| | | | | Exec summary: Scroll down for the latest in Moonves v. Redstone, Sinclair v. CNN, Tillerson v. Trump... plus, a first look at the next cover of Time mag... | | What will the judge decide? | | CBS, led by Les Moonves, wants to wrest control away from Shari Redstone through a Thursday afternoon board vote on a dividend to dilute National Amusements' stake. Three developments on Wednesday:
#1. Redstone threw a wrench in the plan by changing the CBS bylaws to require a supermajority vote...
#2: Both sides argued before a judge in Delaware Chancery Court. Andre Bouchard granted a temporary restraining order and said he would issue a ruling before Thursday's board meeting. He said "I have never seen anything quite like what transpired here..."
#3: A few minutes later, Moonves stepped on stage at the CBS upfront. He received a standing ovation from the advertising executives and CBS insiders in attendance. "So... how's your week been?" Moonves joked... | | Two explanations for what's happening | | #1: This is a smart power play by Team Moonves -- he's forcing the issue -- fighting for his freedom and the future of CBS. "He knows CBS and Wall Street are with him," an insider said to me...
#2: The other POV via BTIG's Rich Greenfield: Redstone "had the legal right to change bylaws... Remember, this is exactly how she stopped Dauman from selling Paramount... Management/investors may not have liked that, but it's legally NAI's right." He added. "Les wants to be an owner, not an employee... so he should go start a company he owns." | | CBS "has the most exciting legal dramas... And also some great TV shows," Stephen Colbert quipped at the upfront on Wednesday. He promised that the cocktails at the party wouldn't be "diluted..."
Scroll to the end for the rest of Colbert's best jokes... | | Thursday marks one year since the Robert Mueller probe began. At the time I'm typing this, Sean Hannity is on Fox calling the probe "debunked" while CNN and MSNBC are discussing new leads.
As the NYT's Cecilia Kang tweeted Wednesday night, "There are way too many big stories and not enough time to read them all. Imagine what it's like for someone whose job is not the news..." | | Farrow's source is "terrified" | | Journalists in DC and NY are looking at Ronan Farrow with a mix of awe and envy. He's on one hell of a hot streak. Farrow's newest scoop: "Missing files motivated the leak of Michael Cohen's financial records."
Farrow interviewed the leaker, a "law-enforcement official" who shared the Cohen docs last week "after finding that additional suspicious transactions did not appear in a government database."
The anonymous official gave Farrow the quote of the day: Re: the severe legal consequences of leaking, "to say that I am terrified right now would be an understatement." But "this is a terrifying time to be an American, to be in this situation, and to watch all of this unfold." | | CNN: "Giuliani: Mueller told Trump team president can't be indicted"
MSNBC: "Trump admits paying off Stormy Daniels in new filing"
Fox: "Illegal immigration exposed" | | Here's just SOME of what happened on Wednesday | | -- The FBI director contradicted the president: He stood by his past testimony that Mueller's probe is not a "witch hunt..."
-- Via The Intercept: A Qatari investor says "Michael Cohen asked me for a million dollars..."
-- WashPost: "FBI agents said to be probing Michael Cohen's deal with Korean firm"
-- Yahoo: "Michael Cohen's efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow went on longer than he has previously acknowledged..."
-- The Senate released "thousands of pages of interviews" about the infamous Trump Tower meeting...
-- CNN: "Senate committee agrees with intelligence community assessment of election meddling, breaking with GOP House investigation..."
-- The Daily Beast: "Trump advisers Steve Mnuchin and Peter Navarro got into a profanity-laced 'screaming match' on the China trip..."
-- CNN: Gina Haspel "looks all but assured to win Senate confirmation..."
-- AND: There's a big new NYT story into the FBI probe of Trump's campaign... In it, the NYT "acknowledges it buried the lead in pre-election Russia-Trump story," Erik Wemple notes...
SO: Which news outlets are doing the best job prioritizing and explaining all of this to readers? Which outlets are really even trying? | | Tillerson is warning America about Trump | | Let's call this what it is! Trump's original pick for Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, said on Wednesday, "If our leaders seek to conceal the truth, or we as people become accepting of alternative realities that are no longer grounded in facts, then we as American citizens are on a pathway to relinquishing our freedom." He said every citizen has to recognize "what a fact is and is not" and demand a "fact-based" future...
--> Try to imagine if a recently ousted former Bush or Obama cabinet official had given this speech. Imagine, because it never would have happened... | | Where are the W.H. briefings? | | With so much going on, it's peculiar that the W.H. has opted not to hold its daily press briefing for two days in a row. Thursday's schedule indicates that Sarah Sanders will hold a briefing... However, there will be no joint presser when the NATO secretary general visits.
Per CNN's Steve Brusk: "The NATO schedule for the Secretary General's visit to the White House showed a 3pm joint news conference with President Trump... But the White House schedule is out," and "there is no longer any news conference listed..." | | Steven Brill has this week's Time cover story | | The next cover of Time, out Thursday morning, is adapted from Steven Brill's next book "Tailspin," out on May 29.
Brill says there's a divide between the "protected" and "the unprotected" in America: "That, rather than a split between Democrats and Republicans, is the real polarization that has broken America since the 1960s. It's the protected vs. the unprotected, the common good vs. maximizing and protecting the elite winners' winnings..." | | By Julia Waldow:
-- 🍿 Mark Zuckerberg has agreed to meet with senior members of the European Parliament... (CNNMoney)
-- Will Sommer, author of the Right Richter newsletter, is joining The Daily Beast as a tech and digital culture reporter... (Twitter)
-- "Converge with Casey Newton," The Verge's new interview-style game show with tech personalities, is set to launch May 23... (The Verge)
-- Hulu's rolling out a slew of new app features, including live TV services for mobile, improved scrubbing functions, and "stop suggesting" and "remove" buttons... (TechCrunch) | | Confirmed: Lachlan Murdoch, not James, will lead new Fox company | | | If/when the Fox asset sale to Disney goes through, Lachlan Murdoch will be chairman and CEO of the new and smaller Fox, and Rupert Murdoch will be co-chairman. The structure was announced on Wednesday. As Jill Disis notes here, James Murdoch "was not mentioned in the press release," and he is "expected to leave the company..." | | -- The editor of the Pittsburgh City Paper, Charlie Deitch, was replaced on Tuesday... "He claims he was canned after refusing to back off critical coverage of a conservative state legislator..." (Splinter)
-- Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie has been talking to numerous groups of investigators in multiple countries... On Wednesday he testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee...
-- "Net" watch: The Senate passed a measure to "repeal changes to net neutrality rules," but "it'll likely go nowhere" in the House...
-- NYT's Pamela Paul tweeted: "Just announced: A final book by the late Stephen Hawking, BRIEF ANSWERS TO THE BIG QUESTIONS, will be published by Random House in October 2018..."
-- Chris Cillizza's takeaway from a new Gallup study: "Just 4% of Americans a) have a Twitter account b) follow Trump on Twitter and c) say they read most or all of Trump's tweets. That's remarkably small!" | | Brian Lowry emails: Despite all the corporate drama, the CBS upfront message was consistent with past years. Moonves dubbed broadcasting "the true survivor of this crazy TV business that we love," one that has weathered "every supposed threat" to its continued profitability.
--> In that regard, CBS seem to strike the best balance -- as it usually does -- between touting its performance, cheerleading for the TV business in general and insisting that it's evolving with the times, with entertainment president Kelly Kahl citing "next-generation extensions" like CBS All Access. | | Progress on the diversity front | | More from Lowry: Criticized for a lack of diversity in the past, three of CBS' five new fall offerings have African-American leads, and Jay Hernandez, a Mexican-American, stars in the new "Magnum P.I."
--> "We're feeling good about our diversity," CBS entertainment prez Kelly Kahl said Wednesday... | | A sneak peek at "Murphy Brown" | | "Murphy Brown" is slated for Thursdays at 9:30pm this fall... The sitcom is now set in the morning TV biz.
Per THR: "The returning characters, who anchored newsmagazine 'FYI' in the original, now have a morning cable news show called 'Murphy in the Morning.' The twist is that Brown's (Candice Bergen) son is on a rival morning show. When asked if it was a Fox & Friends/Morning Joe situation, CBS Entertainment president Kelly Kahl agreed that that was a good comparison..." | | | -- Chloe Melas adds: I spoke with Candice Bergen at the Cinema Society premiere of her new movie "Book Club," and we got to talking about the upcoming reboot. She told me how the election played a role in the decision to revive the show... | | Lowry's take on the Turner upfront | | | Brian Lowry emails: Turner sought to tackle the changes assailing the industry more than any of the broadcasters presenting this week -- and specifically, how ad-supported TV survive the changes. That serious conversation, however, was accompanied by a lot of goofiness, from Conan O'Brien riffing with Shaquille O'Neal to Samantha Bee brazenly seeking sponsorship, saying, "Jell-O –-- You guys are looking for a new spokesperson, right?" | | | For the record, part three | | | -- The latest example of a channel cutting back on commercial time: "CNN intends" to run fewer ads during Jake Tapper's weekday and Sunday programs... (Variety)
-- Jason Schwartz hears that Sinclair boss David Smith "has met in the last few months" with "Hannity" executive producer Porter Berry... (Politico)
-- I've been trying to say this for a while. Rachel Larris said it more clearly than I could: "The way to understand the relationship between the Trump admin and the reporters who cover it is to picture an asymmetrical war where the one side has declared themselves to be a non-combatant. That gives those who are trying to discredit all journalism the power to control the fight..." (Dame) | | Hadas Gold emails: Ira Glass spoke at the Columbia Journalism School's graduation ceremony on Wednesday, telling the graduates "there is a war in this country over facts" and "you're going to the front lines." Key quotes:
>> "You're entering journalism at a fascinating and intense time," he said. "I do think it's possible in this divided moment in our country to get listeners to understand the complex reality of people who are not in their own particular group, whatever that group might be..."
>> But: Glass said he's still "disturbed" by the people he meets who "say things that are just not close to being true. For me that is the most alarming thing in the moment we're all living through..."
>> He told the grads there are "lots of ways to be journalists" and urged them to not wait for the perfect job...
>> "I want you to be bold, I want you to change things," he said, and urged the grads to be a part of their stories. "Be in the tape," he said. "An interview properly done is a drama..."
>> My favorite part: "Editing does not get the respect it deserves. There are so many awards for reporters, where are the awards for editors? There are so many famous reporters, so few famous editors. I believe gifted editors are rarer than talented reporters."
Watch the speech here... | | Sinclair still pushing a debunked anti-CNN story | | Oliver Darcy emails: As I detailed in last night's newsletter, the far-right fringes of the Internet pushed a wholly dishonest attack against CNN's Chris Cillizza. The mendacious narrative these bad-faith actors peddled was that Cillizza intentionally placed crosshairs over an image of Trump in a screen grab he tweeted. In reality, the tool Cillizza was using to create a GIF contained the crosshairs, and the deceitful storyline was swiftly disproven. But the story continued to gain traction on Wednesday. Most disturbingly, it was the topic in Boris Epshteyn's opinion piece -- a segment all Sinclair stations around the country are mandated to run. Yes, a narrative birthed in the far-right fever swamps of the Internet, which was proven not to be true after the faintest amount of scrutiny, found its way to local televisions around the country via Sinclair in about 24 hours.
--> It makes you wonder: How much daylight really stands between a far-right troll like Mike Cernovich and established conservative media companies like Sinclair? | | | For the record, part four | | | -- "The platform patrons:" Mathew Ingram's latest looks at "how Facebook and Google became two of the biggest funders of journalism in the world..." (CJR)
-- Matthew Belloni tweeted: "NBCU is letting WWE SMACKDOWN go to open bidding. They're keeping RAW but the deal is so big (3x current value, I'm told) that they're not re-signing both. Big sports opportunity for another network..." (Twitter)
-- I missed this yesterday: "Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine is developing its first feature-length documentary about tennis legend Martina Navratilova in partnership with Glenn Greenwald and Suzanne Gilbert..." (Variety) | | What Heyward is researching | | | Daniella Emanuel emails: NiemanLab's Christine Schmidt interviewed former CBS News president Andrew Heyward about his research on innovation in local TV news. "TV news has been dismissed by the people who cover journalism, and by the academy, and by the foundation world up to now," Heyward said. "One of the great things about this project is we are shining a light on a source of news that's really important. It has great potential to be a very important part of journalism in the future..." | | | For the record, part five | | | By Daniella Emanuel:
-- Curious about the origins of that annoying "Yanny" or "Laurel" audio meme? Wired has the story... (Wired)
-- HBO and Sky are partnering on the documentary series "The Case Against Adnan Syed," which is based on the "Serial" podcast...(Deadline)
-- Recommended: Joe Lieberman writes about the "gap between social media and reality" and how it effects politicians' perception of public opinion... (Time)
-- The Center for Cooperative Media has launched a newsletter called "The Local Connection," which applies national news stories to NJ communities and helps journalists find local angles. They think it could be helpful for news organizations outside of NJ as well... (Medium) | | By Lisa Respers France:
-- "Lost Boys" star Jami Gertz was at the NBA draft lottery representing the Atlanta Hawks, and fans totally freaked. Turns out her husband is principal owner of the team and he asked her to take the gig which she said was "a lot of pressure..."
-- CBS responded to Pauley Perrette's tweets about "NCIS" and alleged assaults. "Over a year ago, Pauley came to us with a workplace concern," CBS said. "We took the matter seriously and worked with her to find a resolution..."
-- T.I. was arrested early Wednesday morning after a guard refused to let him into the gated Atlanta community where the rapper lives...
-- Stan Lee has filed suit against a company he co-founded, alleging that his identity has been stolen... | | Countdown to the Royal Wedding | | | Megan Thomas emails: Obsessed with Meghan and Harry? Probably not more the women behind Meghan's Mirror. "Started by royal fanatics, Amanda Dishaw and Christine Ross in October 2016 per the request of readers from their other blog, What Would Kate Do, which has documented everything worn or done by Kate Middleton since September 2012." VF has a funny profile here... | | Fey warming up for Saturday's "SNL" | | | More from Megan Thomas: An animated Tina Fey recalls her rise at "SNL" in a promo for this weekend's season finale, where she'll return to host. Here's the promo... | | How much Trump made from his SAG and AFTRA pensions last year | | | Some more news from Trump's financial disclosure form: WashPost's Ed O'Keefe tweeted that "folks in the TV and Entertainment industries will appreciate this: Trump's SAG pension brought him $64,840 in 2017. His AFTRA pension totaled $6,543." | | Some of Colbert's jokes from the CBS upfront | | Frank Pallotta emails with a few of the one-liners:
-- "One year ago, you had no excuse if your boss caught you Googling Stormy Daniels."
--"'CBS has seven of the ten top comedies. The other three are on Fox News."
-- Colbert's joke about Steve Bannon looking for a new job: He cautioned, "'The Amazing Race' is not what you think it is." | | | Email your feedback and thoughts to brian.stelter@turner.com... the feedback helps us improve this newsletter every day... Thanks! | | | | | | |
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