Another anti-CNN video
Friday night's anti-CNN video is reminiscent of the 2017 meme showing Trump wrestling a CNN logo. Trump's fans are obviously praising him for A+ trolling, ignoring the clear risk of a president inciting violence against figures he has deemed enemies. And Trump's critics are trying to make sure people see the seriousness of this situation.
Philly Inquirer columnist Will Bunch tweeted: "The Alabama stuff is bat-guano crazy but the scary part of his new video is showing CNN (logo) in a fiery lethal car crash at the end. He is openly urging violence against my sisters and brothers in journalism. He is a dangerous dictator who will get people killed. He already has."
Grisham's anti-press tactics
Politico's Quint Forgey says the still-new press secretary and comms director "flashed signs this week of how she'll serve as Donald Trump's defender-in-chief." Key graf: "The broadsides from Grisham against major media outlets, paired with her reluctance to advocate on-air on behalf of the administration, represent a departure from her predecessors' approach to the role of press secretary..."
--> A Mediaite headline for the ages: "White House Press Secretaries Publish Op-Ed Claiming Washington Post Didn't Cover Stories The Paper Actually Did Cover"
Darcy's take
Oliver Darcy tweeted: "The President is spending his Friday afternoon sharing anti-CNN memes & videos attacking The Washington Post for 'fake news.' This caps off a week of the President himself peddling actual fake news about Alabama/Dorian. He wants left to be right, and right to be upside down."
The storm over Alabama
The state was obviously spared by Dorian... And many, many more journalistic resources are thankfully being devoted to the Bahamas and the Carolinas right now. But a number of fact-checkers are trying to untangle Trump's lies on top of lies about Alabama being in the path of the hurricane. On Friday an unnamed NOAA spokesman got roped in: The agency came out with a statement trying to justify Trump's bogus claims and criticizing the National Weather Service's Birmingham office for telling the truth about the forecast track.
Quick reminder: The truth is that, on Sunday morning, when Trump began making his strange statements about Alabama, the state was not being threatened by Dorian in any way. No amount of spin will change that.
On Friday night Dan Sobien, president of the National Weather Service Employees Organization, lambasted NOAA's characterization of events and defended the agency's employees. "Let me assure you the hard working employees of the NWS had nothing to do with the utterly disgusting and disingenuous tweet sent out by NOAA management tonight #NOAA," he tweeted. So, this just keeps getting worse. As Al Roker asked Friday night, "Where will this end?"
Here's the thing about Trump and Alabama
Here's the main point I want to make. If, on Sunday, Trump actually believed that Alabama was at risk, it shows a shocking lack of knowledge about geography, science, and storms. Everyone watching TV on Sunday knew Dorian was a Bahamas, Florida, Georgia, and Carolinas storm. A single glimpse at a map showed that Alabama wasn't going to be "hit." So what does this episode tell us about Trump's critical thinking skills and his unwillingness to admit to mistakes?
>> Chris Hayes' answer on MSNBC Friday night: We're "watching the president lose his mind."
>> Of course, over on Fox Biz, Lou Dobbs made this all about the news coverage, saying "the national left-wing media went apoplectic over the past few days..."
Trump's message is... ?!
NYT's Maggie Haberman tweeted that she saw a journalist "chiding other reporters for focusing on administration missteps and not message." Well, she said, the message this week "has been...WashPost/media bad and Alabama real. Not trade, not economy, not almost anything else." Exactly. Another wasted week...
All of this is related
Remember: This week began with Trump saying that his "primary opponent" is not the Dems or never-Trump GOPers, it's the "fake news media." The more he tears down real reporting, the more he can convince voters that what he says is true. 🔌: I'll be talking about this on "CNN Tonight with Don Lemon" in the 11pm ET hour...
This Sunday on "Reliable"
I'll be talking with Steve Kroft about his retirement from "60 Minutes..." Plus, Julie Roginsky, Bianna Golodryga, Joan Walsh, and James Poniewozik... and Courtney Radsch of the Committee to Protect Journalists will join me to discuss the group's new report on online harassment...
COMING UP...
-- Saturday: The Toronto International Film Festival continues...
-- Monday: Billy Bush debuts as the new host of "Extra..." The former "Today" cast member will be on CBS with Gayle King in the A.M...
-- Monday: "The Kelly Clarkson Show" and "Tamron Hall" have their premieres...
-- Tuesday: Margaret Atwood's "The Testaments" goes on sale... It is already No. 1 on Amazon's list...
-- Tuesday: Apple's product launch event in Cupertino...
Mess at the MIT Media Lab keeps getting worse
The recent headlines about the MIT Media Lab are demoralizing for everyone who cares about the institution. WBUR's Max Larkin put it this way: "Weeks after its director admitted to ties with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, one of America's trailblazing centers for research is divided against itself."
To get caught up, read this NYT story about Joichi Ito's acceptance of Epstein's $$... And Ito's apologies... and how the lab's co-founder Nicholas Negroponte made things worse earlier this week...
>> Margaret Sullivan's conclusion in this new column: "Joi Ito should be fired from MIT's Media Lab after taking funding from felon Jeffrey Epstein."
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- Ronan Farrow posted an Instagram Story labeled "brace for impact" on Friday night... As Yashar Ali noted, "in the past, it has meant that he has a story forthcoming." Check NewYorker.com after you read this letter... (Twitter)
-- Headline of the day: "Eric Trump Encounters Journalism, Is Confused." This is about Eric calling out David Fahrenthold for smart, responsible source cultivation... (NYMag)
-- Arthur Sando died earlier this week. Sando was an acclaimed PR pro, working for Ted Turner in the early days of CNN, "followed by similar roles at TV program syndication powerhouse King World, and with Larry Flynt at his multi-faceted media company," James Boyle wrote in this tribute. Variety has more here... (Variety)
David Rhodes working with Spotify
"Spotify has tapped former CBS News President David Rhodes as a consultant to help drive an expansion into news programming," The Information's Jessica Toonkel reported Friday. She said "Rhodes is expected to help Spotify sign up more news organizations to partner with for podcasts."
>> Context: "A news push is part of a broader ramp-up of Spotify's podcast offerings to diversify the company's revenue beyond music. Additionally, Spotify is looking to grow its sports offering and recently hired a Facebook executive, Amy Hudson, to oversee sports..."
Chuck Todd's five-year anniversary
"This Sunday marks the fifth anniversary of Todd moderating NBC's 'Meet the Press,' and much has changed over those five years," Poynter's Tom Jones writes. spoke with Todd...
>> Wisdom from Todd on Friday's "MTP Daily:" Sharpie-gate "has the chance to become the punchline of this Presidency. But raiding military funds to pay for a pet political project could end up being the more permanent MARK on his Presidency." He said "there is no tipping point with President Trump, but the thing he oughta worry about is erosion..."
Big #'s for NFL 100 kickoff
Packers fan Frank Pallotta writes: The first game of the NFL's 100th year, featuring the Packers beating the Bears, averaged 22.7 million viewers for NBC. That's an increase of roughly 16% from the comparable game last year, and the most-watched NFL Kickoff game since 2016, per NBC. | | >> Why it matters: Two vital deals are "coming up soon: the collective bargaining agreement with the players, which expires after the 2020 season, and the TV rights deals that the league has with its broadcasting partners." Read on...
>> Brian Lowry notes that this NFL # followed a strong start for ESPN/ABC's college football coverage last weekend...
Recommended reads for the weekend... 👓
By Katie Pellico:
-- "Choose Your Own Adventure books were a big hit. But what about choose your news?" NiemanLab's Christine Schmidt explains "How to experiment with local TV news..."
-- Ashley Feinberg recounts a "brief history of overreaction" as seen in the NYT's Opinion pages under the editorial direction of editor James Bennet, and the "now-familiar" practice of "spending hundreds of words in the country's most prominent newspaper to complain that someone was mean to the writer online..."
-- Speaking of the Opinion pages: What'd you think of David Brooks' column in Friday's paper?
-- Read Kara Swisher's Q&A with The Cut about "being the best in her field, running for mayor of San Francisco, and having a baby at 56..."
-- Read about BuzzFeed's efforts to integrate their Tech team into the newsroom, and how it has helped BuzzFeed to "report with authority..."
-- "Nearly half a century on," the mystery of "skyjacker" D.B. Cooper lives on. Read about the reporting around the story, and why it serves as "a lesson in the lures and dangers of chasing the truth while also chasing a Hollywood deal..."
-- THR's chief TV critic Tim Goodman explains "How (And Why) I Cut the Cord: A TV Critic's Journey Over the Top..."
👂 And one recommended listen...
In "Audience of One," NYT chief TV critic James Poniewozik argues that Trump's ascent "happened because of TV. It happened through TV." The book is out on Tuesday, but you can listen to our podcast chat now...
>> A key point he made: Trump in many ways "used television to become president, but then TV kind of became the president, because what he was seeing on TV set his agenda and controlled his mood and determined the world that the rest of us would live in."
Listen to the conversation via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or your preferred app...
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- The White House wants to take "'influential' British journalists on a tour of American farms to influence narratives around the country's food standards, specifically the vexed issue of 'chlorinated chicken,'" BuzzFeed News' Mark Di Stefano reports. The "press tour" could cost as much as £75k, to be paid by the U.S... (BuzzFeed News)
-- Karen Hepp, co-anchor on Fox 29 "Good Day Philadelphia," is suing Facebook, Reddit, Giphy, Imgur and others, "claiming a photo of her was used in online dating and erectile dysfunction advertisements without her permission..." (Philadelphia Inquirer)
-- From CNN's Bianca Britton: "Britain's newspapers have a field day with this week's Brexit chaos..." (CNN)
ThinkProgress shuts down
Oliver Darcy emails: Back in July, the Center for American Progress announced it was looking for someone to purchase ThinkProgress. It cited a "significant drop in revenue in recent years," as well as "divergent missions of American Progress and ThinkProgress." Well, on Friday, CAP announced it was shutting the website down, and using the site to allow its scholars to post.
"Given that we could find no new publisher, we have no other real option but to fold the ThinkProgress website back into CAP's broader online presence with a focus on analysis of policy, politics, and news events through the lens of existing CAP and CAP Action staff experts," CAP executive director Navin Nayak told The Daily Beast, which first reported the news. As a result, 12 Think Progress staffers will lose their jobs, The Daily Beast reported.
Bloomberg Law (sort of) offers a formal correction
Darcy emails: Bloomberg Law on Friday updated its disastrous story on Labor Department official Leif Olson once again. Now, the word "corrected" is in the headline. I suppose that is the closest to a formal correction that the outlet is going to offer. However, as Erik Wemple noted in his WaPo piece, Bloomberg may have "fixed the most egregious falsehood in the story regarding anti-Semitism," but "it has left standing some absurd stretches of text."
Wemple pointed out that the story still says Olson's appointment "raises more questions about the Trump administration's vetting system for political appointees." Wemple wrote, "Actually: Olson's story raises no questions about the Trump administration's personnel-vetting procedures. It raises questions about Bloomberg Law's story-vetting procedures.'
>> Also of note: Wemple got his hands on the full email instructing Bloomberg Law staffers to "not tweet out" news Olson had been reinstated to the Labor Department, as I reported on Thursday.
Internal backlash at NPR
There's been a significant backlash in the NPR newsroom over recent remarks by Nancy Barnes, NPR's senior vice president for news, about the network's coverage of race. Gotta give credit where it's due: WSJ's Ben Mullin beat me to the story. About 85 staffers co-signed a letter to Barnes on Thursday... They said Barnes has "failed to recognize the strides they have made in covering racism, anti-Semitism and hate-driven violence," Mullin reported. Details here...
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- "In a competitive situation, NBC has landed TriBeCa, an hourlong drama based on the hit Korean original series Sky Castle." Nellie Andreeva says the series echoes the recent college admissions scandal... (Deadline)
-- Speaking of that: Prosecutors say they want Felicity Huffman to spend a month in jail... (NBC)
-- "A scripted drama based on the life of famed chef Julia Child — with Chris Keyser attached to exec produce and supervise — is near a deal for a pilot order at HBO Max..." (THR)
"Super Size Me," the sequel | | Brian Lowry emails: Morgan Spurlock's confession about past sexual behavior shelved "Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!" for nearly two years, but the documentary -- getting a limited release -- still deals with some timely issues, including the wishful thinking that surrounds "healthy fast food," and the abuse of terms like "fresh," "natural" and "free range." Mostly, the movie is a reminder of the need for media literacy when it comes to advertising and marketing...
Netflix, Amazon movies grapple with theatrical issue
Brian Lowry writes: Two new pieces underscore the challenge that Netflix and Amazon face in terms of getting people to go see their movies in theaters, given the limited theatrical windows. THR's Rebecca Keegan wrote about Amazon's revised strategy, relying on shortened windows built around when the service would like to premiere the films on TV and seemingly exhibiting less emphasis on box-office performance. LA Times critic Justin Chang, meanwhile, makes a case for seeing Netflix movies on the big screen, while asking of its awards strategy, "Can you disrupt an industry and earn its admiration at the same time?" Also, can you prioritize streaming and still win over talent and award voters?
Apple acquires "Dads"
Variety's Matt Donnelly and Brent Lang report: "Apple has acquired worldwide distribution to the Bryce Dallas Howard documentary 'Dads,' ahead of its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival... Naturally, the film is a family affair produced by her father Ron Howard and his partner Brian Grazer of Imagine Entertainment. The film has an unset premiere date on Apple TV Plus, though a theatrical run is on the table."
"Dads" is billed "as a light-hearted look at modern paternity around the world, revealed through anecdotes and wisdom from average dads and celebrities like Will Smith, Jimmy Fallon and Neil Patrick Harris..."
| | The box office had a sluggish summer. Can a killer clown help?
Frank Pallotta writes: "It Chapter Two," Warner Bros.' follow-up to 2017's horror hit "It," brought in $10.5 million on Thursday night. It's expected to bring in $85 to $90 million this weekend.
"Chapter Two" is one of the most anticipated films of the year, and the box office could use Pennywise the Clown's help. The US box office is down roughly 6.5% compared to last year, so if it does well the film could give Hollywood the momentum it needs to end the year on a positive note. Read on...
"Crazy Rich Asians" sequel delayed amid pay dispute
Katie Pellico writes: CNBC's Jennifer Liu reports production on the sequel to "Crazy Rich Asians" has been delayed following THR's Wednesday report that co-screenwriter Adele Lim had exited over a major pay discrepancy. THR's Rebecca Sun had reported that Lim's white male co-writers were offered almost ten times as much as she was.
Sun wrote that Lim "believes women and people of color often are regarded as 'soy sauce' -- hired to sprinkle culturally specific details on a screenplay, rather than credited with the substantive work of crafting the story." Read on...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
-- The "Star Trek" universe offered a vision of "a progressive utopia where racism and poverty were mostly eradicated in favor of a thirst for learning." In an exchange with NYT's Sopan Deb, superfan Cory Booker explains how the show has influenced him... (NYT)
-- WarnerMedia's Crunchyroll "entered into a pact to become the majority owner of Viz Media Europe Group, the top anime distributor and manga publisher in Europe," per Variety's Todd Spangler... (Variety)
| | | Thanks for reading! Send me your feedback anytime... See you Sunday... | | | |
