Forward

EXEC SUMMARY: It's almost Mueller time. Here is a preview of the week ahead... Everything from the Pulitzer Prizes to Beyoncé's documentary to Netflix's earnings...

Pulitzer Day

The Pulitzers, the most-revered prizes for newspaper journalism in America, will be presented Monday afternoon at Columbia University.

Roy J. Harris Jr., who literally wrote the book about the competition, has his annual preview up on Poynter's website. The winners are "likely to reflect a thorough mix of Trump-related coverage and work that has little relationship to him," he wrote. He also filed a separate piece about whether the WSJ's stories about presidential hush money will be recognized. For more prognosticating, check out Joe Pompeo's VF story...

It's almost Mueller time

Newsrooms are on standby for the release of a redacted version of Robert Mueller's report. Monday, maybe? Your guess is as good as mine.

While Trump allies pre-spin the results of the probe -- "we consider this to be case closed," Sarah Sanders said Sunday -- let me channel what Lawfare's Quinta Jurecic and Benjamin Wittes wrote last week. When the report drops, let's actually read it and focus on what it says, not what partisans are saying about it.

--> One of Wittes and Jurecic's points: "The big story, at least initially, is not how people are reacting to the report..."

--> The WSJ's Aruna Viswanatha writes about some of the unknowns: "Will it be on paper or digitally? Which color-coding will be used for the redactions? Will it be a searchable PDF document or sheets of paper fed into a scanner? Some congressional offices have stockpiled whiskey and drafted pizza orders in anticipation of a reading marathon..."

McClatchy retains Boutrous

McClatchy has retained Ted Boutrous, one of the lawyers who represented CNN and Jim Acosta in the press pass case last year, and Sacramento-based lawyer John Poulos to defend against Devin Nunes' looming defamation lawsuit.

The newspaper chain's CEO, Craig Forman, told me on Sunday that the suit is a "damaging attack on the Fresno Bee." While "the facts in this case are pretty much without dispute, they're a settled matter of California law," the suit signifies "an increasing use of the legal system to go after local news" when the industry is especially vulnerable. Watch our interview here...

MEDIA WEEK AHEAD CALENDAR

-- Monday afternoon: The Pulitzer Prizes are awarded at 3pm ET...

-- Monday evening: Bernie Sanders fields Q's at a town hall on Fox News...

-- Tuesday: David Brooks' new book "The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life" hits bookshelves...

-- Tuesday: In The Philippines, Maria Ressa "is due to be arraigned on charges her backers say were fabricated as retribution for her reporting..."

-- Tuesday after the bell: Netflix reports earnings...

-- Wednesday: Beyoncé's "Homecoming" debuts on Netflix...

-- Thursday: TIME announces this year's list of 100 "most influential people..."

Awaiting the ratings for Tiger and "Thrones"

Frank Pallottta emails: Two major television events took place on Sunday. In the afternoon Tiger Woods took home the green jacket — his first major win since 2008 — captivating social media and the sports world. The CBS broadcast should see a big Tiger bump... Even though it didn't happen in prime time...

>> Richard Deitsch tweeted: "There is no athlete in the United States who drives TV ratings for his or her sport more than Tiger Woods. A one-person economic stimulus."

And then there was "Game of Thrones" in prime time. HBO took fans back to Westeros after a two year hiatus. We'll know the live/same day numbers by Monday afternoon...

"THRONES" RETURNS:

Lowry's review

Brian Lowry emails: If you're 67 episodes into the show, the premiere artfully stoked the appetite for the five episodes after this one.

Read Lowry's spoiler-filled review here...

Don't fret, "Never Throners!"

That's what the WSJ calls the non-watchers like yours truly. Yes... I confess... I have never seen an episode of "GoT" and I don't intend to start now! That's why this story spoke to me. 😉 "People who have never watched the prime-time fantasy series that became a cultural tsunami say the last eight years have been a trial." Yes! Ha. Read on...

--> On a related note, Brian Lowry emails: My least favorite genre of "Thrones" story during the run-up has to be the one that presupposes everyone is watching it, grappling with issues like those who feel somehow left out. Newsflash: Even the Super Bowl is watched by less than half the population. So if you're not watching pretty much anything — including Marvel and "Star Wars" movies — rest assured, you're in good company. Important context for all the coverage...

AT&T synergy? No, just an error

Sunday's episode was "available on DirecTV Now four hours ahead" of the scheduled debut, TheWrap's Jennifer Maas reported.

DirecTV and HBO are both owned by AT&T, as is CNN, but the company says this early release was just an error, not a promo: "Apparently our system was as excited as we are for 'Game of Thrones' tonight and gave a few DIRECTV Now customers early access to the episode by mistake."

WGA vs. agents update

Over the weekend a bevy of writers who are members of the Writers Guild (WGA) broke off ties with the agents who usually represent them. Exact #'s are unknown, but Deadline's David Robb said all the major agencies "have been flooded by a wave of e-firings from their writer-clients."

"As the industry awaits the fallout," Variety's Cynthia Littleton wrote Sunday, "many WGA members spent the weekend rallying support for the guild's position and working to establish online networks to connect writers with prospective employers. Meanwhile, the Association of Talent Agents vowed to dig in..."

--> More: Here is Littleton's reconstruction of how the negotiations cratered on Friday, leading to this present war...

--> Confused? The NYT has a Q&A about the situation here...

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- The biggest agency deal in years: "French ad holding company Publicis said Sunday it would pay about $4.4 billion for marketing services company Epsilon to give it a leg up in digital marketing and to help clients better personalize their advertising..." (CNBC)

-- What's going wrong at HQ Trivia? Josh Constine has a big new report about a "mutiny" and other assorted troubles... (TechCrunch)

-- In a new response to a shareholder lawsuit, CBS told the court that it had "no obligation to disclose accusations against Leslie Moonves," Eriq Gardner reports... (THR)

Buttigieg's big crowd

This line on the new cover of NYMag says it all: "Perhaps all the Democrats need to win the presidency is a Rust Belt millennial who's gay and speaks Norwegian and has never governed anything but the fourth-largest city in Indiana."

Pete Buttigieg re-introduced himself on Sunday with a campaign kickoff in South Bend... Reporters sounded impressed by the size of the crowd and struck by the Obama-like echoes of his speech... "The horror show in Washington is mesmerizing. It's all-consuming. But starting today, we're going to change the channel," he said...

Four notes about Buttigieg

-- What a difference 27 years makes: On "Reliable Sources," I brought up Steve Kornacki's story about the last time a small city mayor ran for prez. Almost no one took Larry Agran seriously in 1992. Buttigieg's early stage success is a measure of just how much has changed since then...

-- Also on "Reliable," Olivia Nuzzi (who wrote the NYMag cover story) said Buttigieg's accessibility to reporters "really counts for a lot..."

-- His top comms adviser, Lis Smith, described the campaign's media strategy this way: "Going out everywhere, meeting voters where they are, not turning our noses up at non-traditional outlets, and being fearless and transparent in our approach..."

-- MSNBC's Rachel Maddow has Buttigieg on her show Monday night...

Sanders v. ThinkProgress

In a bombshell letter over the weekend, first obtained by the NYT, Bernie Sanders accused the Center for American Progress and its Action Fund of "using its resources to smear" him and other progressive candidates. "Sanders sent the letter days after a website run by the action fund, ThinkProgress, suggested that his attacks on income inequality were hypocritical in light of his growing personal wealth."

ThinkProgress EIC Jodi Enda responded by defending the site's independence: "Neither CAP nor CAP Action reviews our work before we hit publish. Neither CAP nor CAP Action had anything to do with the article or video related to Sen. Sanders or articles related to any other political leader." Enda pointed out that one of her predecessors, Faiz Shakir, "now runs Sen. Sanders' campaign." She added: "We will not take sides in the Democratic primaries."

How Trump v. Omar happened

"Controversies" don't just erupt naturally, like a bolt of lightning sparking a fire. No, they are created, like an arsonist lighting a match. But too often our news coverage starts mid-story -- we say "a controversy has erupted" -- but we leave out the lighting of the match.

On Sunday's "Reliable Sources," I went back in time to the moment when Ilhan Omar's "some people did something" comment was posted on YouTube by The Daily Caller. A Muslim scholar in Australia helped the comment go viral. A day later, it was on Sean Hannity's show. The right-wing media set the frame early on: "Omar downplayed 9/11." Trump's anti-Omar video catapulted the "controversy" onto the nightly news.

This news cycle is going to continue into the new workweek, now that Omar is saying she's experienced an increase in death threats since Trump's video came out. As we continue to cover this, I just think the stories should widen out -- to explain how and why this controversy was created in the first place.

--> Here's my essay about it from Sunday's "Reliable Sources..."

--> Waleed Shahid, Karen Finney and Matt Lewis discussed the Omar coverage with me... Here's part one with Shahid and part two with everyone...

Will this boycott by bodega owners hurt the NY Post's bottom line?

In response to the New York Post's anti-Omar cover that showed the World Trade Center in flames, some of the most prominent Yemeni bodega owners in New York have decided "to stop selling the paper," the NYT's Christina Goldbaum reported Sunday. The Yemeni American Merchant Association announced a formal boycott and denounced "incitement of violence against Muslims" at a press conference outside the Post's office. The paper has not responded to requests for comment...

"Outrage exhibitionists"

The smartest thing I've read about the controversy is this piece by Conor Friedersdorf about "outrage exhibitionism." In attacking Omar "over a small, unintentional slight, Donald Trump and the populist right are displaying bad faith," he wrote.

Big picture: "Civic conversation in America is dysfunctional in part because we have so many such outrage exhibitionists. These folks strip inartfully phrased remarks of context, ignoring the speaker's intentions and imputing the least charitable possible meaning. This sets them up to display umbrage with the ostentation of a peacock." Read on...

Trump falsely says that NYT never calls to check facts

C'mon. He doesn't really believe this, does he? He tweeted on Saturday night that Times reporters "never call to check for truth. Their sources often don't even exist, a fraud." Maggie Haberman responded by saying the paper asked for comment three times. On ABC's "This Week," Sarah Sanders tried to dodge Q's about Trump's claim, and said "I'm going to take the word of the president versus CNN or the NYT any day of the week," but also admitted that "we do talk to them regularly..."

More golf tweets, please!

On Saturday he said Tiger Woods at the Masters was "ratings gold." Then he live-tweeted the final holes on Sunday afternoon. "Love people who are great under pressure," he wrote. It was... refreshing. The Guardian's Ben Jacobs commented: "I'd be curious about the long term electoral and policy implications if the President spent more time live tweeting golf and less time live tweeting Fox and Friends..."

Later in the day, Trump went back to tweeting about TV news. He accused "60 Minutes" of airing a "puff piece" about Nancy Pelosi. So what did Pelosi do? She replied and said "thanks for watching!"

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- Josh Campbell asked on Twittter: "Has President @realDonaldTrump publicly weighed in on the torching of three historically black churches in Louisiana?" The answer is no... (Twitter)

-- This sentence should be enough to convince you to read Peter Nicholas's latest piece about Trumpworld survival strategies: "Aides who have walked in have seen Trump yelling at the TV as he sits with Pence and their deputies over plates of chicken and cheeseburgers..." (The Atlantic)

-- A correction to Friday's newsletter: I misunderstood a headline from TheWrap that said Mike Huckabee had "re-signed" with Fox. I thought he'd taken a leave from the network while hosting his own show on TBN, but he has merely renewed his existing contributor deal with Fox... (TheWrap)

"She's good for our ratings"

Over the weekend the AP's David Bauder wrote about the Media Matters study finding that Fox is "obsessed" with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. And he quoted Fox Biz host Stuart Varney, who was quite honest: "We have an AOC segment every day, almost every single hour. She's good for our ratings."

Harlow and Swisher

Poppy Harlow's in-depth interview with Kara Swisher will be out first thing Monday morning on the CNN "Boss Files" podcast...

-- Here's Swisher talking about Mark Zuckerberg: "What I'm hoping to do is get through to him on this idea of responsibility."

-- Swisher says big tech companies should have chief ethics officers "with power, not just as PR." Listen to the full convo via Apple Podcasts...

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- Apple is spending "hundreds of millions of dollars to secure new video games for its forthcoming Arcade subscription service, according to several people familiar with the deals..." (FT)

-- It wasn't just your phone: Facebook and its associated apps (Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp) were down for more than 2 hours early Sunday morning "for users worldwide..." (The Verge)

-- Jemele Hill is launching a "a weekly podcast Monday on Spotify. On the show, 'Jemele Hill is Unbothered,' she'll conduct interviews and give commentary on sports, politics and culture..." (AP)

Highlights from Sunday's "Reliable"

-- Does the Assange case pose a threat to press freedoms? Ryan Grim and Bradley Moss shared two different POVs...

-- Sarah Ellison discussed the pending sale of the National Enquirer...

-- And we talked about Lou Dobbs' influence in the Trump White House...

Catch up on the show

Listen to the podcast version via Apple, Spotify, TuneIn, or your favorite app... Watch the video clips on CNN.com... Or watch the full episode via CNNgo or VOD...

"Shazam" No. 1 for Week No. 2

"After four straight weekends featuring a new #1 film at the weekend box office, Warner Bros.'s 'Shazam!' took the crown for a second weekend in a row, topping a flurry of newcomers that delivered varying returns," Box Office Mojo's Brad Brevet wrote. "Universal's 'Little' secured the runner-up position, out-performing Lionsgate and Summit's 'Hellboy,' which struggled amidst a flurry of negative reviews..."

"As Hollywood Embraces Diversity, Jobs for Female Directors Remain Sparse"

That's the web headline on this Brooks Barnes and Cara Buckley co-production that's on the front of the Arts section in Monday's NYT. "Even after years of being called to task for sidelining female filmmakers, studios as a whole continue to rely overwhelmingly on men to lead productions," they report... And they assess some reasons why...

"Big Little Lies" is back on June 9!

CNN's Christina Maxouris writes: "On 'Game of Thrones' Sunday, Reese Witherspoon took to Twitter to reveal the return date of another star-studded show, 'Big Little Lies.' The HBO miniseries will kick off its second season on June 9 with seven episodes and two major additions: a new director -- 'American Honey's' Andrea Arnold -- and the queen of the screen herself, Meryl Streep." Here's the new trailer...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- CNN.com's Entertainment section has lots of Coachella coverage for you to check out.

-- Sandra Gonzalez's story ahead of Ariana Grande taking the stage at Coachella overnight: It's time to stop comparing strong female musicians.

-- And here's what you missed when BTS performed on "SNL..."

Taylor Swift is counting down...

"Taylor Swift is doing something on April 26 and if the past is any indication, there's new music on the horizon," CNN's Harmeet Kaur wrote. "A cryptic countdown clock appeared on the singer's website around midnight ET on Friday counting down to April 26..."

Thank you for reading. Email me anytime! See you tomorrow...