Forward

Exec summary: Hello from a sleepy Northeast Regional train... The weekend has arrived... Let's make the most of it! Scroll down for weekend reads, Heather Nauert's nomination, the WSJ's next podcast, Grammys nominations, and much more...

Headlines for a head-spinning day

Headline writing is an art -- especially when you have to distill dozens of pages of legal filings into six or seven words. Here's how some of the biggest news websites handled Friday night's legal filings about two former top Trump associates:

NYTimes.com: "Trump directed illegal payments during campaign, prosecutors say."

CNN.com: "Feds: Cohen broke the law at Trump's direction."

WSJ.com: "Mueller's team says Cohen gave significant help on Russia probe,"

Drudge: "ACHE NEWS!"

NBCNews.com went with a split home page, two equally weighted headlines: "Cohen told Mueller about contacts between Trump aides" and "Manafort lied about contacts with Trump administration, Mueller says."

FoxNews.com: "NOTHING TO SEE? White House claims no news in Cohen, Manafort memos — as Trump tweets he's 'totally' cleared."

NY Post: "Donald and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day."

The takeaways

What a great lead on Jeremy Herb, Katelyn Polantz and Marshall Cohen's story for CNN.com: "Everyone's lying to Robert Mueller -- and he knows it." Read on...

Honig: Mueller is putting the puzzle pieces together on Trump

"The puzzle pieces fit together," CNN legal analyst Elie Honig writes in this brand new column for CNN.com. He says "Trump needed Russia for his business dealings. Russia wanted Trump to win because they could influence or control him. And the Trump team wanted Russian help simply because they thought the Russians could help Trump win the election. Everyone profits, everyone gets what they want. All of that depended, of course, on the truth remaining hidden. Mueller already has exposed plenty of truth -- much of it in court filings these past two weeks -- and he has made clear that much more is to come. Soon even the staunchest Trump defender will not be able to argue credibly that Mueller has come up empty on his core mandate to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election. It won't be long until 'no collusion' is no more."

This is what happened when Darcy watched Hannity's show

He came away with this. Oliver Darcy emails: Hannity spent his opening monologue, unsurprisingly, dismissing the Mueller revelations tonight. He recited his normal talking points, calling the probe a "witch hunt," among other things. I know it's a tired exercise, but just imagine if this sort of news were breaking in relation to a President Hillary Clinton. Hannity would be apocalyptic. There would be outrage. There would be talk of a constitutional crisis. There would be calls for her to step aside, resign, or be impeached. But for Trump? Well, Hannity just carries his water...

Is Trump persuading anyone new?

Trump is disciplined about his repetition of terms like "witch hunt." Yet this new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll finds that Republicans are the only group that mostly sees the Mueller probe as a "witch hunt."

As Philip Bump wrote on Friday, "For all of his fury on Twitter about Mueller, Trump doesn't really seem to be persuading anyone new to his point of view."

Moving from the East Coast to the West now...

Kevin Hart-less

Kevin Hart tweeted an MLK quote on Friday: "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

That's the closest he came to a new comment after shocking everyone by stepping down from his Oscars hosting role on Thursday night.

But he has still said more than The Academy or ABC have. Both entities are remaining silent about Hart's statement and the ongoing controversy. How much longer can that last?

Two big questions

The obvious one: Who's going to host the Oscars now?

And: Why didn't they see this Hart controversy coming a mile away? His old tweets and stand-up routines were in plain view all along. Here's my full story...

Hart's botched apology

Lisa Respers France writes: Hollywood is filled with the comeback stories of stars who have made mistakes and found redemption. The public loves them. But if there is an art to the apology process, Hart ran afoul of it this week. More...

GLAAD's disappointment

In the hours before Hart quit the show, the influential gay rights and media advocacy group GLAAD said it had reached out to ABC, the Academy and Hart's management team. GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said on CNN's "New Day" Friday morning that she was disappointed by the outcome because "we were hoping that this was going to turn into a teachable moment." The hope, she said, was that "Hart would still be hosting the Oscars," and would use the powerful Oscars stage "to help build unity and awareness."

Dear Oscars: Stop trying to push the envelope

Brian Lowry emails: Through the years the academy and ABC have used Oscar hosts as a way to try to spice up the awards and spur interest and media attention, especially among younger and more casual viewers. But after the Kevin Hart fiasco — a how-not-to course in public relations all around — with several legitimate blockbusters in the mix, maybe it's time to stop trying to be hip, instead placing the focus squarely on the movies.

Read Lowry's full take here...

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- Tip of the hat to CBS... for having a camera crew at Bob Schieffer's on-stage conversation with Rex Tillerson... The resulting quotes, revealing Tillerson's sharp criticisms of Trump, drove one of Friday's many news cycles... (CBS)

-- And also drove Trump to call Tillerson "dumb as a rock." As Trump said last month, "there must be decorum at the White House..." 😉

-- What Media Matters discovered: "Fox News host Pete Hegseth received money for event with GOP candidate then repeatedly interviewed him for the network..." (MMFA)

This Sunday on "Reliable Sources"

I'll be joined by Carl Bernstein, Susan Glasser, and Jeffrey Goldberg... Plus Les Moonves accuser Phyllis Golden-Gottlieb and Gloria Allred... And Max Boot, David Zurawik and The Correspondent founder Rob Wijnberg... See you Sunday at 11 a.m. ET...

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- Happy 20th anniversary to "Beat the Press," Emily Rooney's Boston-based media criticism show for WGBH! Cheers... (WGBH)

-- Via Oliver Darcy: Missed Mediaite's "Most Influential" party? Fret not. You can check out photos from the event here... (Mediaite)

-- Lydia Moynihan and Charles Gasparino's latest: "New Democratic majority looking to turn up heat on big tech with hearings, investigations..." (Fox Biz)

-- "Apple acquired Platoon, a platform for musicians to create and distribute work..." (TechCrunch)

The next A.G.?

This nomination was more warmly received than many of Trump's picks. The expected nomination of Bush 41 era Attorney General William Barr to be the next A.G. was confirmed by Trump during a Friday morning Q&A with the press corps. "Officials at the DOJ are thrilled with Trump's selection of Barr," CNN reported, citing multiple sources. "He's universally seen as solid, reliable conservative, but also someone who can get confirmed..."

BTW: Friday night's shindig at the DOJ, on the fifth floor, had some members of the media in attendance... Along with Matthew Whitaker, Rod Rosenstein, and an oversized portrait of Barr...

Barr played role on Time Warner board during AT&T merger

Barr held a top job at Verizon for several years. Later he joined the board of Time Warner, CNN's parent, and served from 2009 until 2018, when AT&T acquired Time Warner.

David Shortell emails: Barr was seen as one of the more influential directors at Time Warner and played an important role around the AT&T deal, which was challenged last year by the DOJ, according to a former senior Time Warner executive who requested anonymity to discuss the board's work. The former exec said, "He had wise counsel in the deliberations over the merger itself and then was particularly helpful in helping us navigate through the bureaucracy of the Department of Justice in the lead up to the decision to sue us."

The next UN ambassador?

On Fox News, the nomination of longtime Fox News personality Heather Nauert to be UN ambassador was a great idea. "She earned this," Brian Kilmeade of "Fox & Friends" said Friday morning. Elsewhere? The idea was confounding and concerning...

There's nothing like the Fox/White House relationship in American history

Oliver Darcy emails: It's been apparent for some time that the White House and Fox News have merged. But have we ever seen anything like this in American history? Not according to WaPo's Paul Waldman. His newest piece provides some helpful perspective.

"In early U.S. history," he wrote, "newspapers were intensely partisan and a president could expect to have a paper or two acting as his propaganda arm. But there has never been a situation in which a media outlet -- its personnel, its ideas, its spirit -- has commingled with the government to this extent, creating one entity pursuing a common set of goals."

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- Julie Moos, a veteran of Poynter and McClatchy, is the new exec director of the National Press Club Journalism Institute... (PR)

-- Matthew Herper, an 18-year veteran of Forbes, is joining STAT as a senior writer covering medicine... (Twitter)

-- "Network," with Bryan Cranston in the lead role, "opened Thursday at the Belasco Theatre after a recent run at London's National Theatre..." (The Wrap)

-- And Hillary Clinton was in attendance for opening night... (Variety)

"Divide and Conquer" in theaters

Brian Lowry emails: "Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes" opens in theaters and comes out on demand this weekend. It should be required viewing for anyone in media or politics, but the scope of the late Fox News CEO's influence almost flummoxes the filmmakers. Specifically, in the focus on his more egregious private and personal behavior, the documentary occasionally falls short in contextualizing his legacy in terms of wedding media and politics, and the lingering impact of the strategy that's summarized by the title.

Read Lowry's full review here...

Weekend listening: Harry Enten on the month-long midterm

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...

WSJ planning a new daily podcast

Nick Quah broke this news on Friday morning: "Gimlet Media is stepping into the daily news podcast space, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal."

Yes indeed... A new daily WSJ podcast is due to launch in the spring... It'll be complimentary to the existing "What's News" pod... It "will be produced in New York by a team from The Journal and Gimlet," per an internal memo...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

By Daniella Emanuel:

-- Rick Edmonds explores the challenges Gannett may face upon the retirement of its CEO, Robert Dickey, next May...(Poynter)

-- Linley Sanders delves into the world of nonprofit news outlets, and how they help local communities that are otherwise unseen take control of the media narrative. A great example: Borderzine in El Paso... (Teen Vogue)

CNN Heroes on Sunday night!

This is one of my favorite nights of the year. The twelfth annual telecast of "CNN Heroes" will take place Sunday night... Anderson Cooper and Kelly Ripa will host... Live on CNN Sunday at 8 p.m. ET...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

By Oliver Darcy:

-- Kara Swisher's latest: "Can the U.S. Stop China From Controlling the Next Internet Age?"... (NYT)

-- WaPo's Alexandra Petri has ranked the top 100 Christmas songs... (WaPo)

-- Speaking of top 100 lists: TIME editors released their picks for the top 100 photos of 2018... (TIME)

A controversial Christmas favorite

Sandra Gonzalez emails: "Baby, It's Cold Outside" found itself in the center of controversy this week after radio stations began dropping the Christmas favorite from their lineups. This made me curious about how America's radio stations are navigating music in the age of #MeToo. The answer, it turns out, is that the power still firmly lies with the people in the communities they serve. Read on...

Women headline holiday movies -- but still face 'celluloid ceiling'

Brian Lowry emails: This weekend brings a number of new movies -- "Ben is Back," "Vox Lux," "Mary Queen of Scots" -- featuring female leads, with more on the way through the holidays (a la "On the Basis of Sex," about Ruth Bader Ginsburg). Women also star in several major award contenders, a la "The Favourite," which picked up a bunch of Golden Globe nominations. But each step up usually comes with a one back, and female directors have been overlooked in early awards balloting, an indication there's more to do in terms of breaking through the "celluloid ceiling."

Grammy noms!

Lisa Respers France writes: "Rap artists Kendrick Lamar and Drake received the most nominations with eight and seven, respectively. Singer/songwriter Brandi Carlile received six nominations. Fans of H.E.R., the singer/musician who wears sunglasses and guards her privacy to keep the focus on her music, had plenty to celebrate with her multiple nominations. She scored nods for best R&B album, album of the year and best new artist." Read the rest here...

Have a great weekend! Send me your feedback anytime. See you Sunday...