EXEC SUMMARY: Monday is here! Scroll down for Jeff Zucker and Noah Oppenheim's comments at SXSW, my interview with Jane Mayer, the week ahead calendar, and much more...
Fox condemns Pirro's comments
On Saturday night, Fox's Jeanine Pirro questioned "whether Congresswoman Ilhan Omar's Islamic religious beliefs stand in opposition to the US Constitution," David Goldman reported here.
Fox initially declined to comment. But on Sunday night, more than 24 hours after Pirro's broadcast, Fox News management admonished her in a sternly worded statement. "We strongly condemn Jeanine Pirro's comments about Rep. Ilhan Omar," the network said. "They do not reflect those of the network and we have addressed the matter with her directly." | | Pirro -- one of President Trump's top TV boosters -- notably did not apologize. Instead, she said, "I've seen a lot of comments about my opening statement from Saturday night's show and I did not call Rep. Omar un-American. My intention was to ask a question and start a debate, but of course because one is Muslim does not mean you don't support the Constitution. I invite Rep. Omar to come on my show any time to discuss all of the important issues facing America today."
Widespread criticism of the 'judge'
Pirro, the host of "Justice with Judge Jeanine," was denounced by figures on both the left and the right on Sunday. The NYT's Bret Stephens said Pirro "is a disgrace." He said "every healthy democracy needs a healthy conservative movement," but "Fox News has become the chief driver in making that movement intemperate, idiotic, and illiberal."
Hours before the Fox statement, one staffer at the network bravely spoke out. Hufsa Kamal, a producer on Fox's "Special Report with Bret Baier," tweeted straight at Pirro, "Can you stop spreading this false narrative that somehow Muslims hate America or women who wear a hijab aren't American enough? You have Muslims working at the same network you do, including myself."
🔌: I'll have more about this on CNN's "New Day" in the 7 a.m. hour...
New audio of old offensive remarks by Tucker Carlson
The progressive anti-Fox group Media Matters obtained audio clips of Tucker Carlson's calls to the Bubba the Love Sponge radio show between 2006 and 2011. The group's headline: "Carlson makes numerous misogynistic and perverted comments."
The Daily Beast says Carlson "appeared to defend statutory rape and called for the elimination of rape shield laws, among other things," in the segments.
Carlson responded on Sunday night by saying that Media Matters "caught me saying something naughty." (No, it's much worse than that.) He also encouraged people to tune into his show "if you want to know what I think." WaPo's Erik Wemple said that Carlson is trying to "parlay the up-and-coming scandal into higher ratings" instead of dealing with the substance...
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- The question that's top of mind at Disney and Fox: Is this the week that the mouse will finally swallow the fox? The deal is expected to close any time now...
-- This team at the LA Times produced an oral history about the legendary Fox studio "at the end of its run..." (LAT)
-- News Corp chief Robert Thomson's latest: "The Facebook icon may appear to be an approving thumb, but to content creators it's a contemptuous middle finger..." (Times UK)
| | Sunshine Week!
"It's your right to know."
That's the theme of Sunshine Week, an annual chance for newsrooms to advocate for government transparency. The celebration began on Sunday and wraps up with "Freedom of Information Day" on Saturday. Here are how some local papers are promoting it:
-- The Columbus Dispatch: This week is about "the importance of open government and freedom of information."
-- The Buffalo News: "The newspaper you are reading is a friend of the people."
-- The Monitor in Brownsville, Texas: Journalists encourage public access to info so that "you can decide for yourselves what news is valid and which is fake."
House Dems promoting 'transparency' too
"Sunshine Week" is a nonpartisan idea -- spearheaded by ASNE -- but local politicians sometimes hold town halls and other events to support it. This year Democrats in the House will be talking about it as well.
According to Jonathan Swan, "the House will frame the coming week as 'Sunshine Week' — 'focused on increasing government transparency and accountability,' to follow their vote last week on sweeping anti-corruption legislation."
"More transparency" is easy for politicians to say, hard for them to follow through on...
The AP's new look at a local news desert
"Local journalism is dying in plain sight," the AP's David Bauder and David A. Lieb wrote in this story centered in Waynesville, Missouri. The town's local paper, the Daily Guide, shut down last September. So now Waynesville is one of "more than 1,400 other cities and towns across the U.S. to lose a newspaper over the past 15 years." These days the only local reporter at the county courthouse is Darrell Todd Maurina, who posts stories on Facebook. Read all about him in this story pegged to Sunshine Week...
--> The AP's Michael Casey has a related story: "As newspapers close, role of government watchdog disappears"
Editor of local Ohio paper reflects on loss of GM plant
"Reliable Sources" producer Justin Freiman emails: Youngstown, Ohio's newspaper The Vindicator has served the community for 150 years. As the last car rolled off the assembly line of GM's Lordstown plant lastt Wednesday, its editor Todd Franko told me the daily paper has already seen a reduction of about 20% of its staff since 2007, and he fears that number will grow. "If you are in the media industry and don't fear more cuts, you aren't watching your own headlines."
Franko said the closure of the plant is a $3 billion economic hit "that stretches to subscribers, advertisers, taverns that hire local bands, cleaning companies… We will feel it, as will everyone else in the community."
The newspaper has been covering the Lordstown plant since it opened back in 1966, and Franko said he sees Vindicator as the historic record for the area. He pointed out, "This round of tough news is showing more optimism, we know that the sun sets on some things and we also know that the sun rises. "It's our role as members of the media "to make sure we find the sunrises as well as the sunsets."
How Trump's anti-media attacks relate to all this
Connie Schultz on Sunday's "Reliable Sources" telecast: "When you've got a president who is demonizing the media, that trickles down to a lot of public officials around the country. All of a sudden, you've got a mayor calling journalists the enemy of the people. You've got members of Congress calling us that. You've got the county commissioner saying 'I don't have to give you information.'"
Schultz, a syndicated columnist and journalism professor, is married to Sherrod Brown. So we also spoke about Brown's decision not to pursue the Dem nomination in 2020... Watch the full segment here...
41 days...
That's how many days have elapsed since the White House held an on-camera briefing with Sarah Sanders, as of Sunday. On Monday it'll be six straight weeks... | | This is a glaring example of the lack of sunlight at 1600 Penn...
Media week ahead calendar
Monday: SXSW continues in Austin...
Tuesday: David McCraw, the NYT's top newsroom lawyer, is out with a new book, "Truth In Our Times..." Here's a preview...
Wednesday: The Sun Valley Film Festival begins...
Thursday evening: The National Magazine Awards 2019 take place in Brooklyn...
Friday: The Ides of March...
Trump submitting his budget request...
The White House will deliver its budget request to the House Budget Committee on Monday morning. I'm expecting another proposal to eliminate funding for PBS, NPR, etc... For the third straight year... And another congressional rejection of the proposal...
Round two for Paul Manafort
"On Wednesday, Paul Manafort is up for sentencing round two," Katelyn Polantz reports in this curtain-raiser story for CNN.com. The big Q: Will the second judge be harsher?
Is this Beto's week? Biden's week? Or both?
Chris Cillizza's latest: "Is this the week that B & B boys -- Beto and Biden -- finally get in? That's the question on the mind of the collective political world as we look to the week ahead." He notes that "both men seem to be edging ever closer to running, but as the race begins to pick up real momentum, their go/no go decisions are becoming more urgent." Read on...
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- Trump called Tim Cook "Tim Apple" the other day, but according to Jonathan Swan he told RNC donors that he actually said "Tim Cook Apple." No. He didn't. One of Swan's donor sources said "I just thought, why would you lie about that. It doesn't even matter!" Apparently it matters to Trump... (Axios)
-- Gayle King's interview of R. Kelly became the "SNL" cold open on Saturday... (CNN)
-- Joe Adalian noted: Friday night's King/Kelly special on CBS was "Friday's No. 1 broadcast show among A18-49, notching a 1.2 in demo and 6.6 million viewers..." (Twitter)
| | NEWS FROM SXSW ↙
NBC News prez talks Ronan Farrow and Megyn Kelly
Frank Pallotta emails: At a SXSW session on Sunday, the LAT's Stephen Battaglio asked Noah Oppenheim about of NBC's most controversial moves in the past two years: Hiring Megyn Kelly and shelving Ronan Farrow's expose on Harvey Weinstein.
On Farrow: "What I would say is that the same group of people — leadership of the investigative unit, standards and practices, legal, all of the folks who looked at his reporting and said 'this isn't ready yet' — those are the same people that have shepherded the 500-plus exclusives that we've gotten on the air in the last two years."
About Kelly: "In this business, sometimes you take big swings and they work out and sometimes they don't."
--> More news from the session: NBC is sending Al Roker to the Arctic Circle for a report on climate change... And the network is rebooting the streaming news service "NBC News Signal" as "NBC News Now" in May...
Zucker speaks
VF's Joe Pompeo interviewed CNN president Jeff Zucker on stage at SXSW on Saturday... Key quotes via THR's Jeremy Barr:
-- Re: Trump and the AT&T deal: "Do I think there was political motivation in trying to block the deal? I do. And, do I believe it came from the highest parts of government? I do." But the DOJ's suit failed, so the issue is somewhat "moot."
-- Re: Fox News: It's a "propaganda network" that "has done a lot of damage to the political discourse in this country."
-- Re: NABJ's recent criticism: "We need to continue to improve," especially "among African-Americans in the most senior editorial positions at CNN US TV."
-- Re: cable news: "At Fox, Donald Trump can do no wrong. At MSNBC, Donald Trump can do no right. And I don't think either one of those is right."
-- Re: his ambitions to run for office someday: "At some point, I'd like to really give that a shot. It's not imminent. It's not happening next year. We'll see where the world goes."
Three CNN town halls in one night
Pete Buttigieg, seen here with Jake Tapper, was the third of three Democrats to appear on CNN's night of 2020 town halls on Sunday. Of the three, he received the most praise on Politics Twitter... | | John Delaney and Tulsi Gabbard also answered Q's from the audience in Austin. CNN.com's live blog has all the highlights...
"The Real Horror of the Anti-Vaxxers"
Brian Lowry emails: Over the weekend Frank Bruni had another spot-on column about the anti-vaccination crowd, expanding the lens to encompass the dangers associated with those who believe in all manner of conspiracies. Bruni's key observation: In today's media environment it's easy to "grab hold and convince yourself of whatever it is you prefer to believe. With Google searches, you find the ostensible proof you seek. On social media, you bask in all the affirmation you could possibly want."
--> A related column on a different topic ran in Slate regarding Michael Jacksons defenders, examining the "'Michael Jackson is innocent' industrial complex" that has been in full swing around "Leaving Neverland," comparing them to "the 9/11-was-an-inside-job folks..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- Scott Pelley's fascinating interview with Fed chair Jerome Powell aired on "60 Minutes" Sunday night. As I watched, I thought to myself, is Powell sending a message to POTUS? (CBS)
-- John Herrman's latest: "How TikTok Is Rewriting the World..." (NYT)
-- Trevor Noah to Jake Tapper: "If you're not laughing at what's going on right now, you will go crazy..." (CNN)
| | Does anyone want to be Trump's comms director?
Count me as skeptical. On Sunday's show, I explained why. It's lights out for Bill Shine at the White House... But Shine had an "impossible" job, Sarah Ellison said.
She also pointed out that Trump's focus on the job -- refilling it several times while leaving "many other key positions unfilled" -- really says something "about the way this president values his own media coverage." Watch...
Dems probing Trump's opposition to AT&T deal
Rep. David Cicilline spoke with me on Sunday about his call for more info about the DOJ's review of the AT&T-Time Warner deal. "We need to protect the rule of law" and make sure that deals are reviewed "in the appropriate way," not out of political motivations, he said...
From partisanship to propaganda?
Jane Mayer, the author of The New Yorker's detailed look at Fox News, described the Trump-Fox relationship as "incestuous" on Sunday's show. She also said Trump needs Fox as much as it needs him. Watch the interview here...
Debating the DNC's decision | | Jeff Greenfield, Tara Dowdell and Angelo Carusone all weighed in on whether the DNC was right to leave Fox News out of the primary debate lineup. Dowdell said it "is a rational decision..." but Greenfield said "I think they're missing a golden opportunity" by excluding Fox...
How to catch up on Sunday's show
Listen to the podcast via Apple or your favorite app... Watch the video clips on CNN.com... Or watch the entire episode on CNNgo or VOD...
My interview with Jonah Peretti
ICYMI on Friday, here are some of the highlights from my sit-down with BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti... The full interview is up on our "Reliable" podcast... And you can read about it here...
Facebook sues alleged Ukrainian hackers
Donie O'Sullivan emails: "What kind of dog are you?" "Who is your soulmate?" We've all seen these quizzes online that claim to offer profound questions such as those above — normally we think of them as a bit of fun, a way to waste some time, but normally they also want to access your data. In a suit filed in California on Friday evening, Facebook alleges that two Ukrainian hackers used online quizzes to take over users' internet browsers, access some private Facebook info, and serve users unauthorized ads.
Here's what some of the quizzes looked like. Any of them look familiar to you? | | "Captain Marvel" soars at the box office
Frank Pallotta emails: The 2019 North American box office has been, well, awful so far this year, but here comes "Captain Marvel" to save the day. Disney's latest Marvel film nabbed a $153 million domestic opening this weekend, beating expectations that had it making it closer to $130 million. The story was even better worldwide for Marvel's first film led and directed by a woman.
The film made $455 million globally, which is the sixth highest grossing worldwide opening of all time.
Now it's on to "Avengers: Endgame" next month, which is likely going to make an ungodly amount of money. Read on...
Inside the SXSW premiere of "Us"
Jordan Peele's "Us" opened the SXSW film festival on Friday night... "Without giving away too many of the film's spooky secrets, it explores topical themes of division," Frank Pallotta wrote afterward...
>> "We are at a time where we fear 'the other,'" Peele said during a Q&A session after the screening. "I wanted to suggest that the monster has our face, maybe the evil is us..."
Lowry's take
Brian Lowry emails with a slightly more skeptical take 😉
Without having seen 'Us,' the SXSW reaction to the premiere reveals a lot about irrational exuberance at film festivals. Journalists quickly made sweeping proclamations about Peele. Variety's Ramin Setoodeh tweeted that 'It's official: Jordan Peele is the new Spielberg' – the sort of premature exclamation that not only feels a bit off point given the kind of movies they make, but which at this stage in their careers seems unfair to both of them... | |
SAVING THE MOST IMPORTANT STORY FOR LAST...
Why Alex Trebek and 'Jeopardy!' are so special
The TV industry is rallying around "Jeopardy" host Alex Trebek in the wake of his stage 4 pancreatic cancer diagnosis. Jeff Greenfield, who once appeared on the game show, told me on Sunday that Trebek rewards knowledge with a show that is an "oasis" in a "vast wasteland" of TV.
Trebek "really deserves not just our wishes and our hopes that he beats the odds, but real thanks for putting this on the air" for 35 years, he said...
--> More on Trebek: Ken Jennings wrote "an ode to our generation's Cronkite" for the NYT...
| | | Thanks for reading! Email me feedback anytime. See you tomorrow... | | | |
