| | | | | USA Today's Gregory Korte tweets: "The President of the United States is reportedly under investigation for obstructing justice, and it's the second biggest story of the day." | | | Here's the jam-packed Thursday front page of the Washington Post... | | After the shooting attack in Alexandria on Wednesday morning, people really showed their true colors. The GOP lawmakers and police officers who were there showed bravery. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill showed unity. Reporters showed dexterity. All the major networks produced hours of nonstop live coverage; bookers nabbed interviews with eyewitnesses almost instantly; and social media sleuths found the gunman's anti-Trump and pro-Sanders posts.
Most of the coverage was measured and composed. But when I say people showed their true colors, I don't mean it just in a positive sense. The social media echo chamber was as harsh and hateful as ever. Folks unhelpfully spread rumors about the attack. Lots of misinformation showed up in corners of the web, some of it seemingly intended to further inflame tensions. BuzzFeed's team has a list of some of the examples here... | | | In Thursday's NYPost, John Podhoretz invokes 1968 and asks: "Will this prove to have been a lone event? Or is it the beginning of another long hot summer my son will remember forever — the herald of a new kind of chaos with a signature frighteningly reminiscent of 1968? Even the fact that I can ask this question, and that I'd wager you are not immediately scoffing at it, suggests we may be at the precipice. We all know the kindling is there..." | | Maddow's producers checked: no contact from the gunman | | Per CNN's investigative unit, the gunman's social media footprint suggests he was an avid consumer of left-leaning political shows. Three of the TV shows he listed as his favorites were "Real Time with Bill Maher;" "The Rachel Maddow Show;" and "Democracy Now!" His favorite movie? The documentary "Inequality for All," featuring progressive economist Robert Reich.
On Wednesday night, Maddow mentioned on air that the gunman was apparently a viewer of her show, since he cited the show in one of his many letters to the editor. "We went through our correspondence today… we didn't find any evidence that he ever sent anything to this show or tried to contact us at all," she said. | | Fox's narrative: "left-wing violence" | | Five minutes later on Fox's "The Five," this was Greg Gutfeld's message: "This guy was essentially radicalized by the left-wing media. He was radicalized... He digested, ingested this information..."
Earlier in the evening, Tucker Carlson took a veiled shot at Maddow, saying "there are big ratings in conspiracy theories these days." One of his banners was "OUT OF CONTROL VIOLENCE FROM THE LEFT." All three of Fox's prime time shows focused on that angle... | | After Giffords was shot, "our political dialogue got worse, not better..." | | | Boston Globe's Matt Viser tweets: "A congresswoman was shot in the head six years ago. Our political dialogue got worse, not better. Let's hope this time something changes." | | How the Mo Brooks interview happened | | From an emailer: "Congressman Mo Brooks performed an immense public service this morning. He told his story on the phone forever... starting just after the event. His account of the event was so important." Indeed, newsrooms had barely confirmed anything about the shooting when Brooks started speaking on CNN's "New Day" at 8:01am. Brooks methodically recounted every detail to Alisyn Camerota and Chris Cuomo, and stayed on the phone for practically the entire hour. Then he re-told the story to Wolf Blitzer at the top of the 9am hour.
Here's the backstory: CNN's Dana Bash saw the alert about the shooting; looked up the team roster; and started texting/calling every member she could find. Brooks was one of the first who answered. When he started telling Bash what happened, she stopped him and asked if he would talk on the air. He said yes, so she connected him with the control room.
Later in the day Bash thanked Brooks, and he texted back, "Happy to help. Medicinal to speak with you guys. Bet you never [thought] an elected official [would] say THAT about media! ;-)" | | "How CBS News got the dramatic footage that defined the day" | | | That's the headline on Mike Scott's story at NOLA.com. He asked how CBS managed to get the shocking video of Rep. Steve Scalise being loaded into a medevac helicopter. "As it turns out, network photographer Gabe Stix was on his way to an assignment at the State Department Wednesday morning when the initial call came in. Craig Katz, the overnight assignment editor at CBS News, rerouted Stix to Eugene Simpson Park in Alexandria, the scene of the shooting..." | | Pentagon correspondent on the scene? | | | CNN's Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr reported from the scene of the shooting all day long. An unusual assignment, but it made sense -- Starr had arrived at the Pentagon around 7, "got coffee, logged on," and then saw the alert. "I know the neighborhood and was only ten or fifteen minutes away so I called the desk and hopped in the car." | | "Whatever we're living through will be a capitalized noun some day..." | | This is an excerpt from writer Anand Giridharadas's midday tweetstorm:
"We should take seriously Pankaj Mishra's diagnosis of ours as an 'age of anger,' in which latecomers to modernity fail to cope and erupt. As big as Trump or Comey or Brexit or Putin or any story is, we must know we are living through something so huge that no one fully sees it. We must cultivate our own humility about what this moment is... Whatever we're living through will be a capitalized noun one day. Like the Reformation. But we don't have the comfort of knowing the name. It is tempting to see the many rages as unrelated. Trumpism. Black Lives Matter. Kansas hate criminals. Portland. Today's shooter. But what Mishra and others show us is the connectedness of these angers. Not their sameness or equivalence. Their emergence in a common age." | | By Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman:
-- The Intercept is conducting an "internal investigation" into the publication of that NSA document allegedly leaked by Reality Winner, Mic's Kelsey Sutton reports... Meantime, Grenn Greenwald and Jeremy Scahill are responding to critics... (Mic)
-- Tom Brokaw will host a Discovery series tentatively titled "Freedom of the Press," about "the essential role investigative journalism plays in American life today," Carlos Greer hears... (Page Six)
-- Introducing Women@Fox, a women's initiative launched by 21st Century Fox amid "sexual misconduct scandals surrounding Fox News..." (THR) | | Post's "obstruction" story | | | It hit at 6:21pm... with four co-bylines... citing "five people" to say the "special counsel is investigating Trump for possible obstruction of justice." This was predicted/assumed/believed to be happening, but the Post made it much more "real." | | RNC's spin: "The leaks are the only crime here" | | | Sean Hannity's spin a few hours later: This leak is the "revenge of the deep state." Late Wednesday, the RNC circulated talking points, obtained by CNN's Jim Acosta, that read in part, "This story is nothing more than an example of even more leaks coming out of the FBI and special counsel's office in an effort to undermine the President. These leaks are inexcusable, outrageous, and illegal. The leaks are the only crime here." | | Fox retires "fair and balanced" slogan | | Gabe Sherman's latest scoop: "As Fox News moves further into the post–Roger Ailes era, the network is shedding one of its most iconic elements. According to network executives, Fox News has abandoned the marketing slogan 'Fair & Balanced.'"
It's true... one of the most effective, most cynical slogans in media history has faded away. "In its place, producers have been asked to use the network's other slogan: 'Most Watched. Most Trusted' -- a statement that is at least half true, insofar as Fox News maintains some of the highest ratings in cable news," Dylan Byers writes. "The network will also introduce a new slogan soon, a source there said..." | | What should Fox's new slogan be? | | | Since Dylan's source says "the network will also introduce a new slogan soon," we're opening it up to all of you... what should the new slogan be? Email reliablesources@cnn.com, and we'll include some of the best responses in tomorrow's edition... | | Ivanka Trump cancels Fox interview | | | Ivanka Trump was scheduled to tape an interview with Ainsley Earhardt on Wednesday, to be shown on Thursday's "Fox & Friends," but it was cancelled in the wake of the shooting. No word on if/when it will be rescheduled... | | -- Jim Rutenberg spoke with Megyn Kelly about interviewing Alex Jones and the ensuing controversy... (NYT)
-- NBCUniversal has hired Laura Lee, who once led YouTube's media partnership efforts," to oversee its pacts with Snap, BuzzFeed and Vox Media... (Variety) | | Layoffs at HuffPost (and all across "Oath") | | Tom Kludt emails: HuffPost staffers knew the layoffs were coming; they were a byproduct of the Verizon-Yahoo merger that closed this week, which will result in 2,100 job cuts at the newly formed subsidiary, Oath. But when the grim news arrived Wednesday morning, there was still a sense of shock at HuffPost -- mostly over who was hit, and what coverage areas will be affected.
Among the 39 employees who were laid off, at least six worked in the D.C. bureau, which appears to be in line for an overhaul under new EIC Lydia Polgreen. Managers in the DC bureau faced anxious questions from staffers about Polgreen's vision, and how they are expected to cover Capitol Hill, the W.H. and Supreme Court after reporters on all those beats had been let go. Read more... | | | Gone are HuffPost's first and only Pulitzer winner, David Wood; Jason Linkins, the site's cheeky political blogger; Christina Wilkie; Grace Sparks; Michael McAuliff; Laura Barrón-López; Ben Walsh; and others... | | Vocativ, a tech news site, was also hit with layoffs on Wednesday. It let go of its entire text editorial staff -- roughly 20 people -- because the site is "undertaking a strategic shift to focus exclusively on video content." Uh huh. Good luck. Read Tom Kludt and Frank Pallotta's full story about the HuffPost and Vocativ layoffs here...
-- Poynter's Daniel Funke ties the recent media layoff cycle to "the continued financial success of Silicon Valley titans Google and Facebook, whose dominance of the advertising sector has left publishers fighting over scraps..." | | A new example of "noncompete" abuse? | | Oliver Darcy emails: Execs at the Independent Journal Review have asked employees to sign a new noncompete agreement. The agreement, a copy of which I obtained, blocks employees from working anywhere "in the business of publishing news content" for six months after employment at IJR unless they obtain explicit "written consent" granting them permission to do so.
The updated noncompete comes as IJR continues to see an exodus of top talent. Read Oliver's full story here... | | "Bachelor in Paradise" cast members at center of allegations speak out | | This just in from Chloe Melas: "Bachelor in Paradise" has been ensnared since last weekend in allegations of misconduct, and now the two contestants at the center of the matter have spoken out for the first time. Cast member Corinne Olympios issued this statement on Wednesday: "I am a victim and have spent the last week trying to make sense of what happened on June 4. Although I have little memory of that night, something bad obviously took place, which I understand is why production on the show has now been suspended and a producer on the show has filed a complaint against the production."
Later in the day, cast member DeMario Jackson said his character and name have been "assassinated this past week with false claims and malicious allegations." He, too, has hired a lawyer... | | | Brian Lowry emails: Some of the revelations coming out about the "Bachelor in Paradise" situation really shouldn't be news to anyone who has paid attention to the genre -- or for that matter, watched "UnREAL." That includes the fact that participants are encouraged to "hook up," in what reality producer James Callenberger referred to in a first-person Vulture piece as "soft-scripted storylines." The remarkable part, given all that's readily known, is how a portion of the audience remains so willing to buy into the fabricated drama. As Jennifer Weiner wrote in the NYT, those viewers can't hide from their complicity in these shows' excesses, and the incentive producers face to "walk the knife's edge between what's contemptible and what's actually a crime." | | | For the record, part three | | | Via Lisa Respers France:
-- "Bachelor" Ben Higgins is defending the franchise in the wake of the "Paradise" scandal...
-- Justin Bieber is on one of the hottest records of the summer, but he doesn't know the lyrics. The Biebs might want to learn the words to "Despacito," stat...
-- Twenty years after the fact, director Joel Schumacher has apologized to fans for "Batman & Robin..." | | | 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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