Hey there -- this is Oliver Darcy, filling in for Brian Stelter. I want to hear from you. Send tips, feedback, observations via email or find me on Twitter. Scroll down for "Game of Thrones" ratings, Justin Amash's newest tweets, Rachel Maddow's new book, and much more, but first...
Court to hear arguments on SF reporter
"Tomorrow is a big day." That's how freelance journalist Bryan Carmody, who had his electronics confiscated in a widely condemned raid by San Francisco police earlier this month, put it in a Monday tweet. On Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. PT, Judge Samuel Feng of the San Francisco Superior Court will hear two motions...
-- The first motion comes from Carmody himself. His lawyer, Thomas Burke, is asking the court to "quash and revoke" the search warrants police used. The motion also asks the court to order police to "return all of the seized property" immediately.
-- The second motion comes from the First Amendment Coalition, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and the local chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. That motion asks the court to unseal the applications for the search warrants in the case. The group says the release of the applications will "shed light on whether police informed" the judges that issued the warrants on whether Carmody "is a journalist, which in turn would make clear whether the judges simply ignored that key fact, or whether they never knew it."
"We are optimistic..." | | On Monday evening I spoke with Carmody about the case. Carmody told me that he thinks he is on "pretty good legal ground" and should prevail on Tuesday. "It appears what [the SF police] did was illegal, and we just want to get that reversed," he told me. Carmody said that the support he's received has been "surreal" and that it's "heartening to see that people are paying attention."
David Snyder, the executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, also told me that while "it's always impossible to predict" the outcome of court cases, he believes they have a "very strong legal argument." He explained that applications for search warrants "are supposed to become public after a warrant is executed" and should have been "made public already." Snyder concluded to me, "We are optimistic because the law is clearly on our side."
District attorney says he "can't imagine" how the search "would be appropriate"
The court hearing comes as San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón questions the appropriateness of the raid. On Monday, Gascón tweeted, "My office has not seen the warrant or the facts upon which it was based, but absent a showing that a journalist broke the law to obtain the information that police are looking for, I can't imagine a situation in which a search warrant would be appropriate."
Gascón added that even if a warrant was necessary, the search should have not have been executed "without the use of a special master." As the San Francisco Chronicle explains, "Special masters are court-appointed attorneys who assist in searches and determine whether the material falls within the scope of a warrant." The Chronicle points out that police have not said if a special master was used while conducting this search...
>> Related: Candidates running to be the next SF district attorney have also condemned the raid...
Mayor changes tune...
Meanwhile, San Francisco Mayor London Breed -- who has received a lot of criticism over the matter -- has walked back her previous support for the raid. In a series of tweets on Sunday morning, which did not elicit much attention, Breed tried to distinguish the legality of the raid from its appropriateness.
"And the more we learn, the less appropriate it looks to me," the mayor tweeted. Breed added, "A free and independent press plays a crucial role in our society, and we have to work harder to honor not only the letter of California's Shield Law, but also the spirit of it."
Let's make sure this story stays in the news
Brian Stelter emails: On Monday night I helped present the Deadline Club's annual awards in NYC... Maggie Haberman joined me on stage for a dinner conversation... And when I asked about attacks against the press, she immediately brought up the SF case. It has "barely made a blip, nationally," and that's a big problem, she said. This case is "chilling." She's right, and Yashar Ali expressed a similar concern very well in a CNN.com op-ed over the weekend. If you missed it, check it out here...
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- This is impressive: "Finland is winning the war on fake news. What it's learned may be crucial to Western democracy," Eliza Mackintosh reports... (CNN)
-- McClatchy posted a $42 million loss in the first quarter, while saying its digital subscription efforts are seeing growth... (SacBee)
-- Media Matters says NRATV has been pretending "nothing is wrong" as the organization is gripped with internal turmoil... (Media Matters)
-- CNN announced four more presidential town halls: Bennet, Moulton, Ryan and Swalwell... (CNN)
Fox host lobbying Trump to pardon accused war criminals
Fox host Pete Hegseth has been privately lobbying Trump to pardon servicemen accused of war crimes, The Daily Beast reported Monday night. Hegseth, according to The Beast, "has repeatedly pressed the president to support the accused and convicted servicemen." The Beast noted that, according to its review of footage, Hegseth has not disclosed to the Fox audience that he's been advising Trump on the matter...
>> The Beast's report said Hegseth and Fox didn't respond to requests for comment. That said, Hegseth tweeted out the story on Monday night, writing, "#FreeEddie #FreeMatt #FreeClint 🇺🇸"
Trump is (still) mad at Fox over Buttigieg town hall
| | Trump is still skewering Fox News for hosting a town hall with Mayor Pete Buttigieg. At a rally in Pennsylvania on Monday evening, Trump asked, "What's going on with Fox, by the way? What's going on there? They're putting more Democrats on than you have Republicans. Something strange is going on at Fox, folks." Trump is, of course, saying the quiet part aloud. He is not-so-tacitly implying that he expects Fox to behave not as a news organization, but as an an arm of the White House...
>> Buttigieg spox Lis Smith responded, telling me on Monday evening, "The President is a close observer of politics and knows that no Democrat shines more in town halls than Mayor Pete, so it's not surprising he would be miffed that we had an hour of free air time last night."
"It was a very smart decision"
Smith also told me the campaign was thrilled with the results of the Fox town hall: "We stand by it and think it was a very smart decision." Smith characterized it as the second "biggest media moment" for the campaign, behind Buttigieg's CNN town hall in March. Smith also appeared to take an implicit shot at some of Buttigieg's rivals, saying, "If you want to stand up and send a message to Fox News, it's a hell of a lot more impactful to deliver that message to Fox viewers, rather than to deliver it on MSNBC where Fox viewers will never see or hear it."
>> Ratings: 1.1 million viewers tuned in for the town hall... A very strong # for a Sunday evening on cable news...
>> Fox's Brit Hume said Monday evening that Buttigieg "may be the most impressive candidate I've seen since the emergence of Barack Obama..."
Of course, some on Fox used the town hall material to attack...
It should be noted that -- to no one's surprise -- some Fox shows played clips of Buttigieg expressing progressive values, and then criticized him for what were characterized as radical ideas. I asked Smith about this. Her response: "Because they are not going to attack us and distort everything we say every day of the week?" Smith's position is that Fox will of course distort, but at least Buttigieg had an hour of unfiltered air time to make his case directly to the network's viewers, many of whom she noted "only consume their news on Fox."
--> Here is Stelter's full story about Trump bristling when he sees Dems on Fox...
--> Chris Cuomo's reaction to Trump: "What did Fox do that's so terrible? They're giving his 2020 opponent airtime. They're doing their job."
--> WaPo's Erik Wemple points out that Chris Wallace declined to defend his colleagues when Buttigieg attacked them, contending "the reason" is because "their words are indefensible.."
Right-wing media targets Amash | | It is always incredible -- though not the least bit surprising anymore -- to see pro-Trump media personalties and politicians attempt to lay waste to someone's reputation the moment that the person dares to criticize Trump. It's even more incredible when the person has a record like Justin Amash.
The Tea Party congressman for years has been lauded by right-wing media for his firm beliefs. But now that Amash has said he believes Trump may have committed impeachable offenses, he is being viciously attacked by some of the very same voices that propped him up over the years. On Monday, he was called a "phony" (Dan Bongino), a "radical" Democrat (Lou Dobbs), a "useful idiot (Dinesh D'Souza), and much more. The right-wing media machine that helped build up Amash's profile is now aiming to take him down...
Just looking for attention?!
CNN's Haley Byrd emails: Republican leaders slammed Amash on Monday, arguing his weekend assessment that Trump engaged in impeachable conduct was intended to generate media coverage. "What he wants is attention in this process," House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said of the Michigan Republican on Fox News. "He never supported the president, and I think he's just looking for attention."
But since his tweet storm, Amash has resisted a torrent of interview requests from media outlets. Reporters who know Amash are also well aware of his tendency to ignore texts and phone calls. That doesn't mean he's not willing to answer questions: More than once, I've texted him a question just to have him tweet out his answer for everyone to read. Amash is amiable and willing to be forthright when reporters catch him in a Capitol hallway, but he's notoriously difficult to get a sit-down interview with.
He also isn't the type of lawmaker to regularly offer reporters anonymous observations and background quotes to shape the news cycle. And unlike many of his Republican peers, he isn't eager to do television appearances. Amash's approach to media has even frustrated allies and staffers who have wanted him to pursue more media coverage in the past.
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- Max Tani reports that the top editor of Out magazine threatened to resign if the publication's owner, Pride Media, doesn't pay what it owes its freelance writers... (Daily Beast)
-- "Salon Media Group is being acquired for $5 million by a little-known pair of tech entrepreneurs," Keith Kelly reported last week... Now Max Willens has more details: Chris Richmond and Drew Schoentrup "say they see an easy path to profits for the troubled news publisher..." (Digiday)
-- What do Fox Nation fans think of Shep Smith? Apparently, they aren't big fans... (WaPo)
JUST ANNOUNCED:
Maddow's next book
This is what Rachel Maddow has been working on: "Blowout," a book described as a "dark, serpentine, riveting tour of the unimaginably lucrative and corrupt oil-and-gas industry." It is a call to "stop subsidizing the wealthiest industry on earth, to fight for transparency, and to check the influence of predatory oil executives and their enablers." She announced the book on Monday evening... It comes out in October...
An "uncomfortable" line of questioning reporters might soon pursue with anti-abortion legislators
Joe Lockhart's latest opinion piece for CNN is worth your time. Lockhart notes that reporters have been reluctant to ask male politicians questions about whether they have any personal experience with abortion (namely whether they have encouraged a woman they've been involved with to undergo the procedure). But, he argues, "that is all about to change."
"The harder these politicians -- many of whom are men -- push, the more likely they are to face questions about their own pasts," Lockhart writes. "How many politicians who have voted to restrict abortion rights and access have paid for or encouraged a sexual partner to get an abortion, or reaped the benefits of one who did? It's only a matter of time before this line of inquiry goes national, with the potential to pose a political problem for some pro-life politicians."
>> Of note: Lockhart points out that Trump has only been asked whether he was "ever involved with anyone who had an abortion" once. And when asked at the time, Trump's response was, "Such an interesting question. So what's your next question?"
How the Facebook hack impacted Irish users
Donie O'Sullivan emails: Remember Facebook's massive security breach last September? It was the biggest security breach in the company's history that gave attackers access to millions of users personal information. Well, Facebook hasn't said much about the attack publicly in 7 months, but it has been talking to governments, it seems.
The Irish news outlet TheJournal.ie obtained a letter sent from Facebook in Ireland to the Irish government detailing precisely how many Irish users were impacted by the hack. According to the outlet, "Tens of thousand of Facebook users had private information like their phone numbers and emails exposed." The company hasn't made a similar breakdown publicly available for the United States, or other countries. No response from Facebook on whether they plan on doing so...
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
By Brian Stelter:
-- Michael Calderone wrote about NBC's 2020 embeds on Monday... Chuck Todd said the network considered "all sorts of diversity, including geographic," adding, "I think if you don't look like 21st century America, then you can't cover American politics very well." (Politico)
-- Monday's revamp of "CBS This Morning" featured "new anchors, new graphics and new segments..." THR also noted "a higher story count..." (THR)
-- Matt Donnelly's latest: "Amazon Studios has returned Woody Allen's movie. Will any U.S. distributor release it?" (Variety)
Tim Mak is writing a book about the NRA
Stelter emails: NPR investigative reporter Tim Mak is working on "Misfire..." Last week Javelin's Keith Urbahn and Matt Latimer sold the book to Dutton's Brent Howard... Per PW, the publisher says the book will be a "groundbreaking work on the NRA." No word on a release date yet...
Chris Berend joins NBC
NBC News has hired Chris Berend, who headed CNN's digital video operation and was a co-founder of Great Big Story, to be the next EVP of the outlet's digital operation. Berend, who will start in the summer, will be replacing Nick Ascheim, who's moving into a new role within NBC. Axios has Andy Lack's full note to staff about the new hire...
>> CNN Digital EVP Andrew Morse also sent a note to employees wishing Berend well" in his next adventure," and informed staff that he had asked two members of Berend's team, Wendy Brundige and Courtney Coupe, to "step up and lead our video organization through this transition..."
| | -- Driving Tuesday morning's news cycle: The White House directed former counsel Don McGahn to defy a subpoena and not testify before the House... (CNN)
-- "The committee is expected to hold the hearing without him..." (CNN)
-- More to come on this: On Monday House Democratic leaders clashed over whether to begin impeachment proceedings... Nancy Pelosi rejected the calls... (Politico)
-- NYT's latest scoop: Kris Kobach sent a list of 10 conditions to the White House for becoming the admin's "immigration czar." One of the conditions is that he have access to a government jet 24 hours a day... (NYT)
"Secrecy Battle Builds as Judge Rebuffs Trump"
That's the headline on Page One of Tuesday's NYT... Highlighting this judge's decision to tell accounting firm Mazars that, per CNN's story, "it will need to turn over Donald Trump's accounting records from before he was President to the Democratic-controlled House Oversight Committee." Off to the appeals court now...
>> From Maddow's show Monday night: "That whole question about Trump's taxes and finances looms like a burbling, belching volcano that everybody knows is going to explode sometime soon, but nobody knows exactly when..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
-- Congrats to Christine Romans, who celebrated 20 years at CNN on Monday! Take a look at this highlight reel of her time at the network that aired on "Early Start..." (Twitter)
-- James Holzhauer won his 23rd consecutive "Jeopardy!" game on Monday... (CNN)
-- Speaking of Holzhauer, according to FiveThirtyEight, "If he maintains his current winning pace, Holzhauer will be on track to best Jennings's money record with his 33rd game..." (FiveThirtyEight)
QUOTE OF THE DAY
The "most jarring thing about plugging back in after a week away is how we all just seem to be living different versions of the same day over and over and over again. Like, somehow nothing happened but everything did..."
--The NYT's Katie Rogers returning from a well-deserved vacation...
Trump continues repugnant attacks on the press
Trump on Monday again used reprehensible language to attack the media -- and it has at this point, become such a regular occurrence, I nearly forgot to mention it in this newsletter. But, seeing as this newsletter is about media, I think it's important to note that the leader of the free world did continue to assault the press with language resembling that of an authoritarian.
Trump falsely accused journalists of being the "true ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE." And, in his tweetstorm, he recycled his usual refrains against the media. None of that is new, but I think it's worth continuing to point out...
New studios for "New Day," "AC360," and Cuomo | | It was a big day over here at CNN's new Hudson Yards offices. On Monday, the remaining New York based shows moved out of Time Warner Center and debuted in their new digs. Take a look at the "New Day" set, the "AC360" set, and the "Cuomo Prime Time" set...
| | By Lisa Respers France:
-- "Game of Thrones" is over, so now what? We've got some suggestions...
-- "American Idol" crowned its newest winner and the decision was a bit of an upset...
-- Speaking of "Idol," I talked to Season 3 winner Fantasia about her life now and her new music. There have been been some dark days for her, but the singer is happy these days and has found peace...
"GOT" series finale sets new HBO record
19.3 million viewers tuned in on Sunday night for the "Game of Thrones" series finale. The show now holds the record as the most-watched telecast in HBO's history. Frank Pallotta has the full story here... He noted that "The Big Bang Theory," for instance, generated 18 million viewers last week for its series finale...
There will be no mass exodus
Brian Lowry emails: The worst thing I heard about about the "Thrones" finale: A local radio report suggesting that HBO might face an exodus of subscribers. It's worth repeating, again, that the idea of huge popular hits is much more an outlier for HBO than the norm, and the network has obviously prepared for this moment by loading up new offerings for the summer and fall, beginning with season 2 of "Big Little Lies" in June.
The current nature of fandom
Lowry emails another: The juxtaposition of the backlashes against the final season of "Game of Thrones" and the latest fan-freakout about Batman casting news offers a not-very-flattering window in to the current nature of fandom, which has seen vocal quadrants going from venting to making unreasonable demands of the franchises that they profess to love. Chalk it up, in part, to a sense of ownership that, for some, borders on entitlement.
Tarantino's request
Lowry emails: Speaking of spoilers, director Quentin Tarantino has posted a note in advance of the Cannes screening of his new movie, "Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood," saying, "I only ask that everyone avoids revealing anything that would prevent later audiences from experiencing the film in the same way." | |
ICYMI: Catch up on Sunday's show
Read the transcript... Watch the video clips on CNN.com... Listen to the podcast via Apple Podcasts or your preferred app... Or check out the full program via CNNgo or VOD...
| | | Thank you for reading! Brian will be back on Tuesday evening... | | | |
