| | | | | Who decides what's "fake?" | | As Thursday evening's designated press pool reporter Anita Kumar left Donald Trump's PA rally, a woman in the crowd called out, "There goes the fake news."
Therein lies the problem. A term that was very specific -- "fake news" meaning "made-up stories designed to trick people" -- has been diluted, redefined and weaponized. News media insiders are still focused on the scourge of wholly made-up stories, but others are saying that everything they disagree with is "fake news."
The hostility toward fact-checkers and the very existence of verifiable news sources cannot be overestimated. It is a fact that some sources are much more reliable than others -- but some of the loudest voices in the new media world don't accept that fact.
So that's the tense backdrop for Thursday's announcement about Facebook warning labels. The world's largest social network is starting to add what it calls "flags" to bogus stories shared by users. | | In this new system, a made-up story about Hillary Clinton being arrested would be accompanied by a red label that says "disputed by 3rd Party Fact-Checkers." Clicking the label would lead users to accurate info.
The key is that Facebook says it is not deciding what's true or false. The deciders are fact-checking groups that have committed to the International Fact Checking Code of Principles, which was recently established by Poynter. "We'll use the reports from our community, along with other signals, to send stories to these organizations," Facebook VP Adam Mosseri says. "If the fact checking organizations identify a story as fake, it will get flagged as disputed and there will be a link to the corresponding article explaining why."
Facebook will also use this info to bury hoaxes on News Feed. Here's my story all about it. These announcements were generally welcomed by media insiders on Thursday. But... | | | Right-wing media reactions | | Take a look at top-right wing media sources. Drudge's headline is "RISE OF TRUTH POLICE!" He's linking to Alex Jones' Infowars, which is predicting that Facebook will probably "use the new feature to blacklist information that runs contrary to any mainstream media narratives."
Breitbart is saying something similar: "MASTERS OF UNIVERSE DECREE: WE DECIDE WHAT'S 'FAKE NEWS.'" The story questions why Snopes and PolitiFact (deemed left-wing) are two of the participating fact-checking groups. The AP, ABC News, and many other outlets are also involved...
-- Bigger Q: How does this address the issue of supply and demand? Many web surfers want to believe hoaxes... | | | The view from Facebook HQ | | This is a small, early test... The company wants and needs feedback... It is eager to learn and iterate... etc etc.
Mark Zuckerberg indirectly responded to some of the uproar with this Thursday afternoon Facebook post: "I understand how sensitive this is and I have instructed our team to proceed carefully and focus on fighting spam, not flagging opinions... I want us to be especially careful about never being arbiters of truth ourselves -- which is why we're working with third-party fact-checkers. We'll keep looking for unbiased third parties to add to our list of reviewers. This is an early test, and I'm going to keep a close eye on it to make sure we're fighting actual spam and hoaxes, and not limiting people's freedom of expression."
-- More: The International Fact-Checking Network says the FB effort is "commendable" but notes that "it is impossible to know at this stage whether the strategies announced will actually be effective..." | | | Pew's new findings about the impact of "fake news" | | Dylan Byers emails: All that fake news is taking a toll... A new report from Pew finds that nearly 2/3s of American adults believe fake news stories have caused a great deal of confusion about the basic facts of current events.
"This sense is shared widely across incomes, education levels, partisan affiliations and most other demographic characteristics," the report says. So who do the respondents think is to blame? Politicians? The public? Social media? In short, all of the above.
Read Dylan's full story on the report here... | | | Monica Crowley leaving Fox, joining Trump administration | | | Dylan Byers emails: Another Fox News personality is joining the Trump administration... Monica Crowley, a Fox analyst up until Wednesday, will join Trump's administration as senior director of strategic communications for the National Security Council. Crowley's Fox contract was terminated on Thursday... Read Dylan's full story here... | | | Another cable newser up for a Trump admin job? Dylan Byers emails: As for CNBC contributor Larry Kudlow, he's also under consideration to serve as chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, but not there yet... | | | Press secretary news imminent? | | | Reporters are buzzing that the Trump team is about to name the next White House press secretary -- and that it's likely to be Sean Spicer. When Megyn Kelly brought up the possibility of a Friday announcement, Spicer said it could come "anytime." Spicer said he has not been formally offered the job, and he declined to discuss his conversations about it. If offered? "Absolutely" he would say yes, he answered wittily: "I would take anything that the president asked me to do. I would shovel the driveway of the south lawn, or mow the lawn..." | | | What about the briefings? | | Spicer, speaking with Kelly, seconded Reince Priebus's Wednesday comments about rethinking White House traditions like the daily press briefing. "I don't know they need to be daily" or always be on-camera, Spicer said. Versus televised spectacles, maybe there's a "more effective way of delivering the news," he said... But he dismissed concerns that news outlets could be banned from the briefing room...
-- Programming note: I'll be talking more about this on CNN's "New Day" Friday at 6:50am... | | | Early look at Sunday's "Reliable" | | | White House Correspondents Association president Jeff Mason will make his first appearance on "Reliable Sources" this Sunday morning... | | | Must-see TV: Obama's end of the year press conference | | | It's slated for 2:15pm ET Friday... | | | Here's a savvy business move Trump should appreciate... | | | Vanity Fair trying to convert Trump's critiques into $$$ | | Vanity Fair's web site has a bright red ad at the top of the page: "The magazine Trump doesn't want you to read. Subscribe now!"
The site posted it after Trump attacked VF editor Graydon Carter for the magazine's "really poor numbers." Trump tweeted on Thursday morning: "Way down, big trouble, dead! Graydon Carter, no talent, will be out!" Of course, Trump has been predicting Carter's demise for many years, and he hasn't been right yet...
I was just on "CNN Tonight" with VF's Emily Jane Fox, who said web traffic was "through the roof" on Thursday and subscriptions were way up...
-- Motive? CNNMoney's Jill Disis writes: "It was not clear what set Trump off this time, though on Wednesday afternoon, the magazine posted a derisive review of Trump Grill, the steakhouse in the Trump Tower lobby." Tina Nguyen described a steak that "slumped to the side over the potatoes like a dead body in a T-boned minivan" and "flaccid, gray Szechuan dumplings with their flaccid, gray innards." You can read the full "review" here... | | | As Trump continues to use Twitter to blast private individuals, I asked this question on Thursday night's "Outfront:" Does the president-elect recognize the POWER of his keyboard? The power of his tweets? | | CNN's Jill Martin writes: "The suits and ties were so loud, at times they were screaming. But Craig Sager wore them so well. Sager, the longtime Turner Sports sideline reporter best known for his colorful -- and at times fluorescent -- wardrobe, has passed away after battling acute myeloid leukemia. He was 65. Sager died Thursday, just days after he was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame." Read her full appreciation of Sager here...
Reactions: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver: "Craig was as vital to the NBA as the players and coaches..." Turner's Greg Anthony: "There is just no better person, colleague and friend..." Sager's son Craig Sager II: "We packed a lifetime and then some into these 28 years together. Pay it forward time!" CNN's Steve Almasy collected more of the tributes here... | | -- Important story by NYT's Sydney Ember: "Editors Defend Coverage of Stolen Emails After News of Russian Hacks" (NYT)
-- "Geraldine Moriba, the CNN vice president for diversity and inclusion, is leaving the company..." (AJC)
-- The owner of Comet Ping Pong says the "Pizzagate" conspiracy theory is "a pack of lies and it's dangerous..." (Mediaite) | | | Trump press conference watch: 141 days | | | Trump's last press conference was on July 27, 141 days ago, near the beginning of his general election campaign. Trump had announced a press conference for Thursday in NYC, but his team abruptly canceled the event earlier this week... | | | Megyn Kelly's producer gets promoted | | "Fox News has named Tom Lowell, currently executive producer of the 9 p.m. program 'The Kelly File,' to the role of vice president of news and editorial for the cable channel," Politico's Alex Weprin reports. Fox says a new "Kelly File" EP will be named after the holidays...
-- More: Mediaite's Lindsey Ellefson: "The timing of this shake-up is a bit suspicious, considering it happened to come right as Kelly's contract is up. Anyone in cable news knows that those two things usually aren't a coincidence. But what does it mean? Well, a few scenarios come to mind..." | | | What Bill O'Reilly might do next year | | What's Bill O'Reilly going to do when his contract expires in 2017? He tells Deadline's Dominic Patten he hasn't decided yet. "There are a lot of factors involved with it. We'll see. We'll see what happens."
The key quote: "If I feel that it's too much and I don't want to do this kind of work, I don't want to work this hard, then I'll walk away." Here's the full interview... | | | O'Reilly thinks "it's all over for the newspaper industry" | | | More from the Deadline interview: "I thought the coverage of the election was disgraceful, and it was dishonest. It was ideologically driven and I think that the news agencies that did that will never return to a level of credibility ever. I think it's all over for the newspaper industry in this country. I think cable television is wobbling and I think people aren't going to forget what happened..." | | The aforementioned Emily Jane Fox's latest: "Joe and Mika Defend Themselves Against The Haters." In the interview, Joe Scarborough takes a couple of jabs at CNN, seemingly subtweeting Dylan Byers: "They reported that Mika went to talk to Ivanka Trump, saying that Mika went up there to get her involved with [Brzezinski's workplace empowerment organization] Know Your Value. It's a lie." A few sentences later, when asked what the meeting was about, Mika Brzezinski said Ivanka is "really interested in doing something really powerful and meaningful with women..."
Dylan emails: "It seems to me that every time Joe and Mika go on record to push back against their critics' suspicions, they confirm their critics' suspicions."
This interview is really revealing -- "What we have is access, and we're literally being as transparent as we can about it" -- check it out here... | | | "Rogue One" needs to expand the Star Wars universe | | | Frank Pallotta emails his latest: The rebels of "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" will be taking on an important and possibly difficult mission this weekend. No, no, not stealing the plans to the evil Death Star, but expanding the "Star Wars" franchise for Disney. The media company paid $4 billion for Lucasfilm in 2012, and to recoup the "Star Wars" portion of that investment, it needs to be able to make new content built on the brand but without relying on the characters that have been known and loved for nearly 40 years. "Rogue One" is its first attempt at doing that. The film is projected for a $150 million opening this weekend, and even though that's $100 million dollars less than last year's "Force Awakens," if it gets there that's a big win for Disney... Read more... | | | Julia Roberts will star in this TV show | | Julia Roberts will star in a limited-run TV series based on Maria Semple's new book "Today Will Be Different," Variety's Elizabeth Wagmeister reports. This marks Roberts' first foray into TV...
Details: "Semple will also pen the script for the TV adaptation of her own book. Megan Ellison's Annapurna Pictures is producing the series, marking the first TV project to come under the company's new television initiative, led by Sue Naegle." No TV home yet... The series will be shopped in the new year... | | | How these "Simpsons" writers persuaded Starbucks to fund their web series | | Sandra Gonzalez reports: Three "Simpsons" writers can thank LinkedIn and their love for coffee for their latest animated endeavor. Joel Cohen, John Frink and Rob LaZebnik have been working together on the long-running Fox animated series for about four years. But when they started working on a movie together, they took their brainstorming out of the office and into a Starbucks along a busy street in west L.A., close to Fox Studios.
It wasn't long before their love of people watching turned into an idea: What if they made an animated series for Starbucks about life at Starbucks? Not knowing anyone at the company, LaZebnik signed up for a free 30-day trial of LinkedIn's Premium service, so he could send private messages to some executives at the company. It was a true shot in the professional networking dark. "Amazingly, a couple wrote back," LaZebnik told CNN. "The real headline of your article is that there's some value to LinkedIn." Weeks after the seed had been planted, they settled on a concept. "1st & Main" is a seven-episode animated web series set at Your Local Starbucks, complete with the characters everyone knows well... The show marks Starbucks' first foray into animated storytelling... Read more from Sandra here... | | Via Lisa France:
-- The Sun scored the first pics of Prince Harry and girlfriend Meghan Markle out publicly together. The pair were spotted strolling down a London street on their way to a play...
-- "Flip or Flop" co-star Tarek El Moussa has spoken out after the break up of his marriage...
-- Congrats to "Dancing With the Stars" judge Carrie Ann Inaba. She just got engaged. The first dance at the reception is sure to be fire!
-- Lamar Odom has checked into rehab. But is his recovery going to serve as the backdrop for a new reality show? Well if you have to ask... | | | What do you like about this newsletter? What do you dislike? Send your feedback to reliablesources@cnn.com. | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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