EXEC SUMMARY: Hey, Brian Stelter here, with a sneak peek at TIME's climate cover and Yahoo's new 2020 series, plus a full day of streaming biz news and much more...
Day 11
Almost everyone has moved on from President Trump's false statements about the path of Hurricane Dorian. Even I have mostly moved on, and I'm a big weather geek. But the full truth is still being uncovered by diligent reporters. And this mess is now the subject of multiple investigations.
In short: This embarrassing episode was even worse than it seemed last week. According to the Washington Post and The New York Times, Trump personally pressed for his government to retroactively declare his lies to be true. And NOAA sort of did! In other words, the Trump White House politicized the weather report and drew attention away from the East Coast, where Dorian was actually a threat, to Alabama, where the sun was shining.
Trump makes dozens of false claims a week. CNN's team counted 38 last week. But Alabama is different because it involves an emergency situation and it involves federal agencies we're all supposed to be able to trust. So here's why this story should be back in the news:
Wednesday's developments
First the NYT came out with a story that said Mick Mulvaney pressed commerce secretary Wilbur Ross "to have NOAA publicly disavow" NWS Birmingham's accurate statement that Alabama was safe.
Then the WaPo one-upped the NYT with a report that Trump himself "pushed staff" on the matter. Later in the day, the Times matched the Post's reporting. Both papers are running their stories about this on Page One on Thursday. And good for them – as storms go, this is a severe thunderstorm, not a scattered shower.
Here is the Post's lead: "President Trump told his staff that the nation's leading weather forecasting agency needed to correct a statement that contradicted a tweet the president had sent wrongly claiming that Hurricane Dorian threatened Alabama, senior administration officials said. That led White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to call Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to tell him to fix the issue, according to the officials..." | | (Photo from Trump's trip to NC on Monday)
Bottom line: A misuse of presidential power
"This is now an 11-day story," The Post's James Hohmann tweeted, "because Trump couldn't admit he made a small mistake and, instead, the gears of government were turned in an attempt to cover for him. Trump's inaccurate tweet was posted on September 1 at 10:51 AM. He could have corrected it and moved on by 10:52."
That's exactly right. That's the point. At the time Trump said Alabama "will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated," he was simply wrong. There's no scientific way to say he was right. But he tried anyway. And that's a disturbing misuse of presidential power.
As Thursday's NYT story notes, "the furor over Mr. Trump's storm prediction has evolved from a momentary embarrassment into a sustained political liability for the administration — no longer just a question of a president unwilling to admit a mistake but now a White House seemingly willing to pressure scientists to validate it."
The kicker...
The Post's Thursday story ends with this fact: "Meanwhile, a new tropical weather system is brewing, and this one may actually hit Alabama."
THURSDAY PLANNER
-- The Online News Association conference begins in NOLA...
-- Trump speaks in Baltimore, a city he recently insulted...
-- #DemDebate night on ABC and Univision...
-- "Hustlers" opens in theaters...
FIRST LOOK
TIME mag's climate issue comes out Thursday
"Human nature, like journalism, is deadline-oriented," TIME EIC Edward Felsenthal writes in this week's letter to readers. "Our intent with this issue—only the fifth time in our history that we have turned over every page of a regular issue, front to back, to a single topic—is to send a clear message: we need to act fast, and we can." The full issue dedicated to climate will come out Thursday morning... After 7am ET, it'll be live at this link...
Of note: Felsenthal says in his editors' letter, "what you will not find in this issue are climate-change skeptics. Core to our mission is bringing together diverse perspectives. Experts can and should debate the best route to mitigating the effects of climate change, but there is no serious doubt that those effects are real. We are witnessing them right in front of us. The science on global warming is settled. There isn't another side, and there isn't another moment."
--> Speaking of special climate issues, here's the Variety mag cover story I previewed earlier in the week...
#DemDebate night is almost here
ABC and Univision's Democratic primary debate begins at 8pm ET sharp... Live from Houston... We'll have a complete preview in a special EARLY edition of the newsletter Thursday evening...
Yahoo launches new video series with 2020 Dems
Yahoo News is launching a new video series featuring the 2020 Democratic candidates ahead of Thursday's debate. It's called "The Elevator Pitch." Per a Yahoo rep, candidates will give their campaign's elevator pitch in 90 seconds or less, "with some even hopping into an actual elevator for an added challenge." It'll be on the Yahoo News homepage first thing Thursday...
"Democrats decry double standard in fact checking"
That's the headline on Michael Calderone's latest for Politico. "By assessing Trump's whoppers and Democratic data disputes in the same forums, they say, the media normalizes the president's behavior."
Here's the full story. I second what CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale said here: "1) We have to fact-check everyone, and Ds' false claims are important; 2) We have to be honest about how there is no equivalence between anyone in the D field and Trump."
--> Speaking of Dale, CJR's Emily Tamkin spoke with him about how he does it...
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- Ryan Lizza's first piece for Politico: Joe Biden's camp "thinks the media just doesn't get it." Lots of revealing quotes here... (Politico)
-- Deadline's Ted Johnson looks at whether the debate will help narrow the field in terms of the well-spring of donations from Hollywood... (Deadline)
-- Via Brian Lowry: The Hill contributor Joe Ferullo assesses the evolving TV skills of Elizabeth Warren, and what Pete Buttigieg needs to work on -- namely, speaking more fluently in bumper-sticker sound bites... (The Hill)
-- "ThinkProgress Was Always Doomed," Alex Pareene writes... (The New Republic)
-- Nicholas Fandos writing about Dem lawmakers and their impeachment inquiry: "On Wednesday, the mixed messaging veered into the absurd..." (NYT)
Bolton, the day after
What if newly unemployed national security advisor John Bolton was more powerful on TV? Smart analysis from CNN's Michael Warren here: "Bolton's ability to influence the President may have peaked on April 9, 2018 -- the day he began his job at the White House. Over the previous several months, as Trump grew frustrated with his then-national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, he was receiving a steady barrage of advice from Bolton via Fox News. Bolton arguably had more direct influence over Trump as a talking head on his favorite cable news network than he did as a White House official down the hall from the Oval Office."
With that in mind, what is Trump hearing on Fox about what he should do now? Well, CNN's team reported on Wednesday evening that admin officials "are discussing the possibility of replacing Bolton with his chief rival, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Under this scenario, the country's top diplomat would absorb the national security adviser role and do both jobs." Oliver Darcy notes that "Sebastian Gorka suggested this idea last night on Lou Dobbs' program..."
--> Meanwhile... Bolton reiterated to WaPo's Robert Costa on Wednesday, "I will have my say in due course."
FTC ramping up its Big Tech antitrust investigations
Brian Fung emails: The Federal Trade Commission says it has shifted into a higher gear in its antitrust investigations of Big Tech, marking a new phase of scrutiny for large platform companies in Washington. On Wednesday he had an exclusive interview with a top FTC official, Bruce Hoffman, who said the agency's tech task force is now "primarily" working on "actual investigations" of Big Tech, rather than looking for leads.
Outside experts and former officials say it's a new phase for the antitrust probes, but also that the FTC is under intense pressure to look like it's being aggressive enough when DOJ, states and international regulators are all launching their own investigations. Read on...
After El Paso, Big Tech goes to DC
Donie O'Sullivan emails: As my colleague Brian Fung points out, it's going to be a busy few weeks for tech companies on Capitol Hill with multiple antitrust hearings. In addition to that, following multiple atrocities this year like Christchurch and El Paso that had some roots online, the Senate Commerce Committee is holding a hearing next week on "mass violence, extremism and digital accountability." Facebook, Google and Twitter will be there. Representing Facebook is Monika Bickert, who had a tough time answering Q's from Anderson Cooper earlier this year. In fairness to her, she was trying to defend some pretty mind-boggling Facebook policies.
--> It's good that the three big companies are in attendance -- but what about platforms like Reddit, Gab and 4chan?
Survey: Digital-only platforms drive race and gender inclusion
Katie Pellico writes: The annual Newsroom Diversity Survey, newly out from the American Society of News Editors, showed an improvement at online-only outlets where about one-third of full-time staffers are journalists of color. At the same time, Poynter's Doris Truong writes, "legacy print newsrooms' diversity numbers have held steady since last year, still trailing the U.S. population with 22% of staffers being people of color, and even fewer holding leadership positions (just 19%)." Additionally, the survey showed women comprise 50% of salaried workers in online-only newsrooms, as compared to 41.8% of "all newsroom workers."
>> Per Poynter, the UVA professor who conducted the survey, Meredith Clark, recommended it be "done every few years instead of annually" to "help show larger trends," and to allow news organizations "more opportunities to report their data." Of the 1,883 organizations contacted, only 23% responded...
CNN poaches Elle Reeve
Vice's Elle Reeve is joining CNN as a correspondent out of New York. You surely remember Reeve's award-winning reporting on the white nationalist protests in Charlottesville in 2017. "So excited to be joining CNN!" she tweeted on Wednesday.
>> Two other CNN staffing announcements: NBC foreign correspondent Lucy Kafanov is joining the network and reporting out of Denver; and Scott McLean is relocating from Denver to London.
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- Here's Hot Pod's Nick Quah on the new hires that "hint how Spotify is thinking about sports and news podcasts..." (Hot Pod)
-- We could fill every edition of this newsletter with announcements about new podcasts. But here's one that may be of particular interest to media junkies: Recode's "Reset," hosted by former Vice News correspondent Arielle Duhaime-Ross, will cover tech's impact on society... (Twitter)
-- The Athletic is "making its first major foray into ad-supported content" with a new podcast called "The Lead" launching later this month. "The idea is to mimic the success of 'The Daily,'" Ira Boudway reports. The site already produces 85 podcasts but this will be the first outside the paywall... (Bloomberg)
Farewell to Express
Kerry Flynn writes: The Washington Post has shut down Express after 16 years as DC's free weekday newspaper for commuters. The publication's 20 journalists have been laid off. A WaPo spokesperson declined to comment on the employment status of the 75 newspaper distributors. | | >> Express was known for its witty covers along with its coverage of international, national and local stories. Greg Barber, WaPo's director of newsroom product who joined the paper in 2003 to start Express, described it as "a sculpted summary of news that conveys news both serious and not — without taking itself too seriously in the process."
>> Unlike WaPo, Express was not unionized. WaPo's Newspaper Guild said Express employees "explored unionizing" earlier this year. "These employees, many of them young women, performed the same jobs as other staff in our newsroom for substantially lesser pay. They published our journalism, and we published theirs," the statement reads.
>> WaPo PR attributed the publication's end to the "growth of WiFi in Washington's Metro system," where now commuters are "consuming The Post's content digitally." Dan Caccavaro told Paul Farhi that the paper's circulation peaked in 2007 at around 190,000 people and has since fallen to 130,000. It's now unprofitable. Details here...
Apple News is largely "excluding local news," audit says
Katie Pellico writes: Northwestern assistant professor Nicholas Diakopoulos and Ph.D. student Jack Bandy ran an exhaustive (and open-sourced) audit on Apple News for 62 days, determining that the app is "excluding local newsrooms from its coveted traffic bump." Between the app's Top Stories and Trending Stories sections -- which are "human-edited" and algorithmic, respectively -- ten major outlets accounted for the majority of articles. This was especially true of the Trending Stories section where, Diakopoulos writes, "not a single locally or regionally specific source was cited." He asks, "Is it really good for the public when only 20 sources account for more than 80% of articles? And, given the traffic boost enjoyed by those few sources, is it fair to smaller news organizations producing relevant content that often predates the stories produced by big newsrooms?" Read on...
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- Apple reached a $1 trillion market cap again on Wednesday, for the first time this year, after Tuesday's iPhone launch event... (CNBC)
-- About 450 journalists from French newspaper Le Monde have signed an open letter demanding its owner guarantee editorial independence... (The Guardian)
-- Laura Hazard Owen has a new preview on "what we know so far about the upcoming Facebook News tab..." (NiemanLab)
AT&T bought DirecTV for $49 billion. It's still paying a price
Frank Pallotta writes: Four years ago, AT&T purchased DirecTV for $49 billion. Now DirecTV is flailing badly enough that it is at the heart of an activist shareholder revolt against AT&T's business strategy. What happened? Well, AT&T (CNN's parent) bought DirecTV just as the pay TV market began to dramatically — irreversibly — change. Netflix and other streaming businesses made cord-cutting a viable option for some customers.
So what does this mean for the future of DirecTV? Will Power, a senior research analyst at Baird, wouldn't tell Kerry Flynn and I how much he believes DirecTV is worth now, but acknowledged it is widely felt that if AT&T sold the DirecTV business, it would get far less than what it paid. One intriguing option, he said, would be "a possible combination with the satellite business at DISH, if they were able to orchestrate something from a regulatory and financial perspective, both of which could be challenging." More...
Viacom in the lead for Miramax
Viacom "has emerged as the front-runner to buy a stake in Miramax films," now that another bidder, Lions Gate, has bowed out, Bloomberg's Anousha Sakoui and Nabila Ahmed reported Wednesday. "Talks are ongoing and there's no guarantee a deal will be reached. The parties have discussed a price in the nine-figure range, or at least $100 million..."
"She Said" sparks new examination of Bloom and Boies
Brian Lowry emails: Robin Abcarian, newly minted as an op-ed columnist at the Los Angeles Times, offers a brutal assessment of attorneys Lisa Bloom and David Boies in their roles defending Harvey Weinstein, based on her reading of the book "She Said." Of Bloom's apology, she writes, "Oh, Ms. Bloom, it wasn't just a mistake. It was a total, humiliating sellout."
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
-- Huge news in Hollywood circles, even though the terms are confidential: "A lawsuit over profits between the producers and stars of the show 'Bones' and 21st Century Fox has been settled..." (AP)
-- "Bill McGoldrick has been tapped to head programming for NBCUniversal's upcoming direct-to-consumer streaming service." He remains in his current roles... (THR)
-- Through Quibi's newest pact, "BBC Global News will become the international news producer for Quibi's Daily Essentials," making a daily five-minute show... (Variety)
-- "CBS All Access' adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand is filling out its cast, with Whoopi Goldberg among five actors joining the show..." (THR)
Spotted at The Information's annual fall media party
The shindig was Christie and Joe Marchese's home in SoHo... Attendees included Jessica Lessin, Katie Couric and Jay Monahan, Arianna Huffington, Randi Zuckerberg, Ev Williams, Paul Steiger, Marcus Samuelsson, Beau Willimon, Greg Coleman, Kevin Delaney, Noam Bardin, Jessica Yellin, Kate Bolduan, Laurie Segall, Ashley McCollum, Oliver Darcy, Edward Felsenthal, Greg Gittrich, Alysia Reiner, Rich Greenfield, more...
| | FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
By Lisa Respers France:
-- Howard Stern's former sidekick Artie Lange is sober, thinner and out of rehab...
-- "Joker" was wild to film, it sounds like. The director has some interesting stories to share about its star, Joaquin Phoenix...
-- Here's what drew Jennifer Aniston back to TV with "The Morning Show..."
-- Jimmy Fallon and Jennifer Lopez slayed the '"History of Music Video Dance..." | | Big weekend ahead for 'Hustlers'
"If prerelease predictions are any indication, Jennifer Lopez is poised to make a notable box office comeback this weekend with the debut of 'Hustlers,' a female-ensemble film also starring Constance Wu," THR's Pamela McClintock reports. "The movie is tipped to gross $25 million in its domestic debut — a career best for Lopez in terms of a live-action pic, not adjusted for inflation." More...
FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX
-- Higher Ground Enterprises, a computer training firm, is in the middle of a trademark standoff with the Obamas' company Higher Ground Productions. "Sorting it out could take years..." (NYT)
-- James Cameron says he felt relief after "Avatar" lost its box office crown to "Avengers: Endgame..." (Deadline)
-- And last but not least: Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey are launching the "Office" podcast of your nostalgic dreams... (CNN) | | Thanks for reading! Email or tweet me your feedback anytime...
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