Forward

Exec summary: Welcome to December! One of the best times of the year. Scroll down for weekend reads, Michelle Obama's publishing milestone, Ariana Grande's video release, CNN's scoop about Michael Cohen, and much more...

BREAKING:

A POTUS presser

The White House just announced that President Trump will hold a press conference toward the end of his G20 summit visit in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The presser is scheduled for 3:45 p.m. local time, which is 1:45 p.m. ET.

Trump's most recent outside-the-US presser was in Helsinki. Hard to forget that one. His most recent presser at the White House was on November 7, one day after the midterms… His exchange there with CNN's Jim Acosta led to a ban, a lawsuit, and a list of press conference "rules" that no one in the press corps agreed to follow. So tune in on Saturday afternoon…

The story behind the Moonves story

The NYT's blockbuster story about the end of the Les Moonves era -- detailing Moonves' attempts to find a CBS job for an alleged victim so that she would stay silent -- will be in print this weekend. It's the cover of the recently relaunched Sunday Business section. It's the backstory to Moonves' ouster -- and the story BEHIND their story is pretty remarkable too.

All three reporters, Ellen Gabler, Rachel Abrams and James B. Stewart, joined me for this week's "Reliable" podcast.

Gabler said that she and at least one other Times reporter made calls about Moonves in November 2017. They knew about the rumors of Moonves and sexual misconduct. "Our job as reporters, of course, is to get beyond the gossip and get people to talk to us and tell us what really happened," she said.

But sources like Marv Dauer, the talent manager who ultimately became a key player in this week's NYT story, dodged her calls. It was a "red flag," she said. "You think, 'Hmmm, maybe they actually really know something.'"

But Dauer was a dead end. Months later, after Ronan Farrow's first story about Moonves, Stewart reported on the CBS board machinations. After Farrow's second story, and after Moonves was forced out, Stewart learned that the Moonves and Dauer's dealings -- to essentially pay off Moonves accuser Bobbie Phillips -- were at the heart of the CBS decision to oust him. But the board members didn't know the details. This was all still a mystery.

That's when a Times editor connected Stewart with Gabler. Up until then, the two reporters had never met! It's a big newsroom, after all. So they started working together. Knowing that calls from the NYT sometimes scare off sources, Stewart got a local 310 area code number. He called Dauer and many of Dauer's friends, building on Gabler's many previous calls. "How did you get their phone numbers?" Dauer asked him. Now Stewart had a dialogue going with Dauer. One thing led to another...

How the trio came together

At the same time, a third Times reporter was working on a story about the law firms CBS had hired to investigate misconduct. This is where Abrams comes in. One day Abrams walked by Stewart's desk and shared what she was working on. It was an Ah-ha moment. Stewart revealed what he was working on with Gabler. "So that's what led me to try to help," Abrams said.

Her sources provided some key pieces of intel. Of course, the reporters are reluctant to get into too much detail, lest they give up any sources. But they discovered that the lawyers involved in the CBS investigation "were on a very similar track to us," Abrams said.

The Times ultimately reported that it was the attempted cover-up, not necessarily the allegations, that accelerated Moonves' exit from CBS. "I won't say in this case the cover-up was worse than the crime, because the incident is so bad," Stewart said. "But the cover-up is very bad and it really, I think, will be the cover-up that -- if he ends up losing $120 million -- that's what it will be about."

If you haven't read the roughly 5,000 word finished product, click here...

The big picture points

Abrams: This was a story "about how people use every every lever at their disposal to protect themselves."

Stewart: "We would be naive to think that there have not been other instances where, in fact, a scheme like this worked -- where powerful people have traded either money or favors or influence or something, in order to silence their accusers."

Gabler: "The story is just a good reminder to keep being persistent." To keep calling.

🎧 Listen to the podcast

If you're a journalist or you'd like to be a journalist, I think you'll be intrigued by this 39-minute conversation. We dived deep into the year-long effort, the reporter-source relationship and more. Listen via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, or your favorite podcast app...

This Sunday on "Reliable"

I'll be joined by Michael Isikoff, Kaitlan Collins, Garrett Graff, Oliver Darcy, Susan Glasser, Matt Lewis, and Margaret Sullivan... Plus Julie K. Brown, the investigative reporter at the Miami Herald who dug into the Jeffrey Epstein sex abuse case... See you Sunday at 11 a.m. ET!

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- After TMZ published a video of star running back Kareem Hunt appearing to push and kick a woman, the Kansas City Chiefs cut him... (CNN)

-- Mark Leibovich's latest: Questioning the value of the Trump-mood beat... (NYT)

-- Smart Philip Bump piece on the Trump denial pattern: "From 'no way' to 'why not?'" (WaPo)

-- Brian Lowry emails: Max Read turned a silly Tucker Carlson segment about "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" into a thoughtful breakdown of the Content Cycle, and how a series of tweets can wind up on cable TV, before being disgorged back into social media... (NY Mag)

First look ahead at next week

Tim Cook receives an ADL award on Monday... BI's Ignition conference runs Monday and Tuesday... Sundar Pichai testifies on Wednesday... US v. AT&T appeal hearing will be held on Thursday... "Divide and Conquer," the new documentary about Roger Ailes, comes out Friday...

AT&T's new predictions

"In 1993, AT&T offered a series of out-there predictions in an ad campaign called 'You Will' about where technology was headed. The ads foretold everything from video calls to GPS directions in your car. And most of those predictions came true," CNET's Roger Cheng wrote. So "for the 25th anniversary of the campaign, AT&T tapped its employees and outside academics for a new set of prognostications."

Among the predictions: Caretaking robots, smart clothes, huge improvements to home monitoring, and the end of car ownership. Here's the 12-minute film on YouTube...

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- Microsoft passed Apple on Friday, reclaiming the title of "most valuable company..." (CNN)

-- "Alexa and Apple are playing nice. Amazon's Echo smart speakers will work with Apple Music starting December 17..." (CNN)

-- This is an insightful piece titled "Jonah Peretti's increasing pessimism and why it matters." Simon Owens says "for much of BuzzFeed's existence, Peretti thought he was operating above the industry trends that have worried so many of his publishing colleagues. His latest complaints about the tech platforms are simply a lagging indicator that he's been pulled back to earth..." (WNIP)

-- Right Wing Watch's Jared Holt: "Mike Pence posted a photo on Twitter with a Florida law enforcement officer wearing a QAnon patch for sale on Amazon..." (Twitter)

How Anchorage's stations covered the quake

All of the local TV stations serving Anchorage were knocked off the airwaves by Friday morning's 7.0 earthquake. Power outages disrupted some of the transmission sites. And quake damage forced some journalists out of their offices. "Our newsroom is flooded, the ceiling is caved in, there's debris everywhere," a KTVA staffer reported on a Facebook Live stream an hour after the quake. The station deserves a lot of credit for staying live via Facebook in the immediate aftermath. Another big local station, KTUU, sustained minor damage, but not nearly as severe. Poynter has a recap of the coverage here...

Rossen leaving the "Today" show

Oliver Darcy emails: Jeff Rossen is departing the "Today" show. The news was first reported by The Daily Beast. A person with knowledge of the situation confirmed to me that Rossen will be leaving the show. Per the Beast, Rossen "couldn't come to agreeable terms with NBC on his contract after it expired last week." A network source told the outlet that he was, nonetheless, leaving on "good terms..."

Rookie is shutting down

Katie Pellico writes: Rookie Mag is "folding," seven years after it was founded by a 15-year-old fashion prodigy, Tavi Gevinson. In a six-page letter from the editor on Friday, Gevinson (now 22) expressed several regrets. She said "digital media has become an increasingly difficult business, and Rookie in its current form is no longer financially sustainable." She considered many options for the publication's future but found them unpalatable and she couldn't commit to staying on as founder/editor in the event of a sale, making any plea to potential investors less appealing.

Gevinson wrote in the letter, "I wasn't a Bryce at heart" -- meaning a hot-shot businessman or investor type -- "but I thought I could pretend for a few meetings or years in order to keep the art project alive and get myself some financial reward. I thought I could make my essential qualities malleable. I didn't see that the life one truly wants probably wouldn't require such shapeshifting." Gevinson's passion for producing is still palpable throughout her letter, so my guess is we'll see her shapeshift very soon...

>> Via The Cut: "How Rookie Changed the Internet for Girls and Women"

Bharara: This 'smacks of abuse of power'

CNN.com's top headline right now: "He thought Trump would pardon him. Things changed."

It's about Michael Cohen's belief that he could be pardoned if he kept supporting POTUS. One of CNN's sources "said that after the April 2018 FBI raid on Cohen's office and home, people close to the President assured Cohen that Trump would take care of him. And Cohen believed that meant that the President would offer him a pardon if he stayed on message. It is unclear who specifically reached out to Cohen..."

>> Preet Bharara's reaction on "AC360:" It's an enormous deal because "that, to me, smacks of obstruction... It's not the way the pardon power is supposed to be used..."

NPR corrects Don Jr. story

Oliver Darcy emails: NPR published an editor's note on Friday afternoon acknowledging that an earlier version of a story about Donald Trump Jr. "mischaracterized an answer" he had given to Senate investigators "about the prospective projects his family was negotiating with people in Moscow." As the editor's note says, "The story reported that Trump Jr.'s response -- that negotiations on one project concluded by the end of 2014 -- contrasted with the version of events as laid out in the guilty plea by Michael Cohen on Thursday. In fact, Trump Jr. and investigators were alluding to a different set of negotiations -- not to a deal that Cohen was reportedly pursuing."

Trump Jr. responded to NPR's correction, tweeting, "I guess this is as close as I'll get to an apology where yet another 'bombshell' bites the dust." Other conservatives, however, praised NPR for issuing an honest correction. At National Review, David French wrote, "This is a prompt explanation of a journalistic error -- exactly what we need when the media makes a mistake."

How we know Trump is watching

Economist Stephen Moore, one of CNN's pro-Trump commentators, quoted in Katie Rogers' latest: "I will get calls from Trump if I say something he doesn't like. He'll call me and say, 'Why did you say that?' I say, 'Mr. President, 80% of what I say about you is positive.'"

Here's the thing about Trump's book club...

Rogers' NYT story is all about Trump's tendency to recommend books even though he doesn't seem to read books. He touted five Trumpy tomes on Twitter on Thursday. Each of the books improved their relative standing on Amazon's sales chart. But the spikes were minor. Trump's tweets don't really juice book sales all that much. After Thursday's tweetstorm, none of the books catapulted into the top ten. Dan Bongino's "Spygate," which was No. 29 at the time of Trump's tweet, rose to No. 24. The other four books are far lower on Amazon's best selling list.

That brings me to this next bit of book biz news...

Michelle Obama has the No. 1 book of 2018

Yes, "Becoming" has surpassed Michael Wolff's "Fire and Fury."

Obama's publisher, Penguin Random House, said Friday that "Becoming" "sold more than 2 million units in all formats and editions in the U.S. and Canada during the first 15 days of its publication."

The hardcover edition of "Becoming" is now up to six printings, meaning the publisher has had to order more and more copies to keep up with demand. By the end of the sixth printing, there will be 3.4 million copies in print in the U.S. and Canada, well-timed for the holidays. Here's my full story...

Here are the BookScan rankings

These #'s are for hardcover copy sales this year, thanks to NDP BookScan data. Audio books, ebooks, etc are not included:

"Becoming:" 1,122,618 copies
"Magnolia Table" by Joanna Gaines: 1,089,283
"Fire and Fury:" 1,008,088 copies
"Girl, Wash Your Face" by Rachel Hollis: 997,024
"Fear" by Bob Woodward: 872,567

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- A segment on "The View" went off the rails and effectively morphed into a shouting match between panelists when the subject of Trump and Russia came up... (Mediaite)

-- Savannah Guthrie emceed the inaugural Heroes and History Makers gala, hosted by the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, on Thursday night... Tom Hanks was honored... (THR)

WSJ updates its viral correction

Oliver Darcy emails: Some people (like Stelter!) said it might be the correction of the year. But apparently WSJ's editors didn't care for it as much. The newspaper updated its correction on a story that misidentified Putin. Initially, the correction read, "An editing mistake erroneously identified him as Vladimir Trump in an earlier version of this article." It was changed later to read, "Vladimir Putin is president of Russia. An editing mistake misidentified Mr. Putin in an earlier version of this article." I reached out to a WSJ spokesperson to ask why the correction was updated, but did not hear back!

Fox contributor thinks Mueller probe has gone down "Stalinist" path

Darcy emails: Fox News contributors continue to use sensational -- and frankly irresponsible -- rhetoric when discussing Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference. The latest example comes courtesy of right-wing blogger Mollie Hemingway. Appearing on "Fox & Friends," Hemingway trashed the Special Counsel's probe. She concluded saying that the investigation seemed to be following a "very Stalinist type approach to criminal justice."

Yahoo's "see all sides" ad

One more item from Oliver Darcy: Yahoo! News took out quite the web ad on Vice.com this week. The ad displayed a graphic that showed two intersecting border walls. One wall said "immigrants endanger us" and the other said "immigrants enrich us." The ad, promoting the company's mobile app, said, "See all sides." Critics lampooned the company for taking the "both sides" approach, suggesting the anti-immigrant and pro-immigrant sides were equivalent to each other.

But a Yahoo! News spokesperson told me the company stands by the ad. In a statement, the spokesperson added, "These ads are meant to reflect the current state of our country, and the polarizing conversations taking place on a number of issues. Yahoo News has a long history as a non-partisan news organization, with a mission to present divergent perspectives."

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- Michael Smerconish interviewed rapper and criminal justice reform activist Meek Mill on Friday... It'll air on CNN's "Smerconish" 9 a.m. ET on Saturday...

-- Facebook Watch "is playing the nostalgia card in its latest bid to drive up video viewing," by streaming free episodes of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Angel" and "Firefly" through a licensing pact with 20th Century Fox Television... (Variety)

'Tis the season!

A big thanks to CNN and Poppy Harlow... Jamie and I just arrived home from the Madison Square Boys & Girls Club's annual Christmas Tree Ball. Our tablemates at the fundraiser included CNN's Richard Quest, Chris Pepper, Jason Farkas, Haley Draznin, Shelby Vest, and Bill Weir...

Claire Foy hosting "SNL" on Saturday

And the musical guest is Anderson...

Grande's grand music video debut

Katie Pellico emails: "Ariana Grande's 'thank u, next' music video had over 825,000 people watching live," The Verge reports.

Music videos haven't felt like a communal event since the heydays of MTV and "TRL Live," but with the advent of live-streaming, the shared experience may be making a comeback. On Friday a whole lot of people got together on YouTube to watch the "thank u, next" premiere at the same time. With services like Twitch, this phenomenon has become fairly standard when it comes to video games, commentary, and certain types of announcements, but Grande's video may be the first time the live streaming format has been used for a high-profile music video...

ALREADY: The video has 26 million views on YouTube...

RELATED: Here's Chloe Melas's full story...

The most influential movie ever is...

"Researchers in Italy have determined the most influential movie of all time — and it's probably not the one you expected. The 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz has had the most impact in Hollywood, according to a report in the journal Applied Network Science," EW's James Hibberd reports...

"Nightflyers" turns George R.R. Martin novella into Syfy pretender

Brian Lowry emails: Syfy is clearly excited to have a new series based on a novella by George R.R. Martin, the author of "Game of Thrones." But its adaptation "Nightflyers" is a wholly generic variation on the haunted-house-in-space motif, which might explain why the network is hedging its bets by making all 10 episodes available to binge online in concert with its linear-TV debut.

Read Lowry's full review here...

Strong debut for "Dirty John"

Brian Lowry emails: The news was somewhat better for Syfy's sister network Bravo, which reported that "Dirty John" -- its limited series based on a LA Times podcast and series of articles -- premiered as its most-watched scripted series ever, with a combined 3.8 million viewers across platforms. Los Angeles Times Studios shares producing credit on the eight-episode series...

Netflix has axed three Marvel shows...

...In the span of a few weeks. Is this part of Netflix's response to Marvel owner Disney's plan for Disney+? That's certainly one way to look at it... Anyway, Lisa Respers France has a look at the disappointment among "Daredevil" fans about Thursday's cancellation news...

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