We can't look away
I know it is tempting to look away. I have been trying. I have been trying to avoid the stories about the deplorable conditions at the camps near the southern border. Babies taking care of babies. Migrants pleading for help. Maybe you have been trying to avoid it too. But we can't.
The humanitarian crisis at the border is back at the top of the national news agenda. I have been noticing this all month long -- an increase in stories and columns and segments about the situation -- and now it's No. 1 for several reasons. Let's take a closer look...
A dead kid and her dad | | This photograph of a father and daughter who drowned while crossing the Rio Grande on Sunday was "captured by journalist Julia Le Duc and published by Mexican newspaper La Jornada," according to The AP. It "highlights the perils faced by mostly Central American migrants fleeing violence and poverty and hoping for asylum in the United States."
CNN's team writes: "The photo is haunting, a vivid reminder of the danger many face when they try to cross into the United States. It shows the human toll of a crisis at the border that's often debated with abstract statistics and detached policy arguments." And it evokes memories "of a 3-year-old Syrian boy, Aylan Kurdi, whose body washed up on a beach in Turkey. The iconic 2015 image of the drowned toddler lying in the sand continues to stir discussion over policies toward migrants."
"This picture came out now for a reason."
That's what Chris Cuomo said on his CNN program Tuesday evening. He noted that there "was a debate within news organizations -- whether to show it -- [and] that's not unusual. We're worried about the startling effect of this grisly reality." But the reality is, "this is terrible. Whether you're a parent, or you just have blood pumping through their veins."
"I can't even look at it, Chris," Don Lemon said at the end of Cuomo's show.
"You must," Cuomo said.
What are we NOT seeing?
There's been a "blackout on press access" at detention facilities, WaPo's Paul Farhi wrote on Tuesday. So Americans are "largely in the dark about conditions in government facilities designed to handle migrants who have crossed the border. Photographs and TV images are rare and often dated. Rarer still are interviews with federal agency managers and employees or with the children themselves." Read Farhi's full story here...
Relying on second-hand reports
"The gut-wrenching descriptions we have of conditions at some border patrol facilities have been coming in, for the most part, from lawyers who are able to access these facilities," MSNBC's Rachel Maddow said Tuesday evening.
"As a rule," she asserted, "they do not talk to the press about their visits. They're used in ongoing litigation and legal matters." But "this past week they have so shocked and so disgusted by what they found that they decided that they needed, for the first time, to go public and sound the alarm." And those accounts are a big reason why this subject is back on TV screens. Some other reasons: Ongoing litigation... Progressive activism... Tuesday's resignation of the acting border patrol boss, which led the broadcast nightly newscasts... And Tuesday night's House passage of a new border aid bill...
Trump deflects...
When CNN's Abby Phillip asked Trump if he's concerned about the conditions at the border, Trump said, "Yes I am, I'm very concerned. And they're much better than under President Obama by far."
He also said the kids are being treated "very well," which prompted Fox's Shep Smith to re-read the reporting from Clint, TX. Mediaite has the video...
Soldiers rescue woman and child on US-Mexico border
This story, from CNN's Ryan Browne, is a timely reminder about what Americans are doing to reduce the suffering, amid all the disturbing headlines: "Two US soldiers tasked with helping safeguard the US-Mexico border rescued a woman and a her child Thursday, saving the migrant family from drowning as they attempted to cross into the country, the US military said Tuesday..."
BREAKING
Mueller time
A 9 p.m. surprise: The House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees announced that Robert Mueller has agreed to testify publicly "following a subpoena." The date: Wednesday, July 17. Wall to wall TV coverage? Of course. As CNN's Jeremy Herb said, "Mueller's testimony is poised to be the most-anticipated congressional hearing in years..."
>> Reminder: Mueller said on May 29 that "any testimony from this office would not go beyond our report...."
Trump is calling Maria Bartiromo
Fox said Tuesday night that Maria Bartiromo will be interviewing Trump on the phone on Wednesday morning. It "will air live on FBN's Mornings with Maria in the 8 a.m. ET hour," per Fox...
Grisham in charge
Stephanie Grisham "has been with team Trump longer than anyone currently in the White House, with the exception of Dan Scavino, both of whom started on the Trump campaign in 2015," CNN's Kate Bennett wrote on Tuesday. And now Grisham -- Melania Trump's spokeswoman -- will be both W.H. press secretary AND comms director. She is starting right away, with Trump about to fly to Japan for the G20. Read Bennett's full story here...
>> NYT's Katie Rogers wrote: "Grisham will give the First Lady a new window into a West Wing where the President's kids have an outsized influence..."
107 days
Wednesday will be day 107 without a televised White House press briefing. Will Grisham resume the briefings in the weeks ahead?
WEDNESDAY PLANNER
-- Day one of #DemDebate season! The NYT's Michael Grynbaum has a preview of NBC's plans here. I'll be out with a special pre-debate edition of the newsletter on Wednesday evening...
-- The backers of a new proposal to establish a Fallen Journalists Memorial in DC will hold a 10 a.m. ET event at the National Press Club...
-- Mark Zuckerberg will speak with Cass Sunstein at the Aspen Ideas Festival at 4:30 p.m. ET...
"You'd better not say I was here"
Oliver Darcy emails: Some reporters appeared embarrassed to have attended Monday night's goodbye party for Sarah Sanders. Speaking to the NYT, one reporter said, "You'd better not say I was here." Another echoed, "Me either." Which, as The Daily Beast's Max Tani said, is a "lame response." Indeed, if these reporters were uncomfortable attending the event, then why did they go to begin with? But as CJR's Amanda Darrach wrote here, some W.H. reporters justified the schmoozing as a part of their jobs...
>> WaPo's Erik Wemple showed up at the party and tried to ask Sanders some Q's... She said "I just don't think this is the appropriate venue..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- Lachlan Cartwright's brand new scoop: The NYT's Trump tax team "imploded when star reporter David Barstow went rogue..." (Beast)
-- Ken Lerer is stepping down as chairman of BuzzFeed… (Axios)
-- The private equity firm Genesis Park has sold Texas Monthly mag to "billionaire oil and gas heiress Randa Duncan Williams..." (DMN)
-- Condé Nast is selling W mag to Future Media... W's style director Sara Moonves, daughter of Les, will be the new editor in chief... (NYPost)
| | The end of NRATV?
Danny Hakim's latest for the NYT: The NRA "has shut down production at NRATV" and "severed all business with its estranged advertising firm, Ackerman McQueen, which operates NRATV, the N.R.A.'s live broadcasting media arm... While NRATV may continue to air past content, its live broadcasting will end and its on-air personalities — Ackerman employees who included Dana Loesch — will no longer be the public faces" of the organization...
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- New Tuesday book releases to note: MSNBC's Joy Reid is out with "The Man Who Sold America," The New Yorker's Emily Nussbaum is out with "I Like to Watch," and professor and frequent TV commentator Kim Wehle is out with "How to Read the Constitution -- and Why..."
-- LinkedIn's algorithm changes are favoring conversations "that cater to niche professional interests, as opposed to elevating viral content..." (Axios)
Florida newsrooms team up to cover climate crisis
Via An Phung: Six Florida newsrooms— The Miami Herald, South Florida Sun Sentinel, Tampa Bay Times, Palm Beach Post, Orlando Sentinel, and WLRN — are teaming up to cover the climate crisis together, NiemanLab's Laura Hazard Owen reports.
>> "A decade ago, a partnership like this would have seemed improbable. Newsrooms saw each other as rivals. We still compete — often fiercely," Tampa Bay Times exec editor Mark Katches writes. "But a new pragmatism has taken hold in newsrooms across the country. We simply can't cover the same ground that we once could. And truth be told, we're not vying for the same readers." This reminds me of the new California Reporting Project...
YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST
Tom Scocca joining Slate
Jared Hohlt, who became EIC of Slate about three months ago, is making a big hire: Tom Scocca. This will be a homecoming for Scocca, who wrote for Slate back in 2010. Now he is joining the publication as politics editor, according to Hohlt's Tuesday night email to employees.
"As politics editor, he will not only concentrate on further buffing Slate's reputation as a destination for top-notch political and legal analysis, but he will also be seeking new reporting opportunities, with new voices, wherever he and we find them," Hohlt says. His website Hmm Daily will stop publishing new stories later this summer, but Scocca will still write and deliver a weekly newsletter to subscribers every Tuesday...
David Bohrman consulting at CBS
Susan Zirinsky announced two additions and some other changes at CBS News with an eye toward special election coverage: In an internal memo on Tuesday, She said CNN vet Renee Cullen is the news division's new creative director, "freshening the look and design of our shows and special events, including Washington coverage..." Cullen will be in the director's chair for big events...
And David Bohrman, a TV news icon who's worked all across the industry, including CNN, "has joined as a consultant to CBS News -- with an innovative approach to elections and technology in helping tell the story," Zirinsky wrote. He had a similar title at MSNBC for the 2016 cycle. Z said "David will work with Special Events executive producer Eva Nordstrom, and Renee to re-imagine how we present our election coverage..."
Missing in Murdoch world: Jean Carroll coverage
Oliver Darcy emails: Just how little has Murdochworld covered E. Jean Carroll's accusation against Trump? Well, we know that the New York Post deleted its coverage, following orders from Murdoch lieutenant Col Allan. We know that WSJ has only published one story. And on Tuesday, Media Matters published a review which found that Fox allotted just over four minutes to the story between June 21 to June 24.
On Tuesday evening, though, Tucker Carlson spent some time on his show skewering Carroll while attacking the media. He played what he called were "wacky soundbites from someone trying to sell a book..."
>> Think about this: It's entirely possible that those who only consume news from Murdoch-owned properties have not even heard about the allegation...
WaPo's new editorial
"Just as we cannot ignore the disdain for the truth and the law that defines this administration simply because we have grown to expect it, we cannot ignore an allegation of sexual assault against the president simply because others have come before it," the Post's editorial board wrote Tuesday. "The United States still has to function with Mr. Trump in the Oval Office, but greeting the grossest abuses as routine veers too close to treating them as acceptable. At the least, the country must do for Ms. Carroll what the president will not: Listen to her."
COMING UP ON WEDNESDAY...
Will Dems take Facebook to task for Pelosi video?
Donie O'Sullivan emails: On Wednesday I'll be covering a House hearing on social media and its role in misinformation and terrorism. It'll be the first time House Democrats get to publicly question Facebook since the doctored Nancy Pelosi video went viral. Representing Facebook is Monika Bickert... who already faced some tough Q's from our own Anderson Cooper about why FB refused to take down the Pelosi video. Here is the line up...
Sen. Markey wants tough penalties for Google and YouTube over kids' content
CNN's Brian Fung writes: Ed Markey wants the FTC to "crack down on Google and YouTube over its handling of videos aimed at children." In a letter on Tuesday, he called for regulators to impose tough requirements on YouTube that "put children's wellbeing first." Bloomberg and The Verge have details here...
Hamby: Can the Dems "win back the internet?"
"A decade after Barack Obama's campaign was heralded for its digital savvy around data and email marketing, Trump-era conservatives are now the ascendant political force of the networked internet," Peter Hamby writes in his latest for VF. "As progressives cling to the quaint idea that political fights can be won with facts and reason, or that regulators will find a way to take on the Big Tech platforms, right-wing voices have cracked open the emotional code of social media and hijacked it for political gain."
Hamby's piece is about whether Dems can "win back the internet." Key quote from former Obama fund-raiser Shomik Dutta, a co-founder of Higher Ground Labs, which invests in progressive tech startups: "Democrats are largely still relying on traditional media outlets to put their stories out. It's not going to work. Right-wing websites and MAGA people are very good at flooding networks with lots of content all the time, and those networks have biases towards outrage and fear and anger and disgust. We have to learn how to cope with those things."
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- Charlie Warzel writes about Congress' desire for data transparency, but how it "still doesn't understand the Internet..." (NYT)
-- Pew's annual State of the News Media report for cable, broadcast and local TV is out... (Pew)
-- Counting down to "The Loudest Voice" premiere on Showtime this Sunday: Gabriel Sherman talked with Vulture about bringing his Roger Ailes biography to life for the TV screen.... (Vulture)
YouTube and the trans community
Kaya Yurieff emails: As Pride month comes to a close, I spoke with more than half a dozen transgender creators on YouTube about their experiences on the platform, and some of the hurdles they've faced along the way, including their videos being demonetized and age restricted. The major theme: creators want transparency from YouTube about what's going on, not a vague message saying they violated one of its "Community Guidelines." Read on...
A new plan for Verizon Media
Michelle Toh reports from Hong Kong: Six months ago, Verizon declared that its media brands were virtually worthless. In January, the division cut 7% of its workforce. Now Verizon is trying to remake the business. I sat down with Verizon Media CEO Guru Gowrappan to discuss the company's path forward, its new name ("Oath didn't mean a lot as a brand," he admitted), and what it all means for brands like Yahoo, HuffPost and TechCrunch.
Gowrappan said he's done cutting jobs, and has a bold plan: Five years from now, he hopes Verizon Media will have diversified enough to gain revenue equally from three buckets: ad sales, subscriptions and transactions...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
-- Rebecca Keegan's latest: "A standup special used to be the pinnacle of a comic's career. Thanks to Netflix, it's now an important step on the way up." Read about the "Ali Wong model..." (THR)
-- "Brian Benedik, Spotify's global head of ad sales, has decided to leave the company," Jessica Toonkel reports... (The Information)
-- Trey Williams writes: "Why New Warner Bros CEO Ann Sarnoff Could Be Just What Hollywood Needs..." (TheWrap)
| | "The Office" off Netflix in 2021
As expected, NBCUniversal is moving "The Office" from Netflix to its own in-the-works streaming service. NBC decided to announce the move on Tuesday... It will take effect in 2021... And NBC's streamer will have "exclusive domestic streaming rights" for five years.
"A person familiar with the negotiations said Netflix made an offer to keep it, but the offer was rejected. Netflix was willing to pay up to $90 million a year for the rights, but NBC topped that offer and will pay $100 million," CNBC's Alex Sherman reports...
>> Janko Roettgers' tweet hits the nail on the head: "'The Office' is like comfort food, I get why people rewatch it a lot. But will they really subscribe to another service just for it? Or is it more of a habit... you eat it because it's in front of you?"
>> Big picture via Peter Kafka: "Many of Netflix's most popular TV shows and movies will be leaving over the next few years, and will end up on rival streaming services owned by Disney, Comcast and AT&T." But Netflix has been planning for this moment for many years...
>> Counter-programming, Steve Carell edition: Jill Disis' story for CNN Business notes that Netflix already ordered a "new show called 'Space Force' that stars Carell and will be created by TV developer and producer Greg Daniels -- the man who adapted 'The Office' for American television..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
-- Ava DuVernay just tweeted out these viewership stats: "Imagine believing the world doesn't care about real stories of black people. It always made me sad. So when Netflix just shared with me that 23M+ accounts worldwide have watched #WhenTheySeeUs, I cried. Our stories matter and can move across the globe. A new truth for a new day." (Twitter)
-- George Clooney's first project with Netflix is a film titled "Good Morning, Midnight," an adaptation of Lily Brooks-Dalton's novel following "a lonely scientist in the Arctic" as he "races to make contact with the crew of a spacecraft as they try to return home to Earth..." (CNN)
-- EW's Nicole Sperling is joining the NYT as a media reporter, covering Hollywood alongside Brooks Barnes, "with a special emphasis on streaming..." (Twitter)
-- Marianne Garvey reports: "Cardi B has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from a brawl in a New York strip club last August..." (CNN)
-- Coming in November: "The inaugural three-day Day N Vegas sounds like a hip-hop lover's dream," Chloe Melas writes... (CNN)
-- Joe Adalian tweeted Tuesday night: "In case you were wondering: Yes, Julie Chen is still calling herself 'Julie Chen Moonves' as BIG BROTHER begins its new season..." (Twitter)
Ryan Murphy making "The Prom" for Netflix
Mike Fleming Jr. reported Tuesday: "Not yet a year into his expensive five-year deal with Netflix, Ryan Murphy is about to deliver his biggest get for the streamer. Deadline hears he will direct and produce the feature adaptation of the Tony-nominated stage musical 'The Prom' and has secured a cast that puts Netflix in new starpower territory. Meryl Streep will star alongside James Corden, Nicole Kidman and Ariana Grande, with Awkwafina, Keegan-Michael Key and Andrew Rannells playing key roles..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX
By Lisa Respers France:
-- Tuesday marked the 10 year anniversary of the death of Michael Jackson. I'm giving myself permission to feel conflicted about acknowledging that.
-- "Dog the Bounty Hunter" has shared a photo from his wife Beth's bedside, where she has been placed in a medically induced coma as she battles cancer.
-- Singer Avril Lavigne is launching her first tour in 5 years.
-- Willow Smith says she loves men and women equally.
FOR THE RECORD, PART SEVEN
By Megan Thomas:
-- This article on "the wild ride at Babe.net" by The Cut's Allison Davis is a crazy, must-read for digital editors... (The Cut)
-- A great VF headline: "Matt Lauer and Charlie Rose are in the Hamptons and Page 6 is all over it" (VF)
-- If "Hills" viewers needed more reason to celebrate the return of the early aughts, a fan of the former Paris Hilton/Nicole Richie reality show "The Simple Life" had the Twitterverse thinking the show was getting a reboot today. It's not... (VF)
| | | Thank you for reading! See you tomorrow... | | | |
