| | | | | Exec summary: Scroll down for Ralph Peters' scorching statement about Fox News, NYMag's new hire, Google's subscription help, and another "Black Panther" record... Plus, a snow day delay in the AT&T trial... | | Lawmakers in the U.S. and the U.K. are asking Mark Zuckerberg to testify... FTC officials are making inquiries... And Cambridge Analytica is suspending CEO Alexander Nix.
What will Wednesday bring? Maybe a public statement from Zuckerberg and/or Sheryl Sandberg. As CNN's Laurie Segall reported, frustration is brewing inside Facebook about the company's response to this crisis...
--> FB says Zuckerberg and Sandberg are "working around the clock to get all the facts... The entire company is outraged we were deceived..."
--> Zuck's former mentor Roger McNamee told Christiane Amanpour that Facebook is confronting a crisis of public trust "that is going to destroy the company..."
--> Wired's Nicholas Thompson and Fred Vogelstein summed it up well here: "A Hurricane Flattens Facebook" | | Donie O'Sullivan emails: We tracked down Aleksandr Kogan, the scientist that swept up Facebook data on millions of Americans for Cambridge Analytica. He says Facebook is making him a scapegoat... He suspects thousands of other developers gathered Facebook data just like him... And he says he's willing to talk to Congress...
--> Kogan's point about FB: "Using users' data for profit is their business model..."
--> Donie adds: For a guy that has prompted so much international intrigue these past few days, Kogan seems quite calm about it all. He seems to find it more surreal than anything else... | | This headline is No. 1 on the WashPost web site right now: "Trump's national security advisers warned him not to congratulate Putin. He did it anyway."
The Post says President Trump ignored the "DO NOT CONGRATULATE" message in his briefing materials. Chris Cillizza's reaction: "Telling Donald Trump not to do something is like waving a red cape in front of a bull..."
ABOUT THE LEAK: "Admin officials I've spoken to are stunned by this leak. Has rattled senior officials," Axios's Jonathan Swan tweeted. On "CNN Tonight," Scott Jennings said the leaker should be prosecuted. Fox's Ari Fleischer tweeted: "Who leaks this stuff? This WH still is disloyal to the president and to each other. What a mess..." | | | There's so much news about Trump and women, it barely fits in the CNN banner: "PORN STAR, PLAYMATE AND REALITY STAR ALL IN LEGAL ACTION OVER TRUMP" | | The National Enquirer's parent company paid former Playboy model Karen McDougal $150,000 in the run-up to election day... But never published her account of an affair with Trump. Now she's suing the Enquirer, saying the confidentiality agreement is invalid. But the Enquirer's parent company says it has not "silenced" her.
The NYT broke this news on Tuesday... Here's our full story on CNN.com... | | Another coup for Anderson Cooper | | | First Anderson Cooper taped an interview with Stormy Daniels for CBS's "60 Minutes." Now he's interviewing Karen McDougal for CNN's "AC360." The McDougal interview will air on Thursday... The Daniels interview is expected to air on Sunday, although CBS still hasn't officially announced it... | | | ...Of Daniels taking a polygraph rest in 2011 doubled as a reminder to tune in to the "60 Minutes" interview this weekend. The picture and the polygraph report were given to CNN by her attorney Michael Avenatti... Later in the day, Avenatti and Michael Cohen's attorney had an epic war of words on "AC360," as recapped by Mediaite here... | | When you can't sue for sexual assault because the statute of limitations has passed, you sue for defamation. That's what former "Apprentice" contestant Summer Zervos is doing... And on Tuesday, a judge sided with her, rejecting Trump's motion to dismiss... Here's my full story...
-- Laura Coates on "CNN Tonight:" Trump "can be deposed potentially..."
-- BUT: Georgetown professor Maria Glover told the WashPost to expect appeals: This "means that we won't be getting Trump's deposition quite so fast..." | | | Brian Lowry emails: It's been pretty fascinating watching the media coverage oscillate between two major Trump campaign-related stories -- Stormy Daniels, which doesn't require a whole lot of explanation; and the Cambridge Analytica story, which does... | | Speaking of powerful men who have kept women quiet... | | | Tom Kludt emails: At this point, we know A LOT about Bill O'Reilly's settlements. They spelled the end of his Fox career -- and $32 million is a figure that will follow him for the rest of his life. But for all the explosive reporting, we still don't know the exact contents of those settlements. Three women who are suing O'Reilly and Fox News for defamation and breach of contract are trying to change that. Their attorneys filed a motion on Tuesday asking a judge to dismiss O'Reilly's request to have the settlements entered under seal. The mere revelation of the settlements' existence was enough to end O'Reilly's successful career on cable news; it's safe to wonder if the terms of the agreements would permanently eliminate any chance of a comeback. Read more... | | 🔥 Fox News is "wittingly harming our system of government for profit," Fox contributor says | | Oliver Darcy emails: A friend of Fox News analyst Ralph Peters told me that the retired US Army lieutenant colonel had told friends he planned on exiting the network in a "nuclear" fashion – and on Tuesday, he didn't disappoint. In an email sent to a handful of colleagues, Peters denounced Fox News as a "propaganda machine" devoted to Trump and said the network was "wittingly harming our system of government for profit."
He didn't stop there. In the scathing note, first reported on by BuzzFeed, and confirmed by CNN, Peters wrote that he believed that Fox News is "assaulting our constitutional order and the rule of law." He said he was "ashamed" to be associated with the network. Here's the letter... And Darcy's full story... | | Fox says Peters wants attention | | Fox News responded in a statement to CNN: "Ralph Peters is entitled to his opinion despite the fact that he's choosing to use it as a weapon in order to gain attention. We are extremely proud of our top-rated primetime hosts and all of our opinion programing."
--> Peters responded: "Fox can assail me all it wants, but I intend to do what I believe is ethically correct..." | | -- Bill Simmons Media Group president Eric Weinberger, who was suspended three months ago amid harassment allegations, has exited the company... He "mutually agreed" to leave two weeks ago... (NYT)
-- "The U.K. production company behind Netflix's 'The Crown' has apologized to stars Claire Foy and Matt Smith for thrusting the pair into the middle of a pay equity debate..." (CNN)
-- Les Payne, a Pulitzer winning former editor of Newsday and a founder and past president of NABJ, has died. Payne was "a true pioneer," CNN's S. Mitra Kalita emailed me. "A hero and mentor to countless journalists, notably minority ones..." (Newsday) | | Google to news biz: We want to help! | | | At a press event in NYC on Tuesday, Google said it is committing $300 million over the next three years to help "strengthen quality journalism." The new "Google News Initiative" consolidates the company's various tools and investments. Some of the $$$ will fund a "Disinfo Lab." Some will fund a digital literacy curriculum called "MediaWise." Here's my story... | | | To me, Tuesday's most significant announcement was "Subscribe with Google," which lets people sign up for news subscriptions with the billing information Google already has on file... McClatchy and the WashPost are already on board... | | Google's $300 million over three years "works out to about 1 of the ad revenue Google generated in the last three months of 2017," Peter Kafka pointed out. "And that money won't go to the publications themselves. If Google and Facebook really wanted to help publications, they would start writing them real, substantial, shore-up-the-business-sized checks... But that kind of wealth redistribution would be a very radical step -- not the kind of thing Google is announcing today."
--> The headline on Kafka's piece: "Google and Facebook can't help publishers because they're built to defeat publishers"` | | -- Paul Farhi calls this "the big blur:" On cable, "opinions and news and journalists and pundits all share the same space..." (WashPost)
-- Alexandra Steigard says "Bloomberg is among potential acquirers who have circled Fortune magazine..." (NYPost)
-- Whereby.Us is adding "two more cities to its growing roster," and eyeing six more cities... (NiemanLab) | | SNOW DAY! Opening statements delayed til Thursday | | "Judge Richard Leon has delayed opening statements in the Justice Department's lawsuit blocking AT&T's purchase of Time Warner due to possible inclement weather," CNN's Jessica Schneider and Hadas Gold report.
Wednesday's opener will now take place on Thursday... But the attorneys for both sides gave a preview during Tuesday's evidentiary arguments session... Read more here... | | When should a video with "borderline hate speech" be kept up on YouTube? And when should it be taken down? The site took down some newsworthy footage The Atlantic had posted -- famous footage of "alt-right members giving Nazi salutes" -- but then "restored the video after being questioned." YouTube said it was a mistake, of course...
--> EIC Jeffrey Goldberg: "It is up to YouTube to hire people who can tell the difference between videos made by Nazis and videos about Nazis..." | | Debenedetti jumping to NYMag | | | Oliver Darcy emails: Gabriel Debenedetti is leaving Politico and joining New York mag as a national correspondent covering the political landscape, NYMag EIC Adam Moss is set to announce on Wednesday. Debenedetti will contribute to the Daily Intelligencer and write for the print magazine... | | NBC's doc about MLK and the media | | NBC News previewed "Hope & Fury: MLK, The Movement and The Media" at the Paley Center in NYC on Tuesday night. If you like this newsletter, I think you'll like the documentary -- it's a two-hour look at MLK and how the civil rights movement was portrayed by the media. John Lewis says it best in the doc: "Without television, the civil rights movement would have been a bird without wings."
Spotted at the screening and panel: Andy Lack, Lester Holt, Joy Reid, Phil Bertelsen, Rachel Dretzin, Amy Goodman, Gay Talese, Noah Oppenheim, Phil Griffin, Yvette Miley, Aymen Mohyeldin, Liz Cole, Jonathan Wald, Michael Calderone, Oliver Darcy, Jon Levine... | | | For the record, part three | | | By Megan Thomas:
-- The Atlantic launched a new family section on Tuesday. Billed as "a new hub for coverage of American life, from the viewpoint of its most basic unit..." (The Atlantic)
-- Among the 394-page list of people owed money by the Weinstein Co.? Judi Dench, Malia Obama and Ryan Coogler... (Deadline)
-- Mood lifter of the day: Amy Poehler's directorial debut, "Wine Country," will have wine and lots of "SNL" alums, Sandra Gonzalez reports... (CNN) | | John Oliver's children's book is sold out | | Frank Pallotta emails: John Oliver's children's book -- which trolls the Pence family's children's book -- is still No. 1 on Amazon. The site says it is "temporarily out of stock." Oliver explained on "Ellen" that the book actually sold out because "we were not anticipating people really buying it."
"But they're doing a reprint, so you can still buy it," Oliver said. "It'll take a few weeks." Meanwhile, the Pence family's book is No. 4 on Amazon... | | | Comey's forthcoming book is No. 2... | | Here is Comey's book tour schedule (so far) | | On Tuesday CNN announced that Jake Tapper will have the first cable news interview with James Comey during Comey's book tour. Here's how the tour is shaping up, with more to be added:
Sunday, April 15: Prime time special with ABC's George Stephanopoulos
Tuesday: "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert"
Wednesday: The "Today" show and "The View"
Thursday: "The Lead with Jake Tapper," "The Rachel Maddow Show" and a live taping with David Remnick | | MGM CEO "abruptly leaving" | | "In yet another major leadership shake-up at a Hollywood studio, Gary Barber is out as CEO and chairman of MGM," THR's Pamela McClintock reported Monday night. He "recently renewed his contract through 2022," but now he "is abruptly leaving after eight years at the helm..."
WHAT HAPPENED? "Sources with knowledge of the situation said it really came down to fighting about the direction of the company and a difference of opinion between Kevin Ulrich, chairman of the board of directors, and Barber," Deadline's Anita Busch says. "Ulrich did not want a sale and Barber thought it would be good to entertain offers for one..." | | | Brian Lowry emails: Like "Gotham," "Krypton" is a prequel derived from one of DC Comics' signature heroes, exploring the planet's politics long before its most famous son, Superman, took off for Earth. David S. Goyer (whose writing credits include "Man of Steel") piloted the flight, and it's a pretty good one... | | "I Can Only Imagine" was set up for success | | | Brian Lowry emails: Vox's Alissa Wilkinson has a good piece about how the big opening weekend for the faith-based movie "I Can Only Imagine" shouldn't really be a surprise, with the evangelical (mostly) audience having demonstrated that it can be "a power player at the box office" (see "The Passion of the Christ"), and more movies upcoming designed to tap into that base... | | "Black Panther," Twitter King | | | Frank Pallotta writes: "Black Panther" is the most-tweeted about movie of all time, Twitter announced on Tuesday. The film has amassed more than 35 million tweets, which is more than the last two "Star Wars" films... | | | Email brian.stelter@turner.com... the feedback helps us improve this newsletter every day... Thanks! | | | | | | |
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