| | | | | Good evening (or is it afternoon?) from the spin room... | | | How many people will watch? | | | Tonight represents "the biggest audience left of this campaign," as Jeff Zeleny just said on CNN. I'm predicting 72 million tonight, up from 66 million for debate #2. Why? There's no NFL competition. But there is a big baseball playoff game. What's your prediction? Email reliablesources@cnn.com... | | | Spouses will not shake hands | | | Dan Merica's source confirms that the Clinton campaign asked for tonight's Bill Clinton-Melania Trump handshake to be nixed: A Clinton aide said "We did take note of the stunt they tried to pull in the second debate. And so, if they don't want to take seriously this sort of gesture of civility that has become a tradition, than we don't see the need to afford them a platform." | | On our flight to Vegas last night, Brooke Baldwin and I spotted Trump campaign CEO Steve Bannon, so we walked and talked with him from the gate to the baggage claim. Bannon hasn't given any interviews, so the conversation was insightful.
Bannon said Trump is in good spirits heading into the debate -- despite a huge deficit in national polls. "Right now he really, really thinks he's going to win," Bannon said.
Like Trump, Bannon has lots of opinions about the media coverage of the race. "What the media misses is the amount of anger that's out there. Trump didn't create that," Bannon said, urging me to go to one of Trump's rallies to see for myself... | | | "Trump is an entrepreneur" | | | Bannon did not deny talk about a potential "Trump TV" network or streaming service. When asked if there is anything to the rumors, Bannon responded with a smile and said, "Trump is an entrepreneur." He repeated the answer again later. "Trump is an entrepreneur." He also pointed out Trump's social media prowess on Facebook and Twitter. "Look at the engagement. It's incredible..." | | | Let's call it what it is... | | | Breitbart is a propaganda arm of the Trump campaign. Oppo about the Clintons gets introduced via video and text interviews in the morning... Then it's promoted by Trump at the debates in the evening... We saw it in St. Louis, and we're seeing it again tonight in Vegas... | | | Via Dylan Byers: The format for tonight's debate is identical to the first one: Six segments of 15 minutes each. The topics for those segments, selected by Wallace, are: "Debt and entitlements," "Immigration," "Economy," "Supreme Court," "Foreign hot spots" and "Fitness to be President." | | | As in the first debate, the first question will go to Clinton, then Trump. And as in the first debate, Trump will be on the left side of your screen and Clinton will be on the right... | | | As Chris Wallace said on "Fox News Sunday:" "I'm the first Fox moderator to do a general election debate, and i'm very proud for the news organization. I think it's a recognition of the fact that we do serious journalism. Some critics say no, but you and I know we do, and here's the Commission on Presidential Debates recognizing that..." | | | ICYMI: Dylan Byers took a close look at Chris Wallace's role. "He is likely to go above and beyond to be fair..." | | >> Gloria Borger says her kids texted her with a pick-me-up message: "Only 20 more days, mom. you can make it."
>> Will Trump start granting more TV interviews after the debate? Spokesman Jason Miller tells me, "You never know. We'll see what he decides..."
>> Jack Shafer tweets: "I've got it! Hillary Clinton should invite Roger Ailes to sit in *her* guest box..." | | | Shoutout to Jeff Kepnes... | | | CNN's special events guru Jeff Kepnes set up the pep band that performed CNN's election theme music during "Reliable" before the St. Louis debate. This afternoon, he took it a step further and brought in a marching band that played "Viva Las Vegas," the election theme AND "The Situation Room" theme... Brian Rokus posted this vid of the performance... | | | BuzzFeed staffers react to Peretti's tweet | | Frank Pallotta emails: BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti tweeted this afternoon about a lewd conversation that Ivanka Trump allegedly had with him in the past. The tweet went viral and left shocked BuzzFeed staffers trying to figure out what just happened. BuzzFeed EIC Ben Smith found out about the story while in mid-air: "Is there a doctor on this flight @united." And Shani O. Hilton tweeted a photo of an email she sent to Peretti with the subject line "urgent press request..."
BuzzFeed quickly wrote a story about the tweet. Just another fun day for Media Twitter during the 2016 election...
-- Jason Miller just responded to Peretti on Twitter: "What a little man and a liar to smear Ivanka Trump like this. Shows just how far the media will go to tear down Mr. Trump's family" | | | Deputy publisher: A.G. Sulzberger | | NYT's Sydney Ember published this at 7am: "The New York Times brought a new generation of the Sulzberger family into its top ranks on Wednesday, naming Arthur Gregg Sulzberger the deputy publisher. The appointment positions him to succeed his father as publisher and chairman of The New York Times Company. Should he ascend to that position, Mr. Sulzberger, 36, would represent the fifth generation of his family to serve as publisher since the family patriarch, Adolph S. Ochs, bought the newspaper in 1896." Read more...
-- Liz Spayd has this message for A.G. on her public editor blog... | | | Cuts and changes coming to the WSJ | | WSJ's Lukas Alpert reports: There's a "substantial revamp" of the WSJ in the works. Dow Jones has "launched a broader review of operations to cut costs in response to a significant decline in print advertising..." At the WSJ, "people familiar with the matter said the revamp could include a reduction of head count..."
-- More: Journal EIC Gerard Baker said in a memo that a revised edition of the paper will be "livelier, sharper and more concise..." It will involve "some consolidation of sections of the paper and the teams that produce it..." | | | CBS is on board YouTube's streaming TV service, called "Unplugged" | | | WSJ's Joe Flint and Shalini Ramachandran report: "Google reached an agreement with CBS Corp. to carry the broadcast network on its soon-to-be-launched web TV service, people familiar with the matter said. The deal made CBS the first major TV network to sign on to the new TV service, which will be housed on Google's YouTube platform and is likely to premiere in early 2017. Google also is near an accord to distribute channels owned by 21st Century Fox and is in advanced talks with NBCUniversal and Disney..." | | | Who's going to buy this Ailes miniseries? | | Announced today: Roger Ailes biographer Gabriel Sherman is working with "Spotlight" director Tom McCarthy on a miniseries about Ailes. Sherman's book "The Loudest Voice in the Room" will serve as some of the source material... Sherman and his wife Jennifer Stahl will co-executive produce and write the series... McCarthy will be the primary executive producer... and Jason Blum will finance and package the project.
The project has not been pitched to any TV networks yet, a Blumhouse spokesman told me. (How about FX?) Read more... | | | He isn't the "loudest voice" in Trumpworld | | | Dylan Byers emails: Roger Ailes is no longer talking to Trump -- at least that's what New York's Gabriel Sherman and Vanity Fair's Sarah Ellison said on stage today at Vanity Fair's New Establishment Summit in SF. A high-level campaign source tells me Ailes' role in Trump's campaign was probably overstated in the first place. But they were certainly talking in the lead-up to the first debate, and the lines of communications seem to have broken down now. The important takeaway is this: Bannon is the north star for Trump, as I reported last week. It's certainly not Ailes... | | | Ailes' attorney Susan Estrich responds... | | | Just in time for this newsletter deadline, she emailed this: "I spoke to Roger. There was no falling out and there is no truth to these reports. He was never an official adviser to Trump, and his status hasn't changed. They have been friends for 35 years. But Roger has never attended any debate prep meetings and has not been advising him on debates." | | | Another bit of Fox news from the New Establishment Summit | | | During the session with Sherman, Ellison also reported that Megyn Kelly has added a chapter about Ailes to her forthcoming book "Settle for More." It'll be out on 11/15... | | | ADL issues report about journalists targeted by Trump trolls | | Dylan Byers reports: The Anti-Defamation League has released a new report showing that nearly 20,000 anti-Semitic tweets have been directed at more than 800 journalists since the 2016 presidential campaign began -- often because those journalists voiced critical opinions about Trump. "There is evidence that a considerable number of the anti-Semitic tweets targeting journalists originate with people identifying themselves as Trump supporters, 'conservatives' or extreme right-wing elements," the ADL report states.
Dylan spoke to some of the victims, including NYT editor Jonathan Weisman and Politico reporter Hadas Gold. Read his full story here... | | More from Dylan: The spike in anti-Semitic tweets has led to criticism of Twitter, which is trying to maintain a free and open social platform while prohibiting these kinds of attacks. "Hateful conduct has no place on Twitter and we address this issue every day with government, our partners in civil society and our peers in the technology sector," a Twitter spokesperson told me. "People must feel safe in order to speak freely and there is a clear distinction between freedom of expression and conduct that incites violence and hate. We continue to invest heavily in our safety policies and tools, and we will roll out additional improvements to both in the coming weeks."
As Weisman sees it, Twitter's decision to grant anonymity makes it impossible for them to enforce their rules. As soon as the company shuts down one account, that user can launch another one. "It's like whack-a-mole," he said... | | | A very timely ad campaign from The Economist: | | | Still no Trump suit against NYT... | | | Dylan Byers emails: Law Newz asks a good question: Where is Trump's lawsuit against the NYT? It's been a week since the Trump campaign said it was "drafting" a lawsuit against The Times... But NYT spokesperson Eileen Murphy told me today there is still no lawsuit.... No comment yet from the Trump campaign... | | | Day in the life of Scottie Nell Hughes | | | As promised in last night's newsletter, Olivia Nuzzi has a new profile of Scottie Nell Hughes in GQ... Here it is... | | | The great Netflix debate continues | | CNNMoney's Samuel Burke clicked the link in last night's newsletter to Shira Ovide's Bloomberg article about Netflix, and he spotted "two big flaws in her article." From London, he writes:
"She questions if people overseas will take to Netflix. Now that I'm living overseas again the answer is a resounding yes. I'm traveling the continent right now for a docuseries CNNMoney is producing, and it's amazing to see how U.S.-like the adoption of Netflix is becoming on the continent. And the numbers bore that out in the earnings report: 3.2 million international subscriber gains versus expectations of just over 2 million.
Other big flaw is the cost of the expansion... If you look over the filings, the cost of expansion isn't much at all. When you look at the cost of how traditional companies expand overseas (having to buy offices and physical shops the way Blockbuster did back in the day) the cost is content rights deals (which are much cheaper in most of Europe than in the U.S.)..." | | -- Sandra Gonzalez emails: Good story here from THR about how NBC is concerned that new "Apprentice" host Arnold Schwarzenegger's past might come back to haunt him... (THR)
-- "Guardians" Vol. 2! Marvel Studios has released the first teaser for "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" and it's really fun (Chris Pratt, 70s soundtrack, baby Groot!), so enjoy some counter-programming before the debate tonight... (CNNMoney)
-- By Lisa France: Naturally Madonna worked blue when she briefly opened for Amy Schumer at MSG. We can't even repeat what she said she would do for anyone who votes for Clinton. And Schumer read an open letter to Tampa since folks there booed her anti-Trump jokes... (CNN)
-- More from Lisa: Offering up an "artist exclusive" is the name of the game for streaming music services. Amazon Music Unlimited is going with country superstar Garth Brooks (insert "Friends In Low Places" joke here)... (CNN) | | | What do you like about this newsletter? What do you dislike? Send your feedback to reliablesources@cnn.com. We appreciate every email... And 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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