EXEC SUMMARY: It's Oliver Darcy back in your inbox... Scroll down for Lawrence O'Donnell's apology, the Defense secretary committing to briefings, Facebook's new ads policy, and info on letters Press Forward sent to Mark Halperin publisher Judith Regan and Simon & Schuster. But first....
Destroy the truth | | Trump has made a "war" on the press a central part of his presidency. This week, it feels as if he's turned up the volume another notch...
>> Trump has attacked WaPo for publishing a scoop about him offering pardons if officials break the law to build the wall on the southern border more quickly. He then attacked CNN after the network confirmed the paper's reporting...
>> Trump has zinged the NYT over the Bret Stephens' bedbugs incident...
>> He has repeatedly lashed out at Axios for reporting that he has previously suggested nuking hurricanes as they form...
>> And has even skewered Fox for having the nerve to interview a Democrat on its air.
Destroying any notion of a shared truth -- pressuring people not to believe real reporting -- that's the Trump era story in one sentence...
Lying about lying
"There has never been a time in the history of our Country that the Media was so Fraudulent, Fake, or Corrupt!" Trump wrote Wednesday night. When his presidency is "looked back on," he said, he hopes that a "big part" of his legacy will be "the exposing of massive dishonesty" in the press.
Which is interesting, because something tells me the exact opposite thing will be said. Chris Cuomo got into this with Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday night: McEnany said with a straight face that Trump has never lied, while the media lies every day, and Cuomo said she was shredding her credibility...
Trump's insecurity?
Brian Stelter emails: This week's bursts of anti-media messages reflect insecurity on the part of the president. With the re-election campaign on his mind, he doesn't want voters to know about the messy reality of life in the Trump White House. He hates the leaks. And he hates when Fox covers his Democratic rivals. Many of his anti-Fox tweets have been in response to Fox's news coverage of the Dem primary. Stelter posited that Trump doesn't want his Fox fans hearing about his 2020 rivals...
Trump says Fox "isn't working for us anymore!"
Stelter continues: On Wednesday morning, as you surely know by now, Trump said Fox "is letting millions of GREAT people down" and "isn't working for us anymore!" The president basically lent credence to critics' claims that Fox is akin to state-run TV. But his grievance is that the network is not loyal enough, so "we have to start looking for a new News Outlet."
Robert Herring, the CEO of Fox's wannabe rival OANN, replied to Trump's tweet and said, "You can always turn to @OANN for real and credible news." Herring has positioned OANN to the right of Fox, but its distribution is limited and audience size is small.
Here's the thing...
One more point from Stelter: Trump has been griping about Fox's newscasts all year long. But he's also been promoting the opinion shows as recently as Tuesday, when he plugged Jeanine Pirro's book. And he's calling into Fox in the A.M: Fox announced on Wednesday night that Trump will be on Brian Kilmeade's Fox News Radio show Thursday at 9:30am ET. This is a form of whiplash -- caused by Trump's impulsiveness and need for attention -- and it's the kind of thing that makes people think about his mental instability...
>> Related: Back in May, the progressive group Media Matters noted that 92% of Trump's nationally televised interviews have been with Fox...
Fox's stark silence
News outlets typically defend themselves and stand up for their journalists when attacked by the president, but all year long Fox News spokespeople have steadfastly declined to comment every time Trump targets the network. That pattern continued on Wednesday. But a couple of other Fox staffers rebuted Trump via Twitter... Brit Hume said, "Fox News isn't supposed to work for you."
>> Counterpoint from Contemptor's Justin Baragona: "Considering the ex-president of Fox News went to work for the White House, Trump's former communications director now heads up PR for Fox Corp, and his press secretary just signed a deal with Fox, you can see why he's a bit confused about this, right?"
WaPo: "We fully stand by our story"
Contrast Fox's silence with the Washington Post. Trump lashed out at WaPo after the paper reported on Wednesday that he has recently told aides he will issue pardons to officials who break the law in order to more quickly build his border wall. "This was made up by the Washington Post only in order to demean and disparage -- FAKE NEWS!" Trump tweeted.
Of course, it was anything but fake. CNN later confirmed WaPo's reporting via two of its own sources. That prompted another tweet from Trump who then attacked both CNN and WaPo as being "WRONG." I checked in with a WaPo spokesperson Wednesday night to see if the paper had any response to Trump. The spokesperson replied, "We fully stand by our story."
Axios: Our story was "meticulously sourced"
Axios CEO and co-founder Jim VandeHei published a thorough response on Wednesday responding to Trump's repeated attacks. VandeHei said that the story by Axios reporter Jonathan Swan on Trump suggesting using nuclear weapons against hurricanes was "meticulously sourced." VandeHei added that since Axios published its story, "additional sources have corroborated" the publication's account.
VandeHei further explained that Axios goes out if its way "to cover Trump clinically, without emotion or bias." VandeHei explained, "We go the extra mile in all our stories to never throw sucker punches, and always give the Trump White House precise details of our reporting in advance, and ample time to respond." He noted that for the story Trump is now attacking, the White House had "more than nine hours to deny or push back."
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- Dorian strengthened on Wednesday as news outlets deployed reporters for coverage... (CNN)
-- Shepard Smith fact-checked Trump again on Wednesday. This time calling his claims on Puerto Rico and the wall "decidedly not true..." (Mediaite)
-- Speaking of Fox... Ex-Fox reporter Carl Cameron called Trump a "cry baby president" who "wants to bully" during a conversation with Brooke Baldwin... (CNN)
-- Erik Wemple writes about how NYT's big story on the Tea Party omitted the mention of race. NYT later updated its story "to include context about attacks on President Barack Obama and racist displays at some Tea Party rallies..." (WaPo)
-- Sarah Sanders, who is joining Fox, is also in talks with consulting firm Teneo... (Politico)
-- Uh oh. It's not just NYT with a bug problem. Washingtonian's Andrew Beaujon reports WaPo's operations director sent a note to staff about a "growing pest problem." Specifically, a cockroach problem... (Washingtonian)
MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell retracts reckless comments about Trump's loans
Lawrence O'Donnell on Wednesday night apologized for and retracted his thinly sourced story on Trump's finances, saying he was "wrong" to have gone to air with it. O'Donnell acknowledged that he did not "go through the rigorous verification and standards process" at MSNBC "before repeating" what he had heard form his source... "Tonight, we are retracting the story," O'Donnell said, adding, "It wasn't ready for broadcast, and for that I apologize."
>> Background: On Tuesday night he offered his audience an explosive story on Trump's finances -- that Trump had received loans from Deutsche Bank that had been co-signed by "Russian billionaires close to Vladimir Putin." But he stressed that this info came from a single source, that NBC had not verified, and that would "require a lot more verification" to be confirmed as fact...
>> It was a "pro forma" apology, Bill Carter observed. "No extraordinary mea culpa. Clearly an effort to move past a pretty serious breach of journalistic standards."
Trump lawyer threatened legal action
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump lawyer Charles Harder sent a letter to NBC demanding the network "immediately and prominently" retract and apologize for O'Donnell's reporting. "These statements are false and defamatory, and extremely damaging," Harder wrote. Of course, this is far from the first time Trump has threatened legal action against a news outlet. Trump has a history of issuing such threats, and then not following through with them. Just ask the NYT!
MSNBC execs were unaware
An MSNBC source told me that network execs were not informed about O'Donnell's reporting before he went to air with it. The source said that "had they known" the reporting "would have not made it to broadcast." Yikes...
Open Q's
>> What was O'Donnell thinking? Why did he share the info on air, given how thinly sourced it was and given that NBC had not been able to confirm it? I asked the network on Wednesday, but a spokesperson declined to comment...
>> Will O'Donnell face any disciplinary action? He conceded on Wednesday he did not follow network protocol and submit the story through NBC's "rigorous verification and standards process." I asked about whether he had faced disciplinary measures, but the spokesperson also declined to comment on that...
Defense Sec commits to briefings
It's become rare for the Pentagon to hold briefings with the press. But that's something new Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Wednesday he was committed to changing. "Moving forward, I intend to do these briefings to maintain an open dialogue about the department's activities," Esper said while himself holding a briefing.
Per C-SPAN, "The last time a U.S. defense secretary alongside the joint chiefs chairman briefed reporters in the Pentagon press room was one year ago today, August 28, 2018...."
>> Related: The last "daily" W.H. press briefing was 170 days ago, Chris Cillizza notes... (CNN)
FIRST IN RELIABLE
Press Forward writes letters to Judith Regan, Simon & Schuster over Halperin book
| | Following news that Mark Halperin had struck a deal with Regan Arts to publish a book, Press Forward -- the organization that is made up of several women who have accused Halperin of sexual assault or harassment -- wrote two letters. The first was to Judith Regan, the president of Regan Arts. The letter asked Regan to "reconsider publishing" Halperin's book. It said Halperin "has done little to make amends or demonstrate an understanding of the harm he caused."
"This man injured human beings; he drove hard-working, responsible women from their careers," the letter said. "Until he accepts and owns the magnitude of his pernicious behavior, we feel those who help him revive his career are enablers, and will only encourage others like him to do the same. We are dismayed that you and your publishing house would participate in this endeavor."
I'm told that Press Forward did not get a response from Regan or Regan Arts. I checked in with Regan and her company on Wednesday evening, but also did not hear back.
It puts Simon & Schuster "at odds with a cultural reckoning"
The second letter was to Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy. As I previously reported, Regan Arts is a distribution client of Simon & Schuster. For small publishers like Regan Arts, Simon & Schuster will warehouse books, collect the billing, and ultimately take care of the distribution. All this is to say that it's likely Simon & Schuster will be the company distributing Halperin's book when it is published by Regan.
In its letter to Simon & Schuster, Press Forward expressed "discontent" with the company's decision to work with Regan Arts. "Simon & Schuster's decision to partner with Ms. Judith Regan/Regan Arts in this fashion puts both organizations at odds with a cultural reckoning in this country; abusive behavior by people in positions of power cannot be tolerated and must not - tacitly or otherwise - be condoned or rewarded," the letter said. "Aligning your organization with a credibly-accused abuser of women, with all due respect, sounds to us like you are putting profit ahead of principle."
A spokesperson for Simon & Schuster declined to comment on the letter Wednesday evening... The spokesperson previously told me that "publishing decisions of our distribution clients are theirs and theirs alone to make."
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- Craig Silverman and Jane Lytvynenko report on a network of websites that purport to be Canadian news sources, but are actually being run from overseas... (BuzzFeed)
-- Pinterest searches for "measles," "vaccine safety" and other vaccine-related content will only return results from public health organizations, the social media company announced Wednesday... (CNN)
-- Alleging "nefarious practices," Two Democratic senators are calling for an antitrust investigation into Live Nation and Ticketmaster, Brian Fung reports... (CNN)
-- Lester Holt appeared Wednesday night on NBC's "Hollywood Game Night" show... (NBC)
Facebook rolls out stricter political ad rules ahead of 2020 election
"Facebook announced Wednesday it is imposing stricter disclosure and transparency standards on political ads in the United States after, the social networking platform said, it caught some advertisers trying to game the system by misleading users about who was funding the ads," Hadas Gold and Brian Fung reported for CNN. "But the tighter rules still leave some holes that could be easily exploited."
Gold and Fung wrote, "Under the new system there are two ways for groups or individuals to verify their identity: A stricter method under which advertisers Facebook has verified will receive a special 'Confirmed Organization' label on their ads, and a second method indicating less confidence in the advertiser's identity."
>> Related... Read from WSJ's Emily Glazer and Patience Haggin about the "spree in advertising by Democratic presidential campaigns" on Facebook, resulting in a "surge" in ad prices on the platform...
NRA spokesperson: NRA TV was "abject failure"
A nice scoop from The Daily Beast's Betsy Woodruff. Woodruff reported Wednesday that the NRA sent a letter to Ackerman McQueen, the ad firm which ran NRATV, directing it to "remove all references" to the NRA from its website. In the letter, NRA chief spokesperson Andrew Arulanandam called NRATV an "abject failure." Yikes...
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
By Kerry Flynn:
-- A federal judge ruled in favor of G/O Media's Splinter and managing editor Katherine Krueger in a $100 million defamation suit from Jason Miller, a 2016 Donald Trump campaign spokesperson... (Splinter)
-- Clarity Media, the owner of the Weekly Standard and Washington Examiner, looked into buying The Federalist... (BuzzFeed News)
-- "Podcast reviews can be easy to game, and Apple Podcasts has become the main target for angry fans interested in taking down a show," Ashley Carman reports for The Verge... (The Verge)
| | John Carreyrou leaving WSJ
"Bad Blood" author John Carreyrou "departed the Wall Street Journal this summer" after a 20-year career at the paper, The Daily Beast's Lachlan Cartwright reported Wednesday.
Thanks to the "smash success" of "Bad Blood," which was based on his Theranos reporting for the Journal, Carreyrou has been in high demand. "Carreyrou said part of the reason he's leaving the paper... is because of the Journal's policy against paid speaking engagements." He told Cartwright "I'm grateful for everything they've done for me."
Carreyrou's next steps
Per Cartwright, "Carreyrou has had discussions about joining several news publications, including The New York Times, according to a person familiar with the matter."
"I want to keep writing non-fiction books for the second part of my career," Carreyrou told him. "That's more my priority. I may find a home for my reporting in between books..."
Beto O'Rourke v. Breitbart
CNN's Eric Bradner asked the Beto O'Rourke campaign to explain Tuesday's removal of a Breitbart staffer from a campaign event in South Carolina. Numerous members of the media have criticized the campaign's action. O'Rourke's press secretary Aleigha Cavalier did not express any regret about what happened, but said access will not be restricted in the future.
From her statement: "Beto for America believes in the right to a free press and works hard to ensure the campaign reflects that. However, whether it's dedicating an entire section of their website to 'black crime,' inferring that immigrants are terrorists, or using derogatory terms to refer to LGBTQ people, Breitbart News walks the line between being news and a perpetrator of hate speech." A Breitbart statement called her claims false and absurd. Here's the full story from Bradner and Stelter...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
-- The first excerpt from Jim Mattis's new book came out via the WSJ on Wednesday... The book drops next Tuesday... (WSJ)
-- This is a notable example of the WaPo investigating its owner's company: Amazon's doorbell-camera firm Ring "has partnered with 400 police forces, extending surveillance concerns..." (WaPo)
-- Speaking of the Post... This is a wonderful profile of Kenan Thompson and his "quiet brilliance..." (WaPo)
-- Check out Jenni Marsh's profile of Jimmy Lai, the founder of Hong Kong's provocative, anti-Beijing tabloid, Apple Daily. She says Lai is "the only Hong Kong multi-millionaire standing up to China..." (CNN)
Amy Chozick and Julie Plec's project for Netflix
Deadline's Nellie Andreeva reports: "In a bidding war, Netflix has given a series order to The Girls On the Bus, a drama from Legacies creator/executive producer Julie Plec, Greg Berlanti's Berlanti Prods. and Warner Bros. Television where both Plec and Berlanti are under overall deals. The project was inspired by The Girls on the Bus chapter of Amy Chozick's best-selling book 'Chasing Hillary: Ten Years, Two Presidential Campaigns and One Intact Glass Ceiling.'"
Plec and Chozick will write the series. It is "not about Clinton or the 2016 U.S. presidential election" -- it will feature "four female journalists who follow the every move of a parade of flawed presidential candidates, finding friendship, love, and a scandal that could take down not just the presidency but our entire democracy along the way..."
| | Beto O'Rourke v. Breitbart
CNN's Eric Bradner asked the Beto O'Rourke campaign to explain Tuesday's removal of a Breitbart staffer from a campaign event in South Carolina. Numerous members of the media have criticized the campaign's action. O'Rourke's press secretary Aleigha Cavalier did not express any regret about what happened, but said access will not be restricted in the future.
From her statement: "Beto for America believes in the right to a free press and works hard to ensure the campaign reflects that. However, whether it's dedicating an entire section of their website to 'black crime,' inferring that immigrants are terrorists, or using derogatory terms to refer to LGBTQ people, Breitbart News walks the line between being news and a perpetrator of hate speech." A Breitbart statement called her claims false and absurd. Here's the full story from Bradner and Stelter... | | "Joker" trailer showcases Joaquin Phoenix's killer clown | | | Frank Pallotta emails: The summer movie season may be winding down, but there's still more comic book movies to come. Warner Bros. released the trailer for "Joker" on Wednesday -- its upcoming new film about Batman's biggest villain.
The brief look has Joaquin Phoenix take over as the famed killer clown, and yes this would be the **counts on fingers** at least the fourth version of the Joker in my life time. Yet, the trailer feels different than your usual superhero fare, so color me interested. The film has a stellar cast including Robert De Niro and is rated R, so it'll be interesting how audiences react to Todd Phillips' take on the Clown Prince of Crime.
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
By Lisa Respers France:
-- The 53rd Annual Country Music Association Awards nominations were announced Wednesday and Maren Morris topped the list...
-- Theo Campbell of the MTV reality series "The Challenge" says he was blinded in one eye after champagne cork accident..
-- "America's Got Talent" standout Emanne Beasha is garnering lots of fans, but she's a massive BTS fan...
-- The D23 Expo is over, but the news is still sinking in...
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