| | | | | Exec summary: Friday the 13th lived up to its reputation. The day began with talk of "golden showers" and ended with missiles raining down on Syria... | | Trump "sending a message" to Assad | | The U.S. media is back on a war footing, at least for one night.
Newsrooms were on standby on Friday night, suspecting there might be an announcement from the White House or the Pentagon about new strikes in Syria. Anchors like NBC's Lester Holt and reporters like CNN's Barbara Starr stayed close to work. And the suspicions were confirmed just after 8:40pm: The networks had about 20 minutes of official notice before President Trump spoke in the Diplomatic Room and announced a joint U.S./UK/France operation targeting Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons capability. Reporters said Trump was "sending a message." The president implied that more strikes are possible in the coming days, but at a briefing one hour later Secretary of Defense James Mattis said this was "a one-time shot" for now. "It appears Mattis won the debate with Trump/Bolton/Haley over limited versus sustained military action against Syria," CNN's Jim Sciutto tweeted... | | Last April's headline: "'Horrible' pictures of suffering moved Trump to action on Syria." Videos of the April 7 chemical attack were similarly shocking. As Mattis said Friday night, "the world is watching in horror."
I was struck by the LACK of pictures of the U.S./UK/France retaliation. There were alerts about loud blasts near the Syrian capital, and reports of strikes in other locations as well, but there were precious few pictures. Several Syrians posted pitch-black videos on social media, but there was little to see. The sun came up about two hours after the strikes, so we may see more in the hours to come... | | -- Syrian visas are very hard to come by. As far as I can tell, CBS is the only U.S. network with a correspondent in Damascus right now. Seth Doane reported hearing explosions during the CBS special report at 9pm...
-- David Muir anchored ABC's coverage from Beirut, Lebanon... He was the only anchor in the region... He also anchored a special edition of "20/20" after the Pentagon briefing...
-- NBC had Richard Engel in Istanbul, but there were technical difficulties, and Bill Neely in Beirut...
-- CNN's global reach was on display: Nick Paton Walsh in northern Syria, Christiane Amanpour in London, Jim Bitterman in France, multiple correspondents and military analysts in DC... CNN will be live all night and overnight...
-- Fox News will also be live all night/overnight... | | | MSNBC had Rachel Maddow anchoring before and after Trump's address. She brought up the perception problem right away: "The perception that the president may have ordered these strikes in part because of scandal will affect the impact and the effectiveness of these military strikes. Unavoidably. Even if the tail is NOT wagging the dog." She added: "It is a sad thing and it is an upsetting thing in terms of American influence in the world..." | | CNN and MSNBC were reporting-heavy on Friday night while Fox News was talk-heavy. Fox is not a monolith when it comes to Syria -- far from it. Tucker Carlson is deeply skeptical of military action in the region. Sean Hannity is instinctively more supportive of the president's position. And Laura Ingraham is... somewhere in between?
Carlson briefly handed off to news anchor Bret Baier for coverage of the presidential address, but even in Carlson's questions, his concern came through loud and clear. He said of Trump, "This is clearly not something that he ran on, and it's inconsistent with a lot of the things that he's said over the years..."
Later in the evening, the banner on Ingraham's show said "What does the U.S. really accomplish by striking Syria?" Ingraham remarked to a guest: "Sometimes, when it feels good in the moment -- the Iraq war which I was all in favor of -- then all of a sudden, you look at four years later, you're like, what the heck, what, what's ISIS, what's happened?" | | Opposition from pro-Trump personalities | | | Oliver Darcy emails: The pro-Trump MAGA portion of the Internet expressed swift outrage at Trump's decision to launch strikes on Syria. Lucian Wintrich, White House correspondent for the far-right Gateway Pundit website, tweeted, "After Trump's first year we have: 1.3 trillion omnibus, no wall, war in Syria. Is Clinton secretly President?" Raheem Kassam, a top editor at Breitbart, said it was time "for the real left and real right to unite in opposition to this mindless knee jerk reaction from our neoconservative overlords." And Mike Cernovich, the notorious pro-Trump internet troll, chimed in: "Congrats Democrats and Never Trump: You got your war!" | | Michael Cohen "under criminal investigation" | | These were the banner headlines on top news sites in the minutes BEFORE Trump's Syria announcement:
CNN: "Trump's lawyer under criminal investigation."
NYT: "Trump Sees Inquiry Into Cohen as Greater Threat Than Mueller."
ABC: "Trump, Cohen spoke Friday as feds look into seized recordings, sources say."
NBC: "Rod Rosenstein tells confidants he is prepared to be fired."
WashPost: "RNC official steps down after reported $1.6 million payment to pregnant Playmate."
Fox News: "McCabe leaked to boost himself, lied about it to Comey and investigators: DOJ watchdog's report." | | | On Friday afternoon -- again, ahead of the Syria announcement -- a source familiar with the president's thinking told CNN's Gloria Borger that he was "pissed, flailing and upset" about the Cohen news... More upset than ever... His anger is "beyond what anyone can imagine..." | | "Den of thieves and lowlifes" | | | POTUS expressed some of that anger through Twitter, calling Comey a "slime ball" and referencing a "den of thieves and lowlifes" that "made up" collusion claims. Former federal prosecutor/cable news regular Renato Mariotti tweeted: "The president of the United States just called the FBI a 'den of thieves and lowlifes,' and it won't even be the leading item on the news tonight. Let that sink in for a minute." | | This Sunday on "Reliable Sources" | | | "Dear Madam President" author Jennifer Palmieri, Alan Dershowitz, David Gergen, Bruce Bartlett, and Patrick Healy will join me on Sunday's "Reliable Sources..." We'll see you at 11am ET on CNN... | | -- John Brennan's tweet telling President Trump that "your kakistocracy is collapsing after its lamentable journey" caused a 13,700% spike in look-ups for the word on the Merriam-Webster web site. It means "government by the worst people..." (CNN)
-- Bow down to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman: He got ahold of a leaked memo from Apple that, yes, warns employees to stop leaking... (Bloomberg)
-- Nick Bilton's latest: "Inside Silicon Valley's spy wars..." (VF) | | "This is the largest first printing we've done so far this year" | | That's what Macmillan president Don Weisberg told me. The publisher is printing 850,000 copies of "A Higher Loyalty" to meet the expected demand from buyers. To put that number in perspective: The initial print run of Michael Wolff's book "Fire and Fury" was just 150,000 copies.
Of course, Macmillan did not fully anticipate the interest in Wolff's book. With Comey, the publisher had time to be better prepared. Here's my full story... | | Why this book is a bombshell | | I noticed this banner on "Tucker Carlson Tonight" Friday evening: "NO BOMBSHELLS IN COMEY BOOK." And I thought: The book IS the bombshell!
David Gergen said it so well on "AC360:" Comey "is a professional and a gentleman. And I think he's extraordinarily offended by what he's seeing. I think the argument that what we're dealing with is a 'mob' rule is taking the conversation to a different level and a different place. I do think, yes, he sometimes grandstands too much, and that's been Trump's criticism, among others. But somebody here has got to call it for what it IS and try to assert what it is we're looking at. And I think that's what he's trying to do--"
Anderson Cooper: "Somebody who's actually been in the room with him, seen it from the inside. It's one thing when you have cable news pundits saying this night after night--"
There it is. That's what I've been trying to articulate for the past day. This is an insider saying what outsiders have been asserting for over a year... | | Michael Ferro's Tronc time is over | | Michael Ferro bought control of Tribune Publishing in 2016. He renamed the company Tronc. He made a series of moves that rattled its newsrooms. Now he's cashing in his chips for a tidy profit.
You'll recall that last month he stepped down as Tronc chairman a few hours before Fortune reported sexual harassment allegations in his past. But he remained the controlling shareholder of the struggling company. Now "he is selling all 9 million of his shares for about $209 million," CNNMoney's Jackie Wattles reported Friday night. The buyer is McCormick Media, owned by the family of Robert "the Colonel" McCormick, who controlled the Chicago Tribune for decades.
--> Tronc CEO Justin Dearborn said the stock sale "does not alter our business strategy..."
--> NPR's David Folkenflik tweeted: "What an implosion for Tronc, misbegotten from the outset... Hit by one scandal and controversy after another, the house comes tumbling down..." | | Soon-Shiong speaks with LA Times staffers | | | Ferro, of course, was involved in the sale of the LA Times (and Tronc's other California papers) to Patrick Soon-Shiong. While the deal hasn't closed yet, Soon-Shiong held a town hall with Times staffers on Friday, and he made some news: He announced that the newspaper will be moving from its historic location in downtown LA to the suburbs. El Segundo, to be exact. Right by LAX. The move is definitely controversial... But overall "employees seemed impressed by and hopeful about his plans, and the meeting ended with a standing ovation," the NYT reports... | | | Brian Lowry emails: After the Tronc experience, there's a lot of enthusiasm among Los Angeles Times employees about the prospect of a new billionaire owner. But you really need to know the geography (and traffic patterns) in Los Angeles to understand why Patrick Soon-Shiung's stated plans to temporarily move the paper to El Segundo are going to drive reporters (especially those who have to get downtown on a regular basis) nuts. As Times alum Rebecca Keegan quipped, "The L.A. Times moving to El Segundo is like the N.Y. Times moving to Ronkonkoma." | | -- Dan Abrams will be hosting "The Dan Abrams Show" on SiriusXM next week... It's a one-hour show at 2pm ET on the P.O.T.U.S. channel... Chris Cuomo is his first guest on Monday...
-- "Will Disney Destroy the Movie Theater?" Derek Thompson says that "in its quest to beat Netflix, it might have to..." (The Atlantic)
-- Kyle Chandler is taking the part meant for George Clooney in Hulu's forthcoming "Catch-22" miniseries... (THR) | | | That's the headline on Paul R. La Monica's latest column for CNNMoney. "Netflix's stock is up more than 60% this year -- significantly better than Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Alphabet, the owner of Google and YouTube," he writes. "Netflix will report its first quarter earnings on Monday afternoon, and analysts are forecasting phenomenal growth. They're expecting a 40% jump in sales from a year ago, 60% more profit than a year ago, and 7.5 million more subscribers just since the previous quarter..." | | | These two companies have come a long, long way over the past few years. "Netflix announced an expanded partnership on Friday with cable giant and NBCUniversal owner Comcast," La Monica notes. "Since 2016, Comcast has allowed its X1 TV and internet subscribers to sign in to Netflix directly. Now Comcast will offer Netflix subscriptions within more of its Xfinity cable packages..." | | | --> WSJ's Sarah Rabil tweeted: "Once seen as a major threat, Netflix will now be sold as part of a Comcast subscription package. The thinking? Netflix binge watchers pay up for fast broadband, the growth driver for cable companies..." | | "WPP Board Weighs Leadership Contingency Plan Should CEO Sorrell Leave" | | | Per the WSJ's Nick Kostov and Suzanne Vranica: The WPP board "is weighing contingency plans in the event Chief Executive Martin Sorrell leaves the company, people familiar with the matter said, as the advertising giant's longtime leader deals with an allegation of misconduct. If Mr. Sorrell departs, the board is considering tapping WPP veterans Mark Read and Andrew Scott to be co-CEOs," likely on an interim basis... | | | For the record, part three | | | By Daniella Emanuel:
-- A Facebook exec says he doesn't expect the backlash over data privacy to impact the company's revenue... (Variety)
-- iMediaEthics compiled nine examples of the NYT updating articles without telling readers, a practice that has perturbed some readers... (iMediaEthics)
-- Hulu struck a sponsorship deal for the NBA playoffs on TNT... (Deadline) | | This week's "Reliable" podcast guest: April Ryan | | Big "Walking Dead" weekend | | | Brian Lowry emails: This is a pretty big weekend for AMC, marking the eight-season finale of "The Walking Dead," and a clear attempt to completely make over its companion, "Fear the Walking Dead," in what amounts to a tacit admission that show wasn't working. In the process the producers have directly linked the two by moving Lennie James' character, Morgan, to "Fear," along with several other new cast members. Based on the first few episodes, it gives the series a lift, but that still might come too late... | | | Brian Lowry emails: ABC's James Comey interview won't be the only show with presidential politics on its mind Sunday, either real or imagined. "The Good Fight" features an episode in which the fictional law firm is approached about potentially working on Trump impeachment proceedings. It's entertaining, but feels like a combination of a cry for attention by the CBS All Access series, and the writers simply getting some thoughts off their collective chests. Meanwhile, the commander in chief on "Homeland" faces a threat to her presidency, one orchestrated in part by the Russians. And let's not forget "Scandal," where another female president finds herself in the crosshairs of a special prosecutor heading into next week's series finale... | | "The Simpsons" showrunner addresses Apu controversy | | "Al Jean on Friday thanked Simpsons fans for all their feedback -- negative and positive -- over the recent episode that addressed the controversy around one of the show's most recognizable and oldest characters, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon," THR's Ryan Parker writes.
"I truly appreciate all responses pro and con. Will continue to try to find an answer that is popular & more important right," Jean tweeted... | | | For the record, part four | | | By Lisa Respers France:
-- Khloé Kardashian has us rooting for her. Lots of sympathy is being expressed for the reality star who recently gave birth to her first child, a daughter, in the midst of scandal...
-- Heather Locklear pleaded not guilty to charges of attacking police...
-- Didn't score tickets to Coachella this year? That's ok. Here's how you can still watch Beyoncé, one of the headliners at this year's dessert music festival... | | | Email brian.stelter@turner.com... the feedback helps us improve this newsletter every day... Thanks! | | | | | | |
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