| | | | | How the election is like the O.J. trial | | Let's start tonight's newsletter a little differently -- with some insights from Jerry Seinfeld -- via Frank Pallotta's interview with the man himself.
First, Seinfeld's jokes, his view of Donald Trrump: "I'm just laughing [about] what he thinks being president is. 'This company's going to do that, you're going to go over here. I can make other countries do whatever I say.' It's a kid's image of being president. It's like if you were ten, and they would make you president of your house, you would start ordering the dog around not realizing no one's going to listen to you."
Now for the insight: Seinfeld said this "entertaining" election has felt strangely like the O.J. Simpson murder trial. Here's how: "If you're white when the verdict of the OJ trial [was read], you were like 'Oh, I didn't know there was this feeling out there.' This has been another moment like that where you're kind of introduced to people that you live with and you didn't know what was going on underneath." | | | Three cheers for the embeds traveling with Mike Pence, who immediately called in (CNN's Elizabeth Landers) and reported and tweeted (ABC's Ines de La Cuetara) and streamed from LGA after Pence's plane skidded off the runway Thursday night. NBC's Vaughn Hillyard got the press pool camera feed up and running while he was still on the plane... That's why CNN and MSNBC had live pictures almost instantly. Then Hillyard kept it running while he talked live by phone to MSNBC's Chris Hayes... And til the press corps was on a shuttle bus to Manhattan... | | | Clinton saying "yes" to radio interviews, no to others | | | An important piece about Hillary Clinton's media strategy, written by CNN's Dan Merica: Clinton "has turned to local radio to help energize her base, largely shirking the national media -- and more sensitive questions -- in the process. Clinton has done eight radio interviews in less than a week, and more are scheduled for the final 12 days of the campaign, aides said. By comparison, Clinton's last TV news interview was when she called into CNN on September 12." Read more... | | | Tronc shares crash; Gannett deal in doubt | | CNNMoney's Matt Egan reports: The long-rumored marriage of USA Today owner Gannett and LA Times publisher Tronc is suddenly in doubt. Shares of Tronc plummeted 28% on Thursday following a report that banks have pulled financing for the company's potential takeover. According to Bloomberg News, several lenders backed out of the deal due to concerns over the financial health of Gannett and Tronc...
-- More: Gannett shares dropped 17% on the news. The company "has come under more financial pressure in recent months," Egan writes. Thursday's Q3 earnings were ugly... | | Time Warner and Time Warner Cable became separate companies in 2009. But someone on Capitol Hill is still seven years behind. On Thursday the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee announced a hearing into the AT&T-Time Warner deal and said "Robert Marcus, the CEO of Time Warner, will testify." There are several problems with that.
#1: Jeff Bewkes, not Marcus, is the CEO of Time Warner.
#2: Marcus WAS the CEO of Time Warner Cable.
#3: Marcus left THAT company earlier this year.
Charter acquired Time Warner Cable in May, and now the name Time Warner Cable is being retired. So Marcus won't have much to say if he's called before Congress. Here's my full story...
-- Venting: When these screw-ups happened four or five years ago, when I was at the NYT and photo editors used the wrong picture, it was forgivable. But now? Seriously?
-- For the record: The Senate committee quickly recognized the mistake and corrected the press release on Thursday afternoon. The actual invitations to speak went to the correct executives...
-- BTW: "The hearing is slated for Dec. 7 at 10 a.m. in the Judiciary Committee hearing room," per the WSJ... | | | Trump taking action against NBC for "Access" tape? "You'll see" | | Is there any chance Donald Trump could take legal action against NBC for the leak of the "Access Hollywood" tape? Bill O'Reilly asked him that question on Thursday night, and Trump did not rule it out. "You'll see, you'll see, you'll see after the election," Trump said. Trump claimed that the tape represented an "illegal act" by NBC.
Legal experts might beg to differ. But Trump's comments to O'Reilly were striking -- if only because he continues to keep the "Access" tape in the news. When O'Reilly brought it up, he could have said "locker room talk" and left it at that, but he kept talking and talking. Here's my full story... | | | Baier interviewing Trump next | | | Bret Baier is interviewing Trump on Friday morning, and it will air during "Special Report" on Friday night. Baier is also interviewing Trump and Pence jointly... With portions airing on Sunday night... These are Baier's first interviews with Trump since June, per Fox... | | "Vine's six seconds of fame are over," CNNMoney's Seth Fiegerman writes. Twitter is killing off the short-form video app amid "significant job cuts" at the company...
-- The farewells to Vine are bittersweet. "Vine withers, reminding us that nothing is forever," NPR writes. "Vine, THE ONLY GOOD APP, is shutting down," Spin says...
-- John Herrman tweets: "vine was the platform version of the little forum or blog that was too good to live... vine was a place where people created huge amounts of diverse culture. twitter is a place where fascist channers signal boost..."
-- More: Some of Twitter's media and partnerships staffers were laid off on Thursday... | | | Apple has a new app called "TV" | | | "Apple's December software update will try to tie together many popular video streaming apps… and its own iTunes content," the WSJ's Nathan Olivarez-Giles reports. "Now, with the new TV app, there's really no reason to watch TV anywhere else," Tim Cook said on stage at Thursday's product event. Except: The app won't connect to Netflix or Amazon, which makes it a whole lot less useful... | | | An early look at Sunday's "Reliable Sources..." | | | I'll be joined by The Blaze host/"Trump Tower Live" guest Tomi Lahren... Toronto Star Trump-checker Daniel Dale... and many more... | | -- On Wednesday night a fire broke out in the West Village building where Rachel Maddow lives. One firefighter suffered a minor injury; no residents were injured... (WNBC)
-- A must read from earlier this week: William D. Cohan on the future of Paramount... (Vanity Fair)
-- Conde Nast's Wolfgang Blau says "data-driven" is out, "data-informed" is in... (Digiday)
-- Erin Lee Carr's next true-crime documentary for HBO: "Mommy Dead and Dearest." Coming in March. Here is what it's about... (THR) | | | No new updates on Megyn Kelly's contract today... | | | That's according to sources on both sides of the ongoing negotiations... | | | And don't expect an update anytime soon... | | Megyn Kelly wants to do her due diligence. She is not in a hurry to renew with Fox, despite Rupert Murdoch's "let's make a deal" message, delivered via Wednesday's WSJ.
BTW -- in case you were wondering -- Joe Flint was working on his "what's Kelly going to do?" story before Mr. Murdoch called up... | | | What happens when the creator leaves the show | | Brian Lowry emails: Jim Rutenberg makes a good point in his Kelly piece -- namely, that the "outside of Fox's ideological wheelhouse" moments do appear to have increased since Roger Ailes' departure. That ranges from Hannity drifting farther right... to some of the criticism directed at Trump elsewhere, on shows like "The Kelly File."
It reminds me of something a former colleague once said -- that our office was becoming like a TV show in its third season, when the original writers have left. All the characters get a little broader. And Ailes was, if you think about it, the creator of the workplace drama called Fox News... | | | NYT charging $250 for election night event | | | Nieman's Ricardo Bilton writes: On November 8, the NYT "will hold Election Night Live, an event that, in exchange for a $250 cost of admission, will let readers spend the evening with with both Times staffers (including executive editor Dean Baquet, CEO Mark Thompson, and a number of political reporters who will have very busy evenings) and public figures, including two members of Congress. There will also be booze. The Times attempted a similar, albeit less ambitious election-night event during the last presidential cycle." Read more... | | | One journalist Trump has not insulted (yet) | | Great moment from Trump's sit-down with George Stephanopoulos -- when George brought up Trump's Twitter insults, recently printed across two pages of the NYT -- here's what happened:
TRUMP: Most of 'em deserved it. Were you one of 'em?
STEPHANOPOULOS: Actually, I wasn't. I was-- I was a little surprised at that.
TRUMP: Oh, you should be-- I'm surprised. Let's go check it, I can't believe I didn't include you. No, look, I believe in fighting back...
(via Business Insider) | | | Mediaite's Josh Feldman tweets: "On November 9th, I'd like to see all cable news surrogates get asked what they most hated defending during the campaign..." | | | ABC News held its fall press party at Atlantic Grill Thursday night... David Muir came by after "WNT," joining James Goldston, Byron Pitts, Elizabeth Vargas, Brian Ross, Barbara Fedida, Almin Karamehmedovic, Andrea Morabito, AJ Katz, Jonathan Greenberger, Tom Cibrowski, Roxanna Sherwood, Brian Steinberg, Dave Bauder, Marisa Guthrie, Candi Carter, Rich Besser, Chris Ariens, Alex Weprin, Oli Coleman, Michael Corn... | | -- Via Brian Lowry: The latest "The Da Vinci Code" sequel, "Inferno," isn't so hot. But in a sign of the box-office times, it's already doing quite well in Europe, so the U.S. performance doesn't matter as much...
-- Lisa France reports: The nostalgia train keeps on rolling along: Raven-Symone is leaving "The View" for a "That's So Raven" spinoff...
-- Plus: Lisa interviews Lakeith Stanfield, one of the stars of the "FX" series Atlanta...
-- The thieves who robbed Kim Kardashian West "weren't there for jewels," according to the concierge who survived the heist with her...
-- Michael Phelps shares so much of his life on social media. But he skipped one thing: he's been secretly married for months... | | | 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 with more... | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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