| | | | The Trump/Russia revelations just keep coming... | | "When it's ready, it publishes."
Television news crews and cameras are rightly focused on the suffering in south Texas. My first instinct was to lead this newsletter with Tropical Storm Harvey developments again tonight. But so many other stories are competing for home page placement -- another North Korean provocation, a shooting at a library in New Mexico -- and the day's Trump/Russia developments have been nothing short of stunning. (But do scroll down for updates on Harvey coverage and the incredible work people on the ground are doing.)
The WashPost started the domino effect Sunday night. "While Donald Trump ran for president," the paper said, "his company was pursuing a plan to develop a Trump Tower in Moscow." The Post's Ryan Y. Kellett responded to commenters who said the scoop was badly timed and that the paper should've waited. "This incorrectly assumes we can sit on news," he wrote. "When it's ready, it publishes."
Maybe we saw why on Monday -- when the NYT one-upped the Post by printing the actual correspondence that the Post had merely described. Then the Post came back with more -- even more info about the emails.
-- The NYT's hed: "Trump Associate Boasted That Moscow Business Deal 'Will Get Donald Elected'"
-- The Post's hed: "Top Trump Organization executive asked Putin aide for help on business deal"
-- CNN's latest Manu Raju exclusive: "How a request about Russians made its way from West Virginia to Trump's team"
-- NBC's scoop timed to the nightly news: "Mueller Team Asking If Trump Tried to Hide Purpose of Trump Tower Meeting" | | Here are Friday's ratings, since the president assumed... | | I believe this is a first: a president explaining the timing of a pardon by citing the TV ratings race. At Monday's joint presser, President Trump said he wasn't attempting a Friday "news dump" by announcing the Joe Arpaio pardon right before the hurricane hit. On the contrary: "I assumed the ratings would be far higher than they would be normally," thanks to the storm coverage on TV.
Talking about ratings right after a disaster is always fraught, but since POTUS went there, here are the facts... Fox News + CNN + MSNBC averaged a combined 6 million viewers on Friday evening. The Arpaio news broke at 8, and CNN and MS started to cover it right away. Fox was much slower for some reason.
I'd say 6 million is higher, but not "way higher," than usual. On the other Friday nights this August the cablers had averaged 5.4, 4.6 and 4.7 million viewers...
-- Josh Barro tweeted: "I actually take Trump's 'ratings' line a little differently. My guess is staff wanted the pardon buried, and Trump wanted it prominent." | | The prez endorses Fox wannabe OANN | | At Monday's joint presser, Trump called on Dallas Morning News D.C. bureau chief Todd Gillman (smart move by the press shop), Fox's John Roberts and One America News Network's Trey Yingst.
Trump recognized Yingst, most likely from his frequent questions at press briefings... or perhaps from OANN programs? "I want to congratulate you on the network," Trump said, "it's a great network." I couldn't help but wonder if Trump was trying to irritate Rupert Murdoch and co...
-- Context: OANN is a wannabe Fox rival that is hampered by lack of TV distribution. It doesn't subscribe to Nielsen ratings, which suggests it's quite small...
-- +1 to Philip Rucker's tweet: "Yingst regularly asks sharp and direct questions..." | | Trump mixes up two blondes | | | CNN's Betsy Klein writes: During the presser, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto called on a member of his traveling press corps. "Again?" Trump asked his Nordic counterpart, apparently thinking he had called on a reporter who had already asked a question. "You're going to give her the same one?" "No, she is not the same lady," Niinisto said... "We have a lot of blonde women in Finland," the reporter quipped... | | "We were targets" of Antifa "because we had cameras" | | Violence perpetrated by black-clad "Antifa" members in Berkeley on Sunday received relatively little attention amid the emergency in Texas. But big news outlets like the WashPost reported on the attacks and the Trump supporters who were injured. On Monday the aftermath was a major story for some conservative outlets.
I'd like to highlight also the latest example of reprehensible violence against members of the media who show up to cover these protests. Filmmaker Leighton Woodhouse was there on Sunday working on a doc... He witnessed Antifa members blocking photogs and smashing equipment... "One of my filmmaking partners and I got pushed around by Antifa, too. We were targets because we had cameras." Read more...
-- More: Al Leston, the host of Reveal (which is put out by The Center for Investigative Reporting) intervened to defend a man being attacked by a group reportedly made up of Antifa members... (Reveal News) | | Hoaxer targets popular anti-Trump tweeters | | | Oliver Darcy emails: An anonymous person fed bogus information to Claude Taylor, a popular anti-Trump Internet personality, and was able to fool Taylor into posting it to his Twitter account as fact, according to a Monday report in The Guardian, which spoke with the hoaxer. The false information was retweeted by Taylor ally Louise Mensch (who has denied being taken in by the hoaxer) and ricocheted through the conspiratorial left-wing echo chamber that has expanded since Trump's election. Confronted with the information, Taylor wrote on Twitter, "As a 'citizen journalist' I acknowledge my error and do apologize." You can read the emails between Taylor and the hoaxer here... | | BuzzFeed staffing up for Twitter morning show | | Oliver Darcy emails this scooplet: BuzzFeed has hired Edward Wyckoff Williams as a senior booking producer for its new Twitter morning show, "AM to DM." Williams most recently worked as a senior booking producer for MSNBC. BuzzFeed has hired seven staffers so far for the show, which premieres September 25 at 10am...
Speaking of... | | BANNER ADS on BuzzFeed... "The decision shows the limitations of native ads" | | | A huge change for a biz built on "native" ads: "After eschewing banner ads for years, BuzzFeed is finally embracing them," BI's Tanya Dua reports. "BuzzFeed will introduce display ads that will be bought and sold using third-party ad technology on a global basis." Re: "global," Jonah Peretti says this will "generate revenue in markets before we've built business teams to implement native monetization..." | | | >> Mike Shields' take for BI: "Never say never in digital media... The decision shows the limitations of native ads... As an IPO approaches, Buzzfeed will now turn on the taps to 'programmatic ad' revenue..." | | Hear from Emmy Rossum, Tig Notaro, Mandy Moore, Freida Pinto, Regina King and more... | | Megan Thomas emails: I'm thrilled to introduce a new series from CNN Entertainment that highlights iconic work by women in television: As Told By Her.
Featuring video interviews with ten inspiring female storytellers who are shaping the industry and a nod to TV trailblazers of the past, the series is a conversation about strength, authenticity, seeing and being seen. Memorable characters, great stories -- As Told By Her. Sandra Gonzalez led the way on this project... check it out here! | | -- Congrats to Tampa Bay Times editor Neil Brown... he's the new president of Poynter... he'll be starting in a few weeks... (Poynter)
-- Paul Farhi tweets: "Pres/CEO of Newseum, Jeff Herbst, suddenly steps down. Interim head will be Jan Neuharth, chair/CEO of Freedom Forum..." (Twitter)
-- "Bob, I could use some advice." Did you know Bob Iger has been mentoring the co-founder of Ample Hills Creamery? (Bloomberg)
-- Megan Thomas emails: Emily Nussbaum's profile of "Orange Is the New Black" creator Jenji Kohan is an inspiring testament to determination -- and the value of being a nerd... (The New Yorker)
-- Open this tab, read it when you have time: The Washingtonian's new profile of Sally Quinn... (Washingtonian) | | | ...That's what Norah O'Donnell said on the "CBS Evening News." She co-anchored the network's morning and evening newscasts from Houston on Monday, and she'll be there Tuesday as well. O'Donnell told TVNewser about how she had to move locations during "CBS This Morning" due to the rain and floodwaters... | | The rescues continued all day long, live on cable news | | Nimble TV crews on the back of pickup trucks and boats captured terrifying scenes all day long. Meanwhile, anchors back in the studio took calls from residents who still needed help...
-- Of the big morning shows, NBC's "Today" seemed to hew closest to a "normal" show. CBS and ABC went heavier with special coverage...
-- "GMA" had a remarkable interview in the 8am hour: A woman was live via her smartphone (Skype? FaceTime?) from the roof of her apartment building, pleading for help...
-- Lester Holt appeared on "Today" and anchored "NBC Nightly News" from Houston...
-- Tom Llamas anchored ABC's "WNT from there, too... He said "you can't tell where downtown ends and the bayou starts..." | | KHOU broadcasting with the help of stations in other states | | Houston's TV stations deserve all the praise and support they're getting. One angle to highlight: KHOU, the CBS station that had to evacuate its building on Sunday due to flooding, is broadcasting with the help of colleagues in other states.
"Currently, 9NEWS is running KHOU's newscast, which is on 24/7, out of our Denver building," KUSA in Denver explained Monday. Denver meteorologist Becky Ditchfield is helping with weather forecasts, for example. Both stations are owned by Tegna... | | Recommended: Space City Weather | | | The Space City Weather blog describes itself as "hype-free forecasts for greater Houston with Eric Berger and Matt Lanza." It is an excellent resource right now. This post explained how "Harvey will very likely produce the greatest total amount of rainfall in the United States from any single storm, at least during the last 120 years..." | | Social media's signal boost | | | My story from overnight: We're finding out what a major flood emergency looks like in the era of social media... | | By Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman:
-- ICYMI last night: Yashar Ali interviewed Kathy Griffin at length about being fired by CNN... (The Cut)
-- Read Rosie Gray's take on what Steve Bannon's return means for Breitbart... (The Atlantic)
-- Facebook just announced another "fake news" crackdown... Again focusing on cutting off ad $$$ to disinformation sites... (Mashable)
-- These are the dog days of summer... at the box office. The AP says last weekend was the worst weekend for Hollywood in 16 years... (AP)
-- Media Vox Pop is helping newsrooms create engagement through video by having audiences submit video replies to questions from the outlet. Newsday is experimenting with it... (NiemanLab)
-- The Guardian has announced the launch of theguardian.org, a new nonprofit aimed at supporting its journalism... (Digiday) | | CBS beats out a Murdoch to buy troubled Australian network | | Ivana Kottasová breaks down the CBS Corporation's latest move: "The American network has snapped up struggling Ten Network Holdings, giving it one of Australia's three major commercial broadcasters and a rare victory over the Murdoch family on its home turf."
-- More: "The emergence of CBS as the winning bidder surprised analysts, many of whom had expected a rival offer from Australian media tycoons Lachlan Murdoch and Bruce Gordon to be accepted..."
-- "CBS did not disclose the financial terms of the deal for Ten, which went into voluntary administration -- a process similar to bankruptcy -- in June..." | | Lowry's "Game of Thrones" recap | | Brian Lowry emails: It was an expectedly big night for HBO with the "Game of Thrones" season seven finale, which the network shrewdly preceded with a slew of promos for upcoming shows. The 80-minute episode drew a record 12.1 million viewers Sunday on the network -- up more than 30% compared to the season six finale -- ballooning to 16.5 million with streaming added in.
Creatively speaking, there was something for everyone in the episode, which sets the stage for what should be a huge final season -- the premiere date for which remains, at this point, a mystery. Based on the production schedule, THR is guesstimating the final surge might not begin until early 2019.
Read Lowry's full review here... | | Dissecting "Look What You Made Me Do" | | | Lisa Respers France emails: There's a lot to take in with Taylor Swift's new music video. There's shade being thrown, some parody and, of course, snakes. But know this: the superstar singer is well aware of what the world thinks of her. Here's a guide to what's going down in the music video for "Look What You Made Me Do..." | | Remembering Syd Silverman | | | Brian Lowry emails: When Syd Silverman sold Variety in 1987 (by happenstance, the year I started there), it ended more than 80 years of family ownership, and an era for a trade passed down across three generations. Silverman died Sunday at the age of 85... | | | "Reliable Sources" highlights | | | Four ways to catch up on the show | | | You can read the transcript, listen to the podcast through iTunes, watch video clips on CNN.com, or watch the full program on CNNgo. I recommend the video clips this week, since the podcast version includes some of our Harvey coverage... | | | Email reliablesources@cnn.com... we appreciate every message. The feedback helps us craft the next day's newsletter! | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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