Forward

Exec summary: We're expecting news from "GMA," The Weekly Standard, CBS, and "Morning Joe" on Friday... Plus, scroll down for "Spider-Man" reviews, The Correspondent's success story, YouTube's spam war, a new episode of our podcast, and much more...

Cohen speaks

President Trump has been insulting Michael Cohen. And spreading falsehoods about their work together. And Cohen is not going to stay silent about it.

Cohen sat down with ABC's George Stephanopoulos on Thursday afternoon, one day after being sentenced to three years in prison. The interview will air on Friday's "Good Morning America."

Cohen has previously spoken on camera in quick on-the-street interviews, and he has sat down with Stephanopoulos off-camera. But this is different -- this is Cohen's first sit-down TV interview about his crimes.

Obviously Cohen is somewhat limited in what he can say, given his continued cooperation with prosecutors in New York and DC. But the interview is sure to make news nevertheless. I'm told by a source who was in the room that Cohen was "emotional, remorseful, determined, direct."

The interview came together at the last minute on Thursday... And it was taped at the Loews Regency hotel in NYC, where Cohen was staying when his properties were raided back in April...

Stephanopoulos invested a lot of time to get these scoops

Stephanopoulos has clearly spent a lot of time with Cohen, and the time has resulted in several scoops. Stephanopoulos was first on the air with word of Cohen's guilty plea last month.

In this LA Times interview, G.S. recalled how he sought interviews with Trump through Cohen. "You'd talk to him beforehand, talk to him afterward. And then I would have lunch with him twice a year..."

Trump was in the room when it happened

Fox anchor Harris Faulkner's interview with Trump was underwhelming. Except for fact-checkers -- for them, it was overwhelming. "That was not an interview. It was an infomercial," CNN's S.E. Cupp said afterward.

Trump played dumb when Faulkner asked about the pre-election payoffs, saying things like "I don't think they even paid any money to that tabloid." By the end of the day, sources had confirmed to NBC and CNN what the WSJ reported last month: That Trump was in the room when Michael Cohen and American Media Inc. boss David Pecker "discussed a plan to shield Trump from potentially damaging stories. Prosecutors say this amounted to illegal donations to Trump's campaign," CNN's story explained...

The bottom line

Kellyanne Conway was on "Cuomo Prime Time" on Thursday night, stating that "President Trump said he never directed anybody to" pay hush-money payments. Chris Cuomo rightly responded, "The evidence shows otherwise."

A little while later, Conway's husband George was on Twitter, saying that Trump's word is worthless. He asked: "Given that Trump has repeatedly lied about the Daniels and McDougal payments — and given that he lies about virtually everything else, to the point that his own former personal lawyer described him as a 'f****ing liar' — why should we take his word over that of federal prosecutors?"

That's the thing about Trump's tweets, interviews, speeches, etc. He keeps proving that he can't be trusted. He has devalued his own words and, by extension, the people who speak on his behalf. Journalists are still trying to figure out how to adapt...

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- A revealing quote in Faulkner's chat with Trump: He complained that "Fox has always given me a bad poll." "GIVEN ME!"

-- The WSJ just keeps the scoops coming: "Trump Inauguration Spending Under Criminal Investigation by Federal Prosecutors"

-- The White House confirmed the end of yet another tradition: There will be no holiday party for the press this year...

-- Keep a close eye on Twitter: Trump has no public events on his schedule on Friday...

This week's podcast: Inside Mic's collapse

The "Reliable Sources" podcast is a two-parter this week. Part one: Mic's former exec editor Kerry Lauerman and former managing editor Colleen Curry share what went wrong (and what went right!) at the startup. Facebook was just one factor in Mic's demise. "We just ran out of money and time," Curry said.

Part two: Vox Media publisher Melissa Bell offers some reasons for guarded optimism. Mic's failure is "heart wrenching to watch," she said, but Vox and other digital media companies are "thriving," doing "great, fantastic work."

The takeaway from parts one and two: Don't "pivot to video" or "pivot" to any one thing. Place lots of bets on lots of different possibilities. Listen to the pod via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, or your favorite app...

-- Related: BI's Lucia Moses came out with a new story about Mic's failure on Thursday...

"Facebook to Cut Funding for Some News Shows on Watch"

This scoop from The Information came up on the podcast: "Six months after Facebook launched a slate of original news shows from outlets like CNN, ABC News and BuzzFeed, the company has told news executives it is likely to reduce its funding for individual shows, as it refines its programming strategy for the effort." Per the report, FB will keep spending the same amount of $$ "on news content for its Watch service," but spread it across "a broader array of programs."

So it wants even more content... To keep people on FB for even longer... Which leads us to this next story...

Ordering and watching HBO via Facebook?

Facebook "wants to sell consumers subscriptions to cable TV networks like HBO and hopes they'll watch those networks on its own apps," Recode's Peter Kafka scooped on Thursday. He says there are ongoing talks between FB and HBO, Showtime and Starz. He calls it a logical move for FB, "given its big ambitions to become a video hub..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- Chris Cillizza asks: "Do YOU want to be Donald Trump's chief of staff?" (CNN)

-- "Do not accept an offer to be Chief of Staff," Jesse Watters' mom told him in one of many texts to the Fox News host. "Mom Texts" is now a recurring feature on "The Five..." (Yahoo)

-- WIRED is out with a huge new story about Elon Musk and "Tesla's production hell." The mag says an outside law firm "representing Tesla and Musk" reached out and "suggested that WIRED might be sued" before publication... (WIRED)

The Post is keeping up the pressure

"The Washington Post plans to run a full-page ad Friday drawing attention to the death of columnist Jamal Khashoggi, part of a broader push that publisher Fred Ryan told Politico would continue 'until meaningful action is taken' over Saudi Arabia's role in the killing," Jason Schwartz reports. The ad shows Khashoggi's face and says "A life is gone. The principles of free expression endure."

Mika back on Friday's "Morning Joe"

There were some raised eyebrows when MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski was absent from Thursday's show, one day after she asked if Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was a "wannabe dictator's butt-boy." As Tom Kludt wrote here, the remark "drew criticism for its homophobic implications." She apologized on Twitter... But has not addressed it on the air yet... Meanwhile, Trump went after her on Thursday, claiming that if a conservative made the same remark, "that person would be banned permanently from television," but she "will probably be given a pass, despite their terrible ratings."

An MSNBC spokesman said Thursday's day off was pre-planned, and she'll be back on Friday. When I asked if any disciplinary action has been taken, the spokesman did not respond...

"Behind CBS's Secret $9.5 Million Settlement With the Actress Eliza Dushku"

The NYT's Rachel Abrams and John Koblin are out with another story based on the draft law firm report about alleged abuses at CBS. My summary can't do this story justice... So click here to read it... It'll be on the front of the Business section of Friday's paper...

Cybill Shepherd's allegation

Megan Thomas emails: Cybill Shepherd says Les Moonves derailed her TV series, "Cybill," which ran on CBS from 1995 til 1998, after she declined his advances. Shepherd talked about her interactions with Moonves in an interview for The Michelle Collins Show on Sirius XM on Thursday. Beyond Shepherd's allegations, their conversation revealed how sexism in the industry at the time shaped storylines on the show. More from THR here...

CBS planning Friday announcement about this grant $$...

Friday is CBS's self-imposed deadline to decide how to disburse $20 million in grants. The grants -- announced on the day Moonves was forced out -- are meant to support "organizations that are helping to ensure safety and equity in our industry, as well as providing both prevention and assistance for victims of sexual assault, abuse and harassment in all workplaces," Joe Ianniello said in October. So look out for an announcement on Friday...

-- 🔌: Irin Carmon and I will be talking about all of this on CNN's "New Day" in the 8 a.m. hour on Friday...

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- The NYT's Ron Nixon is the AP's new international investigations editor... (AP)

-- ICYMI: Elizabeth Williamson had an in-depth investigation into "debacles" at the United States Agency for Global Media on Thursday's front page... (NYT)

-- Katy Tur shared video of her ultrasound at the end of her Thursday show: "A lot of you eagle-eyed folks out there have noticed, so, here it is... Roll the tape... I have a baby in my belly! Officially!" She added: "I'm tired of the tweets asking, so I'm going to announce it. That is my little guy, he's due in April." Mazel! (Twitter)

Standing by for Weekly Standard news...

Oliver Darcy emails: Friday is D-Day for The Weekly Standard. EIC Stephen Hayes is expected to at some point meet with the magazine's publisher, MediaDC, to talk about the future of the publication. MediaDC is then expected to address staff afterward. No one knows exactly what is going to happen, but staffers at The Weekly Standard are bracing for the worst...

>> Tweet from Bill Kristol: "Thanks for the expressions of concern about @weeklystandard. But fear not! As I've said (quoting John McCain) to several worried and occasionally despondent colleagues, it's always darkest before it turns pitch black…"

The Correspondent reached its $2.5 million goal 🎉

You might have heard about this news startup, The Correspondent, on last Sunday's "Reliable Sources." The founders were trying to raise $2.5 million in a Kickstarter-style campaign by Friday night. They hit the mark about 36 hours early, and celebrated the milestone in this Medium post...

About 43,000 "founding members" contributed. Now, co-founder Rob Wijnberg tells me, the site is announcing a "stretch goal," aiming to hit the 50,000-member mark by Friday night.

"The best part of this is that it's a true grassroots movement: over 43,000 people pledged a median contribution of $30," he said. "It shows there's a real appetite for a different kind of news and a real willingness to pay for it." The Correspondent, currently only in the Netherlands, plans to start publishing English-language news by mid-2019...

Medium wants to spend a lot of $$$ on "original editorial"

"We are going to significantly increase our investment in original editorial in the next year," Medium boss Ev Williams told Bloomberg in response to this scoop.

Emily Chang, Gerry Smith and Felix Gillette reported that Medium "expressed interest in buying New York Magazine and other media properties, according to people familiar with the situation." The talks about NYMag with Pam Wasserstein "were preliminary and unlikely to progress, one of the people said." But "even if the discussions ultimately lead nowhere, the conversation is another sign that Medium is serious about beefing up its content..."

Several newsrooms were evacuated due to these B.S. bomb threats

Media companies were among the "dozens of businesses and institutions across the United States and Canada" that received email threats Thursday afternoon, "prompting evacuations and sweeps of buildings," CNN's Jay Croft reports.

The News & Observer in Charlotte, NC, and the Park Record in Park City, UT, were among the newsrooms that briefly evacuated out of an abundance of caution...

>> Katie Pellico emails: Some of the emails demanded a $20,000 Bitcoin ransom by end of day, or else a bomb planted on behalf of a "mercenary" would detonate. Swatting threats like these, issued digitally en masse, are not a new trend. Bitcoin in this mix, though...?

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- Megan Thomas emails: WJBK, the Fox affiliate in Detroit, is mourning the loss of meteorologist Jessica Starr, who died by suicide on Wednesday. She was 35. (WJBK)

-- A notable part of Apple's expansion announcement on Thursday: About 1,000 of the workers will be in Culver City, CA in the next few years... That's the home of Apple's original programming effort... (LA Times)

-- In his first interview since becoming CEO of Nielsen, David Kenny says he understands the critics who say "Nielsen wasn't moving fast enough." And "I can change that..." (AdWeek)

-- "International movie piracy ring targeted Hollywood film companies, prosecutors say..." (LA Times)

FIRST LOOK

C-SPAN's "most watched book events of 2018"

"BookTV" on C-SPAN2 is releasing this list on Friday. It's a look at the "most watched book events of 2018" determined by online views of the archived BookTV videos. No. 1: A conversation about Tara Westover's book "Educated." Seven of the other events are political... Including events with James Comey, Jerome Corsi, and David Frum...

YouTube creators might see a "noticeable" drop in subscribers on Friday

Here's why: The site is removing "spam subscribers." Creators will be alerted to the changes. "This should help give you confidence that the subs you do have are real fans," YouTube says.

A related report "released by the video giant on Thursday" said that it "removed tens of millions of videos and accounts during the third quarter, mostly for violating its policy against spam content." In just three months, 1.67 million channels and 224 million comments were deleted, mostly due to spam... The Wrap has details here...

"Peak TV" update!

Brian Lowry emails: The big headline out of FX's annual tally of original scripted series (which puts the grand total at a dizzying 495): Online services now account for more original scripted shows than any other individual category, including basic cable, broadcast and premium TV...

This growth seems to be led by Netflix. Basic cable networks, as a group, actually had about 30 fewer shows than in 2017. Broadcast networks had 7 fewer shows. But the streamers jumped from 117 to 160...

One week later, still no new host of the Oscars...

In fact, The Academy still hasn't even formally responded to Kevin Hart's "I quit" statement from last Thursday... Variety reported earlier this week that "host-less" is an option...

Seinfeld backing Hart

Brian Lowry emails: Jerry Seinfeld clearly operates under the theory that he can say pretty much whatever he wants, but I sometimes question his willingness to weigh in on topics he apparently hasn't thought about much. In the past, that included Bill Cosby's legacy, and now, as Chloe Melas reports, he's backed Kevin Hart over the decision not to have him host the Oscars. Seinfeld is consistently an advocate for comedians having the freedom to be provocative, but his views often seem to lack the nuance that individual situations entail...

Lowry likes the new "Spider-Man"

Brian Lowry emails: "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" swings wildly in tone, much like its colorful hero. But its dazzling animation style distinguishes this as one of the freshest additions to the comic-book-to-screen translation in some time, and bodes well for Sony's plans to continue with sequels and spinoffs exploiting this genre.

Read Lowry's full review here...

Pallotta likes it too!

Frank Pallotta emails: Lowry and I have had our disagreements ("Stranger Things," "The Last Jedi," the 2016 season of "SNL" and "Mary Poppins Returns," just to name a few), but I'm happy to say that in the spirit of the season, he and I agree on "Spider-Man." The new film from Sony, which stars multiple versions of Spider-Man (Spider-Men?), is my favorite animated film of the year, which is saying a lot since "Incredibles 2" is incredible.

"Spider-Verse" is a living, breathing comic book and its animation sticks to your retinas. It also understands what's at the core of our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man: "Anybody can wear the mask..."

Taylor Swift stakes her "reputation" on Netflix

Frank Pallotta emails: Taylor Swift announced Thursday (which is also her birthday, so happy birthday, Taylor!) that a film about her Reputation Stadium Tour will hit Netflix at 12:01 PT on Netflix on Dec. 31. It's a smart move by Netflix, further establishing the service as a place to watch exclusive content/events. (Netflix is also streaming "Springsteen on Broadway" on December 16.) I personally can't wait to countdown to 2019 by playing "End Game" 17 times in a row...

>> Here is Chloe Melas's full story about the film...

Our first look at "Us"

One more item from Frank Pallotta: There's a lot of big films slated for 2019 -- from "Avengers: End Game" to "The Lion King" -- but the movie I'm looking forward to the most is March's "Us." (Yes, that even includes "Star Wars: Episode IX.")

"Us" is the next horror film from Jordan Peele, the director of "Get Out." The film, starring Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke and Elisabeth Moss, has been shrouded in secrecy... But on Thursday we got a look at its new poster, which has two hands holding scissors.

We'll see even more when the trailer drops on Christmas...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

By Lisa Respers France:

-- The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2019 class was announced on Thursday...

-- After five years, the "Blurred Lines" lawsuit against Robin Thicke and Pharrell has ended in a $5 million judgment against them...

-- Twitter loved Gayle King flirting with Lenny Kravitz...

That's a wrap on this edition of the newsletter... Thanks for reading and sharing... Send me your feedback anytime, it helps make the newsletter better!