Forward

Exec summary: On Thursday lawmakers will keep working to avert a partial government shutdown...Plus, Harvey Weinstein will be in court, Vladimir Putin will be at his annual press conference, and "Aquaman" will be in theaters... Scroll down for details...

BuzzFeed wins

BuzzFeed News has been operating under a legal cloud due to its publication of the Russia dossier in January 2017. On Wednesday, the sun finally broke through.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz reports: Judge Ursula Ungaro of the US District Court in Miami ruled that the news outlet "was protected in the court system from accusations of defamation because high-ranking government officials took action to vet the dossier and speak to Trump and then-President Barack Obama about it before it was made public. In short, the dossier was newsworthy, the judge found."

A lawyer for the plaintiff, Russian tech entrepreneur Aleksej Gubarev, "said that his team would appeal," Polantz reports. But Ungaro's ruling "closes the case against BuzzFeed at the trial-court level." There is one other suit against BuzzFeed still pending in NY… filed by the Russian Alfa Bank… but Gubarev's suit was the most advanced, so this puts BF on a solid legal footing. Read on...

Ben Smith's reaction

Ungaro recognized that "the press acts as the agent of the public" and provides info so that the public can "exercise oversight of the government."

BuzzFeed News EIC Ben Smith says this ruling "vindicated our decision" to publish the dossier. Read his statement here...

How the BuzzFeed newsroom found out

Oliver Darcy emails: The BuzzFeed newsroom was all cheers when it learned of the decision Wednesday afternoon. A BF spokesperson told me that Ben Smith received a call from the outlet's lead lawyer on the case around 4:50pm. Once Smith learned of the decision, he walked out of his office and into the newsroom where he shouted the news. The newsroom then broke into applause. Employees who were not in NYC were then informed via Slack...

>> Opinion editor Tom Gara tweeted: "Can you even imagine what it would have been like if the dossier remained secret all this time -- all that news coverage just talking about it but nobody knowing what's in it?"

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- McClatchy's bid for Tribune Publishing is reportedly "dead." But Patrick Soon-Shiong is crying foul: He tweeted on Wednesday night that the deal would "save local journalism..." (Twitter)

-- Bloomberg says it is expanding its TicToc video service beyond Twitter... But is anyone watching? (Variety)

-- Ann Coulter said "Trump will very likely not finish his term and definitely not be elected to a second term." Fox News cited her comments around 7:05 p.m. ET. According to this bot, Trump unfollowed Coulter on Twitter by 7:40... (Twitter)

Trump's decision-by-tweet

What can I say that hasn't already been said?

Trump's surprise announcement via tweet -- "we have defeated ISIS in Syria," so the troops are withdrawing -- has been met by massive opposition. Just now Lindsey Graham (trying to speak Trump's language?) said that Trump's claim about ISIS being defeated is "fake news."

Much of the opposition is coming from within Trump's inner circle. "Senior officials across the administration agree that the President's decision-by-tweet will recklessly put American and allied lives in danger around the world, take the pressure off of ISIS -- allowing them to reconstitute -- and hand a strategic victory to our Syrian, Iranian and Russian adversaries," a senior admin official told CNN's Jake Tapper...

Waking up to these Thursday headlines...

WaPo: "Push to quickly leave Syria startles allies and White House aides"

NYT: "A Strategy of Retreat in Syria, With Echoes of Obama"

CNN.com: "Graham: Trump's Syria withdrawal a 'stain on the honor of the United States'"

Trump angers his right-wing media allies

Oliver Darcy emails: Trump's allies in right-wing media are not very happy with Trump backing down from his threats to shut down the government if his border wall is not funded. Breitbart called it a "cave." The Drudge Report framed it as "TRUMP IN RETREAT." And Rush Limbaugh fumed on his Wednesday radio show that "Trump's gonna get less than nothing." In fact, the top story on FoxNews.com as I type this out is the headline, "TRUMP BACKERS FRUSTRATED: Top conservative figures decry signs of 'gutless' retreat on border wall." Yikes...

Broken promises before Christmas?

"There were four signature Trump promises, and they all seem to be crumbling tonight," Chris Cuomo said Wednesday night. He ticked through the border wall, "defeating ISIS," a soaring stock market and... Trump's claim that "I have nothing to do with Russia."

The consensus view across the mediasphere on Wednesday night: The US exit from Syria is a victory for Russia. Ana Navarro quipped, "I know what he gave Vladimir Putin for Christmas..."

>> David Axelrod asked on Twitter: "How much of this is just his wanting to change the subject?"

IN OTHER NEWS...

Weinstein in court on Thursday

Chloe Melas emails: It's been 14 months since the first allegations of sexual misconduct against Harvey Weinstein. Now comes a potential day of reckoning for the disgraced movie mogul.

Weinstein is expected in a New York courtroom Thursday for what will be a pivotal pretrial hearing in his criminal case. He is facing five felony charges: two counts of predatory sexual assault, one count of criminal sexual act in the first degree and one count each of first-degree rape and third-degree rape. He has pleaded not guilty.

-- What led up to this point? Read Chloe's full story here...

-- Mark Morales and Jean Casarez will be in court for CNN's coverage on Thursday... Check CNN.com for updates...

Major scandal at Der Spiegel

Oliver Darcy emails: The German magazine Der Spiegel said Wednesday that one of its top journalists, Claas Relotius, "falsified his articles on a grand scale and even invented characters, deceiving both readers and his colleagues."

The newsmag said the behavior was "uncovered as a result of tips, internal research, and ultimately, a comprehensive confession" by Relotius. Der Spiegel said that some of the stories in question include award-winning articles. This is a crushing announcement by the magazine... It has published more info on the case here...

WHAT EVERYONE WANTS TO KNOW: How did a reporter get away with this for so long, given Der Spiegel's famed fact-checking operation?

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- CBS is talking about dropping its contract with Nielsen "if the two sides can't come to an agreement by the end of this month..." (Variety)

-- T-Mobile is "delaying the debut of its much-anticipated video service after the project proved more complex than expected..." (Bloomberg)

-- Happy birthday Ronan Farrow! He'll be on the year-end edition of "Reliable Sources..."

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST...

Six new hires for The City

The City, the new nonprofit website covering NYC, is ready to announce another round of hires. This startup is showing it is serious. NY Daily News investigative reporter and author Greg B. Smith will be senior investigative reporter... NBC's Hasani Gittens will be a deputy editor... Politico's Rosa Goldensohn will be a senior reporter... ProPublica's Terry Parris Jr. will be engagement director... WNYC's Rachel Holliday Smith will be a reporter... And The Marshall Project's Andrew Bard Epstein will be associate director of communications and development...

>> EIC Jere Hester adds: "We've got more hires to come – stay tuned."

The campaign against Tucker's show is having an impact...

On Wednesday night "Tucker Carlson Tonight" only had four ad breaks, down from the usual five, a clear sign that the ad boycott effort by progressive groups is having its intended effect. There were roughly 20 ads from sponsors... And about a half a dozen "house ads" for other Fox content... THR's Jeremy Barr says there were "36 ads per night" in the week leading up to this current controversy over Carlson's anti-immigration comments, so the drop-off is significant.

According to Barr, at least 20 companies have publicly distanced themselves from Carlson in the past week.

And one of Carlson's guests, Alan Dershowitz, called him out on Wednesday's show. "I hate boycotts and attempts to censor free speech," Dershowitz said, before saying "I wish you hadn't used that language" to demean immigrants...

Opposition to the ad boycott

Just a few of the voices criticizing the anti-Carlson effort: Politico's Jack Shafer, The Young Turks' Cenk Uygur, and Breitbart's John Nolte...

Another bad day in Facebook's bad year

Engadget's headline summed up Wednesday: "Didn't think Facebook could get any worse? Think again."

FB stock closed down 7.2% in the wake of the NYT's story about the company's special data-sharing agreements and a day full of follow-up news coverage. Plus this: DC Attorney General Karl Racine is suing the company and invoking the Cambridge Analytica scandal from earlier this year. Racine is "accusing the social media giant of wide-ranging privacy violations," CNN's Eli Watkins reports. Per the WaPo, this is the "first major rebuke from regulators in the United States" as a result of the scandal.

Washington waking up?

The "partner" arrangements described by the NYT "may have violated a 2011 consent agreement between Facebook and the Federal Trade Commission," former FTC officials and antitrust experts told CNN's Seth Fiegerman.

Numerous lawmakers have also spoken out in the wake of the story. And the NYT says that the state attorney general in New York is also paying close attention. Spokeswoman Amy Spitalnick said the probe "into the apparent misuse of Facebook user data is ongoing..."

REMEMBER THIS?

Coming in early 2019: FB's conservative bias review

Oliver Darcy emails: Expect the early months of 2019 to bring us new information about the conservative bias review that Covington & Burling is conducting for Facebook. "There will be an update in the coming months," a FB spokesperson told me. When? The exact date is still TBD. Facebook, of course, has faced allegations of bias -- many if not most of which are unfounded -- from conservative and pro-Trump forces...

RECOMMENDED READ:

GQ heads to Fresno for a case study on the war on local news

Oliver Darcy emails: I'm from Fresno, California, so this story piqued my interest from the headline. That said, I think you'll enjoy it too. GQ staff writer Zach Baron visited Fresno, where Devin Nunes has been "waging a public campaign" against the local newspaper, the Fresno Bee. The story serves as an excellent case study in how Trump's war on the press has trickled down to local news.

>> One interesting part of the story was the relationship between Ray Appleton, perhaps Central CA's top conservative radio host, and his son Rory Appleton, a reporter covering politics for the Fresno Bee. When Ray Appleton, who is friendly with Nunes, was asked about Nunes no longer returning calls from his son or the Bee, Appleton replied, "Well, yeah, Devin doesn't talk to them because every time he talks to them, they change it. And they lie through their" -- guess the word -- "teeth about what they talked about."

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- Eric Bolling has signed a new deal with Blaze Media, the company formed after Glenn Beck's TheBlaze and CRTV merged. Bolling will be with the media company through 2021... (AdWeek)

-- David Shribman, the top editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is retiring. He sometimes shielded his staff "from the whims of the owners" of the paper... (WESA)

-- The Daily Beast's Andrew Desiderio is joining Politico to cover Congress...

2018's cable news #'s

"With 2018 almost in the books, it looks like Fox News will once again walk away with the crown for top cable net in both prime and total day" in overall viewership, Cablefax reports. "It'll be the net's third consecutive year it has nabbed both honors—with Fox News still going strong despite sometimes being in the news itself."

MSNBC and CNN are touting their year-end ratings as well, with dueling press releases.... CNN is emphasizing the 25-54 demo while MSNBC is emphasizing overall viewership. The bottom line: Each of the three big cable news channels are in strong positions right now, each for different reasons. Viewership is down a bit from the highs of 2016 and 2017, but there's still intense interest in all things politics...

CNN still reaches more people than Fox or MSNBC

Brian Lowry emails: As a ratings geek, it was interesting to see CNN's year-end press release cite the fact that it enjoyed the highest cumulative audience among the cable newsers. That reinforces the sense that the cable news ratings equation still has a foot in traditional radio. CNN plays a role more like news radio – where people check on the news, but for shorter periods – than talk radio, where listeners tune in Rush Limbaugh and leave the channel there, similar to the dynamic of Fox News and MSNBC's opinion-driven hosts. Because of that formula – ratings as a function of cume and time spent listening – talk stations often have higher ratings, but fewer listeners overall...

Stelter adds: "Cumulative average monthly TV audience" measures reach. Cable is influential because of its reach... even when the viewership at any given time of day is relatively modest, overall reach is really high. CNN was viewed by an average of 65.7 million Americans a month in 2018; Fox was viewed by 63.3 million; and MSNBC, 47.9 million.

Journalists will help NYC ring in the New Year

Oliver Darcy emails: The Committee to Protect Journalists and other well-known reporters will help New York City ring in the New Year. Times Square New Year's Eve announced Wednesday that CPJ and other journalists would be invited on stage at midnight where the group will push the crystal button, lowering the Waterford Crystal Times Square NYE Ball.

>> Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance, said in a statement, "This year, we're celebrating the free press and journalism and those who work to protect, preserve and practice it. In a place that is synonymous with news and home to multiple national news broadcasts, and which itself was named after a newspaper (which started the New Year's celebration here in 1904), no theme could be more apt as we enter 2019."

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- Sandra Gonzalez writes: "Eliza Dushku breaks silence on alleged harassment on the set of Bull..." (CNN)

-- As part of an international coverage expansion, Variety has hired Rebecca Davis as its new China bureau chief... (Variety)

-- Check out Lesley Goldberg's list of "the 19 most-anticipated new scripted TV shows of 2019..." (THR)

Chloe interviews Emily Blunt

Chloe Melas emails: I sat down with Emily Blunt who is at the helm as the flying nanny in "Mary Poppins Returns." She shared why she wanted to make this Poppins her "own version" and why moviegoers shouldn't expect her to be like Julie Andrews... Read on...

How NBC is ending "Timeless"

Brian Lowry emails: After canceling the show on a cliffhanger, NBC is airing a two-hour "Timeless" movie finale on Thursday night, designed to wrap up the time-traveling sci-fi series. It's a notable departure from the past, when fans – as is so often true with discarded genre shows, a small but vocally loyal group – were left dangling.

Back to 1989! Fox re-airing the premiere episode of "The Simpsons"

One more item from Brian Lowry: Has it really only been 29 years? On Sunday night Fox will re-air the first full-length episode of "The Simpsons." It was originally broadcast on Dec. 17, 1989...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

By Lisa Respers France:

-- New mom Rachel McAdams went haute couture with a breast pump, and social media loved it...

-- US Rep.-elect Dan Crenshaw called Pete Davidson and offered the star who mocked him on "SNL" some sage advice...

-- Some of his famous friends paid tribute to the late Chris Farley on the 21st anniversary of his death...

-- Five year old North West directed her mom, Kim Kardashian West, in a fashion shoot...

That's a wrap. Thanks for reading. Send me your feedback via email anytime! Back tomorrow...