| | | | | Heads up: Some of the best stuff in this letter is toward the bottom. Keep scrolling! | | Trump says "we won every poll;" here's the problem | | The media consensus about the debate couldn't be more clear: Hillary Clinton won. So what did Donald Trump do on Tuesday? He misled voters and viewers by citing post-debate "polls" that proved he "won."
This is really about media literacy. There's a huge difference between real scientific "polls" and the random, unrepresentative web surveys that Trump promoted all day long. (Trump must know the difference. If not, Kellyanne Conway can help him out.) Trump and his surrogates are doing a disservice by conflating the two.
The news web sites that post these surveys are part of the problem. Time, CNBC and Fortune all lent the unreliable practice an air of credibility by promoting "who won?" surveys after the debate. Trump supporters flooded the web sites, then the candidate himself embraced the pro-Trump results. I recognize that it's an easy way for sites to gain traffic. But it's embarrassing for everyone involved. Here's my full story... | | | Fox amplifying Trump's spin | | Speaking of embarrassing, Trump told the co-hosts of "Fox & Friends" that the survey results "mean a lot." The co-hosts went along with Trump's talking point, and so did some of Fox's daytime news anchors. (The folks in Fox's well-regarded polling unit must have been cringing.) Later in the day, Brit Hume and Charles Krauthammer pushed back; CK called the surveys "totally meaningless."
-- Bottom line: Reuters' Emily Flitter said it best: "Trump's aggressive promotion of online (easily manipulated, non-scientific) polls saying he 'won' is a calculated effort to create a reality." | | | Lester Holt striving to stay above the fray | | Lester Holt was all over Fox News today: In conservative media circles, Holt was blasted for fact-checking Trump but not Clinton. Numerous fact-checking groups, however, found that Trump necessitated more checking.
Holt was feeling good after the debate, according to sources, and so were his NBC News bosses. But he's seeking to stay above the fray. He didn't give any interviews on Tuesday, and he didn't bring up his role at the debate during Tuesday's "NBC Nightly News." Scroll down for more on Holt... | | | Record smashing debate ratings | | "Most-watched debate in American history" is the line of the day. According to Nielsen, the debate averaged a total of 84 million viewers across 13 of the TV channels that carried it live.
Caveats: This total counts PBS, but not C-SPAN. It does not count ANY live streaming. Untold millions watched online, and others watched on TV in out-of-home settings that aren't measured by Nielsen. So even though "84 million" will go in the record books, the real viewership # was obviously much higher. Here's my full story...
-- NBC had the biggest audience overall, 18 million, partly thanks to Holt moderating...
-- ABC: 13.5 million / CBS: 12.1 / Fox News: 11.4 / CNN: 9.9 / Fox broadcast: 5.5 / MSNBC: 4.9
-- On Univision: 2.5 million / Telemundo: 1.8 mil | | | Viewership stayed high til the very end | | | Contrary to some A.M. speculation, there was not a big drop-off after the first 30 minutes of the 98-minute debate. The vast majority of viewers kept watching until the very end, a fact that the Clinton campaign celebrated on Tuesday. Here's my full story... | | | The loser: "Monday Night Football" | | | "The poor Atlanta Falcons," Rachel Maddow said on Tuesday's "Maddow." The Falcons "absolutely crushed the Saints... and nobody noticed." Indeed, ESPN's "Monday Night Football" had its "lowest viewership in at least the past 25 years" due to the debate competition. Frank Pallotta wrote about the "MNF" ratings here, check it out... | | | Trump celebrates "all-time record" | | | Brian Lowry emails: Trump in rare form at rally in Florida Tuesday night, bragging about the size of the ratings for the debate -- "It set the all-time record for debates and maybe television, who knows?" -- and again going after the "corrupt" media. It really underscores how Trump simultaneously basks in his clout as a ratings draw, while inoculating himself from criticism by blaming any negative coverage on the "liberal media..." | | | Roger Ailes counseled Trump by phone in the weeks leading up to the debate, but was said NOT to be intimately involved in the final days before Trump stepped on stage. With that in mind, check out this Robert Costa tweet: "There is a movement afoot by at least two Trump allies to bring Ailes more into the process but reluctance among others to do so, per sources..." | | Trump's "phone a friend" option at the debate: "Call Sean Hannity" | | Dylan Byers sums up his latest story: When Trump wanted to prove, despite the evidence, that he never supported the Iraq War, he turned to Sean Hannity for help: "I spoke to Sean Hannity, which, everybody refuses to call Sean Hannity. I had numerous conversations with Sean…"
In these 2003 conversations, according to both Trump and Hannity, Trump vocalized his opposition to the Iraq invasion...
— Maggie Haberman asks: "Why didn't Hannity ever talk about this on air at the time, if this is so?" Jamie Weinstein tweets incredulously: "Was Hannity the only person Trump supposedly expressed Iraq war opposition to? He's friends with Bill O'Reilly. He didn't mention it to him?" | | | Here's why Hannity matters | | More from Dylan Byers here: Hannity, a self-described Trump supporter on a cable news network that more than half of the country doesn't trust, may have been the worst person Trump could have called upon to boost his credibility with the voters he needs.
But the fact that he did so fits into a larger issue for Trump, who has spent months living in a cocoon of favorable conservative media despite a pressing need to expand his support beyond this base. Read Dylan's full story...
— Thought bubble: If Trump had ventured off of Fox for hard-hitting TV interviews in September, would he have been more prepared for Holt's Q's on Monday? | | | Alright, let's take a quick break for the rest of the day's media news... Keep scrolling for PART TWO of our debate wrap-up... | | -- Alex Kantrowitz's latest: "Facebook's Suspensions Of Political Speech Are Now A Pattern" (BuzzFeed)
— "This news division, I think, has become the envy of the news profession," CBS's Steve Capus tells The Wrap's Brian Flood… (The Wrap)
-- Martin Bashir is returning to the BBC... (The Guardian)
-- On Tuesday night Hearst held a street party for HearstLive, a street-level multimedia display/marketing vehicle at its HQ on 57th and 8th. Spotted at the party: Nina Garcia, Soledad O'Brien, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Coco Rocha, Mandy Moore, Constance Zimmer... (Hearst)
-- Jamie watched the first episode of NBC's "This Is Us" without me. (Ironic?) She says it's going to be our new favorite show. I'll catch up tomorrow, because NBC just gave it a full season order… (Variety) | | | New LATimes arts/entertainment editor | | | Fellow Maryland native Mary McNamara is taking over one of the most important parts of the LATimes. Quoting Davan Maharaj and Larry Ingrassia's internal memo: "McNamara, our Pulitzer Prize-winning television critic and senior culture editor, will become our assistant managing editor for arts and entertainment…" | | | The "fine line" Holt walked | | Dylan Byers's post-mortem: In this fractured, partisan era, no presidential moderator can please everyone. Some people want the moderator to play fact-checker, some people want the candidates to be left to their own devices. Only so many questions can be asked, and different statements warrant different kinds of follow-ups. Holt walked a fine line, fact-checking on occasion but often letting the candidates debate. And while he may not have set a new gold standard, he did the job he was asked to, and he did it well. Even Donald Trump was for Holt -- "I thought Lester did a great job... I thought it was very fair," he told me in the spin room -- before he was against him, complaining of "very unfair" questions during a Tuesday morning appearance on "Fox & Friends..."
-- Steve Burke says Holt did a "very good job..."
-- Poynter's Alexios Mantzarlis applied my Sunday report that Holt "will not be a potted plant," and judged him via a "Potted-Plant-O-Meter..."
-- I think I agree with The Atlantic's Uri Friedman, who says this was the most important Q Holt asked: "Are you willing to accept the outcome as the will of the voters?" | | Drudge and other conservative sources said Holt went easy on Clinton by neglecting to ask about Clinton's email server practices, Benghazi, and the Clinton Foundation.
The liberal media watchdog group FAIR countered with this: "Lester Holt Asks Zero Questions About Poverty, Abortion, Climate Change..." | | -- NYT's James Poniewozik: Clinton "more often directed her attention outward toward the camera and audience," while Trump "showed less camera awareness, glaring at his opponent and directing answers downstage..."
-- WashPost's Hank Stuever: "Did you feel any better after watching it? Of course not. Would you tune in for more? Tragically, yes."
-- CNN's Brian Lowry: Holt's performance "offered a measure of redemption for NBC News..." | | | Elaine Quijano of CBS will moderate the VP debate less than a week from now... Next Tuesday night... in Farmville, VA... | | | What are the late night shows saying about Monday's debate? I'll join Chris and Alisyn for the "Late Night Laughs" segment on "New Day" at 8:50am Wednesday... | | -- "Let's beat that." Trust me, this Dave Itzkoff story behind the scenes at Stephen Colbert's live post-debate show is a must read... (NYT)
-- Time for political reporters to 💤💤💤 . CNN's Dianne Gallagher, heading home from Hofstra, tweets: "Y'all...Im so sleep deprived after this last round of breaking news/debate travel, I'm leaving laptops on planes & falling asleep sitting up..."
-- Chris Hayes, on his MSNBC show, said Tuesday was the "Great Democratic Sigh of Relief…" Personally, I'm more interested in what Trump voters think about the elite media's reaction to the debate…
-- "Politico and Morning Consult are teaming up in a polling partnership," Hadas Gold reports... (Politico)
— Tuesday was National Voter Registration Day, so MTV revived "TRL" for one day only as "Total Registration Live…" A one-hour special with Nessa, Ana Marie Cox and Jamil Smith… | | | Is there any chance Trump will back out of debate #2? | | Romney 2012 strategist/Trump 2016 critic Stuart Stevens tweeted Monday night: "Would not be surprised if Trump backs out of next debate, complaining about rules, moderator, etc."
By Tuesday morning, others were wondering the same thing. Pay attention to what Rudy Giuliani said in the spin room afterward: "If I were Donald Trump, I wouldn't participate in another debate unless I was promised the journalist would act like a journalist, and not an ignorant fact check." As Mark Preston noted in an email, this isn't any ordinary Trump surrogate talking, this is Giuliani, who has Trump's ear... | | | AZ Republic's first time endorsing a Democrat for president | | | CNNPolitics' Daniella Diaz writes: "The Arizona Republic, the state's largest newspaper, has never endorsed a Democrat for president -- until now. In an op-ed published to its website Tuesday, the editorial board backed Clinton over Trump..." | | | Bernie Goldberg wants Howard Dean "banned" from TV "for at least a year" | | Howard Dean "is standing by his controversial tweet" from the debate. It said "Notice Trump sniffing all the time. Coke user?" Dean told MSNBC's Kate Snow "it'd be interesting to ask" Trump about past drug use.
On Tuesday's "O'Reilly Factor," Bernie Goldberg delivered a "message to TV executives:" Dean "should be banned for at least a year, and if I were in charge, he'd be banned for life." He also said Clinton "needs to asked to account for this particular 'deplorable' in a basket..." | | | Brian Lowry emails: The "Frontline" documentary "The Choice 2016" made news because Omarosa Manigault said Trump¹s critics would have to "bow down" before him -- which had a "Kneel before Zod!" echo to it -- but it's a nifty illustration of the service PBS still provides in primetime, in contrast to network newsmagazines that, except for "60 Minutes," are up to their elbows in true crime. Read Brian's full review here... | | | For the record, part three | | | -- Brad Pitt has cancelled his appearance on the "Voyage of Time" red carpet, citing a "family situation," THR reports...
-- Lisa France emails: We're still reeling from the ending of Brangelina, and now there is news of another shocking Hollywood split. Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber have broken up after 11 years...
-- Chloe Melas emails: "Modern Family" is living up to its name! It was revealed Tuesday that the show has hired a transgender child star, Jackson Millarker. The eight-year-old will make his debut in Wednesday's show titled "A Stereotypical Day..."
-- More from Lisa: Sibling rivalry or publicity stunt? Rob Kardashian tweeted what he said was sister Kylie Jenner's phone number and it was krazy (with a "k" because that's how the Kardashians do it)... | | Tell us what you think... | | | What do you like about this newsletter? What do you dislike? Send your feedback to reliablesources@cnn.com. We appreciate every email. We'll be back tomorrow... | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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