EXEC SUMMARY: Hey there, this is Oliver Darcy, filling in for Brian Stelter. Scroll down for info on a Facebook exec's leaked memo, dueling Super Bowl ads from Bloomberg and Trump, WHCA's statement, the BAFTA Film Awards nominees, and more. But first to the developing situation with Iran...
The Fox factor
When George W. Bush prepared to send troops into Iraq, there weren't a lot of questions about what TV networks or talk radio hosts were influencing his decisions. When Barack Obama contemplated military action in Libya, Syria, and other countries, there weren't constant stories about what MSNBC hosts were advising him to do.
But as the US and Iran exchange military blows against each other in Iraq, it's not only possible, but perhaps likely, that what President Trump sees on Fox News is shaping his views and guiding his decisions. Before signing off for the night, Brian Stelter actually texted me, "I just set my alarm clock for 5am ET because 'Fox & Friends,' the president's daily televised briefing, is starting an hour earlier than usual on Wednesday."
The situation is further compounded, of course, by the fact that the White House press secretary has stopped holding formal press briefings. Instead, to get a sense of what the President might be thinking, Americans are left with watching Sean Hannity's show.
On Tuesday night, Lindsey Graham and Kevin McCarthy both appeared on his Fox show, touting that they had spoken to Trump earlier. Graham said Iran's fate was in its hands, warning, "You continue this crap you're going to wake up one day out of the oil business." And McCarthy praised Trump's judgement, telling Hannity, "He'll access the damage and he'll respond accordingly."
Meanwhile, Hannity himself continued to talk about potentially striking three of Iran's oil refineries, something he also mentioned Monday night. (Is someone briefing him?) He added, "[Iran's] hostility will now be met with the full force of the greatest, most advanced, most sophisticated military this world has ever seen."
As NY Mag's Olivia Nuzzi noted on Twitter, "It is actually insane that the American people have to tune into a partisan cable news channel to get anything close to a briefing on the president's thinking as the nation fumbles toward a war with Iran." THR's Jeremy Barr bluntly stated it like this: "As usual, gotta watch Hannity to find out about war."
The voice absent from Hannity's show
Geraldo Rivera tweeted Tuesday evening, saying he would be appearing on Hannity's show urging Trump to show "restraint." But soon after, Rivera followed up with another tweet: "Never mind Hannity just canceled me." Instead, Hannity stacked his line up with voices like Oliver North, Pete Hegseth, and Dan Bongino...
Trump to issue statement Wednesday morning
Trump didn't deliver a televised-address to the nation on Tuesday (more on that later). Instead, the President chose to communicate through Twitter: "All is well! Missiles launched from Iran at two military bases located in Iraq. Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now. So far, so good! We have the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far! I will be making a statement tomorrow morning."
As CNN reported, Iraqi security officials said there were NO causalities at Iraqi bases following the attacks on the al-Asad airbase in Anbar province and the attacks in Erbil. Moreover, a US military official and senior administration official told CNN that the initial assessment is that the Iranian missiles hit areas of the al-Asad base not populated by Americans.
There was some speculation that Iran perhaps didn't intend to inflict maximum damage, instead choosing to save face by launching the missiles, but not causing the greatest harm against US interests it could have. "Iran has pretty good missile targeting, so they probably deliberately hit empty ground," tweeted Nicholas Kristof.
>> Maggie Haberman tweeted: "Some around POTUS think he is looking for an off-ramp." Jim Acosta also said on CNN, "I think he's trying to turn down the temperature that he, frankly, cranked all the way up."
Grisham's priority? Attacking CNN
While the situation with Iran was developing, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham apparently thought the best use of her time was too attack CNN. As Jeremy Barr put it, "As Iranian missiles fly toward U.S. service members, it's important to remember the real enemy: CNN."
CNN cited multiple sources Tuesday evening to report that Trump was making preparations for an Oval Office address, though the specific timing was unclear and could be delayed. Fox News' Bret Baier also reported that the White House was "making preparations." As did WaPo's Josh Dawsey.
But Grisham chose to attack CNN. "This is not true - was never true - & no one even attempted to confirm with the press office before tweeting," Grisham tweeted. "In a race to be first to break news, the public once again falls victim to irresponsible 'reporting' by @CNN @jeffzeleny @kaitlancollins."
CNN's communications team responded forcefully, "The most shocking thing about this statement is that the @presssec is completely out of the loop in her own shop. CNN's reporting that preparations were being made for an address was 100 percent accurate, and was confirmed with multiple WH officials. Nice try."
Thursday front pages
| | "Chaotic and mistake-prone"
Brian Stelter emails: This is disappointing, on so many levels, but the WaPo headline is accurate: "Amid confusion and contradictions, Trump White House stumbles in initial public response to Soleimani's killing." David Nakamura and Josh Dawsey's story notes that Trump has "overseen a chaotic and mistake-prone public response since the operation..."
Notes and quotes
-- MSNBC's Chris Hayes dropped the mic with this sign-off: "War with Iran is madness and it is strategically and morally a disaster in the making. And don't believe anyone who tells you otherwise."
-- "CBS Evening News" anchor Norah O'Donnell tweeted: "Because of tonight's developments in the Middle East, Vice President Mike Pence had to postpone our exclusive interview. We'll bring it to you tomorrow night..."
-- NBC's Richard Engel asked the million dollar question: "We'll see if cool heads prevail. This doesn't need to slide into a full blown war, which will nasty and long. Iran says it will stop if not hit. Both sides have stuck. Can they now step back and assess?"
-- CNN's Gabe Ramirez tweeted: "I was on the ground at the beginning of the war in Iraq in 2003 and all I can say is I'm so glad Twitter didn't exist."
-- Top headline on the Drudge Report: "IT'S WAR!"
-- Yashar Ali's thread is worth a read: "I want to express this carefully cause I don't want to minimize anything that results in loss of life. But missiles flying back/forth in Mid East is all too common (something US can handle) & not what makes me nervous about the Soleimani situation. Here's what makes me nervous..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- CNN, MSNBC and Fox News will all stay live overnight and into Wednesday morning, pre-empting the usual prime time repeats...
-- "Can the media manage the Iran narrative?" That's the headline on Michael Calderone's latest. Jake Tapper noted to him, "With a few rare exceptions, the media drank the Kool-Aid in the build-up to the war in Iraq and too many people didn't do their jobs..." (Politico)
-- Michael Grynbaum wrote about how Tucker Carlson has dissented from the pro-Trump media on Iran... (NYT)
-- Good point from NBC's Brandy Zadrozny: "There is a HUGE constellation full of 'Breaking News' Twitter accounts that spread hoaxes and unverified info to rack up followers. If you see a "BREAKING" post from a source you don't know, spreading incredible news without a link, best to question it..." (Twitter)
-- And a similar reminder from Ben Collins: "Now is a really, REALLY good time to make sure your sources aren't accounts called WorldStrategistInfoCenter420 or the equivalent before you retweet it. Stakes are too high on this stuff now..." (Twitter)
SNEAK PEEK
The Nation's new editorial: "Stop This War"
Brian Stelter emails: On Wednesday morning the progressive magazine The Nation will be out with an unsigned editorial titled "Stop This War." After 4am ET, it'll be online at this link.
"This war is a test, and not just of leadership," the editorial states. "Vietnam was a small country with little strategic importance or impact on the global economy, yet the US war there consumed a generation and cost millions of lives. If the war with Iran becomes a regional conflagration, its effects will be felt far beyond the Middle East and beyond the troops who make up our volunteer armed forces. For all of us—but especially the young, who will have to pay the highest price in blood, economic disruption, and environmental disaster—now is the time to take to the streets and stop this war. Because this is a test we dare not fail..."
WHCA blasts White House for secrecy over Saudi meeting
| | The White House faced sharp criticism from the WHCA on Tuesday after it was revealed that an Oval Office meeting between Trump and Saudi Vice Minister of Defense Khalid bin Salman had not been publicly disclosed. The public only learned about the Monday meeting between the two leaders after a statement and photos were released by Saudi Arabia.
"A meeting with a foreign leader in the Oval Office should, at the very least, be on the public schedule with a read-out of the meeting released after it is over," WHCA president Jon Karl said in a statement. "This has been the long-standing precedent for presidents of both political parties." Karl added, "It is disturbing to see the government of Saudi Arabia have more transparency than the White House about a meeting with the President in the Oval Office." Well said. WH press secretary Stephanie Grisham did not respond to a list of Q's about this issue...
| | Top Facebook exec: Yes, we got Trump elected and it may happen again
"A Facebook executive who backed Hillary Clinton's 2016 election campaign told colleagues in an internal memo last month that the platform could ultimately be responsible for President Trump's reelection," Donie O'Sullivan reported Tuesday. The memo was written by Facebook VP Andrew Bosworth. It was first obtained by NYT, and then posted to the public by Bosworth, who said it "wasn't written for public consumption."
>> Read the full memo, via NYT, here...
...cites "Lord of the Rings" moment to warn against putting thumb on scale
Bosworth said that despite "desperately wanting to pull any lever" at Facebook to "avoid the same result" as the 2016 election, doing so would be a huge mistake. To make his point, he cited a moment from "Lord of the Rings."
"I find myself thinking of the Lord of the Rings at this moment. Specifically when Frodo offers the ring to Galadrial and she imagines using the power righteously, at first, but knows it will eventually corrupt her," Bosworth wrote. "As tempting as it is to use the tools available to us to change the outcome, I am confident we must never do that or we will become that which we fear."
IN OTHER FACEBOOK NEWS
Facebook tries to curb deepfake videos as 2020 election heats up
"Facebook has taken its first steps to curb highly-convincing videos known as deepfakes that have been manipulated using artificial intelligence," Hadas Gold reported Tuesday. "The social media platform announced the change in a blog post, saying it would remove videos that have been manipulated using artificial intelligence or machine learning to make it appear that the subject has said words they did not."
...there are, however, some key caveats
There, however, is a big BUT. As Charlie Warzel reported for NYT, "The new policy won't, for example, cover subtly edited videos like last year's slowed down viral Nancy Pelosi clip. And politicians and their ads remain off limits to Facebook's third-party fact checkers. A company spokesman told me Tuesday that if Facebook determines a politician has shared manipulated media in an ad, Facebook will remove it. But, as far as I can tell, bogus content — even outright lies — is still allowed, as long as it isn't manipulated by artificial intelligence."
"And the company left a big loophole: Facebook will not censor political speech if it is in the public interest to see it," Warzel added. A Facebook spokesperson told him, "If a politician posts organic content that violates our manipulated media policy, we would evaluate it by weighing the public interest value against the risk of harm. Our newsworthy policy applies to all content on Facebook, not just content posted by politicians."
Bloomberg says he will run Super Bowl ad. Hours later, Trump campaign says it will too
The Michael Bloomberg campaign announced on Tuesday that it was running a 60-second ad during the Super Bowl this year. NYT, which first reported the news, estimated the ad would cost at least $10 million. "The biggest point is getting under Trump's skin," Bloomberg spox Michael Frazier said.
Soon after it was made public Bloomberg had purchased the ad, the Trump campaign said it would be running an ad as well. NYT's Nick Corasaniti wrote, "The dueling ads on the year's biggest night of television are evidence that the two New York billionaires are preparing for a schoolyard brawl on the national airwaves over the coming months, with each increasingly willing to dip into his vast resources..."
| | YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST...
TEGNA training journalists to spot disinfo
On Wednesday morning TEGNA will announce a plan to work together with global nonprofit First Draft to train all of the company's journalists -- that's a total of 3,400 in 49 newsrooms across the country -- on disinformation. The training sessions will involve IDing false info online, helping audiences distinguish between accurate and B.S. info, and becoming "better informed digital news consumers." The sessions will begin later this month. TEGNA is also expanding its VERIFY fact-checking initiative...
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
"Comcast Corp. -owned NBCUniversal says it is accelerating efforts to create a single ad technology and sales infrastructure for marketers to run media plans across its TV and digital properties, and across local, national and global markets..." (WSJ)
-- "Prozac Nation" author Elizabeth Wurtzel died on Tuesday of breast cancer... (NYT)
-- Fox News will host a town hall with Pete Buttigieg. Chris Wallace will moderate the Jan. 26 event... (Fox News)
-- Joe Solmonese, the CEO of the Democratic National Convention, zinged Trump on the media... (Bloomberg)
-- "Media Mecca or News Desert? Covering local news in New York City..." (CJR)
-- Michelle Obama is launching an Instagram series... (CNN)
CNN settles with Nick Sandmann
CNN has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by Nicholas Sandmann, the Kentucky high school student who was at the center of a viral video controversy, a spokesperson for the network confirmed Tuesday. No details of the settlement were shared by either side. Sandmann only tweeted, "Yes, we settled with CNN."
The news was first reported by WXIX-TV after a court hearing was held in Covington, Kentucky. Sandmann had been seeking $275 million in damages, and he is still suing other news outlets. Here's my full story...
>> Media law professor and CJR press freedom correspondent Jonathan Peters tweeted: "I've seen a lot of speculation of what the settlement means. At this point, all it means is the parties made a calculation of costs/benefits of settling vs. trial, and mutually decided to end the dispute. The terms, unknown, tell story of the implications."
Maven's latest filing
Kerry Flynn emails: Maven, the Seattle-based startup that bought Sports Illustrated, reported on Tuesday it generated more than $45 million in Q4 revenue, beating its financial forecasts. Maven also revealed SI had 29 million unique visitors in December, up from 27 million the year prior.
>> More changes at SI to come: Maven reports "significant changes in print frequency and circulation, while improving the size, weight and quality of the magazine, whose first issue under its new format will launch in February."
>> SI staffers announced their intention to unionize on Monday…
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
By Kerry Flynn:
-- Gannett announced that CFO Alison Engel is stepping down at the end of the first quarter and the board is searching for a replacement... (USA Today)
-- Max Willens reports on Slack's role in media unionization efforts... (Digiday)
-- Lana Zak has been named as an anchor at CBSN... (Politico)
-- Tim Marcin is joining Mashable as a culture writer... (Twitter)
USA Today's new Spanish-language series
Flynn writes: Gannett's USA Today launched a new bilingual content series on the Latino community in the US called Hecho en USA. The first stories, available in both English and Spanish, are about bilingual education, college education and Latinos in politics. USA Today's national enterprise editor Cristina Silva is spearheading the project. They plan to publish two stories each month and are working across the company's 260 newsrooms.
>> Silva tells me, "We really see these stories not just being for Latinos. These stories are for all Americans, for anyone interested in knowing more about their neighbors."
Protocol's new hires
One more item from Flynn: Protocol is bringing on six more people to its growing newsroom. The new media company covering the people, power and politics of technology is a sister publication to Politico from owner Robert Allbritton and is expected to launch soon. (Disclosure: My boyfriend works there.)
>> Demian Bulwa joins as head of investigations and projects. He was most recently metro editor at the San Francisco Chronicle...
>> Kat Borgerding joins as audience engagement editor. She was most recently senior engagement manager for Vox Media...
>> Tom Krazit joins as a reporter covering cloud computing. He was most recently EIC of the newsletter Mostly Cloudy...
>> Karyne Levy joins to run the copy desk. She was most recently at Scribd working in original content...
>> JP Mangalindan joins as contributor editor covering tech giants and tech culture. He was most recently Yahoo Finance's chief tech correspondent...
>> Levi Sumagaysay joins as a reporter covering Silicon Valley. She was most recently a tech reporter at San Jose Mercury News...
| | Every one of the 18 actors nominated in BAFTA Film Awards 2020 is white
Brian Lowry emails: Awards season continues. The #OscarsSoWhite hashtag has given way to #BAFTAsSoWhite, after the British equivalent of the Academy Awards failed to nominate a single performer of color. That will surely be a closely watched component of the Oscar nominations, due next Monday. Meanwhile, the Producers Guild of America — another closely watched Oscar barometer — unveiled its 10 nominees, with no major surprises, with the South Korean thriller "Parasite" notably making the cut.
NBC's rollout of "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist"
Lowry emails: Different times call for different launch strategies in TV, which explains why NBC is premiering "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist" on Tuesday, then making it available online and Hulu for five weeks before the series — which I rather enjoyed — returns to the lineup in February.
| | | Thank you for reading! Send me feedback via email. Tips are also welcome! And please do connect with me on Twitter. Brian will be back tomorrow... | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment