| | | | Fox News presidency, chapter 154 | | | President Trump is practically a Fox News commentator at this point. 😉 On Thursday evening he taped a chat with "Fox & Friends" host Ainsley Earhardt, and on Friday afternoon he taped another interview, this time with with contributor Pete Hegseth. In between, Sean Spicer gave a live interview on "America's Newsroom" and taped one for "MediaBuzz." Up in NYC, Lara Trump taped an interview for "Hannity." | | What's softer than a softball? | | You won't be surprised to hear that media critics were unimpressed by Earhardt's questions. Erik Wemple called it "the most astounding piece of pro-Trump propaganda yet."
Hegseth's interview will air on Sunday's "Fox & Friends Weekend." In a clip released on Friday night, Trump said "I just heard today for the first time that Obama knew about Russia a long time before the election, and he did nothing about it. But nobody wants to talk about that." He's referring to this huge WashPost investigation. The Post dug up lots of new details, but everyone has known for months that President Obama was well aware of the hacking efforts before election day. Everyone has known. Did Hegseth press Trump on this obvious error? | | Another sign that Trump has given up on "persuadable voters" | | | Fox's Chris Stirewalt was blunt about the admin's strategy in a segment on Friday afternoon. "Once this administration decided that it was not really going for persuadable voters anymore, that this president was sort of going to write off those folks and go for keeping the base -- his base of voters -- fired up and engaged," then cutting back on briefings and "going straight to rallies, going straight to interviews with outlets that are seen as more favorable by the president's base" made sense. He said "it's probably a politically smart move." | | | A tongue-in-cheek tweet from MSNBC's Chris Hayes: "You guys; somehow Fox managed to land *another* interview with the President! How *do* they do it?" | | Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt want to muzzle Al Jazeera, one of the world's top international news broadcasters. On Friday Al Jazeera's financial backer, Qatar, confirmed that it has received a list of 13 demands made by the Saudi-led bloc. One of those demands is the closure of AJ and its affiliates. Another one entails the closure of other Qatari-funded news outlets like Arabi21.
"By attacking Al Jazeera, the Saudis and their neighbors are trying to eliminate a voice that could lead citizens to question their rulers," the NYT editorial board concluded. While Al Jazeera "is hardly a perfect news organization," it is a "vital news source." | | How Jazeera is responding | | Per CNNMoney's Charlies Riley, AJ described the reported demand for its closure as "nothing but an attempt to silence the freedom of expression in the region." Its web site is highlighting
-- More: Giles Trendle, acting managing director of Al Jazeera English, said "we are stunned by the demand to close Al Jazeera. Of course there has been talk about it in the past but it is still a great shock and surprise to actually see it in writing. It's as absurd as it would be for Germany to demand Britain close the BBC." | | This Sunday on "Reliable Sources" | | | TV legend Phil Donahue has some surprising things to say about Trump and the media... plus I'll be joined by April Ryan, David Drucker, Michael D'Antonio, Sarah Kliff, and Masha Gessen... live on CNN Sunday at 11am ET... | | Recommended reading for Sunday | | | Earlier this week NiemanLab wrote about Kliff and her popular health care newsletter "VoxCare." I just signed up... you can check it out here... | | The "Dean of New York Media" Gabe Pressman passed away on Friday at the age of 93. A pioneer and news legend, Pressman crossed paths with so many mayors and media figures. Lester Holt called Pressman a "role model," and Keith Olbermann remembered him as a "relentless" reporter.
-- Quoting from the NYT obit by Robert McFadden: "In the early days of TV news, when announcers often read wire stories on the air and reporting was largely left to the newspapers, Mr. Pressman did his own reporting, writing and reading his own scripts, and was one of the first television journalists to take a camera crew into the streets for stand-up reports from the scenes of fires, murders and other spot news events..."
-- Andrew Kirtzman tweets: "No City Hall journalist approached the moral stature of Gabe Pressman. There wasn't a mayor who dared to bully him." | | By Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman:
-- Facebook is introducing "Facebook Safety for Journalists Resources..."
-- Via Awful Announcing: Charles Harder, the lawyer who helped Hulk Hogan sue Gawker out of existence, is at it again, suing Gizmodo Media Group's Deadspin on behalf of Pregame.com's RJ Bell. Details here...
-- Joe Scarborough's debut EP is out now... Maxwell Tani interviewed him about his anti-Trump protest songs... | | 🎧 THIS WEEK'S PODCAST: | | | The "war for the bundle" is well underway, BTIG analyst Rich Greenfield says. On this week's "Reliable Sources" podcast, Greenfield says "everybody is trying to rethink what the bundle means and how to get people to subscribe." He also talks about Facebook, Snapchat, the Time Warner/AT&T deal, and the importance of "owning the home screen." Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman has all the highlights in this story... You can download or stream the podcast here... | | No one's laughing, Johnny | | | If you have to preface something with "this is going to be in the press, and it will be horrible..." then it IS horrible, so don't say it. Johnny Depp's "joke" about assassinating Trump rightly earned widespread condemnation on Friday. He finally apologized in the afternoon, many hours too late. Madison Park and Lisa Respers France have all the details here... | | | Brian Lowry emails: Depp has had his share of bad publicity already over his financial dealings and profligate spending -- such as his staff of 40 and $30,000-a-month wine tab -- but it's anybody's guess why he willingly walked into this latest hornet's nest. In the process, the actor handed the Trump White House something that it clearly relishes -- namely, an opportunity to both change the subject and campaign against liberal Hollywood elitists... | | Out: cameras. In: sketch artist | | | With the White House prohibiting cameras at some press briefings, CNN sent courtroom artist Bill Hennessy to draw Sean Spicer's Friday afternoon briefing. Hennessy is not a cartoonist -- he's the network's regular sketch artist for Supreme Court proceedings. He stood in the back of the briefing room to document the scene. Here's my story... and a gallery of all the drawings... | | | In "Trump is struggling to stay calm on Russia, one morning call at a time" by Ashley Parker and Philip Rucker: "Interviews with 22 senior administration officials, outside advisers, and Trump confidants and allies reveal a White House still trying, after five months of halting progress, to establish a steady rhythm of governance while also indulging and managing Trump's combative and sometimes self-destructive impulses..." | | Too politically convenient to check | | Alex Koppelman emails: James Comey was spotted walking into the NYT building with his wife on Thursday. The outlets that saw this news had two immediate options. One, jump to the conclusion that supports the Trump team's favored narrative about Comey, or two, do a quick gut check -- if a 6'8" man who's been on national TV recently wants to leak information, is he going to do so in the most obvious place possible, and bring his wife with him to boot? -- and a few minutes of reporting to find out whether there are other businesses with offices in the building. (There are.)
Guess which choice more than a few, led by the Daily Mail, made?
Within an hour or two of the Mail's foolish story, NYT's Maggie Haberman had debunked it: Comey and his wife were in the building for a charity event held in the offices of Covington & Burling. Haberman shared photographic proof. But some outlets, like Breitbart, still took until well into Friday to correct the record; others, like The Gateway Pundit, never did. Then there's "Fox & Friends," Trump's favorite morning show. It mentioned the story Friday morning, eight hours after Haberman had set the record straight, then later provided a good example of how not to do a correction: they admitted they were wrong… but still used the moment to push the unfavorable narrative about Comey into which this story had supposedly fit. | | "The Trump era provides an opportunity to go back to first principles and remind the public why the freedom of the press is enshrined in the First Amendment. Don't take it for granted that the public has connected all of those dots."
--Charlie Sykes in this essay for Nieman Reports... | | Lyle Denniston retiring next week | | | Lyle Denniston, known as the dean of the Supreme Court press corps, says he is retiring next week at the end of the SCOTUS term. Last year Denniston left SCOTUSblog, but he's been reporting on his own Law News web site. He tweeted on Friday: "After 58 years of SCt journalism, 69 in the trade, retiring next wk after final opins & orders. Far, far too many to thank one by one." | | -- Brad Grossman's Zeitguide has this recap of "what we'll remember from Cannes 2017," including brand safety, belt tightening, and the rise of consultants...
-- How Hulu's live TV service could generate $600 million in revenue... MoffettNathanson crunches the #'s here... (MediaPost)
-- Missed this yesterday: "Far-Right Activists Are Stealing Tricks From YouTubers And It's Going To Get People Hurt" (BuzzFeed) | | Looking for a couple great docs to watch this weekend? | | | Brian Lowry emails: Coal CEO Bob Murray's lawsuit against "Last Week Tonight" with John Oliver put a sort-of exclamation point on two recommended documentaries playing this weekend: "From the Ashes," a National Geographic Channel film about the coal industry and its climate implications; and "Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press," about litigious billionaires and the threat they pose to journalism. (The latter, which focuses primarily on the Hulk Hogan-Gawker lawsuit, also features cameos by none other than CNN's own Brian Stelter and Tom Kludt.) Read Lowry's column here... | | Ron Howard's "little opportunity" | | | Megan Thomas emails: "A little opportunity that came my way." That's how Ron Howard reportedly described his new role as director of the Hans Solo movie after Phil Lord and Christoper Miller were essentially fired this week. Howard made the comments at a Cannes Lion event -- where he also suggested there should be a Broadway musical years from now entitled "Trumped." THR has more... | | | Megan Thomas emails: Matt Lauer recreated his famous Tom Cruise "glib" interview with Andy Cohen on "Watch What Happens Live." Lauer stressed that he and Cruise are on good terms now before putting on a wig to impersonate the actor. Check out the video here... | | Sofia Coppola's throwback | | | Brian Lowry emails: "The Beguiled" won Sofia Coppola the second best-director prize for a woman at the Cannes Film Festival, but it really feels like a throwback -- not just to the 1971 version, but in terms of representing the kind of drama with strong female roles that has gravitated toward TV as opposed to theaters... Read more... | | Four stars AND zero stars! | | The Free Beacon's Sonny Bunch has a very entertaining review of "Transformers," ending with this:
"I don't like to do this -- stars are so gauche -- but I feel the need to give Transformers: The Last Knight four stars out of four. And I also give it zero stars out of four. This does not 'average' out to two stars. It exists in both states of quality at the same time, a sort of Schrodinger's Movie. Transformers: The Last Knight is great and terrible all at once. Behold. Tremble. Consume." | | | For the record, part four | | | By Lisa Respers France:
-- The Hollywood Walk of Fame Class of 2018 has been announced and two of the recipients, Lin-Manuel Miranda and "Weird" Al Yankovic were weirdly dining together when the news was announced...
-- The 2017 BET Awards air Sunday night. Here are six reasons to tune in...
-- Sunday night also marks the return of the hit Starz show "Power." I talked to the creator/showrunner Courtney Kemp and the four lead actors in the cast. Let's just say that fans probably aren't ready for what Season 4 has to offer... | | | What do you like about this newsletter? What do you dislike? Email us... we're at reliablesources@cnn.com... we appreciate every email. | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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