| | | | | What a news day! This is Oliver Darcy filling in for Brian Stelter, who's in Vermont this weekend. (I have no idea why.) I appreciate your feedback, so please do send me an email at oliver.darcy@turner.com or get in touch via Twitter. | | | Exec summary: Trump wants to take retaliatory action against members of the press he doesn't like... InfoWars founder Alex Jones is suspended from Facebook, and then sends a "cease and desist" to CNN... Twitter's stock tumbles... "NBC Nightly News" producer steps down and more... | | As I was sitting down to write this Friday night's newsletter, my phone buzzed. "What's your take? Does he survive?" an industry insider asked via text. It's the question on everyone's mind as we head into the weekend: Will Ronan Farrow's 8,000-word bombshell topple Les Moonves? Or will the CBS chief executive manage to hold on?
CBS says it will investigate the allegations. But that just leads to further questions: Who, exactly, will investigate, and how? And how will all of this affect Moonves' pitched battle with Shari Redstone? | | -- Farrow worked on this investigation for the better part of a year...
-- His story for The New Yorker contains allegations of sexual harassment by Moonves from six women. Some of the alleged incidents happened in the 1980s. The most recent allegation is from the late 2000s...
-- "These are allegations that are very, very heavily corroborated... they're backed through paper trails and multiple witnesses," Farrow said on "Erin Burnett OutFront..."
-- CBS knew this story was a possibility for a long time. It's been a subject of rumors since last winter...
-- Some Moonves allies have insinuated that Redstone has been involved in a whisper campaign against him... She said that insinuation is "false and self-serving..."
-- Redstone's rep said she "hopes that the investigation of these allegations is thorough, open and transparent..."
-- Farrow's story is about much more than Moonves. It's about "60 Minutes" and the network's culture of intimidation and retaliation...
-- CBS forcefully pushed back against The New Yorker's portrayal of its company, saying it "does its best to treat its tens of thousands of employees with dignity and respect" and "is committed to being part of the solution" to issues of "equality, inclusion and safety in the workplace..." | | One of the six women, actor Illeana Douglas, went on the record with Farrow and recalled a 1997 meeting she had with him while working on a pilot for CBS. Douglas said Moonves grabbed her, pinned her down, and began "violently kissing." She added that he "pulled up her skirt and began to thrust against her." Douglas said she rebuffed the advances.
Another allegation came from writer Janet Jones. Farrow wrote that Jones alleged she had to "shove Moonves off her after he forcibly kissed her at a work meeting." CNNMoney's Jill Disis has details of the allegations in her piece... | | Moonves says he "may have made some women uncomfortable," but... | | | Moonves conceded in his statement to The New Yorker that "there were times decades ago" he may have "made some women uncomfortable." Moonves said that those "mistakes" he regretted "immensely." But the CBS boss strongly rejected allegations that he misused his power "to harm or hinder anyone's career." He added, "This is a time when we all are appropriately focused on how we help improve our society, and we at CBS are committed to being part of the solution." | | Julie Chen, who is married to Moonves, took to Twitter on Friday night to issue a statement in support of her husband: "I have known my husband, Leslie Moonves, since the late '90s, and I have been married to him for almost 14 years. Leslie is a good man and a loving father, devoted husband and inspiring corporate leader. He has always been a kind, decent and moral human being. I fully support my husband and stand behind him and his statement."
>> Variety: "She's scheduled to resume as a co-host on 'The Talk' on Monday..." | | "They wanted to expose what they feared was a culture of impunity" | | | After his story posted on the web, Farrow headed over to CNN and discussed his story with Erin Burnett. He said his sources "continue to fear retaliation," but spoke to him "because they wanted to expose what they feared was a culture of impunity..." | | What the CBS board is saying | | Brian Stelter emails: Just before noon ET, THR's Kim Masters reported that the Farrow story was about to drop. Farrow and co. were not thrilled. The story wasn't actually published til 5:30ish. But shares of CBS fell as soon as THR mentioned it. The stock closed down 6.1%.
Within half an hour of the THR piece, the independent members of the CBS board of directors -- the ones backing Moonves in his quest for more autonomy from Redstone -- issued a statement via CBS.
They said they would look into the charges, "promptly review the findings and take appropriate action."
But for the time being -- as the dispute with Redstone drags on -- the directors said "the CBS management team has the full support of the independent board members..." | | Not just Moonves... Fager also accused of misconduct | | The parts of Farrow's piece about "60 Minutes" and the newsmag's executive producer Jeff Fager should not be overlooked. Amy Brittain and Irin Carmon pursued some of this same info for their May story in the WaPost... But, in the words of Farrow, much of their work "was never published." Why is that? According to The Daily Beast, Fager hired a law firm that boasts about "killing stories."
But Farrow went there. Six former employees told Farrow that Fager "while inebriated at company parties, would touch employees in ways that made them uncomfortable." Others alleged that Fager "enabled" harassment. There are many, many details in the story.
Fager issued a strong denial, saying in a statement that "it is wrong that our culture can be falsely defined by a few people with an axe to grind who are using an important movement as a weapon to get even, and not by the hundreds of women and men that have thrived, both personally and professionally, at '60 Minutes.'" | | Brian Lowry emails: The New Yorker piece takes an interesting turn -- from Moonves' transgressions, most quite some time ago, to broader questions about a lingering culture at CBS that tolerated misconduct by others. It feels like CBS tried to get ahead of this as well as it could, but it's very difficult to predict how this will play out, especially if any additional shoes drop...
| | | 👀 Saturday's New York Post cover | | | Farrow on "Reliable Sources" this Sunday | | | Brian Stelter emails: Farrow will join me on Sunday's "Reliable Sources." The guest list also includes new WHCA president Olivier Knox, Katie Rogers, S.E. Cupp, Carl Bernstein, and FCC commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. See you Sunday at 11am ET... | | -- Shareholders voted Friday to green light Disney's $71.3 billion purchase of the Fox assets... (CNNMoney)
-- Did you have trouble using MoviePass on Thursday? You weren't alone. The company said it had an outage because it couldn't afford to pay for movie tickets... (CNNMoney)
-- Andrew Kaczynski wonders: "Is it normal for Fox News to let the son of a prominent Republican activist, who hosted a fundraiser/event for that congressman in September 2016 and is a friend, write an article on him without disclosing it?" (Twitter)
-- Sparks were flying as Michael Avenatti and Alan Dershowitz clashed Friday night on "AC360." In the fiery segment, Avenatti slammed Dershowitz, telling him to "go back and concentrate on what invites you get at Martha's Vineyard..." (AC360)
-- Surprised? "Fox & Friends" barely mentioned CNN's scoop about Cohen claiming Trump knew in advance about the 2016 Trump Tower meeting... (Media Matters) | | WaPost: Trump wants to punish journalists | | Earlier this week, the White House banned CNN's Kaitlan Collins from an open press event as a retaliatory measure for questions she asked during a pool spray... On Friday, WaPost offered some insight into how Trump behaves behind-the-scenes when he gets questions he does not like or sees behavior he considers disrespectful in the Oval Office and other venues.
According to the paper, Trump "has sought repeatedly to punish journalists for the way they ask him questions, directing White House staff to ban those reporters from covering official events or to revoke their press credentials..."
>> The two reporters that WaPost reports have "in particular...drawn the president's ire"? CNN's Jim Acosta and American Urban Radio Networks' April Ryan...
| | Brian Stelter emails: Darcy and I are arguing right now. I like "WashPost," he prefers "WaPost." Who's right?
Anyway, the WASHPOST story got me thinking. If Sarah Sanders and other staffers have been resisting Trump's "ban that reporter" rants for a while now, it seems like Bill Shine simply made a rookie mistake on Wednesday... Maybe he took Trump literally rather than figuratively, and triggered the rare show of solidarity from the press that followed Collins' dis-invitation... | | Stelter adds: If you watched last week's "Reliable Sources," you might remember Chris Ruddy telling me that Trump gets "zero credit" for the economy. I said he gets "lots of credit." Ruddy said, "When was the last time you had Larry Kudlow on?"
"Larry Kudlow should do more interviews," I responded. "I completely agree with that. He should give more interviews."
I was reminded of that exchange when I saw this booking alert: On the heels of the excellent Q2 GDP numbers, Kudlow will join Jake Tapper on "SOTU" Sunday morning... | | Facebook suspends Alex Jones | | Facebook has issued a 30-day suspension on the personal profile of InfoWars founder Alex Jones. There was some confusion about this last night... Facebook initially said that it had only warned Jones that he'd be subject to a suspension the next time he violated Facebook's community standards, not that the company had taken the action against him now. But the company clarified today that it had barred Jones from using the platform for 30 days...
>> To be clear: This is a suspension on Jones' personal profile, not the InfoWars or Alex Jones pages. The suspension simply means that Jones cannot post content to his personal profile, or use it to post content to the Alex Jones and InfoWars pages. But the InfoWars and Alex Jones pages remain online and other administrators on the pages can still post to both pages. | | InfoWars close to being banned? | | | While the InfoWars and Alex Jones pages have not yet hit the unspecified threshold of violations that would warrant a Facebook ban, they are not far away. A Facebook spokesperson told me the pages were "close" to having accumulated the necessary number of strikes that would result in the social media company unpublishing the pages... | | Jones demands CNN 'cease and desist' | | As I noted on "Wolf" earlier today, when I asked Jones for comment on this story, I received an email back from one of his representatives with a bonkers statement. The statement, attributed to Jones, accused CNN of publicly calling for a ban of his free speech and of being on a "campaign against competing news organizations and the First Amendment," which he said is "outrageously anti-American." Jones demanded CNN "cease and desist..."
>> Of course, Jones' statement is totally off base. CNN has not called for anyone to ban him or InfoWars from speaking. CNN has, in fact, been reporting on the stance social media companies have taken toward InfoWars. | | | Speaking of misinformation... | | Fox News continues to allow Diamond & Silk to mislead its millions of viewers | | Back in April, "Diamond & Silk" spread claims on Fox News that Facebook had censored their page. The claims were quickly proven not to be true. But fast forward several months later, and Fox News is still allowing the pro-Trump social media duo to go on its air and spread misinformation about social media companies.
On Friday, Diamond & Silk were back on Trump's favorite morning show misinforming the "Fox & Friends" audience. The two made a number of false statements about so-called "shadow banning," erroneously claiming that social media giants like Facebook and Twitter were censoring conservatives. They even called it "the new Jim Crow." And yet, the pair received no pushback from the hosts. Really, guys? And, considering Diamond & Silk's poor relationship with the truth, why is Fox News still allowing the sisters to appear on its programs and mislead its millions of viewers? | | By Julia Waldow:
-- Contrary to reports swirling on the web, Twitter is not testing an "edit" button... A user who pointed to the tool was likely using a browser extension... (BuzzFeed News)
-- Bloomberg is switching up its display ads, thanks to a format called Ad.apt that transforms videos and headlines using different templates... (Digiday)
-- Viacom has acquired AwesomenessTV, a digital media company aimed at millennial and Generation Z audiences... (The Wrap)
-- Endeavor, formerly known as WME-IMG, "wants to become the ESPN of niche sports..." (The Information)
-- LinkedIn is adding voice message capabilities for up to one minute... (TechCrunch) | | HuffPost: Kim Guilfoyle left Fox after investigation into misconduct | | Yashar Ali reported in HuffPost on Friday that former "The Five" co-host Kimberly Guilfoyle left Fox News after an HR investigation into misconduct allegations. Ali said over the past year he interviewed 21 sources inside and outside Fox News and 21CF for the story... Spokespeople for Fox News and Rupert Murdoch did not provide comment to Ali for his story...
>> Response from Guilfoyle's lawyer: "Any accusations of Kimberly engaging in inappropriate work-place conduct are unequivocally baseless and have been viciously made by disgruntled and self-interested employees.... It's utterly preposterous that there are those who are nefariously and greedily twisting innocent conversations amongst close friends into much more than what it actually was for financial gain..."
| | What's up with this retraction? | | | The Inquisitr had published an article aggregating Ali's story on Friday. But later in the day, that story was removed from the site, and the outlet published a retraction. The retraction, in part, said, "The Inquisitr's editorial team offers this full and frank retraction of this story and apologizes for any duress Ms. Guilfoyle may have experienced as a result of this repeated story." What happened there? I reached out for comment, but have not yet heard back from the Inquisitr... | | DOJ wants to unseal AT&T-Time Warner bench trial transcripts | | Hadas Gold emails: The Justice Department has asked the DC Circuit Court of Appeals to unseal the bench trial transcripts during the AT&T-Time Warner merger trial.
During the trial, whenever Judge Richard Leon wished to have a private conversation with the attorneys, sometimes to hash out an objection, he would turn on a white noise machine and invite the attorneys up. But the court reporter was always listening, taking notes, and now the government wants those notes made public.
>> The motivation behind the move is not clear -- but it's likely Leon's words will come up during the Justice Department's appeal. A three-judge panel will decide whether the transcripts can be unsealed. The appeals trial won't start till October. | | Twitter stock tanks after purge of fake accounts | | As Twitter worked to scrub its platform of fake accounts, and comply with new privacy regulations, the number of people using the social media website fell by about one-million users. That sent its stock into a nose dive on Friday...
CNNMoney's Seth Fiegerman wrote that "the stock fell more than 15% in premarket trading Friday after the earnings result, before rebounding somewhat." Read Fiegerman's story here... | | New York moves to oust Spectrum | | New York's largest TV and Internet provider is in hot water with state regulators. The state on Friday moved to exile Spectrum, alleging the company has not abided by conditions imposed when it approved Charter's merger with Time Warner Cable in 2016. CNNMoney's Jackie Wattles has the full story here...
>> WHAT COMES NEXT: The company has 30 days to contest the order, and has said it plans to fight the decision... | | Putin speaking to Trump through the media | | Obama admin national security advisor turned CNN national security analyst Sam Vinograd emailed with a few thoughts to share on Trump, Putin, and the media:
Bots and trolls aside, Putin's taking on some extra work and personally engaging in very public information warfare against Trump. He's not even trying to hide it. As Trump celebrated a booming economy on Friday, Putin fired a calibrated shot straight at the growth that the President was touting, while also stroking the President's ego... while concurrently echoing the White House's own statements touting Trump's fulfillment of campaign promises.
>> The big picture: This isn't about Putin's concern for US voters, it's about using the most efficient tool possible to communicate with Trump - public praise - and speaking to and through the media is a sure means of getting through loud and clear. | | | For the record, part three | | | By Daniella Emanuel:
-- An article about Wolf Blitzer's cameo in 'Mission: Impossible - Fallout' begs the question: "What should we make of actual fake news?"... (Vanity Fair)
-- The YouTube head of original content, Susanne Daniels, answered some key questions about changes to the company in a Q&A... (Deadline)
-- The NYT details how "mega-mergers" are affecting the way we watch TV shows and movies... (NYT)
-- Facebook deleted hundreds of offensive posts in compliance with a new German hate-speech law "that foresees fines of up to 50 million euros ($58 million)" if it is not followed... (Reuters)
-- ICYMI: Pew released a fact sheet this week, revealing how "audiences are shrinking for Hispanic- and black-oriented U.S. news media..." (NiemanLab) | | Sam Singal steps down as 'NBC Nightly News' EP | | Sam Singal, who has spent the last three years as executive producer of "NBC Nightly News," is vacating the position, Yashar Ali reported in his scoop on Friday. An NBC spokesperson confirmed the news to me...
>> I'm also told -- by a person familiar with the situation -- that Jenn Suozzo will serve as interim EP and that Singal is in discussions with NBC about other roles within the company. Singal will also stick around next week to help with the transition. | | Brian Stelter emails: This week began with the 50% layoff at the New York Daily News. Tronc said it was making cuts at its other papers too, in much less dramatic ways. The company declined to give me any more details. But now we know a bit more about what happened.
Emily Bloch, a community news reporter for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, reached out to me on Friday. "I was one of the people cut along with 6 other editorial staffers," she said. "I was also the youngest, the others being left high and dry with mortgages, families, mouths to feed, etc. The bright side — before leaving I was able to drop a story on local politicians unknowingly breaking a law."
Bloch said this was the third or fourth round of layoffs at the Sentinel in her "less than two years" at the paper. "And to add insult to injury," she said, "Tronc posted a job opening hours after the layoff announcement at the Sentinel for editor and reporter positions."
>> RELATED: Here's my podcast with three of the reporters who were laid off by the Daily News... | | The "Roseanne" test: Studios struggle to find social media standard | | Brian Lowry emails: Roseanne Barr's firing by ABC has been compared to other talent -- most recently James Gunn -- who have issued offensive material via social media. But as the Washington Post's Margaret Sullivan noted, using Barr as the standard is not a particularly good comparison (a point underscored by her appearance on "Hannity" Thursday, especially in the face of many bad-faith attacks by those simply seeking scalps). So I considered whether there are some rough guidelines that studios can follow for the (inevitable) next scandal.
--> Read Lowry's full piece here... | | Kenya Barris to Netflix in 3, 2... | | | "It's official: 'Black-ish' showrunner and 'Girls Trip' writer Kenya Barris is leaving his longtime home at ABC Studios as sources say he could become the next mega-producer to ink a nine-figure overall deal with Netflix," THR's Lesley Goldberg reports. "Barris' deal with ABC Studios will end in August as he and the studio have now negotiated his exit. Netflix, meanwhile, declined comment on a potential deal..." | | Solid reviews for "Mission: Impossible -- Fallout" | | | Brian Lowry emails: "Mission: Impossible – Fallout" is premiering to rave reviews, and an anticipated major haul at the box office. It's generally a lot of fun, providing a much-needed boost for star/producer Tom Cruise — who keeps returning to the franchise — after some recent missteps. Read on... | | The rare blockbuster movie star franchise | | Frank Pallotta emails: Paramount's mission at the box office this weekend is to sell a franchise in which the main attraction is not a blockbuster brand, but a movie star. "Mission: Impossible - Fallout," the sixth film in the series starring Tom Cruise made $6 million on Thursday night and is expected to open at roughly $50 million domestically this weekend, according to analysts.
>> USA Today film critic Brian Truitt tells CNN: "Tom Cruise is Paramount's golden goose, because there aren't a lot of pure action stars in Hollywood anymore, and especially ones that have the international name recognition he has, especially with a franchise." | | 'Star Wars: Episode IX' cast will include Carrie Fisher | | Pallotta emails: Disney announced on Friday the cast for the next chapter from the galaxy far, far away -- and it will include the late Carrie Fisher. Fisher will reprise her role as Princess Leia, using "previously unreleased footage shot for 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens,'" director J.J. Abrams said.
>> Abrams: "Finding a truly satisfying conclusion to the Skywalker saga without her eluded us."
| | 'Animal House' at 40: What happened to raunchy comedies? | | Pallotta with another one: "National Lampoon's Animal House" opened 40 years ago this weekend and with it came a new age for film comedy. The Universal film was a box office success in 1978, but now it's brand of comedy -- or all comedy for that matter -- is struggling at the box office. It may be because real life is pretty outrageous...
>> Dana Polan, a professor in the Department of Cinema Studies at NYU: "We see it on the front pages of our newspapers around some of our political leaders. It is much more around us. 'Animal House' was anti-establishment in the 1970's, so the very fact that our establishment blatantly acts bad now causes it to lose its sting." | | 'Teen Titans' spoof highlights big leap DC still has to make | | | Lowry emails: "Teen Titans Go! To the Movies" opens this weekend, and it's one big spoof of comic-book movies in general, and DC's efforts in particular. But the movie perhaps inadvertently highlights just how far DC has to go to catch up to Marvel and be worthy of such a send-up. Lowry has a full review here... | | By Lisa Respers France:
-- Gwyneth Paltrow has denied she's 'Becky with the good hair' who is said to have cheated with Jay-Z...
-- Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra are reportedly engaged and fans are freaking out...
-- Connie Britton returned for the "Nashville" series finale... | | | Hope you have a great weekend! | | | | | | |
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