| | | | Sixteen days since the ambush... | | "It only got worse today," Anthony Mason said on the "CBS Evening News."
ABC's Mary Bruce: "The week ended the same way it began -- with questions about why President Trump still hasn't addressed the ambush in Niger."
NBC's Peter Alexander: "The White House tonight trying to SILENCE the critics."
Let's talk about that... | | | This was the intro to Erin Burnett's CNN program Friday night: "A military dictatorship. That appears to be what the White House thinks the United States is. Today, when pressed about false statements made by chief of staff General John Kelly about Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said it's inappropriate to question a four-star general." | | It was CBS's Chip Reid who questioned Sanders about Kelly's errors, asked "Can he come out here to talk to us about this?" and then bluntly said, "he was wrong yesterday." That's what led Sanders to say this: "If you want to get into a debate with a four-star Marine general, I think that is something highly inappropriate."
You could hear the shock in the voices of some anchors and guests afterward. Jake Tapper called it "one of the most shocking things I've ever heard from that podium." An hour later Senator Lindsey Graham was asked if he agreed with Sanders, and he said, "No, not in America." CNN.com has a similar headline directed to Sanders right now: "That's not how democracy works." | | | President Trump's "record of insulting veterans and their families is now well known," Ari Melber said on MSNBC Friday night. But "this isn't just another squabble born of emotional neediness," he said. "It now includes a general in the White House who, caught in an incorrect claim, sends out an employee, paid by your tax dollars, to tell YOU that general is not subject to debate, because he's a general. Let me say this tonight to General Kelly: You will be debated. You will be questioned. And you now have an obligation to retract this odd White House spokesperson claim." | | | Giving Sanders the benefit of the doubt here, she was probably just trying to weasel out of a difficult line of questioning by Reid. (She backtracked in an email to CNN later in the day.) But this episode matters because she speaks for the U.S. on the world stage. Trump has been in office for 273 days, and for 273 days the Trump admin has been showing its disregard for the role of the free press... | | Let's remember how we got here... | | | CNN's Sara Murray asked the pivotal question during a Monday afternoon Q&A with POTUS. She asked about his silence re: Niger, and the president's response about calls to the families triggered days of followups and tweets and feuds. Here's the timeline from Wednesday's newsletter... | | -- New details about what happened in Niger are coming out every day...
-- WashPost's Philip Bump: "The White House is increasingly -- and worryingly -- using the military as a shield against criticism..." | | | -- The Daily Beast's latest: "It was a spectacularly-shambolic week for the White House. And Trump has absolutely no regrets about any of it..." | | Fox's latest Trump interview | | Sean Hannity had the interview last week. This week it's Maria Bartiromo, who taped with Trump on Friday. It'll air on her Fox News show on Sunday A.M. and her Fox Business show on Monday. The transcript shows zero mentions of the word "Niger" -- no questions about what the president knew, why he didn't speak publicly about the deaths, etc.
Trump did offer up a new defense of his tweeting habit, though. He said he noticed that "when I put it out," it being a tweet, "you put it immediately on your show. I mean the other day, I put something out, two seconds later I am watching your show, it's up." Yep, that's life in a cable news control room these days...
-- BTW: "Fox & Friends" is not the only morning show he's watching. On Friday A.M. Trump quoted directly from a banner on OANN, the small Fox rival... Media Matters spotted it... OANN thanked him for watching... | | "What The Hell Was This Rachel Maddow Segment?" | | | That's the headline on Willa Frej's piece for HuffPost about Rachel Maddow's "flimsy" Thursday night essay. "Maddow's segment was designed to strongly suggest, without outright stating, that Trump's addition of Chad in his latest travel ban prompted the country to remove its troops from Niger, leading to an increase in extremist attacks and ultimately claiming the lives of four U.S. soldiers." Read more... | | Fox reporter says "I should have done more" | | Fox correspondent Bryan Llenas apologized on the air on Friday for his faulty story about a glass artist who claimed he was a decorated war hero.
The artist, John Garofalo, wanted to gift a glass seal to POTUS. "Garofalo claimed he was a Vietnam veteran, a member of the first U.S. Navy SEAL team, and a decorated war hero who was awarded two Purple Hearts. Unfortunately, all of Garofalo's claims turned out to be untrue," Llenas said, repeating the correction that was posted on FoxNews.com on Thursday.
At the end, Llenas added: "There are lessons to be learned from this. I should have done more to verify his information. I sincerely apologize to our viewers, especially our veterans and servicemen and women."
-- Patton Oswalt tweeted: "Oh man @realDonaldTrump is gonna go BALLISTIC when he hears this. He HATES fake news!"
-- Don Shipley is the retired Navy SEAL who flagged Garofalo's false claims to Geoff Ziezulewicz, the Military Times reporter who broke the story. Both men will join me on Sunday's "Reliable Sources..." | | Here's the rest of the guest list | | | John Kirby, Olivia Nuzzi, Brian Karem, Noah Rothman, Hearst general counsel Eve Burton, and "Be Fierce" author Gretchen Carlson will join me... Sunday 11am ET on CNN... See you then! | | -- "LinkedIn would be open to developing or buying original video programs, CEO Jeff Weiner said in an interview, as an extension of a recent push into video..." (The Information)
-- "Let's take a moment to celebrate a rare victory for traditional TV over Netflix," Andrew Wallenstein writes. The occasion? The end of Chelsea Handler's talk show... (Variety)
-- About Jann Wenner's feud with biographer Joe Hagan: Wenner has "gone radio silent," Hagan says. "He de-friended me on Instagram..." (Billboard) | | He's done with rehab. Or is he? | | Ugh. Page Six had an item Friday morning that said Harvey Weinstein was "being belligerent at sex addiction rehab." Headline: "Weinstein doesn't seem to be taking sex rehab seriously."
So Weinstein fought back through an item on TMZ Friday afternoon. "Weinstein is leaving Arizona Saturday after completing a one-week program treating various psychological issues, and Weinstein's psychologist tells TMZ the fallen mogul took it seriously." The site claims that "Weinstein gave his treating psychologist permission to speak."
Here's the twist: Half an hour after the item posted, TMZ added an update. Or rather, a correction? "A Weinstein rep just called to say the plan has now changed," the update said. "Weinstein will stay in Arizona for another month or so because he doesn't want excessive distractions and wants to continue working with his doctors. The outpatient program which Weinstein entered still ends Saturday."
-- My takeaway: Weinstein is fully disgraced, but he's still using friendly media outlets the same way he did for decades... | | | Weinstein is in increasing legal jeopardy as more accusers come forward. He's persona non grata in Hollywood. And his former company remains in limbo. But this was the week the Weinstein scandal really expanded beyond Hollywood. You can see the "Weinstein Effect" in the fashion industry, in politics and in other fields. Here's my full story... | | -- APA Agency agent Tyler Grasham "has been terminated, effective immediately," the company said Friday, after two men lodged sexual assault allegations. Deadline's Anita Busch has details here...
-- Lockhart Steele, editorial director at Vox Media, "was fired late Thursday following a public allegation of sexual misconduct," Tom Kludt reports...
-- Vox CEO Jim Bankoff told staffers on Friday that "multiple investigations" are taking place, with assistance from the law firm Gibson Dunn...
-- "BuzzFeed is investigating allegations of harassment by its employees," BI reported Friday night, citing "people familiar with the matter..."
-- Other examples from earlier in the week: Roy Price resigned from Amazon... And the creator of an animated show on Nickelodeon was fired... | | | On CNNI Friday afternoon, Richard Quest devoted his hour to the aftermath of the Weinstein scandal. Poppy Harlow, Laurie Segall and I joined him for a roundtable discussion about what we've all learned from the past two weeks. Here's the video... | | "I feel optimistic that this is going to be a cultural shift. It doesn't happen overnight. But I do see it moving relatively quickly..."
--Gretchen Carlson in an interview we taped for this Sunday's show... | | "Meet the Press" asked senators about #MeToo | | | Via NBC PR: "'Meet the Press' reached out to every female U.S. senator, asking if any had #MeToo stories they were comfortable sharing with our viewers. Senators Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) shared their stories..." Here's a preview of what will air on Sunday... | | -- In this new NYT story about Bob Weinstein, attorney David Boies is quoted saying "he's working very hard to hold the company together, stabilize the company, protect the employees, protect his shareholders..."
-- Recommended: This CNN.com feature: "The survival stories that powered #MeToo"
-- The TV Academy is beginning the process of expelling Weinstein...
-- The Directors Guild will discuss the issue of sexual harassment at a board meeting on Saturday... | | New "Reliable" podcast with Kim Masters | | | Kim Masters' reporting led to the resignation of Roy Price this week. On this week's "Reliable Sources" podcast, Masters told me she knew about the harassment allegations against Price six months ago... But struggled to get the accuser on the record... And struggled to get her story cleared by lawyers. Listen to our conversation here... And/or read Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman's recap for CNNMoney... | | By Julia Waldow:
-- More of the "Weinstein effect:" More than 200 female animators from shows including "Bob's Burgers" and "Steven Universe" signed an open letter on Thursday saying "abuse has got to stop" in the animation industry... (THR)
-- "I interviewed an executive in his underwear to get the job done:" USA Today's Joanne Lipman reflects on sexual harassment in the media industry and the workplace at large... (USA Today)
-- Benedict Carey analyzes the science behind internalizing false or misleading information on digital platforms in his new piece "How Fiction Becomes Fact on Social Media..." (NYT) | | It's been one month since Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico | | | CNNMoney's Penelope Patsuris emails: Weather.com got a lot of props on Friday for the stark homepage it put together on the one-month anniversary of Hurricane Maria. The forecast for the day was "Listen up people!" | | "How a month of hurricane nightmares changed Puerto Rico -- and me" | | | Friday's must-read: Correspondent Leyla Santiago's essay for CNN.com about covering the disaster on the island she calls home... | | Chris Wallace speaks the truth | | Oliver Darcy emails: Fox News host Chris Wallace leveled sharp criticism against some of his opinion-side counterparts for their constant attacks on the media. In this interview with the AP's David Bauder, Wallace said, "I don't like them bashing the media, because oftentimes what they're bashing is stuff that we on the news side are doing. I don't think they recognize that they have a role at Fox News and we have a role at Fox News. I don't know what's in their head. I just think it's bad form."
>> Oliver adds: Wallace's remarks highlight the deepening divide between Fox's opinion hosts and its news anchors. Hosts like Sean Hannity regularly aim to delegitimize the media for being critical of Trump. And it's not just Hannity. Earlier this year, Wallace rebutted "Fox & Friends Weekend" host Pete Hegseth when he asked Wallace about the "hysteria" surrounding James Comey's firing. At the time, Wallace quipped back that it was a "big story" and "a legitimate" one to cover.
Here's Oliver's full story... | | | For the record, part three | | | By Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman:
-- The Information just announced the five successful applicants to its accelerator program for subscription media businesses. The site is also hiring 15 reporters... (TechCrunch)
-- Charlie Warzel has an insider's look into how Facebook employees are reacting to all the mostly negative attention the company is getting... (BuzzFeed News)
-- Related: Ricardo Bilton at NiemanLab summarizes the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week of press for tech companies... (NiemanLab)
-- Mathew Ingram says the newly expanded social media guidelines at the NYT and the WSJ "amount to damage control" and will backfire... (CJR)
-- Check out Craig Silverman's latest on a large ad fraud scheme that was triggering "an avalanche of fraudulent views of video ads" from over 100 brands on 40 websites... (BuzzFeed News) | | Oliver Darcy emails: Benny Johnson is out at The Independent Journal Review. In a staff memo obtained by Axios, IJR CEO Alex Skatell wrote: "After over two years at IJR working in a variety of roles, we've made the decision to move forward in different directions. We wish Benny all the best ahead in his future opportunities..."
>> I wrote this deep-dive into IJR while at BI back in March... It was based on conversations with more than a dozen current and former employees... The sources at the time characterized Johnson as a verbally abusive leader who had been accused by colleagues of plagiarism and flagrantly violating other company guidelines... | | Trump has talked about Nielsen ratings at least two dozen times since taking office | | | Brian Lowry emails: THR's Jeremy Barr went over the two dozen times that President Trump -- who used to wrongly say that "The Apprentice" was the No. 1 show on television -- has commented about TV ratings since taking office. And guess what? He's not always accurate now, either... | | | Lisa Respers France emails: Fans spent Friday deciphering the lyrics to Taylor Swift's latest single, "Gorgeous," in an attempt to tie it to her reported new beau... | | Lowry's look ahead to the new "Walking Dead" season | | | Brian Lowry emails: It's almost Halloween, and that means another season of "The Walking Dead." The post-apocalyptic drama returns amid a flurry of hoopla from AMC as the show hits the 100-episode milestone. But the premiere -- billed as "All Out War" -- follows what's been a rough summer off-screen for the series, including the tragic death of a stuntman and a second lawsuit over profits from the show filed by a group of producers. Get caught up here... with this SPOILER-FREE review... | | | One more from Lowry: A crazy-busy stretch for Stephen King adaptations ("It," "The Dark Tower," "The Mist") continues with "1922," a creepy, small-scale psychological thriller making its debut on Netflix... Read the full review here... | | | For the record, part four | | | By Lisa Respers France:
-- Julia Louis-Dreyfus has updated her fans on her cancer battle -- and she wants them to know she's a fighter...
-- Model Ines Rau has made history as the first transgender Playmate to get a spread in Playboy magazine...
-- Ed Sheeran is opening up about his recent accident which broke both his arms... and how substance abuse factored into his year-long hiatus from music...
-- Initially actress Amber Tamblyn defended her husband, "Arrested Development" star David Cross, when a comic said he made racist remarks to her. But now Tamblyn has reached out to the woman and said she believes her... | | | Email brian.stelter@turner.com... I 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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