| | | | Who had the bigger interview on Wednesday? With all due respect to Jeff Glor, who sat down with President Trump at the White House, I'd argue the bigger headlines came from Lester Holt's interview with FBI director Christopher Wray at the Aspen Security Forum. Wray publicly and repeatedly contradicted his boss:
-- Wray said Russia "continues to engage in maligned influence operations to this day," on the same day Trump said "no" when asked about ongoing meddling...
-- He reiterated that Robert Mueller is not on a "witch hunt..."
-- When asked if he's ever considered resigning, Wray said "I'm a low-key, understated guy, but that should not be mistaken for what my spine is made out of. I'll just leave it at that..." | | More from Glor/Trump coming Thursday | | First, some necessary caveats. We haven't seen all of Glor's interview with Trump yet. CBS only aired a portion of the Q&A on Wednesday's "CBS Evening News." There will be fresh, news-worthy material on "CBS This Morning" on Thursday.
| | Trump says "I think I did great at the news conference" in Helsinki | | Glor taped with Trump in the mid-afternoon. As I wrote beforehand, the stakes were incredibly high for both men. In TV news circles, there were questions about how tough Glor would be.
So what'd you think? Glor did ask some key questions... And followups... Like these:
-- Glor: Since Putin denies meddling, "is Putin lying to you?" Trump: "I don't want to get into whether or not he's lying. I can only say that I do have confidence in our intel agencies as currently constituted..."
-- Trump reacting to criticism of the presser: "I don't know what the fuss is all about. I think we did extremely well." When Trump tried to go the "fake news" route, Glor said, "But the press covered the substance and the wording of that press conference accurately."
-- Then came the strangest comment from the interview, as far as we've seen. Trump claimed the news media "didn't cover my meeting" with Putin. He said it lasted almost 2.5 hours and was "very good." Of course, it was private, so none of us know what really happened in the meeting...
| | Trump needs to answer these Q's... | | Wednesday afternoon was dominated by a two-letter word... "No..." When ABC's Cecilia Vega asked "Is Russia still targeting the US, Mr. President?" Trump said "Thank you very much, no."
Sarah Sanders later said Trump was saying "no" to answering Q's from the press pool... Even though he continued speaking afterward.
This fundamental question is still on the table: Does Trump realize/admit that Russia is still targeting the US?
Trump also needs to address this: "The White House said on Wednesday it is entertaining a proposal raised by Russian President Vladimir Putin to interrogate Americans in exchange for assistance in the ongoing US investigation into election interference, putting the White House at odds with the State Department..."
| | Wray says Russia is "very active" against US | | It's unclear if Glor posed those questions to Trump. But the Trump comments that aired on the "Evening News" didn't seem all that surprising. Wray, on the other hand, was a beacon of integrity. Speaking with Holt in Aspen, he said Russia's influence operations are "very active," even now, "aimed at sowing discord and divisiveness in this country..."
>> Big headline on Page One of Thursday's NYT: "From Start, Trump Has Muddied Clear Message: Putin Interfered."
| | We need to keep zooming out... | | | ...To help the audience make sense of this madness. Aaron David Miller tweeted: This is "an amazing event on planet Earth - a US-Russia summit where a US president can't get his story straight even while he entertains allowing Russia to prosecute a US Ambassador; senior US officials have no idea what's up even as Russia puts out fake/real news on what Trump agreed to." | | By Daniella Emanuel:
-- An investigation by BuzzFeed News and its partners found that the Macedonian fake news boom of 2016 was not actually started by local teens. It was started by a Macedonian media attorney "who worked closely with two high-profile American partners for at least six months during a period that overlapped with Election Day..." (BuzzFeed News)
-- Speaking of: BuzzFeed has launched a separate website for BuzzFeed News. Hmm, what does this foreshadow? (AdWeek)
-- Rep. Devin Nunes is attacking his local paper in a campaign ad, saying "the Fresno Bee has worked closely with radical left-wing groups to promote numerous fake news stories about me..." (Politico)
-- Dylan Byers' latest scoop: Reed Hastings is penning a book about Netflix's success... (CNN) | | First W.H. briefing in 16 days | | The "daily" White House press briefing is a thing of the past. "The W.H. has only held three on-camera briefings in the past 30 days," I wrote Wednesday morning.
In the afternoon, Sanders did brief the press... But so far, there's no briefing on the Thursday schedule... Details here... | | Wednesday was not the very first time we've seen solidarity among members of the W.H. press corps. But it was remarkable because it came on the heels of the Jim Acosta/John Roberts moment in the UK. At Wednesday's briefing, when Sanders tried to brush off a followup question from NBC's Hallie Jackson by calling on The Hill's Jordan Fabian, he spoke up: "Hallie, go ahead if you want."
This is what so many viewers have wanted to see -- unity instead of unadulterated competition -- and the NYT's Michael Grynbaum captured it here... | | Who should play Maria Butina in the movie? | | Brian Lowry emails: The new Hollywood guessing game: How long will it be before the Maria Butina story becomes a movie (as Soledad O'Brien noted, the cinematic qualities are inescapable), and who will be cast in that role?
At this point, it's a bit of a moving target, but since Jennifer Lawrence already played a Russian femme fatale in "Red Sparrow," a few of the likely contenders would be Shailene Woodley, Bryce Dallas Howard and Jessica Chastain...
>> Karen Tumulty quipped: The story "reads like a script from 'The Americans' as performed by the cast of 'Arrested Development...'" | | -- Per Keith Kelly: "Rumors are flying that Tronc is pressuring Daily News Editor-in-Chief Jim Rich to institute sweeping cuts across the newsroom..." (NYPost)
-- "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening on the Apu controversy: "I think particularly right now, people feel so aggrieved and crazed and powerless that they're picking the wrong battles..." (NYT)
-- Emily Kohlman emails: A new study by Gallup and Knight finds that Americans tend to trust news articles less when they see the source. For example: Dems trust Breitbart articles less when they know it's from Breitbart... (NiemanLab) | | FCC is icing Sinclair-Tribune | | Hadas Gold emails: The nail may have been struck on the coffin of Sinclair's acquisition of Tribune on Wednesday, when the FCC voted unanimously to send the deal to a hearing.
TAKE A STEP BACK: On Wednesday morning Sinclair tried to appease FCC concerns by announcing changes to its planned sales of three stations. (The agency had taken issue with Sinclair planning to sell stations but to groups closely aligned to Sinclair – like a company run by the estate of Sinclair's exec chairman's late mother.) But the issues go beyond just those stations and include a vague "lack of candor" by Sinclair. Of course, the broadcaster has vigorously denied that in lengthy statements...
NOW WHAT: The hearing decision was announced Wednesday evening. The deal is now in a sort of limbo... Since the hearing is part of what's normally a very slow process. Media investors I spoke to seem convinced that the deal is now dead... | | Zaslav re-ups at Discovery | | | Following Discovery's acquisition of Scripps Networks, the Discovery board has extended CEO David Zaslav's contract through December 2023. John Malone's statement on Wednesday: "David has done an extraordinary job over the past 11 years. His vision and hard work have brought Discovery to new heights... I look forward to working with David to continue to serve audiences around the world with quality, real life entertainment for many years to come." | | DOJ wants a speedy appeals process | | How do you unscramble an egg? That's one of the concerns the government has, now that it's appealing U.S. District Judge Richard Leon's approval of the AT&T-Time Warner deal.
In a filing on Wednesday, the DOJ "sought to fast-track its appeal of the court decision," the WSJ reports. This was expected. The government is arguing that any delay "will make it increasingly difficult to unwind the merger" -- if the government prevails, that is... | | Here's the possible timeline... | | Hadas Gold emails with all the details: When asking to expedite a case, the appellants have to detail some of their arguments -- so we got a sneak peak on Wednesday. In short, the DOJ plans to argue that Judge Leon ignored "basic economic principles" of how two companies bargain during contract negotiations.
Leon rejected the DOJ's assertion that by owning Time Warner (now called WarnerMedia), AT&T would extract higher fees out of competitors, hurting the competitive market and harming innovation in the process. The DOJ says that's an "error." Read more here...
TIMELINE: Under the proposed schedule, oral arguments would begin as soon as October, meaning the appeals court could reach a decision by early 2019... | | | For the record, part three | | | By Julia Waldow:
-- Issie Lapowsky profiles the Tow Center's Jonathan Albright, a trailblazer in tracking fake news: "Not quite a journalist, not quite a coder, and certainly not your traditional social scientist, he's a potent blend of all three -- a tireless internet sleuth..." (WIRED)
-- Nearly one in 10 Instagram accounts could be bots, according to a study carried out by the research firm Ghost Data for The Information... That's up from about 7.9% in 2015... (The Information)
-- Stark and stunning interactive story from the NYT: "How WhatsApp pushes mobs to murder in India..." (NYT) | | Zuckerberg's newest problem | | NYT's Kevin Roose quipped on Twitter: "Congrats to Kara Swisher for getting Zuckerberg's last-ever interview."
What went wrong? This headline on Heather Kelly's story says it all: "Mark Zuckerberg clarifies his Holocaust comments..." | | "The Capital Gazette staff needs our help." | | | Earlier this week, IRE members were invited to volunteer "time and talents to help publish the daily paper." The response has been overwhelming, to the point that the paper says it has "more offers than we could possibly use..." | | How The Guardian got on a "better financial path" | | "Those annoying yellow banner ads on The Guardian's website suggesting readers dig deep for journalism have worked," NBC's Claire Atkinson reports. "The Guardian Media Group said that it has raised about $130 million in reader revenue, according to a spokesman for the company, helping put the paper on a better financial path."
THE NUMBERS: "The Guardian's operating losses were $75 million in 2015-16. Now, their losses are $25 million, according to the company..." | | | For the record, part four | | | -- CNBC's Joe Kernen is co-hosting "Squawk Box" from the White House on Thursday... His news peg is the creation of a National Council for the American Worker... Guests will include Wilbur Ross, Ivanka Trump, and Peter Navarro...
-- Netflix has cut a deal with Sirius XM "to create a comedy channel with the satellite-radio broadcaster," Joe Flint reports... (WSJ)
-- Julia Waldow emails some recommended reading: Joe Bernstein's remarkable story titled "Alt-right troll to father killer: The unraveling of Lane Davis..." (BuzzFeed News) | | "Sister survivors" at the ESPYs | | ICYMI: "The hundreds of survivors of Larry Nassar's sexual abuse were given the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2018 ESPYS."
ESPN said that more than 140 survivors came on stage for the extraordinary moment. "To all the survivors out there," Aly Raisman said on stage, "don't let anyone rewrite your story. Your truth does matter. You matter. And you are not alone..." | | | For the record, part five | | | | -- WSJ's Ben Fritz tweeted: "Average movie ticket prices were $9.38 in the second quarter, up a hefty 5% from same period last year, per Natl Assn. of Theatre Owners. But box office was up 22.7% and tickets sold up 17%, so audiences seem cool with it." | | -- From Brian Lowry: This is a good piece from THR's Kim Masters about the shudder currently running through Hollywood, including the uncertainty in creative ranks as they try to decipher AT&T's plans for HBO...
-- Megan Thomas flagged this from Deadline: "Netflix won a U.S. Bankruptcy Court's approval to terminate its output deal with The Weinstein Company, a settlement that means the streaming service won't be obligated to stream a third season of MTV's Scream..." | | Raising the curtain on Comic-Con | | Comic-Con kicked off with events Wednesday night. It will begin in earnest Thursday. I highly recommend Brian Lowry's curtain-raiser column... Here are a few of the takeaways:
>> "For studios, Comic-Con remains a prime venue, and a valuable way of stoking interest in upcoming projects by turning the most avid fans into ambassadors for them." BUT "some studios have reduced their presence at the convention..."
>> His bigger point: "While the annual gathering is generally characterized by fans enthusiastically interacting with celebrities, a darker side of fandom has been in the headlines of late, reflecting the sort of distasteful minority that can give fans a bad name -- and might eventually prompt some talent to think twice about how much exposure they want to that culture..."
>> Thanks to social media, "the few bad apples have become harder to ignore..." Read the full piece here... | | "Why Aren't You Watching The Graham Norton Show?" | | Megan Thomas emails: If your head is spinning from the DC news cycle, or if THR's story about anxiety in the entertainment industry rings all too familiar, I strongly recommend watching a few clips of Graham Norton's show. I strongly endorse it for comedic stress relief and give everything in this Vulture story a strong second:
"Why aren't you watching Graham Norton?" | | | Thanks for reading! Email your likes, dislikes, thoughts straight to me: brian.stelter@turner.com | | | | | | |
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