🦃 Thank YOU! 🦃
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. It is an absolute privilege to send you these dispatches. I am thankful for your readership and viewership and your feedback. Especially the criticism! I'm thankful for everyone's comments and tips and submissions and corrections and complaints. Keep 'em coming by emailing me here.
First and foremost, thank you to Jamie for giving me purpose in life. (And for tolerating my late-night newsletter writing!) I frequently thank her for Story, who's about to have his first Thanksgiving, and Sunny, a 2-year-old human tornado who's living her best life everyday.
Thank you to Oliver Darcy for running this newsletter when I've been on paternity leave and lost in book-writing land. And to all the CNNers who send in items: Lisa Respers France, Kerry Flynn, Brian Lowry, Chloe Melas, Hadas Gold, Frank Pallotta, Marianne Garvey, Donie O'Sullivan, Sandra Gonzalez, Megan Thomas, and more.
Thank you to Jason Farkas, Alex Koppelman, An Phung, Rob McLean, Victoria Cavaliere, and the other editors who keep CNN Business humming around the clock.
Thank you to the "Reliable Sources" producers and creators who make the show worth watching every Sunday: Jonathan Auerbach, Katie Pellico, Marina di Marzo, Diane Kaye, Troy Bentley, Chloe Scretchings, Adaam Levin-Areddy, Katrina Kaufman. We couldn't do it without David Marshall, Emily Kuhn, Ella Richardson, Jay Conroy, and Merrell Daly.
And thank YOU for spreading the word about this newsletter. Here's the sign-up link for your friends and family members 😉
These are my guesses...
Thanksgiving parade producers and crews are thankful for... above-freezing temps for this year's parades in NYC and Philly.
The Trump White House is thankful for... Fox News.
Movie theater owners are thankful that "The Rise of Skywalker" isn't going straight to streaming.
And TV stations are thankful for... Michael Bloomberg's ad spending!
Thankful for press freedom
NPR's Steve Inskeep tweeted earlier this week: "As the lunch rush cleared out, a man at the next table said he knew my voice, shook hands, and said thanks for @NPR: 'Thanks for your courage.' Which I accept on behalf of colleagues who work in places that lack freedom of the press, and who work to exercise that freedom here."
Programming note: This newsletter will resume on Sunday...
Kerry is thankful for these two products
The newest addition to our media team, Kerry Flynn, emails: First off, I'm extremely thankful I get to contribute to this newsletter regularly and be a part of the CNN team. I'm motivated by all of the energy here and have enjoyed the challenge of covering media more broadly than I ever have before. Beyond the new gig, two new products brought me tremendous joy throughout the year:
-- TikTok is like "therapy," I heard one creator say at Cannes this year, and I couldn't agree more. While the Chinese-owned app is not free from brand safety and censorship issues, TikTok has made me laugh for hours every day. My best friends and I share our favorites back and forth. It's how I fall asleep — or unintentionally, but without regret, stay up — nearly every night. TikTok was what I was craving when people asked me, "What's the new Snapchat?" Yet TikTok is wonderful in its own way, with the brilliant hashtag challenges even I've participated in and the countless songs that have gotten stuck in my head.
-- Peloton also has been a game changer for me. I've loved spin classes ever since I moved to New York in 2014. I used ClassPass religiously to visit studios throughout the city. I later joined Equinox, and sometimes I would go to SoulCycle with friends. But Peloton provides the luxury of exercising on my own schedule. The instructors are incredible (shoutout to my favs Ally Love and Cody Rigsby), and I've found the Facebook Group (yes, really) for Peloton users incredibly inspiring.
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- The lead story on NYTimes.com right now: Rudy Giuliani "Pursued Business in Ukraine While Pushing for Inquiries for Trump." The WaPo and WSJ published similarly troubling reporting... (NYT)
-- WaPo's John Hudson reports: Trump official "who suggested dropping nuclear bombs on Afghanistan" is "now responsible for arms control issues..." (WaPo)
-- CNN's KFILE first reported on this official, Frank Wuco, in 2017. Here's the followup story by Kate Sullivan and Andrew Kaczynski... (CNN)
-- The lead story on CNN.com right now: "Worry in military over Trump grows." Tensions have been mounting for months, and now they are "are boiling over," Barbara Starr and Nicole Gaouette report... (CNN)
Terrible timing to shut down OC Weekly...
Kerry Flynn writes: OC Weekly, an alt weekly serving Orange County, California, is closing. "Today, the day before Thanksgiving, our owner Duncan McIntosh Company has decided to shut us down," the publication said on Twitter. "For the last quarter century, we've tried to bring good stories to Orange County. It's been fun, but now we're done." Writers Anthony Pignataro and Gabriel San Román also shared the news.
On Wednesday night, McIntosh put out a statement and said he's trying to sell the paper, alluding to an "expected change of ownership..."
Curbed's cutbacks
One more item from Kerry Flynn: Vox's Curbed is shutting down its sites for DC, Seattle, New Orleans and Philadelphia, The Wrap's J. Clara Chan reported Wednesday. A Curbed spokesperson said "Curbed is sharpening its focus to deliver content where our audiences are most engaged and on the topics they are craving — real estate, shopping, and design. We'll be expanding Austin and Boston into full time sites, while sunsetting our city sites in Washington DC, Seattle, New Orleans, and Philadelphia, later this year."
This move is one of the Vox's biggest shifts since acquiring New York Media in September...
Giving thanks for local papers
The Boston Globe is promoting a social media campaign called #SubscribeSunday "to encourage readers to buy a subscription for their local paper," the Globe's Marcela GarcÃa tells me.
Business reporter Janelle Nanos came up with the idea. She tweeted: "What better way to support democracy this holiday season than subscribe to your local paper?"
So here's the message: "Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday are just around the corner. And this year, we hope you'll help us celebrate the first-ever Subscribe Sunday."
GarcÃa says the goal is to make this a movement "and have other newspapers across the country join in..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- I missed this the other day: "The 121-year old Dayton Daily News and two other Ohio newspapers will shrink to three days a week from daily publication to appease regulators who on Monday approved a $3.1 billion acquisition of Cox TV stations and newspapers by private equity firm Apollo Global Management..." (NYPost)
-- This is a fun piece by Shelby Grad... fun, unless you're stuck in this traffic, that is: "How 405 Freeway gridlock became the iconic image of an L.A. Thanksgiving..." (LAT)
-- Ellen Barry's extraordinary story, "The Jungle Prince of Delhi," has been translated to podcast form by "The Daily" team. All three episodes are online now... (NYT)
Good luck, everybody
If you're worried about politics infecting your Thanksgiving dinner table talk, you're far from the only one.
This WaPo story says "the fourth Thanksgiving of the Trump era is upon us, and where are we now? Have we gotten better at figuring out how to talk and not talk about what's happening in the country?" The story comes with an excellent illustration: | |
Clinton v. Trump impeachments
There is something powerful about having the TV archives of the last impeachment inquiry handy -- courtesy of C-SPAN and other networks -- so people can compare and contrast what was being said then versus now. Case in point, yesterday's newsletter lead about a leading GOP lawmaker calling out the president for not telling the truth...
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- From Politico's team, looking ahead to next week: "Dems see one last chance to boost public support for impeachment..." (Politico)
-- The headline on Justin Baragona's latest: "Fox News Backs Trump's 'War on Thanksgiving' BS He Got From Fox" (Beast)
-- "The Ukraine misinformation campaign is still very much afoot," CNN's Chris Cuomo says, laying out four debunked theories being peddled by Trump and his allies... (Video via Twitter) | |
This is how Rush Limbaugh lies
Tuesday's edition of "The Rush Limbaugh Show" played a completely misleading clip from last Sunday's "Reliable Sources," and it shows exactly how Limbaugh stokes hatred of the media by lying about media coverage.
Limbaugh's show clipped me saying "the president is using mind control" -- as if it's a fact -- when I was actually asking a skeptical question to a guest. I asked "The Cult of Trump" author Steven Hassan, "You say the president is using mind control, but how is that provable?"
But Rush omitted the "you say" and "how is that provable" parts of my sentence. Then he attacked: "That's Little Brian Stelter, the media analyst, guru reporter at CNN. 'The president is using mind control.' What, are we getting hit by strobe lights during every Trump appearance? Is that what's happening?" He went on: "I'm not kidding, lil' Brian Stelter, 'Trump is using mind control.' Well, how come it's not working on you, Brian? How come it's not working on anybody at CNN?" I hope someone will tell Rush that he misquoted me over and over again...
--> Alan Duke's Lead Stories website also debunked the right-wing websites that said I called Trump a cult leader...
Here's what Steven Hassan actually said...
In this interview for Sunday's show, I asked him, "If you say this is a cult, what's the first step of deprogramming?"
"The first step with anyone who's a true believer is contact with people that are outside the bubble," Hassan said. "Cult leaders want to isolate their people... they want family and friends to just disappear rather than keep engaged. 'Hey, did you read this article? What do you think of it?' 'You know, I'll watch one of your shows, watch one of my shows.' In other words, appealing to the person's true self, their authentic self that wants to be a good person, that want -- that believes in America and democracy and truth."
So, I said, for the people who are dreading Thanksgiving, you're saying it's an opportunity to get together! "Exactly," Hassan said. "We're family, we're friends. Let's talk and you know, truth will out, truth will stand up to scrutiny."
Pirro palling around
 Oliver Darcy emails: Jeanine Pirro was at the White House two days in a row. On Monday she was spotted standing near W.H. staffers at the Conan hero dog ceremony, and on Tuesday she was seen walking to the residence. What was the purpose of the visit? It's unclear. The W.H. won't say and neither will Fox. But Trump and Pirro have reportedly talked about potential jobs in the administration in the past. And Pirro has a decades-long relationship with Trump.
Whatever the reason for the multi-day visit, Pirro seems to be enjoying the speculation. She joked she was at the hero dog ceremony because she loves dogs, and tweeted "guess where I am" with a photo from the W.H. on Wednesday...
"A Warning" unseats "Triggered"
"A Warning," by Anonymous, debuted at No. 1 on the NYT's best sellers list... The list dropped on Wednesday evening... Donald Trump Jr's "Triggered" slipped to No. 2 after two controversial weeks atop the list.
"An op-ed for the ages"
That's what MSNBC's Ali Velshi called this WaPo op-ed by ousted Navy Secretary Richard Spencer.
Trump's war crimes intervention was "shocking and unprecedented," Spencer wrote. Over time he concluded that Trump's interest in the Eddie Gallagher case "stemmed partly from the way the defendant's lawyers and others had worked to keep it front and center in the media." In other words, Fox News...
December's debate moderators are...
Wednesday's announcement: "PBS NewsHour anchor and managing editor Judy Woodruff, POLITICO chief political correspondent Tim Alberta, PBS NewsHour senior national correspondent Amna Nawaz, and PBS NewsHour White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor will co-moderate the sixth Democratic primary debate, set to take place next month."
One of the reasons why this is notable: Because NBC recently reported that some DNC officials weren't happy about the idea of Alberta co-moderating. "The reason: Alberta previously wrote for National Review, a conservative magazine, and has spent the bulk of his recent career chronicling the Republican Party." But Alberta is one of the best reporters on the beat, widely respected by his colleagues and rivals. Sanity prevailed...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
-- The latest from CNN's David Wright: "Bloomberg is now up to $58.35 million in TV ad bookings, spread across three weeks..."
-- "The judge overseeing the Harvey Weinstein case has allowed actress Annabella Sciorra to testify that Weinstein raped her 26 years ago. Justice James Burke issued a series of rulings on pre-trial defense motions on Tuesday, denying almost all of them. Weinstein is set to go on trial on Jan. 6 on five sex crimes charges..." (Variety)
-- Yashar Ali's latest: A deep dive into Gabrielle Union's controversial departure from "America's Got Talent" on NBC... (Vulture)
-- "Christina Miller, president of WarnerMedia's Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Boomerang and TCM, announced Wednesday that she will be stepping down from her post at the end of the year..." (TheWrap)
"The Irishman" is streaming
The film arrived on Netflix on Wednesday.
"In late 2013," THR's Pamela McClintock wrote, "Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street debuted to $34.2 million at the U.S. box office over the five-day Christmas Day holiday on its way to grossing $392 million globally and landing numerous top Oscar nominations. Six years later, Scorsese's The Irishman is bypassing a traditional theatrical release and instead will debut on Netflix on Nov. 27, the start of the lucrative Thanksgiving frame. With its pedigree, will the critically acclaimed mob pic keep consumers otherwise occupied and hurt the overall box office?" Here's her full story... | | Giving thanks for streaming?
Brian Lowry emails: Thanks for streaming? While it's common for critics to gripe about the unmanageable tonnage of content in the context of streaming growing from a trickle to a flood, there's also cause for gratitude in this shift, which puts a premium on criticism as a way to help focus viewers as they sift through those options. And as difficult as Netflix can be to deal with, like HBO, it certainly values and courts press coverage, an approach that's being emulated by the newer players vying for attention. So while there's inevitably a "Who needs critics?" sentiment when everybody can voice and disseminate opinions, there's something oddly reassuring about the service aspect of the role that reviewers play in this environment. (The general health of the business of journalism is, alas, another matter, but in the spirit of the holiday, for once let's accentuate the positive.)
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
-- "TikTok on Wednesday acknowledged it had erred in penalizing a 17-year-old who had posted witty but incisive political videos, promising it would restore her ability to access her account on her personal device..." (WaPo)
-- Here's the backstory from CNN's team: "A TikTok beauty video with a hidden anti-China message has gone viral" (CNN Business)
-- April Glaser is jumping from Slate to the NBC News tech investigations team... (Twitter)
-- Worth watching: Comedian Gary Gulman's conversation with John Berman about fighting depression and destigmatizing mental illness in the new HBO special "The Great Depresh..." (Twitter)
| | Baby Yoda fandom!
Frank Pallotta emails: There's plenty to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. I have my health, an amazing family and a job that I love, but if I'm being completely honest there's really only one thing that I'm truly thankful for this holiday season: Baby Yoda.
 Yes, the green toddler from Disney+'s "The Mandalorian" has, in just a couple weeks, reenergized the Star Wars brand. The little guy is everywhere acting as the lovable mascot of Disney's new streaming service and fodder for countless memes, GIFs and articles on entertainment websites.
Baby Yoda, with its big black eyes and pointy rabbit-esque ears, acts as a reminder that Star Wars is supposed to fun, goofy and, yes, sometimes entirely too cute. Baby Yoda is Star Wars at its best, and Star Wars at its best connects people in positive ways, which is something we could all use right now. So happy Thanksgiving everyone, and may Baby Yoda be with you...
FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX
By Lisa Respers France:
-- The NYT gave Drake credit for rap-singing. People aren't having it... and they're pointing out some of the other performers who engage in combining the two art forms...
-- Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine is speaking about his cancer battle: "I'm not gonna let this beat me..."
-- Some members of the "Melrose Place" cast reunited in New York recently and their selfie has us thinking about a reboot...
LAST BUT NOT LEAST...
Lovestruck pig pursues TV reporter live on air
"Good morning, we have an issue," Lazos Mantikos said on the "Good Morning Greece" show from CNN affiliate ANT1.
"Giorgos, can you hear me? We have a pig here that has been chasing us since this morning ... folks, sorry, I can't stand (still) because it's biting me," Mantikos said when the co-hosts tossed to him.
This GIF tells the story... And Kenny Jimenez's caption nails it... "What a camera hog!" Read and watch more here... | | | Happy Thanksgiving, and thank you for reading! Email your feedback here. We'll be back on Sunday... | | | |
