EXEC SUMMARY: Happy Friday! This is Oliver Darcy, in for Brian Stelter and ready to guide you through a busy day of media news. Scroll down below for Facebook and YouTube's decision to scrub content mentioning the possible whistleblower, what the fired CBS News employee told Megyn Kelly, and the lawsuits facing G/O Media. But first...
Our poisoned information wells
Reading through the transcript on Friday of the testimony from Fiona Hill, President Trump's former top advisor on Russia, I was struck by her commentary on our current information environment. Hill spoke about the prevalence of internet conspiracy theories from fringe outlets like InfoWars, how some people who consume such content do happen to believe it, and how it was ultimately affecting United States policy.
None of what she said was new, of course. The Information Wars have been heavily covered for the last several years. But Hill's personal experience with the ramifications of misinformation and conspiracy theories (she's been a subject of many herself), in addition to her ability to connect the dots to policy decisions, made her testimony hit home for me.
"A mishmash of conspiracy theories"
During her testimony, Hill was asked about the removal of Marie Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to Ukraine, and why it marked a "turning point" for her. Hill said that it was because the accusations against Yovanovitch -- one being that she gave the fired Ukrainian prosecutor a "do not prosecute" list -- had "no merit whatsoever." In her words, it was "a mishmash of conspiracy theories."
Hill explained that such theories were the norm, noting that she had been the subject of similar ones. "My first year of my tenure at the National Security Council was filled with hateful calls, conspiracy theories," she said. Hill told House investigators that she has received death threats, calls at her home, a report of someone hammering on her door, and been accused of "colluding with all kinds of enemies of the President."
Hill explains how John Solomon's reporting lives in same "universe" as InfoWars
At one point, while discussing the various conspiracy theories from outlets like InfoWars, Hill was told, "I know nothing about Alex Jones or anything like that. I'm simply interested in The Hill reporting." Hill noted, however, that the reporting from John Solomon, the Fox News contributor and former executive at The Hill, was intertwined with the entire right-wing media world.
"It's become part of what's become a very large universe of information and stories that are out there on the internet that is really affecting an awful lot of people's judgments," Hill said. Earlier, talking about how Rudy Giuliani "mentioned George Soros repeatedly," Hill observed, "We're in an environment where people believe an awful lot of things."
Vindman pours cold water on Solomon report
Speaking of Solomon... The transcript of testimony from Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council's top Ukraine expert, was also released on Friday. In it was a noteworthy exchange between him and pro-Trump Congressman Lee Zeldin.
Zeldin repeatedly asked about the veracity of a March article by Solomon in which the fired Ukrainian prosecutor alleged Hill had given him a "do not prosecute" list. Vindman reputedly said "all the key elements" of the story "were false."
But Zeldin appeared to have trouble believing or understanding him. "Just so I understand," Zeldin said, "Are you referring to everything John Solomon stated or just some of it?" Vindman repeated, "All the elements that I just laid out for you. The criticisms of corruption were false."
>> Related story: The Daily Beast published a story Friday which said that, earlier this year, Giuliani sent one of its reporters an unsolicited draft of a Solomon article...
Hill's big fear
As Hill was being questioned during her testimony, she made a comment that really spoke to our current moment. "I'm really worried about these conspiracy theories," Hill said. "And I'm worried that all of you are going to go down a rabbit hole, you know, looking for things that are not going to be at all helpful to the American people or to our future election in 2020."
>> My note: Hill got one thing wrong. We are already deep down that rabbit hole.
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- No. 1 read of the day: "Who Will Betray Trump?," by Tim Alberta, exploring "the delta between what Republicans feel privately and what they say publicly..." (Politico Mag)
-- CNN's Lauren Fox has a revealing look at how the Dems are preparing for next week's public hearings... (CNN)
-- And how are Trump allies preparing? With statements like this from Fox's Jesse Watters: "No one can find Ukraine on a map..." (Mediaite)
-- Over on MSNBC.... Chris Hayes mocked Trump's defense: He wants people to "read a transcript that incriminates him..." (Mediaite)
The internet thought it found the whistleblower's picture. The internet was wrong
CNN's Brian Fung published a must-read story on Friday: "Right-wing social media accounts have been widely sharing two photographs that they claim show the whistleblower at the center of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump and prove that the whistleblower is biased against Trump and hopelessly untrustworthy. In fact, the pictures show nothing of the sort. But that hasn't stopped the images from being shared thousands of times and amplified virally across the conservative media ecosystem." | | The man in the image is R. David Edelman, a former tech policy adviser to Obama. Fung wrote: "Edelman denied he is the whistleblower in an exclusive interview with CNN Business on Thursday. And it would be impossible for him to have been the whistleblower: Edelman left government, he noted, long before the events outlined in the whistleblower's report." But that didn't stop irresponsible people from spreading these smears all across social media...
Twitter leaves misleading images up
Fung reported that Edelman had reported the misleading images identifying him as the whistleblower to Twitter, where they were being widely shared. But the social media company responded saying the images didn't violate its rules...
ON A RELATED NOTE...
Facebook and YouTube say they're scrubbing content mentioning the potential whistleblower's name
Since last week, right-wing media has hyped a report from a website which claimed it had likely identified the possible whistleblower. On Friday, Facebook and YouTube both said they are removing content that mentions the potential name.
"Any mention of the potential whistleblower's name violates our coordinating harm policy, which prohibits content 'outing of witness, informant, or activist,'" a Facebook spokesperson said. "We are removing any and all mentions of the potential whistleblower's name and will revisit this decision should their name be widely published in the media or used by public figures in debate."
Following Facebook's decision, a YouTube spokesperson told me that videos mentioning the potential whistleblower's name would also be removed. The spokesperson said the company would use a combination of machine learning and human review to scrub the content. The removals, the spokesperson added, would affect the titles and descriptions of videos as well as the video's actual content.
Twitter is the odd company out...
While Facebook and YouTube took action, Twitter remained on an island of its own. A Twitter spokesperson told me that simply tweeting the name of the potential whistleblower was not a violation of the company's rules. Given that the other two big social media companies have taken action, it will be interesting to see if Twitter holds firm on this position...
BREAKING:
"Instagram Will Test Hiding 'Likes' in the US Starting Next Week"
"Months after the company tested hiding 'like' counts in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Ireland, Italy, and Brazil, CEO Adam Mosseri announced today at WIRED25 that some US Instagram users can expect their like counts to vanish from public view. The company will begin testing next week, at first rolling out the change to a limited number of accounts," Adrienne So reports. Read on...
--> WIRED EIC Nicholas Thompson tweeted: "Personally, I think this is great. Makes Instagram less like a stressful video game, particularly for kids..."
Fired CBS News employee denies leaking Robach tape in Megyn Kelly interview
| | In her first interview since she parted ways with NBC News, Megyn Kelly spoke to Ashley Bianco, the CBS News employee who was fired for accessing the Amy Robach tape while previously at ABC News. Bianco adamantly denied having leaked the video, saying she only "marked [the video] in the system" for "office gossip."
"I didn't touch it after that," Bianco said in her YouTube interview with Kelly. "It stayed in the system." Bianco said CBS News didn't give her the "professional courtesy to defend myself," and called the whole experience "humiliating" and "devastating." I checked in with CBS News, and a spokesperson declined to comment.
This Sunday on "Reliable Sources"
Bill Moyers, Anthony Scaramucci, Melanie Zanona, Addy Baird, Manu Raju, Jess McIntosh, Tara Dowdell, Max Boot, and "Red State Christians" author Angela Denker will join Brian Stelter... Live at 11am ET on CNN...
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- According to an email sent company-wide Friday morning, if Michael Bloomberg runs for president, a management committee will run his company... (NBC News)
-- NYT's James Poniewozik has a question: "Someone explain to me how airing Trump's rants on the White House lawn--airing them *live*, as opposed to covering them and seeing if he actually makes news--is materially different from airing his rallies live, which networks other than Fox have sworn off..." (Twitter)
-- Susan Glaser and Peter Baker are writing a book about "impeachment and the transformation of Washington..." (Politico)
G/O Media faces two lawsuits from former execs, alleging discrimination
Kerry Flynn emails: More bad news for Jim Spanfeller: Two former executives are suing G/O Media, alleging discrimination and negligence. The first lawsuit came from Michael McAvoy, former president and CEO of The Onion, who was fired in July. The second is from Nadine Jarrard, former vp of West Coast sales. Both allege wrongful termination and discrimination.
GMG Union tweeted, "We, the GMG Union, are unsurprised to learn of allegations in two lawsuits that our CEO, Jim Spanfeller, created a hostile environment for women at G/O Media. As employees of this company, we have seen and been subjected to his erratic, inappropriate management style since the very beginning."
>> G/O's response: A company spokesperson said the lawsuits are "baseless."
"Your local journalists aren't the enemy"
| | A reporter for WBTV News in Charlotte, North Carolina, posted a video on Friday showing her being "verbally and then physically attacked" while getting b-roll footage of the street. The reporter, Paige Pauroso, said she "tried to diffuse the situation by deleting the clips she might have been in," but said that didn't do it. "What first started as hateful language towards me turned into a physical attack, after I thought she had already left."
"Two reminders in this post," she wrote in her tweet. "For other journalists, be careful. For people outside of the industry, your local journalists aren't the enemy, we're your neighbors. We all call the same place home and work towards the same goals; to make our community a better place."
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- ICYMI (like I did): Twitter will deploy some tests meant at tackling "the dunk and ratio..." (BuzzFeed News)
-- "Despite what conservative media say, liberals are not trying to 'cancel' Thanksgiving..." (Media Matters)
-- Kerry Flynn emails: A 17-year-old was blogging for Sports Illustrated until the owners found out his age. Sam Ouhaj started writing for the site Sept. 28, just days before TheMaven laid off more than 40 employees. He didn't fill out a contract or tax form and wasn't paid... (NYDN)
"Hardball" celebrates 20 years
The 20-year anniversary special of "Hardball" aired Friday night on MSNBC. Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski joined Chris Matthews and took a look back on some of his interviews over the years... Steve Kornacki broke down some numbers on the show, from the number of presidents Matthews has interviewed to the amount of times "SNL" has impersonated him...
And Matthews closed out the show by offering his "deepest thanks" to his viewers. "This is an important chair," Mathews said, adding that it is an "honor to sit in it each night."
WEEKEND PLANNER
-- "Doctor Sleep," "Last Christmas," "Midway" and "Playing with Fire" are all new in theaters...
-- Trump "is set to attend a major college football game between the University of Alabama and Louisiana State University on Saturday, marking his third time attending a major sporting event in two weeks..."
-- "Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration" airs Saturday at 7pm on HBO... (This is a big one for the Stelter family, I hear!)
-- Maria Ressa is on "60 Minutes" this Sunday... | |
Thirty years ago...
"Thirty years ago this weekend, the Berlin Wall fell -- and the world changed," John Avlon writes. But now, "looking back, the gap between the hopes of 1989 and the facts of 2019 is stark. We've gone from tearing down walls to building them -- from autocrats being on the run, to autocrats on the rise. With technological surveillance states secured by fear and greed, democracy itself seems in retreat." Read his full column here...
UK inquiry was warned of Russian infiltration, leaked testimony shows
Donie O'Sullivan emails: This is a hugely significant story from our CNN colleague Nina Dos Santos in London, ahead of the British general election — how a UK inquiry was warned of Russian infiltration in Britain. The reporting is based on leaked testimony that was used to inform a report that the UK government has been criticized for not releasing ahead of the election...
🎙️ Dave Jorgenson on this week's "Reliable Sources" podcast
Brian Stelter emails: Since he launched the Washington Post's TikTok account in May, video producer Dave Jorgenson has created over 120 videos that show how the D.C. newsroom ticks with humor. On this week's "Reliable" podcast, I asked him about what the Post gains from TikTok; whether other news outlets should be using it; and how his videos have built trust and familiarity with the Post's reporters.
We also discussed Jorgenson's daily production process, reactions from staffers, and attempts by presidential candidates to participate in meme-making. This was the moment Jorgenson convinced me to download the app 👇 | | 🎧 Listen to the full podcast via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or your pod player of choice -- or read the recap from Katie Pellico...
Recommended reads for the weekend 👓
By Katie Pellico:
-- LA Times TV critic Lorraine Ali explains how "The View" "might be American television's closest approximation of the 'kitchen table' of stump-speech fame, where we sit, sip and squabble over politics..."
-- Cristina Tardáguila writes for Poynter about how, "against all odds, a generation of young fact-checkers is flourishing" in Venezuela...
-- The forthcoming film "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood," starring Tom Hanks, recounts Fred Rogers' real-life friendship with journalist Tom Junod. Junod reflects on Rogers' "Enduring Wisdom" for The Atlantic, writing that he has "never been more revered -- or more misunderstood..."
-- "Managerial edicts are easy. Blogs are hard." Vice's Anna Merlan looks at Deadspin after the exodus of writers left executives to fill the void...
-- Relatedly: Phillip Maciak, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis, writes about his "staggering" discovery that "so many of the writers I assigned had written for publications that had since been shuttered or hollowed out," in a piece titled, "The good internet is history..."
-- "In a time of vanishing archives," Tiffany Stevens speaks with reporters whose work disappeared, was "cannibalized," or was "rendered unrecognizable..."
-- Vox's Sean Illing unpacks the alt-right's infatuation with ancient Greek and Roman culture, and their attempts to "turn a phrase like 'Western civilization' into code for 'white culture...'"
-- Saturday marks 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Air Mail dropped the paywall on this piece by Henry Porter, who vividly relays his experience of that pivotal night...
-- As "Parasite" enjoys "awards-season love," THR's Patrick Brzeski profiles the "vibrant new generation" of South Korean auteurs "ready to emerge from the shadow of established masters..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
By Katie Pellico:
-- Covering Climate Now led hundreds of newsrooms in committed climate coverage in September. CJR and The Nation, the outlets that spearheaded the initiative, said the goal now "is to make the climate story a routine part of daily news coverage, rather than a subject addressed only on special occasions..." (CJR)
-- Progressive media watchdog Media Matters found only "3% of broadcast TV news segments on the California wildfires connected them to climate change..." (Media Matters)
| | ABC announces end of "Fresh Off the Boat"
Brian Lowry emails: ABC announced that the sitcom "Fresh Off the Boat" will end this season, which is more notable after star Constance Wu publicly expressed her disappointment when the show got picked up in May, citing its interference with another project.
>> More: "It's the end of an era," CNN's Leah Asmelash notes, since "Boat" was "one of the only shows prominently featuring an Asian-American family, and was heralded during its debut in 2015 for being one of the first to bring a long under-represented group to Hollywood's small screen..."
| | FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
-- "The Morning Show" showrunner Kerry Ehrin talks to THR about how she approached portraying the systemic issues highlighted by the #MeToo movement. "It's an onion we unpeel that has many layers..." (THR)
-- Kourtney Kardashian is "not saying goodbye," but taking a backseat from "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," she told ET, to "spend more time as a mom and put more of my energy there..." (ET)
| | "The Mandalorian" powers Disney's launch into streaming
Brian Lowry emails: Disney+ has ordered a number of high-profile new series, but its opening salvo for the service, which launches on Nov. 12, is surprisingly low-key other than "The Mandalorian," the first "Star Wars" live-action series.
That show hasn't been made available for critics, but based on the rest of the lineup, it's "Star Wars" and the seven dwarfs, with series that could easily be the third or fourth best on the Disney Channel, Freeform or ABC. As for Disney's explanation of why "The Mandalorian" hasn't been previewed -- a fear of spoilers -- that's simply nonsense based on all the other spoiler-sensitive fare that somehow finds its way to reviewers. Read on...
| | | Thanks for reading! Send me your feedback via email and/or connect with me on Twitter. Stelter will be back on Sunday. I'll see you again sometime next week... | | | |
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