| | | | | Exec summary: Facebook has to be feeling good right now... Plus, Netflix is pulling out of Cannes, Fusion Media is seeking bidders, ESPN is launching its streaming service, Maureen Ryan is leaving Variety, and much more... | | The other day I said that the line where Fox News ends and where President Trump begins is getting blurrier by the day. Trump illustrated this really well on Wednesday night. At 8:48pm, he tweeted out, "Big show tonight on @SeanHannity! 9:00 P.M. on @FoxNews." Any reasonable person would wonder if the two men talked before showtime. Did Trump know what was coming? Hannity said no in a tweet directed at "the Fake news industrial complex:" He said Trump "was not given ANY heads up on my monologue."
Lots of reporters tuned in to see what the fuss was about. It was a run-of-the-mill episode of "Hannity:" Robert Mueller is terrible, the Russia investigation is "corrupt," Hillary Clinton "committed crimes," and so on and so on. Joe DiGenova said Mueller has "surrounded himself with literally a bunch of legal terrorists" and said Jeff Sessions should fire Rod Rosenstein first thing Thursday morning.
Are Rupert, James and Lachlan Murdoch proud of this type of programming? | | Every night Hannity's show asserts that the investigations into Trumpworld are bogus. It must be comforting for the viewer in chief. On Wednesday morning, for the first time ever, the president called the Russia probe "fake and corrupt" -- words that are staples of Hannity's monologues.
But whenever he changes the channel, the president faces reality. Case in point: On Wednesday afternoon the NYT broke the news that the FBI agents who raided Michael Cohen's home, office and hotel were after info about the "Access Hollywood" tape, among other subjects. Later in the day, CNN's Gloria Borger and Shimon Prokupecz fleshed out the reporting: Agents were seeking comms between Trump and Cohen about the tape, including "regarding efforts to prevent disclosure of the tape." Much more to come on this...
--> BTW: A source tells me that NBCUniversal, which produces "Access," has not been contacted by Mueller's office or the Southern District of New York. There has been no subpoena, the source said... | | CBS and Viacom are negotiating a reunion... and there is some serious gamesmanship going on. Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder of both companies, may "move to fire" Leslie Moonves in the coming days/weeks, CNBC's David Faber reported Wednesday, signaling a sharp escalation in the conflict.
Faber said there was "growing distrust on both sides." At issue: The management team of the merged company. Moonves wants CBS COO Joseph Ianniello by his side. But Redstone wants Moonves to accept Viacom CEO Bob Bakish as his No. 2, putting Bakish in line to succeed him.
Moonves OUT? Unthinkable! Well, not anymore. Moonves and Redstone "are playing a big game of chicken," the WSJ's Joe Flint opined. Is there any way both sides can plausibly "win?" | | After the CNBC report hit, CBS came out and said "the industry and the marketplace know Leslie Moonves' record and we think it speaks for itself." Two hours later, Redstone's holding company tried to take the temperature down a notch: "National Amusements has tremendous respect for Les Moonves and it has always been our intention that he run a combined company." Okay, but that's not what's in dispute...
--> There have been no new updates since that midday statement. CBS is expected to submit a new bid for Viacom soon, but it hasn't happened yet... Here's my full story... | | | As I noted here, some on Wall Street are skeptical of the merger altogether. With CBS in a much stronger position than Viacom, Bernstein analyst Todd Juenger wrote Tuesday that CBS would "absolutely not" be trying to buy Viacom were it not for the Redstone family... | | But here's a boost for Viacom... | | | "Paulson & Co, the hedge fund firm led by billionaire investor John Paulson, has taken a stake in Viacom," Reuters' Jessica Toonkel reported Wednesday. "We are very impressed with the turnaround" led by Bakish, Paulson told her. "It is starting to look attractive." | | | The latest example of resistance to Netflix/resistance to change: The Cannes Film Festival's new rule "that bans any films without theatrical distribution in France from playing in competition." As a result, Variety's Ramin Setoodeh scooped on Wednesday, Netflix is walking back its plans to feature several films at the festival, since its model is all about global streaming distribution. "We are choosing to be about the future of cinema. If Cannes is choosing to be stuck in the history of cinema, that's fine," Ted Sarandos told Setoodeh... | | Government's star witness takes the stand | | During a marathon court session Wednesday, "economist Carl Shapiro said his analysis shows that U.S. consumers could together pay an additional $571 million in the year 2021 if the merger is approved," Hadas Gold and Jessica Schneider report.
Shapiro's point to Judge Richard Leon: "The merger will in fact harm consumers and the harm is significant in terms of the dollar amount." AT&T/Time Warner lead attorney Daniel Petrocelli challenged Shapiro during cross examination. Shapiro was the DOJ's final witness... So on Tuesday, AT&T will begin its case... Read Gold and Schneider's full story here... | | -- "The View" has scored Stormy Daniels' first live TV interview... She'll appear alongside Michael Avenatti next Tuesday... (THR)
-- Jason Schwartz's latest: Democratic strategists are citing MSNBC's strong ratings (particularly for liberal shows in prime time) as "a new reason for optimism about the midterms..." (Politico)
-- "To many journalists in New York and Washington, Middle America remains a strange and alien place." This is Michael Massing's new essay... (The American Prospect) | | It's a huge moment in ESPN's storied history: Its $4.99 a month streaming service will start wooing subscribers on Thursday. Lots of people are going to have lots of opinions about it... So let's start with our in-house critic:
Brian Lowry emails: The new streaming service ESPN+ is using a fine "30 for 30" documentary about basketball coach Bob Knight, "The Last Days of Knight," as its signature offering. But the ready availability of sports fare -- both on ESPN's linear networks and elsewhere -- clouds the future for this latest OTT service, and whether it's worth anteing up the $$$... Read the rest here... | | Who might buy Fusion Media? | | | Joe Pompeo's latest for VF: "Isaac Lee's Fusion Media Group is careening into a new era of belt-tightening and downsizing." Out: The idea of selling a minority stake. In: A sale? Pompeo hears that Jay Penske and Barry Diller, among others, are eyeing the assets. Read more... | | First look at THR's cover | | | The Hollywood Reporter's 35 Most Powerful People in New York Media list comes out on Thursday... Along with several different covers featuring the honorees. Here's a first look at one of the covers: Gayle King and Norah O'Donnell... | | Maureen Ryan leaving Variety | | | More turnover at Variety: I hear that Maureen Ryan is leaving her TV critic post. It's another serious loss for the trade mag, which just said goodbye to its other TV critic, Sonia Saraiya. When I contacted Ryan, she confirmed that she decided to leave: "I'm going to freelance, travel a bit and also I'm planning to write a book about TV shows that have had a major impact on me, personally and professionally. Lately I've wanted to stretch my wings and take on some new creative challenges, and I can't wait to dive into all of that. I may expand the array of things I'll be doing, but there's no way I'll stop covering television..." | | -- Dylan Byers tweets: "The Michael Wolff self-defense will likely be dismissed or ignored by the institutional media he writes about (and against)... but there's a lot in here that's not wrong and definitely worth thinking about..." (THR)
-- Today's bit of Sinclair news: Sinclair chair David Smith "broke restraining order and allegedly threatened neighbor," Jon Swaine reports... (Guardian)
-- Elizabeth Holmes (no, not THAT Elizabeth Holmes) describes "the perils of having an infamous name twin..." (Marie Claire) | | If I was Mark Zuckerberg, flying home to California on Wednesday evening, I would be 1) relieved the hearings are over, and 2) happy with how they went. Sure, I'd be venting about the repetitive questioning by inattentive, tech-illiterate lawmakers. And I'd be complaining about the "conservative bias" questions -- so many GOP lawmakers brought up "censorship" claims with little evidence to back it up. But overall, I'd be feeling victorious.
--> Per the NYT's Cecilia Kang, "Zuckerberg left DC right after the hearing." His team was said to be "breathing a sigh of relief at an undisclosed watering hole..." | | The heat's not off Facebook. For one thing, there are those 43 times Zuck promised that his "team" would "follow up" about specific questions. (Wired counted them.) The anxieties embedded in the lawmaker Q's -- is FB too powerful, just plain irresponsible, etc -- aren't going away...
--> Wired's Jessi Hempel nails it: This is really about "Facebook's terrible power..."
--> The Intercept's Sam Biddle: "It would be hard to say the public learned much of anything..."
--> CNN's Sara Ashley O'Brien and Kaya Yurieff pointed out five Q's that Zuck dodged... | | Paul Ryan speaks about retirement | | | Axios scoop machine Jonathan Swan broke the news just after 8am: Speaker Paul Ryan was ready to announce his retirement. Ryan gave interviews to Fox's Dana Perino, CNN's Jake Tapper and four print reporters... On Thursday, he'll give his first broadcast interview about the decision to "CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King... | | Oliver Darcy emails: When I heard that Paul Ryan would not run for re-election, there was one page I wanted to make sure I checked: Breitbart. Not because the far-right website wields much influence these days -- its power appears to have significantly diminished – but because for years, it had railed against the Wisconsin Republican. Breitbart was notorious for trolling Ryan and its former head, Steve Bannon, had made his distaste for him no secret.
So I was curious how the news would play on the site's homepage. Stunningly, it barely received attention from Breitbart. Instead of plastering Ryan's exist as its main banner, only one small headline on Wednesday morning was devoted to the news. Instead, Breitbart chose to focus on Mark Zuckerberg's testimony before the House. A perplexing editorial decision, one I have trouble imagining would have been made if Bannon still helmed the site... | | Countdown to Comey's book... | | | On Wednesday morning ABC released the first promo of the James Comey interview... Consisting solely of George Stephanopoulos's questions... And Mike Allen quoted a source saying that "the Comey interview left people in the room stunned — he told George things that he's never said before... The question will be how to fit it all into a one-hour show..." | | | For the record, part three | | | -- NYT chairman Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. is joining the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism Foundation board... The news was announced at the school's annual fundraising dinner on Wednesday night...
-- Donie O'Sullivan emails: A union in Australia has fired two officials after CNN's investigation into the biggest Black Lives Matter Page on Facebook — it turned out to be a scam...
-- Programming alert: Fox commentator turned CNNer Sally Kohn will be back on Fox Thursday night, on "Hannity," promoting her new book "The Opposite of Hate..." | | Dershowitz was back at the W.H. on Wednesday | | Tom Kludt emails: Alan Dershowitz insists that his visit to the White House this week was scheduled well before he went on Sean Hannity's show and dispensed legal advice to POTUS. When I called him up Wednesday morning, Dershowitz told me he was again en route to the W.H. to meet with officials about Middle East policy -- and reiterated that the invite had nothing to do with the Hannity appearance. "None. Zero. I mean, you know, Toobin thinks I maybe should have cancelled coming to the White House because I'm defending Trump's constitutional rights," Dershowitz said. "I want to have influence on the Middle East peace process. I want to continue to do that."
Dershowitz pointed out to me, as he has in other interviews, that he's advised other presidents on the matter. That may be, but for me, the whole episode shows how Trump's media obsession has made him accessible in ways that are unusual for a president...
--> Dersh was on "AC360" AND "Hannity" Wednesday night... | | Trump also leaning on Pirro for advice | | Per Politico's Annie Karni and Eliana Johnson: "Dershowitz isn't the only one Trump is soliciting advice from, sources said -- the president has been asking for legal advice, one person familiar with the conversations said, from virtually any attorney who calls him up, even after being warned of the danger he is putting himself in. The president has continued to discuss the case with his longtime attorney Marc Kasowitz, who originally led his legal team but stepped down last summer, as well as with Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, a former federal prosecutor and longtime Trump friend..." | | | For the record, part four | | | By Julia Waldow:
-- The day after TechCrunch's Josh Constine reported that Instagram doesn't have a "download your information" tool, a company spokesperson told him users will "soon be able to download a copy of what you've shared on Instagram, including your photos, videos, and messages..." (TechCrunch)
-- The Chicago Tribune has long held unionization at bay, but journalists at the paper told management on Wednesday that "they are preparing to organize and that they have collected signatures from dozens of colleagues," David Folkenflik reports... (NPR)
-- An analysis of Tronc pay data for 323 full-time journalists in the L.A. Times Guild's collective bargaining unit shows that "Tronc has underpaid women and journalists of color by thousands of dollars a year," the L.A. Times Guild says...
-- Bravo is renewing 20 of its original series and expanding to seven nights a week of original programming this fall... (Variety) | | "I think there should be regulations on social media to the degree that it negatively affects the public good. We can't have, like, willy-nilly proliferation of fake news, that's crazy. You can't have more clicks on fake news than real news. That's allowing public deception to go unchecked."
--Elon Musk in an interview with Gayle King... | | NYT reporter's little cousin visits WashPost | | | Frank Pallotta emails: So here's a story that will warm your heart. Liam Stack, a New York Times reporter, tweeted in January that his 11 year old cousin loves the Washington Post so much that she wants to study journalism to work for them. WashPost responded with an open invite... and on Wednesday she got to visit. "She came. She's great. Still excited to work for her someday," the Post tweeted... | | | For the record, part five | | | -- This bundle is not just for college students anymore: Hulu and Spotify are starting to sell a joint bundle to the public for $12.99 per month... (CNNMoney)
-- Apple Music says it now has 48 million subscribers. And a new boss: VP Oliver Schusser will report to Eddy Cue... (Reuters)
-- TheWrap's Tim Molloy emails: "Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson just told us he may be too busy with his 25 upcoming projects to run for president in 2020..." (TheWrap) | | | Per Deadline's Nellie Andreeva: ABC's "Roseanne" revival logged "a 3.5 adults 18-49 rating" and "13.8 million total viewers Tuesday night. That was down a modest 10% (-0.4) in 18-49 and viewers from last week." The show is still head and shoulders above most other shows... And providing "a strong lead-in" for "The Middle" and "Black-ish..." | | "Infinity War" tickets outselling last 7 Marvel films COMBINED | | | Frank Pallotta emails: "Avengers: Infinity War," the latest film for Marvel Studios, is outselling the last seven Marvel Cinematic Universe films COMBINED, according to Fandango. The film is also selling twice as many tickets as blockbuster "Black Panther" at the same point in the sales cycle, so expect a potential record breaking box office in two weeks... | | Lowry reviews "Lost in Space" | | | Brian Lowry emails: Another day, another TV reboot -- this time, "Lost in Space," a retrofitted version of the 1960s Irwin Allen sci-fi series, turned into a more expensive, pretty fun but reasonably disposable show for Netflix... | | | Brian Lowry emails: Mitzi Shore might not be a household name, but the Comedy Store owner -- who died at age 87 -- surely helped launch the careers of many of them, running a club that she received in the mid-1970s as part of her divorce settlement. While the names have been changed, Shore clearly provided the inspiration for Showtime's "I'm Dying Up Here," the Jim Carrey-produced paean to stand-up of that era, which happens to return for its second season next month... | | By Lisa Respers France:
-- Mariah Carey is on the new cover of People mag this week with her revelation that she has bipolar disorder. The singer says she was first diagnosed in 2001 after her now famous breakdown, but says she "lived in denial" until recently...
-- Carrie Underwood had a freak accident months ago that she says caused a "gruesome" injury. This week she updated fans to let them know her face is healing "pretty nicely..."
-- Frances Bean Cobain was a toddler when her father Kurt Cobain committed suicide. The now 25-year-old visual artist and musician says she hopes her dad would have been proud of her... | | | Email brian.stelter@turner.com... the feedback helps us improve this newsletter every day... Thanks! | | | | | | |
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