| | | | | Exec summary: Scroll down for the CBS v. Redstone timeline, new questions for AT&T, the best 5-word speeches from the Webbys, Brian Lowry's "Deadpool 2" review, and more... | | President Trump has called Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning "traitors" in the past. Now he's using the word again -- but he's directing it at his own staffers. On Monday afternoon, he tweeted, "leakers are traitors and cowards, and we will find out who they are!"
If you're keeping score at home, this was Trump's first time calling anyone a "traitor" since the first week of his presidency, when he assailed Manning. Both Manning and Snowden leaked sensitive government secrets. But the recent leaks have been about more mundane matters: details of conversations from White House meetings and the like. The Kelly Sadler controversy just isn't going away. Here's my full story...
--> Context: Trump has repeatedly pledged to plug his admin's leaks... but to little effect... | | "There are all kinds of leaks" | | Speaking with Fox's Martha MacCallum on Monday evening, Kellyanne Conway said she spoke with Trump about the leak issue multiple times on Monday. When asked if she expects personnel changes as a result, Conway said, "I do, actually. Yes I do."
"There are all kinds of leaks," Conway added. "Some leaks exist to hurt, I guess, colleagues. Some leaks exist because they disagree with the policies that are being put forth. But none of them are helpful..." (Well, they're not helpful to the W.H., but I'd argue the leaks are very helpful to the public!) | | | Trump himself is known to sometimes call reporters and talk candidly. The NYT's Maggie Haberman tweeted on Monday evening, "Sometimes the person yelling the most about leakers is doing the leaking." | | O'Reilly in talks with Newsmax? | | The Bill O'Reilly-to-Newsmax rumors are heating up... And Page Six is out with a new story that says O'Reilly would be the centerpiece of a Foxy lineup. "Greta Van Susteren and Eric Bolling have been approached to join as hosts of hourlong shows in prime time," the super-plugged-in Emily Smith writes.
Smith's sources say O'Reilly is "in talks" about helming the 8pm time slot. FWIW, here's what a source close to Newsmax told me after the story hit: "O'Reilly uses Newsmax's studio in New York for his podcast, but there have been no negotiations at all" about him coming aboard... "O'Reilly is very focused on his podcast and is thinking about a major relaunch of that this fall..." | | This is just a coincidence, I'm sure | | Shortly after the Page Six story landed, when Sean Hannity handed off to Laura Ingraham, he touted both his ratings and her ratings... He remarked that "we lost three-quarters of Fox primetime, and we're still killing it..." And he jokingly called himself the "old man," the "bridge between two generations of Fox..."
--> Meanwhile, on "AC360," Anderson Cooper asked me and Douglas Brinkley about the tight Trump-Hannity relationship... Here's the video... Brinkley called it "quite bizarro" but said the two men are "made for each other..." | | An incredible turn of events in the tug of war between Shari Redstone and Leslie Moonves. CBS issued a corporate declaration of war on Monday morning by suing Redstone and her holding company National Amusements. So much for a CBS-Viacom merger... Here's my recap...
--> At issue: CBS wants to dilute Redstone's control of the company from 79% to 17%. CBS says this is permitted by a provision in its charter. The suit is intended to prevent Redstone from interfering.
--> In response: Redstone's camp calls the suit "outrageous" and says "we intend to defend our position vigorously and look forward to presenting our arguments in court." | | The WSJ and Reuters stories about this battle are both excellent. "Legal experts said the lawsuit was a rare example of a company attempting to use a 'nuclear option' to free itself from its controlling shareholder," Reuters says...
The WSJ says CBS board members decided on this option over the weekend. Key graf: "If CBS fails in its legal pursuit and reduction of National Amusements' control, Ms. Redstone will still have the power to overhaul the company's board and replace management, including Mr. Moonves..." | | What's next: A hearing for Wednesday... | | -- Wednesday: A hearing is scheduled about the lawsuit... And Moonves will speak at the network's annual upfront...
-- Thursday: The CBS board is slated to meet and vote on the proposal...
-- Friday: The CBS Corp. annual meeting... | | "Sports Gambling Is Legal Now, Thanks to the Media" | | That's the headline on Bryan Curtis's latest for The Ringer in the wake of Monday's SCOTUS decision. He says sports media "spent the past decade-plus normalizing sports gambling in America..."
So now what? Per Dylan Byers' PACIFIC newsletter: "Legal sports betting will lead to a rush on new apps and services from tech startups and legacy media companies who will join traditional bookmakers and online betting sites, industry analysts tell me. The move will also create a whole new field of content around sports betting, including news, analysis and data analytics."
--> More: NiemanLab's Joshua Benton wrote about what this could mean for newsrooms. He says the SCOTUS decision is a "giant opportunity for insider sports coverage -- and a lesson on news business models..." | | -- Michael Avenatti threatened to sue The Daily Caller in an off the record email to reporter Peter Hasson on Monday. "Hasson never agreed to the condition," so he published it. Avenatti is standing by his claim that The Daily Caller engaged in "unethical conduct" while writing about him... And he says he may sue... (Politico)
-- John Solomon, a controversial figure at The Hill, will now be labeled an "opinion contributor." Erik Wemple explained why this is significant... (WashPost)
-- Also per Wemple's report: Monica Crowley, who was exposed as a plagiarist by KFILE last year, will be one of The Hill's digital video hosts... | | Drastic cutbacks at the Salt Lake Tribune | | | Utah's largest newspaper, the Salt Lake Tribune, is "cutting one in every three employees." This report comes from one of the paper's staffers, Tony Semerad. The plan also calls for "the elimination of key print sections and some well-known writers who were read for generations..." | | Update on Krauthammer's recovery | | | Charles Krauthammer has been missing from the "Special Report" panel while he's been recovering from multiple surgeries... On Monday, Bret Baier shared a hopeful new update from Krauthammer: "The worst, now, appears to be behind me, and I'm finally getting back on track with the rehab schedule that will eventually get me home." | | These senators have more Q's for AT&T | | Hadas Gold emails: The questions for AT&T around its dealings with Michael Cohen continue. On Monday, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal and Ron Wyden sent AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson a letter requesting more details by next Friday about their deal to pay Cohen $600,000 for consulting on the Time Warner merger, FCC, and tax reform.
The letter contains 16 questions that range on everything from the details of how and where AT&T met with Cohen, all their communications, to asking them to list out all the consultants the company used to better understand the Trump administration. AT&T tells me they are "are aware of the letter and will respond." The lawmakers want answers from Novartis too... Details here via CNBC... | | -- A rival to the World Economic Forum? Michael Bloomberg's "New Economy Forum" will be "run by Bloomberg Media..." (FT)
-- The innovative Dutch news outlet De Correspondent is preparing to launch The Correspondent in the US... Omidyar Network is investing $950,000... (CJR)
-- Two new hires at Medium: The Outline's exec editor Katie Drummond will be deputy editor, working with Siobhan O'Connor "to build out the editorial operation, and commission and edit stories," per an internal memo... And Time's Sarah Begley will be senior editor for books... | | There's a popular perception that the Democratic party has nothing to offer right now but anti-Trump incentive and the possibility of impeachment. No progress, just resistance. But how much of that perception is shaped by the priorities and decisions of the news media?
That's one of the takeaways from this new Daily Beast story by Gideon Resnick and Sam Stein. Subhed: "The party wants to talk health care. They really do. But they can't get cable bookers or programmers to care." The Q's are invariably about Trump, Russia, etc. So Dem leaders are encouraging lawmakers to live-stream events and "do more local news outreach..." | | Christian Broadcasting Network's David Brody is profiled in Tuesday's NYT... He tells Elizabeth Dias that his access to the W.H. "has been phenomenal..."
Dias: "Brody and his network enjoy a closeness to the White House that is foreign to most reporters. In return, Mr. Trump gets a direct line to his most supportive voters, the conservative evangelicals who make up CBN's core audience." Read the rest here... | | | Oliver Darcy emails: Douglas Wigdor no longer wants to represent Rod Wheeler in Wheeler's case against Fox News. Citing an "irrevocable breakdown of the attorney-client relationship," a partner at Wigdor's law firm requested a court allow Wigdor to withdraw from the case. Wheeler filed a suit against Fox News, 21st Century Fox, journalist Malia Zimmerman, and businessman Ed Butowsky in August 2017. Wheeler alleged in the suit that, with oversight from the White House, Fox coordinated with Butowsky to concoct a now-retracted story about the unsolved murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich. Law and Crime has more of the details here... | | Lowry's upfront scoreboard | | Brian Lowry emails: Network upfront week kicked off with NBC and Fox on Monday, and Fox had the tougher task, trying to convince media buyers that its executives are genuinely thrilled about the breakup of the company with the pending sale of its studio to Disney. Yet the network put the best possible face on "New Fox," stressing its reliance on live sports and the NFL in particular -- including the acquisition of Thursday Night Football, which the network plans to use as a springboard to launch "Last Man Standing," the Tim Allen sitcom picked up from ABC. Fox also pushed sports as a lure to advertisers, citing a higher level of live viewing -- and thus less DVR zapping -- than conventional entertainment fare.
NBCUniversal, meanwhile, delivered a bloated presentation devoted to all of its channels, with CEO Steve Burke setting the tone at the outset by boasting that there are "more people watching television on the networks of NBCUniversal than any other company." The net result, however, turned NBC into a relatively insignificant part of the morning, with virtually no discussion of programming strategy.
Basically, Fox appeared to be trying too hard, and NBC didn't try hard enough. Either way, neither set the bar especially high as upfront presentations go for the networks that will follow them... | | At NBC: Lights, confetti and shots at Facebook | | | Frank Pallotta emails: TV execs usually sling a few shots at the digital media giants at these events. NBCU ad sales chief Linda Yaccarino aimed at Facebook Monday morning, saying, "A family has never gathered around a newsfeed. We're not in the 'likes' business. We're in the results business." | | More from Pallotta: Here were some of my favorite zingers from Seth Meyers' stand-up during the NBC upfront:
-- "You know a network has some range when they have a black Jesus AND Megyn Kelly."
-- "We are home to the number one drama on television. A show that each week gives us twists and turns, heartbreaking reveals and this season the departure of a once-beloved character. I'm talking of course about This… is the 'Today' show."
-- "Advertisers paid over $5 million for a 30-second ad at the Super Bowl this year, which is a lot. That's a lot considering Donald Trump only paid $130,000 to Stormy Daniels for the exact same amount of time." | | | For the record, part three | | | -- "IFC president and GM Jennifer Caserta has been named chief transformation officer at parent company AMC Networks." Blake Callaway will be IFC's acting GM.... (THR)
-- This is a great profile of "SNL" "star-maker" Lindsay Shookus... (Elle)
-- Brad Stone's latest piece expresses why YouTube needs to "step up its spending on original content..." (Bloomberg) | | The best 5-word speeches from the Webbys | | The Webby Awards were presented at an elaborate affair Monday night at Cipriani Wall Street... Here are a few of the five-word speeches that I loved:
-- Isaiah Thomas: "The slow grind never stops."
-- Jesse Williams: "Afraid? Okay. Do it afraid."
-- The "S-Town" podcast crew: "Remember, life's tedious and brief."
-- David Letterman: "Thank you. Tears of joy."
-- Laura Linney: "Kindness is not a weakness." | | | CNN's S. Mitra Kalita emails: Vox and Netflix held a screening of the upcoming series "Explained" in NYC Monday night. The show applies Vox's signature explainer style to the documentary genre. It launches May 23, and includes a total of 20 episodes, launches one week at a time. Vox co-founder Ezra Klein is an E.P. along with E.P. Joe Posner and showrunner Claire Gordon... | | Remembering Margot Kidder | | | Lisa Respers France emails: On Monday fans mourned the death of actress Margot Kidder, who for many was the defining Lois Lane in the "Superman" franchise. She died on Sunday at the age of 69. | | Lowry reviews "Deadpool 2" | | | "Gleefully trying to outdo the original, 'Deadpool 2' serves up a veritable smorgasbord of pop-culture and comic-book references, from James Bond to X-Men," Brian Lowry writes. "There's a hit-miss quality to that, but enough of them connect to ensure that this proudly R-rated action vehicle won't leave many of the fans who helped will it into existence feeling disappointed..." | | The "Harry & Meghan" movie was a hit for Lifetime | | | Viewers fell in love with Sunday night's "Harry & Meghan" Lifetime movie, Lisa Respers France writes. And Lifetime says it was "cable's best original movie of the year with Adults 25-54 (872,000), Adults 18-49 (742,000), Women 25-54 (662,000) and Women 18-49 (552,000)..." It drew 2.2 million total viewers... | | "This Is America:" YouTube's biggest music video debut of 2018 | | | Lisa Respers France adds: According to YouTube, Childish Gambino's "This Is America" earned 85.3 million views in its first week on YouTube, making it the biggest first week debut of any video this year and #1 on the YouTube Songs chart in 11 countries... | | | "Reliable Sources" highlights | | | Here's how to catch up on the show | | -- "One of the great things" about the Trump administration is "how it has caused a huge rise in necessary activism," Christiane Amanpour said in our "A block..."
-- Amanpour, April Ryan and Frank Sesno reacted to Trump's recent "credentials" threat... Video here...
-- The Post's Jason Rezaian told me he's concerned that the Americans currently being held in Iran are being forgotten... | | The NYT's Nick Kristof, who recently wrote a whole column about the media's "addiction to Trump," discussed it with me on Sunday's show. We both admitted that we're "addicts." Kristof: "My wife and I, we find ourselves, our pillow talk is sometimes about Trump!"
But, he said, "we complain that President Trump is, you know, parochial, isn't paying attention to important things around the world, and we're absolutely right. But that can also be said about us." Here's the segment... | | Trevor Noah's take on Michael Cohen | | When I interviewed "The Daily Show" host Trevor Noah, I asked him to react to the revelations about Michael Cohen's corporate contracts.
"I said from the very beginning that Donald Trump reminds me of an African dictator," Noah said, calling back to one of his famous segments from the show. "If you know anything about African dictators, the first thing you have to do is follow the money. And you follow the money with the people closest to them, family members, business associates... I would have been disappointed had we not found out or had Michael Cohen not done this. I'm like, 'Yes, this is following the script.' This is what you were meant to be doing as the person who rolls with Donald Trump. You are always going to be finding a way to swindle cash. And now the question really that remains is, did Trump know? And did these companies really not get anything?" | | Noah also described what he called the "5:30 curse" -- a tendency for Trump-related breaking news to hit around dinner time. Journalists and late-night hosts can definitely relate to this. Noah: "We wait for the moment when Wolf Blitzer goes 'Breaking news.' We're waiting for that moment, because it happens almost every single day. It's the 5:30 curse, we call it." Jackie Wattles has a recap of the interview here...
--> Want more? We've posted my ENTIRE 18-minute interview with Noah as a podcast... 👂 | | | Email your feedback and thoughts to brian.stelter@turner.com... the feedback helps us improve this newsletter every day... Thanks! | | | | | | |
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