| | | | All day on Monday, I fielded variations of the same question: There's a plague of "fake news," people say we're in a "post-truth world," the president-elect actively discourages trust in media, so what should people do? Attempts at answers never sound satisfying. Cable news panel discussions are not going to stop vulnerable people from falling for a crazy conspiracy theory like "Pizzagate." I don't think Google Chrome plugins or changes to Facebook algorithms are going to solve it either.
To look on the bright side, as I said on Anderson Cooper's show, I don't think all of us are in a "post-truth world." Just... some of us. It does help to have conversations about these thorny problems. One of the points I sought to make during the "AC360" conversation: People in power benefit from confusion... from competing narratives... from a sense that nothing is really true. We've seen this in authoritarian countries for a long time. David Gregory seconded this, saying "the flirtation with conspiracy theories and misinformation... is the comfort of authoritarianism."
Shoot, I was trying to stay on the bright side...
-- One more point on this: Some conservatives are dismissing "fake news" talk as a liberal creation to censor or stamp out conservative views. It's not. As Matt Lewis said on "AC360," this is a "bipartisan problem..." Here's video of the segment... | | | Local businesses still being targeted by "Pizzagate" believers | | The pizzeria where an armed man tried to "investigate" "Pizzagate" has been the target of harassment for weeks, and it is not alone: at least four other businesses in the area say they have also been targeted by "Pizzagate" believers. From Tom Kludt's story: "Besta, another pizza shop located just three doors down from the site of Sunday's incident, has been inundated with threatening phone calls." Read more...
-- Related: Read Greg Krieg on "why people believe conspiracy theories like Pizzagate..." | | | White House press secretary weighs in | | On Monday afternoon Josh Earnest called the incident deeply troubling: "I think there's no denying the corrosive effect that some of these false reports have had on our political debate and that's concerning in a political context. It's deeply troubling that some of those false reports could lead to violence."
As for the newfound scrutiny on Trump's pick for national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, for sharing a related anti-Clinton theory on Twitter before election day... And on Flynn's son promoting "Pizzagate..." Earnest tried to sidestep a Q about that... | | | Sean Hannity led Monday night's "Hannity" by accusing me of bias and calling me a "pipsqueak" again. He also played several choice clips from Sunday's "Reliable Sources." They were the exact same clips I would have chosen if Hannity's producer had said, "Brian, what part of Sunday's show would you like to make sure Fox News viewers see?" So this is my way of saying thanks, Sean. Viewers who missed the full "Reliable," you can watch my essay about Trump's lying here... | | | The UBS Media & Communications Conference is underway... Here's some of the news from day one... Les Moonves says CBS All Access has just over 1 million subs now, and he sees it getting to 4 million by 2020... Per AdAge, "he also confirmed CBS is in talks with YouTube for live pay-TV package. 'It, uh, hasn't been announced yet,' Mr. Moonves said..." Nothing really new to say about a potential Viacom-CBS combo... Meanwhile, Viacom's CFO has been "deployed" to L.A. to "fix Paramount's finances," per the LATimes' Meg James... James Murdoch says "let's not get too concerned with empire building..." | | | More from UBS via Variety: "Next year Netflix's original programming lineup will grow to up to 1,000 hours, more than doubling from 2016, and "that's a conservative measure right now,' said [Ted] Sarandos..." | | | Can the NYT ever top 10 million digital subscribers? | | Ken Doctor says there was lots of news from Mark Thompson's appearance at UBS... Via NiemanLab, here are Doctor's top five takeaways:
-- Trump bump: "The Times sold 200,000 (net) new subscriptions since October 1. That's an astounding run rate, by some measures 10× the rate of a year ago. Those new subscriptions are overwhelmingly digital, and may add $30 million or more to the Times' top-line revenue..."
-- "180,000 of the Times digital subscribers live outside the United States..."
-- (Only!) "22% of the Times' overall revenue now comes from print advertising..."
-- "The Times' branded content business is weaker than expected..."
-- "10 million digital subscribers! That's the number Thompson tossed out — I believe for the first time — on Monday. 'I think the ambition of having 10 million digital subscribers is possible for us.' Of course, he didn't set a timeline..." | | | Didja know that Monday was "love my newspaper" day? The hashtag was trending nationwide by mid-morning. A Florida P.R. exec named Kevin Cate came up with the idea last year. "Newspapers are worth defending," he says. Here are some of the people who agree with him... | | -- On Monday night Joe Biden commented that "I'm going to run in 2020." Leaving the door open, really? Wonder what he'll tell interviewers about that? Well he's taping an interview with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday... And he's a guest on "SOTU" with Jake Tapper this weekend...
-- Tucker Carlson's Fox show is off to a roaring start... Oliver Darcy has a great profile of Carlson's "on-air war with elitism..." (Business Insider)
-- Lucas Grindley is the new editor in chief of The Advocate, succeeding Matthew Breen, who has been EIC for the past six years...
-- The Big Lead's Ryan Glasspiegel scooped this: "Magic Johnson is returning to ESPN..." Debuting on Christmas Day NBA coverage... Michael Wilbon is back too... (The Big Lead)
-- Via Erik Wemple: "McClatchy hires Politico's Kristin Roberts into new spot running D.C. coverage..." (WashPost)
-- "Million Dollar Extreme," an Adult Swim show that was the subject of "HOT, HOT debate around the office" for complicated "alt right" reasons that are explained here, has been cancelled... (Splitsider) | | | Oprah to interview Michelle | | "Oprah Winfrey has landed the last interview that Michelle Obama will give as first lady in the White House," Politico's Kelsey Sutton reports. In an interesting twist, CBS will show the interview first, as an hour-long special on Dec. 19 at 8pm, and then Oprah's OWN channel will re-air it...
-- Context: "Winfrey, who endorsed Barack Obama before the 2008 Democratic primaries, has interviewed both the president and the first lady several times throughout Obama's presidency..." | | | Ari Fleischer visits Trump's comms team | | Bush administration White House press secretary Ari Fleischer shared some advice with Jason Miller and other members of Trump's transition communications team on Monday. Afterward Fleischer and Miller had lunch.
"I gave him some thoughts about the transition and we discussed how the White House is structured," Fleischer told me. "We talked mostly about the nuts and bolts of the WH, about how things are arranged and what options team Trump has."
And Miller told me Fleischer shared "brilliant insight, particularly with regard to the campaign to transition to White House run of show..." | | Trump tweeted another complaint about the media on Monday. David Axelrod reacted on "The Situation Room:" "Trump is epically thin-skinned..."
Earlier in the day, unbeknownst to Ax, Bill Carter had gone a step further: When Chris Cuomo asked, "Does the president elect have to get a thicker skin?" Carter answered, "I think he needs A skin!" | | -- Robert Reich's column for Salon: "Trump's 7 techniques to control the media"
-- Jeffrey Lord's column for NewsBusters: "Trump Tweets: A 21st Century President Drives the Media Crazy"
-- I missed this Paul Farhi piece about Trump's relationship with the New York Post and its Page Six gossip column. Among other things, Farhi points out that the over-the-top leaks to the Post about Trump making the TV networks face a "firing squad" almost surely came straight from the top of Trumpworld...
-- One more story I missed last week: Vox's David Roberts with lessons from the election, summed up in two words: "EVERYTHING MATTERED." +1,000 to that!
-- Smart piece by Adam Wren for Politico Mag: "What I Learned Binge-Watching Steve Bannon's Documentaries" | | | On Sunday's "Reliable," I asked Van Jones for a preview of his Tuesday night CNN special. It's called "The Messy Truth," and it seeks to bridge some of the divides between Trump voters and Clinton voters. He started to interview voters for a web series before election day. What's so "messy?" Jones says "the truth is messy" -- for example, both political parties have "big, big blind spots that they don't want to deal with." Here's our conversation... | | | Grammy noms on Tuesday morning | | | Lisa France will be covering the nominations for us... She emails: A select group of nominees will be announced at 8:30am ET on "CBS This Morning" and the full list will be released afterward on Grammy.com. Expected nominees include Beyonce, Adele and the late David Bowie... | | | The Academy is letting Jimmy Kimmel host the Oscars! | | | Sandra Gonzalez emails: Jimmy Kimmel is heading to the Academy Awards. "Yes, I am hosting the Oscars. This is not a prank," Kimmel wrote in a tweet announcement on Monday. "And if it is, my revenge on @TheAcademy will be terrible & sweet." Read more... | | | Brian Lowry reviews the "Westworld" finale | | | Brian Lowry emails: Given the amount of coverage it generated, "Westworld" clearly struck a nerve, and the season finale paid off some of its key mysteries. Yet as with so many dense serialized dramas, the cliffhanging finish also clouded its future... | | -- Chloe Melas emails: I had a chance to sit down with Leslie Mann, who told me that she never planned to be a comedic actress. She also revealed that her idol is Shirley MacLaine. Check out the rest of the interview here...
-- This Lisa France story made me smile earlier: Buzz Aldrin is "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" as he recuperates in a New Zealand hospital...
-- More from Lisa: "Moonlight" is racking up the awards. It's been named best picture by the L.A. Film Critics group...
-- Justin Bieber has announced his first North American stadium tour... and Gun N' Roses has announced more tour dates for next year... | | | Highlights from Sunday's "Reliable Sources" | | -- Frank Sesno explained why Trump forgoing a post-election press conference for 25+ days is not a "made-up press issue..."
-- Salena Zito described her interviews with Carrier plant employees about Trump's deal: "They thought someone finally sees them and hears them and puts value on their work..."
-- John Huey said Trump's techniques "smack of authoritarianism..."
-- David Zurawik's proposal about Trump: "Mob his lies with the truth..."
-- Amy Goodman said the Standing Rock protests should have received more media attention "all through this election season..." | | | 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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