Congrats on making it through another crazy week! This is Oliver Darcy, filling in for Brian Stelter on this Friday edition of the Reliable Sources newsletter. I want to hear from you, so do get in touch via email or find me on Twitter. Now, to the news...
Judge dismisses Sandmann lawsuit against WaPo | | This is a very significant ruling in the media law world:
A federal judge in Kentucky on Friday dismissed a $250 million defamation lawsuit filed on behalf of high school student Nicholas Sandmann against WaPo. Sandmann filed the lawsuit after video of his encounter with Native American elder Nathan Phillips at a March for Life rally in Washington, DC, went viral online. Soon after, additional footage provided more context of the incident, but the first video had already touched off accusations of bigotry. Sandmann at the time strongly denied accusations of bigotry, saying he had actually been trying to "defuse the situation" by "remaining motionless and calm."
The judge who oversaw the case, William O. Bertlesman, said in his dismissal, "The Court accepts Sandmann's statement that, when he was standing motionless in the confrontation with Phillips, his intent was to calm the situation and not to impede or block anyone. However, Phillips did not see it that way. He concluded that he was being 'blocked' and not allowed to 'retreat.' He passed these conclusions on to The Post. They may have been erroneous, but as discussed above, they are opinion protected by the First Amendment. And The Post is not liable for publishing these opinions."
>> You can read WaPo's full story on the dismissal here...
WaPo says it's "pleased" with judge's decision
In a statement, a WaPo spokesperson said that the newspaper "From our first story on this incident to our last, we sought to report fairly and accurately the facts that could be established from available evidence, the perspectives of all of the participants, and the comments of the responsible church and school officials. We are pleased that the case has been dismissed."
More to come?
Sandmann's parents told WaPo that they plan to appeal the decision. "I believe fighting for justice for my son and family is of vital national importance," Ted Sandmann told the newspaper. "If what was done to Nicholas is not legally actionable, then no one is safe."
Other suits are pending
Brian Stelter emails: The family's lawsuits against CNN and NBC are still pending. The court may rule in the coming weeks. Multiple media lawyers have remarked to me that the Post was facing the toughest set of facts with regard to Sandmann coverage, so Friday's ruling may bode well for the other news outlets, but lawyers know not to count any chickens until they hatch.
Flashback
Stelter adds: This Daily Beast story is from February, right after the suit against the Post was filed: "Fox News host Sean Hannity confidently declared that attorney Lin Wood is going to 'destroy' big media outlets because the student's lawsuit against The Washington Post is a 'slam dunk.'"
Hannity can go one of two ways now. He can ignore that he was wrong, or he can blast the judge and bemoan the sorry state of the justice system. He's not the only one with this choice. "I seem to remember a lot of MAGA Twitter people claiming that Covington student was going to own the Washington Post by the time his lawsuit was over," Will Sommer tweeted on Friday.
And this gets to a larger point about how lawsuits are covered -- reminding me of something Eriq Gardner said recently. Gardner is THR's all-star legal reporter. "It really bugs me that some journalists do a poor job of following up on stories reporting allegations made in a lawsuit," he wrote, citing a different defamation suit that got lots of press when it was filed, but virtually no attention when it was thrown out.
"Do/should reporters care about fairness? I think so. But I think that needs to extend beyond merely seeking comment when a lawsuit gets filed," he said. These cases deserve, nay, demand followup, so Post readers and Hannity viewers know the outcome...
This Sunday on "Reliable Sources"
Brian will be joined by Susan Glasser, along with Amanda Carpenter, Andrew Marantz, Caitlin Dickerson... plus Carla Minet and Luis Valentin Ortiz of Puerto Rico's Center for Investigative Journalism... Tune in Sunday at 11am ET on CNN...
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- Craigslist founder Craig Newmark has donated $5 million to a project led by former Facebook chief security officer Alex Stamos aimed at combatting "misuses on the platform, such as disinformation and election interference..." (Reuters)
-- CNN has opened its school shootings database, listing 10 years of shootings. CNN editor Sam Petulla has more details... (Twitter)
-- Ashley Feinberg used her internet sleuthing skills to find what appears to be Eric Trump's YouTube playlist... (Slate)
-- Lil Nas X turned down an offer to do an "Old Town Road" collaboration with Mayor Pete Buttigieg at a BuzzFeed event earlier this week as the artist did not want to be perceived as endorsing a candidate... (Daily Beast)
This week in the Information Wars | | | I've been thinking about the Information Wars a lot this week -- particularly after Robert Mueller testified before Congress. After watching the hours of testimony, it seemed apparent to me that Mueller wasn't all that familiar with the current media landscape. In the age of the Information Wars, everything is weaponized for political purposes, and by not understanding that, Mueller allowed his message -- a very important one -- to be hijacked by those who aimed to discredit it. Read my full story here, or hear me out below...
Mueller's testimony: Everything his political opponents could've hoped for
While he didn't provide the Democrats with much more new ammunition to use in their pursuit of impeachment, Mueller offered up plenty of material for Republicans. Video clips of him appearing at times befuddled circulated far and wide on social media. And instead of focusing on Mueller's warning of current Russian interference, or his contradicting the president's assertion that his report exonerated him, Trump's media allies instead spotlighted his demeanor. Mueller fed the right-wing base red meat, allowing his message to be subverted...
A larger flaw
The whole episode was representative of a larger flaw in Mueller's approach as special counsel: As an institutionalist, Mueller seemed to have believed that simply conducting a conventional investigation and issuing a report of its findings would allow truth to win out. He disregarded the importance of public perception, seeming to think that the facts he would gather would be enough to compel action.
Meanwhile, Mueller's opponents disregarded convention, openly running a disinformation campaign against him and his team. They worked to frame the public debate and color the special counsel's office as a group of dirty deep-state operatives acting at the best of the Democratic Party. Remember: though it didn't come from the mainstream right, this was the kind of environment in which there was even a hoax sexual assault claim made against him. Mueller never pushed back against that narrative in a meaningful way -- a mistake on his part.
>> Charlie Warzel's point: "It's all about knowing the ecosystem you are operating in and working inside it as opposed to working on a separate plane of existence. We are all part of a big, pulsing political and media ecosystem. To suggest that you can stand aside just means you are ceding your platform to somebody else to weaponize it and interpret it the way they want."
Mueller v. Gowdy
A comparison that kept coming to mind: Trey Gowdy's approach as the chair of the House Benghazi Committee vs Mueller's approach as special counsel. While the two aren't exactly the same, it's worth taking into consideration how effective Gowdy was at using the media to generate hype. Gowdy, who is well versed in the art of information warfare, effectively drilled the narrative he put forth in his Benghazi report into the public conscience.
In contrast Mueller has stayed mostly silent, ceding the ground to others to define his report. This approach gave bad-faith actors the upper hand. It is not difficult to project an image onto an empty slate.
Susan Glasser's take on the week that was
Were the "optics" of the Mueller hearings worth the media's attention? "Let's be real," Susan Glasser said, "of course it was."
Glasser, the author of The New Yorker's "Letter from Trump's Washington" column, is Brian Stelter's guest on this week's "Reliable Sources" podcast... They talked about Mueller hearing coverage; the impeachment count; and what to do about Trump's distortion field of lies. She asserted that the complaints about "optics" chatter were a "liberal or left-wing or anti-Trump version of 'blame the messenger, blame the reporters.'" See if you agree or disagree! Hear the full conversation via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your preferred podcasting app...
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- Newsday has offered voluntary buyouts to some employees, catching staffers by "surprise"... (NY Post)
-- Fox personality Rachel Campos-Duffy irresponsibly suggested Mueller has "early-stage dementia." Harris Faulkner had to quickly note that none of the panelists at the time were doctors... (Mediaite)
-- "A raft of new research shows that watching junky cable and other lowbrow TV is actually making people dumber — literally lowering their IQs..." (NiemanLab)
-- Disturbing report from The Guardian says Apple contractors "regularly hear confidential medical information, drug deals, and recordings of couples having sex, as part of their job providing quality control..." (The Guardian)
WSJ: Vice Media in talks to acquire Refinery29
Ben Mullins landed a big Friday evening scoop for the WSJ. Citing sources, Mullins reported that Vice Media is in talks to purchase Refinery29. Mullins reported that the talks are "still ongoing" and that "it is possible an offer may not be made."
That said, if a deal is struck, it would "unite two of the largest venture-backed media companies" in the country, Mullins noted, both of which have "struggled to meet investor expectations" and "have trimmed staff to keep costs under control." Stay tuned...
Trump to Fox: Obey
Trump made it clear (again) on Friday that he expects total obedience from his favorite network. In a pair of tweets, which came one night after he gave Sean Hannity a lengthy interview, Trump lashed out at Fox for a poll that showed him trailing Joe Biden by 10 points. Trump said the network was "at it again" and "so different" from the "Proud Warriors" they apparently were in 2016.
The president added there was "NO WAY" he could be behind Biden by double digits. Fox host Julie Banderas called out Trump in a tweet of her own. And Biden's campaign responded, tweeting, "@realDonaldTrump, we know you love the polls. We're glad you saw the latest from Fox: Biden 49%, Trump 39. You're losing by ten. Have a nice day."
>> Of note: Trump's attacks on the Fox poll came only one day after he boasted about a separate part of the Fox poll related to high economic confidence. The headline for Phil Bump's WaPo piece summed it up succinctly: "Sometimes Trump trashes polls. Sometimes he hypes them. Sometimes they're the same poll." The Dobbs effect?
Shortly after lambasting Fox for its poll, Trump trained his eyes on another target: Google and Apple. The president again floated (without evidence) the idea that there "may or may not be National Security concerns with regard to Google and their relationship with China." He promised, "If there is a problem, we will find out about it." Trump then said Apple "will not be given Tariff waiver, or relief," demanding it manufacture its MacBook Pro parts in America.
Our trusty managing editor Alex Koppelman observed, "In what is surely a coincidence, Lou Dobbs slammed Apple re tariff waivers on his show last night. Also a coincidence, surely: Trump's previous tweet was about Google and China and guess what else Dobbs covered last night?" 🤔
Speaking of Trump tweeting from Fox...
The President tweeted on Friday his "full endorsement" of a forthcoming book by Gianno Caldwell. Stelter noted on Twitter, "This is the president praising a 'wonderful new book' that doesn't come out until November, because he heard about it on Fox."
| | -- The Supreme Court "cleared the way for the Trump administration to use $2.5 billion from the Department of Defense to construct parts of a wall along the southwestern border that the government argues is necessary to protect national security..."
-- Big news on the immigration front: "The US signed an asylum agreement Friday afternoon with Guatemala that could limit the ability of some Central American migrants to claim asylum in the US..."
-- Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee said in a court filing that they want Mueller's grand jury material because they need to gather "all the relevant facts" while considering whether to take action -- including impeachment -- against Trump...
-- Related: More than 100 Democrats have now called for an impeachment inquiry into Trump...
-- Trump suggested that investigators should "look into the book deal" Obama made after leaving office... (The Hill)
| | Twitter's ad sales jump 18%
Good news for Twitter: The company's sales business was up 18% -- or $841 million -- between April and June, the company said on Friday. The jump comes as "Twitter said its commitment to delivering people more relevant content, reducing spam and stopping abusive behavior before it happens helped boost sales and engagement on its social media platform over the past three months," David Goldman reported for CNN Business.
>> Excellent point from CNN's Seth Fiegerman: "True: Facebook and Google have tremendous market dominance in online advertising. Also true: Twitter, Snapchat and Amazon earnings show they are growing online ad sales at a healthy rate too..."
DOJ blesses Sprint's merger with T-Mobile
Brian Fung emails: The big news in tech land today is DOJ's approval of Sprint's merger with T-Mobile. Under a settlement with DOJ, Dish Network is set to become America's new fourth wireless carrier, replacing Sprint. But at around 9 million customers, Dish's new provider is also going to be much smaller than Sprint; made up of prepaid, not postpaid, customers; and largely reliant on T-Mobile's network in its early years.
That raises big questions about whether Dish can provide enough competition against T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon. New York AG Letitia James thinks the answer is no — on Friday, she told reporters she plans to keep fighting in court to block the merger in 13 states and the District of Columbia...
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
By Marina Di Marzo:
-- Adam Serwer writes that "the press has adopted Trump's reality-show standards" in the aftermath of Mueller's testimony... (The Atlantic)
-- Susan McKay writes about her friendship with Lyra McKee, who was killed in a shooting during riots in the Northern Irish city of Londonderry... (New Yorker)
Weekend reads
-- WaPo's must-read with a Manila dateline: "Content moderators at YouTube, Facebook and Twitter see the worst of the web — and suffer silently..."
-- "Hollywood's Top Power Players Favor Kamala Harris in Early Campaign Donations," THR's Jeremy Barr reports...
-- Four bylines on this NYT story: "How Jeffrey Epstein Used the Billionaire Behind Victoria's Secret for Wealth and Women..."
-- Michael Barbaro explains why he includes "spontaneous exchanges" with reporters he is interviewing in some episodes of "The Daily." They "allow you to experience Times reporters as real people with quirks, tempers, a sense of humor and, in some cases, a magnificent singing voice..."
-- WaPo's Will E. Young takes you inside Liberty University's "culture of fear" where Jerry Falwell Jr. "silences students and professors who reject his pro-Trump politics..."
Susan Zirinsky's drug
In an interview with Joe Pompeo for this VF story, CBS News prez Susan Zirinsky "denied reports that she regrets taking the job," but she did say this: "It's the toughest job I've ever had. It's not that I worried about people not liking me. It was more, would I make the right decisions? It's a big job in a changing environment. It's daunting, and I'm not gonna tell you it's not still daunting. I use fear as a motivator. It's my drug." Read on...
Remembering John Ferriter
This news came as a shock to many in the TV biz on Friday: "John Ferriter, the longtime William Morris Agency talent agent who later worked at Octagon Entertainment before launching the management and production company The Alternative in 2015, has died, a source told The Hollywood Reporter. He was 59. No details of his death were immediately available."
Ferriter was a force to be reckoned with, particularly in news and unscripted entertainment, representing stars like Piers Morgan, Erin Burnett, Carson Daly, Mario Lopez, Nancy O'Dell, Marie Osmond, Dick Clark, and others at various points over the years. Morgan tweeted Friday that he was "ferociously loyal, kind, charismatic and supremely talented." Read more about Ferriter's life and legacy here and via Deadline's story...
| | Can original movies still sell tickets?
Frank Pallotta emails: The answer to that question is what we're about to find out with Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time In Hollywood," which opens this weekend. The only original film in the domestic top-ten this year is Jordan Peele's horror flick "Us," so "Once Upon a Time," which stars Hollywood heavyweights Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, is hoping to be the second to stand out in a sea of franchises.
It's off to a good start, making $5.8 million on Thursday night. It's expected to bring in roughly $30 million this weekend. Jeff Bock, senior analyst at Exhibitor Relations, told me that it's vital to the film industry for Tarantino's latest to be a hit. "It's important that a film earmarked for adult audiences can still succeed in this blockbuster climate," Bock said. "If Quentin can't open a well-received adult drama, there's not much hope for anyone else."
| | 'Orange is the New Black' final season finds urgency and purpose in ICE plot
Brian Lowry emails: "Orange is the New Black" and "House of Cards" put Netflix on the original programming map in 2013. "Cards" already folded thanks to the controversy surrounding star Kevin Spacey, while "Orange" — having meandered through the past few seasons, after receiving a three-year renewal — comes to its finish with a renewed sense of purpose and urgency, thanks to a timely plot involving ICE and several inmates forced to deal with the immigration system.
Read Lowry's full review here...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
-- Jay-Z has pulled out of the troubled Woodstock 50 festival... (CNN)
-- A judge has allowed Johnny Depp "to move forward in Virginia in his $50 million defamation case" against Amber Heard... (THR)
-- 50 Cent "has revealed that his next series for Starz will be a drama based on the story of drug-trafficking organization Black Mafia Family..." (Deadline)
-- "Kanye West wants to hawk 'church clothes' to the masses. Is he exploiting religion for profit?" (Daily Beast)
Fissures start to form in WGA's ongoing battle against the talent agencies
Lowry emails another: Cracks are forming in the united front of the Writers Guild of America against the major talent agencies, with several high-profile writer-producers -- including Shonda Rhimes and Ryan Murphy -- signing a letter urging the guild to pursue a negotiated settlement. While acknowledging the need to seek reforms of agency practices, the group said that they "believe this present situation is best resolved in a negotiating room and not in a courtroom."
>> As the Los Angeles Times noted, the letter signals "mounting frustration" over the lack of progress in the impasse since writers were told to fire their agents, and is likely to figure in upcoming WGA board elections in September
More "Handmaids"
"Hulu has renewed its dystopian drama "The Handmaid's Tale" for a fourth season," Whitney Friedlander reports. The renewal is a no-brainer for Hulu.... It was announced during the site's presentation at the TCA Press Tour on Friday...
| | | Thank you for reading! Enjoy your weekend, and send me your feedback! Stelter will be back on Sunday... | | | |
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