Forward

EXEC SUMMARY: I'm hitting send on the early side tonight, getting ahead of the Emmys... Here's a look at the weekend's biggest headlines and the week ahead in media, tech and culture...

And the winner is...

🏆The Emmys are live on Fox from the Microsoft Theater in L.A. For more, check out Sandra Gonzalez's Emmy viewing guide and Brian Lowry's awards predictions. CNN Entertainment will have complete coverage into the evening and overnight...

NOW FOR A HARD TURN TO THE RIGHT...

Trump's disinformation campaign

This time it's not Russian hackers... this time it's not a bot army waging info warfare on Facebook. There is a disinformation campaign raging right now, and this time it's being led by President Trump.

That's what I said at the top of Sunday's "Reliable Sources" telecast, trying to assess what's going on with this whistleblower affair. Trump and his media allies are trying to smear the whistleblower and confuse the public, even before Congress gets ahold of the allegation. At the same time, Trump admitted on Sunday that he did discuss Joe Biden in a call with the Ukranian president. His aides gave conflicting and confusing answers about the matter.

On "Reliable," we talked about how viewers and readers can keep up with this scandal. WaPo's Shane Harris said the "fairly straightforward allegation" is that the president used his office "to try and leverage or pressure a foreign government into investigating and hurting his political opponent." Carl Bernstein said the reporting from Harris and others indicates "a grievous abuse of power by the president of the United States."

Bernstein hears echoes of Watergate

"I keep getting asked, are there echoes of Watergate in this? And there are," Bernstein told me, "in the following ways: Watergate was an attempt by Richard Nixon to undermine the democratic electoral process in the United States, our basis of democracy, the electoral system, by trying through political espionage and sabotage to manipulate the opposition party into nominating through political dirty tricks and misinformation its weakest candidate, George McGovern, instead of its strongest candidate who Nixon didn't want to run against, who was Senator Edmund Muskie. And something in the same thing seems to be happening here, where Biden -- who Trump and his people said they fear the most in terms of being an opponent -- has been an object of these perhaps dirty tricks and abuses of power. And one thing Nixon never did was engage a foreign power to investigate a candidate running for office in the United States. It is a grievous offense, if this is what happened..."

>> Another key point from Bernstein: The conduct of the president, not the reported whistleblower, is the big issue. Watch part one and part two of the segment...

Biden campaign's message for the media

Over the weekend the campaign sought to "push back on any media attempt to equate Trump's alleged actions with that of Biden or his son's," Politico's Natasha Korecki and Elena Schneider wrote. A Saturday memo from deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield said, in bold and underlined, "Any article, segment, analysis and commentary that does not demonstrably state at the outset that there is no factual basis for Trump's claims, and in fact that they are wholly discredited, is misleading readers and viewers." On "Reliable," we talked about Biden's media strategy...

The birth of a new slogan for Dems who are frustrated by the media?

I think we're going to be hearing "ask the right question" a lot. Some of Biden's fans cheered when he pointed at Fox's Peter Doocy on Saturday and challenged Doocy's questioning about his son's foreign business dealings. "You should be looking at Trump," Biden said, tossing out Q's about Trump's conduct. He looked back at Doocy and said "ask the right question."

Re: asking questions, I think Bernstein said it well -- "Hunter Biden is a legitimate story to be looked at, in terms of his role in this Ukrainian gas company... But if anybody has a history of terrible conflict of interest by his children, it is this president of the United States. And we ought to be looking at all of these questions about the children of presidents and VP's..."

"A whole new stage of investigation"

Many liberals, including media heavyweights like some of the "Pod Save America" co-hosts, are increasingly speaking out against Nancy Pelosi for "holding back," in the words of one pro-impeachment lawmaker.

On Sunday Adam Schiff went further than he ever has before, telling Jake Tapper that "I have spoken with a number of my colleagues over the last week, and this seems different in kind. We may very well have crossed the rubicon here." Later in the day Pelosi wrote in a letter to fellow House Dems that "if the administration persists in blocking this whistle-blower from disclosing to Congress a serious possible breach of constitutional duties by the president, they will be entering a grave new chapter of lawlessness which will take us into a whole new stage of investigation." Still, "she didn't use the word 'impeachment,'" the NYT noted...

SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE FROM SUNDAY'S "RELIABLE..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- Have you heard about SPJ's "Casper Project?" It was a journey "into the heart of media mistrust" in Wyoming. Margaret Sullivan's Monday column shares some valuable insights from it... (WaPo)

-- James Fallows argues that the press is engaging in false equivalence again: "Coverage of the president's pressure on Ukraine suggests the media learned nothing from 2016..." (The Atlantic)

-- Jim Sciutto summed up the situation in one sentence here. "Trump's fast evolution on Ukraine call reflects a familiar pattern: deny potential wrongdoing, and then admit and justify it, while declaring the discovery of said activity the real crime." (Twitter)

Week ahead calendar

Monday: Fall TV premiere week begins, with 11 new network series making their debuts...

Tuesday: The Atlantic Festival begins in DC...

Tuesday: The 40th annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards in NYC...

Thursday: The Texas Tribune Festival gets underway in Austin...

Friday: Endeavor Group Holdings will launch its initial public offering...

Friday: "The Politician," Ryan Murphy's first series for Netflix, starts streaming...

Saturday: The "SNL" season premiere with Woody Harrelson...

Advertising Week in NYC

Kerry Flynn writes: As in years past, Advertising Week NYC has a star-studded lineup, with Pitbull talking about his new multicultural ad agency and panels with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gwyneth Paltrow and Pete Wentz, just to name a few. This year's themes include the era of cord cutting and the rise of new media platforms with panels featuring Roku, Hulu, Snapchat and TikTok. On Monday, a panel titled ABC News: The Road to 2020 will feature Chris Christie, Nate Silver, Jonathan Karl and Rebecca Jarvis. Full lineup here...

Bob Iger's book tour

"The Ride of a Lifetime" comes out on Tuesday... In it, the Disney CEO tells a lot of stories... And Maureen Dowd has a must-read preview here. Iger will be on "CBS This Morning" and "Amanpour and Company," among other programs, for interviews this week.

A couple of takeaways from Dowd's story:

>> "His candid critique" of Fox's film studio "did not hurt his relationship" with Rupert Murdoch; he says they have "a nice relationship."

>> Re: "Star Wars:" "I just think that we might've put a little bit too much in the marketplace too fast."

>> "He says he has made 'zero plans' for what happens in 2021, his new retirement date."

>> "Asked about whether he'd run for president in 2024, when he will be 73, he says, 'I don't know that I have it in me.'"

But seriously, those are just four newsy sentences out of 40 in Dowd's story, which will be in print this Thursday...

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- Jonathan Van Ness is coming out with a memoir on Tuesday and revealing for the first time that he is living with H.I.V. He shared the news and previewed the book in this interview with the NYT's Alex Hawgood... (NYT)

-- Demi Moore also has a memoir out on Tuesday... Diane Sawyer landed Moore's first TV interview about it, and the first excerpt will air Monday on "GMA..." (ABC)

-- Still on the topic of new books, Bill O'Reilly is coming out with "The United States of Trump." I'm curious to see what networks he will appear on...

-- And Oprah will announce her new book club selection, "in partnership with Apple," on "CBS This Morning" on Monday...

"What went wrong?"

That's what I asked Kate Kelly and Robin Pogrebin, the co-authors of "The Education of Brett Kavanaugh." Mediaite's Ken Meyer wrote about the interview here. I "started things off by asking the New York Times reporters 'what went wrong' with how the paper omitted crucial context when presenting a third alleged instance of Kavanuagh's sexually inappropriate conduct."

"We urge people to actually read the whole thing. But obviously that was a regrettable omission," Kelly said. Later, she said much of the coverage and criticism has been a "distraction from all the reporting we did and all new material that we have. It's really an attempt to discredit the messenger and avoid the conversation about the facts." Watch the segment here...

W.H. declines to comment on Trump's crazed tweets

Ukraine is not the only subject that's spurred some really outlandish tweets from POTUS lately. Earlier this week he urged an investigation into Obama's Netflix deal, and the White House declined to comment on why. On Saturday he said the economy is humming along despite a "probably illegal Democrat/Fake News Media Partnership the likes of which the world has never seen." A "probably illegal" partnership. I emailed Stephanie Grisham and asked her to comment "on which specific statutes President Trump believes the Democrats and media outlets have violated?" Which laws? She has not responded. We put the request for comment up on screen on Sunday, so viewers can see how this works...

Trump's hostility toward the press is trickling down

On Sunday's show, I said Corey Lewandowski and the other partisans who are mocking the media and the importance of honesty all need a refresher course in ethics, honesty and the purpose of the press. Over on Fox, Lewandowski did express regret for his recent remark that "I have no obligation to be honest with the media 'cause they're just as dishonest as everybody else." He told Howard Kurtz "I regret the fact that I should have explained it better and specifically as it related to my tenure in front of the special counsel, but I did that out of respect for the special counsel." Color me skeptical...

"Deride and conquer"

A memorable turn of phrase from David Zurawik... That's how he described the GOP's anti-media approach. He said if Republicans can "mock us to the point that people don't take us seriously and we don't back up our effort... they will do it..."

My interview with Lenore Taylor

In Friday's newsletter I highlighted her column. The Guardian Australia editor says that, by trying to summarize Trump's "rambling" speeches, reporters are actually masking his "full and alarming incoherence." She spoke with me on Sunday and said her recent trip to the United States left her "worried" about the country...

How to hear / watch Sunday's show

Listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn; watch the video clips on CNN.com; or catch the full episode via CNNgo or VOD...

Buttigieg and the Buttibus

CNN's DJ Judd writes in: "Greetings from aboard Pete Buttigieg's campaign bus — the bus is as yet unnamed, though Lis Smith, Buttigieg's campaign adviser, is soliciting suggestions online (she's nixed 'Bus-Edge-Edge' and 'Buttibus' so far). We just pulled out of Webster City, where we had a late lunch on board the bus — Buttigieg opted for a cheeseburger with fries, joking 'Show this to the people who say I want to ban cheeseburgers.' As far as access goes, we're dealing with full access at all times—there's been about 9 reporters on board at any given time, and each leg is about an hour and a half, which means we've been able to ask any number of questions we have, on the record, with no pushback. Interestingly enough, Walter Shapiro is on the bus with us — Walter was on the 'Straight Talk Express' with John McCain back in 2000. He tells me it was similar in terms of press access, 'but a lot more crowded and a lot s***ier. This is pretty neat.' The bus itself *is pretty* neat — Smith tells us former charters for this bus include Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Sean Hannity, Veep, Madame Secretary and…Donald Trump..."

>> Buttigieg's POV about being on the record: 'If you're going to president, you have to get used to being on all the time. It's definitely different than the campaign trail, but it's definitely helpful."

Honoring Cokie Roberts

"Friends, family, reporters and politicians gathered Saturday in downtown Washington, D.C., to remember journalist Cokie Roberts," NPR's Scott Detrow and Brakkton Booker wrote. "She was hailed as a 'servant' of God and referred to as a 'special singular soul' by those who delivered remarks." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke at the funeral and called Roberts "a national treasure whose passing is a great loss for America." Full coverage here...

"This Week" remembers Roberts

Roberts co-anchored "This Week" between 1996 and 2002. Her co-anchor, Sam Donaldson, was back on the program on Sunday to pay tribute, along with many others. "She changed us and she changed the business," Donaldson said.

"It wasn't just the work. It was the life," Karen Travers said, calling her an "amazing mentor and role model."

"She had such a moral clarity about everything," Martha Raddatz added.

"She was so generous in sharing her insights," Karen Tumulty said. "She had such a deep understanding, and respect for, the institutions of Washington."

George Will also brought this up. "It's been well said that the past is another country. And Cokie was from another Washington," he said, "Washington before tribalism swallowed civility, Washington before constant hysteria was taken as a sign of sophistication. She had lived here long enough, and known enough people on both sides of the aisle, to see many a fighting face come crop on the rocks of reality, so she had a kind of emotional equilibrium that gave her a special credibility in a town of, as I say, constant hysteria."

Mutual respect that's in short supply these days

Strong, confident politicians begrudgingly respect the role of the press, or at least pretend they do. On Sunday's "Reliable," I pointed out that George W. Bush and Barack Obama quickly praised Roberts and shared condolences with her family. That's the kind of mutual respect that's in short supply these days. And quite a contrast to Trump's comments...

>> By the way, I came across another false claim for your database, Daniel Dale. "I never met her," Trump said while speaking about Roberts on Tuesday, before saying "she never treated me nicely, but I would like to wish her family well." One of Sunday's segments on "This Week" contained a video of Roberts interviewing Trump in person in 1999. So they did meet, at least once, and the way Trump began his remarks was wrong...

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- "Former WTOP political analyst Mark Plotkin died Sunday at the age of 72. Plotkin was a staple on WTOP for 10 years..." (WTOP)

-- In Sunday's NYT, Farhad Manjoo imagined "Tucker Carlson 2024" and cringed at the thought... (NYT)

Barstool v. NBC News

Kerry Flynn writes: On Saturday NBC News published a story about Barstool, saying the site props up "traditional masculinity" in sports culture. The piece included an emailed statement from CEO Erika Nardini in reference to moving Barstool's content from social media to encrypted messaging app Telegram that said Barstool "will have an ever-changing set of content and ever-evolving set of platforms." Nardini retweeted the story and added, "Female leadership team, #1 female podcast in the world, break out female stars, 60%+ female audiences on new platforms. @NBCNews here's your fact check. You're welcome."

"Downton Abbey" wins the weekend

"A group of British aristocrats beat out Brad Pitt as an astronaut and John Rambo at the box office this weekend," Frank Pallotta reported Sunday: "Downton Abbey" won the weekend with an estimated $31 million opening in North America, exceeding industry expectations.

More: "Ad Astra" and "Rambo: Last Blood" both made an estimated $19 million. Both films "delivered on expectations and are in a neck-and-neck battle for runner-up position and we'll have to wait for actuals to tell the full story on Monday afternoon," per Box Office Mojo...

Lowry's analysis

Flashback to Frank's headline from the other day: "'Ad Astra' could be the hit that 20th Century Fox desperately needs"

Brian Lowry emails with a followup: If Fox was hoping "Ad Astra" would help calm the Disney hounds, that opening isn't likely to do it. While the film's open is certainly not a disaster, thanks largely to to the modest budget for a sci-fi yarn, nor is it the kind of success that would impress the new bosses, after a run of disappointments headed by "Dark Phoenix." Fox's best chance of redeeming itself in Disney's eyes between now and the end of the year might hinge on award recognition, the one area where Disney's blockbuster-heavy strategy has yielded minimal dividends...

Viacom buys cable rights to "Seinfeld"

"Days after Netflix snagged the streaming rights to Seinfeld away from Hulu, entertainment conglomerate Viacom has closed a big money deal with Sony Pictures Television for cable TV rights to the show about nothing," Vulture's Joe Adalian reported Saturday night. "Starting in 2021, Seinfeld will jump from WarnerMedia-owned TBS to Viacom's various entertainment networks, including TV Land, Comedy Central, and Paramount Network. The deal will mark the end of a 19-year era in cable: Seinfeld has been part of the TBS lineup since 2002, following a 1998 deal to land the show." More...

LAST BUT NOT LEAST...

Lowry flagged this sweet followup piece in THR about Glenn Weiss, who proposed to his girlfriend on stage at last year's Emmys. Turns out the two aren't married yet, in part due to their "insane" work schedules...

Thanks for reading! Email me your feedback anytime. See you on tomorrow...