Exec summary: Hey, everybody. This is a special "morning edition" of the newsletter. I was about to hit send when... this happened:
Bomb threat at CNN NYC
Honestly I'm reluctant to start off this edition of the newsletter with Thursday night's bomb threat at CNN NYC, because these attempts at intimidation are infuriating and unacceptable. Most bomb threats don't get much if any news coverage. But Thursday night was different for three reasons. One, the phoned-in threat to CNN came six weeks after the mail bombs targeting CNN and numerous Democratic officials. Two, the offices were evacuated, meaning that CNN had to halt its live programming due to the threat. And three, the NYPD shut down a city block and searched every floor of CNN's offices as a result.
It was a false alarm. There was no bomb. But unfortunately this bomb threat was still newsworthy. Let me take you through it step by step.
What happened
Per a law enforcement source, a caller indicated there were five devices in the building. The call came in at 9:47 p.m. ET, according to building security. Officials with CNN's parent company were alerted. Law enforcement agencies were contacted. "CNN Tonight" went to commercial at 10:26. Don Lemon and his producers were told to grab their coats and evacuate the building. At the exact same minute, two floors below, Rob McLean was told the same thing. He edits this newsletter at night... He promptly headed home to keep working from there. Meanwhile the "CNN Tonight" staff gathered at a restaurant across the street and tried to figure out what to do next.
CNN's master control in Atlanta started to show a rerun of "AC360." Alert viewers wondered: What happened to Lemon's show?
How we went live
While Lemon's staff was evacuating, I was downstairs at Whole Foods. CNN NYC is part of a sprawling complex, the Time Warner Center, containing a mall, grocery store, event spaces, hotel, restaurants, apartments, and offices. I heard the sirens and saw an alert on my phone. So I came out to the street -- already roped off police -- and found staffers from the New York bureau. We tried to connect to CNN Atlanta through my laptop, but it didn't work, so we set up a live shot signal via my iPhone and the Skype app. It was shaky, but good enough.
CNN International anchor John Vause began to anchor from Atlanta. He showed the iPhone live shot, then brought in Lemon by phone. A few minutes later we used the iPhone as our "stand up position," to use some TV lingo, and stayed there for the rest of the 11 p.m. hour. Pro tip: Make sure your phone battery is always charged. I was at 10%, so I had to borrow a colleague's mobile charger. | | "They don't normally evacuate buildings" because of something like this, Shimon Prokupecz explained. The recent spate of mail bombs must have been a factor in the NYPD's decision. CNN analyst Sam Vinograd also joined us from the makeshift live shot position. It was freezing, obviously, but the police response was warmly appreciated.
The all-clear
The all-clear came at 11:50 p.m., and Lemon and the rest of us walked back into the building. CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker, who was outside on the street with us, updated staffers via an internal memo. "The building is secure and safe for everyone to return in the morning," he wrote. "We appreciate the swift action by the local authorities, and the patience and professionalism of all the employees who were impacted."
Trump's tweet
Between the time of the phoned-in threat, 9:47, and the time of the evacuation, @realDonaldTrump tweeted, "FAKE NEWS - THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!"
So if you thought this specific tweet was a trigger for the threat, think again. But the broader climate of attacks against the news media is undeniable. Let me share with Rick Wilson wrote shortly after midnight ET:
"Right now, @realDonaldTrump could tweet the following: 'Bomb threats against CNN and other media outlets are never acceptable.' But he won't."
Back to the news
Here's what I liked most about Thursday night's unusual CNN programming lineup: As soon as Lemon was back on the "CNN Tonight" set, the show moved on to OTHER news. We covered Kevin Hart, Heather Nauert, etcetera. This is something I tried to say during the breaking news coverage out on the street: We didn't want to "be" the news. We wanted to be covering the news. So let's get on with it here...
BREAKING Kevin Hart OUT as Oscars host
Frank Pallotta emails: Kevin Hart was Oscars host for less than two days.
The comedian stepped down as host of the 2019 Academy Awards after homophobic tweets from his past resurfaced on social media on Thursday. "The tweets, between 2009 and 2011, included derogatory language referring to gay people and made disparaging comments about sexuality. Some of the tweets have since been deleted," CNN's story notes. | | "I have made the choice to step down from hosting this year's Oscar's," Hart said via his Twitter account. "This is because I do not want to be a distraction on a night that should be celebrated by so many amazing talented artists."
He added, "I sincerely apologize to the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past. I'm sorry that I hurt people."
Hart's tweets came in the wake of two Instagram videos that had a markedly different tone. He claimed that the Academy had insisted he issue a new apology for the old tweets. He resisted the "trolls," as he called them. But by the end of the day, he did share that apology -- along wth his resignation.
>> "Quite a day," tweeted journalist Mark Harris. "When the history of this is written -- tomorrow -- don't believe anything that cites trolls or 'political correctness' or a 'mob.' This was human beings, standing up for themselves and/or those they care about."
No comment from the Academy
That's as of 2:45 a.m. ET, 11:45 p.m. PT...
So who should vote the Oscars now?
How about... nobody?
Frank Pallotta emails: The Academy will likely find someone to take over the ceremony, but my suggestion is to skip having a host this year. For years, the Oscars didn't have a singular host and this year would be a great time to return to that format This year's films have been so great. Everything from quality blockbusters like "Black Panther" to stunning smaller films like "Roma." The films — and the diverse stories they tell — should be the focus, not a host...
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- Jack Shafer's latest: "The Weekly Standard Is Dying a Surprisingly Standard Death..." (Politico)
-- Steven Perlberg reports: "You will be shocked to learn that Michael Bloomberg's comments that he may end political coverage at Bloomberg News if he runs for president... did not go over well in the newsroom. Lots of confusion and no communication from top editors..." (BuzzFeed)
-- "CNN will partner with The Des Moines Register on 'The Iowa Poll' in the lead-up to the state's 2020 presidential caucuses..." (CNN) | |
From Fox News to UN ambassador
"In terms of what we normally look for at the United Nations, her resume is very thin." That's David Gergen's assessment of the news that President Trump is expected to name Fox News host turned State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert as his new ambassador to the UN. "This is a risky move for Trump," Jen Psaki added on "AC360" Thursday night. But it's a comfortable move for the president, who watched Nauert on Fox for years.
Bloomberg broke the news of her impending appointment on Thursday. CNN's team is reporting that it will become official on Friday...
Nauert's background
It's a mistake to dismiss Nauert. She is sharp. She has a journalism degree. She has produced news reports for Fox and ABC. But most of her experience is as a news reader and a professional pundit, opining on all sorts of subjects on Fox and elsewhere. WaPo's Paul Farhi wrote an excellent profile of Nauert 18 years ago... Titled "the new face of the talking head..." Check it out here...
The Fox-Trump merger
Nauert worked with Bill Shine for years at Fox. Now Shine is in charge of comms at the WH. And her appointment is yet another example of the effective merger between Fox and the White House. On "AC360," I said the merger may be good for Trump personally, but I don't think it's good for America. Television is great, but does anyone really think it's the best way to hire government officials?
Fox supporting prison reform bill
Hope Hicks flexing her muscles? This is a rare move by Fox, endorsing a bill, in this case the prison reform act supported by President Trump, the ACLU, the Kochs, some Republicans and some Democrats. To be clear, this isn't Fox News specifically, it's the network's parent company Fox. So Lachlan and Rupert are making a statement here.
"Fox supports the bipartisan First Step Act to limit mandatory minimum sentences, prevent recidivism and expand rehabilitation," the company said Thursday. Incidentally, or not, this was Hicks' first press release as Fox's new PR chief. Fox said it "looks forward to providing corporate support to programs implementing these objectives and to telling the compelling stories of redemption that result from common sense criminal justice reform."
Remember when Rupert went to visit Mitch McConnell after election day? I think this statement is partly about pushing McConnell to allow a vote on the bill...
"Divide in Conquer" is in theaters on Friday
That's the new documentary about Fox News founder Roger Ailes and his impact on America. I'll have more to say about it in Friday night's newsletter...
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"A deep and systemic problem remains for women in TV — and their viewers. It may even be getting worse..."
--Margaret Sullivan's latest WaPo column...
The NYT has another disturbing look into CBS
Rob McLean emails: "The NYT reported Thursday that the company continues to pay a settlement to a woman who accused '60 Minutes' founding executive producer Don Hewitt of sexually assaulting her and destroying her career. Hewitt died in 2009, but The Times reported that CBS continues to pay the unidentified woman a substantial -- and growing -- settlement." It has exceeded $5 million, "plus annual payments of $75,000 for the rest of her life," the story says.
The info about Hewitt is in the draft report to the CBS board that the NYT obtained. Evidently the board still hasn't seen it. A spokesman for the board said he had no new comment about the new story...
About Fager...
Hewitt's successor, Jeff Fager, was fired back in September. Quoting Rachel Abrams and John Koblin's story: "The investigators wrote that the firing was justified, adding that Mr. Fager had 'engaged in certain acts of sexual misconduct' with colleagues and failed to stop misbehavior by others." Fager strongly denied those allegations earlier this year.
The NYT's headline: 'At '60 Minutes,' Independence Led to Trouble, Investigators Say." Here's the story...
Awkward timing for CBS...
This is the third big, embarrassing NYT story about CBS in the past week. These shameful secrets were buried for far too long. Kudos to the paper for making sure there's a public reckoning.
At the same time, for CBS staffers, "it's frustrating that confidential information from the ongoing investigation made its way to the public before management and the board knew about it – and importantly, before we could communicate with all of you," interim CEO Joe Ianniello wrote in a memo on Thursday. "And while we still don't yet know the actual results, I do understand that the investigation is nearing an end."
CBS was holding its annual holiday party for members of the media when the latest NYT story dropped. I noticed multiple journalists huddled around their phones, reading the NYT story and discussing it... | |
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- Charles Krauthammer's final book, "The Point of It All," edited by his son Daniel, came out Tuesday... And it's holding steady at #4 on Amazon's best sellers list... (Amazon)
-- What's Michelle Obama been reading lately? The NYT has her list... (NYT)
-- CNN's Amy Entelis is one of the Power 100 honorees in THR's Women in Entertainment issue... (THR)
-- Unsolved mystery! "On Thursday, strange lines began appearing on some Instagram posts and Stories..." (CNN)
The midterms, one months later
Midterm election night was really just the beginning. At the end of the night's nonstop news coverage, the picture was incomplete, with millions of votes still to be counted. Now, one month later, the picture has been filled in, and the results are more positive for Democrats than initially believed. A deeper shade of blue. And that's prompting some conversations in newsrooms about how to cover election nights differently in the future...
THURSDAY'S NEWS: The Democrats hit 40 -- i.e. a net gain of 40 seats in the House -- when Republican David Valadao conceded to Democrat TJ Cox in California's 21st congressional district...
STAY TUNED: The results of one race, in North Carolina's ninth congressional district, are still up in the air. On Thursday Democrat Dan McCready withdrew his concession while investigators probe allegations of election fraud...
GOP POV: Republicans can point to the Senate, where they gained two seats. But the chatter about a "red wave" was always ridiculous, and I hope everyone sees that now...
Harry Enten on this week's "Reliable" podcast
| | Harry Enten, who runs The Forecast for CNN, joined me on this week's podcast because I wanted to revisit the midterm narrative one month later. Perhaps journalists need to be "more transparent" on election nights "and admit where we don't necessarily know where everything's going to end up," Enten said. Read about our chat here... And listen to the pod via Apple Podcasts or your favorite app...
The power of local reporting in NC
WaPo's Eli Rosenberg has a great story here about "the shoe-leather reporting boosting North Carolina's explosive election fraud investigation..."
COMING FRIDAY...
Mueller poised to reveal new details on Russia probe in Manafort, Cohen filings
Jeremy Herb, Katelyn Polantz and Erica Orden's curtain raiser for Friday: Robert Mueller's office "has a Friday deadline to explain to the court why it accused Paul Manafort of lying to investigators and breaking his cooperation deal. Separately, the special counsel's office and federal prosecutors in New York have to provide memos to recommend a sentence for Michael Cohen -- filings that are expected to detail how he has cooperated in multiple investigations..."
-- MORE: Garrett Graff's latest for WIRED: "14 Trump and Russia questions Robert Mueller knows the answers to..."
Fox stars say Mueller's probe is a 'fishing expedition.' Napolitano knows better.
Oliver Darcy emails: If you've turned on Fox News over the last year, you've probably heard a personality or host accuse Robert Mueller of being on a "fishing expedition." But the network's senior judicial analyst, Judge Andrew Napolitano, disagrees. Napolitano wrote a piece on FoxNews.com Thursday explaining why he does not believe Mueller is on a "fishing expedition." He also laid out why he does not believe he is about to wrap up and "go home." You can read the judge's op-ed here…
US v. AT&T Judges grilled the DOJ...
Tom Kludt was in the courtroom for Thursday's oral arguments in the Justice Department's bid to overturn Judge Richard Leon's approval of AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner. Here's the report by Kludt and Hadas Gold:
"Oral arguments took nearly a full hour longer than originally scheduled, with judges encouraging attorneys to keep talking even when they reached their time limits. At a hearing in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judges Judith W. Rogers, Robert L. Wilkins and David B. Sentelle grilled the Justice Department's attorneys about their contention that the original decision was incorrect..."
TV stars talk Trump and more
| | There are lots of 💯 quotes here. Paper magazine talked with "over 40 of today's top on-air journalists from ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, NBC News and PBS about truth in the Trump era, reporting to a divided nation and how they feel about our country's future." Read the feature here...
Haberman interviews Swan about covering the Trump W.H.
Oliver Darcy emails: Jonathan Swan joined Maggie Haberman on the "Recode Media" podcast posted Thursday. Haberman interviewed Swan about a whole host of issues White House. I listened to the episode and pulled out a few key lines from Swan:
>> On covering the White House: "If I'm told something by a senior administration official, I assume it's false until proven otherwise. I've just had to take that approach."
>> On how he scores so many scoops: "I see my job as shaking a giant tree. I basically wake up in the morning and try to make as many source contacts as I can in a day. I'm relentless...If you make more calls than your competitors, you will get stories. Whether you are smarter than them or not."
>> On criticism he receives: "Look I'm always grateful for good faith criticism. Advice, suggestions, how I could be a better reporter...But I think a lot of the criticism is phony & some of the people who criticize me...they are quite insistent on aggregating my reporting when it's negative."
>> On the birthright citizenship story: "We did a pretty shitty job on our first take of that story. But I don't regret asking that question. I don't regret breaking that news."
Mediaite's "most influential"
These lists are always fun to argue about. Mediaite is out with its list of the 75 "most influential in news media 2018." Yes, I'm on the list, but no, that's not why I'm linking to it ;-)
I missed the party due to the Heather Nauert news, but Oliver Darcy was there... Here's who he spotted... Sean Hannity and Jim Acosta checking in at the same time... Ann Coulter and Preet Bharara having a very lengthy conversation at the bar... Plus Jeff Zucker, Don Lemon, Brian Kilmeade, Diane Sawyer, Brian Ross, Dan Abrams, Jay Sures, Pat Kiernan, Andrew Napolitano, Bill Hemmer, Ari Melber, SE Cupp, Liz Landers, Brooke Baldwin, John Avlon, Margaret Hoover, John Berman, Alisyn Camerota, Max Tani, Aidan McLaughlin, Sam Vinograd, Emily Kuhn, Colby Hall, Caleb Ecarma, Evan Siegfried, Carly Shanahan, and many more...
The Bloomberg 50 list is on newsstands on Friday...
Brian Roberts and Daniel Ek are two of the 50... And in the entertainment category, Taylor Swift, Ryan Coogler, Byron Allen, Kenya Harris, BTS, Tiffany Haddish, Jenny Saville, and Reese Witherspoon... Plus "Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, is recognized for his megahit video game, Fortnite." Read on...
MoviePass tries to change its ways… again
Frank Pallotta emails: Let's talk about everyone's favorite "hey they're still in business?" business, MoviePass. The NYT's Brooks Barnes has the story about the company's newest pivot, a three-tiered pricing structure. CEO Mitch Lowe is turning over the day-to-day operations of the company to Khalid Itum. But will any of this work? Shrug emoji.
Yet, whether MoviePass survives or not, it's arguably altered the industry. Analysts I've spoken with even say that the service may have played a part in the surge we're seeing at the box office this year...
| | Takeaways from the Globes
Read Lisa Respers France's recap right here!
Brian Lowry emails: As usual, the Golden Globe nominations were a bit of a mess, including questions of what qualified as a "musical or comedy" three years after "The Martian" won in that category. The big news, though, was arguably the nomination for "Black Panther" as best drama, a breakthrough for a superhero movie that, coming on the heels of recognition by the American Film Institute, would seem to ratchet up pressure on the Oscars to follow suit. If so, such a nomination would likely quell the talk of introducing a "popular film" category, and cap a decade-long campaign — since "The Dark Knight" failed to make the cut — to include Hollywood's most widely seen products in its biggest annual showcase...
Best reaction quote!
Lowry adds: The best reaction goes to Sacha Baron Cohen, a nominee for his prank show "Who is America." Cohen invited Sarah Palin — cut from the final series, after criticizing it — to be his guest at the awards, and said, "I appreciate the Hollywood Foreign Press for recognizing me, which luckily is something that none of the guests on the show did."
Writers Guild nominees
Brian Lowry emails: The Writers Guild announced ITS nominations on Thursday... for everything except its movie categories. TV drama nominees are the final season of "The Americans," "Better Call Saul," "The Crown," "The Handmaid's Tale," and "Succession," the HBO drama about a Murdoch-like media dynasty. "Atlanta," "Barry," "GLOW," "The Good Place" and "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" are up for best comedy writing.
Lowry reviews "Dumplin'"
Brian Lowry emails: Netflix's "Dumplin'" also picked up a Globe nod, for an original song by Dolly Parton, whose work is threaded throughout the movie. It's a shrewd move — one conjured by producer/star Jennifer Aniston — given the popularity of the Parton-branded movies that have aired on NBC... | |
That's a wrap on this morning's letter. Thank you for reading despite the delay. Send me your feedback anytime. See you MUCH EARLIER on Friday...
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