| | | | | Exec summary: Scroll down to find out why Tronc's disarray is back in the news, why Sean Hannity is denying "coordination" with the president, and why Don Lemon talked about punching me in the face... | | The banner on "CNN Tonight" right now: "JAMES COMEY IS GOING TO WAR WITH DONALD TRUMP." Portions of Comey's book "A Higher Loyalty" began to leak out on Thursday... The NYPost published quotes, then the AP, the WashPost... So some of the highlights are now out...
-- "Trump raised 'golden showers thing' with Comey"
-- "James Comey slams 'the forest fire that is the Trump presidency'"
-- "Obama reassured Comey after election amid email investigation controversy"
The big picture via CNN's Chris Cillizza: Comey "is aiming to tear the hide off Trump and expose what he views as a President who is unfit for the office. The Point: Buckle up." | | The publishing world's next sensation | | The same publishing house behind "Fire and Fury," Macmillan, is also releasing "A Higher Loyalty." But it's a different imprint of Macmillan this time: Flatiron Books. The publishing execs weren't exactly surprised when the quotes leaked... If anything, the surprise is that nothing leaked SOONNER!
Some interviewers and reviewers had already received copies of the book... So when the leaks started on Thursday, Flatiron lifted the review/media embargo... That's how the NYT was able to publish Michiko Kakutani's review so swiftly... | | "GMA" will air a clip in the A.M. | | | George Stephanopoulos, who taped his sit-down with Comey on Monday, tweeted on Thursday night that he'll have a clip from the interview on Friday's "GMA." The clip is about what Comey "said and thought when telling Trump about Steele Dossier." Producers are busy prepping Sunday night's special... | | The book is back at #1 on Amazon | | Last month a @realDonaldTrump tweet helped lift Comey's book to #1 on Amazon's constantly-updated best sellers list. The book has been near the top ever since, thanks solely to pre-orders. On Thursday returned to #1...
--> Friday morning: I'll have a scoop about the book on CNNMoney's media page... | | This is Comey's book tour schedule | | This is an incomplete list:
April 15: ABC prime time special
April 17: "GMA," "Morning Edition," "Fresh Air," Colbert
April 18: "The View," some foreign press
April 19: Tapper, live podcast with Remnick, Maddow
April 24: Book party in DC
April 25: CNN town hall
April 26: Baier | | | At The Hollywood Reporter's annual NYC party on Thursday night, I asked Michael Wolff: Will Comey out-sell "Fire and Fury?" The response was classic Wolff: "He can't possibly sell more books than me." | | "Madam President" #1 on the NYT list | | Obama/Clinton comms vet Jennifer Palmieri's book "Madam President" landed in the #1 spot on the NYT's best selling books list this week. She tweeted Thursday: "Really glad that I hit number 1 just under the wire before Jim Comey's book comes out next week and he crushes my dream. AGAIN."
🔌: Palmieri will join me on this Sunday's "Reliable Sources..." | | More layoffs at Univision | | | "The company laid off more than 150 people on Thursday, across the company, including at the beleaguered Fusion Media Group," The Information's Tom Dotan reports. "These cuts follow the layoffs of about 20 people last month." The cuts "suggest Univision is retreating from its lavish plunge into digital media in recent years..." | | "Former Los Angeles Times Editor in Chief Lewis D'Vorkin was fired by Tronc Inc. on Thursday and several dozen other employees of the company were laid off," the LAT's Andrea Chang reports.
Here's the deal: D'Vorkin's brief tenure as LAT editor ended in February when he was named the "chief content officer" of a new digital business called "Tribune Interactive." Now it seems like that division is being shut down. In short: The situation at Tronc is bad and still getting worse...
--> JUST IN: The NYPost reported Thursday night that Leon Black's Apollo Global Management "is eyeing an acquisition" of Tronc... | | -- NYT's Sydney Ember scoops: "A Colorado civic group wants to buy The Denver Post, days after the paper excoriated its hedge fund owner. Potential investors have so far pledged $10 million..." (NYT)
-- The pro-Trump duo Diamond & Silk "claim Facebook never contacted them" about censorship claims. "Facebook emails prove otherwise..." (The Daily Beast)
-- Something to keep in mind as Redstone vs. Moonves continues: "Les Moonves would collect at least $184 million if he" gets ousted... (Deadline) | | CNN's Hadas Gold and Jessica Schneider report: "AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner would not be anticompetitive and could even cause a price drop for consumers, an economist testified for AT&T on Thursday... The companies' expert witness, Professor Dennis Carlton, took the stand as part of an attempt by their attorneys to refute Wednesday's testimony by the government's expert witness, Professor Carl Shapiro, who said that his economic modeling has shown that the merger would cause prices to go up for consumers." Read the rest here...
--> Noted: "Though Carlton is the first witness for AT&T and Time Warner, the government has not actually rested its own case yet. Leon, who will rule on the case himself without a jury, announced that both parties had agreed to let Carlton testify so that he could benefit from having the two experts appear back to back..." | | "Delrahim, Makan an appearance" | | That headline comes courtesy of Hadas! She tweeted it when DOJ antitrust chief Makan Delrahim made an unusual appearance to argue on behalf of the government. "My goodness gracious," Judge Richard Leon said as Delrahim approached the bench to announce his name. "Honored to have you."
--> The trial will resume Monday... | | ESPN+ is here. "That name sounds mighty bland, but this will be a crucial area of Disney going forward," The Verge's Chris Welch wrote. CNNMoney's Jill Disis says "ESPN is marketing the new service to three types of customers. It's courting the superfans, people who watch niche sports like cricket and rugby, and fans of mid-major college teams, including those that play in the Ivy League and Missouri Valley Conference." Did you try it out? What'd you think?
--> As always, Peter Kafka said it best: "Disney is moving into streaming and this is the first toe in the water. More than an experiment, but not a game changer..." | | What's next, via Dylan Byers' PACIFIC newsletter: "The Zuckerberg hearings have raised national awareness about how much data Facebook collects on people, even when they're not on Facebook. The question now is whether Americans accept this level of monitoring as the new status quo or push lawmakers to enact regulation. As of today, based on the lack of user revolt and the absence of a cohesive congressional plan, regulation appears to be a long ways away." Read more...
--> Related: NBC's Claire Atkinson writes: "Facebook's scandals aren't hurting its bottom line" | | First trailer for The Fourth Estate | | | Here it is on YouTube. The Liz Garbus documentary series inside the NYT will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival at the end of this month... And then it'll premiere on Showtime on May 27... | | -- "Caliphate," what the NYT is calling its "first serialized audio narrative," was released to NYT subscribers on Thursday... It'll be released to everyone else next week... (NYT)
-- Lester Holt snagged an interview with imprisoned rapper Meek Mill by phone on Thursday... (NBC)
-- Lots of people talking about this piece: What Charlie Rose's life is like now... (THR) | | Spotted at THR's NYC party | | | I'm sure this spotted list is missing many, many people, but here goes: Andy Lack and David Rhodes catching up... Michael Avenatti talking with Megyn Kelly... Don Lemon chatting with Sean Hannity... Ronan Farrow, Kate Bolduan, Jeff Glor, Richard Plepler, Hoda Kotb, Savannah Guthrie, Noah Oppenheim, James Goldston, Al Roker, Joy Behar, Norah O'Donnell, Gayle King, David Remnick, Chris Licht, Omarosa Manigault, Anthony Scaramucci, Pat Kiernan, Jamie Stelter, Martha Stewart, Harris Faulkner, Eric Schneiderman, Amy Entelis, Judith Light, Ari Melber, Arianna Huffington, Ken Auletta, Jim Maiella, Christa Robinson, Mark Kornblau, Ali Zelenko, Amy Spitalnick, Jessie Angelo, Matthew Belloni, Lisa Dallos... | | Two ways the Enquirer helps POTUS | | Thanks to Ronan Farrow and The New Yorker, The National Enquirer is back in the news for its alleged use of "catch and kill" tactics to protect President Trump. Burying bad news is one half of the story. But what about the other half -- the Enquirer's promotion of pro-Trump storylines? That's what CNN's Julia Waldow examined on Thursday.
It's really remarkable: The Enquirer has been telling a consistent tale for more than a year. Trump is the hero of the Enquirer's covers. His enemies are numerous: The FBI, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Kim Jong Un, and "traitors." Check out our list of all of the Enquirer's Trump covers... | | Key graf in Ronan's latest | | What is the Trump-David Pecker relationship all about? Why would Pecker direct his staffers to spend large sums of $$$ to bury bad news for Trump?
"Two A.M.I. sources said they believed that the catch-and-kill operations had cemented a partnership between Pecker and Trump, and that people close to the President had subsequently introduced Pecker to potential sources of funding for A.M.I.," Farrow wrote.
>> You'll recall the NYT's story last month about Pecker and Saudi Arabia... | | Bauder interviews the "Fox & Friends" | | Lots of reporters have wanted to interview the hosts and producers of "Fox & Friends." The AP's David Bauder got the access...
>> Brian Kilmeade on Trump's viewership: "As much as he might like us, and I think he does, I think it's mostly he understands our audience. That's why he ran for president. He didn't run for president to be king of New York, or king of Washington. He knows we have a lot of viewers and he relates best to our viewers."
>> Ainsley Earhardt: "I guess in the back of my mind I occasionally think he could be watching. But it doesn't affect anything that I say, my opinions or how I report the news." (Really?)
>> Steve Doocy: "We give our opinion. We're not in the policy business."
>> Via Bauder, exec producer Gavin Hadden "said he was unaware of instances when it seemed clear a guest was trying to communicate with the president." (Again: Really?!) | | | On the left: Time mag's cover in late February 2017. On the right: This week's cover. Both were painted by Tim O'Brien. Here's the background... | | Hannity thanks Trump for the show promo | | Remember Trump's tweets urging people to tune into Sean Hannity's show on Wednesday? Well, Hannity's rival Rachel Maddow still had "the most-watched cable program" of the day, per Mediaite.
"I had no idea the president was planning to tweet," Hannity said Thursday night. "I'm glad he did. There was no coordinated effort." Then he railed against media coverage of the Trump tweet. Hannity called Callum Borchers' WashPost story -- "Sean Hannity, shadow White House press secretary?" -- "complete total fake news B.S." | | Via Mediaite's Justin Baragona: "Don Lemon Says He 'Can Punch Brian Stelter in the Face' To Make Point About Trump's Hannity Tweet."
His point was that just because he CAN punch me, doesn't mean he should... Just because Trump CAN promote Hannity's show, doesn't mean he should. Full explanation here... | | | For the record, part three | | | By Julia Waldow:
-- Fox News said it had "no knowledge" of a "Fox & Friends" tour being offered as a prize for donating to a FLAG gala headlined by Bill O'Reilly, Erik Wemple reveals... A Fox rep says the network is "not allowing" the show to be part of "any donation package..." (WashPost)
-- Very cool: Shan Wang unpacks the NYT's efforts to "preserve millions of old pages the way they were originally published..." (Nieman Lab)
-- "Broad City" is coming to a close in early 2019, but Comedy Central is continuing its collaboration with Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer through a first look deal. Three projects involving the duo ("Mall Town USA," "Platinum Status," and "Young Professionals") are already underway... (Comedy Central)
-- Here's a sneak peek at the new Gmail interface, complete with "snooze" features and an expandable column for loading widgets... (TechCrunch) | | ...Is presumed dead, but it was very much alive for a while. IMHO one of the untold media stories of last year is how serious Bob Iger really was about a possible presidential bid. In this Vogue profile, he says the Fox deal ended his contemplation: "The thought I had was coming from the patriot in me, growing up at a time when we respected our politicians not only for what they stood for but because of what they accomplished. I am horrified at the state of politics in America today, and I will throw stones in multiple directions. Dialogue has given way to disdain. I, maybe a bit naively, believed that there was a need for someone in high elected office to be more open-minded and willing to not only govern from the middle but to try to shame everyone else into going to the middle." | | Megan Thomas flagged this quote from the profile: "Bob is one of the people I respect most in the world," Oprah Winfrey said. "That's a very short list. He is infinitely capable of multiple categories of expertise, and he has created an environment where you can disagree with him -- and that's not just because I'm Oprah. I really, really pushed him to run for president, so much so that I said to him, 'Gee, if you ever decide to run for office, I will go door to door carrying leaflets. I will go sit and have tea with people.'
So interviewer Rob Haskell asked if there's a place for Iger in HER cabinet. "Um, I'd have been happy to be in his Cabinet..." | | Iger was in Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday. Just saying ;-)
(Thanks for the tip, Anousha Sakoui) | | | For the record, part four | | | By Daniella Emanuel:
-- The WashPost produced a 20-minute documentary about the student journalists at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School reporting on the aftermath of the mass shooting there... (WashPost)
-- Recommended: The female stars of morning TV talked with THR about the "harassment purge" at CBS, NBC and ABC... (THR)
-- ICYMI: Apple's $349 HomePod has not been having much sales success... (Bloomberg Technology) | | "If we've learned one thing in the last two years, it's that the technology we've created can have unintended consequences. The future is amazing. There's good, and there is also terrifying..."
--Chris Anderson speaking about Facebook, the digital advertising industry, etc at this year's TED conference... | | SAG wants Hollywood to stop holding meetings in hotel rooms | | Brian Lowry emails: Fixes to problems are seldom as simple -- or logical -- as the new guideline that SAG-AFTRA has proposed, which would end the practice of holding business-related meetings in hotel rooms and residences. But it feels like a long-overdue step in the right direction that would at least send a message that these interactions should be as professional as possible by situating them in a workplace setting. There is also, quite frankly, a power element baked into choosing such venues, which is also why it would be a good thing to dispense with feature interviews that reference the subject's room at the Peninsula.
Read Sandra Gonzalez's full story about the proposal here... | | | Brian Lowry emails: Dwayne Johnson has established what amounts to a formula and schedule, starring in a new movie roughly every four months. Viewed that way, his latest game-inspired endeavor, an old-fashioned monster movie titled "Rampage," is better than "Baywatch" and not as good as "Jumanji..." | | Lowry reviews "Borg vs McEnroe" | | | One more from Lowry: Although the movie is built around their epic Wimbledon showdown in 1980, "Borg vs McEnroe" is really about the goal -- and price -- associated with winning. If that seems timely in light of "winning's" introduction into our political discourse, the film -- which features Shia LaBeouf in the McEnroe part of the equation -- doesn't turn out to be much of a winner... | | | For the record, part five | | | By Lisa Respers France:
-- Of course Chloe Melas and I had the biggest story of the day: Khloé Kardashian welcomes a baby girl!
-- Taylor Swift has been giving fans a behind-the-scenes look at rehearsals for her "Reputation" tour...
-- Adam Savage is returning with a "MythBusters" series for kids... | | | Email brian.stelter@turner.com... the feedback helps us improve this newsletter every day... Thanks! | | | | | | |
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