| | | | You've heard it all before: News outlets are sensationalistic and sloppy. Journalists are out to get the president. Their anonymous sources shouldn't be believed. Heck, nothing negative about the president should be believed. It's all "fake news."
President Trump, his White House, and his supporters -- bolstered by CNN's retraction and the subsequent resignations of three journalists -- took those talking points and made Monday's resignations the biggest media story, and at times even the biggest political story, of Tuesday. Trump personally slammed CNN and his aides went even further by promoting a new James O'Keefe tape. Pro-Trump media activists see this as a war -- a war they are thrilled to fight. "This is the conversation the White House wants. Make everything muddy so partisans gravitate to their own corners," the AP's Jonathan Lemire tweeted.
The president's anti-media tweets contained multiple misstatements. So? "Trump doesn't need to argue that he's more honest than CNN -- just that there is no truth, so you should just follow your gut and your tribe," NYT's James Poniewozik wrote.
So what is true? And what's spin? This special edition of the newsletter is an attempt to sort through it all... | | -- It is true that Trump's re-election campaign is now fund-raising off the resignations.
-- Sarah Huckabee Sanders exploited the controversy at Tuesday's W.H. briefing. It is true that some White House correspondents were disturbed by her comments. (Details below.)
-- It is not true that CNN's ratings are "way down," despite one of Trump's tweets saying so. Second quarter ratings came out on Tuesday, and all the cable newsers are way up.
-- Trump also tweeted that CNN is "looking at big management changes" now. According to the WashPost's Paul Farhi, that's not true either.
-- It is true that people at CNN are saddened by the controversy, particularly saddened that so much good work has been overshadowed by last week's errors. BuzzFeed's Steven Perlberg called CNN "a glum environment in the wake of the resignations."
-- It is not true that Thomas Frank, the reporter who resigned Monday, wrote the book "What's The Matter With Kansas?" That was written by a different Thomas Frank. Rush Limbaugh got this wrong several times on Tuesday. He had to correct himself on the air.
-- It is true that O'Keefe is claiming to have more CNN-related tapes. He's hinting that he will release one on Wednesday.
-- It is not true that CNN is firing the medical unit producer who was recorded saying that Trump/Russia coverage is ratings-driven and is "mostly bullshit right now." | | O'Keefe released his secretly-recorded video overnight. It showed John Bonifield, an Atlanta-based supervising producer who's not involved in CNN's Russia or Trump coverage. "CNN stands by" him, the network said Tuesday afternoon. "Diversity of personal opinion is what makes CNN strong, we welcome it and embrace it."
The implication of the statement is that Bonifield was just expressing his own views -- and that this was not, as O'Keefe claimed, catching a producer "admitting that there is no proof to CNN's Russia narrative." Many of Bonifield's remarks were clearly prompted by O'Keefe's undercover operative, who taped the producer without his knowledge. Most journalists at mainstream outlets saw through it... but pro-Trump media touted the video as a shocking expose. Look no further than Donald Trump Jr.'s Twitter feed... | | "CNN shrugs off Veritas video as Trump lashes out at network" | | | ...That's the headline on Roger Yu's USA Today story, which includes details about O'Keefe's practices. So does this Gizmodo piece by Bryan Menegus: "A CNN executive familiar with the situation" said "an operative for O'Keefe joined a peer mentoring group which Bonifield was a coach for and requested mentorship from him specifically, claiming to be interested in becoming a journalist and further claiming that his father had recently died. Bonifield gave this individual a tour of CNN and met with him several times all while being filmed without his knowledge." | | That brings us to the W.H. press briefing... | | ...Which was held on-camera for the first time in the week. Dylan Byers emails:
The mainstream media (NBC, NPR, etc.) stayed focused on issues like health care and Syria, while right-wing organizations like Breitbart and Lifezette repeatedly asked questions about the CNN controversy.
Sarah Sanders called on Breitbart first, and used the question to cast doubt on all of the media's Russia-related reporting and promote O'Keefe.
"There's a video circulating now, whether it's accurate or not, I don't know, but I would encourage everybody in this room, and, frankly, everybody across the country to take a look at it. I think if it is accurate, I think it's a disgrace to all of media, to all of journalism."
"Whether it's accurate or not, I don't know." Insisting on high standards for journalists... but not for the White House? | | W.H. "inflaming everyone" with anti-media rhetoric? | | Dylan Byers adds: At least one reporter wouldn't stand for it: Brian Karem, who runs a suburban DC newspaper and contributes to Playboy, told Sanders, "What you just did is inflammatory to people all over the country... Everybody in this room is only trying to do their job." Sanders shot back: "If anything has been inflamed, it's been the dishonesty that has taken place in the news media."
What do you think? Did Karem foolishly take the bait, or was he appropriately channeling what a big chunk of the country is feeling? | | "Pro-journalism" and "anti-journalism" | | Here's what I see: a divide between "pro-journalism" and "anti-journalism." People on the left, right and in-between who are pro-J recognize that most journalists try to be fair and right. Accuracy and credibility are our currencies. Checks and balances and layers of editing are guardrails. When screw-ups happen, corrections are made and lessons are learned. Newsrooms are imperfect but hopefully improving all the time. Media critics and persnickety readers and sharp-elbowed competitors all play an accountability role.
The consensus pro-J view, as far as I can tell, is that CNN made mistakes with this Russia-related story last week; that the company took serious action as a result; and that it hopefully will learn from this affair.
But there's an alternative view, popular on partisan web sites and social media, that is straight-up "anti-journalism." These activists and commenters don't promote accountability, they promote resentment and hatred. They claim that most, if not all, journalists have sinister agendas... that newsrooms are occupied by "enemies of the people..." and that the evil "MSM" is propaganda. These anti-J people claim that reporters routinely cover up good news and invent bad news. I've noticed a disturbing increase in terrorist lingo, like "CNN is ISIS," a phrase promoted by Alex Jones. This Tuesday night Breitbart story also invokes CNN and ISIS in the same sentence.
Some of this "anti-journalism" spin isn't about eradicating bias or improving news coverage, it's about trying to stamp out reporting altogether. It's nutty, but it's insidious, and that's why I'm bringing it up. Millions of Americans are exposed to these extreme views every single day through social media... | | -- MSNBC's Joe Scarborough: "The men and women of @CNN have every reason to take great pride in their work. #RealNews"
-- Red State's Jay Caruso: "CNN screwed up badly, and they did the right thing..."
-- ESPN's TJ Quinn: "Media outlets that hold themselves accountable deserve your trust far more than the ones who pretend they never make mistakes."
-- NYT's Nick Confessore: "Many of the pro-Trump pundits and bloggers mocking CNN's retraction today wouldn't dream of holding themselves to the same high standard."
-- NYMag's Olivia Nuzzi: "Fox News recently was forced to retract a story, yet the president continues to cite them. This isn't about truth, it's about Russia." | | I saw quite a bit of this from pro-J types on Tuesday: Jill Filipovic asked "how many heads rolled at Fox News for the Seth Rich story? (The answer is none)." While Fox's opinion hosts blasted CNN on an hourly basis, commenters pointed to Bret Baier's "mistake" about Clinton indictments as another example of a double standard. The liberal outlet ThinkProgress called out the "tale of two networks..."
-- Timely: Tuesday's fact-check by Politifact Florida: "Claim repeated on 'Fox and Friends' that 5.7 million noncitizens voted is wrong." | | | Michael Grynbaum's NYT story has quotes from CNN prez Jeff Zucker's regular Tuesday morning meeting: "People are trying to attack us, trying to take us down... Our reputation is everything; that is our currency, and that's why we have processes in place... If you don't follow those procedures, you don't work here, period." | | "There have been so many attempts from so many quarters to decertify the press. The best thing that a news organization could do is to constantly revisit its standards and practices and constantly review the level of performance."
--Poynter's Roy Peter Clark in the NYT | | | "Sarah Palin has sued The New York Times for defamation," Dylan Byers reports. The suit alleges "that a recent editorial falsely portrayed her as responsible for inciting the 2011 shooting of Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords." Palin is seeking more than $75,000 in damages. NYT's initial response: "We have not reviewed the claim yet but will defend against any claim vigorously." Read more... | | The Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday that it will use Greg Gianforte's $50,000 donation "as part of body slam settlement to track other assaults on press..."
In other news, FEC records show that "Gianforte's campaign received a flood of new donations the day after the incident, raising about $118,000 on May 25, more than double the amount he raised the day before," Politico's Hadas Gold reports. One of those donations was from Frederick G. Smith, a VP at Sinclair... | | -- David Fahrenthold had people buzzing on Tuesday thanks to this story: "A Time magazine with Trump on the cover hangs in his golf clubs. It's fake." Time has now asked the Trump Org to remove them. Frank Pallotta notes that Sam Bee made fun of it, and so did Sports Illustrated...
-- Sarah Ellison's latest for VF: "Can Megyn Kelly Outrun Her NBC 'Nightmare?'"
-- Oliver Darcy emails this scooplet: Matt Berman, a senior editor at Politico, is joining BuzzFeed News as deputy editor on the politics team, reporting to Kate Nocera. In a note to staff, Nocera described Berman as a "sharp and tenacious" editor... he starts July 10...
-- The WashPost's Ashley Parker is now an MSNBC contributor... | | "This must not be allowed to happen" | | Let's not lose sight of what's going on with Qatar's Al Jazeera... with Saudi Arabia and several other countries demanding the closure of the network amid a "major regional crisis..."
A worried Al Jazeera staffer emails from Doha: "It's astounding and profoundly shocking that a media institution such as Al Jazeera (or any media institution) is being targeted in such a manner..."
Jazeera published an "open letter" on Monday, saying this shut-down attempt "must not be allowed to happen..." | | EU slaps Google with record $2.7 billion fine | | "Considering the antipathy felt toward Google and Facebook," it's not a surprise that News Corp. and Axel Springer "celebrated the announcement Tuesday that the European Commission has fined Google $2.7 billion for unfairly prioritizing in search results the company's own comparison shopping service," THR's Jeremy Barr reports...
-- Seth Fiegerman tweets: "Is it just me or is the day Google gets a record antitrust fine not the best time for Facebook to remind the world how big its user base is." Speaking of that... | | Facebook milestone: 2 billion users | | | Mark Zuckerberg announced the new # on Tuesday. CNN's Kaya Yurieff notes that "it took the social network less than five years to go from 1 billion monthly users to 2 billion." TechCrunch charted FB versus its rivals: | | Stengel says Time Inc. should "do better" than Pecker | | | "Reliable" intern Howard Cohen emails: Rick Stengel, former managing editor of Time magazine, is urging Time Inc. to think twice before it considers any bid from David Pecker. Stengel tweeted Tuesday: "Time is a national trust and deserves a steward who believes in truth-telling and intellectual honesty. Time Inc can do better than this." Stengel was following up on Jeffrey Toobin's report about Pecker's interest in acquiring Time.. | | Welcoming a new newsletter about media! | | | An Phung emails: Sara Fischer's inaugural media newsletter for Axios covered some pretty interesting tidbits about digital content and media trends. Did you know there are 118 different virtual fidget spinners in Apple and Google's app stores? Fischer's letter will come out weekly... | | By Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman:
-- Interesting Digiday piece about why "Apple News is the first platform" to which Axios "publishes directly." Hint: it's about native ads...
-- Rick Edmonds at Poynter breaks down the reasons why digital media IPOs are extremely rare. It can be summed up with a quote in the story: "I watched Google grow — and you're no Google..."
-- Graham Vyse at The New Republic asks an interesting question: Could journalists live without Twitter? The answer seems to be maybe, but only if Twitter went away for all of them... | | Auditing China's box office for the first time | | | An Phung emails: The MPAA has hired an accounting firm to audit box office sales in China, a country that American studios are increasingly dependent on for strong returns on major movies. Big budget summer movies like "The Mummy" and "Transformers: The Last Knight" had lopsided openings in the Middle Kingdom, where ticket sales outperformed box offices in the US... | | Why TV's 'gong' big on game shows | | Brian Lowry emails: If you've noticed more game shows on the major networks this summer, you're right -- a mix of nostalgia (see revivals of "Love Connection" and "The Gong Show") and economics (they're cheaper to produce than original dramas, and generally do better than reruns). Plus, they're family-friendly and escapist.
Lowry teamed up with Sandra Gonzalez on this story... check it out here... | | Syfy eyes 'Tremors' TV series starring Kevin Bacon | | | Sandra Gonzalez emails: Syfy has ordered a pilot for a "Tremors" TV series, with Kevin Bacon attached to reprise his role from the cult classic film. If it goes to series, it would be the latest genre film-turned-television show, joining the likes of Starz's "Ash vs the Evil Dead" and HBO's "Westworld..." Read more... | | Jackman's the "Frontrunner" | | | Megan Thomas emails: According to THR, "Hugh Jackman is hitting the campaign trail for Jason Reitman's 'The Frontrunner.' The 'Logan' star will play disgraced politician Gary Hart... The screenplay was written by veteran political journalist Matt Bai, former Hillary Clinton press secretary Jay Carson (House of Cards) and Reitman, based on Bai's 2014 book All the Truth Is Out..." | | | More from Megan Thomas: For the first week since Trump's inauguration, Jimmy Fallon's "Tonight Show" topped "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" in total viewers. According to Nielsen ratings via NBC, "Tonight" averaged 2.656 million viewers overall for the week, slightly ahead of Colbert's 2.622 million. (However, it's important to note that CBS excluded the Thursday and Friday encore episodes of "The Late Show," which aired while Colbert was in Russia last week...) | | Lowry reviews "Baby Driver" | | | With so much talk about the directors getting fired off the Han Solo movie, it's nice to report that Edgar Wright -- who faced a similar situation on Marvel's "Ant-Man" -- has rebounded pretty splendidly with "Baby Driver," a clever mix of action and music that opens this week. And for those lamenting the quality of summer movies, it's worth noting "War For the Planet of the Apes" -- the third movie in that 21st Century Fox trilogy -- is garnering plenty of early raves, a sentiment I'll echo when our review runs closer to the U.S. release... | | | For the record, part three | | | -- Chloe Melas emails: Serena Williams opens up about becoming a mom and bares her naked bump in a Demi Moore-Esque shoot for Vanity Fair...
-- Via Lisa Respers France: Time to claim your independence from boredom. Here's some of what's streaming on Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu in July...
-- One more from Chloe: "Bachelor in Paradise" star DeMario Jackson speaks in an explosive new E! news interview... | | | 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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