Forward

Exec summary: Awards for the best in journalism, an amazing opportunity for James Gandolfini's son, and an "AOC Storms Sundance" cover of THR... But let's start with four stories that say something about how the media world is changing...

Netflix scores its first Best Picture nomination

"Netflix has morphed into a full-blown Oscars force," THR's Pamela McClintock wrote. "The streamer scored 15 Academy Award nominations Tuesday," 10 of them for Alfonso Cuaron's "Roma," which is up for best picture. "The 15 noms Netflix amassed this year equal the 15 nods total it has collected in previous years," McClintock noted.

Fox Searchlight also scored 15 nominations... Disney and Universal (including Focus) landed 17 each... But Netflix was the standout.

"With its nominations," CNN's Sandra Gonzalez wrote, "'Roma' has tied the record held by 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' for the most nominations received by a foreign language film." Keep reading for full Oscars coverage...

The MPAA's new member

Netflix is the newest member of the Motion Picture Association of America, a development first reported by Politico on Tuesday. It is "the first tech company to join the Hollywood trade group" that includes all the big studios, Deadline noted. Will Amazon join next?

Viacom buys Pluto

Claire Atkinson broke the news with a tweet on Tuesday: Viacom is acquiring Pluto TV. It's an ad-supported streaming service that comes preloaded on lots of smart TV sets.

Pluto is "the latest digital technology company that Viacom has acquired over the past year," after AwesomenessTV and VidCon and Whosay, Axios' Sara Fischer wrote Tuesday evening. She says more acquisitions "are expected..."

Another record-breaking year for the games biz

"American gamers helped fuel a record-breaking $43.4 billion in revenue for the U.S. video game industry in 2018," Variety's Emily Gera wrote Tuesday, citing data from a market research firm and the gaming world's trade association. This is an 18% uptick from 2017.

Acting ESA President and CEO Stanley Pierre-Louis: "The impressive economic growth of the industry announced today parallels the growth of the industry in mainstream American culture..."

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST

The Economist's version of "The Daily"

The Economist is preparing to launch its first daily podcast -- titled "The Intelligence." This trailer describes it as a "new current-affairs podcast, published every weekday by Economist Radio, that provides a unique perspective on the events shaping your world." As far as I can tell, it's the first daily podcast produced by the magazine...

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- Russell Baker, who wrote decades of prize-winning newspaper columns, authored 15 books, and hosted "Masterpiece Theater," has died. He was 93. (NYT)

-- Bret Baier returned to "Special Report" on Tuesday night after a terrifying car accident in Montana over the weekend. Watch his emotional description of what happened... (Twitter)

-- The Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Awards were handed out at Columbia U. on Tuesday night. Here are the winners. CNN and WNYC each took home two awards... It's especially notable to see a local news outfit like WNYC winning twice in one year... (Columbia)

-- For the first time in a decade, the duPont judges awarded a "gold baton," to the PBS newsmag "FRONTLINE..." (PBS)

Headline of the day

From CNN.com: "State Department cancels border security conference due to shutdown over border security."

EXCLUSIVE

First look at this week's THR cover

Before most of us had ever heard Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's name, Rachel Lears was following her unlikely bid for Congress for a Kickstarter-backed film titled "Knock Down The House." The documentary will have its world premiere at Sundance on Sunday. And AOC is scheduled to be at the afterparty.

The Hollywood Reporter's Sundance issue features both women on the cover:

The cover story will be online on Wednesday morning...

Politico: "Trump exasperated by gaffe-prone Giuliani"

That was Politico's news-making headline on Tuesday night... The story said Trump has been enraged by Rudy Giuliani's "walk-backs" and reversals... Although many observers have posited that Rudy has been doing this intentionally...

NYT's Maggie Haberman tweeted out the story and said "Trump is definitely frustrated with Giuliani but Giuliani isn't going anywhere. Overall Trump likes what he does."

Here is CNN's latest reporting on the subject: "A member of the Trump legal team tells Evan Perez tonight 'Rudy's not getting fired.'" And according to Jeff Zeleny, a source who spoke with Trump on Tuesday "said Trump likes the obfuscation of it all, and doesn't detect any sense of firing..."

Remember W.H. briefings?

ABC News reported on Monday: "White House sets record for longest span with no press briefings during the Trump presidency." This record spurred some criticism on Tuesday...

Trump offers an excuse

Oliver Darcy emails: It has been more than a month since Sarah Sanders last held a press briefing -- and now, we have an explanation from the President. Trump turned to Twitter Tuesday morning to explain that "the reason" Sanders does not hold briefings anymore is because he feels "the press covers her so rudely & inaccurately." Trump said "certain members of the press" are worse than others and added that he told Sanders "not to bother" since "the word gets out anyway!"

>> Trump's tweet prompted a response from WHCA president Olivier Knox, who said in a statement that the Trump admin's move "sets a terrible precedent..."

Trump's "irrelevant" press shop

Darcy emails: CNN's Kaitlan Collins and Kevin Liptak published a must-read on Tuesday about the White House comms team. Their story said a prolonged power struggle has led to a muddled messaging strategy during the shutdown, which has resulted in West Wing staffers deeming the dysfunctional press shop to be "irrelevant."

According to Collins and Liptak, there is no clear leader among Sanders, Bill Shine, Kellyanne Conway or Mercedes Schlapp -- though Collins and Liptak reported that Trump has developed a warm relationship with Sanders and offers her praise in private...

What is Bill Shine doing?

Darcy sends one more: Since Shine accepted a position in the Trump W.H., it has been unclear exactly what impact or role he has had. Collins and Liptak reported that some officials have been disappointed by his approach. "So far, Shine's contribution has largely consisted of phoning Fox News hosts and booking officials on the shows so they can defend the President on a network whose audience largely already favors him," Collins and Liptak wrote...

If you were POTUS...

...Would you spend time live-tweeting Fox News?

I ask because Trump spent a lot of time doing that on Tuesday. It's not new at this point, but it's still odd. As WaPo's Philip Bump tweeted in the A.M., "Two years in, it's still remarkable that the president of the United States starts most days by hyping things he's watching on a morning cable news show."

Trump resumed his Fox-watching in the evening, leading former Obama aide Dan Pfeiffer to tweet: "The President can have dinner with anyone in the world, can go anywhere, can get anyone on the phone, has access to movies before they come out and instead sits alone in his bathrobe every night and live tweets Tucker Carlson while begging for praise."

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- About Cliff Sims' book: The author of "Team of Vipers" (I can't believe I called it "Team of Rivals" last night! 🤦) will be on "GMA" next Monday, followed by "Nightline" and "The View..." It's an ABC rollout...

-- CNN's Fareed Zakaria (the man I'm very lucky to count as my "lead-in" on Sunday mornings!) made Foreign Policy's annual list of the top 100 Global Thinkers, AND the mag's Top Ten of the Last 10 Years... (FP)

-- CBS "does not currently accept any cannabis-related advertising," so it apparently turned down this wannabe Super Bowl advertiser... (CNN)

-- "While some states have legalized marijuana used for medical purposes, federal law would prevent TV outlets from running national commercials," Brian Steinberg explains... (Variety)

-- "A bankruptcy court judge on Tuesday confirmed iHeartMedia Inc.'s restructuring plan that allows the company to slash its debt load and hand over control to a group of bondholders..." (WSJ)

"The cold truth about hot takes"

First came the stories about the caught-on-camera standoff between teens and a Native American elder. Then came a much more nuanced second wave of stories. Now come the takes. There are too many to include here, but let me share a few...

-- WaPo's Abby Ohlheiser, summing up the story she co-authored with Paul Farhi: "Viral stories take time to develop, this creates challenges for actual reporters, and the pro-Trump Internet is good at pouncing in the gap. We know this. The Covington story has become a really sticky example of all of that at work..."

-- Frank Bruni on the problem with punditry: "Our hasty condemnation of these teenagers reveals the cold truth about hot takes..."

-- Media theorist Douglas Rushkoff writing for CNN.com: The video doesn't capture "some meaningful reflection of human nature or even America's current cultural divide," it "simply demonstrates how social media amplify and inflame our tensions." He says "these online platforms and the algorithms driving them are the real enemies of humankind. Not a few smug white kids or chanting American Indian elders..."

How the web stories changed

As more camera angles and more info became available, how did news outlets respond? WaPo's Erik Wemple took a look. He says "CNN put an editor's note in its early Covington story. Washington Post and New York Times stand behind initial accounts..."

The student will be on Wednesday's "Today" show

Nicholas Sandmann, the Covington Catholic H.S. student at the center of the controversy, sat down with Savannah Guthrie on Tuesday... The interview will air on "Today" Wednesday morning... But already, there's been a backlash on Twitter, mostly from liberals who said Sandmann shouldn't be given a national platform like this. C'mon. To the folks saying "how dare you" to NBC: What's you're really saying is, "How dare you do journalism?"

A "near-perfect fight for Trump"

Laura Ingraham got out ahead of herself by saying that the H.S. students would be meeting with Trump "as early as tomorrow." The W.H. has expressed "support" for the students, but Sarah Sanders said any meeting would only take place after the shutdown is resolved.

Nevertheless, Trump is embracing this topic. The aforementioned Philip Bump argues that Covington Catholic "is a near-perfect fight for Trump to take on," because:

-- "Trump's base is heavily predicated on support from Americans who identify as religious."
-- "Trump supporters are much more likely to view white Americans as threatened."
-- "Trump gets to blast the media for its behavior."
-- "Trump needs this" due to the shutdown mess.
-- "He knows the playbook will work." Read on...

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- Vox Media is acquiring The Coral Project, "whose mission is to create safe and productive spaces for audience engagement..." (Axios)

-- Yahoo News is launching "Through Her Eyes," a "weekly video series hosted by Zainab Salbi..." (Yahoo)

-- Steve Snyder is the new EIC of The 74, an education news outlet, and Stephen Cockrell is the new CEO... (The 74)

A toast to Joel Simon

Kati Marton hosted a book party for Committee to Protect Journalists chief Joel Simon in NYC Tuesday night... Simon's book "We Want to Negotiate: The Secret World of Kidnapping, Hostages and Ransom" came out Tuesday... Spotted: Ingrid Abramovitch, Jean-Marie Conson, Jacob Weisberg, David Rohde, Camille McDuffie, Matthew Winkler, and many more....

Recommended: "Breslin and Hamill"

If you care about local journalism, I think you will love "Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists," the HBO documentary that's debuting on TV next Monday night.

HBO held a screening in NYC on Tuesday night... I spotted co-directors Jonathan Alter, John Block, Steve McCarthy plus Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, Michael Barbaro, Ken Auletta, Risa Heller, John Avlon, Margaret Hoover, Carolyn Ryan, Amy Chozick, Carl Bernstein, Jonathan Klein, Jeffrey Toobin, Robert Klein, Gay Talese, Dan Rather, Lara Logan, Richard Cohen, Jim Dwyer, Michael Grynbaum, Bob Balaban, and more...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- In his annual letter, Hearst CEO Steven R. Swartz says the company "achieved record profits for the eighth consecutive year..." (Hearst)

-- Introducing the podcast play? This new show in Chicago is a podcast that's "one part live theater, one part TV production, one part social science..." (NYT)

-- Another way to look at Sunday's NFL #'s: Nearly 54 million tuned in for Patriots-Chiefs, "a larger audience than every non-NFL program since the series finale of Seinfeld..." (SMW)

Oscar winners and losers

Brian Lowry emails: The two breakthroughs in this year's Oscar nominations went in wildly opposite directions. "Black Panther" marked the formal recognition of superhero movies — Hollywood's most profitable genre, but one that voters have largely sneered at in the past. And Netflix snagged its first-ever best-picture nomination for "Roma," marking the streaming service's arrival, having bought, pushed and prodded its way into contention, in much the way it became a heavyweight at the Emmys. Read on...

Here's the complete list of nominations via Lisa Respers France... And a fun Chloe Melas story about nominees' reactions...

-- More: Dan Kois makes the case that "BlackKklansman" is the closest thing to a frontrunner right now: "Spike Lee could get to climb on that stage and deliver an all-timer of an acceptance speech..."

Defining a "snub"

Brian Lowry emails: As for the immediate reaction/analysis, there's a fine line between journalists lamenting that a favorite film/talent didn't receive a nomination and throwing the equivalent of public temper tantrums over those omissions. That line has been blurred by social media, and awards coverage that has made covering "snubs" and "surprises" – a reliable traffic driver – a regular feature of the awards-show ecosystem. The situation has also been exacerbated by the Oscar expansion in best-picture nominees (eight made the cut this year), which inevitably produces orphaned films without a director nod, since that category can accommodate just five.

So were Bradley Cooper, Peter Farrelly and Ryan Cooler — all directors of best picture nominees — really "snubbed?" Not exactly, but it's a good headline...

>> Stelter's response: But Cooper WAS snubbed! He campaigned for the director nom but picked up a best actor nom instead...

A big milestone for CNN

The CNN Films unit was established six years ago. Tuesday marked the first time that one of its films, "RBG," was nominated for the best documentary Oscar.

"RBG" was also nominated in the best song category. CNN prez Jeff Zucker wrote in an internal memo: "Today, we celebrate being nominated for the highest honor in all of filmmaking for one of our projects...twice!"

Filmmakers Betsy West and Julie Cohen called Ruth Bader Ginsburg and told her about the noms on Tuesday. "She sounded strong and cheerful and said she is writing opinions and continuing to stay on top of work," West and Cohen said...

A record # of new Oscars voters

One more note from Lowry: Worth remembering, in the shifting nature of the nominations, is the revised makeup of the Academy. This is part of an aggressive membership expansion that has been undertaken over the last few years, since the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag surfaced...

Like father, like son

"Michael Gandolfini, son of the late James Gandolfini, will play the young Tony Soprano in 'The Many Saints of Newark,' the prequel movie to the television series 'The Sopranos,'" Variety's Dave McNary wrote Tuesday.

Gandolfini said: "It's a profound honor to continue my dad's legacy while stepping into the shoes of a young Tony Soprano. I'm thrilled that I am going to have the opportunity to work with David Chase and the incredible company of talent he has assembled for 'The Many Saints of Newark.'"

That's a wrap. Send me your feedback anytime! It always makes the letter better. See you tomorrow...