Forward

Exec summary: TGIF! Scroll down for our weekend TV guide, recommended reads, and much more...

Cable news channels air Trump's comments in real-time. But should they?

Normally this wouldn't be a topic of conversation. But extraordinary times call for extraordinary responses. Over to you, Oliver...

Oliver Darcy emails: Should cable newsers air Trump's ramblings during pool sprays and other events in real time? It's a complicated question -- one I posed in Wednesday's newsletter -- and so I set out to answer it in a story. I reached out to Margaret Sullivan, Todd Gitlin, Jack Shafer, and Frank Sesno for their perspectives. All of them answered similarly, telling me that, as Gitlin put it, networks should not "air gibberish in a hurry."

>> Sullivan: "I would prefer to see news organizations harvest whatever is newsworthy from [rallies, sprays, briefings] and air parts of them with appropriate fact-checks and context. Otherwise we run the risk of being used for purely political purposes."

>> Shafer: "Because you can't know until after either event whether the event was newsworthy or just a PR stunt, maybe the best policy is to run more of the 'official' news the administration conjures each day on edited tape delay."

>> Gitlin: "Cut it into a piece interweaved with fact-checking ASAP. Use corrective chyrons. What's the rationale, after all, for rushing to serve his schedule?"

>> Sesno: "The White House is not a reality show. It's not a game. It is not a propaganda platform. It is the place where the most powerful person in the world, accountable to the people, covered by the White House press corps, does his job. It should be treated and covered accordingly. Live cameras don't go with the territory."

Counter-argument: He's the president

Darcy adds: TV executives privately argued to me that the president's comments are inherently newsworthy and should be aired to viewers. As one network exec told me, "In general, those 'sprays' which usually turn into press conferences are newsworthy and I would advocate airing them. This is completely different than taking rallies live, which are generally not newsworthy."

That exec added, "The only reason we run them on tape is because we can't always get a live signal out of every room of the White House. Otherwise we would take them live. And we air them quickly because the headlines are already coming out on the wires and stories are being written. TV shouldn't sit and deny our viewers the news that is being tweeted and disseminated widely while we wait and think about it."

Here's the conundrum

Stelter's back now. Oliver and I have been debating this for days. Obviously whatever a president says is newsworthy. The problem, right now, is that the current president has squandered all of his credibility. He has proven that he cannot be trusted. Even his allies know that. And that requires adaptations by the press corps.

I hate saying all this, but we all know it's true: He distorts reality. He makes things up as he goes along. He contradicts himself constantly. Many of his words are, in effect, worthless -- either because they're untrue or because they're nonsensical.

But that doesn't necessarily mean that news outlets shouldn't show his rambling statements, especially when those statements are immediately followed by reporters and commentators who do offer facts and analysis. To the contrary, the public needs to see what's going on. The public needs "truth sandwiches."

Here's an example. Trump seemingly promoted Russian propaganda earlier this week when he defended the Soviet Union's 1979 invasion of Afghanistan. The WSJ editorial board was aghast: "We cannot recall a more absurd misstatement of history by an American President." Yet the nightly newscasts didn't even mention this shocking statement. It barely got any attention on Fox News, either. It got a lot of play on MSNBC. That's a problem. Just airing Trump live and un-checked is not the solution, but ignoring his absurd statements is not the solution either...

One of Trump's more egregious lies...

Trump tried to get the last word on Friday by holding a Rose Garden presser after his meeting with the Dems. CNN's Marshall Cohen noted that Trump "repeated the widely debunked lie that lots of terrorists have entered through the US-Mexico border. It's totally wrong, and the administration hasn't ever proven it."

Agree/disagree with this?

Some food for thought from MSNBC's Chris Hayes, who tweeted on Friday: "If literally anyone in your life -- a friend, a family member, or co-worker -- spoke at length extemporaneously the way Trump does you would be *deeply* concerned and unnerved."

This week's "Reliable Sources" podcast guest: Connie Schultz

Connie Schultz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and journalism professor. She is married to a Democratic senator, Sherrod Brown, who is contemplating a run for president in 2020. So she has a unique perspective about campaign coverage and Trump's attacks against the media. She wore this pin on swearing-in day on Thursday...

We had a candid conversation on Friday... And parts of it will air on Sunday's "Reliable" TV show... But you can hear the whole thing now on our podcast. Schultz said her husband is "seriously considering" a run -- with a decision coming in the next two months -- and she believes it's important to be "transparent" about it. "I have to be open about what's happening," she said, given her roles as a columnist and an educator. "I don't know what's going to happen."

That's what made this interview so interesting to me. We talked about 2020 and Trump and journalism and a lot more. Listen via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, or your favorite app...

Also on this Sunday's show...

I'll have an in-depth conversation about the Dems, 2020 and the press with Symone Sanders, Dan Pfeiffer, and brand-new CNN commentator Karen Finney... Plus, David Frum and Frank Bruni... And I'll follow up with William Arkin about his epic farewell to NBC News that lambasted the "Trump circus" and "perpetual war..." See you Sunday at 11 a.m. ET on CNN...

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- "Trump's 90-minute Cabinet session was a fact-checking nightmare, with sentence after sentence uttered by the president false or misleading..." (WaPo)

-- James Poniewozik's latest: "'Game of Thrones' Does Not Say What Donald Trump Thinks It Does" (NYT)

-- December's job report was so strong that it led some virulent Trump critics on social media to doubt the data. MSNBC's Ali Velshi responded: "I would caution those of you who don't want to accept the fact that December's jobs report was strong, not to follow Trump's path of questioning the accuracy of the numbers. They were accurate when Trump doubted them, and are accurate now. It's a good jobs report..." (Twitter)

-- David Nakamura and Seung Min Kim with the lead of the day: "Have the White House copy editors been furloughed?" (WaPo)

WEEKEND TV GUIDE

NFL playoff time

The first playoff game -- the Colts at the Texans -- kicks off at 4:35 p.m. ET Saturday on ESPN.

Frank Pallotta emails: After two years of declining ratings, bad press and criticism from POTUS, NFL #'s are... UP. The league's TV viewership in 2018 was up roughly 5% overall from the year prior, attracting around 15.8 million viewers for an average game. High scoring may have had something to do with the league's ratings revival this year... There were 1,371 touchdowns this season, the most in NFL history... Read on...

Mulvaney on CNN and NBC

Jake Tapper is slated to interview acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney on Sunday's "State of the Union."

Mulvaney is also booked on NBC's "Meet the Press..." He will no doubt be questioned about the two-week-long partial government shutdown and its real-world effects on government employees and members of the public...

>> CNN's Friday afternoon scoop that's likely to drive the weekend: "Hundreds of TSA screeners, working without pay, calling out sick at major airports."

Pelosi on "CBS Sunday Morning"

Following her interviews with Savannah Guthrie on "Today" and Joy Reid on MSNBC, Nancy Pelosi sat down with Jane Pauley... It was taped on Friday in DC, and CBS is billing it as Pelosi's "first network sit-down interview since officially becoming Speaker of the House..." It will air on "CBS Sunday Morning..."

AOC on "60"

This is one of the most-sought-after interviews in America right now: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's first TV interview of the year was with Anderson Cooper, and it will air on this Sunday's "60 Minutes."

This is an obvious strategy on the part of AOC's team: Land a profile on the most-watched news program in the country. Use the profile to promote her policy agenda. The first clip from the interview, on Friday's "CBS This Morning," was about the "green new deal" and her call for marginal tax rates "as high as 60% or 70%" for the wealthiest Americans.

Call me old-fashioned, but I think we should spend a lot more time talking about her policy proposals, and less time talking about her dancing...

Golden Globes curtain-raiser

Ready for Sunday night? Lisa Respers France has your viewing guide here...

Correction:

POTUS allies like Donald Trump Jr. like to say that the media always makes mistakes in one direction -- the direction that makes Trump look bad. Well here's a counter-example. In Thursday night's newsletter, I wrote that the U.S. national debt had increased by $2 billion since Trump took office. That was a very bad typo on my part. I included a graphic that got it right: The debt has increased by $2 TRILLION. Thank you to all the readers who flagged the typo overnight...

Ramsey settles with CBS

Tom Kludt emails: A little more than two years ago, Burke Ramsey, the brother of JonBenet Ramsey, filed a defamation suit against CBS and others over a miniseries that he said falsely accused him of murdering his sister. On Friday, Ramsey's attorney Lin Wood said that the suit had been "amicably settled to the satisfaction of all parties."

CBS spokesman Scott Grogin pretty much echoed that sentiment, saying that the network had "nothing else to offer other than [to] agree that the case has been amicably resolved to the satisfaction of all parties." Ramsey originally sought no less than $250 million in compensatory damages and no less than $500 million in punitive damages. The exact terms of the settlement are unknown, however...

Former Weekly Standard staffers have a new home

Oliver Darcy emails: A handful of writers and editors who worked at The Weekly Standard have a new home. Bill Kristol and Charlie Sykes are beefing up The Bulwark, a conservative website that has until now served as an aggregator for Kristol's non-profit group, the Defending Democracy Together Institute. "The Bulwark was an aggregator," Sykes told me in a phone interview Friday. "We are going to turn it into a full-fledged opinion news website, with really the core digital staff of The Weekly Standard." Read my full story here…

>> Sykes will serve as editor in chief, and Kristol will be an editor at large. Other Weekly Standard alumni will join, including Rachel Larimore, Jim Swift, Ben Parker, Hannah Yoest, and Andrew Egger. Jonathan Last will write a morning newsletter...

What's the business model?

The Bulwark will operate as a not-for-profit. Money for the project was raised in recent weeks and the site has funding in the neighborhood of $1 million, which should last about a year, a person familiar with the matter told Darcy.

Going forward, "we are hoping to find supporters from across the political spectrum who are willing to put country over party," Sykes told me.

>> Another key quote from Sykes: "We are not only going to a gathering point for center-right thinkers and reporters... we will also push back on the grifters and trolls who've done so much to corrupt the conservative movement..."

Lifetime pushes ahead with "Surviving R. Kelly" docuseries

The first two hours of Lifetime's "Surviving R. Kelly" drew "1.9 million total viewers Thursday night, marking Lifetime's best performance in more than two years in all key demos, and amid a flurry of attention on social media," Deadline reported Friday.

But the ratings are just a small part of this story. This miniseries is about shining a spotlight and demanding accountability. The second two-hour part aired on Friday night, and the final three-hour part will air on Saturday night.

Katie Pellico emails: "Despite some recent explosive reports of Kelly's allegedly ongoing sexual abuse, 'Surviving R. Kelly' is arguably the most prominent strike against him yet," Variety's Caroline Framke wrote. R. Kelly's camp has been threatening to sue, and in response, the channel told TMZ the show would go on: "Lifetime has always been a brand that champions women's stories."

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

By Katie Pellico:

-- Ajit Pai has canceled his CES appearance for the second year running, this time citing the partial government shutdown. The FCC shut down most of its operations midday Thursday... (Verge)

-- Dieter Bohn wonders if CES will prove to be the "perfect place" for "a good, old-fashioned, knock-down, drag-out, winner-take-all platform war." This following his exclusive that Amazon has sold more than 100 million devices with Alexa. "Amazon isn't letting Google own CES without a fight..." (Verge)

-- BI's Lucia Moses reports that three top tech execs and several designers have left Axios after disagreements over the company's "product-focused mission." In six short months, she writes, "all of the technical leadership that's key to carrying out that mission has left..." (BI)

If your mom says she has a plan to love you, check it out

Alex Koppelman emails: Andrew Cuomo stepped in Thursday to save hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers from the transit chaos that was scheduled to be caused by a seemingly necessary shutdown of a major subway line this year. And much of the early coverage portrayed him as having saved the day. "Brooklynites, rejoice!" a New York Times tweet on the move read. But there were a number of major unanswered questions in that coverage. Among them: Will this cost more than the original plan, and if so does Cuomo know how he'll get the money? Will his new solution ultimately just mean pushing the shutdown back 10 years, and possibly causing more pain over the long haul? Are there contractors ready to do the work he envisions, which has never been tried in the US?

This might seem like the ultimate in parochial East Coast media concerns, but it goes to a larger issue about the media generally and how we operate. Early on, the Trump White House regularly made what it said were major policy moves, complete with signing ceremonies conducted for cameras. It got the initial coverage it wanted for those moves, and then only later revealed that in reality very little had actually happened. We all eventually got better about being cautious and patient in that initial coverage, and introducing skepticism into headlines and chyrons, but we don't seem to have adopted those lessons more broadly. And though Trump may be far more casual about it than most, it's not as if he's the only politician who stretches the truth or makes promises that are literally incredible.

This is an easy complaint for me to make -- I didn't have to make any coverage decisions about Cuomo's announcement or edit any stories on it -- and it's also a hard problem to solve: This is a big story in New York, and outlets that serve New Yorkers can't not cover it. But it is something we need to think about, and work to get better on. Politicians, tech CEOs, whoever it is -- no one should be able to use news outlets to get big, sweepy, cheering coverage with all the details missing.

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- WSJ data reporter Paul Overberg is the leader of a neighborhood group opposing a mosque in Fairfax County, VA. Paul Farhi asks: "Is such activism appropriate?" (WaPo)

-- Katie Pellico emails: Though there have been strides forward in cinema this year, a new study from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film "reveals that the percentage of women working as directors on the top 250 grossing films declined from 11% in 2017 to 8% in 2018..." (IndieWire)

-- Lisa Respers France emails: Former "American Idol" host Brian Dunkleman is defending his having to drive Uber for a living...

ABC schedules "Monica" documentary for next week

Brian Lowry emails: Monica Lewinsky and the Clinton impeachment are the focus of ABC's next "Truth and Lies" documentary, subtitled "Monica," which will air next Thursday. The main problem is that it's hard to imagine how the two-hour special can possibly add anything to the six-part docuseries "The Clinton Affair," which extensively interviewed Lewinsky, and aired on A&E in November...

Change of Hart

Sorry for the headline -- it's just too easy. Kevin Hart was hired to host the Oscars, then he quit, and now he might be back as host. There's clearly a path for him to come back, as the last 24 hours have shown. His interview with Ellen DeGeneres felt like a well-engineered effort to smooth things over. And Variety's Matt Donnelly reported on Friday that "leadership at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and ABC, the network that broadcasts the telecast, are open to Hart resuming his role as emcee if he signals that he wants the job." As Donnelly noted, "Oscar producers have struggled to find a replacement..."

Lowry's take

Brian Lowry emails: Daytime talk show hosts aren't accustomed to making news, which was painfully evident from watching Ellen's interview. DeGeneres acknowledged from the start that Hart is a friend, and made her stated mission to get him to reconsider hosting the Oscars. But the failure to follow up on any of the vaguely conspiratorial statements in Hart's monologue -- about people who dug up his old tweets waging a "malicious attack" designed to "end me" -- didn't reflect particularly well on either of them...

-- THR guest columnist Ira Madison III: "DeGeneres' Kevin Hart Interview Was an Insult to the Black LGBTQ Community"

Strong but not overpowering debut for "The Titan Games"

Brian Lowry emails: The week's other big reality-competition debut, the Dwayne Johnson-produced "The Titan Games," didn't match "The Masked Singer's" highs, but fared pretty well: 6.5 million viewers, and a 1.8 rating in adults 18-49. Per NBC, it was the networks' best demo score on that night -- excluding sports -- in nearly two years...

Coachella after Beyoncé

This year's Coachella lineup is out...

But "let's be real," Lisa Respers France writes, "Coachella will never be the same after Beyoncé." Read on!

-- BTW, one more story from Lisa: Yes, Idris Elba is playing Coachella...

One last look back at 2018: The box office had a great year...

Frank Pallotta emails: The box office, that thing that a bunch of people said was on the verge of dying in 2017, had a record-breaking 2018.

The worldwide box office nabbed a record $41.7 billion in 2018. The global box office benefited from a strong performance in the US, which raked in $11.9 billion in 2018, beating the $11.4 billion record set in 2016.

North American theater attendance was also up by about 5% over last year, though still down from 2016. So, yes, blockbusters, especially Disney blockbusters, led the way, but higher ticket prices likely played a big role too...

Thanks Frank! This weekend I'm hoping to see a movie with Jamie... When you have a toddler, movie date nights are a real treat... So what should we see?

That's a wrap on today's edition. Send me your feedback via email anytime. See you Sunday!