| | | | Be honest, who thought the final "October surprise" would come from James Comey?
Donald Trump wins Quote of the Day by saying "this is bigger than Watergate" (and repeating the claim three times for emphasis) within an hour of Comey's letter to Congress about the newly discovered emails relating to Hillary Clinton. So, with Watergate invoked, what does Carl Bernstein think? "We're back in the swamp. And that's what Donald Trump can play off of here," he said on "Anderson Cooper 360" Friday night... | | Dylan Byers emails: Moments like these separate the self-styled pundits from true reporters, the folks who study and fact-check and contextualize something before assessing its political impacts. There are a lot of folks who feverishly tweeted that the FBI was 're-opening the investigation' before learning that that was not the case. I sympathize with the NYT's Farhad Manjoo, who wrote, "Kiiiinda wish everyone who doesn't know anything would shut up."
-- John Zeigler writing for Mediaite: "Even in this short attention span era of constant rush to judgment, it is difficult to recall a situation where more was made out of less information than this one..."
-- One of this letter's devoted readers asks: "Does the rush to report and judge on this suggest there's less bias towards Clinton/against Trump than Trump supporters believe? Or will this get dropped sooner than it should -- and suggest that the bias is real?" | | -- Nate Silver tweets: "The FBI story also broke at the exact time when the media was eager for a dramatic twist/complication in the 'Clinton coasts' narrative..."
-- Chuck Todd: "The two oddest and unexpected players in this campaign: Anthony Weiner and Billy Bush. Go figure..."
-- Rick Wilson: "Waiting for a flight in ATL. CNN on Clinton-Comey. 99% of people transfixed... ...on the World Series..." | | | Fact-checking Clinton about the letter | | | Clinton held a very short press avail (calling it a press conference feels like a real stretch) on Friday evening, and she said she learned about the letter at the same time "when this letter sent to Republican members of the House was released." Later she referenced the letter "originally" going to "Republican members of the House." But the letter actually went to both Republican and Democratic leaders, as Trump accurately pointed out on the campaign trail Friday night... | | | Reminder: Clinton has been eschewing TV news interviews | | | Yesterday I mentioned Dan Merica's story about Clinton's media strategy. He writes: "Clinton's last TV news interview was when she called into CNN on September 12. Clinton spoke with the NYT and Snapchat on October 3 and sat down with Ellen DeGeneres on October 14." That's six weeks without a national TV news interview... | | | FYI: How to stream the "Weiner" doc this weekend | | | Fox viewers really do see the world differently | | A new Suffolk U poll shows that Fox loyalists, when compared to the public at large, are far more pessimistic about America's future; are far more critical of President Obama's performance; are far more fearful of Clinton; and are more forgiving of Trump. The sharp differences in opinion extend to beliefs about political corruption, voter fraud and media coordination with campaigns.
Fox fans, when compared to fans of other networks, are far more likely to express concern about November's election results being manipulated. They are also more likely to agree with the sentiment that divisions in the United States are deeper than in the past.
Why this matters: I think it demonstrates why 21st Century Fox patriarch Rupert Murdoch recently told the WSJ that it would be "business suicide" to change Fox's editorial direction. Fox was a "voice of opposition" during the Obama administration, and that's what it will be if Clinton is elected too. Just look at where its audience stands: 84% of Fox devotees view Clinton unfavorably, versus just 13% favorably. Zoom out to the country at large, and there's a 46% vs 47% favorable/unfavorable split. I wrote a story all about the data... | | | Scroll down for more results from the poll... | | | Megyn Kelly's first stop on her book tour will be... | | | Dr. Phil McGraw is getting Megyn Kelly's first interview about "Settle for More." The book comes out on November 15, and the interview will air on the same day. From there, Kelly will blanket the airwaves. So why Dr. Phil? My story explains how he helped to inspire the title of her book... | | | Kelly "surprised" by Murdoch's comments | | | I still can't believe Rupert Murdoch gave an interview about Kelly's contract negotiations. If the goal was to prod her to make a decision, it doesn't seem to be working. Variety's Brian Steinberg reports: "Kelly was surprised by Murdoch's comments to the WSJ, which she read just before going on air to host Wednesday's edition of 'The Kelly File,' according to a person familiar with Kelly's thinking. The anchor, this person said, was bemused that the Fox boss would publicly address a private negotiation, but she was not angered to the degree that his comments might influence her decision about whether to remain with Fox..." | | | "While some would bury the Gannett–Tronc deal, alternatives have emerged, several confidential sources have affirmed, that could satisfy both Tronc and Gannett shareholders," Politico's Ken Doctor reports. "While the final shape and completion of a new deal is still speculative, all parties here have a powerful motivation to still get a deal done." Read all about it... | | | Sunday's "Reliable Sources" guest list | | | Our guest list: Hilary Rosen... Tomi Lahren... Matt Lewis... Jennifer Rubin... Peter Daou... David Brock... Rich Noyes... and acclaimed Trump-checker Daniel Dale... Join us Sunday at 11am ET... | | -- Via Julia Boorstin: "Want to know what's next for Media & Tech? Check out Michael Wolf's smart forecast." 177 slides here... (Twitter)
-- In an interview with the FT, NYT exec editor Dean Baquet "savages" CNN's hiring of Corey Lewandowski and says Fox News "at its heart is not a journalistic institution..." (FT)
-- What are the magazine giants doing to "change the way they work?" Jeremy Barr has an in-depth look here... (AdAge)
-- Lisa Boothe is now officially a Fox News contributor... (Twitter) | | | Friday's notes and quotes | | -- AJC: "CNN president Jeff Zucker said the news organization's still-sizable operations in Atlanta shouldn't see any change as a result of AT&T's proposed mega deal..."
-- Gretchen Morgenson's Sunday NYT column: "Is AT&T's $85 billion bid for Time Warner the triumph of hope over experience?"
-- Harvard prof Bharat Anand writing for HBR: "The future of TV no longer has to do only with content and distribution. It's also about connectors and complements." Here's what he means...
-- Wireless industry analyst Jeff Kagan to the Dallas Morning News: "10 to 20 years ago, AT&T was a telephone company. Going forward, it's a technology company. We are just in the first inning of this new game."
-- The month of October was the "busiest ever" for M&A, according to the WSJ... | | | Frank's latest on the NFL's ratings challenge | | Frank Pallotta writes: "This week the NBA tipped off its new season with the biggest athlete in the world getting his third championship ring. On the same night, Major League Baseball had game 1 of the World Series between two teams that haven't won a title in a combined 174 years. And the NFL's big game of the week? Well, it ended in a 6-6 tie."
The NFL has been so strong for so long... But this year "has damaged the NFL's image as TV's last bulletproof broadcast," Frank writes. "Ratings have dropped, fans aren't tuning into the boring match ups in each week's marquee games and all anyone who watches the industry can talk about is what's happening and why. And now the MLB and NBA are coming to make things worse, delivering some of their best offerings of the year as the NFL struggles." Read more... | | | Examining Comedy Central's slump | | | "After years of leading the conversation about comedy on television, Comedy Central is experiencing what looks like a sustained slump, while many other television outlets have had hit streaks," Bill Carter writes in his latest for CNNMoney. The most obvious area is late night: the channel's offerings "have fallen markedly in both ratings and, perhaps more troublingly, influence." Check out Bill's full story about the slump. No word on a permanent Larry Wilmore replacement yet... | | | An awesome story by Sandra Gonzalez: "There's an apartment building on Vine Street in Hollywood that is famously home to several of the most well-known faces of Vine, a social media platform that Twitter announced on Thursday it would be shutting down indefinitely. The news came as a shock to some, but the 6-second video-making residents of the building were not among them." Yes, many of them saw it coming... Here's why + what they're doing now... | | | Earlier this year Bill Maher launched a presidential petition in an attempt to win a sit-down with POTUS. On Friday night, he announced that he has finally succeeded: The Obama-Maher interview will air next Friday on "Real Time..." | | | Trump's high favorables among Fox devotees | | As promised up above, here are some more stats from my story about Suffolk's poll:
-- The poll is clear about the divergence between Fox loyalists and others. Only 14% of people who say they trust Fox the most say the country is headed in the right direction. 81% say it's on the wrong track. The divide is not nearly so extreme among other respondents. For example, 55% of people who rate CNN as their most-trusted source say "right direction," and 35% say "wrong track..."
-- Overall, 61% of respondents have an unfavorable view of Trump, while 31% said their view of him is favorable. Among Fox's partisans, the numbers are flipped, with 68% reporting a favorable view of the candidate and 23% reporting an unfavorable view. Among people who say they trust CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, or PBS the most, Trump's unfavorable number ranged between 69% and 88%...
-- People who trusted Fox the most were also far more likely than people who trusted CNN, MSNBC or other channels to say that recent revelations from hacked emails released by Wikileaks raise conflicts of interest for Clinton if she is elected president. 85% of Fox fans said yes, according to the poll, compared with 45% of CNN fans and 15% of MSNBC fans... | | | Many Fox fans anticipate election manipulation | | One more important part of the aforementioned poll: Fox loyalists are more susceptible to claims of election corruption. Suffolk asked, "If the candidate you support loses," will you feel that "the other candidate won fair and square and deserves the support of all Americans," or that "corruption cost your candidate the election, and the new president shouldn't be seen as legitimately elected?" 43% of Fox loyalists cited corruption, versus 28% of overall respondents...
And 65% of Fox loyalists in the poll said they are worried that election results could be manipulated, far higher than the 38% overall response. Only 12% of MSNBC fans and 19% of CNN fans said they shared the concern. Conversely, only 31% of Fox loyalists agreed with the view that the election results can be trusted to be fair and accurate, compared with 77% of CNN viewers, 85% of MSNBC viewers, and 57% of overall respondents... | | -- Via Sandra: NBC is tackling "Bye Bye Birdie" in 2017...
-- Lisa France emails: We were the first to get the true story behind reports Lindsay Lohan wants to hand out energy drinks to Syrian refugees. Here's what the "Mean Girls" star is actually up to...
-- More from Lisa: Check out some of the celebrities who went big with the Halloween costumes this year. It's scary how much they get into the holiday! Here's an example... | | | 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 Sunday... | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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