Forward

EXEC SUMMARY: Hey there, this is Oliver Darcy, helping you kick off the week... Scroll down for the latest on Trump at the G7 Summit, the first comments from April Ryan on the bodyguard incident, the new "Star Wars" poster, and the media week ahead calendar. But first...

The pro-Trump effort to discredit the press

It hasn't exactly been a secret. For those who have paid attention over the last year, it's appeared quite clear that pro-Trump operatives have launched an effort to attack news organizations by digging up problematic comments its own journalists have made in the past.

But this effort has largely been ignored by the press -- until now. On Sunday afternoon, NYT's Ken Vogel and Jeremy Peters reported on the "aggressive operation to discredit news organizations." As Vogel and Peters put it, "It is the latest step in a long-running effort by Mr. Trump and his allies to undercut the influence of legitimate news reporting." Read their full story here...

How it works

The operatives have been digging through the social media histories of personnel -- no matter their rank or actual influence -- who work at top news outlets. When the operatives find something on a journalist and choose to deploy the material, the comments are publicized and used to characterize the organization the journalist works at as a whole.

Who is involved

According to the NYT, one of the "central players" is Arthur Schwartz, a political operative who counts Donald Trump Jr. as a good friend. Trump Jr. and others associated with him have promoted these attacks on reporters. The W.H. press office told NYT that its personnel and Trump were unaware of the operation. The Trump campaign also claimed to be unaware of it. Both of which I must say are interesting claims given that it's been pretty evident to anyone with two eyes what has been going on over the last several months...

>> Of note: The Daily Beast's Maxwell Tani was way out in front on this story. Back in January, he published this story: "How Trump Jr.'s Fixer Arthur Schwartz Wages War Against the Media..."

How sophisticated is the operation?

A lot of this is not complicated work. It seems the operatives are largely just using advanced search on Twitter and plugging in key terms that could return problematic comments. Last week, it was comments from a night editor on the politics desk at NYT. Before, it has included journalists at CNN and WaPo.

But, as The Daily Beat's Will Sommer noted, the claim in NYT's story that the operatives had found "firing-worthy tweets from 'hundreds' of people in the media seems extremely fake." As Sommer explained, "So far, they've taken down a couple of relatively little-known people who weren't directly involved in covering Trump. Not exactly a fearsome oppo gang!"

Why publish unverified information?

I did find one paragraph in NYT's story to be extremely odd. The paragraph said: "It is not possible to independently assess the claims about the quantity or potential significance of the material the pro-Trump network has assembled. Some involved in the operation have histories of bluster and exaggeration. And those willing to describe its techniques and goals may be trying to intimidate journalists or their employers."

So I wondered: Why then publish some of these details? NYT seems to be admitting in that paragraph that it has not verified some of the information it includes in its story, and that the anonymous sources who provided the information are perhaps unreliable and have motivation to deceive. Indeed, they do have a strong motivation.

I asked a NYT spokesperson about this. The NYT spokesperson replied that the paper was "confident in the accuracy" of its reporting...

Sulzberger: "We have been attacked and threatened before"

NYT publisher A.G. Sulzberger addressed the "assault" in a memo to staff on Sunday. "Unable to challenge the accuracy of our reporting, political operatives have been scouring social media and other sources to find any possibly embarrassing information on anyone associated with The Times, no matter their rank, role or actual influence on our journalism," Sulzberger wrote. "Their goal is to silence critics and undermine the public's faith in independent journalism."

Sulzberger thanked journalists "who brave this type of pressure daily to bring essential information to the public." Sulzberger added, "We have been attacked and threatened before, and we know how to do our jobs under fire. So our response is the same as always. We will continue to cover this administration like any other: fairly, aggressively and fearlessly, wherever the facts lead."

CNN: "Something very dangerous"

A spokesperson for CNN, which has also been attacked, told NYT that when those in government "and those working on their behalf, threaten and retaliate against reporters as a means of suppression, it's a clear abandonment of democracy for something very dangerous."

Good points from Serwer and Poniewozik

This is spot on. "A strategy like this hinges entirely on media outlets' willingness to be manipulated by bad fath actors," Adam Serwer tweeted.

NYT's James Poniewozik had a similar point. "I've said before, you could avoid so many problems in journalism if news outlets just had one rule: never make any decisions based on worries about 'perception.' If you followed that rule, a scheme like this would be toothless, and the people doing it would know that."

Meantime, in France...

"At the Group of Seven meeting in Biarritz, France, there are, in effect, two different summits under way—one that's happening in President Donald Trump's mind, and another that is actually happening on the ground; there's the summit Trump is trying to will into existence, and the summit unfolding in real time," Peter Nicholas writes for The Atlantic...

Macron "knows Trump likes made for TV moments"

CNN national security analyst Samantha Vinograd emails: "It looks like Trump got french fried on this -- Javad Zarif dropped into the G7 with reportedly little advance warning. Emmanuel Macron is trying to play mediator here, and he knows Trump likes made for TV moments and historic handshakes. That may have been part of his thinking as he tries to build a French connection between Iran and Trump..."

Trump-Macron presser on Monday

This ought to be interesting: Trump and Macron will hold a joint presser Monday at 9:30am ET, at the same time the US stock markets are opening...

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- On the one-year anniversary of John McCain's death, WaPo looked at how John S. McCain IV (known as "Jack") is "wrestling with his past and his future..." (WaPo)

-- John Ziegler is writing a series of columns about "how media paved the way for Trump." The column published Saturday about how conservative media "sells out" is worth a read... (Mediaite)

-- Jonathan Swan's Sunday evening scoop is wild: According to Swan's sources, Trump has suggested nuking hurricanes as they form in the Atlantic... (Axios)

Tiptoeing around Trump's instability

Brian Stelter writes: Paternity leave has given me a chance to view the daily news diet from a distance. And it's clear: He is getting worse. We can all see it. It's happening in public.

But President Trump's instability is still a very hard story to cover. I spent the week talking with major media figures at networks and newspapers, and the consensus was that he's acting more erratic, more often. This left me wondering: Are members of the news media tiptoeing around obvious questions about Trump's instability? What do the daily lies, distortions and contradictions add up to?

Here's what I know for sure: Trump's mental health is being invoked by commentators online and on TV more and more. The fact pattern is right in front of us. And journalists need to connect the daily dots...

The loudest voice: George Conway

Stelter adds: Some prominent figures, including the husband of Trump aide Kellyanne Conway, are pleading with the press to take this story more seriously. On Friday, George Conway said Trump is "decomposing" before our very eyes. "Republicans need to face the fact that the president is mentally unstable and psychologically unfit," he wrote. At this point Conway's Twitter feed is practically devoted to the subject of the president's wellbeing. But he -- and others -- are raising a series of questions that no one is able to answer. Why does he make it all about himself? Why does he lie so often? Is there a method to the madness, or is something wrong? Is he suffering from some sort of illness? Questions, questions and then more questions. No satisfying answers.

>> Here is Stelter's column and the video of his Sunday monologue...

April Ryan speaks

CNN political analyst and American Urban Radio Networks W.H. correspondent April Ryan was giving a speech in New Jersey on August 3 when her bodyguard seized a journalist's camera and removed him from the event. Ryan has been silent about the controversy since then, but on Sunday's "Reliable" she expressed regret in an interview with Stelter.

Ryan said "the only reason why I've been quiet is because of the threat of lawsuits." She said she did not direct the bodyguard, Joel Morris, to confront journalist Charlie Kratovil. When Stelter suggested that Morris "overreacted," she agreed and said she assumes he was "concerned for my safety." And she said Morris is no longer working with her. Here's the interview...

Notable quotes from Sunday's "Reliable"

-- Journalists should be "confronting Trump at least about the lies and other false claims that he's made dozens of times," Daniel Dale said...

-- While on the subject of former press secretaries getting lucrative TV gigs after lying to the public, Irin Carmon said, "There is a desire here to pretend that everything is normal, and to memory-hole the parts that are extraordinary..."

-- Remember when right-wing TV and radio hosts cared about the debt and deficit? Here is Stelter's essay about epic hypocrisy...

-- The Charleston Gazette-Mail recently reported on West Virginia governor Jim Justice's conflicts of interest, spurring Justice to call the paper "garbage." Reporter Ken Ward Jr. said Trump has allowed "this sort of anti-press rhetoric to trickle down and embolden people like Governor Justice..."

Two families, united by tragedy

James Foley and Steven Sotloff were murdered by ISIS five years ago this summer. Now the parents of the fallen journalists are working to keep journalists safe in conflict zones through their own foundations. Watch Stelter's interview with Diane Foley and Art Sotloff here...

Here's how to catch up

Watch the video clips from Sunday's "Reliable" on CNN.com, or hear the podcast edition via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or your favorite app...

Walsh declares on "This Week"

Former Republican congressman and right-wing talk radio host Joe Walsh officially declared his candidacy for president on Sunday during an interview with "This Week" host George Stephanopoulos."I'm running because [Trump is] unfit; somebody needs to step up and there needs to be an alternative. The country is sick of this guy's tantrum -- he's a child," Walsh told Stephanopoulos...

A media savvy challenger...

Like Trump, Walsh very much understands how the media works. He's savvy in that way. He knows how to keep himself in the news cycle. And, as someone who hosted a conservative radio show, Walsh has experience articulating his ideas in easily digestible sound bites. It's also worth noting: Walsh's candidacy seems to be less policy-oriented, and more about defeating Trump on moral grounds...

...But he has a history of hateful comments

Walsh, of course, has a lengthy history of terrible tweets and incendiary comments, including calling former President Barack Obama a Muslim. Stephanopoulos asked Walsh about whether he was the best person to make the case against Trump. Walsh replied, "I helped create Trump, and George, that's not an easy thing to say. I went beyond the policy and the idea differences and I got personal and I got hateful. I said some ugly things about President Obama that I regret."

>> Appearing on MSNBC later in the day, anchor Kendis Gibson also grilled Walsh on his former comments. "Are you a different Joe Walsh?" Gibson asked. Walsh said he was "right, in a way" and that there were "plenty of times I've said things that were ugly and hateful..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- Good point from Princeton University historian and CNN analyst Julian Zelizer: "We need a weekly news show devoted only to the big stories of the last few months. We are in desperate need of long-term perspective, reminders of the big developments that get swamped in the daily chaos, and of assistance in putting the different pieces of the news together..." (Twitter)

-- Bret Baier brought down the house on Saturday night as he performed on stage at a Rascal Flatts concert... (Townhall)

-- Big oops! The Daily Caller "conflated two NYT editors in an article" over the weekend, wrongly treating Tom Wright-Piersanti and Jonathan Weisman as the same person. More info via Jared Holt... (Twitter)

-- A researcher at the progressive group Media Matters flagged this moment from Jeanine Pirro's show. Technical difficulties created a very awkward 40 seconds of TV on Saturday... (Twitter)

-- Katie Hunt announced on night that Ayman Mohyeldin will be filling in for her as she heads out on maternity leave... (Twitter)

Media week ahead calendar

Monday: The MTV Video Music Awards are live at 8pm ET...

Monday: Harvey Weinstein is due to be re-arraigned...

Tuesday: The NFL is holding a 100th season kickoff event...

Wednesday: The Venice Film Festival begins... Here are the most eight anticipated premieres via THR...

The Atlantic's paywall is almost here as publication slides into unprofitability following growth spurt

Kerry Flynn emails: The Atlantic's long anticipated paywall is coming next month, WSJ reported over the weekend. The story details how the 162-year-old magazine's growth strategies and financial state has changed since Lauren Powell Jobs bought the publication in 2017. The publication had delayed the launch of the paywall to invest in hiring about 100 new staffers, but in that time The Atlantic has gone from making $10 million annually to being unprofitable, the report says.

One anonymous former staffer told WSJ that The Atlantic felt like it was becoming a "hot take factory." Comscore data shows monthly visitors are up, while a spokesperson for The Atlantic said the number of stories is down. The Atlantic's executive editor Adrienne LaFrance added to WSJ, "We have to be a real-time magazine to stay competitive, but our play isn't more volume, it's higher quality. We have absolutely doubled down on where we excel, which is sharply reported analysis and deep historical context."

>> WSJ's Christopher Mims tweeted: "Good on The Atlantic for finally rolling out a paywall. It's the fastest way to re-align the incentive from 'get traffic' to 'build an audience.'"

Trump's ridiculous question

This tweet from Trump should be taken with a grain of salt... or two... or a whole canister. Trump, at the G7 summit, claimed on Sunday, "The question I was asked most today by fellow World Leaders, who think the USA is doing so well and is stronger than ever before, happens to be, 'Mr. President, why does the American media hate your Country so much? Why are they rooting for it to fail?'" I'm sure reporters would be thrilled to know which world leaders Trump is referring to...

...again smears press as Fox allies spread lies

Trump again repeated his false smear against the media over the weekend -- this time while abroad at a G7 summit breakfast. While taking questions, a reporter asked Trump about the negative economic indicators. Trump insisted that the United States economy is very strong, then lashed out at the press. "You people want a recession," Trump claimed, "because you think, 'Maybe that's the way to get Trump out. Maybe that's the way to get him out.'"

Trump wasn't the only one making this ridiculous claim over the weekend -- it was all over Fox's pro-Trump Saturday night programs. Both Jeanine Pirro and Jesse Watters' shows included references to it...

>> Fact check: Again, this claim is absurd for a number of reasons. 1.) The press isn't cheering a recession. It's simply reporting the negative economic indicators. 2.) It would be ludicrous for the press to be hoping for a recession, given that the news industry would be hit incredibly hard and scores of jobs would likely be wiped out as a result.

Male dancers to demonstrate outside "GMA"

Dozens of male dancers are expected to demonstrate outside the "Good Morning America" studio in New York on Monday morning over Lara Spencer's comments last week in which she joked about men liking ballet. Charlie Williams, who is spearheading the protest, told me he's expecting about 100 dancers "to do a unison ballet barre" outside the show's Times Square studios.

"We will be there showing the world strong examples of male dancers and the incredible effect that dance has had on our lives," Williams told me. "We stand up against bullying of any kind and encourage children to explore their own interests free of shame and toxic masculinity. We want to change the narrative and make sure a little boy choosing to take ballet doesn't continue to be a punchline."

I'm told Spencer will address her comments on-air Monday morning... Also of note: In a story published Sunday by People magazine, dancer and former "So You Think You Can Dance" contestant Travis Wall said Spencer called him with a "massive apology."

Andrew Luck's retirement and sports coverage

Brian Lowry emails: Andrew Luck's surprise retirement from the NFL on Saturday demonstrated how poorly equipped sports coverage often is to deal with the nuances of a complicated story. While the focus should be on what it means to pro football that a young star would retire in light of the crippling injuries the game causes, there were too many takes about what this means for the Colts' season/playoff chances.

And then there was Fox Sports' Doug Gottlieb, whose inane tweet about Luck's retirement -- calling it the "most millennial thing ever" -- underscored every bad stereotype about sportstalk, somewhat reassuringly offset by the level of blowback it produced.

Disney keeps the focus on streaming service at D23

Brian Lowry emails: Disney made a slew of announcements at D23 Expo -- the biennial convention devoted to all things Disney -- but it was clear the company's top priority is Disney+, the new streaming service that launches in November. Notably, there were kiosks on the exhibit floor, offering the studio's best customers a chance to sign up for three years at discounted rates.

The service somewhat overshadowed the company's movie presentation (in part because Marvel offered most of its news at Comic-Con in July), which would seem to underscore the inherent risk in the venture – namely, the extent to which Disney is robbing from Donald and Minnie (that is, all its other holdings) to pay Mickey, at least in the short term.

New look at the "Rise of Skywalker"

Disney released the new poster for "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" at the convention on Saturday. The photo features Rey facing off against Kylo Ren. Emperor Palpatine is seen looming in the background (click here to see the full sized poster with that detail.)

Those at the D23 Expo got an even better treat. Disney debuted a new teaser trailer for the movie, and per Gizmodo, it featured Rey in a black hood with a dual red lightsaber...

New details about Star Wars hotel, Epcot overhaul

Jason Farkas emails: I attended a two-hour presentation on Disney Parks & Resorts at the D23 Expo. The biggest developments were for fans of Star Wars and Marvel, with both franchises getting deeper integrations into the company's theme parks: a Marvel-themed land called "Avengers Campus" is coming to California and Paris, and a Star Wars spaceship hotel is under construction in Orlando.

Disney is adding Moana and Mary Poppins attractions at Epcot, a Frozen land at Hong Kong Disneyland, and a Zootopia land in Shanghai: all evidence that Disney's real magic is leveraging its powerful IP across every corner of the company.

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- Kanye West hosted his Sunday Service in Dayton to honor victims of the mass shooting. Dave Chapelle and Chris Rock were also there, along with Kim Kardashian... (THR)

-- Kevin Feige and Tom Holland confirm the (very upsetting) news: Spider-Man is leaving the Marvel Cinematic Universe. "It was never meant to last forever," Feige said... (Vanity Fair)

-- "After just one day on sale, Taylor Swift's Lover album...logged the biggest sales week of 2019 in the U.S. for an album..." (Billboard)

A global business

Lowry emails: "Hobbs & Shaw" opened to a huge $102 million in China, per Variety, while "The Lion King" is poised to become only the ninth movie to hit $1 billion outside North America. It's a reminder that movie-making is a truly global business, one where domestic box office only tells part of the story...

Thank you for reading. I hope your week gets off to a good start. Email your feedback anytime -- the good, the bad, the ugly. See you on tomorrow!