Forward

A big, brazen lie

I'm really an optimistic person at heart. But right now I find myself agreeing with Politico's Michael Kruse, who tweeted on Thursday, "We're not prepared for how bad stuff's gonna get."

Truly, we are not prepared.

Kruse was linking to Drew Harwell's WaPo story about a pathetic, but persuasive, strain of political disinformation about Nancy Pelosi. Distorted videos of the House Speaker, "altered to make her sound as if she's drunkenly slurring her words, are spreading rapidly across social media," Harwell wrote.

What's going on here is pretty obvious. Pelosi is questioning President Trump's competency -- saying she's concerned about the president's well-being, suggesting an "intervention" is needed -- so Trump's allies are saying the exact same things about her. "She's a mess. She's lost it," Trump said Thursday.

That's what these manipulated videos are all about. There are multiple types -- all meant to reinforce the message that Pelosi, not Trump, is the incompetent one. The primary video that went viral this week "has been slowed down, which makes her words seem slurred," Donie O'Sullivan explained here...

These are dumbfakes, not "deepfakes"

"By my calculation, the altered video has been slowed by almost 75% introducing a significant distortion in her speech," Hany Farid, a professor at UC Berkeley and expert in digital forensics and image analysis, told O'Sullivan. But it wasn't technically a "deepfake" because it was so crude. "It is striking that such a simple manipulation can be so effective and believable, to some," Farid said. "While I think that deep-fake technology poses a real threat, this type of low-tech fake shows that there is a larger threat of misinformation campaigns -- too many of us are willing to believe the worst in people that we disagree with."

Trump promoted this smear...

The theory advanced by the viral video is "Pelosi is unwell." Her camp called it "sexist trash." Then came this variation televised by Fox Business on Thursday evening -- a mash-up of multiple awkward moments from Pelosi's presser, seemingly inspired by the earlier viral video. Her words weren't slowed down, but were spliced together to suggest something was wrong. Fox aired it with the caption "Pelosi urges Trump intervention; stammers through news conference." Lou Dobbs' guest host Gregg Jarrett then asked "What's going on?" Message received... Trump tweeted out the clip with the title "PELOSI STAMMERS THROUGH NEWS CONFERENCE."

So this idea received the presidential stamp of approval... giving his fans an alternative narrative to support... while the big story right now is about Pelosi turning the screws on Trump and Trump denying her claim that he had a "temper tantrum..."

Top tweets

-- WaPo's Glenn Kessler: "It is still shocking a president would share an obviously manipulated video. Yet more evidence she really got under his skin."

-- The Atlantic's Derek Thompson: "I think we may overrate the longterm danger of deep fakes and underrate the ongoing threat of low-tech video edits to viral videos. The former will always be simple fraud, while the latter offers its creators and amplifiers a claim to plausibility."

-- CNN's Amanda Carpenter: "Pelosi is wrong. There was not 'a cover up.' There were MANY cover ups. Coverups of Russian talks. Coverups of seedy, extramarital affairs. Cover ups of Trump's accounting. And, cover ups to hide Trump's attempts to kill queries about any of it."

BIG PICTURE:

Three months, 2.2 billion fake accounts

This is an incredible, shocking reminder about the scale of the misinformation problem: "Facebook took down 2.2 billion fake accounts between January and March, a record high for the company," Kaya Yurieff reported Thursday. "For comparison, Facebook disabled 1.2 billion fake accounts in the previous quarter and 694 million between October and December 2017."

The company says "we've seen a steep increase in the creation of abusive, fake accounts on Facebook in the last six months. We catch most of these accounts within minutes of registration. However, automated attacks have resulted in more of these accounts making it past our initial detection, which increased prevalence." Lots more info here...

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- Headline of the day? Yahoo's Dylan Stableford writing about Rex Tillerson: "Trump declares man he appointed secretary of state 'totally ill prepared and ill equipped' for the job" (Yahoo)

-- Another standout headline: "Trump gets White House witnesses to attest to his 'very calm' demeanor" (WSJ)

-- Thursday evening's unsurprising breaking news: "Trump orders intel agencies to assist Barr with review of Russia probe..." (CNN)

What does Julian Assange's new indictment mean for journalists?

"A new batch of charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has alarmed free speech advocates who say it threatens to criminalize legitimate journalistic practices," Jackie Wattles wrote for CNN Business on Thursday.

The 17 additional charges include "unlawfully obtaining" and disclosing classified information in violation of the federal Espionage Act. "Julian Assange is no journalist," Assistant A.G. John Demers said. US Attorney Zach Terwilliger said Assange is not being charged "simply because he's a publisher." They're trying to say that this is not about the rights of journalists. But First Amendment boosters are not buying it. As professor Jane Kirtley told Wattles: "I don't like government deciding who journalists are or what journalism is."

"This is an extraordinary escalation..."

Here's what press freedom groups and other stakeholders had to say about the latest charges:

-- Ben Wizner, director of the ACLU's speech, privacy, and technology project: "For the first time in the history of our country, the government has brought criminal charges against a publisher for the publication of truthful information. This is an extraordinary escalation of the Trump administration's attacks on journalism, and a direct assault on the First Amendment. It establishes a dangerous precedent that can be used to target all news organizations that hold the government accountable by publishing its secrets. And it is equally dangerous for U.S. journalists who uncover the secrets of other nations."

-- CPJ exec director Joel Simon: "Press freedom in the United States and around the world is imperiled by this prosecution."

-- Bruce Brown, exec director of Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press: "Any government use of the Espionage Act to criminalize the receipt and publication of classified information poses a dire threat to journalists seeking to publish such information in the public interest, irrespective of the Justice Department's assertion that Assange is not a journalist."

-- Seymour Hersh to the NYT: "Today Assange. Tomorrow, perhaps, The New York Times and other media that published so much of the important news and information Assange provided."

-- Eugene Volokh's latest: "Under the government's theory in some of the charges, any reporter who knowingly prints certain kinds of government secrets could equally be prosecuted."

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- CJR has a new report looking back to the DOJ's "sweeping subpoenas" for AP phone records in 2013, finding that their "actions against the AP were broader than previously known, and that the DOJ considered subpoenaing the phone records of other news organizations..." (CJR)

-- "Twitter has permanently banned prominent anti-Trump brothers Brian and Ed Krassenstein, alleging that two of the biggest stars of #Resistance Twitter had broken the site's rules about operating fake accounts and purchasing fake interactions with their accounts..." (Beast)

-- Howard Stern sat down with Anderson Cooper on Thursday... He said he had "inside info" that Trump started running for president as a "publicity stunt..." The full interview will air Friday night on CNN... (CNN)

-- Stern's book debuted at No. 1 on the NYT best seller list this week... (NYT)

BREAKING

Compensation for Weinstein's victims

"Attorneys representing pending civil lawsuits against Harvey Weinstein, his former associates, and the Weinstein Company told a Delaware bankruptcy judge Thursday they've reached a financial settlement to resolve civil litigation stemming from Weinstein's alleged sexual abuse," CNN's Elizabeth Joseph reported Thursday night.

This is a multi-faceted deal... "The financial settlement, to be paid by insurance policies, allocates around $14 million for legal fees for those associated with Harvey Weinstein. The rest, around $30 million, will go to alleged victims, creditors, and former Weinstein Co. employees," a source with direct knowledge of the settlement told Joseph...

What's next

Per Joseph, a judge "will determine whether or not to approve the settlement in a June 4 hearing."

>> Aaron Filler, the attorney for Paz de la Huerta, an actress who claims Weinstein raped her in her apartment on two separate occasions in 2010: "I think this is positive for the victims involved and this helps them avoid the stress and trauma of full litigation. This is a measure of justice."

🎧 Paul Rieckhoff on this week's "Reliable Sources" podcast 🎧

Paul Rieckhoff, founder of the Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America organization and the host of the "Angry Americans" podcast, spoke with me about the Pentagon's lack of press briefings; news coverage of veteran's issues; and Trump's relationship with the military. At the top, we also discussed this week's reports that Fox's Pete Hegseth has been encouraging Trump to pardon accused war criminals. "Don't do this," Rieckhoff told Trump. Listen to our conversation via Apple Podcasts or your app of choice...

Esquire editor quits

Esquire's top editor, Jay Fielden, "said Thursday he is stepping down just three years after assuming the post," Tom Kludt writes.

--> NYPost's Keith Kelly: "Fielden is said to have differed with Troy Young, who officially took over as president in June 2018... Young has been reshaping the top echelon..."

--> Per the NYT, Fielden was also troubled by Hearst's decision not to let Esquire publish "an investigative article on accusations of sexual misconduct against the Hollywood director Bryan Singer..."

Endeavor files to go public

As THR's Matthew Belloni tweeted: "Ari's going public. This has SO many implications for agents, talent, studios, everyone. It's a new game now."

"A media conglomerate that includes a talent agency famously led by Ari Emanuel is going public," Frank Pallotta wrote Thursday. Endeavor, which owns the mixed martial arts league UFC and talent agency William Morris Endeavor, is "filing to raise $100 million, a figure that could change at a later date." Read on...

>> And here is Emanuel's offer letter...

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

By Katie Pellico:

-- Have you noticed lots of (bad) ads on Twitter? Craig Silverman explains Twitter's recent "test" that resulted in an influx of "scammy" promos on the platform... (BuzzFeed News)

-- "Instagram is opening up IGTV to horizontal videos in an effort to lower the barrier for individual video creators, publishers and brands to post to its long-form video platform." Still no ads though... (Digiday)

-- Recode's Peter Kafka interviewed YouTube's chief product officer Neal Mohan, the man tasked with the "impossible job" of "cleaning up" the platform... (Vox)

-- Facebook has a new formula for political ad-buying "designed to eliminate incentives for employees to push a more-is-better strategy with campaigns..." (WSJ)

AP reporters win the Michael Kelly Award

This announcement just hit the wires: "Reporter Maggie Michael, photographer Nariman Ayman El-Mofty, and video journalist Maad al-Zikry are the winners of Atlantic Media's 16th annual Michael Kelly Award for their multifaceted reporting at The Associated Press on the civil war in Yemen. The journalists were awarded a prize of $25,000 tonight at a ceremony in Washington..."

>> Three finalists: Hannah Dreier of ProPublica; Christine Kenneally of BuzzFeed News; and Connor Sheets from Alabama Media Group...

Another round of layoffs at GateHouse Media

Mike Reed, the CEO of GateHouse's parent company New Media Investment Group, "downplayed the cuts in an interview with Business Insider, saying they were 'not material' when considering the scope of the company," Benjamin Goggin wrote on Thursday. Reed also said "we have 11,000 employees, a lot to me is 2,000." 🤦

GateHouse suffered layoffs three months ago, and now it's happening again. Poynter's Tom W. Jones says "the official number is unknown, but it appears to be at least several dozen..." He has details from many of the affected papers here...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- "In Iowa, even a book club is a 2020 campaign stop..." (PBS)

-- ICYMI: Samantha Bee roasted Democrats who choose to go on Fox News on Wednesday's "Full Frontal." She told them "You just look stupid..." (Mediaite)

Kamala Harris "very troubled" by Bryan Carmody raid

Via the SF Chronicle's Tal Kopan, here's what Kamala Harris said on Thursday: "Apparently, they had a search warrant," Harris said. "But the reality is that we've got shield laws for a reason. And especially in this time, where we have these full-on attacks against the press, and leaders calling the press all kinds of names — I'm very troubled by what happened."

Shane Smith holds dinner series about engaging young voters

Vice Media's CEO-turned-exec chairman Shane Smith held a "series of intimate exclusive off-the-record dinners" with lawmakers and political leaders this week, discussing "how best to engage America's emerging young electorate" and "understand millennial voters," per Vice PR. In attendance: Reps. Hakeem Jeffries, Dan Kildee, Seth Moulton and Will Hurd, plus Marc Lotter, René Spellman, Brendan Carr, Liz Johnson, many more...

QUOTE OF THE DAY

NBA commissioner Adam Silver speaking Wednesday night at the Sports Business Awards, accepting for League of the Year, taking a pretty clear shot across the bow at Trump (not by name of course):

"What all of you do truly does matter. I think through sports we have the ability to bring people together, increasingly, people on a global basis together. To frankly do what governments – in many cases – are no longer willing or able to do. We uphold important values like integrity and fair play. Respect, tolerance, and inclusion. That's our industry..."

Avenatti, in retrospect

With Michael Avenatti facing charges in multiple states, WaPo's Erik Wemple went back and examined the reasons for Avenatti's "cable-news ubiquity," which has been intensely criticized by conservative media critics. I played a starring role in this Free Beacon mash-up of TV outlets talking with Avenatti, so Wemple asked me for comment... And here's what I told him:

There are lots and lots of reasons why Avenatti was newsworthy when he was representing Stormy Daniels. Journalists did their jobs and questioned him — some more effectively than others. Critics are doing their jobs and questioning the coverage — and that makes all of us better. But bad faith arguments make us all worse off. Some folks have been distorting my comment last September about Avenatti. My thesis back then, which still holds, is that all future US presidents will be television stars of some sort. TV star power will be a prerequisite for the presidency. [That's why] I told Avenatti "one reason I'm taking you seriously as a contender is because of your presence on cable news."

Obviously I'm not taking him seriously anymore, but I own that comment. He showed a Trump-like mastery of the media last year. I think there's been a lot of introspection in newsrooms about the reasons for that mastery. I think what's most important now is that the cases against him are covered fairly and thoroughly, not soft-pedaled by people who previously interviewed him OR sensationalized by people who dislike him.

MSNBC and Maddow's response

Both MSNBC PR and Rachel Maddow both responded to Wemple's inquiries too... "We appropriately covered a high-profile legal matter," MSNBC said... Read the rest here...

>> In an interview for this week's VF story, Avenatti told Emily Jane Fox that "I flew too close to the sun..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

-- Heads up digital newsrooms... NiemanLab's Christine Schmidt summed up the new Pew study that found "men are overrepresented in the images U.S. news organizations use in news stories posted to Facebook..." (NiemanLab)

-- Read Sara Fischer on "streaming's cancel culture problem..." (Axios)

-- THR's Kate Kilkenny spoke with the self-proclaimed "casual" fan of "GoT," who demanded a rewrite by way of plane banner... (THR)

-- Does ABC have plans to "uncancel" its one-season series, "Whiskey Cavalier"? (E!)

Showtime announces John Walker Lindh docu alongside his release from prison

Coinciding with his release from prison on Thursday, Showtime's documentary unit announced the production of a film about John Walker Lindh, "the so-called 'American Taliban.'" In a press release, director Greg Barker said he hopes the film will "take a step back" and "figure out what really happened."

As reported by CNN's David Shortell, Lindh "will join the small, but growing, group of Americans convicted of terror-related charges attempting to re-enter into society..."

COMING SOON...

Jussie Smollett court records to be made public

Eliott C. McLaughlin and Brad Parks report: "After weeks of wrangling, an Illinois judge Thursday decided to unseal the case file in the Jussie Smollett case... Cook County prosecutors will release the documents in the case by June 3, according to a statement from State's Attorney Kim Foxx... CNN was among numerous media outlets fighting to have the records unsealed."

CA's new film commissioner is...

Brian Lowry emails: Colleen Bell is the new California Film Commissioner, according to THR, which had the scoop on Thursday. Bell's first order of business -- and potential opportunity -- would seem to be potentially luring back some production to the state that has migrated to Georgia, given the pushback against its new abortion law. California enhanced its own tax-incentive program -- trying to keep production in the state -- in 2014...

Galaxy's Edge will keep the magic and profits flowing for Disney

Frank Pallotta emails: The galaxy far, far away can soon be found in Anaheim, California. Disney's Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge opens next week at Disneyland, and it's a big moment for the House of Mouse. It's the largest expansion in Disney parks history, sprawling 14 acres with a reported price tag of $1 billion.

The "Star Wars" franchise is at an inflection point. Disney would very much like Star Wars to live on past the movies that George Lucas envisioned and the Skywalker family he created. Galaxy's Edge can do that by making the fantasy come to life. "We want the place to feel deep, so that your relationship with it can also have that kind of depth," Scott Trowbridge, the Disney Imagineer behind the land, told me.

>> Ahead of the opening June 31, here's Frank's deep dive into how it will impact the company, pop culture and the space saga itself...

A so-so network soap in a streaming wrapper...

Brian Lowry emails: Netflix's "What/If" overtly contains a reverse-gender "Indecent Proposal" plot, with Renee Zellweger as a wealthy investor who sets her sights on a young couple. Other than the actress' showy performance, it's an at-best average network soap, in a streaming wrapper...

More "Live" reproductions coming soon?

Brian Lowry emails: ABC's live, star-studded staging of "All in the Family" and "The Jeffersons" delivered in a big way on Wednesday, averaging 10.4 million viewers, more than doubling its average audience in the time period. While that surely had something to do with the novelty of the stunt -- from Jimmy Kimmel and legendary producer Norman Lear -- with those kind of numbers, odds are the gimmick will be repeated...

FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX

By Lisa Respers France:

-- Rihanna moved to London and didn't tell us...

-- Wrangler is catching heat for a partnership with rapper Lil Nas X.

-- Ayesha Curry doesn't want you body shaming her baby...

-- Kris Jenner has explained the inspiration behind the name "Psalm West..."

LAST BUT NOT LEAST...

National Enquirer theme park to open Friday

Katie Pellico writes: "National Enquirer Live!" opens to the public Friday in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, The Daily Beast's Lloyd Grove reports. An exhibit featuring a computerized scale model of Princess Diana's final moments is just one "attention-getting aspect of the attraction."

--> Backstory: Investors -- who insist the exhibit will be "sensitively handled" and "not a grisly experience" -- "are venturing into the theme-park market at a moment when the National Enquirer's financially-stressed parent company, American Media Inc., has been forced to sell the tabloid." Keep reading...

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