Chloe Melas and me on Wednesday, confirming The Daily Beast's reporting. But while we now know the identity of the leaker, plenty of questions still remain. Read our full story here...
Where's the evidence?
Darcy adds: In his blog post, Bezos suggested -- though he did not outright say -- that the Saudis or Trump, or perhaps both, had possibly played a role in exposing his relationship to the National Enquirer. But six days later, Bezos has not provided any evidence to support those ideas. And while he did provide emails to support his allegation of blackmail, the absence of evidence on the other explosive suggestions has only increased interest in the matter.
We asked Bezos' camp a number of questions, including...
1) Why did Bezos mention the Saudis and Trump in his blog post?
2) What were the findings of de Becker's investigation?
3) Will Bezos ever share with the public information about de Becker's investigation?
4) Is Bezos still in a relationship with Sanchez?
None of Bezos' reps provided us an on the record comment...
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- "Fox News has rejected a national advertising buy for a 30-second spot that warns viewers about the potential dangers of American fascism after an ad sales representative said network leadership deemed it inappropriate," Jeremy Barr reported... (THR)
-- BuzzFeed employees "have begun to question" Jonah Peretti's leadership — "not just about how last week's cuts were carried out, but also about decisions he has made that led the company to this point," Lucia Moses reports... (BI)
-- Media Matters' Matthew Gertz explains his tactics for tracking Trump's TV-to-Twitter habits... (CJR)
"Doom for Paul Manafort"
That's how CNN's Jeffrey Toobin reacted to a judge's ruling that Paul Manafort "intentionally" lied to Robert Mueller's office, thus voiding his plea deal. | | Katelyn Polantz calls Judge Amy Berman Jackson's ruling "another stunning turn in Mueller's efforts to uncover Russian interference in the 2016 election..." Read on...
>> Stephen Collinson's Thursday morning analysis for CNN.com: "Why have so many of President Donald Trump's associates been caught lying about contacts with Russians?"
How a single poll question illustrates America's divide over Trump and Russia
This WaPo-Schar School poll asked: "So far, do you think Mueller's investigation has or has not proven that Russia tried to interfere with the 2016 presidential election?"
The results show a country split between two competing realities. Among all adults, 43% said Mueller has proven the Russian plot. Another 43% said he has not proven it.
"It's really remarkable that the 2016 Russian election interference could still be viewed as an open question at all," CNN analyst / Lawfare exec editor Susan Hennessey told me. The #'s "reflect the extent to which President Trump has been successful in convincing portions of the American public to simply ignore and deny facts that are inconvenient to him." Here's what I wrote, also featuring Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Lee Miringoff...
Debunking Roger Stone's anti-CNN nonsense
Roger Stone, it seems, wants people to be talking about CNN, instead of his alleged crimes. He is pushing a baseless claim about CNN in US district court. And his wife is raising money off an easily disproven conspiracy theory about CNN's coverage.
This all goes back to the evidence-free claim that CNN was "tipped off" before he was arrested on January 25. We've been over this before. But on Wednesday I wrote a new story to debunk the new assertions. The story contains this new nugget of info: CNN had another crew out on a stakeout in another state that same morning. The crew was at the home of another player in the Mueller probe, on the suspicion that the person could be arrested, but that hunch didn't pan out. Journalism 101!
Trump aides call Dobbs and Hannity to shore up the base
Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman with the lead of the day: "In pursuit of a wall, President Trump ran into one."
Their story on the front page of Thursday's NYT is headlined "Trump's Task: Saving Face At The Border." With Trump on the verge of signing a spending compromise, he "offered no acknowledgment on Wednesday that his pressure tactics had failed even as aides sought to minimize the damage by tamping down criticism on the right," Baker and Haberman wrote. "One call was made to Lou Dobbs, a favorite of Mr. Trump's whose Fox Business Network show he often tries to catch live. Another was placed to Sean Hannity, the Fox host who regularly talks with the president. The message: Mr. Trump deserved support because he still forced concessions that he would never have gotten without a five-week partial government shutdown..."
"Executive Time," explained?
Katie Pellico emails: WaPo's David Fahrenthold and Josh Dawsey's Wednesday scoop: "A room-sized golf simulator" was installed in the White House "during the last few weeks." One unnamed source, a White House official, insists the system and installation was paid for personally by the president; replaces Barack Obama's outdated model; and has not been used "during executive time — or at all since it was put in."
>> Rep. Mark Pocan isn't the only one pointing out that the installation likely fell during the record-setting government shutdown... WaPo doesn't fully connect those dots, but says "Trump complained to friends during the shutdown that he missed Mar-a-Lago and being at his Florida golf course..."
Bloomberg's quip about Trump and Fox
Via Cristina Alesci and company: Michael Bloomberg spoke at a DC screening of the climate change doc "From Paris to Pittsburgh" on Wednesday night... He told the crowd, "We're just sorry that the one person in Washington who most needs to see this film isn't here. And unfortunately, that person will probably never see [it] because it won't be running on Fox..."
FOR THE RECORD, 2020 EDITION
-- Eye on the "Colbert primary:" Pete Buttigieg will be on the "Late Show" Thursday night... But first he'll be on "New Day" and "The Brian Lehrer Show..."
-- Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan told Erin Burnett that he is "seriously considering" a run for prez... (CNN)
-- CNN's town hall with Howard Schultz was the channel's highest-rated hour of the day in the 25-54 demo, but last month's Kamala Harris town hall drew about twice as many viewers... (The Hill)
| | THIS IS A BREAK FROM ALL THE BAD NEWS...
My Valentine interviewed me on the "Reliable" podcast 💖
This newsletter is full of heavy headlines. Here's a quick break. My wife Jamie Stelter turned the mic on me for a special Valentine's Day edition of the "Reliable Sources" podcast. She asked me some of the questions you all submitted yesterday. We talked about everything -- from our first date to TV in the age of Trump, from how we manage our schedules to what the media world will look like in 20 years. We had a lot of fun recording it... So give it a listen via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, or your preferred app...
Smollett on "GMA" Thursday
Jussie Smollett sat down with Robin Roberts for an interview airing on Thursday's "GMA..." It's his first interview since the "Empire" star reported being attacked in Chicago two weeks ago. In a preview clip, he said he's "pissed off..."
>> "Prompted by Roberts to elaborate, he said some of his anger is toward his alleged attackers but also those who have cast doubt on his story," Sandra Gonzalez wrote... Read her full story here...
Calling all streaming services (for Apple's new streaming service)
"Apple is in the final stages of preparing its new streaming video service, which will feature free original content for device owners and a subscription platform for existing digital services," CNBC's Alex Sherman wrote Wednesday. But not all of those existing digital services are on board... While CBS, Starz and Viacom "are expected" join the platform, "don't expect" the same participation from HBO, Netflix or Hulu.
Sherman said "Apple is aiming to launch service in April or early May..."
Mark March 25 on the media calendar
Frank Pallotta emails: In last night's newsletter, I pointed out that Apple's March 25 event (as revealed by BuzzFeed) could be the public's first look at Apple's streaming service. A Bloomberg report on Wednesday makes that look even more likely.
According to Bloomberg, Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Garner and JJ Abrams have been invited to the launch event. So if March 25 isn't the debut of the company's streaming TV service, then I don't know what is...
-- Shira Ovide's latest for WaPo: "What if the bar for Apple's video service isn't an entertainment-changing juggernaut like Netflix Inc. but something else. What if it's HBO, and Apple is effectively its own cable television company selling it?"
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- Elsewhere in Apple news, from The Verge's Casey Newton: Why "Apple's new deal for journalism should send publishers running..." (Verge)
-- Here is Tom Kludt's story about Apple's reported proposal for a 50/50 revenue split... (CNN)
-- And here's Peter Kafka with the logic behind Apple's pitch... (Recode)
-- The Atlantic's Matt Thompson is the new EIC for Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting... (Reveal)
Lester Holt, MediaWise Ambassador | | Poynter has named Lester Holt as its first MediaWise Ambassador: "The mission of the project is to teach 1 million teenagers — half from underserved communities — how to sort fact from fiction online by 2020 through new curriculum, in-person events at schools nationwide and social media content and outreach..." Holt led a teaching event at Woodrow Wilson High School in DC on Wednesday...
This year's National Press Foundation Honorees
Al Hunt, Judy Woodruff, Elisabeth Bumiller, Lester Holt, Rick Hutzell, Kashmir Hill and John Donnelly were some of the honorees at the National Press Foundation's annual dinner in DC... Karoun Demirjian performed the National Anthem...
Also spotted: Wolf Blitzer, Andy Lack, Noah Oppenheim, Jennifer Suozzo, Dafna Linzer, David Corvo, Pete Williams, Susannah George, Chris Megerian, Lindsay Watts, David Chalian, Jeremy Diamond, Liz Cole, Ken Strickland, Erica Green, Lara Jakes, Jeremy Art, and many more...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
By Katie Pellico:
-- Another nail in the MoviePass coffin: Nasdaq is axing the subscription service's parent company, Helios and Matheson... (CNN)
-- Justin Freiman emails: Sinclair and the Chicago Cubs are forming a joint venture to own and operate Marquee Sports Network. It'll be the exclusive home for the Cubs starting with the 2020 season... (B&C)
-- "How the brutal L.A. Weekly takeover produced The LAnd..." (THR)
Bad news for Alex Jones
Oliver Darcy emails: This is big news... A Connecticut judge ruled on Wednesday that some of the Sandy Hook families suing Alex Jones will have the opportunity to depose him. That's according to the law firm representing the families. One of the attorneys on the case said in a statement that the judge's ruling brought them "one step closer to proving" that Jones "knowingly peddled false and malicious narratives in order to make money at the expense of the Sandy Hook families' grief, safety and security." Of course, earlier this month, a judge granted the families access to internal InfoWars documents. Stay tuned...
NYT's Ryan Adams investigation
Here's how Joe Coscarelli summed up Wednesday's story in a tweet: "For years, Ryan Adams has used his influence in music to lure in and emotionally torment women. Melena Ryzik and I talked to some, including Mandy Moore, Phoebe Bridgers and a young woman who says her sexual texts with Adams while she was underage killed her dreams."
The NYT reviewed thousands of those texts. According to the story, Adams's lawyer "said that the singer did not recall these exchanges," and he categorically denied the "extremely serious and outlandish accusations" in this story. Read this...
AOC on Desus and Mero's Showtime premiere | | Via Showtime PR: "Desus Nice and The Kid Mero will welcome fellow Bronx native Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as the first guest in studio on their new Showtime weekly half-hour late-night talk show, DESUS & MERO. The series will premiere on Thursday, February 21 at 11:00 p.m. ET..."
| | Meet Andy Cohen's baby!
People magazine's Jess Cagle had the exclusive with Andy Cohen and his new baby boy, Benjamin, who was born on February 4.
Cohen on his surrogate: "I worked with an incredible surrogate. She was in California. Surrogacy is illegal in so many states, including New York. I don't understand why. It's a voluntary process, obviously. My surrogate just viewed it as, she was giving me the ultimate gift. She gave me life. So I'll be forever indebted to her."
Two new romcoms for V-Day
Brian Lowry emails: "Isn't It Romantic" is an energetic, pretty consistently clever romantic comedy that playfully sends up rom-com conventions. Rebel Wilson stars in the film, which is receiving a theatrical window in the United States and Canada timed to Valentine's Day, while premiering on Netflix elsewhere.
It's the better bet this weekend than "Alita: Battle Angel," a muddled mess of a sci-fi epic co-written and produced by James Cameron, who has made Fox enough scratch with "Titanic" and "Avatar" to justify banking on this misfire..
Amazon and the global "race for talent"
Brian Lowry emails: Amazon didn't deliver much news when it closed out TCA on Wednesday. Without saying much about the competitive landscape, Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke did say that the company is "aware that we're in a race for talent globally" given the coming introduction of studio-backed streaming services, and that the company will be experimenting with more direct-to-service movies, with some latitude in release windows built into its recent acquisitions...
A not-so-funny story about blackface
Lisa Respers France emails: Some of your favorite comedy stars and "SNL" cast members have donned blackface and escaped major criticism for it. I talked with an expert about why that is and why it's changing. Read on...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
By Lisa Respers France:
-- Lady Gaga is supporting Cardi B's Grammy win...
-- Smokey Robinson has doubled down on his support for Jennifer Lopez as part of the Grammys Motown tribute...
-- Jack Osbourne has denied he's a border patrol officer. Ozzy's son is doing some work in law enforcement, however...
-- Amy Schumer faked out fans with a baby gender "announcement..."
Netflix and AMC will share the "Breaking Bad" movie
Brian Lowry emails: An update on the "Breaking Bad" sequel, which will star Aaron Paul and, according to reports, follow events in the original finale. The movie will stream on Netflix, followed by a window on the network that carried the series, AMC. Deadline says that's "fitting," seeing as how "the two outlets share credit for the success of the original series..."
Last but not least...
The "Frozen 2" trailer is finally here! "Six years after their mega-successful 'Frozen' hit theaters, Disney dropped the first trailer for the sequel" on Wednesday, Chloe Melas and Frank Pallotta wrote. "The teaser to the upcoming animated film shows Queen Elsa (Idina Menzel) plunging into a dark and stormy ocean while trying to turn it into ice." Enjoy...
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