Forward

Twelve killed in Virginia Beach

"We're coming to you with the worst kind of breaking news imaginable," John Berman said on "AC360" Friday night.

There is a terrible rhythm to these shootings -- first the tweets and Dataminr alerts about a shooting, then sketchy reports about injuries, then deepening fears about the death toll, and then confirmation that another murderer has committed another massacre that defies belief. On Friday, the casualty count suddenly jumped from 6+ injured to 11+ killed. Right now the most up-to-date total is 12+ killed. "This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach," the mayor said.

The Virginian-Pilot noted that this was "the deadliest mass shooting in the United States this year."

What struck me, and worried me, was how this slaughter didn't get more attention on Friday night. While Erin Burnett's 7 p.m. program on CNN covered the breaking news nonstop, MSNBC's "Hardball" just mentioned it briefly at the top of the hour, then pivoted to politics. Same for Fox's "The Story With Martha MacCallum." Now, "Hardball" later shifted into breaking news mode -- "a tragic night," Chris Matthews said -- and MacCallum's show added a couple of breaking news updates. But I can remember a time, not too long ago, when a dozen dead citizens at a municipal building would be a bone-chilling, nonstop-coverage news story. It's not, anymore, not to the same degree. And THAT is chilling...

>> CNN's Victor Blackwell and Fredricka Whitfield will be anchoring from the scene on Saturday...

>> And MSNBC's David Gura will be anchoring from Virginia Beach on Saturday morning...

IN OTHER NEWS...

DOJ eyeing Google?

The WSJ's Brent Kendall and John D. McKinnon with the Friday night scoop: "The Justice Department is gearing up for an antitrust investigation of Alphabet Inc.'s Google, a move that could present a major new layer of regulatory scrutiny for the search giant, according to people familiar with the matter." Their story says the DOJ's antitrust division has "been laying the groundwork for the probe" in recent weeks...

Warren's reaction

Via WaPo's Tony Romm, here's how Elizabeth Warren reacted to the report of an investigation, per her 2020 campaign: "They have too much power and they're using that power to hurt small businesses, stifle innovation, and tilt the playing field against everyone else. It's time to fight back."

Fox stands by Ingraham after she defended white supremacist

Oliver Darcy emails: Fox News stood by Laura Ingraham on Friday after she defended white supremacist and anti-Semite Paul Nehlen, along with other fringe individuals like Alex Jones. Denying reality, the network said in a statement that it was "obscene to suggest" Ingraham had defended Nehlen, ignoring how she characterized him in a segment as a victim of unfair social media censorship.

"Facebook now, what do they monitor? Quote, hate? That sounds good until you realize hate," Ingraham said Thursday night, showing a graphic featuring Nehlen, Jones, and other fringe people like Laura Loomer and James Woods. "And these are some of the people they've shunned." She added, "It's people who believe in border enforcement, people who believe in national sovereignty."

It's far more complicated than that. ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt pointed out in a tweet, "Paul Nehlen is not being censored because he's a conservative. He was kicked off social media for repeatedly spewing anti-Semitism & racism, and for targeting Jewish journalists. Do better, @FoxNews."

Need a reminder who Paul Nehlen is?

Darcy adds: Nehlen's racism has been well-documented, and it's nothing short of disgusting. In April, for instance, he appeared on a podcast and admitted to wearing a shirt featuring Robert Bowers, the man accused of killing 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

"Because, I want to make a point that it will ultimately take -- it might not take a million Robert Bowers -- but it's going to take a lot of people all pushing in the same direction to do what needs to be done, and that is to rid white lands of Jews," Nehlen said on the podcast. "Because they are going to undermine our ability to thrive as a race. They are going to wipe us off the face of the earth."

Nehlen has also shared fringe conspiracy theories, including the idea that Bill and Hillary Clinton are murderers. He is so toxic that even Gab, a platform used by members of the alt-right, banned him. In 2017, the far-right website Breitbart also publicly severed ties with him. Not exactly a mainstream conservative!

ANNOUNCEMENT!

"Apollo 11: Beyond The Moon"

This summer is the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. On June 23, CNN is premiering an incredible film about the mission, "Apollo 11," from director Todd Douglas Miller. And we're coming out with a five-part podcast all about the film, the mission and future journeys into space. I'm the host of "Apollo 11: Beyond the Moon," which will roll out next week via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred podcast app. The trailer is already up...

>> The series will feature my interviews with Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins (seen below), author Margot Lee Shetterly, historian Douglas Brinkley, space correspondent Rachel Crane, and more...

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- What's the one word that stumped all 8 spelling bee champs? A-L-I-S-Y-N... (CNN)

-- Fox's Martha MacCallum is hitting back at one of the claims in Michael Wolff's book... (Mediaite)

-- Here's "a day in the life of a 2020 campaign trail reporter," featuring Daniella Diaz and DJ Judd... (CNN)

Axios v. the NYT on TV

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's NOT a coincidence that season two of "AXIOS on HBO" is scheduled to start on the same night as "The Weekly" on FX's debut.

The NYT is making a big bet with "The Weekly," which will air first on cable TV and then stream the next day on Hulu. It will premiere on Sunday evening, just a few hours after the Axios series returns on HBO. Axios is promoting a contentious sit-down with Jared Kushner...

Lowry's take

Brian Lowry emails: The launch of "The Weekly" amounts to a brand-building exercise for both The New York Times, whose reporters are featured in the half-hour series; and FX, the network carrying it. The program features a deep dive into a single topic, a bit like a "60 Minutes" pieces, only with a somewhat grittier edge. It's produced by the Times and Left/Right -- the production company whose credits include "The Circus" and "This American Life" -- and will also play on Hulu after its linear debut...

NYT telling reporters to avoid highly opinionated cable news shows?

First came Joe Pompeo's VF story on Thursday: The NYT "has come to 'prefer,' as sources put it, that its reporters steer clear of any cable-news shows that the masthead perceives as too partisan, and managers have lately been advising people not to go on what they see as highly opinionated programs." Like Rachel Maddow's show. "It's not clear how many shows fall under that umbrella in the eyes of Times brass, but two others that definitely do are Lawrence O'Donnell's and Don Lemon's," Pompeo wrote, citing sources.

Then came the fallout on Friday. I noticed that WaPo reporter Devlin Barrett was on Maddow's show talking about the latest Michael Flynn developments. The Daily Beast's Lloyd Grove wrote about the brouhaha, and quoted Lemon: "I do not get the sense that they are banning reporters from my show. But, I don't work for the Times so I can't be sure. However, it would be extremely shortsighted if they are when journalism is under attack. We should support each other. Period."

Maddow and O'Donnell have not commented, but a "senior MSNBC executive" said this to Grove: "The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal and most every other publication in America have confidence that their reporters are capable of explaining and defining their journalism to many different audiences. Hopefully the Times will come to recognize that, too."

Baquet's view

Here's what NYT exec editor Dean Baquet told Grove: "We will still appear on television when invited. It's the most sharply opinionated shows that give me pause. I'm not sure which shows we will avoid. The line is increasingly blurred. Again, this is not an assault on our television compatriots. It's my strong view that opinion and news need to be separated."

Blame Canada?

Brian Lowry emails: The NBA Finals delivered the lowest rating for a Game 1 in a decade, based on preliminary data, down 18% from last year. Part of the reason: Having Toronto in the Finals deprives ABC of the ratings boost that would come from a second major U.S. city with a direct rooting interest. As Ad Age explained, "Because the Raptors are a Canadian team, they don't have a footprint in any stateside media market -- and impressions served up north of the border don't count."

PLANNING AHEAD...

-- Game three of the Stanley Cup Finals is Saturday evening on NBCSN...

-- Game two of the NBA Finals is Sunday evening on ABC...

-- The inaugural Critics' Choice Real TV Awards are on Sunday night...

-- Apple's annual World Wide Developers Conference starts Monday...

-- NBC's Stephanie Gosk has the first interview with Nada Bakos, author of "The Targeter: My Life in the CIA, Hunting Terrorists and Challenging the White House," which is out Tuesday... The interview airs Monday on "Today..."

-- CNN's Luke McGee previewing Trump's next trip: When "Trump touches down in London on Monday morning, he sets foot in a nation living through its worst political crisis since the end of the Second World War..."

"Handmaid's Tale" star on this Sunday's "Reliable Sources"

Ann Dowd, who plays Aunt Lydia on "The Handmaid's Tale," will join me on Sunday's program, along with executive producer Warren Littlefield. The third season of "Handmaid's" starts streaming on Hulu next Wednesday. I'm interested in what Dowd and Littlefield think about the comparisons between the dystopian world of the show and the real-life arguments about banning abortion.

Also on Sunday's program: Elaina Plott, Noah Shachtman, Sarah Ellison, Barbara Starr, Chris Arnade, and Bill Nye...

Nadler says "we have to get the facts out"

"Impeachment is a political act, and you cannot impeach a president if the American people will not support it," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said on WNYC on Friday. "The American people right now do not support it because they do not know the story. They don't know the facts. We have to get the facts out. We have to hold a series of hearings, we have to hold the investigations."

Question: Isn't this a damning assessment of the Democratic party's comms strategy, in particular since the Mueller report was published?! (And isn't that a damning assessment of the media?)

MEANWHILE...

"Flattery gets results"

The White House announced on Friday that economist and author Arthur Laffer will be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Laffer is "one of the pioneers of the idea that tax cuts can boost government revenue," as the WSJ wrote.

WaPo's Carlos Lozada tweeted: "Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore are coauthors of TRUMPONOMICS, a fawning 2018 book on Trump's econ policies/ideas. Trump nominated Moore to the Federal Reserve Board. Now Laffer will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Flattery gets results..."

"You are not a journalist, Jorge."

Remember when Nicolás Maduro stormed out of an interview with Univision's Jorge Ramos in February? Venezuelan officials seized Univision's equipment and detained the crew. Upon release, Ramos and his colleagues couldn't bring the videotape home... But it turns out that the network was "able to recover the February 25 interview in its entirety right up to the moment that Maduro cut it short and stormed off." A clip aired on Thursday night, and the entire 17-minute interview will air on "Aquí y Ahora" on Sunday night. Maduro claims Ramos is "not a journalist..." And there are many other tense moments...

🎧 Bill Nye hops on the "Reliable" podcast 🎧

Fresh off the release of his new podcast, "Science Rules!," Bill Nye unpacked the pressing questions of our day, and how the press is faring in covering them, on this week's "Reliable Sources" pod. Nye spoke with me about climate science, deniers, dinosaurs, vaccinations, and the new NYT reporting about UFOs... Listen via Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, Stitcher, or your preferred app...

The state of play in Georgia

The headlines are stark -- major studios say they are ready to move out of Georgia if the state's anti-abortion law takes effect. But "despite media outlets claiming the studios had threatened to boycott Georgia, it's actually far from clear that Hollywood studios will leave the state anytime soon, no matter what happens with the legislation," WaPo's Steven Zeitchik wrote Friday.

Key graf: "With a lavish tax rebate and an extensive infrastructure, the advantages of shooting in Georgia have grown exponentially in recent years. Three executives from different studios, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk publicly, privately acknowledged how difficult it would be to abandon Georgia..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- "A tweet thread from Vox host Carlos Maza outlining several instances of right-wing YouTube commentator Steven Crowder making homophobic and racist comments about him has prompted an investigation by YouTube, the company confirmed to The Verge..." (The Verge)

-- "Otter Media is being realigned into the WarnerMedia Entertainment group..." (THR)

-- Disneyland's "Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge" officially opened on Friday... (CNN)

-- Elton John and the makers of "Rocketman" are slamming Russia's decision to cut scenes "depicting gay sex and drug taking..." (THR)

"Godzilla" and "Rocketman" at the box office this weekend

Warner Bros.' release of "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" is "expected to deliver a #1 finish while Paramount's 'Rocketman' debuts after a strong opening in the UK last weekend and Blumhouse's latest thriller 'Ma' is also looking to spark some attention from the horror audience," Box Office Mojo's Brad Brevet writes...

Chloe's interview with Taron Egerton

Chloe Melas emails: I spoke with Taron Egerton, who stars as Elton John in "Rocketman," and he told me how he prepared to take on the role of a lifetime...

Robert Pattinson as Batman?

"If all goes well, Robert Pattinson will be taking up residence in Gotham," Lisa Respers France writes. "A rep for Warner Bros. confirmed to CNN on Friday that the actor is in negotiations to play 'The Batman' in the studio's forthcoming superhero film that Matt Reeves is set to direct..."

Lowry reviews the return of "Luther"

Brian Lowry emails: "Luther" returns for its fifth season on BBC America on Sunday, more than three years since Idris Elba cleared his schedule long enough to do the last mini run. While one can see why the network would want to stay in business with the star, it feels like the series has gone to the well one time too many...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

By Lisa Respers France:

--Diplo has responded to Joe Jonas saying he "ruined" his wedding...

-- News flash: We've been saying Rihanna's name wrong!

The power of "When They See Us"

Lisa Respers France writes: Niecey Nash told me that "When They See Us" is the first job she's ever worked where crisis counselors were available on set. Ava DuVernay's Netflix limited series about the Central Park Five is hard to watch, but was also hard for those involved in the project. Here's how "When They See Us" transformed those who worked on it...

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"There's nothing more terrifying than telling your truth and telling it over and over and over again, but having people refuse to honor it as the truth."

--Marquis Rodriguez, who plays Raymond Santana in "When They See Us," speaking with the NYT...

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