EXEC SUMMARY: Scroll down for a summary of President Trump's latest rally in one sentence, plus the first look at Variety mag's climate crisis cover, Quartz's new AI-powered investigations team, and much more...
War on truth, chapter 9/9/19
What story sums up our political and media worlds on 9/9/19? This one:
Brave government employees are standing up to Trump's unbelievable claims about Hurricane Dorian and insisting on truth.
Trump repeatedly said that Alabama was at risk, when the state wasn't, and then he insisted he was right when he was wrong. Federal agencies felt pressure to support his lies. And that's what makes this episode so troubling and so long-lasting. When folks talk about a war on truth, this is exactly what they're talking about.
But here's the good news: Staffers at the agencies are not staying silent.
Four new developments | | In an email to staff, NOAA's acting chief scientist Craig McLean credited the National Weather Service's Birmingham office with correcting "any public misunderstanding in an expert and timely way," in other words, disputing the president's misinformation. Per WaPo, McLean said he is "pursuing the potential violations of our NOAA Administrative Order on Scientific Integrity."
Also on Monday, NWS director Louis Uccellini spoke at a conference and praised the Birmingham office and said "they did what any office would do." When he asked the local staffers to stand up and be recognized, there was a long standing ovation, per attendees.
Later in the day, the NYT, citing three anonymous sources, said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross "threatened to fire top employees" at NOAA over the Birmingham brouhaha. Ross denied the report. But the NYT said, very specifically, that Ross "phoned Neil Jacobs, the acting administrator of NOAA, from Greece where the secretary was traveling for meetings and instructed Dr. Jacobs to fix the agency's perceived contradiction of the president." Later that day, NOAA came out with a B.S. statement that tried to support Trump despite all the available evidence at hand.
The statement "is now being examined by the Commerce Department's Office of Inspector General," the NYT reported...
What's the takeaway here?
This: "At stake," the WaPo's team wrote, "is public trust in weather forecasts and warnings aimed at saving lives and protecting property, as many current and former NOAA leaders and meteorologists have expressed fear that this controversy has damaged NWS's credibility..."
Silencing facts
CNN national security analyst Samantha Vinograd emails: "The job of a cabinet secretary -- in a democracy at least -- isn't to be the President's personal censor, especially when lives are at risk. Wilbur Ross's actions could have real human and financial costs. His job as commerce secretary is to advance business interests. But by threatening anyone at NOAA who disagreed with the president's personal narrative is the exact opposite of that -- part of NOAA's mission is to provide businesses and communities with reliable information about the environment and weather so that they can protect themselves. Silencing facts is both undemocratic and it puts business interests and lives at risk."
Vinograd adds: "In the near term, restrictions placed on NOAA means that real news -- which could save lives when we're talking about the weather -- isn't allowed to get out. Fake news -- which could spread panic -- is instead percolating at the president's behest. This is state sponsored censorship with real human and financial costs."
Trump "crossed a line"
"To say this out loud sounds ludicrous," Anderson Cooper admitted on Monday's "AC360," but it's true: "We have federal employees getting reprimanded for accurately disclosing scientific truths."
"We do," former W.H. ethics lawyer Richard Painter said. "And this is yet one more instance of the Trump admin distorting facts in order to cover for the president politically, presenting 'alternative facts' in Kellyanne Conway's language, and now it's affecting the weather."
Former NOAA general counsel Monica Medina added: "This matters because the president's changing of that weather map really crossed a line in terms of the sanctity of the weather forecast. It's important that NWS speak with one voice, in unison, because they communicate to all the weather forecasters out there in the country..."
Notes and quotes
-- Oliver Darcy tweeted: "Trump's attempt to destroy the truth is the BIG story of his admin. He's repeatedly beating up the system, hoping it falls in line. It's Orwellian. It's a serious issue. It shouldn't be swept under the rug. It's not about a sharpie. It's about an effort to destroy the truth..."
-- CNN's Chris Cillizza in Monday's The Point newsletter: The truly insidious thing re: Trump's disregard for truth is "about the culture that disregard for truth creates. And how not telling the truth becomes incentivized in an upside-down world where whatever Trump says must be agreed to solely because he is Trump."
-- The Atlantic's David A. Graham says "it's not the storm; it's the cover-up..."
Trump's Monday night rally in one sentence
The sentence comes from the AP's Jonathan Lemire and Alan Fram: "Trying to prove his political clout by pushing a Republican to victory in a special election, President Donald Trump used a North Carolina rally on Monday to paint a bleak picture of a nation that he claimed would be overrun with crime, poverty and immigrants if Democrats seize power in Washington."
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- Margaret Atwood's "The Testaments" is firmly at the top of Amazon's best sellers list ahead of the book's release on Tuesday...
-- Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey's "She Said" is also in the top 10...
-- Apple's product launch event is at 1pm ET / 10am PT Tuesday.. Here's what to expect...
-- MSNBC is celebrating the 11th anniversary of "The Rachel Maddow Show..." Maddow debuted on 9/8/2008...
-- Maddow's 9pm rival on CNN, Chris Cuomo, tweeted: "We are in a tough business at a tough time and to make it is rare; to make a mark is more rare; to create a standard is almost impossible. @maddow is at the top for a reason. 11 years is very impressive. #Congrats"
Jim Sciutto's big scoop
CNN anchor Jim Sciutto led the 9am hour with this reporting: "US extracted top spy from inside Russia in 2017."
Key graf from Sciutto's story: "A person directly involved in the discussions said that the removal of the Russian was driven, in part, by concerns that President Donald Trump and his administration repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence and could contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy."
The NYT added additional details in this Monday evening story... And so did WaPo...
Timing is everything
Sciutto asked the White House and others for comment ahead of time, so the Trump admin knew that he was planning to publish his reporting at 9am. At almost the exact minute that Sciutto went on the air, Trump went out with two anti-CNN tweets. He didn't reference the Russian spy reporting, but the timing was... let's just say... notable.
Trump touted the fact that activist shareholder firm Elliott Management is targeting AT&T, CNN's parent company. Paul R. La Monica has the details here. Perhaps Trump heard about the activist bid from this 8:29am segment on Fox Business. Trump called it "great news" and said "perhaps they will now put a stop to all of the Fake News emanating from its non-credible 'anchors.'"
Then he claimed CNN has "bad ratings" and is "losing a fortune." Matt Dornic, a spokesman for the network, tweeted in response: "In case you hear differently, CNN is having its most profitable year in history. Last month the network delivered its highest August ratings on record and won the prime time demo - beating both Fox and MSNBC." He added the face-palm emoji for good measure. 🤦🏻♂️
>> Erik Wemple's newest item: "Give it up, Trump. CNN will outlast you."
IN OTHER NEWS...
Google vs. fifty state AGs
Brian Fung emails: The states have launched an antitrust investigation into Google. Fifty state attorneys general is a lot -- certainly many more than had been previously reported. And it's an indication of how widespread the concerns about Google are — particularly compared to Facebook, which is the subject of a separate state probe announced Friday involving just nine AGs.
>> The scene: There were about a couple dozen reporters at Monday's presser, and enough cameras that a few bystanders stopped to ask what was going on. It was blazing hot on the steps of the US Supreme Court; many of the AGs were visibly sweating as they spoke. But it might be Google's turn to sweat next, for slightly different reasons!
At the same time...
The NYT's Steve Lohr notes that "the state inquiries coincide with bipartisan scrutiny of the tech companies in Washington, by House and Senate committees, the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission. Federal officials are examining the practices of Amazon and Apple as well as those of Facebook and Google." Hard to keep up!
Why it matters...
As Andrew Gavil of Howard University remarked to the NYT, "this kind of high-profile announcement creates expectations and it does put pressure on the federal agencies to follow through — to seriously investigate these companies. And by making it bipartisan, they are wisely laying the groundwork for what could be a lengthy and far-reaching investigation..."
Trump calls up Suzanne Scott to complain
Oliver Darcy emails: Trump has on a few occasions dialed Suzanne Scott to complain about Fox's coverage, The Atlantic's Elaina Plott and Peter Nicholas reported in a piece about the power dynamic between the White House and the conservative network. "If you think about Suzanne, it's like, I'm running the network. The president is not running the network," one Fox staffer told them. "And if you're Donald Trump, it's like, Damn if you are—I'm running the network. And, to be candid, there have been times when the network probably gave Trump too much of the idea that he was running the network."
>> Big picture: As a whole, the story contended that Trump needs Fox more than Fox needs Trump. Plott and Nicholas noted that Fox "speaks directly to Trump's base" which he will need for re-election, and that there are no other real alternatives. "They're not scared" of OANN, one source told them. "They know there's nowhere else for their audience to go."
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- The small pro-Trump channel OANN has filed a "convoluted $10 million lawsuit" against Comcast, MSNBC and Rachel Maddow, alleging defamation and discrimination. "MSNBC has not yet commented on the suit," Jeremy Barr reports... (THR)
-- The NYT deleted a tweet calling Mao Zedong "one of history's great revolutionary figures," saying that it "lacked critical historical context..." (Mediaite)
-- Chloe Arensberg is NBC's new deputy bureau chief in DC... (TVNewser)
-- After being banned by major social media platforms, Milo Yiannopoulos has lamented on Telegram that it's "nice to have a little private chat" with his "gold star homies," but that he "can't put food on the table this way..." (Vice)
FIRST IN RELIABLE
Quartz launching AI-powered investigations team
Oliver Darcy emails: Quartz is launching a new investigations team focused on online political influence and powered by artificial intelligence. The team, which will also rely on audience participation, will "investigate and expose coordinated efforts to sway, confuse, and divide the US electorate ahead of the 2020 presidential election," a spokesperson said. The team will be headed by Quartz AI Studio chief John Keefe and include journalist Jeremy Merrill. Two more people will also be hired for it, I'm told, and Quartz plans to launch an investigations newsletter...
>> Quartz EIC Kevin Delaney: "The future of investigative journalism clearly involves a sophisticated combination of deep traditional reporting with machine learning and data collection techniques..."
Group Nine $$$
Kerry Flynn writes: Group Nine Media -- parent company of NowThis, The Dodo, Thrillist and Seeker -- began the week by announcing $50 million in new funding from lead investor Discovery along with Axel Springer. When the company formed in 2016, it received a $100 million investment from Discovery, and in 2017, it raised an additional $40 million. Sources told the WSJ's Ben Mullin that Group Nine is now valued at more than $600 million and revenue for the brands overall has doubled. But the business remains unprofitable. The new funding comes amid a period of bleakness in digital media: As tech platforms gobble up ad dollars, digital upstarts like Mashable (disclosure: my former employer) and Mic collapsed in value. BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti has suggested more mergers could strengthen them against the tech giants. Group Nine, already with four pillar brands, has reportedly held acquisition talks with other publishers like Refinery29.
>> Kerry adds: "We think we have the model to win in digital media," Group Nine CEO Ben Lerer tells me. "We've been executing against it successfully. More to come."
FIRST LOOK
Variety's first-ever climate crisis issue
Variety's first-ever Climate Crisis issue comes out on Tuesday: | | The cover story by Business Editor Cynthia Littleton will be online in the morning... It's all about Hollywood's impact on climate change and what the industry is doing about it...
Costolo: Twitter should not treat all accounts equally
Oliver Darcy emails: Former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo offered an intriguing idea on how the platform can improve discourse during an interview on CNBC. Costolo suggested Twitter "start thinking about" offering "tiers of accounts." Costolo for instance said he thinks a "high authority" account like a newspaper should perhaps "be allowed to tweet things" that "a user that just signed up yesterday and has zero followers shouldn't."
Adding out-of-home viewing to Nielsen's standard #'s
Brian Lowry writes: Variety's Brian Steinberg reports that Nielsen is moving ahead with plans to include out-of-home viewing in ratings data beginning in the fall of 2020, a long-desired wish among TV execs that takes on a greater sense of urgency as they claw and scratch for every rating point amid declining tune-in and a host of new competition. The shift should be a special boon to events that inspire viewing in restaurants and bars or viewing parties, like the Super Bowl and certain award shows...
>> Stelter adds: News ratings also get a significant lift from out-of-home sources. I've been interested in this for a while. CNN, citing Nielsen data, said that the network averaged a 10.2% lift from out-of-home in July and August...
Report: Mark Halperin threatened MSNBC chief
Oliver Darcy emails: Mark Halperin apparently picked up the phone and expressed displeasure with MSNBC president Phil Griffin after network brass "nixed his attempt to repair his career through a possible collaboration with the stars of Morning Joe," Maxwell Tani reported Monday for The Daily Beast. According to Tani, the call "did not go well."
Tani reported Halperin -- who was accused of sexual harassment and/or assault by at least a dozen women -- issued "vague threats" against Griffin. According to the report, Griffin was "furious about the conversation and wouldn't likely take Halperin's calls in the future."
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- "Netflix is 'seeing significant reacceleration' in mobile app downloads in the third quarter of 2019 Bank of America analysts said in a note Monday." Netflix shares closed up 1.4%... (CNBC)
-- Why more publishers are entering the sports betting business... (Digiday)
-- Christina Colizza is the new research editor at Wirecutter... and she is hiring a fact-checker... (Twitter)
-- The New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile held a media heat on Sunday... The NYT won the Fastest Media Team... Individual winners from the race were Dan Roe from Runner's World and podcaster Tina Muir...
-- ICYMI: "After Rio de Janeiro's evangelical mayor tried to ban an illustration of two male superheroes kissing from a book fair, one of Brazil's biggest newspapers decided to put it on their front page..." (CNN)
Medium's next publication
Kerry Flynn writes: Medium launched Marker, its new business-focused publication, on Monday. EIC Paul Smalera, formerly of Fast Company and Quartz, wrote in the announcement, "By chronicling the world of startups, we aim to give you the information you need to make smart decisions and analyses at your company and in your career." Marker is just the latest new publication out of Medium as it tries its hand at journalism… again. Other recent launches include OneZero (tech), Elemental (wellness), ZORA (women of color) and GEN (politics). Speaking of GEN, Garance Franke-Ruta started as executive editor and Michelle Legro as features editor on Monday...
The power of local papers, in spite of so many cutbacks
A new study finds that newspapers account for about 25% of local media outlets yet nearly 50% of original news stories. The takeaway, per NiemanLab: "Local newspapers are suffering, but they're still (by far) the most significant journalism producers in their communities." The more the papers suffer, the more the news ecosystem suffers, since radio and TV stations take so many cues from the papers...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
-- Megan Thomas emails: This is an interesting take on super fandom becoming as toxic as politics by The New Yorker's Michael Shulman... (The New Yorker)
-- On the first episode of her ABC-produced daytime talk show, Tamron Hall said NBC "fired" her, even if the network referred to it as a demotion... (Daily Beast)
-- Hall also gave a shoutout to Kelly Clarkson, whose talk show also premiered on Monday. "I will not be in a position where you pit me against another woman," Hall said...
-- Clarkson's premiere had an epic homage, thanks to a special guest, Steve Carell... Sandra Gonzalez has the details here... (CNN)
-- Ellen DeGeneres launched the new season of her show on Monday... And chatted about a very royal baby she met over the summer while her show was on hiatus... (CNN)
Mark Cuban sells AXS
"Mark Cuban has sold a majority stake in cable networks AXS TV and HDNet Movies to Anthem Sports & Entertainment, with Steve Harvey on board as a financial and creative partner," TheWrap's Tim Baysinger reports. Anthem, which has small channels like the Fight Network and GameTV, "will take over operational control of the channels. Cuban and AEG will continue to participate as equity partners..."
| | Testing the limits of "Brady" nostalgia
Brian Lowry writes: HGTV's "A Very Brady Renovation" — which hinges on remodeling the original "The Brady Bunch" house — and "BH90210" both exhibit the ability of series revivals to generate media attention, and it helps when they try something a little different, as each does. But as the two shows nearly pass in the night — with the former premiering, as the Fox series winds down amid diminishing ratings — they also underscore the limits of nostalgia, once that initial burst of curiosity begins (almost inevitably) to subside. Read on...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
By Lisa Respers France:
-- John Wesley, an actor known for appearances on "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" and "Martin," died over the weekend. He was 72 and worked with everyone from Denzel Washington to Barbra Streisand...
-- In an interview to promote her new talk show, Kelly Clarkson explained why she encouraged Taylor Swift to re-record her music. It had to do with Clarkson's mother-in-law, country star Reba McEntire...
-- Kim Kardashian West was shook after she tested positive for lupus antibodies...
-- Kristen Stewart thinks her ex-boyfriend and former co-star Robert Pattinson is perfect for the new "Batman..."
-- Miley Cyrus has released the music video for her break up song "Slide Away" video so let the theories begin!
ICYMI...
How to catch up on Sunday's "Reliable"
Read the transcript... Watch the video clips on CNN.com... or listen to the podcast via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or your preferred app...
| | | Thanks for reading! Send me your feedback anytime... See you tomorrow... | | | |
