| | | | | Eight weeks from tonight, we will know the next president... Unless election night is "too close to call..." | | When President Obama stumped for Hillary Clinton today, he cited David Fahrenthold's reporting about Donald Trump's unusual family foundation. But the WashPost journalist didn't hear it... he was head down at his desk... and only found out when he got up to get coffee and Chris Cillizza filled him in.
The past few days have been a whirlwind for Fahrenthold. Journalists have been inspired by his work chasing down Trump's charitable donations. Some have called his stories "Pulitzer worthy." Others have credited him with pioneering a new real-time reporting method on Twitter.
On Monday, in between CNN hits, he joked that he only owns one suit and nice shirt, so he "can't look nice on TV again for a week." That's why his wife went to Brooks Brothers and bought him a few more shirts today. He was on "AC360" and the PBS "NewsHour" and MSNBC's "All In" tonight. Here's my story underscoring the secrets to his success... Featuring his editor Steven Ginsberg... | | | "It's so hard to cover Trump" | | What attracted Fahrenthold to the subject of Trump's charitable donations? He told me it was the verifiable nature of donations:
"It's so hard to cover Trump. What Trump says, what he feels, what he thinks changes from day to day." So Fahrenthold has been asking nonprofit groups for info instead. "What I liked about this was that there's another party in the transaction," the charities themselves. "I could establish the facts on the ground without relying on Trump. That's what was satisfying about it..." | | | Obama: "You don't grade the presidency on a curve" | | | "I'm not running this time, but I sure do get frustrated with the way this campaign is covered," President Obama said in Philly today. The main points he made: "You don't grade the presidency on a curve. This is serious business..." And "because we've become so partisan, our standards for what's normal have changed..." He also referenced the current fights about false equivalence: "We cannot afford to act as if there's some equivalence here..." | | | Let's have "proportionality" | | | Frank Sesno on Tuesday's "New Day:" In all the calls for more transparency, there's "an issue of proportionality here. Clinton was not forthcoming with her pneumonia. What we don't know about Trump, though, is much bigger, much broader, and much more important." Watch... | | | Jim Rutenberg and I will analyze campaigns trying to "beat the press." Fodder for the segment: Kellyanne Conway saying questions about Trump's taxes and charitable donations are "badgering," not "journalism..." | | | Heads up: Trump taping "Dr. Oz" | | | The producers of "Dr. Oz" are being tight-lipped about Thursday's episode featuring Donald Trump. But here's what we know: Trump will be at Oz's studio for a taping on Wednesday morning. Ivanka Trump will be there too. The show will probably release excerpts on Wednesday afternoon... | | | Katie Couric sued over "misleading" edit in "Under the Gun" | | | This morning a Virginia gun rights group filed a $12 million defamation suit against "Under the Gun" director Stephanie Soechtig, executive producer Katie Couric, and Epix. At issue is an interview conducted by Couric with members of the Virginia Citizens Defense League -- edited in ways that Couric herself conceded were "misleading." Epix is saying it had nothing to do with the making the film... Soechtig is defending the film... and Couric is declining to comment. Read Floyd Abrams' assessment of the suit here, in my CNNMoney story... | | | Vice nightly newscast launch delayed two weeks | | "HBO and Vice Media are delaying the launch of their evening newscast for two weeks until Oct. 10 to make sure all of its creative elements work, including an ability to dive deeper into a story though touch screen technology," the AP's David Bauder reports. "Vice News Tonight" was set to launch on 9/26... Now 10/10... at 7:30pm ET...
-- More: "The 30-minute newscast won't have an anchor but has a subtle musical soundtrack..." | | -- Jeff Zucker in this Q&A with AdAge's Jeanine Poggi: Ad inventory for election night coverage "is actually already sold out." There's been "tremendous demand..." (AdAge)
-- On Thursday morning CBS will hold a memorial service for Morley Safer, who died in May... It will be held at Frederick P. Rose Hall at Jazz at Lincoln Center... (TVNewser)
-- Jack Shafer's latest must read: "The Case Against Journalistic Balance" (Politico)
-- And here's a must read by Zeynep Tufekci comparing conspiracy theories to "mosquitoes that thrive in swamps of low-trust societies..." (NYT)
-- Gannett is leading an investment round in Digg... (WSJ) | | | Glenn Beck settles lawsuit | | | Dylan Byers reports: Glenn Beck has settled a lawsuit filed by the Saudi Arabian student he wrongly accused of providing financial backing for the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. The terms of the settlement are confidential and "no party has admitted any fault, wrongdoing, or responsibility." Read more... | | | Bill O'Reilly says he didn't defend Roger Ailes (he did) | | More from Dylan: Bill O'Reilly told NBC's "Today" that he did not defend Roger Ailes when Ailes was sued for sexual harassment, which is not true. When O'Reilly spoke to Seth Meyers in July, one week after Carlson's lawsuit was filed, he addressed the lawsuit at length, blasted what he said is people's ability to sue the famous, powerful and wealthy without consequence, and concluded: "I stand behind Roger 100%." Read more...
-- Brian Lowry adds via email: "This could be a long book tour — and require a lot of a common O'Reilly tactic, which is shooting and deriding the messenger — if his strategy is to simply erase his earlier show of support now..." | | | Ailes selling two of his houses | | | I didn't know Roger Ailes owned this many homes. Ailes "has put two of the handful of homes that comprise his 20-plus-acre hilltop compound in bucolic Garrison, N.Y, up for sale, with asking prices considerably below what he paid," Variety reports. His main home is not up for sale, though. Details... | | An 8am surprise: Time Inc. CEO Joe Ripp stepping down and Rich Battista stepping up "effective immediately." The execs called me a few minutes later to elaborate. "Several weeks ago I had a health incident which made me reconsider whether I can really give the 1000% of time that I've been giving Time Inc.," Ripp, 64, said. He'll become executive chairman of the company and remain "actively involved."
Time was recently targeted by activist investors… Here's my full story with details… | | | Time Inc. stock is trading around $14.50, down from a peak of $25 when Time Warner spun off the company two years ago, and $20 this time last year. Battista says he will "continue to transform this company and turn it into a growth story. That's what we are 100% laser-focused on..." | | -- Baratunde Thurston is hosting a new election year web video series on Spotify "with the goal of helping young people become better educated" before Nov. 8... (Forbes)
-- I mentioned yesterday that Keith Olbermann is now hosting a web video series for GQ. Here's episode #1, released this morning... (GQ)
-- In his first week back at work after heart surgery, Neil Cavuto posted "record weekly ratings" for his midday Fox Biz show... (TheWrap)
-- Pandora "has inked licensing deals with two of the three big record labels," Sony Music and Universal Music Group, but not Warner Music... (CNNMoney)
-- AT&T's latest carriage deal announcement: NBCUniversal. This new long-term deal includes the forthcoming DirecTV Now streaming service... (Deadline)
-- On the 20th anniversary of the death of Tupac Shakur, he is being remembered as an artist with a lot left to share, and one who foretold the coming of #BlackLivesMatter, Lisa France reports... (CNN) | | | Gary Johnson's "open letter" to the commission | | | Gary Johnson is not currently achieving the 15% support in national polls that the Commission on Presidential Debates requires. That means he won't be receiving an invite to the debate, barring some last-minute surprise. So Johnson and his running mate Bill Weld are publishing this "open letter" to the commission as a full page ad in Wednesday's NYT: | | | They write: "We have done the work required to appear on the ballot in all 50 states and because we are polling in double-digits in the majority of those states, we respectfully propose the following: Put a third podium on stage for the debate scheduled on September 26th. Allow us to make our case to the American people. If, in the polls that follow, we fail to make that 15% standard, we'll make no further efforts for inclusion in subsequent debates..." | | | How about a panel of fact-checkers? | | No new comments from Trump about the debates today. But lots of others are buzzing. (If you want to hear my extended take on this, I was on Philly's "Radio Times" program this morning.)
Salon CEO Jordan Hoffner made a modest fact-checking proposal today: Lester Holt should "be joined by a team of fact-checkers from Factcheck.org, a project run by the nonpartisan Annenberg Public Policy Center (itself part of Donald Trump's alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania). Just like in professional football games, each side would be given two challenges. The candidates could then use them over the course of the 90-minute debate." Read more here... | | | "If journalists aren't interested in being part of the truth squad, they should find another sport," WashPost's Margaret Sullivan wrote today in this piece outlining "five things the presidential debate moderators must do..." | | When Charlie Rose interviewed Bill Clinton on Monday, Clinton said this about her stumbling on Sunday: "Frequently — well, not frequently, rarely — but on more than one occasion, over the last many, many years, the same sort of thing's happened to her when she just got severely dehydrated."
CBS sliced off the "frequently -- well, not frequently" part when the interview excerpt aired on the "Evening News." This edit triggered skeptical coverage today. CBS said Erik Wemple it was edited "purely for time while on deadline for the live broadcast," and it ran unedited on other programs. That's true, it did, but this was a fishy "Evening News" edit. CBS should have cut three seconds from someplace else... | | | Arianna weighs in on Clinton's health | | | Here's Arianna Huffington's first HuffPost piece since giving up her editorship earlier this month. It explains why Clinton's health scare is a "teachable moment." There's a natural tie-in to her new venture, Thrive Global, here... | | | And while we're on the subject... | | Today Drudge told his readers that the Clinton campaign is in "critical" condition. Rush Limbaugh told his listeners that Clinton's aides "can't control whatever it is that's wrong with her." Rush said "the poor woman has something seriously the matter. There's no doubt." The National Enquirer said "the health care cover-up continues!" (Their exclamation point, not mine.)
My two cents: Journalists have to pay attention to these claims... Because they influence millions of readers and listeners... | | | A.J. Delgado joins Trump campaign | | | Conservative commentator and attorney A.J. Delgado is the Trump campaign's newest senior advisor and TV surrogate. She joined the campaign last week, Yahoo's Hunter Walker reports. Both Chris Hayes and Sean Hannity had kind words to say about Delgado in Walker's story... | | | Frank's latest from TIFF: Impressed by "La La Land" | | Frank Pallotta emails from Toronto: TIFF was packed with movies that are intensely powerful ("The Birth of a Nation"), emotional ("A Monster Calls") and thought provoking ("Arrival"). But "La La Land" is the one that feels most like Hollywood at its purest. The film, which stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as two artists who fall in love in a singing and dancing Los Angeles, added to its list of accolades when it enchanted audiences at the Toronto festival. There will be many worthy contenders this awards season, but "La La Land" looks to be the one to make the most beautiful music...
Read more from Frank here... | | Women's TV roles on screen, behind the scenes "stagnant," study finds | | | Brian Lowry emails: San Diego State U's annual study of roles for women in TV cited "stagnation" in terms of the percentage for roles for women within series. But as noted in the piece, the methodology requires some key caveats, starting with the fact that it doesn't take into account the dramatic increase in the volume of programming, which has enhanced opportunities across the board. Perhaps the most interesting finding, and it's a consistent one, is that employment of women increases both on screen and behind the camera when a woman is among the creators or showrunners of a series. In the broad strokes, that endorses the old theory that writers draw from their own experience. Read more... | | "Bake Off" needs new hosts | | | Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc are leaving "The Great British Bake Off." They wanted the program to stay on the BBC... And now that it's moving to Channel 4, "we're not going with the dough," they say... Sandra Gonzalez has more here... | | | For the record, part three | | | -- Common sense finally prevails: "Cinemark, the company that owns the Aurora movie theater where 12 people were murdered and 70 people were wounded four years ago, has dropped a request for victims of the shooting to pay nearly $700,000 in legal costs after an unsuccessful lawsuit..." (Denver Post)
-- I had to skip tonight's NYC premiere of "Snowden" to work on a potential scoop, but Chloe Melas was there... And Brian Lowry's review will come out tomorrow...
-- More from Chloe: Simone Biles and Aly Raisman got candid about their friendship and what life is like after Rio... (CNN)
-- ICYMI last night: Here's what happened with the "Dancing With the Stars" protesters...
-- Robin Roberts interviewing POTUS and FLOTUS at the National Museum of African American History and Culture on Thursday… Interview airing on Friday's "GMA…"
-- Via Lisa France: The "Fifty Shades Darker" trailer is here and it is as hot as you expected... (CNN) | | Tell us what you think... | | | Send us your feedback about this newsletter -- the good/the bad/the ugly -- to reliablesources@cnn.com. We'll be back tomorrow! | | | -- Annie Linskey's "Being white, and a minority, in Georgia," on whites in one Georgia community TK | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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