EXEC SUMMARY: Memorial Day weekend is here. Scroll down for recommended reads... Plus updates on Facebook, The Markup, Julian Assange, Adam Levine, and "Jeopardy!"
SF police chief apologizes for raid on journalist's home
The SF Chronicle's Evan Sernoffsky reports: "After two weeks of growing outrage, San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott apologized Friday for raiding a journalist's home and office in a bid to unmask a confidential source, admitting the searches were probably illegal and calling for an independent investigation into the episode."
"I'm sorry that this happened," Scott said in an interview with Sernoffsky. Scott also issued a detailed statement and said there will be multiple reviews of the matter, including a review of "protocols involving members of the news media..."
Reactions from the journo's lawyers
The freelance journalist who was targeted, Bryan Carmody, had no immediate comment on Friday, but his lawyers said they were pleased to read Scott's apology. "We think he owes an apology to Mr. Carmody also," they said. And "there needs to be real reform in the Department to ensure that the SFPD respects the First Amendment and the independence of a free press."
What took so long?
SF Chronicle editor Audrey Cooper (who will join me on Sunday's show) tweeted: "The problem is, you can't put this egg back together. The police have chilled sources with their actions and also know whatever is in this journalist's files. The implications are chilling." She said she respects that city leaders admitted they were wrong, but "you have to question why it took so long."
>> More: "If there is a lesson for the country, it's that press freedoms can be threatened in any city, regardless of how conservative or liberal it is." Here's her full thread...
| | Did it work?
Trump allies and social media agitators wanted to get people talking about Nancy Pelosi's well-being -- thereby diverting attention away from the widespread concerns about Trump's well-being. So they shared distorted videos and claimed that she seemed drunk and generally just poisoned the public well. And... on one level it worked, didn't it?
As the NYT's James Poniewozik tweeted on Friday, "Once the doctored video has spread, you don't have to show it to invoke it. Just talk about her 'tone.' Retweet a merely *edited* video. Your audience already has the illustration in their heads. The work is done..."
A perfect storm of misinfo
Donie O'Sullivan emails: We are in a perfect storm of misinformation. Platforms that are slow to react and have half-baked rules on what is and isn't allowed. A President of the United States, and those around him, who latch on to and spread false information. And a polarized society, members of which are already living in their own online filter bubbles, spurred on by the tech giants, willing to believe anything so long as it fits their narrative. Conspiracy theories about Pelosi's health have been circulating online for months — not dissimilar to those that spread about Hillary Clinton in 2016.
--> Here's the thing: Facebook's policies are full of holes. Many of the policies have been developed reactively. It seems like almost every week now we talk about a new "unprecedented" situation on Facebook: Unprecedented in that the platform's users have come up with a new way to spread misinformation that hasn't been factored into Facebook's rules. FB kicked Alex Jones and other conspiracy theorists off its platform, but the Pelosi video, which FB's fact-checkers say is false, remains up...
Facebook's defense | | FB, to its credit, has been increasingly willing to say yes to interview requests. On Friday the company's head of product policy and counterterrorism Monika Bickert joined CNN's Anderson Cooper to talk about the Pelosi smear. Mediaite's Tamar Auber has a recap here... And the full video is up on CNN.com. Bickert argued that FB has taken action by flagging the distorted video as false and "dramatically" reducing its distribution.
Key exchange: Cooper said "I understand it's a big business to get into of trying to figure out what's true or not, but you're making money by being in the news business. If you can't do it well, shouldn't you just get out of the news business?"
Bickert said "I reject the notion that we're not doing a lot to counter misinformation..." And about Cooper's assertion that "you're in the news business," she said FB is in the "social media business." Watch...
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- Justin Baragona's latest is titled "Out-of-Control Sean Hannity:" "Despite reportedly being told to stop referring to dubious pundits as 'investigative reporters,' the prime-time star has continued to do so. Does anyone at Fox control Hannity?" (Beast)
-- "Beloved mailman Floyd Martin's story went viral online" thanks to the AJC's Jennifer Brett, "and now people are donating to his dream vacation." Here is Brett's follow-up... (AJC)
US v. Assange
"This is unlike anything we've seen before"
The potential impacts of the new charges against Julian Assange are sinking in. "This is unlike anything we've seen before, and it crosses a bright red line for journalists," James Risen told Margaret Sullivan.
"Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, along with Sen. Ron Wyden, who all have been outspoken on civil liberties issues, slammed the indictment," per The Intercept's Akela Lacy.
Marty Baron's argument
WaPo EIC Marty Baron summed up everything in this statement on Friday: "Dating as far back as the Pentagon Papers case and beyond, journalists have been receiving and reporting on information that the government deemed classified. Wrongdoing and abuse of power were exposed. With the new indictment of Julian Assange, the government is advancing a legal argument that places such important work in jeopardy and undermines the very purpose of the First Amendment. The administration has gone from denigrating journalists as 'enemies of the people' to now criminalizing common practices in journalism that have long served the public interest. Meantime, government officials continue to engage in a decades-long practice of overclassifying information, often for reasons that have nothing to do with national security and a lot to do with shielding themselves from the constitutionally protected scrutiny of the press."
"An ominous precedent..." | | Attorney Ted Boutrous, who recently represented CNN and Jim Acosta and is now repping McClatchy, wrote this about the case for The Daily Beast: "It doesn't matter whether you think Assange is a journalist, or whether WikiLeaks is a news organization. The theory that animates the indictment targets the very essence of journalistic activity: the gathering and dissemination of information that the government wants to keep secret. You don't have to like Assange or endorse what he and WikiLeaks have done over the years to recognize that this indictment sets an ominous precedent and threatens basic First Amendment values. Indeed, that is undoubtedly why government prosecutors have selected this case to try to undermine crucial First Amendment principles—they are hoping the unpopularity of Assange will convince the public to look the other way."
WaPo's scoop
"Two prosecutors involved in the case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange argued against the Justice Department's decision to accuse him of violating the Espionage Act because of fear that such charges posed serious risks for First Amendment protections and other concerns, according to people familiar with the matter," Devlin Barrett, Matt Zapotosky and Rachel Weiner reported Friday evening...
On this Sunday's "Reliable"
The aforementioned Ted Boutrous will join me live... Along with CBS News veteran Scott Pelley, author of the new book "Truth Worth Telling," and Olivia Nuzzi, Neera Tanden, David Frum, Audrey Cooper, and Paul Rieckhoff... Join us Sunday at 11 a.m. ET on CNN!
| | Chuck Todd is right
"By the way," Chuck Todd said Friday on MSNBC, "the president just throws out the words 'treason' and 'coup' all the time. And we all have become numb to it. I feel like that's problematic, you know? That we've become this numb..."
Todd went on: "It seems like we've all thrown up our hands. 'Well, that's just how he speaks.' He doesn't even know the definition of treason."
This deserves more attention
"Slowly but surely," WaPo columnist Catherine Rampell writes, "the Trump administration has been chipping away at the independence and integrity of our federal statistical agencies, whose data is critical to keeping our democracy functioning and our economy healthy."
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- One of Friday's most-buzzed-about stories: Kaitlan Collins and Kevin Liptak's look at why aides sometimes dread long flights on Air Force One... (CNN)
-- Josh Dawsey summing up his latest, a co-byline with David Stern: Rudy Giuliani "had a five-hour meeting last week with a Ukrainian who purports to have negative information against Democrats as part of his broader campaign to gather foreign info to help Trump..." (WaPo)
-- Chris Hayes on Bill Barr's newfound power: "The goal of all this here seems pretty clear. It's basically to give Sean Hannity material for his television show." (Mediaite)
Resolution at The Markup?
"Craigslist founder Craig Newmark is looking to bring back Julia Angwin as editor in chief of the Markup, people familiar with the matter said, weeks after her abrupt departure put the launch of the tech-oriented investigation website into question," the WSJ's Suzanne Vranica wrote Friday evening.
The site's executive director Sue Gardner fired Angwin last month. Most of the editorial staff followed Angwin at the door. Now Gardner and Jeff Larson are "no longer with the Markup," Newmark said Friday. "I'm hopeful an announcement about the future of The Markup will be made soon."
None of the other players are commenting... But Vranica said Newmark's team "also has been in talks" with several of the staffers who resigned in protest. Trying to bring them back? Read on...
Podcast with Paul Rieckhoff 🎧
Paul Rieckhoff, founder of the Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America organization and the host of the "Angry Americans" podcast, spoke with me on this week's "Reliable Sources" podcast about the Pentagon's lack of press briefings; news coverage of veteran's issues; and Trump's relationship with the military. Listen to our conversation via Apple Podcasts or your app of choice...
FOR THE LONG WEEKEND...
Recommended reads 👓
-- Cass R. Sunstein says "we need a word for destructive group outrage" -- the online mobs that flare up all too often these days. He suggests repurposing the word "lapidation..."
-- Paul Waldman asks: "How do we avoid another 'But her emails' in 2020?"
-- Timothy Egan calls this the "Comeback of the Century:" Why "the book endures, even in an era of disposable digital culture..."
-- Speaking of books, where is Barack Obama's presidential memoir? Edward Isaac-Dovere has an update: "The writing has been going more slowly than he'd expected, and according to several people who have spoken with him, the 44th president is feeling competitive with his wife..."
-- ICYMI: Amanda FitzSimons' NYT Mag cover story is about "The View," where "politics now makes up about 60 percent of the show's airtime..."
-- Historian Yuval Noah Harari writing about truth and power for this NYT series: "We humans know many more truths than any other animal, but we also believe in much more nonsense. We are both the smartest and the most gullible inhabitants of planet Earth..."
-- Has some of the national news coverage of the Alabama abortion ban sowed confusion in local communities? CJR's Alexandria Neason says yes...
-- Tara Lachapelle's look at a potential combo of CBS-Viacom-Starz: "CBS Is Preparing to Survive in Netflix's World..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- Bernie Sanders press secretary turned CNN commentator turned Joe Biden senior adviser Symone Sanders spoke with Mattie Kahn about her moves. "My politics are not tied specifically to any person..." (Glamour)
-- "The publisher of author Naomi Wolf's book 'Outrages: Sex, Censorship and the Criminalization of Love' has said it is 'discussing corrections' with Wolf but still stands behind the book's thesis after an error was pointed out to her during a live radio interview Wolf did with the BBC..." (TheWrap)
Holzhauer passes $2 million mark
"James Holzhauer just became the second 'Jeopardy!' player to hit the $2 million mark. The reigning champion won his 27th game Friday with $74,400, bringing his overall winnings to $2,065,535," Nicole Chavez reported.
The final "Jeopardy!" answer: "Astronomy buffs visit Idaho for the USA's first dark-sky reserve -- oddly, part of it is this resort area with a bright name." Holzhauer was the only one who asked the right question: "What is Sun Valley?"
>> Ken Jennings' total of $2,520,700 is in Holzhauer's sights...
Colin Quinn on CNN on Monday
CNN is airing a version of Colin Quinn's recent Off-Broadway show, "Red State Blue State," with limited commercials Monday at 9 p.m.
From Brian Steinberg's Variety story: "Could CNN's future offer more laughs? 'This is our first comedy special. We are really eager to see how the audience responds to this format, at which point we will decide about the future,' says Jon Adler, senior director of development for CNN Original Series, who adds: 'I definitely think it's different.'"
| | Seeing "Aladdin" this weekend?
Frank Pallotta writes: "Aladdin" is expected to make $75 million to $85 million at the North American box office over the four-day weekend -- a holiday weekend that used to be one of the biggest on Hollywood's calendar, but has lost some of its luster in recent years. Details here...
Levine leaving "The Voice"
Two weeks ago an NBC promo for "The Voice" said Adam Levine would be returning. And Levine retweeted the ad. But something changed... Carson Daly announced Levine's exit on Friday, and Levine later posted on Instagram and said it's "time to move on."
"Former coach Gwen Stefani will return to take over Levine's chair," Lisa Respers France wrote...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
By Lisa Respers France:
-- See what's streaming this weekend so you don't even have to go out...
-- In an interview with TIME, Nickelodeon actor Michael D. Cohen shared that he transitioned from being a woman to a man nearly twenty years ago...
-- Kylie Jenner talks about the Jordyn Woods scandal in a new promo for her family's E! show...
-- "DWTS" pro Cheryl Burke has married her longtime boyfriend, Matthew Lawrence...
"Taking a little more time to make Sonic just right"
Paramount's live-action adaptation of "Sonic the Hedgehog" was "originally scheduled for release on Nov. 8, but on Friday the studio announced the release had been pushed back," EW's Christian Holub wrote.
"Taking a little more time to make Sonic just right," director Jeff Fowler tweeted. The new date is Feb. 14. Holub explained: "The delay is a response to negative fan feedback on the trailer, which premiered earlier this month. People complained about everything from Sonic's unnervingly human teeth to his resemblance to Mike Myers' much-maligned Cat in the Hat movie..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
-- From CNN Entertainment: 17 summer movies to get excited about...
-- Sandra Gonzalez writes: If you're up for it, it's completely worth rewatching all 15 seasons of "ER..."
-- One more fun read from Gonzalez: How to make your wedding vows "Grey's Anatomy"-good...
LAST BUT NOT LEAST...
Take a look at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge on Disneyland's new guide map
"Disney Parks unveiled a new map on Friday that includes Galaxy's Edge, the immersive Star Wars themed land that opens next week at Disneyland in California," Frank Pallotta reports... Here's the map: | | | Thank you for reading! Send me your feedback anytime. See you Sunday... | | | |
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