Forward

EXEC SUMMARY: Hey there, this is Oliver DarcyBrian Stelter on this busy Friday. Scroll down for Alisyn Camerota and Megyn Kelly's reactions to seeing "Bombshell," information on NBC News Digital's union vote, why Democrats are threatening to sit out next week's debate, ex-Breitbart editor Katie McHugh's first on-camera interview, and how YouTube channels posing as news outlets racked up millions of views. But first...

Pro-Trump web sealed off from reality

"Fact-based impeachment can't penetrate the pro-Trump Web." That was the headline on Isaac Stanley-Becker's excellent Friday evening story for WaPo. Stanley-Becker took a dive into the pro-Trump online fever swamps to look at how Trump's "most ardent supporters" have "fashioned alternative realities for themselves."

"The decision by the committee's Republicans to close ranks around the president, as Democrats in a party-line vote approved two articles of impeachment, may have prompted head-scratching among Americans who learned on the nightly news or read on mainstream websites or in the morning paper how Trump had turned American policy in Ukraine toward his own ends," Stanley-Beck wrote.

"But," Stanley-Beck added, "The defense mounted by Trump's allies made perfect sense to those following live on social media, in groups sealed off from general scrutiny, where facts are established by volume, and confirmation comes from likes."

"The effect of social media is to jack up the tenor of everything"

For his piece, Stanley-Becker spoke with former Fox News reporter Carl Cameron, who said, "The effect of social media is to jack up the tenor of everything. There's a statement made by a witness, or an interaction with a lawmaker, and users are able to put together a counternarrative in real time."

That couldn't be more on the money. Trump's looming impeachment, like every other story, is being digested in a far different way than previous impeachments. And that is largely due to the Internet. Over the past few weeks, supporters of the President have used the impeachment proceedings to generate mountains of online pro-Trump content.

Tiny moments are downloaded, cut up and spliced, and disseminated across the web. "The talk," Cameron said, referring to the social media chatter, "Eventually reaches the office water cooler or coffee machine, or the Thanksgiving table."

The irony

Of course, there is a great irony in all of this. As Stanley-Becker noted in his story, "Social media once held out promise to connect the world. But in a polarized climate, the firmest bonds appear to be forming among those who already share the same views, allowing partisans to choose not simply their own coverage but the community with which they process it. Self-selected information nourishes identity, experts said, reducing politics to entertainment and blood sport."

"Bombshell" hits theaters in select cities

If you're in New York or Los Angeles, "Bombshell" opened Friday in its limited release ahead of its nationwide rollout next week. The movie is already generating a lot of buzz...

"A PTSD-inducing effect"

Alisyn Camerota, who previously was an anchor at Fox News, published a piece in Vanity Fair Friday about the "twisted game of mind control" Roger Ailes would play. In her piece, Camerota said watching John Lithgow's "spot on performance" as Ailes "had a PTSD-inducing effect, transporting us back to the years we spent under the control of the all-powerful leader."

"Even the audience members who had never set foot inside Fox seemed shaken by the scenes of what some women endured in Roger's office," Camerota wrote. "I know that office. I was summoned there many times. And I can attest to the bizarre, parallel-universe experience of being alone with Roger Ailes."

Camerota wrote that "what the movie mostly brought back" for her "was that Roger's sexual harassment was only the beginning of his manipulation and mind games." She explained in her piece how Ailes "maintained control over a kingdom of nervous minions through smoke, mirrors, endless corridors, and devastating demands." Camerota's piece is based on contemporaneous notes that she saved and which had "collected dust" until now. Read it here...

Megyn Kelly offers her first thoughts

On Instagram, Megyn Kelly said in a post that she recently saw the movie. "Watching this picture was an incredibly emotional experience for me, and for those with whom I saw it," Kelly wrote. "Sexual harassment is pervasive in this country; it can leave scars that do not heal. My heart goes out to those who've gone through it, who I hope might find some comfort in this story. "

Kelly also acknowledged in her Instagram post that "Bombshell" is "loosely based" on her "experience during the sexual harassment scandal at Fox News." That said, Kelly wrote that she had "nothing" to do with the movie: "I did not sell the rights to my story or book and only got my first look at the film once it was past the point of any possible edits, though there are certainly some I would have made."

...Speaking of Megyn

What is she up to these days? That was the topic of a NYT story written by Michael Grynbaum and Josh Koblin. According to the story, Kelly is mulling a way back into the national media scene. Grynbaum and Koblin noted that her "rocky tenure at NBC" had "dimmed the likelihood of a return to broadcast television."

But, they cited people familiar with her thinking who said Kelly might have a future in digital news, and that she's had conversations with podcast production companies. "Ms. Kelly, the people said, believes she can find a niche as an equal-opportunity skeptic amid a divided news media."

>> Kelly also gave "Frontline" an extensive interview which posted Friday. In it, she talks about Ailes, the Obama years, Hillary Clinton, Breitbart, and more...

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- Speaking of "Bombshell"... Over at "The Daily Show," the producers put together a video highlighting inappropriate comments made by Fox News personalities over the years... (Twitter)

-- Bernie Sanders has retracted his endorsement of "The Young Turks" founder Cenk Uygur amid newfound criticism of Uygur's past comments about women... Now Uygur says he is "not accepting" endorsements... (CNN)

-- In light of the IG report, Erik Wemple checked in with McClatchy. A spokesperson for the newspaper company told him their Michael Cohen-Prague story "stands..." (WaPo)

-- Chris Wallace previewed his Sunday interview with James Comey: "He's got some explaining to do..." (Mediaite)

-- WSJ's Friday scoop about Rudy Giuliani -- and Trump asking him "what did you get?" in Ukraine -- was well timed, landing just a few hours before Giuliani arrived at the White House... (WSJ)

-- Related: Chuck Todd wondered on Friday: "How would U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani have handled somebody" behaving like Giuliani is today? (Mediaite)

-- Radio legend Tom Joyner has signed off after 25 years on the air... (CNN)

🎙️ Craig Whitlock on this week's "Reliable" podcast

Brian Stelter emails: Craig Whitlock led WaPo's years-long effort to obtain hundreds of secret interviews about the Afghan war effort. The result: A week-long series and a database of the Afghanistan Papers.

In this in-depth interview, Whitlock told me about the Post's legal battles, his main findings, and the information he is still seeking. "We've finally broken through with the truth about the war," he said.

🎧 Listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or your pod player of choice...

This Sunday on "Reliable Sources"

Brian Stelter emails: I'll be joined by Gretchen Carlson, who is urging Fox to free her from her NDA... Plus: a rare interview with Jim Lehrer, and Masha Gessen, Tara Dowdell, Mark Lukasiewicz, Kevin Riley, Brian Lowry, and Craig Whitlock. See you Sunday at 11am ET on CNN...

Democrats threaten to sit out debate

A labor dispute between a local union and Loyola Marymount University is threatening next Thursday's PBS/Politico debate. As CNN's Kate Sullivan and Dan Merica reported Friday, "All seven Democratic presidential candidates who met the qualifications to participate in next week's debate declared their support on Friday for a local labor union and said they would not participate in the debate if they have to cross the union's picket line."

So will the dispute be resolved in time for the debate? DNC spokesperson Xochitl Hinojosa said, "We are working with all stakeholders to find an acceptable resolution that meets their needs and is consistent with our values and will enable us to proceed as scheduled with next week's debate." Stay tuned...

YouTube channels posing as news outlets rack up millions of views

Donie O'Sullivan emails: YouTube channels posing as American news outlets were creating false and inflammatory on-air graphics to rack upward of 10 million views on YouTube. The accounts mostly used footage from CNN, but also employed some video from Fox News.

One video falsely made it appear as if CNN had run an on-screen graphic that stated the "President is a disgrace" and showed a doctored image of Trump with a noose around his neck. Another image showed a fake CNN on-screen graphic that read, "War officially started!" It showed pictures of President Trump and the president of Iran.

So who was behind it? YouTube said it was run by scammers in Southeast Asia who wanted to make money through online ads that run before YouTube videos. More in my story here...

CNN spox: YouTube needs to take responsibility

"Platforms like YouTube bear a responsibility to manage the integrity of the content they deliver to audiences," a CNN spokesperson said in a statement. "That's something journalists know and have been doing effectively for generations. It's a core difference between platforms and publishers." A spokesperson for Fox News declined to comment.

Fox in the hen house

As I perused through my inbox on Friday morning, I came across a press release that made me pause. It was from the "Protect Press Freedom" campaign launched by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the Committee to Project Journalists. It said the campaign was "excited to announce" some new partners. Among the new partners? Fox News.

I found this strange, given that the press release said part of the campaign is aimed at "countering inflammatory rhetoric targeting the press," both at home and abroad. It's hard to imagine a domestic organization (outside the White House) that does more to attack the press than Fox. Pretty much every day, Fox's biggest stars bash the press, demonize journalists, and attempt to delegitimize reporting. So why would RCFP and CPJ partner with the network for this campaign?

"We'll hear from anyone"

I spoke with Bruce Brown, executive director of RCFP, who defended partnering with Fox for the campaign. I asked him several times if he believed Fox shared their goal of "countering inflammatory rhetoric targeting the press," given what the channel's biggest stars regularly say.

Eventually, Brown said he did indeed believe Fox was interested in achieving that goal. "The answer is yes," Brown told me. He added that Fox has joined legal briefs in the past and that "there's a great tradition among the lawyers of just helping each other out and working with each other."

I asked Brown if there were any media outlets that he would hesitate to partner with for a campaign like the one his group is running. What about a website like Breitbart? "We'll hear from anyone," he replied.

>> Jay Rosen: "Well, I am sorry @rcfp feels it's necessary to float that kind an illusion. I expect it from Facebook, not from a journalism organization..."

WEEKEND PLANNER

-- Trump will travel to Philadelphia on Saturday for the 3pm Army-Navy football game...

-- Rep. Tom Malinowski, a moderate Democrat from a swing district who has been a part of the investigation related to Ukraine, holds a town hall on Saturday. What kind of reception will he receive?

-- Andrew Yang, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Marianne Williamson are campaigning in Iowa...

That viral Bloomberg dancing video is fake

If you've been online in the past 24 hours, you probably saw a video purporting to show Mike Bloomberg supporters dancing at a rally in Beverly Hills to Maroon 5's "Movies Like Jagger." The video was shared far and wide -- it has generated nearly 3 million views -- by a number of journalists who believed it to be real. The problem? It wasn't.

In fact, it was created by the comedy group Upright Citizens Brigade as a parody of the video showing Pete Buttigieg supporters dancing to "High Hopes." It was then posted on Twitter by Nick Ciarelli, a comedian who claimed to be a Bloomberg intern. It was shared so much by people mistakenly believing it to be authentic that Bloomberg's campaign had to tweet a statement noting Ciarelli "is not an intern for our campaign."

Why it matters

While at first glance it might not appear to be a serious issue, NYT's Charlie Warzel pointed out how it shed light on a very real problem. "Too many people who should know better retweeted the fake bloomberg dance video believingly," Warzel tweeted.

And that's where the hidden danger lies. In this case it was an innocent parody video. But when authoritative accounts retweet or share things on Twitter, it gives credence to them. And when authoritative accounts don't do their due diligence before promoting content, it leaves the system vulnerable to exploitation by bad actors.

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- Snopes has posted its third installment of an investigation into the "BL" network, a Falun Gong-linked company... (Snopes)

-- Friday's WaPo Tik-Tok video featured none other than Marty Baron... (Twitter)

-- The DOJ is preparing for legal action against Live Nation, WSJ reported... (WSJ)

-- MSNBC announced that it has hired Lindsey Reiser as a new weekend anchor. She begins in 2020... (The Wrap)

-- Meanwhile... Trey Gowdy is back at Fox News. Annie Karni broke the news that Fox had rehired Gowdy as a contributor. A Fox News spokesperson confirmed to me that Gowdy is back at the network... (Twitter)

White House continues hypocrisy on unnamed sources

The White House held a sanctioned background briefing call on Friday with "senior administration officials," one week after Trump tweeted that people should not believe any information that does not have "an actual living name on it." So what gives? I checked in with Stephanie Grisham to see why the White House was continuing to engage in such a practice. I (again) did not hear back...

Ex-Breitbart editor: Stephen Miller "absolutely" a "white supremacist"

Former Breitbart editor Katie McHugh is continuing to speak out -- now, for the first time, on camera with CNN's Sara Sidner. In an interview that aired Friday, McHugh acknowledged that she "was a white nationalist." But, she added, "that part [of me] is dead."

Now, she's focused on exposing others who peddle the dangerous ideology. McHugh leaked a trove of emails to the Southern Poverty Law Center for an extensive report published in November. The emails showed that Miller had privately promoted white nationalist and fringe media years ago. McHugh told Sidner for the interview that aired Friday that she would "absolutely" call Miller a "white supremacist."

>> Silence from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: Miller did not respond to a detailed request for comment, Sidner reported. The White House has also not commented on McHugh's interview, but it has previously expressed support for him before...

NBC News Digital votes to unionize

Kerry Flynn emails: About 70% of NBC News' digital editorial staff voted to unionize on Friday, 90-40. Employees announced their intention to unionize in October, advocating for fair wages, newsroom diversity and job protections. Some employees had organized an anti-union effort including an Instagram account.

Tate James, an NBC News video producer, told me, "Winning a seat at the table is a huge first step for us. We're going to continue building a strong, united newsroom that unflinchingly advocates for each other and our work. Next up — a contract that every one of our colleagues will be proud of."

The Information wins lawsuit

Kerry Flynn emails: In October 2018, The Wrap sued The Information alleging one of its writers, Matt Pressberg, was "wrongfully poached" since he had signed a noncompete clause. A judge in California this week dismissed the lawsuit. (Disclosure: I worked with Pressberg at IBT, prior to him joining The Wrap.)

>> The Information EIC Jessica Lessin tweeted: "We won a major lawsuit this week after being sued by @TheWrap. Proud that we fought it and hope that it helps others build their newsrooms and do what is right for employees."

>> A rep from The Wrap told THR the company is considering an appeal.

>> The ruling sparked Twitter conversation from media execs against non-compete clauses. Brian Morrissey, EIC of my former employer Digiday, tweeted, "If publications need to threaten lawsuits to keep people around, they've got more fundamental problems."

"The Rise of Skywalker" takes flight after the rise of the "Star Wars" trolls

Brian Lowry emails: As "The Rise of Skywalker" prepares to take off next week — launching a thousand hot takes in the process — some thoughts about "The Last Jedi," and what the rise of the "Star Wars" trolls around that movie means for how studios and talent engage fans, given the toxic nature of some of those interactions, going forward. Read in detail...

Elsewhere, Forbes' Scott Mendelsohn notes that what's being billed as the end of the saga really won't be, which has a certain "duh" quality to it. There will obviously be more "Star Wars" movies — Disney didn't pay $4 billion for Lucasfilm to turn it into a museum piece — but this marks the official conclusion of the three trilogies that George Lucas originally discussed way back when. So the "white lie" of it all, as Mendelsohn describes it, is a relatively small one, given the fact that nothing ever really dies these days.

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- Brian Lowry emails: Variety's Brent Lang spoke to some of the late journalist Kathy Scruggs' family, friends and colleagues, who join the chorus calling the depiction of her in "Richard Jewell" misleading and unfair... (Variety)

-- "The first couple of film: Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach open up on their personal and professional partnership..." (THR)

Thank you for reading! Brian will be back Sunday. In the meantime, send me feedback via email or find me on Twitter...