| | | | -- President Trump went after two of the nation's biggest newspapers, The New York Times and the Washington Post, with "fake news" tweets.
-- The White House told reporters they could cover Trump's first re-election fundraiser, but then made an abrupt change, "closing the event to media in a break from past precedent."
-- The W.H. prohibited TV cameras at the daily press briefing again.
-- The president posted James O'Keefe's anti-CNN videos on his official @realDonaldTrump Instagram page, promoting the videos to millions of followers.
-- Trump allies in the media continued to attack. O'Keefe's videos were a top story again on Fox News, with Tucker Carlson at 8pm, "The Five" at 9pm, and Sean Hannity at 10pm all leading with it...
-- The W.H. confirmed that Trump and South Korean president Moon Jae-in aren't planning to hold a joint news conference when Moon is here on Friday. Joint pressers are customary when heads of state are visiting. But the W.H. didn't schedule one when Indian prime minister Narendra Modi visited on Monday, either.
-- The Pentagon gave a non-answer when asked why Secretary of Defense James Mattis decided to travel this week without the usual contingent of TV journalists.
-- Journalists were told to leave a Justice Department event marking Pride month, which was taking place in an area normally open to press.
Hey, happy Wednesday 😉 | | Vice retracts two stories about Trump and Disney | | "In what is shaping up to be one of the odder stories regarding the Trump presidency, Vice has retracted two stories related to President Donald Trump's audio-animatronic presence in the Walt Disney World attraction 'Hall of Presidents,'" Townhall's Christine Rousselle writes. "The two pulled stories alleged that there was some kind of an internal dispute among Disney executives regarding Trump's role in the revamped version of Hall of Presidents, with a source at Disney claiming that the Trump White House wanted complete control over the script of the attraction and was not dodging requests to set up a time to actually record the speech." But Disney disputed that, saying that Trump's recording session "has been scheduled."
Vice replaced the two stories with an editor's note on Wednesday. What makes this even stranger is that Disney has invested $400 million in Vice... this time last year, there was talk about Disney buying Vice... it has cooled off this year, though... | | When news outlets get things wrong, they take action. When the White House gets things wrong... | | (Image via Mediaite.) On "MTP Daily" on MSNBC, Chuck Todd delivered this searing commentary about Trump's war on the media:
"Let's be clear about this, that war is nothing less than a war on the truth. Do we get it right all the time? Nope, we don't. And when we don't, we run a correction and in some cases people lose their jobs. That's what just happened at CNN. CNN took responsibility for its mistakes. You know, at this network we've done it quite a few times publicly, as well. But [that's] because we try to get it right. We take what we do seriously, because trust -- viewers and readers' trust -- is all we have, and without that, we're nothing. And guess what, we all know we get fired for not telling the truth. And of course that's the point, isn't it? Of course the White House attacks -- delegitimize the media to create running room for its own events. It's as old as the media itself. The White House is not above using anonymous sources to criticize the use of anonymous sources. Nor to promote what even IT admits could be a lie, to call OTHERS liars."
Then Todd played the clip of Sarah Huckabee Sanders urging people to watch James O'Keefe's anti-CNN video while simultaneously admitting she didn't know if it was accurate or not. "Seriously?" Todd said. He said that's been this White House's M.O. -- "peddle a false story to claim the media's telling false stories."
Todd concluded: "No, Mr. President. No, White House press shop. The media is not the enemy of the people. We're just here to find, as Carl Bernstein put it so well, the best obtainable version of the truth. And sometimes, the truth hurts. It can hurt us. And yes, even you, Mr. President." | | | Scroll down for much more on Trump and the media, including the latest on the CNN-related controversies... | | ABC settles suit over what it called "pink slime" | | Tom Kludt writes: "After three weeks of trial in a South Dakota courtroom, ABC and Beef Products Inc. reached a settlement in a defamation lawsuit over a series of news reports on the meat producer's use of lean, finely textured beef product -- sometimes referred to by its detractors as 'pink slime.'"
Wednesday's settlement was a surprise to courthouse observers. ABC had yet to begin its defense. The network made clear on Wednesday that it didn't take back its reporting or apologize in any way... | | Did ABC pay $$$? How much? | | | An attorney for BPI told Tom that "from our client's standpoint, this allows them to grow their business back." So what were the terms of the settlement? Did ABC cut a check? Unknown -- the terms were not disclosed. We'll see if there are any clues in future Disney earnings reports... | | | MTV News is the latest digital outfit to "pivot" to "video" -- while laying off freelance and full-time writers. Laid-off staffers tweeted the news on Wednesday. The restructuring will see "resources shift from long-form journalism to the development of short-form video pieces," Variety's Daniel Holloway reports... | | -- As expected, "Jason Chaffetz is exchanging his House committee chairmanship for a role on Fox News," Tom Kludt reports...
-- NBC/MSNBC's latest addition to its growing stable of contributors: WSJ-turned-NYT columnist Bret Stephens...
-- CBSN "getting some prime-time exposure:" the CBS broadcast network will air "CBSN: On Assignment" for four Mondays in a row starting July 31, Stephen Battaglio reports... | | All of today's NYT news... | | Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman emails with several stories about the NYT:
#1: Protesting against drastic potential cuts to the copy editing staff, some of the paper's copy editors sent a scathing letter to Dean Baquet and Joe Kahn. Read it in full here. "You have turned your back on us," the copy desk staffers wrote. "We worry that if we do not speak out, you will feel emboldened to make similarly sweeping staff reductions elsewhere in the company without debate..."
#2: New from former NYTer Jeff Gerth at CJR, a deep dive on how the separation of "church and state" at the Times is evolving... "The traditional news-advertising divide has become a luxury the Times can no longer afford," he says...
#3: The Times is hiring a Pets reporter for The Wirecutter, charging for its Cooking product, and launching a new service journalism newsletter | | White House feeling emboldened? | | | Hadas Gold's latest for Politico: "Many White House staffers were 'elated,' a person with knowledge of their conversations said, when they learned that three journalists had resigned" from CNN after their Russia-related story was retracted. Gold quotes a GOP aide on Capitol Hill saying "now would be a perfect time to move the briefing from the West Wing..." | | Here's what Boris Epshteyn is telling local news viewers | | | Trump allies are amplifying this anti-media talk. Quoting Trump campaign aide turned Sinclair chief political analyst Boris Epshteyn's latest commentary, seen on stations across the country, including WJLA in DC: "CNN, along with other cable news networks, is struggling to stick to the facts and to be impartial in covering politics in general, and this president specifically..." | | Meanwhile, the news coverage continues... | | | Jim Sciutto's Tuesday night documentary on CNN, "The Russian Connection," was one of "many shining examples of first-rate journalism that have been produced by CNN and other key news organizations," Brent Budowsky writes in his column for The Hill... | | James O'Keefe, Van Jones and a "nothing-burger" | | | An undercover operative walked up to CNN's Van Jones outside the CNN L.A. bureau on Monday and struck up a conversation. The operative asked about "the whole Russia thing," and Jones responded, "the Russia thing is just a big nohing-burger." James O'Keefe touted this as a terrific revelation on Wednesday -- his second day publishing a secretly-recorded video of a CNNer. Pro-Trump media activists shared the video. But there was a collective shrug elsewhere. Mediaite's Aidan McLaughlin catalogued the reactions, noting that "Jones' comments are not given context, don't do much to undermine CNN's credibility, and are not out of step with the commentator's previous remarks — in other words, his nothing-burger comments are something of a, wait for it, nothing-burger." | | I'm a bit jealous of Mic's Kelsey Sutton, who nabbed this official response from a CNN spokesperson when she asked about the latest O'Keefe video: "LOL."
(I was told "no comment.") | | ...The anti-journalism messages that come from O'Keefe are potent. Millions of people are persuaded by hateful "journalists are fake and evil" rhetoric. Carlson and his guest Mark Steyn mocked me on Wednesday night for pointing out in last night's newsletter that there's been a rise in hateful anti-journalism remarks about reporters. Unfortunately they missed my point. Constructive criticism? Great, we need it. Cynical attacks designed to tear down journalism? That's harmful, and Carlson knows it...
-- Seconding BF's Jon Passantino: It is "amazing to watch as right-wing media call for end of White House accountability to public under Trump..." | | | CNN prez Jeff Zucker's face was on the cover of the NYPost on Wednesday... and another member of Murdochworld, Fox's Sean Hannity, has been calling for Zucker's head... so TheWrap's Itay Hod inquired on Wednesday. "Zucker is 'absolutely not' in danger of losing his job, a network spokesman told TheWrap..." | | Trump's priorities, according to his Twitter feed... | | Tom Kludt and I wrote about Trump's anti-media tweets on Wednesday morning... making the point that Trump is selling resentment of the media instead of selling Americans on the GOP's health care bill.
I asked former Breitbart spokesman Kurt Bardella to weigh in, and he responded: "Think about all of the energy and time Donald Trump, his administration and surrogates have spent bashing the media. Now imagine if they had spent all of that time talking about the substance of their policy vision instead. So many lost opportunities as Trump tries to convince America every day that he, the most powerful man in the world, is actually a victim." | | Want to talk with Spicer? Attend this fundraiser on Sunday | | An Phung emails: In this column for the next issue of VF, James Wolcott makes a case for why losing his post as press secretary might not be such a bad thing for Sean Spicer. (BTW, for the past two days, reporters have been expecting Spicer to lead the briefing, but Sarah Huckabee Sanders has shown up instead.)
Hey, at least the Rhode Island Republican Party likes Spicer. The RI native will be honored at a fundraiser on Sunday. Here is the invitation in case yours got lost in the mail... | | By Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman:
-- A ruling by New York bankruptcy judge Stuart Bernstein would potentially allow the estate of Gawker Media to open legal discovery "with limited scope" to explore Peter Thiel's financial involvement in the Bollea v Gawker suit... (BuzzFeed)
-- Recommended: On ProPublica, a major investigation by Julia Angwin and Hannes Grassegger into the guidelines used by Facebook moderators to distinguish between hate speech and legitimate political expression...
-- Today in things nobody needs, ever: The Verge writes about a smart nightlight that can connect to your Wifi and give you notifications about weather alerts, email alerts, even retweets. Who needs to unplug? Not the people who back the project on Kickstarter! | | Oliver Darcy emails: Ann Coulter ripped into Sean Hannity in her latest column, saying the Fox News host would "endorse communism if Trump decided to implement the policies of 'The Communist Manifesto.'" In addition to knocking Hannity for being "last to the Trump party," she suggested he censored criticism she leveled against the Trump administration during a recent "pre-taped, and later edited" appearance last week on his show.
"I wish you could see the segment, but, unfortunately, Hannity decided no one would ever see it -- NOT, I hasten to add, because he would censor criticism of Trump, but simply because he ran out of time," she wrote. Which is interesting: Why wouldn't Hannity upload the full, non-edited tape of his interview with Coulter? Isn't that exactly what he has demanded of journalists when they interview him? Or of his ex-colleague Megyn Kelly with her Alex Jones interview?
-- Oliver adds: I reached out to a Fox spokesperson, but did not hear back... Hannity did respond to Coulter, however. He wrote on Twitter "Ann, u fall in and out of love with Christie Romney Trump and how many others. Frankly you just bore me." | | Divided country, divided viewing habits | | | Brian Lowry emails: USA Today has some interesting data about viewing preferences along racial and ethnic lines, showing relatively little overlap between groups. Part of it is a testament to the sheer abundance of shows aimed at specific audience segments, but it still speaks to what's already pretty clear -- namely, that the amount of media/entertainment that bridges such divides has diminished... | | #Ham4All challenge heats up | | Megan Thomas emails: Lin-Manuel Miranda dropped a new video for his "Immigrants" anthem off the "Hamilton Mix-Tape" album on Wednesday. Sandra Gonzalez has more on that here...
>> It's part of a new social media initiative from Miranda which "asks participants to sing a song from 'Hamilton,' make a donation to the Immigrants: We Get the Job Done Coalition, and -- not unlike the viral Ice Bucket Challenge -- then challenge two friends to do the same." Check out this cute entry from the cast of "Beguiled," featuring cameos by Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, and Sofia Coppola... | | NYT talks to Leno about life after "Tonight" | | | Frank Pallotta emails: Dave Itzkoff has a great feature/Q&A with Jay Leno about his life after hosting "The Tonight Show." The host talks about his favorites in the current late night lineup ("I enjoy everybody," he says) and how joking about politics has changed for comedians. "It's a different time now. It's kind of ugly," Leno said. He added that "we live in a time now where what you say is so much worse than what you do — when words carry more consequence than deeds." | | | Brian Lowry emails: A genetically engineered "super-pig" gives the least hammy performance in "Okja," a Netflix movie that's also receiving a limited theatrical release. To be fair, a lot of critics liked the film better than I did, but strictly from a commercial perspective, coming on the heels of the Brad Pitt satire "War Machine," it's difficult as yet to identify the streaming service's broader strategy as it finds its way into the movie business... | | Update: Colbert tops Fallon, after all | | In last night's newsletter, we noted that Jimmy Fallon's "Tonight Show" topped "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" in total viewers last week, snapping Colbert's winning streak. Well... not so fast... Fallon's win was only based on live and almost-live DVR viewership... when you factor in three days of DVRing, it turns out that Colbert still reached a bigger audience than Fallon for the full week. Deadline has details here. (Fallon continues to prevail in the demo.)
>> Related: Every night counts: Brian Steinberg reports that Colbert is testing a sorta-fresh summer Friday format... | | Has "The Bachelorette" revealed its true colors? | | | Megan Thomas emails: After 15 years, Bachelor Nation is still strong in numbers (and drama), but "with exploitative plotlines that treat racism as entertainment," The Atlantic's Megan Garber argues that this season of "The Bachelorette" is hard to defend... | | | For the record, part three | | | By Sandra Gonzalez:
-- The Academy has invited 774 new members to join its ranks, 39% of whom are female and 30% of whom are people of color. Anthony Anderson, America Ferrera, Regina King, John Cho and Priyanka Chopra are among those invited to join the Academy. More here from Variety, which has some Academy-provided stats...
-- "Pretty Little Liars" came to a close on Tuesday night, and the finale got me thinking about how its departure leaves a void. Here's my ode to a show that did a great job of portraying young female friendships...
-- Johnny Galecki lost his California ranch due to a massive fire that's burning about 200 miles northwest of Los Angeles. His statement and details here... | | | 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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