Forward

EXEC SUMMARY: Busy media news day! This letter has it all... From Angelina Jolie to Ben Shapiro, Nina Totenberg to Tony Romo, Cory Booker to Sundar Pichai...

Trump calls Hannity

Have you ever wondered what President Trump's private phone calls with Sean Hannity are like?

Hannity gave us all a peek on Wednesday night. Trump called into his show and chatted for almost 45 minutes. There wasn't much "new," as in new information that the president hasn't shared before, but there was much name-calling. James Comey: "A terrible guy." Fox's rivals: "So fake." Many Democrats: "Seem to hate Israel."

The president also went out of his way to praise his biggest Fox fans, from Steve Doocy to Laura Ingraham, Jesse Watters to Jeanine Pirro. "I hope Jeanine's back soon," he said. Hannity confirmed that Pirro will be back this Saturday. (Her two-week suspension has ended.)

He also praised Attorney General Bill Barr at a pivotal moment when most of the country is waiting for Barr to release Robert Mueller's report. Trump called Barr "a great gentlemen" and a "great man... So incredible... A very special person."

Non-committal about pardons

When Hannity asked about possible pardons, Trump said "a lot of innocent people were hurt very badly" but didn't commit to anything. I was struck by this because, just 15 minutes before his phone call, Tucker Carlson and guest Michael Caputo personally called on the president to issue pardons.

Caputo: "Pardon General Flynn. Pardon George Papadopoulos. And pardon Roger Stone right now, Mr. President." Carlson said "I agree! I agree!"

Caputo: "Do it right now. Do it right now on Twitter!" He added: "That would blow some minds, wouldn't it?" This is the Fox machine in action...

Fox News ratings surge

The president seems keenly aware of cable news ratings trends. On the phone with Hannity, he said "I noticed" that his friend's ratings were way up while his rivals have "dropped."

It's true that Fox's prime time ratings have popped this week while CNN and MSNBC's ratings have been below average. That makes sense: On the right, the Barr letter is being celebrated like a sequel to election night. Since the letter's release on Sunday, there hasn't been much news. So I'm not surprised by the ebb and flow, but I'm keeping an eye on it...

Getting even cozier?

Bill Shine has left the West Wing, but the Trump-Fox partnership seems tighter than ever. His occasional gripes about news anchors like Shep Smith are exceptions that prove the rule. On Wednesday night, for instance, Fox was promoting live coverage of Trump's Thursday night rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

"Fox News, an all but an official White House outlet, remains his on-air home as well as de facto ministry of truth," former CIA analyst Kent Harrington wrote in this column on Wednesday. His prediction: "In the wake of the Mueller investigation's conclusion, there's little doubt their sycophancy will only strengthen as Trump claims victory and seeks revenge."

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- A great read by McKay Coppins: "After years of accruing retweets and Patreon donations with fevered speculation about Mueller, anti-Trump internet personalities are scrambling to figure out what's next..." (The Atlantic)

-- While conservatives continue to trash the press for "collusion" coverage, liberal WaPo opinion writer Greg Sargent says "the media has mostly gotten Russiagate *right.* Those claiming otherwise are actually trying to bully you into downplaying the scandal that's *already* been established..." (WaPo)

-- Don Lemon is moderating a CNN town hall with Cory Booker at the time I'm sending this out... Get the highlights here... (CNN)

-- Thursday on "CBS This Morning," Jericka Duncan has an interview with Lanita Carter, "who, until now, had been one of anonymous accusers in R. Kelly's criminal case..." (CBS)

FIRST LOOK:

Time's next cover

This "singin' in the rain" cover of a smiling POTUS is by illustrator Tim O'Brien... The cover story, by TIME's senior White House correspondent Brian Bennett, is about Trump's victory lap...

Facebook bans white nationalism two weeks after NZ attack

Donie O'Sullivan writes: Facebook announced Wednesday that it would ban all "praise, support and representation of white nationalism and separatism." The move came less than two weeks after the suspect in the terror attack at two New Zealand mosques streamed the massacre live on the platform. A manifesto allegedly written by the suspect revealed white nationalist views.

Facebook said while it had long prohibited hateful treatment of people based on race, it hadn't applied the same rationale to white nationalism, "because we were thinking about broader concepts of nationalism and separatism -- things like American pride and Basque separatism, which are an important part of people's identity." Here's what changed...

>> Media Twitter is giving rightful props to the Motherboard reporters, particularly Jason Koebler and Joseph Cox, who had worked diligently since last May to flag "Facebook's problematic distinction between supremacy and nationalism..."

>> The NYT's Kevin Roose also tweeted, citing such "aggressive reporting" as "the forcing function for literally all of the positive changes FB has made over the past year..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- CBS News is mourning the death of Ana Real, the newsroom's foreign editor for prime time, who joined CBS in 2001. She "passed away Tuesday at age 60 after a long fight against leukemia..." (CBS)

-- Per this investigation by The Indianapolis Star, investors say former "Fox & Friends Weekend" host Clayton Morris "turned them into unwitting slumlords." Morris says he is also a victim... (Star, NYT)

-- The AT&T restructuring continues: WarnerMedia "is offering buyouts to U.S. Turner employees who are at least 55 years old and would have 10 or more years of service by year-end..." (WSJ)

-- Ben Shapiro's "Right Side of History" debuted at No. 1 on this week's NYT nonfiction best seller list... Vicky Ward's "Kushner, Inc." debuted at No. 4... (Twitter)

-- Yashar Ali just dropped a detailed summary of Ramin Setoodeh's forthcoming book about "The View." Ali said "the book reveals a stunning level of workplace misconduct, unethical behavior, and dysfunction behind the scenes at the top-rated television talk show..." (HuffPost)

Bustle's next acquisition is...

...Josh Topolsky's two year old startup The Outline. Bustle Digital Group founder Bryan Goldberg announced the deal on Wednesday and said "we look forward to working together to speak to new audiences BDG has not previously reached."

--> Bustle's press release notes that The Outline is its sixth acquisition, "most recently having purchased The Zoe Report, Gawker, Flavorpill Media, and Mic in 2018." Elite Daily was the first purchase back in 2017.

--> Recode's Peter Kafka highlighted the unusual Goldberg/Topolsky pairing: "Goldberg has found success by unapologetically building businesses based around Google search results, while Topolsky has spent the past few years running down attempts by digital publishers to build scale on the backs of Google or Facebook..."

--> Was this a "sale" or a bail-out? A source told Kafka that The Outline "generated less than $1 million in revenue last year..."

Ken Doctor's special report about the LA Times

Want to understand what Patrick Soon-Shiong and Norm Pearlstine are doing at the Los Angeles Times' still-new HQ near LAX? Read Ken Doctor's deep dive for NiemanLab. Part one came out on Wednesday. He says the paper's "almost 25 percent headcount increase in less than a year marks just the beginning of the Times' expansion ambitions..."

--> Wednesday's expansion news: The paper is launching a book club, to be led by former LAT editor Donna Wares... (LA Times)

John Cook to lead BI's investigations team

Oliver Darcy emails: John Cook is heading to Business Insider, where he will lead the site's investigations team. Alyson Shontell announced the news on Wednesday morning. Shontell said Cook's mission will be to "build on our reputation for big impact stories that make a lot of noise -- and make a difference -- in the world of business." Cook, of course, formerly served as exec editor of Gawker Media and EIC of The Intercept. He starts at BI on May 6...

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- Here's how NPR's Nina Totenberg achieved "Scrum Queen status with her Arnold Schwarzenegger approach" following SCOTUS oral arguments Wednesday... (Twitter Moments)

-- When the GIF went viral, Schwarzenegger responded: "She clearly lives by my rule: don't listen to the naysayers. Proud to be her co-star." (Twitter)

-- WSJ subscribers, check out the excellent design of this article! Joanna Stern took a trip down "Mmoy Lan" (that is, Memory Lane) with Apple's third-gen butterfly keyboards, which are still sporting old defects... (WSJ)

-- National Journal editor Ben Pershing is becoming the politics editor of the WSJ... So Jeff Dufour is becoming EIC of National Journal Daily... And Kyle Trygstad is being promoted as Hotline EIC...

-- Salem Radio has renewed host Mike Gallagher through 2023...

Trump meets with Pichai (and gets his title wrong)

Oliver Darcy emails: Google CEO Sundar Pichai met with Trump on Wednesday. Afterward, the president tweeted about meeting with the "president of Google." Whoops.

In a statement, a Google rep said the conversations were "productive."

Trump also tweeted that the two discussed Google's commitment to the US military, in addition to "political fairness" on the platform and other "various things" the company can do "for our country." Trump, of course, has been accusing Google and other tech companies -- often without real evidence -- of being biased against conservatives, so I'm sure that conversation was interesting…

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

By Katie Pellico:

-- Via Alec MacGillis' Twitter feed: "ProPublica is expanding its Local Reporting Network yet further, to 20 slots. Local news orgs can apply for grants of up to $75,000..." (ProPublica)

-- Carl O'Donnell, Liana B. Baker, Echo Wang report: A Chinese company's ownership of gay dating app Grindr may come to an end "after a U.S. government national security panel raised concerns about its ownership..." (Reuters)

-- "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em," brand recognition edition: VRBO has changed its name to Vrbo, now pronounced "VER-bo..." (WSJ)

-- "History and TLC alum Jana Bennett has signed on with Ozy Media..." (Variety)

Vice Media settles class action lawsuit over gender pay inequality

Katie Pellico writes: Vice has agreed to pay $1.875 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging the company paid women less than men. THR's Eriq Gardner points out that, "By the looks of the court papers" reported Wednesday, "Vice was likely saved from paying millions more because the company tends to employ younger women."

Of the estimated 675 individuals comprising the settlement class (not counting the five named plaintiffs who will receive "enhanced payments") Gardner says the "average payout will be about $1,600 (minus taxes), though payouts will depend on factors including service time and job classifications."

>> A Vice spokesperson told THR, "We are dedicated to the equitable treatment of all people and we look forward to the Court's approval of the settlement so that we can continue to fulfill this mission..."

Big Tech impacted by the EU's new law

Hadas Gold emails from London: This week the EU Parliament passed a law that nearly every major tech company has opposed. The two parts getting the most attention are known as the "link tax" and then the "meme rule," more accurately described as the "upload filter."

-- The link tax means sites like Google News could be required to pay publishers for using snippets of their content.

-- The more controversial upload filter means platforms of a certain size will need to make sure they have licensing agreements with right holders, like musicians and movie studios, in order to publish that content. That would also apply to user-generated content – so a fan posting clips from a movie might not be allowed. That's why it's become known as a meme-killer. But the EU claims they're not killing memes – in fact there's an exemption for "the purpose of caricature, parody or pastiche." The problem is – if you theoretically use AI to help filter out copyrighted material, how does the AI know what's parody and what's not?

-- What comes next: The law still needs formal approval by European ministers before it will have to be transposed into legislation by all the EU countries.

-- Casey Newton's explainer on the internet's new borders, as delineated by EU courts: "we now have the American internet, the authoritarian internet, and the European internet..." (The Interface)

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

-- CJR's Emily Bell asks, "Do technology companies actually care about journalism?" (CJR)

-- Jackie Kucinich's latest: How anti-vaxxers have managed to build a "media empire..." She says the movement is "more organized and powerful than ever..." (Daily Beast)

-- Ashley Huston, formerly of Dow Jones, is joining Quartz to lead comms...

-- Johanna Mayer-Jones, also formerly of Dow Jones, is The Atlantic's new SVP of Partnerships...

"Tony Romo wants record $10 million a year to stay at CBS, sources say"

I missed this the other day: Tony Romo "could become the first $10 million a year TV analyst in sports history," Michael McCarthy of Sporting News reported. Romo's reps "are looking for a contract extension paying him 'eight figures' annually to remain as CBS Sports' top NFL analyst in 2020 and beyond, sources tell Sporting News." The two sides are likely to strike a new deal, but Romo could also "draw suitors ranging from rival TV networks and startup football leagues to tech giants looking to stream games..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX

By Katie Pellico:

-- VF veteran Krista Smith is joining Netflix "as a consultant on projects related to awards, events and talent relations." But she will stay at VF as a "contributing editor..." (THR)

-- "In a competitive situation, Paramount Television has landed the rights" to Candace Bushnell's follow-up novel to "Sex and the City..." (Variety)

-- Naomi Fry for the New Yorker on how "Heathers" was a necessary, and prophetic, disruption to the "constancy of the teen-movie template" a la John Hughes... (New Yorker)

-- Rupert Murdoch may have dealt with delays on the first "Avatar" more than a decade ago, but James Cameron is unlikely to have the "same leeway" under Disney's Bob Iger. With regard to the four "Avatar" film sequels still in the works, THR's Rebecca Keegan's wonders, "Can the King of Hollywood manage the King of the World?" (THR)

What's next for Jussie Smollett?

Chloe Melas emails: Many are wondering if Jussie Smollett's career can survive so much scandal and negative publicity. As an entertainment reporter for over a decade I've really seen it all... and I think Smollett's career is radioactive right now. Especially since this controversy is still intensifying in Chicago. What Smollett needed for his career was total vindication, and that's not what he got. Fox's "Empire" had no choice but to stand by him throughout this case. But I wouldn't expect him to be offered any big gigs in TV or film anytime soon. Here's what I said on HLN...

What will Fox do?

"Empire" is a "strong contender" to be renewed for another season, Deadline's Dominic Patten wrote Wednesday. But will Smollett be back in the cast? He reported that "Smollett's option is up in late June. That gives the now Disney-owned 20th Century Fox TV and the Lachlan Murdoch-run Fox network some time to gauge which way the wind is blowing and, as one source said, 'cut their losses if need be' by opting not to bring Smollett back..."

Lowry reviews "Dumbo"

Brian Lowry emails: Admittedly, I liked "Dumbo" more than a lot of critics, in part because of low expectations: The movie, which kicks off a parade of Disney live-action adaptations based on animated films, faced the most difficult challenge, working from an original with some problematic material and virtually no significant human characters that ran a little over an hour. For that reason, director Tim Burton's version -- which is tracking to earn about $50 million this weekend, according to Variety -- flew higher than I anticipated...

Angelina Jolie is in talks to star in this superhero feature

Mia Galuppo's Wednesday scoop for THR: "Angelina Jolie is getting ready to make her first foray into the world of superhero movies. The Oscar-winning actress is in talks to star in Marvel Studios' The Eternals, a superhero team adventure feature being directed by Chloe Zhao." Read on...

"Avengers: Endgame" promises to be a very long sit

Brian Lowry emails: Looking ahead to Disney's next big (make that gargantuan) release, "Avengers: Endgame" could run around three hours, after AMC Theatres and Fandango posted -- and subsequently deleted -- a 182-minute running time. Even if that's not exactly right (and the studio's not confirming it), it figures to be Marvel's longest movie, which -- thanks to multiplex screening patterns -- is less likely to be a drag on box-office returns than it once might have been...

"We walk into rooms and show them their numbers..."

Megan Thomas emails: Rashida Jones shed some interesting light on the work of Time's Up at a panel in LA on Tuesday about the role of black women in the #MeToo and Time's Up movements:

"The good news is that everybody in Hollywood is so scared, they're so scared, and we have employed the very, very powerful device of shame," Jones said, according to THR. "We walk into rooms and show them their numbers and say, 'Is this really what your studio looks like, this is what your network looks like? You know that doesn't represent the demography of this country, right? You know you're going to lose viewers because you're not representing the people who want to watch your shows. You have an audience out there, and back to money, there's money in the community.' If we're being mercenary about it, sometimes we'll say, 'You're missing an opportunity,' and if we're being emotional about it, we'll say, 'Shame on you for not having opportunities.'"

FOR THE RECORD, PART SEVEN

By Lisa Respers France:

-- Here's how Meghan McCain made "you were at my wedding Denise" a thing...

-- Avicii's family has launched a mental health foundation in honor of the superstar DJ/producer who died last year at the age of 28...

-- Everclear's frontman Art Alexakis has multiple sclerosis...

-- From comedy specials to documentaries and binge worthy shows, here's some of what's streaming in April...

While "diversity is in the zeitgeist," Ford Foundation finds "disability is being left out of the conversation"

Katie Pellico writes: 1 in 4 Americans live with a disability. But the Ford Foundation's "Road Map for Inclusion," out Wednesday, shows that "far fewer than 25 perfect of characters in the media today are depicted with a disability — and those who are, most often are not portrayed by a disabled actor."

The report compiles leading studies to paint a troubling picture. Here is HuffPost's recap. Some stats for starters: "According to GLAAD's Where We Are on TV '18-'19, only 2.1 percent of primetime broadcast TV series regulars—or a total of 16 characters—have disabilities. A recent Annenberg study found that, across the 100 top-grossing movies of 2016, only 2.7 percent of characters were depicted with a disability." Read on...

>> The report's lead author Judy Heumann writes, "It is no longer acceptable to not have women at the table. It is no longer acceptable to not have people of color at the table. But no one thinks to see if the table is accessible."

>> The "Road Map" offers simple solutions to help move stories of living with a disability "from the margins to the main stage," including a "central hub that is a hybrid of organizations like CAAM and GLAAD, to ensure the visible and proper representation of disabled people."

FOR THE RECORD, PART EIGHT

By Katie Pellico:

-- ICYMI: Ryan O'Connell, writer-creator and star of Netflix's upcoming "Special," explains why "you don't have to have cerebral palsy to relate to my story..." (Vulture)

-- Forbes' Sarah Kim critiqued "Special" for relying on comic relief: "Even though comedy is a great way to break the ice, topics like disability deserve to be delved further into..." (Forbes)

-- THR calls Chris Evans "The Political Avenger." In this profile out Wednesday, Evans describes why he "feels obligated to do what he can" politically, "even if it turns his social media mentions into a garbage fire." He is also, as had been previously reported by ONTD, co-founding A Starting Point, a politics website aiming "to create informed, responsible and empathetic citizens..." (THR)

-- By Chloe Melas: Cardi B tries to explain a newly resurfaced video in which she says she drugged and robbed men when she was a stripper... (CNN)

What "What We Do in the Shadows" is all about

Brian Lowry emails: FX's "What We Do in the Shadows" is based on a cult movie, and the very funny series -- a dry satire about vampires residing in Staten Island -- should have its own small but devoted following...

A documentary is coming... after the "Thrones" finale

Justin Freiman emails: HBO will air a "Game of Thrones" documentary one week after the series finale, less a "making of" and more a "heartbreaking" goodbye. "Game of Thrones: The Last Watch," directed by Jeanie Finlay, will air May 26. A press release promises the docu will "delve... deep into the mud and blood to reveal the tears and triumphs involved in the challenge of bringing the fantasy world of Westeros to life in the very real studios, fields and car-parks of Northern Ireland."

How the Trump age has changed "Veep"

Megan Thomas emails: I can't wait for "Veep" to return this weekend. Variety's Danielle Turchiano has a good take on how current politics shaped the show's final season.

"If you look back at the previous six seasons, so much of the show was, 'Oh my God, this is what a politician is like behind closed doors' — but those closed doors are gone,' showrunner David Mandel told her. "So often, it was shocking how incompetent her staff is. Well, turn the TV on and you can see that. So much of the show was often her messing up and then paying a very public price for something, and I'm not sure that exists either anymore. So a lot of our bread and butter, if you will, changed."

Thanks for reading! Email me feedback anytime. See you tomorrow...