EXEC SUMMARY: Here's a look ahead at this week's impeachment vote, NBCU's succession plan, Disney's next launch... Plus a sneak peek at Chuck Schumer's next interview and The Atlantic's next cover story...
On the brink
This impeachment process is profoundly different than the ones that have come before.
And many of the differences have to do with the media environment that we're all soaking in.
Many stories and TV segments -- including some on "Reliable Sources" -- have homed in on the similarities between this impeachment and the Nixon and Clinton cases. And there is always value to be gleaned from history. But the differences are more interesting and more important. This is the first internet impeachment, the first of the smartphone age, and the first with Fox News as a top-rated channel. These screens and social media feeds and cable news screamers are changing the process, and, I'd argue, making it feel smaller, even though it is so big. That's why stories about online behaviors and voter opinions are so vital – because we get a better sense of how people are processing this moment in American history.
Here are some of the differences this time around, by no means a complete list:
-- Attention spans are shorter and media options are exponentially greater.
-- As Jim Lehrer said on Sunday's "Reliable Sources" broadcast, Trump's impeachment probably has an "even a larger audience" than Nixon's or Clinton's, but most Americans are "using their own prism to watch it," from Fox to PBS...
-- Two words: Social media.
-- As Brian Fung and Donie O'Sullivan wrote last month, an internet impeachment means "out-of-context tweets, internet conspiracy theories and thousands of digital ads."
-- Speaking of tweets, Trump has a Twitter account that he uses to message and massage his base.
-- And Trump has TV defenders that past presidents would only dream of. Look no further than Jeanine Pirro's Saturday night rant alleging the "ugliest, most corrupt attempted political coup in U.S. history."
-- All of this emboldens Trump to say things that Nixon only said in private. On Sunday he claimed that the speaker of the House is losing her teeth and is "crazy." He also suggested the former FBI director should be sent to prison.
-- Other changes are also having an impact. While opinionated forms of media have gained ground in recent years, just-the-facts local sources have struggled.
-- "I think in previous impeachments, we had the sense that everyone involved lived in the same reality. Everybody was on the same planet," Masha Gessen said on "Reliable." But here, "we have been witnessing two non-overlapping realities."
-- All of these factors contribute to a sense of all-consuming polarization.
-- Elizabeth Drew, who covered Watergate, says in this new NYT op-ed that "the impeachment process is barely functioning" this time, and "it's not difficult to envision it breaking down completely."
-- As George Stephanopoulos noted on "This Week," we're heading into a national election "with an impeached president on the ballot for the first time in American history."
Impeachment began with right-wing misinformation
That's what I argued at the top of Sunday's show. The country ended up here, on the brink of impeachment, because of the bogus information Trump was fed about Ukraine and the Bidens. | | Lukasiewicz: Conspiracy theories are a 'deliberate deception'
On Sunday's "Reliable," Hofstra comms school dean and former NBC News exec Mark Lukasiewicz argued that the conspiracy theories tied to the Ukraine scandal -- like those promoted by Fox's prime time players -- are really "a disinformation campaign. It's deliberate deception. It's fabrication." He said the media does "a disservice" by repeating the false narratives.
One of my other panelists, Tara Dowdell, said that four "powerful forces" are at play during the Trump impeachment process: Russian disinformation, social media, Fox News, and "the entire Republican party." She said the forces add up to a "disinformation strategy..."
Tapper on "the fundamental decision"
This is how Jake Tapper ended "SOTU" on Sunday: "There has been a glut of information for Americans to consume over the past few months. And not all of it is bad for President Trump. There's Hunter Biden's legal but swampy Burisma contract. Serious and potentially criminal FBI misconduct. But make no mistake: The primary question facing the House of Representatives, and indeed the nation, this week is whether it's acceptable for a U.S. president to use the power of his office to get a foreign government to launch an investigation into a domestic political rival. That's really it. That's the fundamental decision." Watch...
Schumer on 'New Day' 📺
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has made his list of requests for the Senate trial public: "He is offering his pitch for how the Senate trial should be run, and it runs counter to everything that Senate Republicans have been coalescing around," Jeremy Diamond reported Sunday night. Lauren Fox has details here.
So Schumer's next move will be newsworthy for sure... He will be on CNN's "New Day" in the 8am hour on Monday...
Does America have impeachment fatigue?
That's what Oliver Darcy and Ana Cabrera discussed on CNN on Saturday. I think there is definitely some fatigue, and it's partly due to the reasons I listed above. Another reason is the rise of "savvy" political analysis, which purports to tell people what's going to happen well in advance, making it easier to tune out because people think they already "know" the ending. As this Michigan voter told NBC, "I don't even care" about impeachment, "it's just noise. "Have you ever recorded a football game, but found out the final score before you watched it? You don't even care. You know what's going to happen."
Except: This "game" is still in its second quarter...
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- Trump railed against Fox's well-respected polling unit on Sunday, hours after Fox released a new poll showing that 54% of Americans want the president to be impeached. Fully 50% want him impeached AND removed from office... (Fox)
-- FYI: In the coming days, Trump will top 15,000 false or misleading statements in the WaPo's tally... (WaPo)
-- More than a dozen major paper editorial boards have now called for impeachment, with the NYT joining the list on Sunday. "Many papers backing impeachment have described a slow-building choice," Hannah Knowles writes in this recap... (WaPo)
-- Dick Durbin on "Face the Nation:" "It isn't just the president who's on trial in the impeachment proceeding – the Senate is on trial." (CBS)
Trump's faulty info about cable news #'s
Trump tried out a new name for Comcast, "Commiecast," while insulting both MSNBC and CNN on Saturday. He said the channels "are watching their ratings tank," and complained that Fox wants to be "more like them." He said "they'll all die together as other outlets take their place." But there are a couple problems with his assumptions. First, cable #'s have actually been quite stable this year, as I noted here. Second, Fox challengers like OANN have been in the marketplace for years, and they haven't made a dent in Fox. Once again, someone is misinforming Trump about the ratings race and the media biz...
Answering Trump's question about Shep...
At the end of his tweet, Trump took an implied swing at Shep Smith, asking "How's Shep doing?" Here's the answer, per research for my forthcoming book about Fox and Trump: Smith is doing really well. Tanned and rested. Feeling free for the first time in ages. Relieved to be out of Fox. And he has multiple suitors for a future TV role...
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- This weekend's must-read: Elaina Plott's profile of Tucker Carlson, complete with Carlson claiming that the Potomac River is getting dirtier because of immigrants... (The Atlantic)
-- The Doha Forum "typically hosts tough interviews," but when Ivanka Trump appeared at the event, she fielded softballs "from her own spokesperson," Otillia Steadman reports... (BuzzFeed News)
-- Alan Rusbridger says it would be "cleansing for all British national newspapers to split the responsibility for news and comment. It's simply too hard for the average reader – especially, but not only online – to tell the difference..." (The Guardian)
"Downing Street is threatening the future of the BBC"
How? By "insisting it is seriously considering decriminalising non-payment of the licence fee, while boycotting Radio 4's Today programme over the broadcaster's supposed anti-Tory bias," Matthew Taylor and Jim Waterson report. "The row is seen as an ominous sign of Boris Johnson's willingness to bypass independent scrutiny and follows criticism of the BBC's election coverage from both left and right." More...
Standing by for NBCU's succession plan...
The official announcement about Steve Burke stepping aside as head of NBCUniversal will come as soon as Monday morning. Jeff Shell is expected to succeed him as CEO sometime next year. I'm told that the announcement will largely just confirm what's already been reported for the past few days...
FIRST LOOK
The Atlantic's next cover story
"The Miseducation of the American Boy" is the cover of The Atlantic's January/February issue. It is excerpted from Peggy Orenstein's forthcoming book "Boys and Sex." Per a spokeswoman, Orenstein "delves into the personal lives of scores of young men, and finds that we're failing to give them new and better models of masculinity." The cover is powerful: | | The story will be online on Monday morning...
Week ahead calendar
Wednesday: The impeachment vote...
Wednesday evening: Trump holds a rally in Michigan...
Thursday: Vladimir Putin's annual press conference...
Thursday evening: PBS and Politico hold the next #DemDebate... CNN will simulcast it...
Thursday night: "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" arrives... and "Cats" hits theaters too...
Saturday: The first day of winter...
Saturday: The "SNL" midseason finale hosted by Eddie Murphy...
NYT podcast following up on WaPo's scoop
As we reported on Sunday's "Reliable," The Washington Post's Afghanistan Papers project started with a single tip about Michael Flynn. There's been some criticism of the press for not devoting more time to followups about the findings from the Papers. So check this out: Monday's episode of The Daily by the Post's arch-rival, the NYT, is all about the "newly disclosed documents." Michael Barbaro's tease noted that the Post broke this "huge and important story..."
>> For the story behind the Afghanistan Papers story, read Katie Pellico's recap of my interview with WaPo's Craig Whitlock...
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- Margaret Sullivan's Monday column is about Chris Wallace's unique role at Fox. She says "his contributions to truth-telling and holding public officials accountable — important as they are — don't make up for what goes on at Fox News too much of the time..." (WaPo)
BREAKING:
Hallmark Channel's flip-flop
First The Hallmark Channel accepted ads from online wedding planning company Zola, showing same-sex couples celebrating marriages.
Then the ads with a same-sex kiss were pulled amid a pressure campaign by conservative group One Million Moms.
Then, after a backlash to the backlash, Hallmark reversed itself on Sunday night, apologizing for pulling the ads in the first place."
Here's what Hallmark CEO Mike Perry said... Plus GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis's reaction on Ana Cabrera's newscast. "I think they want to do the right thing," Ellis said...
Weinstein whines
Harvey Weinstein gave an on-the-record interview to Page Six on Friday -- because, he says, he wanted "to prove that he hasn't been exaggerating about his ailments." He said he had a three-hour spinal surgery on Thursday. Rebecca Rosenberg interviewed him at the New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center the next day.
His criminal trial is right around the corner. He told Rosenberg "I feel like the forgotten man" -- and went on to say -- "I made more movies directed by women and about women than any filmmaker, and I'm talking about 30 years ago. I'm not talking about now when it's vogue. I did it first! I pioneered it!" But "it all got eviscerated because of what happened. My work has been forgotten..."
>> Monica Lewinsky responded to my tweet about the interview and said, "kinda thinkin the women who've been scarred + traumatized by harvey probably haven't 'forgotten' him."
>> And I liked this tweet from the NYT's Katie Rogers: "It's great to let men like this talk. Interview them all. The entire world should know how little they have learned and how they still blame everyone but themselves..."
Ending cover-up culture
"We're in a cultural revolution," former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson says, "as a result of all of these women finding the courage to come forward." | | On Sunday's "Reliable," she told me about the new initiative she co-founded, Lift Our Voices, urging companies to "eradicate nondisclosures" and "give women their voice back." Video...
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...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
-- "Farewell to the immense, disappointing Newseum:" Michael Hiltzik's latest column is in part a response to my ode to the Newseum in last Thursday's newsletter... (LAT)
Blockbuster advisory board gathers around Montclair Local for non-profit push
Montclair Local, an aptly-named local paper in Montclair, NJ, recently announced that it is going non-profit, and some huge names in journalism have gathered around the cause. Since this suburb is "crawling with media people," a keyed-in tipster wrote, the weekly newspaper's governing and advisory boards are a "who's who of journalism stars," from former AP executive editor Kathleen Carroll to ProPublica EIC Stephen Engelberg to NYT Magazine EIC Jake Silverstein. Read the two full lists here...
>> That tipster quipped, "Is there any other tiny community newspaper in America that could get a list like that behind it?"
>> Background: The Local launched three years ago to help fill the news void created by rounds of layoffs and cost-cutting at The Montclair Times, brought on by a shift to Gannett ownership...
A legal mystery
The Fresno Bee's Kate Irby writes: "Rep. Devin Nunes' critics have obsessed over how he is paying for the six lawsuits he filed this year, but there are no public records showing how he has paid his Virginia lawyer. That means Nunes is either paying for the lawsuits out of his own pocket, promising to pay his lawyer a portion of any money they're awarded in court at a later date, or flouting House Ethics rules that would require him to publicly disclose who is funding the legal work." Nunes did not respond when she sought answers.
The Bee is owned by McClatchy, one of the media outlets Nunes is suing. CNN is another...
The 2020 campaigns are not ready for this
Davey Alba's newest NYT story is a warning: Campaigns are ill-prepared to deal with disinformation that's inevitably going to disrupt the 2020 election. "Few politicians or their staffs are prepared to quickly notice and combat incorrect stories about them, according to dozens of campaign staff members and researchers who study online disinformation. Several of the researchers said they were surprised by how little outreach they had received from politicians." Read on...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
-- "Government-funded news organizations worried they could be damaged by Facebook's imminent plan to label content from state-controlled news organizations are furious at a process they say is opaque and irresponsible..." (BuzzFeed News)
-- "The gamer behind YouTube's most-watched channel, PewDiePie (real name Felix Kjellberg), announced in his latest Pew News video, posted Saturday, that he is planning to take a break from the platform next year." His video also slammed YouTube "for its inability to effectively enforce its latest policy updates..." (Variety)
-- Imad Khan sized up the video game streaming space and concluded: Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and others are spending millions, but "none has made a dent in the power of the market leader, Twitch..." (NYT)
| | 'Watchmen' season finale night
I'm hitting send, but Brian Lowry will have a full review of the episode up on CNN.com this evening...
>> Lowry writes: Producer Damon Lindelof sounded torn about making a second season when the show premiered. Now, having seen all nine episodes, they really do work quite well as a self-contained add-on to the source material. That said, given the buzz the show has created — its own form of currency in the streaming age — HBO will likely want more, in one form or another...
>> NYT's James Poniewozik tweeted: "That was a standing-ovation-in-the-living-room finale..."
'Jumanji' wins the weekend
Sony's "Jumanji: The Next Level" exceeded expectations "with an estimated $60 million debut in North America," Frank Pallotta writes. The sequel "nearly doubled the opening" of 2017's surprise hit "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle." Sony's conservative forecast for the weekend was $35 million! | | Elsewhere at the box office, "Disney once again crossed a milestone. 'Frozen 2,' the studio's follow up to its frosty animated hit, broke the $1 billion mark at the global box office on Saturday," Pallotta writes...
Weak start for 'Richard Jewell'
Brian Lowry writes: "Richard Jewell" bombed at the box office, for reasons that likely have little to do with all the attention it's been receiving. In hindsight, it may be suffering from a lack of star power, a common attribute of recent adult hits, including "Ford v. Ferrari" and "Knives Out."
>> Lowry adds: Based on the opening, the AJC disclaimer battle re: Kathy Scruggs should logically shift to DVD and future platforms, where the movie should be relatively soon...
>> On Sunday's "Reliable," Lowry and Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Kevin Riley discussed the AJC controversy and the merits of the movie...
Pressing 'pause'
Brian Lowry writes: This is an interesting LA Times interview with Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy, who says it was she who proposed hitting "pause" on "Star Wars" movies and notes (wisely, I'd argue) plans to move away from trying to develop future trilogies, in favor of individual films. That feels like a more organic way to build the next stage of the franchise, with the understanding anything that works will generate sequels aplenty...
I WAS SAVING THE BEST STORY OF THE DAY FOR LAST...
Missing teeth? Wrinkled skin? Very hairy? You're hired!
The A-hed in Monday's WSJ is about the, uhh, unique challenges of casting Amazon's "The Lord of the Rings" series.
"The hunt is on in New Zealand for hairy, toothless, wrinkled and extremely tall and short people to fill out the cast," Lucy Craymer writes. "Human resources are stretched in the Pacific island nation of under 5 million inhabitants, and talent agencies are pounding the pavement to get more people to sign up." Read on...
| | | Thank you for reading! Send me your feedback anytime – the good, the bad, the ugly, I like it all. We'll be back tomorrow... | | | |
