| | | | Meet the Democrat from Alabama | | | CNN.com's headline at midnight ET: "CNN PROJECTION: DOUG JONES WINS." NYTimes.com: "Democrat Pulls Off an Upset in Alabama." FoxNews.com: "JONES DEFEATS MOORE." HuffPost: "To Dispatch A Predator." Wednesday's NY Daily News front page: "SCREW YOU & HORSE YOU RODE IN ON." | | The Post's lead: "In a stunning setback for the Republican Party..."
The AP: "In a stunning victory aided by scandal..."
The WSJ says the result "gave Democrats another burst of momentum ahead of the 2018 midterm races..."
The NYT's nut graf: "The upset delivered an unimagined victory for Democrats and shaved Republicans' unstable Senate majority to a single seat." | | At 10pm ET, the vote count began to tip in Jones' direction. I knew something was happening when Wolf Blitzer went to John King at the Magic Wall -- and then stayed there for 20 minutes. Moore's paths to victory vanished as more votes came in. Fox News and The AP both called the race at about 10:23. NYT at 10:28. CNN at 10:29. At the CNN studio in DC, Jennifer Granholm reached past Rick Santorum to high-five Bakari Sellers. "We should say a big thank-you to Alabamians," Granholm said.
At 10:33pm, while MSNBC was showing a live shot from the Jones party, anchor Lawrence O'Donnell felt that he needed to explain all the cheering. "Some news organizations have already called this race for Doug Jones," he said. But NBC/MSNBC held back... it wasn't until 10:47 that NBC called Jones the "apparent winner..." and Steve Kornacki said "I was wondering when that was going to happen!" | | "This definitely does show that there are standards and there are limits to what voters will accept, even in this era of tribes," Jake Tapper said on CNN shortly after the projection was made. He also called Jones' victory "a huge defeat for President Trump."
Shortly after 11pm, the president sent Jones a congratulatory tweet. Sen. Jeff Flake tweeted two words: "Decency wins." Jones declared victory on stage and said, "This entire race has been about dignity and respect."
But at 11:30 came a curveball: Moore said he wasn't conceding yet. Journalists didn't put too much stock in his recount talk, however. Jones is 1.5% ahead, and the threshold for an automatic recount is 0.5%... | | Hannity, Bannon and Breitbart lose | | Drudge's banner right now: "BANNON BUSTED."
Brit Hume on Fox: "What does this mean for the great Steve Bannon? A man we've been given to believe was a master political strategist?" The answer is embedded in the question. Bannon's stock is falling...
And what about Sean Hannity? He gave Moore an ultimatum, then waffled. On Twitter, he said Mitch McConnell "deserves a lot of the blame," and besides, "I wanted and endorsed Mo Brooks..."
-- The view from Breitbart: Charlie Spiering tweeted: "This is a scalp for the Washington Post -- no other way to slice it..." | | Former Breitbart spokesman Kurt Bardella emails... | | Kurt Bardella, who used to rep Breitbart, has become an outspoken critic of Bannon and the site.
"Let's not forget," he says, "that this race was competitive in the first place because of the diligence, competence and tenacity of some enterprising reporters at the Washington Post and the Birmingham News (among others). What happened tonight illustrates how impactful and important the free press is in our political process. No matter how much noise there is about the 'fake news' media, the fact remains that the frontline of defense for our Republic begins and ends with the ability to pursue the truth and tell it..." | | Another winner: The NYT's needle | | | The NYT's "Live Estimates of the Final Vote" model, better known as the "needle," was a hit again on this election night. The Cut blog cried out: "The New York Times Needle is Killing Us." All of a sudden, at about 10:20pm, the model went from ~75% to >95% for Jones... | | The power of the #MeToo movement | | | WashPost's Aaron Blake wrote: "Jones's win has to be a shot in the arm for the #MeToo movement. A year after sexual harassment accusations failed to bring down Trump, they were able to bring down a Republican in a dark-red state. Moore certainly had other problems, but this has to embolden other women who might be considering sharing their own stories. At the very least, it shows they can have real, palpable impact..." | | WashPost was barred from Moore campaign's event | | | A couple hours before polls closed, the WashPost confirmed that its reporters were denied access to Roy Moore's event. "We were denied credentials and when our reporters asked to enter they were told no," a spokeswoman said... | | | Chris Cillizza called it "an absolutely insane exchange between Jake Tapper and a Roy Moore spokesman." See for yourself here... | | | "Will Trump's lows ever hit rock bottom?" is the title of this blistering editorial in Wednesday's USA Today. It's guaranteed to be quoted on the A.M. shows. Trump is "uniquely awful," the editorial board says. His behavior is "sickening." He lacks "simple humanity." The pull quote: "A president who would all but call Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand a whore is not fit to clean the toilets in the Barack Obama Presidential Library or to shine the shoes of George W. Bush." | | | Wednesday morning on NBC, Savannah Guthrie has the exclusive sit-down with Kirsten Gillibrand... | | -- The White House had a warning for CNN's Jim Acosta on Tuesday: Ask Trump a question at an event you're about to attend, and you may not be allowed into similar events. Tom Kludt has the full story here...
-- Former Trump advisor Carter Page's latest attention-grabbing stunt: He wants to join the DOJ's suit against the AT&T-Time Warner deal. Oliver Darcy explains it here...
-- It's time for NiemanLab's annual compilation of predictions for the new year... | | | That's what David Faber is hearing: "21st Century Fox and Disney are on a 'glide path' for a Thursday deal announcement, sources familiar with the deal said..." | | "A once-unthinkable deal..." | | | Brooks Barnes and Michael de la Merced's lead in Wednesday's NYT: Disney is poised "to complete a once-unthinkable deal to swallow most of Rupert Murdoch's movie and television empire, a $60 billion-plus acquisition that would supercharge Disney's global streaming-service ambitions, threaten to undercut Silicon Valley's entertainment aspirations and most likely prompt further consolidation in Hollywood." Their sources also say an agreement is "coming as soon as Thursday..." | | More consolidation coming | | | Michael Nathanson quoted in the NYT: "This is a massive, out-of-the-blue idea with enormous ramifications. Direct-to-consumer services like Netflix will face more challenges for market share. For Hollywood, it begs for more consolidation. There will be one or two fewer studios a year from now. What happens to CBS and Viacom?" | | -- When the new owners of LA Weekly took over, all the top editors were laid off except for Hillel Aron. Now he's been suspended for posting "extremely offensive and unacceptable" tweets... (Spin)
-- Jim Roberts is joining Cheddar as the startup's first editor in chief... (Axios)
-- PolitiFact's 2017 lie of the year is "Trump's claim that the Russia interference is a hoax..." (PolitiFact)
-- And Merriam-Webster's 2017 word of the year is feminism... (Vox) | | "Rather than give up on 'Today' in the wake of veteran co-anchor Matt Lauer's departure, viewers are flocking to it," Variety's Brian Steinberg reports. "For the second consecutive week, the first two hours of the NBC morning program surged ahead" of "GMA" both in total viewers and the demo...
--> "Today" viewers are supporting the "family" at a time of turmoil. Is this an aberration... or will this last? | | Five NFL commentators suspended | | | Bloomberg's scoop: "The NFL Network, ESPN and Bill Simmons' The Ringer have suspended five on-air commentators and a senior executive after allegations of sexual harassment by a former co-worker." Ike Taylor, Heath Evans, and Marshall Faulk have been suspended by NFL Network. Donovan McNabb and Eric Davis have been suspended by ESPN... | | NYT's newest investigation | | | An Phung emails: The NYT does it again. Their latest: "Ken Friedman, Power Restaurateur, Is Accused of Sexual Harassment." I read this story -- and many others like it recently -- and couldn't help but think about how the advent of text messaging and smartphone cameras have given harassers new ways to prey on their victims. The screenshots from Friedman accuser Carla Rza Betts' iPhone published with the Times story serve as a stark reminder that harassment can happen even when you think you're safe and far from the prying eyes of your harasser. On the other hand, nothing is more damning to the accused than a trail of text messages. Seeing the texts gives these stories even more credibility and weight... | | | Anthony Bourdain wrote this Medium post in reaction to the stories about Friedman and Mario Batali. "I stand unhesitatingly and unwaveringly with the women..." | | Kantor and Twohey on the cover of Variety | | | Variety EIC Claudia Eller tells me: "We devoted our last issue of the year to the biggest story of 2017 -- sexual harassment. We thought it only fitting to put New York Times' investigative reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey on our cover, as they deserve the credit for breaking open the dam with their deeply reported takedown of alleged serial abuser Harvey Weinstein." The feature will be up on Variety.com early Wednesday morning... | | | An Phung emails: My second favorite newsletter, The #MeToo Moment, came with a "how to" guide on how bystanders can help those who are being harassed at work. "Bystander intervention" works because "it makes preventing harassment everybody's responsibly," the NYT's Claire Cain Miller wrote in Tuesday's edition... | | | "Netflix has fired the executive who told one of Danny Masterson's alleged sexual assault victims that he did not believe the claims against the former 'The Ranch' star," THR's Natalie Jarvey reports, citing sources... | | Maybe the president should watch this instead | | | "The problem is not how much TV Mr. Trump watches. It's the kind of TV he watches," James Poniewozik writes in Wednesday's NYT. Yes, Poniewozik is referencing cable news shows that are "designed to make him angrier." Poniewozik says he wishes Trump would watch an old movie, a "mindless sitcom" or the Golf Channel instead... | | | For the record, part three | | | -- Here's the first trailer for "Homeland" season seven... (EW)
-- Jorge Ramos has written a book, "Stranger: The Challenge of a Latino Immigrant in the Trump Era," for Vintage Books... It'll come out on Feb. 27, 2018, coinciding with the deadline to extend DACA...
-- "Apple has hired two legal execs -- Philip Matthys from Hulu and Jennifer Wang Grazier from Legendary Entertainment -- for key business affairs roles on its expanding original entertainment team..." (Variety) | | Lowry's "Last Jedi" review | | Our critic Brian Lowry says "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" "falls short of sky-high hopes." Here's his full review.
Lowry emails: In reviewing, as in politics, if you're explaining, you're losing. That said, here's a disclaimer regarding my tepid appraisal of "Star Wars: The Last Jedi." First, I'd say the advance social-media hoopla/first reactions – coupled with Disney's terrific ad campaign – somewhat backfired in this case, feeding the sky-high expectations. And the same goes for Lucasfilm's decision to place the development of a new trilogy under the stewardship of "Last Jedi" writer-director Rian Johnson, which offered a powerful pre-release endorsement of the film. I'd also allow that one's relationship with "Star Wars" movies has a way of evolving over time. While I still wince at a lot of the writing in George Lucas' second trilogy, for example, there are scenes I can watch over and over again...
-- Lowry adds: It's also worth noting that the passion that surrounds these movies can be perilous for critics, who are wise to err on the side of caution on the spoiler front. Based on the response I've received, add "spoiler" to the list of things that we probably need to do a better job of describing to the public. For the record, it doesn't mean confronting you with a dissenting opinion; rather, it means not giving away key plot details that will diminish the viewing experience... | | Pallotta's Light Side rebuttal | | "Star Wars" super-fan Frank Pallotta wrote this rebuttal to Lowry's "Dark Side" review:
When it comes to "Star Wars," being a fan can be as perilous as being a critic. When I tell people that I loved "Last Jedi" they only half-listen. "Of course you loved it, Frank. You've been drinking that galactic Kool Aid for years." This is why I watched the film last night with open eyes rather than an open heart. And, yep, I still loved it. "Star Wars" at its best is about finding your place in the world (or in this case, galaxy). "Last Jedi" does that in a beautiful way, both emotionally and visually. It's fun yet heavy, surprising but not outrageous. It's everything a "Star Wars" fan would want, but more importantly it's also joyful escapism for those who have never even heard of Luke, Rey, or Kylo Ren... | | Biggest ticket seller of 2017 | | | Frank Pallotta reports: "Last Jedi" has become Fandango's top advance ticket seller of the year, three days before it opens. It toppled another Disney film, "Beauty and the Beast," and is the biggest ticket pre-seller for the site since the series' last film, 2015's "The Force Awakens..." | | Che, Jost becoming co-head writers of "SNL" | | | Via THR: "SNL" has "named 'Weekend Update' duo Michael Che and Colin Jost as head writers. They will join current head writers Kent Sublette and Bryan Tucker, who took over earlier this year for Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider on the NBC staple. 'SNL' has also tapped Sudi Green and Fran Gillespie as writing supervisors..." | | SAG Award noms on Wednesday | | | The nominees for the 24th Annual SAG Awards will be announced at 10am ET Wednesday. The announcement will be streamed live at sagawards.org... | | Jada Pinkett Smith calls out the HFPA | | Megan Thomas emails: Jada Pinkett Smith is accusing the Hollywood Foreign Press Association of ignoring her summer hit "Girl's Trip." In a series of tweets posted Monday and Tuesday, Pinkett Smith shared her disappointment that co-star Tiffany Haddish didn't receive a nomination and called for discussion about "antiquated" ideas in Hollywood.
"Hollywood has systems in place that must learn to expand its concepts of race, gender equality and inclusion in regard to its perceptions of art across the board," she said...
-- Haddish, whose scene-stealing "Girl's Trip" performance has earned her frequent comparisons to Melissa McCarthy's work in "Bridesmaids," may have better luck when the SAG Award noms are announced. Meantime, Haddish is on a hilarious book tour for her memoir, "The Last Black Unicorn." If you missed her appearance on "The Daily Show" late last week, she made Trevor Noah laugh so hard he had to walk away. It's an instant mood-lifter... | | | For the record, part four | | | By Lisa Respers France:
-- Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is about to be seriously outnumbered. He and his girlfriend are expecting a girl -- the actor's third daughter...
-- Lin-Manuel Miranda celebrated a Twitter milestone in a very "Hamilton" way...
-- Here's what we learned from "The Bachelor" special... | | | 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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