EXEC SUMMARY: Happy Friday. Here's the latest on Splinter's sudden end, Drew Barrymore's talk show deal, James Murdoch's next investment, and what Daniel Dale calls "up-is-down deception..."
Trump's roll call
President Trump began his day with a complaint that Fox News "doesn't deliver for US anymore." Via Twitter, he criticized Andrew Napolitano, Shep Smith, and Donna Brazile. He said the network "is so different than it used to be." And he added, "Oh well, I'm President!"
Fox declined to comment on Trump's latest jabs. Maybe the network was banking on that old aphorism, "If you don't like the weather, just wait a few minutes." Because on Thursday night, during a rally in Minneapolis, Trump praised his Fox friends in detail. | | He started with the morning show: "Ainsley and Steve and, by the way, Brian's gotten a lot better. He was a 7, he's getting close to a 10 territory." Then he brought up Pete Hegseth and Jesse Watters. Folks in the crowd shouted Tucker Carlson's name. "Tucker's been very good," Trump said. Then: "The legendary Sean Hannity!" He praised Hannity's ratings. Then it was Fox Business Network's turn. He gave Maria Bartiromo a shoutout. And "the great Lou Dobbs."
"And many more!" he said. I think he was worried about forgetting someone. "How about Greg?" he said, talking about Greg Gutfeld of "The Five" on Fox News. "Greg used to hate me, now he's good!" He mentioned one more host: "I would be in such trouble if I forget Judge Jeanine!"
Remember what prompted his complaint...
Trump's Thursday morning gripe grew out of Fox's polling showing a majority of the American people support impeachment. "From the day I announced I was running for President, I have NEVER had a good @FoxNews Poll," Trump tweeted, even though he used to promote Fox's poll. "Whoever their Pollster is, they suck," he said, even though the head of Fox's polling unit is widely respected in the industry. "But @FoxNews is also much different than it used to be in the good old days," he added.
This contrast -- Trump complaining about Fox's polling unit in the morning and praising the opinion hosts in the evening -- says it all...
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- The lead story on Page One of Friday's NYT: "2 Who Helped Giuliani Go After Trump Rivals Are Arrested by F.B.I." (NYT)
-- Kevin Liptak and Kaitlan Collins' explainer: "Trump says he 'doesn't know' Giuliani's Ukrainian associates. Here's what we do know..." (CNN)
-- The big picture from David A. Graham: "The story keeps getting worse for the White House..." (The Atlantic)
-- Ryan Broderick: "To understand why Trump is so obsessed with Ukraine, you have to understand the nonsense Rudy Giuliani reads on the internet..." (BuzzFeed News)
"Up-is-down deception"
CNN's Daniel Dale reports: "The president told reporters today that "we have no soldiers in Syria." The US has 1,000 soldiers in Syria. This is extreme, up-is-down deception. It'll get very little coverage." Here's his full fact-check...
Sad scenes at the Trump rally
Yahoo's Hunter Walker tweeted about a father who walked toward the press pen with his child: "This guy is teaching his young son how to boo the press. 'Boo ... bad media ... thumbs down,' he said."
AND SPEAKING OF FATHERS AND SONS...
Will this abhorrent chant at Trump's rally even get attention on Friday morning?
On the same day Giuliani's associates were indicted, Eric Trump talked about Biden and said "maybe 'Lock her up' goes to 'Lock him up.' I don't know." Soon the crowd chanted: "Lock him up."
--> Erick Erickson tweeted: "We're all properly denouncing the NBA kowtowing to China, meanwhile the son of the sitting President is leading a crowd in a chant of 'lock him up' about his father's political rival's son. There's something third world and kleptocratic about that." Yes...
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- James Fallows' tweet during the rally: "The father of Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka, and Eric, and father-in-law of Jared Kushner, is on extended ridicule-rant about under-qualified kids of politicians using family name for profit. Trump himself can't register what's wrong here. The 53 GOP Senators know. (Or most of them.)" (Twitter)
-- A timely headline from Noah Bierman and Chris Megerian: "Trump's children take in millions overseas as president slams Biden's son..." (LA Times)
-- The AP's Nicholas Riccardi writes: "A simple yes-or-no question keeps tripping up Senate Republicans: Should the president ask foreign countries to investigate political rivals?" (AP)
-- WaPo's two most-read stories right now: "Senior adviser to Pompeo resigns" followed by "At least four national security officials raised alarms about Ukraine policy before and after Trump call with Ukrainian president..." (WaPo)
Murdoch and Barr's meeting...
"Attorney General William P. Barr met privately Wednesday evening with Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul who is one of President Trump's frequent confidants but whose Fox News is viewed by the president as more hostile toward him than it used to be," the NYT's Maggie Haberman and Katie Benner scooped. "The meeting was held at Mr. Murdoch's home in New York, according to someone familiar with it. It was unclear if anyone else attended or what was discussed." And no one is sharing details...
>> Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti tweeted: "Why is the Attorney General of the United States meeting with the owner of a television news network?"
Hey, how about a Rudy book?
Matt Latimer, the Javelin partner and literary agent, tweeted out on Thursday night: "I think there could be a fascinating book about what happened to Rudy Giuliani. Truly one of the most bizarre stories of a bizarre era. Anybody game?" I'm sure some proposals are in the works...
SPEAKING OF JAVELIN...
John Bolton is writing a book
Axios' Jonathan Swan reports that John Bolton, "paired with" Javelin's Latimer and Keith Urbahn, is working on a book about his time as Trump's national security adviser. Because Bolton "wrote a book about his tenure in the George W. Bush administration," Swan notes, "from the moment he left the White House, senior officials privately expressed concerns about what Bolton might say and reveal about his time serving Trump..."
FRIDAY PLANNER
Former ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch is slated to testify in a deposition in the House's impeachment probe...
Trump is scheduled to meet with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He. He teased the meeting in true "Apprentice" fashion: "They want to make a deal, but do I?"
The New Yorker Festival kicks off on Friday... Participants include Nancy Pelosi, Pete Buttigieg, Julián and Joaquin Castro, Sarah Paulson, Paul Rudd, Kenan Thompson, Billy Porter, Sarah Silverman, Hasan Minhaj, Terry Gross, dozens more...
"NBCU Cable Networks Refuse to Air Trump Campaign Ad Aimed at Joe Biden"
"NBCUniversal won't continue to air a Trump re-election campaign ad on any of its cable networks unless changes are made to the spot," the WSJ reported Thursday. CNN rejected the ad last week, citing clear falsehoods.
The Biden campaign's response: "We're heartened that NBCU has joined CNN in not airing the Trump campaign's objectively false and misleading ad. This country deserves an elevated political discourse that repudiates lies and disavows conspiracy theories -- no matter their origin -- and we sincerely appreciate CNN and NBCU's commitment to prioritize the public interest over short term profit. Unfortunately, Facebook, Twitter and Google have chosen a different course, electing not just to allow Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani access to their platforms, but to profit from proven lies they have been paid large sums to amplify. We urge all three companies to reconsider their position, and join those organizations who have honorably chosen truth over lies."
--> Donie O'Sullivan's analysis: This debate over FB's handling of Trump's false ads "encapsulates the awkward moral, social and civil questions that have dogged the company since 2016..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- Charlie Warzel's latest: "Just as television favored a new brand of well-coiffed, charismatic and dynamic political figures, Facebook offers a disproportionate advantage to those most likely to stoke negative emotions." His point: FB will affect the 2020 election whether it tries to "tip the scales" or not... (NYT)
-- CNN's Equality in America town hall with nine Dem presidential candidates just wrapped up in L.A. As Anderson Cooper said before introducing Pete Buttigieg, "Until recently, I mean, just think about it, an event like this -- it would have been unthinkable..." (Video via Twitter)
-- If you missed the town hall, get caught up via CNN's live updates page here... (CNN)
-- CNN anchor Christina Macfarlane's question to Houston Rockets players about the NBA's ongoing standoff with China was "quickly shut down" on Thursday. After the incident went viral, the NBA issued a statement and apology to Macfarlane... (CNN) | |
"CATCH AND KILL" UPDATES
The book is now No. 1 on Amazon's best seller list...
NBC News staffers grilled Noah Oppenheim in "contentious" meeting
Oliver Darcy emails: Noah Oppenheim was grilled Thursday during a news division-wide editorial meeting which grew "contentious" and "heated" at times... NBC News staffers questioned the network's handling of the rape allegation against Matt Lauer... Oppenheim addressed the Lauer situation for about 20 minutes and welcomed Q's from staffers. One source described it as "the most contentious exchange I have ever seen between staff and management." Another said, more bluntly, "It was heated." Read my full story here...
"Did you know what Brooke was alleging was criminal in nature?"
Darcy continues: At one point, according to a partial transcript I obtained of the meeting, Oppenheim was asked whether he knew the accusation from Brooke Nevils was rape. "Noah, did you know what Brooke was alleging was criminal in nature?" an employee asked. When Lauer was fired, the company said an employee had accused him of "inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace."
Oppenheim said he did "appreciate" the Q, adding, "Our first obligation when someone brings forward a complaint is to protect that person's confidentiality." Oppenheim said the phrase at the time was chosen because it was how her attorney characterized it then...
Nevils' response to Lauer
Nevils challenged Lauer's open letter by saying, in a statement of her own, that Lauer published "a case study in victim blaming." She wrote, "As his open letter clearly reveals, there may be more than one Matt Lauer. There's the Matt Lauer that millions of Americans watched on TV every morning for two decades, and there is the Matt Lauer who this morning attempted to bully a former colleague into silence." Here's the rest of what she said. Lauer's rep declined to comment...
Paparazzi outside Nevils' home
Page Six says she "stepped out in public..." I'd suggest she was just going on and living her life... One of the photos showed Nevils kissing her fiance, so she tweeted this: | | The mystery
For two years, it's been a network news mystery: Why did NBC table Farrow's investigation into Harvey Weinstein in 2017? Why did the network let him walk it over to The New Yorker instead of airing it on TV? "Catch and Kill" includes an incredible amount of detail about this. Here's my equally detailed story.
The dispute: NBC executives say Farrow simply didn't have any on-the-record, on-camera reporting to broadcast. The executives say they supported Farrow for months, but his draft script wasn't up to NBC standards, and they didn't want to stand in his way when he saw an opportunity to get the story published in print. But Farrow doesn't buy it. Neither does his former producer Rich McHugh...
The suspicion: In the book, Farrow suggests that the network's own secrets — about Matt Lauer and others — weighed on the network's judgments. He doesn't seem to have any proof of an explicit deal between Weinstein and NBC management, but he has many reasons to be suspicious. He says Weinstein claimed to have a deal with NBC. The network denies this. And he says the "precarious culture of secrecy made NBC more vulnerable to Harvey Weinstein's intimidation and enticement..."
The bottom line: In a new interview with WaPo's Paul Farhi, Farrow calls it a "corporate coverup." NBC News chairman Andy Lack says Farrow is painting a "fundamentally untrue picture." Read on...
What's next
Farrow will be on "GMA" Friday for his first TV interview about his book...
🔌: I'll be on CNN's "New Day" afterward in the 8am hour...
| | The end of Splinter
Kerry Flynn writes: G/O Media announced Thursday that Splinter, the news and opinion site formerly known as Fusion, is shutting down. The company laid off the site's seven staffers. It's the latest change in the sad saga of former Gawker sites under new management. An unfortunate blow: The subject line of the email announcing the layoffs to editorial staffers read, "Spllinter" (two Ls). More in my story...
Splinter's EIC Aleksander Chan tweeted, "It has been my greatest honor to have been the editor of this site and I will love this staff to my dying breath. Thank you to all of our readers, fans, and haters—it's been a thrill. Further details TK. Splinter forever." Read the full story...
-- Making matters even worse: "The editorial director of G/O Media told top editors not to publish anything about the news and opinion site being shut down," HuffPost's David Jamieson reports...
James Murdoch injects $$$ into Vice
Kerry Flynn writes: It's a plot of HBO's "Succession" come to life. James Murdoch's holding company Lupa Systems recently bought a minority stake in Vice, the FT reported Thursday. As a recent Vice piece about "Succession" reads, James Murdoch is "Rupert's liberal-ish Cool Son who funded Rawkus Records in the 1990s and helped launch the careers of Mos Def and Talib Kweli..."
>> FT's Anna Nicolaou tweeted, "Murdoch's investment happened in tandem with Vice's acquisition of Refinery29, valuing the combined group at $4 billion..."
>> The Information's Jessica Toonkel: "Now the question everyone is asking is whether someone will decide to come in and buy a majority stake or all of Vice..."
Three new podcasts from Vice and Spotify
Vice News and Spotify announced they will be launching three original podcast series. A 12-part series on the Iowa caucuses, "Uncommitted: Iowa 2020," launches November 12. An 8-part series on the opioid crisis will be released in 2020. The third will be about global politics and launch late 2020. The two orgs collaborated on podcasts in 2018 with "Chapo: Kingpin on Trial..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
-- The Atlantic's Alex Hardiman is returning to the NYT... She will be the new head of product... (Axios)
-- Karl Vick is out with a new profile of A.G. Sulzberger. He says "Sulzberger embodies every sort of generational change" at the NYT... (TIME)
-- Medium's Sarah Emerson spoke with Twitter users featured in the company's latest branding campaign... (Medium)
-- Digiday's Max Willens analyzes how publishers have invested more in paid ads on Facebook and other platforms to drive subscriptions... (Digiday)
Bezos "ready to fight back" against regulation
Katie Pellico writes: Two long reads came down Thursday that deep dive into Amazon's (fascinating, if troubling) ethos and company practices: Franklin Foer unveils "Jeff Bezos's Master Plan" in The Atlantic, while The New Yorker's Charles Duhigg asks, "Is Amazon unstoppable?"
>> Both pieces, citing interviews with former employees and executives, describe the growing efforts to investigate Bezos's unchecked power. For Foer, these efforts aren't enough. He warns of the "incapacity of the political system to ponder the problem of his power, let alone check it." Read on...
>> Duhigg describes unease among Amazon staffers who, amid critiques of and inquiries into the company, fear they are "suddenly on the firing line." He writes, "Amazon now has such a severe image problem that it can no longer count on being able to do whatever it pleases." While execs say "there are some limited concessions Bezos is willing to make," Duhigg writes that few of them "believed that regulators would compel them" to make major changes. Keep reading...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
-- "Dozens of Amazon workers based in India and Romania review select clips captured by Cloud Cam," insiders tell Bloomberg... (Bloomberg)
-- Media experts on a "Brexit and the Media" panel Thursday said British journalists aren't doing enough to challenge anonymous government sources, making for a "constant hot air cycle..." (PressGazette)
-- NiemanLab's Laura Hazard Owen shouted out CNN for "trying to put its breaking news in context," from "live blogs to time capsules..." (NiemanLab)
-- The Silurians Press Club will award its Lifetime Achievement Award to Steve Kroft at a gala dinner next Wednesday... (Silurians)
Chastain, Lewinsky and Lizzo team up
Marianne Garvey emails: Jessica Chastain, Monica Lewinsky, and Lizzo have teamed up to narrate "The New Colossus," the poem that sits at the base of the Statue of Liberty. A video of their narration also features RuPaul, Whoopi Goldberg, Cyndi Lauper, Wayne Brady, Regina Spektor, Charo, Big Freedia and Courtney Love -- they are all included in a teaser for the new documentary "Liberty: Mother of Exiles," which follows fashion icon and immigrant Diane Von Furstenberg as she explores the origins of the Statue of Liberty.
>> The doc comes in response to Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, who suggested in an August interview that the famous Emma Lazarus poem should be changed from "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" to "Give me your tired, your poor, who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge..."
Cuba Gooding Jr. hit with new charge in groping case
Marianne Garvey emails: Cuba Gooding Jr. is facing an additional, undisclosed charge in a New York sex abuse case. At a hearing on Thursday, the Manhattan District Attorney's office did not reveal the exact nature of the charge or if it's tied to the same accuser. It will likely be unsealed on Oct. 15 when he is due to be arraigned in the new charge...
| | CBS looking to launch Drew Barrymore talk show next fall
"Drew Barrymore is officially going to be a daytime talk show host," Variety's Will Thorne reports. "The actress is set to headline a syndicated talk show for CBS Television Distribution, which is aiming at a fall 2020 launch."
CBS exec Steve LoCascio: "Drew is a huge star and a breath of fresh air — her show will energize any station's lineup." CNN's Sandra Gonzalez has more here...
FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX
By Lisa Respers France:
-- Aaron Paul's "Breaking Bad" recap is all the binge you need before the movie starts streaming on Netflix Friday...
-- Demi Moore really regretted not getting the "Top Gun" role of Charlie...
-- Mindy Kaling has accused the TV academy of trying to discredit her "Office" work...
Alfonso Cuarón sets TV deal at Apple
Frank Pallotta writes: The man who brought "Roma" to Netflix has signed a deal with Apple. Alfonso Cuarón, who won the best director Oscar for "Roma" last year, has signed a multi-year overall TV deal with Apple, according to Variety. The deal will have Cuaron develop projects exclusively for Apple TV+...
Chuck Lorre's comedy about Afghan war vets
"Chuck Lorre has another comedy in the works at CBS. The network has given a pilot-production commitment to 'The United States of Al,' a multicamera comedy about the friendship between a Marine combat veteran and his unit's Afghan interpreter, who's newly arrived in America," THR's Rick Porter writes...
"Parasite" premieres Friday
Brian Lowry emails: "Parasite" premieres Friday, with a raft of enthusiastic reviews and having won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The response has spurred speculation as to whether director Bong Joon Ho's film — which will represent South Korea in the international Oscar competition — can break out and earn a best picture bid. Frankly, I liked the movie but think it's been a trifle overpraised, clearly a minority opinion, based on its gaudy 93 average on Metacritic. At the very least, it should secure a spot in the best-director race, which Mexican filmmakers have largely dominated in recent years...
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