Forward

Exec summary: You've been hearing about Michael Cohen and President Trump all day, so let me start with some of the day's media headlines you may have missed... And scroll down for the story behind the Cohen story...

Mic fires entire editorial staff

This was an awful day for digital media. The millennial-targeting startup Mic laid off virtually its entire staff of 100+ and sold its remaining assets to Bustle for a measly $5 million. So much for the $60 million that had been invested into the website.

Every single employee in editorial was let go, save for co-founder Jake Horowitz, HuffPost's Maxwell Strachan reported.

On her way out, publisher Cory Haik wrote to colleagues and said "our business models are unsettled, and the macro forces at play are all going through their own states of unrest. If anyone tells you they have it figured out, a special plan to save us all, or that it's all due to a singular fault, know that is categorically false. Like the truth, it is indeed complicated." Here's CNN's full story about the layoffs by Jill Disis...

"Chronic mismanagement"

Mic was running out of cash for months. A stupidly expensive lease in the World Trade Center didn't help. "No one forced Mic to shift so much of their spending to Facebook video," CJR's Mathew Ingram wrote. "You could argue that they were driven to do so by desperation, fuelled by declining ad revenues. But there were clear signs of impending doom." Here's his full story...

--> Julia Waldow emails: The NewsGuild of New York (which represents employees at Mic) called the layoffs an "egregious act" in a statement. "Shuttering an entire news operation at a moment's notice, primarily as a result of an inexperienced leadership team and chronic mismanagement, cannot become the new norm in media," the guild said... (Twitter)

What will Bustle do with Mic's bones?

Thursday's collapse is a "reflection of the brutal state of digital media," The Information's Tom Dotan wrote, and it's "another deal by media bargain hunter Bryan Goldberg."

Goldberg, Bustle's founder and CEO, is also on Mic's board of advisors. His company has a collection of digital brands that are all supported by the same tech, marketing, finance, and operations teams. "This is the correct model for 2019 and beyond," Goldberg wrote in a memo on Thursday. "It takes tremendous cost burden off of each individual media property, and opens up much needed budget for editorial talent." He said Mic will be relaunched...

How WarnerMedia will sell its streaming service

At AT&T's analyst day on Thursday, WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey said that the company is planning three different tiers for its forthcoming streaming service, due to launch in late 2019.

"An entry level service will be focused on movies, while a premium version will include original programming along with 'blockbuster' films," Jill Disis wrote. The third tier will include both of the lower tiers plus a library of additional content.

Quoting from Disis's story: "When asked about WarnerMedia's strategy, Stankey did not discuss Netflix by name. But he said 'incumbents' in the streaming space should expect their libraries to thin out in the coming years. 'I don't think they go away, but they are not going to be the same size they are today,' Stankey added. 'I believe we can play in that world going forward.'"

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- The head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media "has apologized to George Soros and his Open Society Foundations for the airing of a program that espoused conspiracy theories about Soros and called him a 'multimillionaire Jew...'" (WaPo)

-- BuzzFeed and the NYT published stories within a couple minutes of each other that said Sheryl Sandberg "requested research" about Soros... Context here... (BuzzFeed News)

-- Here are the 10 Best Books of 2018, as selected by The Times... (NYT)

Rappler indicted

Disturbing news: The Philippines' pioneering news website Rappler and its CEO Maria Ressa were formally indicted on tax evasion charges on Thursday. Rappler's reaction: "This is a clear form of continuing intimidation and harassment against us, and an attempt to silence journalists."

Ressa and Rappler are being supported by a wide array of press freedom groups. Here's CNN's full story about the indictment...

CNN severs ties with Marc Lamont Hill

Oliver Darcy emails: CNN on Thursday said it had severed ties with contributor Marc Lamont Hill, following controversial comments the liberal commentator made about Israel. "Marc Lamont Hill is no longer under contract with CNN," a spokesperson for CNN said in a short statement, first reported by Mediaite.

In his remarks at a UN event on Wednesday, Hill called for a "free Palestine from the river to the sea." The comments were immediately condemned by critics who said Hill was calling for an end to the Israeli state.

I reached out to Hill on Thursday afternoon to see if he had a comment on CNN's announcement. He did not respond, but he did post a series of tweets addressing the matter. "I do not support anti-Semitism, killing Jewish people, or any of the other things attributed to my speech. I have spent my life fighting these things," Hill wrote. Hill added, "My reference to 'river to the sea' was not a call to destroy anything or anyone. It was a call for justice, both in Israel and in the West Bank/Gaza. The speech very clearly and specifically said those things." Full story here...

Left and right reactions

Numerous conservatives, including some of CNN's loudest critics, called out Hill and CNN after the UN event. Some of them credited CNN for severing ties with Hill on Thursday, while others said the network's statement didn't go far enough. On the left, meantime, there is outrage that CNN, in the words of Glenn Greenwald, submitted to a "right-wing outrage mob."

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- Margaret Sullivan asked Fox News: Do you have a written ethics policy? Is it published anywhere? No comment... (WaPo)

-- "National Enquirer and Us Weekly publisher American Media Inc. is attempting for a second time in four months to refinance its mountain of debt," Keith J. Kelly reported... (NYPost)

-- Followup to last night's item: A Sinclair exec spoke with the head of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists on Thursday... (NAHJ)

-- Daniella Emanuel emails: Jemele Hill wrote about how she has maintained a friendship with former ESPN president John Skipper, despite the fact that he suspended her from the network last year. "Now, maybe more than ever, the personal is political. And yet, not every political decision has to be taken personally..." (The Atlantic)

Another surprise

POTUS reportedly found out on Wednesday night. The rest of us found out on Thursday morning when George Stephanopoulos broke the news about Michael Cohen pleading guilty about lying to Congress. "We're coming on the air with major breaking news in the Russia investigation," Stephanopoulos said...

And you know the rest by now. But let's reflect on the fact that, once again, Robert Mueller's team surprised everyone. "We live in a political environment characterized by constant leaks," but Cohen's plea "happened with no warning. That reflects admirable discipline in Mueller's office," attorney and former federal prosecutor Ken White wrote for The Atlantic.

ABC's scoop

Stephanopoulos has had several scoops about Cohen this year. Earlier this month, the LAT's Stephen Battaglio asked him, "How did you develop the connection to Michael Cohen?" He answered: "Every time Trump wanted to do interviews, you worked it through Michael Cohen. He would be there. You'd talk to him beforehand, talk to him afterward. And then I would have lunch with him twice a year..."

"Tip of the iceberg"

Mueller is obviously using public filings and court proceedings to share some of his findings about Trump and Russia. And Trump is obviously lashing out. Upon arrival in Argentina for the G20 summit, Trump tweeted, "this is an illegal Hoax that should be ended immediately." But he knows better than that. As a reality TV star in a past life, he knows that the end isn't in sight quite yet. As Fox's top legal analyst, Judge Andrew Napolitano, said on the air Thursday morning, Cohen's admission is just the "tip of an iceberg." And "where is the rest of that iceberg? In Bob Mueller's office."

Napolitano provided clear-eyed commentary on Fox's newscasts. But the network's pro-Trump talk shows downplayed the seriousness of Thursday's news. Sometimes it seems like they're several months behind the rest of the media... As if the damning details haven't reached them yet!

Here's what one of Cohen's former clients is saying...

"Mueller is not on a mission for truth and justice," Sean Hannity said Thursday night. "He's on a crusade to destroy, delegitimize, disrupt the Donald Trump presidency."

Reminder: Cohen used to help out Hannity with legal questions. Earlier this year, Hannity was revealed to be a client of Cohen's.

"Look, I know Michael Cohen," Hannity said Thursday night. "He has a wonderful family. I can't imagine the pressure he's under. I'm not going to pile on. He's got a lot of hard things that he's facing. But this is important. If this is Mueller's big witness, it is fair to ask, who are we to believe, the Michael Cohen then or the Michael Cohen now?" That question was a theme on Fox's prime time shows... The hosts and guests disparaged Cohen and sowed doubt about his credibility...

How it played in prime time

"Today," Jeffrey Toobin said on "AC360," is "the first day I actually thought Donald Trump might not finish his term in office. I think this thing is enormous."

While Fox's shows engaged in whataboutism and pivoted to other subjects, like immigration, CNN and MSNBC's shows were focused on the fallout from Cohen's confession. There were multiple segments about Cohen's ongoing cooperation with Mueller. Gloria Borger quoted a source close to Cohen who said, "Michael has the goods. He has extremely valuable information."

-- Chris Cuomo: "Did the president lie to Mueller in his answers about that same Russia deal? And if so, are we seeing a pattern that may persuade Congress to act?"

-- Rachel Maddow: "If Matthew Whitaker was installed at the DOJ to bring the Muller investigation to a halt, today shows that THAT has not happened..."

Notes and quotes

-- WaPo's Friday headline: "Trump emerges as a central subject of Mueller probe"

-- Trumpworld's lies "gave a powerful geopolitical adversary at least some leverage over an American president and his son," Conor Friedersdorf wrote...

-- Kara Scannell's latest: "Donald Trump Jr., Trump Org. in spotlight after Cohen plea"

-- BuzzFeed's scoop, later matched by CNN and other outlets: There was talk about giving Vladimir Putin a penthouse in Trump Tower Moscow...

-- John Podhoretz has always been a skeptic about Russian collusion, but "today, I'm not such a skeptic any longer," he wrote in this new NYPost column...

-- Bloomberg's Greg Farrell: "Cohen's Plea Suggests Russians Held 'Kompromat' on Trump"

Trump is trying to sell these pro-Trump books

Oliver Darcy emails: Trump was in book-selling mode Thursday evening. The president hawked the books of not one, not two, not three … but six of his supporters in a window of about 45 minutes. Via Twitter, on his flight to the G20, Trump recommended his followers purchase the books of Steve Scalise, Stephen Moore and Arthur Laffer, Dan Bongino, Gregg Jarrett and Jeanine Pirro. Whether his tweets will boost the sales of the books, however, waits to be seen. As The Daily Beast's Max Tani noted, publishing insiders have said his tweets don't increase sales very much...

"Vladimir Trump"

This has to be a candidate for correction of the year. A correction on this WSJ.com story: "Vladimir Putin is president of Russia. An editing mistake erroneously identified him as Vladimir Trump in an earlier version of this article." 🤦

What will Friday bring?

If I knew, I'd tell you! But we do know that there will be a hearing in the Paul Manafort case at 9:30 a.m. ET...

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

By Julia Waldow:

-- Important: "Facebook will exempt paid posts promoting news articles from its political ad archive, ending a practice that rankled publishers who chafed at seeing their journalism classified as if it were paid partisan advocacy," Ben Mullin reported... (WSJ)

-- The Trump administration will hold a roundtable with top tech execs next Thursday, "a move that marks an easing of tensions between the White House and big Silicon Valley firms..." (WSJ)

-- Daniel Funke's latest: "This fact-checker got several news outlets to correct a false story about a mini-Ice Age..." (Poynter)

-- Journalists at Mashable and PCMag are seeking to unionize as the Ziff Davis Creators Guild... (HuffPost)

Frank's reality check about the box office and the NFL

Frank Pallotta emails: The domestic box office is up 10% this year. The NFL's ratings are up 5% this season. These two things seem like they're not related, but in a way they are. The internet was saturated last year with stories about Hollywood and the NFL dying. These takes were, well, dead wrong.

Both the movie industry and the football industry are, as they usually are, in flux. But keep these increases in mind the next time people claim the sky is falling...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- "History-making Viola Davis will star as history-making Shirley Chisholm in a new biopic..." (WaPo)

-- Netflix has cancelled "Daredevil" after three seasons. "The Daredevil character will live on in future projects for Marvel..." (Deadline)

-- Jedidiah Bila left Fox News to become a co-host of "The View..." Now, a year after leaving "The View," she's back at Fox as a contributor... (Variety)

-- "WSJ At Large with Gerry Baker" is debuting Friday night on Fox Biz...

"Roma" wins big at NYFCC

Frank Pallotta emails: The New York Film Critics Circle announced its 2018 award winners on Thursday. The biggest winner: Alfonso Cuarón's "Roma." The film won best picture, best director and best cinematography -- a great start for the Netflix film.

If "Roma" can go the distance -- and it has the quality and acclaim to do so -- it'll show that Netflix can provide more than big paychecks and worldwide distribution, it can also win you an Oscar...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

-- "Music producer DJ Khaled and boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. were charged by the SEC Thursday with promoting investments in initial cryptocurrency coin offerings without revealing that they'd been paid..." (CNN)

-- Priyanka Chopra is Vogue's January cover star... (Vogue)

-- Via Chloe Melas: "When Harry Met Sally" stars Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal, along with director Rob Reiner, "will reunite to celebrate the romantic comedy by kicking off Turner Classic Movies' annual film festival" in April... (CNN)

-- ICYMI: Here's Lisa Respers France's look at what's streaming in December... (CNN)

Two new scripted series at Comedy Central

One is from Awkwafina, the other is from Rory Scovel. THR has all the details here.

Note Awkwafina's comment about why she did the deal: "I've been watching Comedy Central since I was old enough to hold a remote, and so many of their shows have defined who I am today..."

Contrast that with former Comedy Central personality Michelle Wolf, who recently told GQ that Netflix is like a "tomb," and her show there was doomed from the get-go. "There's so much on Netflix right now that it's like it's almost become a tomb," she said...

Speaking of Comedy Central...

What is the channel going to do with the post-"Daily Show" time slot? It's been a real struggle. EVPs and co-heads of talent and development Sarah Babineau and Jonas Larsen told THR that "political fatigue" is a challenge... "As we're talking about developing a new 11:30 show, we're focusing more on the pop-culture space and what we're calling a palate cleanser," Babineau said. "So it's a different approach to 11:30 than we've done before." Larsen added: "Something that will get you from The Daily Show to bed in a much more gentle way than perhaps a political show would do there..."

Lowry reviews "Mowgli"

Brian Lowry emails: The story behind "Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle" is almost as interesting as the movie. Director and motion-capture actor extraordinaire Andy Serkis' darker take on "The Jungle Book" actually complements the singing-animals approach, but the completed project was sold to Netflix after Disney's latest version, as Warner Bros. feared its limited theatrical prospects. It's now getting a brief theatrical run in advance of a Dec. 7 launch on the streaming service, which continues to play with its theatrical-streaming strategy...

Universal to adapt "Dear Evan Hansen"

Brian Lowry emails: It's already a big year for musicals, and more are on the way. Universal has nabbed the rights to adapt the Tony-winning "Dear Evan Hansen," per Deadline, from the songwriting team that contributed to last year's surprise hit "The Greatest Showman." Plus, the studio's movie version of "Wicked" is due for release next year...

FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX

By Lisa Respers France:

-- John Legend and Chrissy Teigen's holiday special has us craving a sitcom...

-- Mariah Carey's legendary Jennifer Lopez shade is almost as famous as the singers... And now Carey says she was actually trying to be nice...

-- Paris Hilton has revealed why she called off her engagement...

-- Quentin Tarantino married his fiancée Daniella Pick on Wednesday...

A media reporter goes to "Network"

Frank Pallotta emails: On Tuesday night I got away from the everyday stresses of being a media reporter by going to see a Broadway production of **checks tickets** "Network."

The production, which stars Bryan Cranston as anchor Howard Beale, is an adaptation of the classic film by Sidney Lumet and Paddy Chayefsky. The 1976 film should be required viewing for anyone in media because it covers corporate influence, news as entertainment and the bloodthirsty desire for ratings. It does this through outrageous satire, but it did kind of somewhat prophetically predict the media world we are in now.

The play adds its own touches by using screens throughout the theater, audience participation and Cranston's raving performance. In short, I really enjoyed it even if it meant to make me "mad as hell."

That's a wrap on today's letter. Thank you for reading. Send me your feedback anytime. See you tomorrow!