EXEC SUMMARY: At the end of this letter, there's some Stelter family baby news 😉 But first, lots and lots to report: More intimidation of the press in Venezuela, an end to US v. AT&T, the Obamas' Hollywood hires, and more...
A pivotal moment for the Trump presidency
Michael Cohen will be everywhere on Wednesday. His long-awaited testimony to the House Oversight Committee will be shown live on all the cable news channels, of course, and it will also carried live by the broadcast networks.
Broadcast's power has receded in recent years, but it still makes a big statement when ABC, CBS and NBC decide to interrupt regularly scheduled programming for news events.
And that's what we're going to see on Wednesday. The hearing begins at 10 a.m. Eastern time. Savannah Guthrie and Chuck Todd will anchor live coverage on NBC starting at 9:45 a.m. George Stephanopoulos will lead ABC's coverage. Norah O'Donnell will anchor on CBS. And Fox News will offer an optional special report to Fox's broadcast stations.
The broadcast networks will roll with the hearing for several hours. The cable newsers will be wall-to-wall. Wolf Blitzer and Jake Tapper will lead CNN's morning coverage beginning at 9 a.m.
A back-and-forth day
Wednesday isn't exactly a "split-screen" day because Washington and Hanoi are twelve hours apart. Instead, it will be a "back and forth" day. American viewers will wake up to pictures of President Trump's meet and greet with Kim Jong Un. Then the focus will shift to Capitol Hill. As the sun sets in the United States and rises in Vietnam, the summit will take center stage. (Will Trump react to Cohen?)
NBC's Lester Holt, ABC's David Muir, and CBS's Jeff Glor are anchoring their respective nightly newscasts from Hanoi. Christiane Amanpour and Jim Sciutto are there for CNN. Bret Baier is there for Fox. They'll lead the special reports during Trump and Kim's photo ops and meetings...
Trump's all-nighter? | | CNN's Jim Acosta in Hanoi: W.H. aides "know that Michael Cohen will be a huge spectacle tomorrow, and that it is going to overshadow much of what the president does here."
The expectation, a senior White House official told CNN, is that "Trump will stay up overnight in Hanoi and watch." Does he get Fox News on these trips?
Arguing about lying
On Wednesday, Anderson Cooper said on "AC360," we'll be hearing from "a known liar who lied for another known liar because the liar told him to lie and paid him to lie."
With the W.H. predictably attacking Cohen's credibility, Cooper said "there is no doubt that Michael Cohen has lied, and lied a lot. He lied while working for Donald Trump, for his company. He lied on TV promoting Trump's campaign. And he lied under oath to Congress. He's a convicted felon. The difference between him and President Trump is that Cohen has admitted to lying. The president has not."
We're going to hear a lot more of this on Wednesday, and Cohen already seems prepared with an answer...
"I'm going to let the American people decide"
Here's what he said after a long day behind closed doors on Tuesday: "I really appreciate the opportunity that was given to me to clear the record and to tell the truth and I look forward to tomorrow, to being able to, in my voice, to tell the American people my story, and I'm going to let the American people decide exactly who's telling the truth."
He has chilling things to say about the president... But will any of it sink in?
Matt Lewis has doubts. Writing for The Daily Beast, Lewis says "the public is too overwhelmed to process the Trump overload. We are at the point where this bombardment of Trump—this never-ending fountain of sex, power, Russia, and low-grade corruption—feels perfectly normal..."
Notes, quotes and questions
-- Gloria Borger on "The Situation Room:" "I don't think we can overstate the drama of all of this -- between the POTUS and the man he once trusted to do all his bidding..."
-- Will Cohen say anything that backs up BuzzFeed's disputed story from last month?
-- Will Matt Gaetz face any consequences for threatening Cohen?
-- WSJ's curtain-raiser story: "Cohen to Testify That Trump Engaged in Criminal Conduct While in Office."
-- Rachel Maddow: "If the WSJ is right tonight, and Congress is about to be given evidence, physical evidence, of the president committing financial crimes while he has been serving as president, as a country we're going to have to decide which way we go with that. Right away."
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- Sean Hannity is also in Hanoi, and he's planning on a post-summit interview with POTUS... On Tuesday he rode through the city on a scooter to make airtime... (The Hill)
-- There's been "logistical mayhem" in Hanoi. The "international media center" for the summit was abruptly moved out of the Meliá Hotel because that's where Kim is staying... (NYT)
-- WaPo's Tuesday scoop: "The U.S. military blocked Internet access to an infamous Russian entity seeking to sow discord among Americans during the 2018 midterms, several U.S. officials said..." (WaPo)
-- Far-right troll Jacob Wohl bragged to USA Today about his plans to use social networking sites to misinform people about the 2020 elections. By late afternoon, Twitter had permanently banned him... (BuzzFeed)
Univision crew expelled from Venezuela
Jorge Ramos is now back in Miami after being detained while interviewing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Monday.
Maduro "didn't like the interview, so they took our cameras, our video," Ramos told Anderson Cooper Tuesday night. "They detained us for two hours. And then they expelled me this morning from Venezuela." He said American and Mexican reps "helped us" get out of the country safely...
Telemundo reporter detained for six hours
Telemundo said Tuesday that its correspondent in Venezuela, Daniel Garrido, was abducted and detained for six hours.
Garrido was actually covering what happened with Ramos when, according to Telemundo, "a group of unidentified armed men forced him into a vehicle and covered his head with a hood. After questioning him for six hours and seizing his equipment, the kidnappers freed him without explanation and without returning his equipment...."
--> Univision's head of news expressed solidarity with rival Telemundo...
AT&T prevails
The Justice Department's 15-month-long legal battle to block AT&T's takeover of Time Warner, the parent company of CNN, has ended in failure for the government. The cost: A long delay for AT&T, tens of millions in legal costs and a setback for the government.
Tuesday's result has been a long time coming. AT&T began to integrate Time Warner, now named WarnerMedia, into the corporate fold after its initial court victory last June. On Tuesday morning a federal appeals court upheld that ruling, serving up a second loss for the DOJ. The government said it would not appeal further: "We are grateful that the Court of Appeals considered our objections to the District Court opinion. The Department has no plans to seek further review."
So that's that -- US v. AT&T is over -- and the legal cloud hanging over WarnerMedia has cleared. Here's Hadas Gold's full story...
Changes expected @ WarnerMedia
Recode's Peter Kafka on what's next: "AT&T now has full control of the giant entertainment company and is going to start moving pieces around."
THR's Kim Masters reported Tuesday that "sources believe former NBC Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt may be poised to take a major role" at WarnerMedia under CEO John Stankey...
| | FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- There's a renewed debate about Australia's "suppression orders" in the wake of Cardinal George Pell's conviction last December, which was only able to be revealed on Tuesday. This case is "a test of whether court privacy rules are still enforceable — or applicable — with borderless news sites and social media..." (WaPo)
-- The Australian notes that media outlets like the BBC and CNN "did not report on the conviction for Australian audiences until yesterday," but other publications "including The Washington Post and The Daily Beast" did... (The Australian)
-- Poynter's Tom Jones on Clarissa Ward's CNN reports from Taliban-controlled areas of Afghanistan: "There are times when you're in awe of what media outlets can do. This is one of those times..." (Poynter) | |
New York Media no longer looking for a buyer
"New York Media, the parent company, has decided not to move ahead with a sale after reviewing its strategic options, according to people familiar with the matter," WSJ's Ben Mullin reported Tuesday evening...
--> The company's CEO Pam Wasserstein is on this week's Digiday Podcast...
--> And my interview with the mag's outgoing editor Adam Moss will be coming out later this week...
The American Journalism Project has launched
This is a venture philanthropy organization that wants to give grants and other support to local nonprofit newsrooms all across the country. The founders are two people who know how to make these newsrooms work: Elizabeth Green of Chalkbeat and John Thornton of The Texas Tribune. He is managing director and she is chairing the board of directors.
The goal, Green said in this Medium post, is to give "meaningful grants to the most promising local news institutions, both those that are already emerging and some that don't yet exist."
About $42 million has been raised so far from the Knight Foundation, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, Emerson Collective, the Facebook Journalism Project, and other sources. More info here...
TV-style ad options on Facebook
Sara Ashley O'Brien reports: Facebook said Tuesday that "it will participate in the competitive Upfront ad sales season this year for the first time." At a press event in NYC, FB "announced a new premium video ad program, called Facebook Showcase, for advertisers to target audiences within videos on the platform." This sounds a lot like the Google Preferred program on YouTube, which carves out popular TV-type programming for brand advertisers...
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- Zac Efron and Anna Kendrick are on board to star in "Human Discoveries," a new animated series for Facebook Watch... (EW)
-- "Facebook won't renew two-thirds of existing Facebook Watch news shows," Sahil Patel reported... (Digiday)
-- "Privacy is a headwind for us in 2019," CFO David Wehner told investors... (Variety)
-- HBO has ordered more "Axios:" "eight new episodes" along with four short specials... (LAT)
-- Via Ben Mullin: "In a memo to Vox Media staff, Chief Executive Jim Bankoff says the company will no longer include or enforce mandatory arbitration clauses..." (Twitter)
Bezos and the Enquirer: Unsolved mysteries
WaPo's Sarah Ellison has a new story about Michael Sanchez, the man "at the center of inquiries into how the National Enquirer obtained the salacious, private text messages" between his sister Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos."According to people who've spoken to Lauren Sanchez recently, she feels betrayed by her brother and the two are not speaking," Ellison reports. Meanwhile, Michael is continuing to criticize Bezos and Gavin de Becker...
Speaking of Bezos...
Page Six says that Bezos was at Vanity Fair's post-Oscars party -- spotted "chowing on a late-night In-N-Out burger" -- without Lauren Sanchez. The site says "Sanchez's ex, Patrick Whitesell, was also there..."
Jenna Bush Hager to succeed Kathie Lee Gifford | | Noah Oppenheim's Tuesday morning memo to staff: "Jenna Bush Hager will be joining Hoda Kotb as a co-host of the fourth hour of TODAY. Jenna will officially start her new role in April after we bid a fond farewell to Kathie Lee Gifford." Here's video of the on-air announcement.
More changes to come, Oppenheim says: "While it's bittersweet to say goodbye to Kathie Lee, we are thrilled to have the opportunity to make some changes at 10 a.m. This is just the first of many! The show is evolving, and we will have additional announcements to share with you in the coming months..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
-- Page Six's sources say "Megyn Kelly is considering a return to TV in the fall, in time to cover the 2020 race..." But where? (Page Six)
-- Rahel Solomon is CNBC's newest general assignment reporter... (Philly.com)
-- ABC is experimenting with its "20/20" newsmag, making it feel "more like a documentary or movie," David Sloan tells Brian Steinberg... (Variety)
-- How the world should work: "A bookstore owner needed emergency surgery, so employees at other stores worked for free to keep the shop open..." (CNN)
Read Emma Thompson's letter
"Actress Emma Thompson has made public her reason for dropping out of 'Luck,' a highly-anticipated animated feature by Skydance Animation," Frank Pallotta wrote here. "In a letter to Skydance management about her departure, Thompson expressed 'discomfort' working with the company's newly-hired animation chief John Lasseter, who left Pixar last year after he was accused of sexual misconduct."
Key passage: "It feels very odd to me that you and your company would consider hiring someone with Mr. Lasseter's pattern of misconduct given the present climate in which people with the kind of power that you have can reasonably be expected to step up to the plate. If a man has been touching women inappropriately for decades, why would a woman want to work for him if the only reason he's not touching them inappropriately now is that it says in his contract that he must behave 'professionally'?"
The LA Times was the first to report on the letter... Read it in full here...
The Obamas hire Hollywood execs
Sandra Gonzalez emails: Barack and Michelle Obama announced on Tuesday that three female entertainment vets will lead the executive team for their production company, Higher Ground Productions, and help build its content slate for Netflix. Annapurna alum Priya Swaminathan, who was hired in the fall, and Tonia Davis, formerly of Chernin Entertainment, will serve as co-heads of the company. Qadriyyah "Q" Shamsid-Deen, who was scooped up from Ryan Murphy Television's Half Initiative, where she was program director, has boarded as a creative exec. "With Higher Ground Productions, we hope to bring people together around common values and uncommon stories—and Priya, Tonia and Q are precisely the people to bring that vision to life," President Barack Obama said in a statement...
| | FIRST LOOK
Alfonso Cuarón on this week's Variety cover | | This cover package, by Brent Lang, features Alfonso Cuarón fresh off his big Oscars win, three statuettes in hand... It'll be out on Wednesday morning...
The best picture arguments continue
Vulture's top headline right now: "Let's Argue About the Preferential Ballot."
Brian Lowry emails: Leave it to The Onion to neatly satirize the negative response to "Green Book's" Oscar win, with the headline, "Nation Still Outraged 1933 Best Picture Went To 'Cavalcade' Instead Of 'Lady For A Day.'" The hot takes, recrimination and alibis (the last mostly coming from prognosticators) related to this year's race underscore that the period drama was a divisive choice for best picture, but perhaps foremost offer a reminder that A) there's no such thing as too many URLs about a big event these days and B) Twitter has created a platform to vent about any perceived injustice, including those still nursing grievances about matters like "Crash" winning best picture over "Brokeback Mountain" in 2006...
Opposite the Oscars...
Brian Lowry emails: Even with nearly 30 million viewers watching the Oscars, Sunday's ratings demonstrated that TV viewing isn't necessarily a zero-sum game. Specifically, the "True Detective" finale and latest episode of "The Walking Dead" were both within their usual ranges, per THR's Rick Porter, although "Dead" did shamble off with an all-time-low audience in terms of total viewers (about 4.4 million), reflecting just how far the AMC series has fallen since its heyday...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
-- Emily Dixon reports: "Ariana Grande will return to Manchester in August in order to headline the Pride festival, after a terror attack outside her show in May 2017 killed 22..."
-- Janet Jackson is launching "her first-ever Las Vegas residency in May. Titled 'Metamorphosis,' show will begin May 17 and run until August," Chloe Melas writes...
-- Selma Blair opened up about her battle with multiple sclerosis in an interview with Robin Roberts that aired on Tuesday... | |
Whack-a-Troll!
Brian Lowry emails: As much as I admire Rotten Tomatoes' effort to curtail Twitter trolls by banning user reviews before a movie's released -- "Captain Marvel" having been the latest target of such slimy tactics -- it almost feels like playing Whac-a-Mole -- or if you prefer, Whac-a-Troll...
That's a wrap on "OITNB"
"'Orange Is the New Black' has locked up its Litchfield set for the last time," THR's Jackie Strause wrote Tuesday. "The veteran Netflix series wrapped production on its seventh and final season on Tuesday and the cast of Jenji Kohan's prison dramedy has been marking the bittersweet milestone on social media." Check it out here...
LAST BUT DEFINITELY NOT LEAST...
The best news of the day
We've been waiting a while to report this! My wife Jamie is pregnant with baby #2... Sunny is going to become a big sister this August. 😊
On Instagram and on NY1, Jamie showed some video of Sunny introducing herself to the baby. She also wrote about our grueling IVF experience in detail here. Lemme second what she wrote: "If you're someone struggling to get or stay pregnant, know that you are not alone... It helps to talk about it..."
Now, here's our celebratory photo! | | | That's a wrap! Thanks for reading. Email me with feedback, story ideas, anything. See you tomorrow... | | | |
