EXEC SUMMARY: Scroll down for news from the NYT, PolitiFact, Vogue, "The View," NBC, "Fox & Friends," BBC, Vox Media, Axios, and more...
The right-wing roots of impeachment
How did we get here? How did Trump wind up on the verge of impeachment? Well, his sources of information led him astray. He was misinformed by the shows and sites he was watching and reading.
To be clear: His choices, what Trump did with the information — the withholding of aid money, the alleged shakedown of the Ukrainian president, the claims that it was a "perfect" phone call — that's all his own doing. Trump is responsible for what he did. But what he was hearing from right-wing media was crucial. The conspiratorial bent of his favorite talk shows was critical.
--> Re: Ukraine and 2016: Sean Hannity and other Trump backers took tiny bits of true information from a January 2017 Politico story titled "Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump backfire" and blew it way, way out of proportion, to the point that some viewers thought Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 election. Hannity leaned on the Politico story for months and months — in fact, he's still talking about it, as of Sunday -- so it's no wonder why Trump harbored a grudge against Ukraine.
--> Re: the Bidens and Burisma: Enter John Solomon, the right-wing columnist for The Hill who worked closely with Rudy Giuliani to light the fuse of the Ukraine scandal. Trump was watching when Solomon went on Hannity in March and described a Ukrainian effort to "try to influence the United States election in favor of Hillary Clinton." We know he was watching because he tweeted about the segment. Solomon rolled out an anti-Biden conspiracy theory... the feedback loop kept looping... and it ultimately ensnared Trump.
--> Re: the aid money for Ukraine, according to WaPo, Trump saw an article from the right-leaning Washington Examiner titled "Pentagon to send $250M in weapons to Ukraine" and started to ask Q's about the $$.
Here's the thing: The pro-Trump media bubble did not actually help Trump. To the contrary, it led him to the brink of impeachment... | |
Ari Melber's point
MSNBC's Ari Melber made a similar point about the power of right-wing media last week. The web headline: "Trump could be impeached partly for admissions on Fox News."
"Democrats think they can prove key, damning parts of this plot based partly on these scheming and intimidating statements in public, specifically broadcast live on Fox," Melber said, "which looks especially bad because it was occurring before this whistleblower came forward."
"The impeachment probe is finding evidence that Trump's Ukraine plot was fundamentally about propaganda," he added. "The goal was pushing Ukraine to damage the Bidens in public, not about actually investigating foreign corruption. It was about getting talk of Biden and corruption on American television -- in a loop from Fox News, back to Ukraine, back to CNN -- an entire political conversation that was designed to tarnish the Biden brand."
Americans say they are paying attention
This data is a counterpoint to the claims about "impeachment fatigue:" Three out of four Americans say they are following the impeachment proceedings at least "somewhat closely," according to CNN's new poll conducted by SSRS. In the poll, 42% of respondents said very closely, 34% said somewhat closely, 12% said not too closely, and 11% said not closely at all. The margin of error was +/- 3.7 points.
The poll found "support for impeaching Trump and removing him from office stands at 45% in the new poll, down from 50% in a poll conducted in mid-November." Details here...
>> One of the most interesting findings: "Among those who oppose impeachment, more cite Trump's job performance as a major reason for their views than say it's because the president is innocent of the charges," Jennifer Agiesta pointed out...
The question of the day is...
Quoting from Chris Cuomo's lead on his Monday night show: "The toughest question, the toughest situation here for us, is the unknown: Will we ever hear from the people with the most direct knowledge of this Ukraine fiasco?" Mick Mulvaney, John Bolton and a couple of others "should know a lot about why aid to Ukraine was held up. And they've all been silenced by this president. And they may be kept quiet by Senate Republicans who seem intent to hold a trial with no witnesses..."
The 'Lie of the Year' is...
I suppose I should ask for a drumroll, please...
The Lie of the Year 2019, according to PolitiFact, is Trump's claim that the "whistleblower got Ukraine call 'almost completely wrong.'"
"Despite what Trump claims, the whistleblower got the call 'almost completely' right," the editors noted. Because there was so much to fact-check, PolitiFact also released a list of "10 things Donald Trump got wrong about impeachment in 2019."
And speaking of shocking falsehoods...
15,413
The WaPo Fact Checker's database of every suspect statement by Trump now has a total of 15,413 false or misleading claims since inauguration day.
The new data came out on Monday. Glenn Kessler, Salvador Rizzo and Meg Kelly wrote, "The president apparently believes he can weather an impeachment trial through sheer repetition of easily disproven falsehoods."
>> BIG PICTURE: Kessler also noted that "Trump said more false or misleading claims in 2019 than he did in 2017 and 2018 combined..."
TUESDAY PLANNER
The House Rules Committee will meet at 11am ET to approve the parameters for floor debate on the articles of impeachment...
Tuesday's edition of "The View" will surely be interesting, after this Monday clash between Whoopi Goldberg and Meghan McCain...
MoveOn is organizing hundreds of afternoon/evening rallies to support impeachment...
Rachel Maddow will have Lisa Page's first TV interview live on MSNBC Tuesday night...
Gorsuch on "Fox & Friends" !?
Per Politico Playbook, "Ainsley Earhardt scored a rare interview with Justice Neil Gorsuch to discuss his new book and judicial philosophy. It airs on 'Fox and Friends' on Tuesday at 8:20 a.m."
Why is a Supreme Court justice going on one of the most partisan shows on TV? How is it appropriate for him to try to goose sales of his three-month-old book by chatting on "Fox & Friends?"
>> Joe Lockhart called it out on Monday: He said the appearance is a "terrible look for the Supreme Court. Chief Justice Roberts should step in for the good of the court..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- The lead headline on Page One of Tuesday's NYT: "Key Moderate Democrats Commit to Impeachment" (NYT)
-- Philip Bump's reaction to how "Fox & Friends" covered the latest Fox poll: "Impeachment reality comes to the Fox News universe..." (WaPo)
-- "Even James Carville isn't sure it's still the economy, stupid," Alex Seitz-Wald writes. He quotes Carville: "Trump is impervious to everything, good or bad. He just stays at 41.7. I don't care how many good stories about the economy come, I don't care about how many bad stories come — 41.7." (NBC)
The start of the Jeff Shell era at NBC
Jeff Shell will lead NBCUniversal into the streaming wars. He will take over for Steve Burke on January 1, assuming the CEO spot just a couple of weeks before the company's big Peacock streaming service presentation to investors, and a few months before Peacock launches to the public.
Comcast made this succession plan official on Monday morning... Burke will be bumped up to chairman from January until August, through the Summer Olympics, when he will retire from the company...
What's next for Steve Burke?
More time at his ranch? Here's what the LAT's Meg James reported the other day: "Burke has said that he had little interest in competing against Comcast. He previously told The Times that he had no intention of clinging to power long past his prime. Burke is expected to spend more time on his Montana ranch or pursue something in the investing world. He has made a fortune at Comcast (his annual compensation typically tops $30 million) and has the financial chops..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- The NYT's DC bureau chief Elisabeth Bumiller "will be joining the masthead as an assistant managing editor" while continuing to lead the bureau... (NYT)
-- Via An Phung: Joe Flint reports that Netflix is sharing new data on overseas growth. "Europe, the Middle East and Africa -- grouped as a region in Netflix's numbers -- has more than doubled in subscribers since the start of 2017, and is the largest non-U.S. region..." (WSJ)
-- Instagram is doing more to flag misinformation, but one group exempt from fact-checking are politicians.
"Their original content on Instagram, including ads, will not be sent for fact checks, even if it's blatantly inaccurate," Josh Constine reports… (TechCrunch)
YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST...
Pichai coming to Code Conference
Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who recently took on the Alphabet CEO role as well, will be joining Kara Swisher on stage at Code Conference 2020. Recode will announce the big booking on Tuesday. The conference is slated for late May in L.A., and Pichai will "talk about what's next for Google and Alphabet — specifically his vision for privacy and Google's claim to quantum supremacy," Vox Media says...
Trump v. CPD
Last week the NYT reported that Trump has told advisors he doesn't trust the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates. Maggie Haberman and Annie Karni also reported that Trump has concerns about which journalists will be chosen to moderate the debates.
Trump seemingly confirmed the story in a burst of negative tweets on Monday morning. He claimed the commission is "stacked with Trump Haters & Never Trumpers." He said there are "many options, including doing them directly & avoiding the nasty politics of this very biased Commission." The commission responded by pointing out that preparations for next fall's debates are already well underway. "Our record is one of fairness, balance and non-partisanship," the statement said...
Tucker v. the Potomac River and reality | | Oliver Darcy emails: A conservancy group denounced Tucker Carlson on Monday for telling The Atlantic that immigrants make the Potomac River "dirtier." Hedrick Belin, president of the Potomac Conservancy, said that "there's a time to speak truth against ignorance and to stand up for our values -- and that time is now."
"We at Potomac Conservancy ... feel compelled to respond to this groundless accusation not just because it's factually incorrect, but because it's racist plain and simple," Belin said. He went on to "dispel" Carlson's "false and bigoted statements," saying that the "thinly veiled racist beliefs have no place in any serious public discourse." More in my story here...
Boris v. the BBC?
Hadas Gold emails from London: Fresh off a thumping election victory, Prime Minister Boris Johnson may be preparing to target the BBC. Johnson suggested during the campaign that he could scrap the license fee that supports the organization. And on Sunday, Treasury official Rishi Sunak confirmed that Johnson had ordered a review of the license fee. One question is whether Brits who fail to pay the fee should continue to face legal action. Details here...
What's really going on
Gold adds: The BBC's own journalists are also defending the network, with top anchor Huw Edwards writing on LinkedIn "that the real purpose of many of the attacks is to undermine trust in institutions which have been sources of stability over many decades," and to cause "chaos and confusion."
Edwards concluded his note by saying, "Here's hoping for a future in which public debate can be conducted with far more courtesy and tolerance; and a future in which people seek trusted sources of news while discarding the kind of dross that's polluted American political discourse. The BBC is far from perfect, but it can play a very valuable role in promoting the better path." You should read his full post...
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- "Oprah Winfrey has extended her partnership with WW, formerly known as Weight Watchers, for another five years..." (CNN)
-- Casey Newton's newest must-read about content moderation: "The Terror Queue." He says "we still lack a basic understanding of how the most difficult aspects of this work — removing graphic and disturbing content — affect the people doing it..." (The Verge)
New law leads Vox Media to forego freelancer model in California
Kerry Flynn writes: Vox Media will part ways with hundreds of freelance writers in the wake of California's AB5, CNBC reports. The new law, set to go in effect January 1, affects several gig economy jobs including those at ride-hailing companies and food-delivery startups. It also forbids freelancers from submitting more than 35 articles per year to an outlet. (THR wrote about the dilemma for freelancers in October.) Instead of allowing California freelancers to work within that limit, Vox Media's SB Nation has chosen to forego their contractor model for blogging about California teams and instead hire full-time and part-time employees...
>> SB Nation's executive director John Ness wrote, "We know many of our California contractors already have other full-time jobs and may not have the bandwidth to apply, but we hope to see many of them join us as employees..."
Axios raising $20 million+
Kerry Flynn writes: Axios is expected to raise at least $20 million in a new funding round, led by Glade Brook Capital, Recode's Peter Kafka and Theodore Schleifer report. This funding would give the company a value of about $200 million.
The Information said last month that this round was in the works. Per Recode, "the new round is supposed to be 'opportunistic' — meaning Axios is taking the money because it's available on good terms. That's a very different scenario than the one facing many other digital media publishers, many of which found it relatively easy to raise money five or six years ago..."
"Predictions for Journalism 2020" is here!
Each year, NiemanLab asks "some of the smartest people in journalism and digital media what they think is coming in the next 12 months." The 2019 series is now underway... And new predictions will be added every day... Click here to start reading...
Input is online
Kerry Flynn writes: Bustle Digital Group launched its new tech site, Input, on Monday. The site is led by Josh Topolsky, cofounder of The Verge and founder of The Outline, the latter of which he sold to BDG in April.
Like The Outline, Input boasts an innovative design with eccentric colors and swippable content cards. Adweek reports that BDG plans to add more of its publication to Input's new CMS, called Typeface, and will sell ads within the card format in February...
Vogue's new digital editor
One more item from Flynn: Vogue announced Stuart Emmrich has been named editor of Vogue.com. Per the press release, he will oversee digital content and report directly to Anna Wintour. Emmrich was most recently assistant managing editor of the LATimes, and previously spent 16 years at the NYT in various editor roles.
Emmrich is coming in as Sally Singer, Vogue's creative digital director, departs. More on Singer's tenure via The Cut...
"PGA Tour Gets Big Uptick in New Rights Deal"
That's the word from SBJ's John Ourand... His scoop is in front of the paywall here... "CBS and NBC have agreed on the broad terms of new deals that will see the PGA Tour reap a sizable rights fee increase of around 60%," he reports, citing multiple sources. "The Tour also has agreed to terms with Golf Channel, which will see its rights fee more than double -- not a huge surprise since Golf Channel's last deal was cut in 2006. It is not known if the Tour will take an ownership stake in Golf Channel as part of the deal." More...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
-- Michael Calderone notes: "Jordan Klepper is returning to The Daily Show for special 'Election Embed' segments trailing 2020 candidates..." (Twitter)
-- "Comedian and actor Chuy Bravo, best known for his role as a Chelsea Handler's sidekick on her talk show 'Chelsea Lately,' died Sunday morning..." (CNN)
The Oscar shortlists
Brian Lowry writes: The Oscar shortlists are out in nine categories, including documentaries and international film. If you have a rooting interest, you can find it all here...
Fifteen outstanding documentaries
The Oscars shortlist for documentary feature includes:
"Advocate"
"American Factory"
"The Apollo"
"Apollo 11"
"Aquarela"
"The Biggest Little Farm"
"The Cave"
"The Edge of Democracy"
"For Sama"
"The Great Hack"
"Honeyland"
"Knock Down the House"
"Maiden"
"Midnight Family"
"One Child Nation"
| | "Star Wars" premiere scene
Brian Lowry emails: The "Star Wars" premiere was held in Hollywood on Monday night, which is as good a time as any to remind people that "first reactions" — a relatively new construct of the social-media age — are inherently suspect and should be viewed as such. As for reviews, it seems like a good time to re-up my guide for how to write about movies with huge spoiler issues without bringing peasants with pitchforks down upon you...
"Cats" premiere in NYC
It was a night of competing premieres... Taylor Swift, Jennifer Hudson, Jason Derulo, and Idris Elbaand were at Lincoln Center on Monday night for the "Cats" debut... and per Variety's Ramin Setoodeth, director Tom Hooper said he only finished the film on Sunday morning after a 36-hour marathon...
Why did 'Richard Jewell' flop?
"Richard Jewell" marks a near-worst career opening for Clint Eastwood, THR's Pamela McClintock wrote Monday.
What went wrong? "Year after year," McClintock wrote, "Eastwood's loyal fans, many of them older, have shown up in solid enough numbers even on opening weekend. But not this time, as Hollywood — and particularly Warner Bros. — struggles to stop midrange, adult dramas from getting iced. Nor did an 11th-hour controversy seem to hurt or help the pic." McClintock said Warner Bros didn't comment on the movie's weak opening, "but studio insiders say the low turnout points to the competition posed by streaming services, as well as holiday parties and preparations..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
-- "Quibi is rebooting the once-popular Nickelodeon show Legends of the Hidden Temple..." (Engadget)
-- Lisa Respers France emails: I'm on vacation (my birthday is Wednesday) but couldn't resist writing this story when I found out singer Ciara was coming home to Atlanta to surprise a group of STEM students participating in one of Amazon's Future Engineer contests... (CNN)
-- Early happy birthday, Lisa! ;🎉
LAST BUT NOT LEAST...
This year's Black List is out
"The 2019 edition of the annual Black List was unveiled by founder Franklin Leonard on Monday, and films about the band Fleetwood Mac, President Trump's son Barron Trump and a meta-movie about Nicolas Cage are among the best, unproduced screenplays circling the industry," TheWrap's Brian Welk wrote.
>> Uhh, about that Barron Trump idea: "Barron: A Tale of Love, Loss and Legacy" is "a script by Nicolas Curcio that follows Barron Trump at age 10 ahead of the 2016 election as he attempts to sabotage his father's 2016 presidential campaign after he fears what becoming part of the first family would have on his personal life..."
ICYMI...
Catch up on Sunday's "Reliable"
Listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or your pod player of choice... Watch the video clips on CNN.com... Or catch the entire episode via CNNgo or VOD...
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