Forward

EXEC SUMMARY: Hello from sultry Phoenix... I'm here for the SABEW conference... Here's the latest on Gannett's success, Robert Mueller's silence, Bill Barr's Fox interview, Sarah Jessica Parker v. National Enquirer, and much more...

Only scratching the surface

Donie O'Sullivan emails from SF: Cambridge Analytica... Russian trolls... We're only just scratching the surface of how we are being manipulated online. On Thursday, Facebook revealed that it has shut down accounts run by an Israeli company that was targeting elections across Africa. The fake accounts and pages -- that posed as locals -- had almost 3 million (!!) followers and had spent almost $1 million on Facebook ads to reach others. Read on...

Donie's big picture point

We hear almost every week now about Facebook removing sets of pages and accounts that were deceptive and disguised. Often these pages have been active for years, with hundreds of thousands of followers. It makes you wonder, how much of the discourse of the past decade -- so much of it dictated by what is "trending" or what people are talking about online -- has been shaped by inauthentic accounts?

Like a police drug bust photo op...

The Information's Nick Wingfield adds: "It is devilishly difficult for Facebook to root out this kind of behavior because of the vast scale of its services. It's helpful to look at these enforcement actions as something like 'dope on the table' drug busts by law enforcement agencies: They are interesting, but make only a small dent in a much bigger problem."

How does Twitter chatter shape Trump's thinking?

Read this new story by Andrew Restuccia, Daniel Lippman and Eliana Johnson in the context of the never-ending information wars Donie was just describing. The Politico crew details how President Trump, "with few allies left in the West Wing," frequently leans on his director of social media, Dan Scavino, "for affirmation and advice about how his most sensitive policies will be received."

Here's the example in the lede: Shortly after Trump announced plans "to yank U.S. troops out of Syria last December, a group of lawmakers came to the White House to talk him out of the idea, which critics called a threat to national security. Trump responded by calling in the man who oversees his Twitter account. 'Get Dan Scavino in here,' Trump called out in the middle of the meeting earlier this year." Trump told Scavino to tell the reps "how popular my policy is." And Scavino "proceeded to walk lawmakers through the positive reaction he had picked up on social media about Trump's Syria decision."

How does Twitter chatter shape journalists' thinking?

The president, of course, is not the only person who can come away with a distorted view of the world through Twitter's lens. Conor Friedersdorf's newest piece for The Atlantic argues that many pundits didn't see Joe Biden's popularity clearly because of Twitter's funhouse mirror effect. "To adequately serve its civic function, the American press has to do a better job of guarding against the distorting effects that the platform has on its coverage. Failures to foresee Biden's popularity are, in that context, a cautionary tale," he writes...

FRIDAY PLANNER

-- Bill Hemmer will interview Bill Barr on Fox Friday morning... Barr will be in El Salvador... "The televised interview will be Barr's first since the release of special counsel Robert Mueller's report..." (The Hill)

-- Following his "GMA" hit on Thursday, new 2020 contender Bill de Blasio will be on "Morning Joe" on Friday...

-- Sheryl Sandberg will be on CBS and CNBC on Friday...

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- Gabe Fleisher is already a journalism legend. And he's still a junior in high school. Here's how he landed a scoop about de Blasio's 2020 plans... (WaPo)

-- Thursday's must-read is by Deadspin columnist and GQ correspondent Drew Magary. It is miraculous that he is alive to write it. He calls this "the story of my brain exploding..." (Deadspin)

-- Deadspin and G/O Media's other properties, such as Gizmodo and Jezebel, have a new executive managing editor: Joyce Tang will oversee editorial operations... (Folio)

-- Bryn Elise Sandberg's story asks: "Why are Hollywood's biggest studios and stars silent on Georgia's new abortion law?" (THR)

-- Is the media "amplifying" Trump's schoolyard tactics by reporting them? Margaret Sullivan makes the case that the "news media must stop trafficking" Trump's snider remarks and nicknames... (WaPo)

FIRST LOOK

"Abolish the Priesthood"

The Atlantic's June cover features former priest and National Book Award winner James Carroll urging the Catholic Church to "Abolish the Priesthood." The article will be out on Friday morning -- and here's a first look at the cover:

Trump's shameless pattern of pardons

"If you find yourself in a bit of a legal pickle and you're now wondering how to get out of prison, you might want to think about writing a glowing book about President Trump, or, writing an op-ed in which you call Robert Mueller a few bad names," Jake Tapper said on CNN Thursday afternoon.

He was talking about Trump's pardon of Conrad Black... And Trump's broader pattern of issuing pardons for political allies with "no apparent sense of shame" and "no blowback from his fellow Republicans..."

"Mueller Holds Enticing Hope For Democrats"

That's one of the headlines on the front page of Friday's NYT. The story, by Glenn Thrush and Nicholas Fandos, says "House Democrats, frustrated by President Trump's efforts to stonewall their investigations and eager to stoke public anger about the president's behavior, are pinning their diminishing hopes on Robert S. Mueller III yet again." But Mueller has not yet agreed to testify...

>> Thursday evening's big story on the obstruction front: "Memos reveal more information about Michael Flynn's cooperation with Mueller"

About Warren's no-Fox stance...

Brian Lowry emails: WaPo's Aaron Blake asserted that Elizabeth Warren's no-Fox stance puts other Dem candidates in an awkward spot. But in terms of framing the debate, that appeared to be part of the objective. Moreover, Warren is making clear now that whatever Fox might say about its news side versus its opinion hosts, Republicans have what at least amounts to a home-field advantage on the network...

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- For a second time, Chelsea Manning is in contempt of court. She's heading back to jail instead of testifying about WikiLeaks. On last Sunday's "Reliable," she told me this might happen... (CNN)

-- "Bill Press is ending his progressive morning radio show" on May 31... And he's "launching a new podcast the first week of June..." (Politico)

-- Imam Omar Suleiman is questioning why the two-alarm fire intentionally set at a New Haven mosque last Sunday was "almost completely ignored" by major media outlets... (WaPo)

-- Instagram and the Reynolds Journalism Institute at Mizzou are launching something called the "Instagram Local News summer fellowship..." (Poynter)

Jamal Khashoggi's fiancée says she's ready to meet with Trump

Katie Pellico writes: Hatice Cengiz, Jamal Khashoggi's fiancée, testified before a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Thursday, telling lawmakers through an interpreter, "I cannot understand that the world still has not done anything about this." Per Reuters' Patricia Zengerle, Cengiz "called for sanctions to punish Saudi Arabia, and for Washington to push for the freedom of political prisoners held in the kingdom."

>> She also confirmed to Christiane Amanpour that she is now willing to meet with Trump. Last year, she rejected his invitation. CNN's Zachary Cohen has details here...

>> IYCMI: On Wednesday, during a meeting with WaPo journalists, Cengiz said, "Jamal would have been most disappointed of all to see the U.S. response," though he "had always championed the U.S."

"Reporter shot and killed in Mexican tourist resort"

Headline and story via Reuters: Francisco Romero, a crime reporter who had reported threats against his life, was "shot and killed in the beach resort of Playa del Carmen on Mexico's Caribbean coast, authorities said on Thursday, the latest in a rising death toll of journalists under the government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador."

Greek journalist's car targeted in reported bomb attack

Via Bianca Britton and Nada Bashir: "A car belonging to a reporter was targeted by a bomb blast in northern Athens." It happened outside Mina Karamitrou's home early Tuesday morning. No one was injured, but Karamitrou's car was destroyed. She is a police reporter for CNN Greece (a news organization that is editorially independent of CNN)...

>> CPJ called on Greek authorities to ensure the safety of Karamitrou, to thoroughly investigate the bombing and to "hold those responsible to account."

Photo of the day

The picture is funny. The context is not. This is KISS frontman Gene Simmons delivering an on-camera briefing at the Pentagon on Thursday:

Why it's not funny: "The last time a press secretary briefed reporters on camera at the Pentagon was May 31, 2018," Tom Kludt reports...

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- NBC's "Dateline" is entering the very crowded field of true-crime podcasts... (Variety)

-- As the husband of a traffic reporter, I'm intrigued by this Friday special on CBS: "NO EXIT!" Jane Pauley is the host of a "one-hour CBS News primetime special exploring America's love/hate relationship with our highways and byways..." (CBS)

-- Floyd Abrams, Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr., Greg Lukianoff, and Jonathan Haidt were a few of the honorees at The Hugh M. Hefner Foundation's annual First Amendment Awards... (Press release)

-- Some of the names on TIME's Next Generation Leaders list this year: Actor/singer Tessa Thompson, singer Dina el Wedidi, professional Overwatch player Kim "Geguri" Se-yeon, and YouTuber CarryMinati... (TIME)

-- WaPo just made some big announcements about its Arc publishing platform: "A suite of subscription tools" that other websites can put to use... (Digiday)

Gannett notches victory in hostile takeover bid

Tom Kludt reports: Gannett notched an important victory Thursday in its attempt to fend off a hostile takeover bid. The publisher announced that all eight of its board nominees won election based on the results of a preliminary vote -- a rejection of Digital First Media's efforts to win control of Gannett by installing its own board members. Read more...

>> Ken Doctor's latest: "This hostile takeover didn't work out. But the thinking of industry executives remains dominated by the inevitable merging of America's big newspaper chains..."

Optimism from Half Moon Bay

S. Mitra Kalita reports from Half Moon Bay, Calif: A group of journalism leaders gathered here for the last day and a half to talk about what's working (and what's not) in our industry. We also met with Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky and Medium CEO Ev Williams. This was the third year of the gathering, known as Off the Record, organized by The Information's Jessica Lessin, BuzzFeed's Ben Smith and Quartz's Kevin Delaney.

Overall, I'd say the tone was surprisingly confident and optimistic. We're calling out platforms' reticence to take responsibility for what they publish. We're embracing multiple revenue streams versus one magic bullet. Also here: Lydia Polgreen, Samuel Jacobs, Emily Ramshaw, Isaac Lee, Pam Wasserstein, Carrie Budoff Brown, Noah Schactman, Justin Smith, Jason Anders, Nick Carlson, Imran Amed, Tom Standage, Shani Hilton, Amir Efrati, Mat Honan, Peter Kafka...

Norah's send-off

"CBS This Morning" gave a fond farewell to Norah O'Donnell on Thursday. "We are cheering you on," Gayle King said. O'Donnell's kids sent well wishes too -- "Can't wait to have a before-school-breakfast," her son Henry said.

Joe Biden also sent along a message: "You know better than anyone, there's few things more important in our democracy than right now to have a strong independent press."

>> "The best is yet to come. I think that's for all of us at CBS News," O'Donnell said on Thursday's show. She will start anchoring the "Evening News" sometime this summer...

>> Friday will be John Dickerson's last day on the morning shift... Anthony Mason and Tony Dokoupil join King on Monday...

Spotted at Mika's book party

Oliver Darcy emails: I stopped by the book party held in NYC on Thursday night for the release of "Earn It" by Mika Brzezinski and Daniela Pierre-Bravo. Among the sightings: Joe Scarborough, Al Sharpton, Willie Geist, Donny Deutsch, Michael Del Moro, Jesse Rodriguez, Lorie Acio, Adam Weiss, Emily Jane Fox, Richard Blumenthal, Stephanie Ruhle, Alex Witt, Chris Jansing, Jonathan Wald, Savannah Sellers, and many more...

Kevin Reilly re-ups

Deadline's Nellie Andreeva calls this "the first major executive move by Bob Greenblatt" at WarnerMedia: Kevin Reilly, the president of TBS and TNT and the chief creative officer for WarnerMedia's direct to consumer business, "has extended his contract with a new four-year deal through 2022." And he is gaining truTV oversight. "truTV's President Chris Linn is stepping down after a six-tear tenure."

TV UPFRONTS 2019

Lowry sums up the upfronts in one paragraph

Brian Lowry emails: Upfront week is over, and one clear message was that the major networks' parent companies are pivoting to face the digital future. But in terms of safe programming choices and the smallest number of new shows in recent memory, their conservative strategy seems less indicative of the times than partying like it's 1999...

>> Keep reading! Here are the rest of Lowry's paragraphs...

Seven standout series

"Of the nearly two dozen trailers released by the five major networks during this Upfronts week, there are some clear standouts," Sandra Gonzalez wrote Thursday. She listed seven: NBC's "Sunnyside," ABC's "Mixed-ish," Fox's "Prodigal Son," ABC's "Stumptown," "Batwoman" on The CW, "Broke" on CBS, and "BH90210" on Fox. Speaking of that last one...

The most-viewed trailer of the week...

Jamie called me out for not including the "90210" reboot news in the newsletter the other day. Clearly she isn't the only person psyched about the show: Fox said Thursday that the "BH90210" trailer "has reached 18.4 million cross platform views, including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram, making it the most-viewed trailer among all new series for the 2019-20 season."

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- The guest lineup for the second season of David Letterman's "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction" is 💯 as expected: Kanye West, Ellen DeGeneres, Tiffany Haddish, Lewis Hamilton, and Melinda Gates... (YouTube)

-- Chloe Melas reports: Sarah Jessica Parker has called out the National Enquirer for a possible story about her marriage. SJP published the tabloid's request for comment on Instagram and called it "untrue, disgraceful nonsense..." (CNN)

-- Paul Farhi's followup piece: "Oddly enough, the National Enquirer looks like it acted honorably" with SJP, by "doing its journalistic due diligence..." (WaPo)

-- Marlow Stern spoke with John Oliver about his (and his wife's) "immigration battle against Trump," and their collaboration with the International Refugee Assistance Project... (The Daily Beast)

Lowry's review of the "Big Bang" finale

Brian Lowry's brand new piece: "'The Big Bang Theory' finale showed off the program's big heart, celebrating the friendship -- quirky as it was -- that has been the backbone of the CBS sitcom over 12 seasons. In that respect, the one-hour finish felt satisfying and appropriate, if somewhat low-key, eschewing huge fireworks that which would have likely felt like something of an overreach, to simply echo what has made the show so popular over the course of its run."

Click here for the full review, including spoilers...

What "Thrones" can learn from past series finales

One more from Lowry: With "The Big Bang Theory" and "Game of Thrones" both ending, I took a look back at what shows can learn from past series finales, and few loose guidelines for producers to follow -- among them, "Closure is better" and "Don't read the comments."

AMC orders a sci-fi romance anthology

I want to watch this anthology already. AMC "has ordered six episodes of a show that mixes science fiction and romance," set 15 years in the future, exploring "what it means when everyone can find their soulmate," THR's Rick Porter wrote Thursday.

The untitled series comes from "Black Mirror" writer Will Bridges and writer/actor Brett Goldstein. It's an expansion of a short film they made in 2013. And it is AMC's "first foray into non-serialized storytelling," David Madden said in a statement...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

By Lisa Respers France:

-- More than half a million people want the final season of "Game of Thrones" remade with new writers. 🤣 🤣 🤣

-- The creator and showrunner for "Riverdale" has explained how the season finale dealt with Luke Perry's character. Perry died in March after suffering a massive stroke.

-- Michael Jackson's sons Prince Michael and Bigi (formerly known as Blanket) have launched a movie review show on YouTube. And here's the show...

There's no need to #FreeBritney, say people close to the singer

Brand new reporting from Chloe Melas: Two sources in Britney Spears' inner circle spoke to CNN to clarify unsubstantiated reporting by other outlets about the singer's health over the past several months. The sources acknowledged that although Spears is not as restricted under her conservatorship as the #FreeBritney movement on social media claims — Spears is having a hard time finding the right dosage of medication for her mental illness. The sources said that Spears will do things like "sleeping in bed all day, not being clear-headed, you tell her something and then she's asking the same question again minutes later. Odd reactions to things." Read on...

-- Programming note: Chloe will be filling in for Melissa Knowles staring on HLN's "MXP" Friday morning...

Lowry reviews "Parabellum"

Brian Lowry emails: "John Wick: Chapter 3 -- Parabellum" has earned mostly positive reviews, but I found the third installment in this Keanu Reeves franchise to be, almost literally, overkill -- starting well enough, but running out of creative ammunition before it's over...

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