| | | | | Welcome to day six. One of the top officials in the Trump administration is calling the media "the opposition party" and advising them to "shut up." We'll get to that in a moment... | | Hannity "interviews" POTUS | | | "Been here all week," Sean Hannity said as he arrived at the White House for his interview with President Trump. According to the transcript provided by Fox, the interview ended with Hannity thanking Trump, and Trump saying, "The ratings tonight are going to be through the roof." Hey, he's results-oriented! | | How this is related to crowd size | | Crowd size counts are a lot like TV ratings. Trump told ABC's David Muir that the inauguration controversy matters because the media was disrespecting his voters. The other explanation that's being put forward is... crippling insecurity. Carl Bernstein, channeling GOP politicians, brought up Trump's "emotional stability" last night...
And on Thursday evening, the WashPost's Karen Tumulty and Juliet Eilperin broke the news that Trump "personally ordered" the head of the National Parks Service "to produce additional photographs" of the National Mall crowds, thinking that "the photos might prove that the media had lied." The White House's spin about this is something to behold. Dan Merica's CNNPolitics story un-spins it... | | Journalists across the country are talking about Michael Grynbaum's scoop: Trump's chief strategist Steve Bannon called Grynbaum up to say that "the media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while."
"I want you to quote this," Bannon said. "The media here is the opposition party. They don't understand this country. They still do not understand why Donald Trump is the president of the United States." During the campaign "the elite media got it dead wrong," he said, calling some (unnamed) reporters "outright activists of the Clinton campaign..." | | Grynbaum's story is on Page One on Friday | | | Here are the last two grafs: "'The paper of record for our beloved republic, The New York Times, should be absolutely ashamed and humiliated,' Mr. Bannon said. 'They got it 100 percent wrong.' He added that he has been a reader of The Times for most of his adult life." | | No need for histrionics... | | | Dylan Byers emails: The insinuation that the media should "keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while" is troubling, though perhaps not as much as folks think. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think Bannon meant to say that the media should rethink its approach to Trump before criticizing his every utterance. I'm not defending what he said, but I don't think we need to be histrionic either. I don't think he's calling for an actual gag order. | | ...But this is inappropriate | | | I appreciate Dylan's point, and I think Bannon is right to encourage journalists to "just listen for a while." I think that's already happening. But it is inappropriate for a leader of the government, whether Republican or Democrat, to demean the media as "the opposition party." Bannon's comments expose a hatred of the press that is corrosive to our democracy... And it's only day six. | | What Conway thinks Bannon meant... | | Jeremy Diamond flagged what Kellyanne Conway said on PBS: "I think we should all learn to listen more to America, and I think that's probably Steve Bannon's central point."
-- For the record: Earlier in the day, Conway falsely said on "Today" that Tiffany Trump is not registered to vote in two states. In fact, she is. So are Sean Spicer and Jared Kushner, according to the WashPost... | | | Via Oliver Darcy, here's how Bannon's former web site Breitbart is covering the news... | | Thinking about the media as "the opposition" is not unprecedented. Obama aide Anita Dunn told me in 2009 that "we're going to treat them" -- meaning Fox News -- "the way we would treat an opponent." Appearing on MSNBC Thursday evening, Dunn suggested Fox's eight years of Obama coverage proved her right... In any case, the Obama White House did not attack the entirety of the fourth estate on a daily basis. The Trump White House is.
During that same MSNBC segment, Dunn said "this is not a new tactic for Republicans," invoking Richard Nixon's attempts to tear down the media... | | | "Shut up?" Jake Tapper's one word response: "No." He also noted that these comments came in an interview with the NYT: "Ironic is one word for it." Over on MSNBC, Chuck Todd's take: "They want a foil." Christiane Amanpour tweeted: "Sorry, what country are we in?" Jacob Weisberg tweeted: "The media should keep its mouth shut" is a terrifying, tyrannical comment. It's coming from inside the White House." At a panel discussion in Chicago, Jeff Zucker was asked about it, and said the press needs to "do our jobs, not be intimidated, and not be worried about what Steve Bannon calls us..." | | I was DMing about this with conservative media critic MZ Hemingway Thursday evening... Here's an important point she made:
"Bannon basically just said completely obvious stuff that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who was conscious for the last 15 months or so. Media failed. Big time. Sure, the left listened to the ever-increasing histrionics. The right completely tuned out. That's not a healthy place of for our media to be. Leaning into an oppositional stance, which is what is happening, only makes someone saying 'you're the opposition' even more obvious..." | | Here are the Q's I've been asking | | If a government says we're "the opposition," is there any way to AVOID being the opposition? By "just doing our jobs," are we winning or are we losing?
Here's another way to frame it. Trump says he is at "war with the media." If one side says they're at war, and the other side says "no we're not at war," doesn't the pacifist side lose? | | A veteran media exec emails: "It's always darkest right before things go completely into the toilet."
A Hollywood film producer emails: "The industry was rocked by Bannon's comment. This isn't a matter of CNN vs. Fox, etc., it's essential free press rights for everyone..."
A digital media CEO emails: "Bannon wants to 'burn it all down.' This is all part of the plan..." | | The president is doubling as a Fox News PR person | | Presumably Steve Bannon doesn't count Fox News as a member of the "mainstream media." The president is getting information and affirmation from Fox, and as I wrote on Thursday morning, he's now going a step further, openly promoting the cable newser. "Turn on Fox," he told Muir when confronted by criticism of his speech at CIA HQ, "and see how it was covered." Trump said other networks, including ABC, covered the speech "very inaccurately," but he said Fox got it right. He cited Fox's coverage three times. More...
ICYMI: "Fox & Friends First" had a short segment about Chelsea Manning's critique of Obama at 5:50am Thursday. Banner: "Ungrateful traitor." At 6:04 a.m., Trump tweeted about "ungrateful TRAITOR Chelsea Manning..." | | That's what The New Yorker's David Remnick said at the "covering Trump" discussion I moderated Wednesday night at NYU. "Everything is fragile," he said to the audience. But this moment demands strong journalism, so "buck up." Read what the panelists said via HuffPost, Business Insider and Bedford & Bowery...
-- Programming note: We'll continue the conversation on Sunday's "Reliable Sources..." Panelist Lydia Polgreen will join me live... | | "This is what authoritarians or leaders with authoritarian tendencies do. It's from the playbook that they use... They attack the press because they want to undermine any other sources of information..."
--Evan McMullin on Tapper's show... | | | The reviews could generously be described as "mixed." Here's an example of the criticism: Mediaite's John Ziegler says Muir was "left for the White House staff to scrap off the floor after he got almost completely steamrolled by the new president..." | | How many people watched "The First Interview?" | | ABC beat its broadcast rivals at 10pm Wednesday thanks to Muir's interview with POTUS. The hour-long special was the most-watched program of the night. But the interview "didn't set the Nielsen charts aflame," Variety's Oriana Schwindt writes. It averaged 7.5 million viewers, up from 3.9 million for "black-ish" at 9:30pm.
Barack Obama's first interview as POTUS in 2009 averaged 17 million viewers, but that's apples and oranges because Obama was on "60 Minutes," which typically has a huge audience... | | Will Hannity's ratings be "through the roof?" | | | We'll see if Trump's prediction comes true. Trump and Hannity's shared disdain for the media came up repeatedly, according to the transcript. At one point Trump said "much of the media, not all of it, is very, very dishonest. Honestly, it's fake news. It's fake. They make things up." | | Friday, 1pm ET, at the White House, Trump and Theresa May... This will be Trump's first presidential press conference... Who will be called on???
-- Related from The Hill: "W.H. misspells UK prime minister's name in official memo" | | Trump's first weekly address... | | | I'm very curious to see what the president's weekly radio/TV/web video address looks and sounds like. Trump will tape it Friday around 9:30am... We'll see it on Saturday morning... | | "1984" now out of stock on Amazon | | All week long we've been tracking the sales of George Orwell's "1984." It has now been #1 on Amazon's best selling books list for over 48 hours. Penguin is printing more copies... but Amazon says it is now "temporarily out of stock..." When I get an update from the publisher, I'll pass it along...
-- But: The book still appears to be in stock on Barnes & Noble's site... | | | At home this evening, I mentioned something about "New Day." My wife Jamie (NY1's morning traffic reporter) said "the morning shows feel like they were on ten days ago." That's how fast the news cycle is moving. I'm back at work now, preparing for discussions on "CNN Tonight," tune in... | | -- This afternoon we live-streamed a chat with historian Julian Zelizer... In this clip, he answers a question from a viewer, "What is Trump's most lethal weapon against the press?" (CNNMoney)
-- "Journalists around the country are joining a Slack channel devoted to FOIA and Trump..." Kristen Hare has details... (Poynter)
-- BuzzFeed has hired Steven Perlberg away from the WSJ... his new beat will be Trump and media, "highlighting the new importance of media reporting," Hadas Gold writes... I can't argue with that! (Politico)
-- CNN's next prime time town hall is with Nancy Pelosi... Jake Tapper will moderate the event on January 31... (CNN PR) | | Verizon pursuing Charter! | | Shares of Charter surged on Thursday after the WSJ reported that Verizon is plotting a takeover of the cable company. (Remember, Charter just swallowed up Time Warner Cable.) This Verizon possibility had been rumored for months, but the WSJ said it's actually in the works: "Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam has made a preliminary approach to officials close to Charter and Verizon and is working with advisers to study a potential transaction," the Journal said, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter. The usual important caveat: "There's no guarantee a deal will materialize." Here's my full story...
-- Riding the consolidation wave: A Verizon acquisition of Charter could be seen as a response to AT&T's acquisition of DirecTV and its pending acquisition of Time Warner...
-- Most important Q: What will Trump, Jeff Sessions and Ajit Pai think of this? | | FT's must-read about the Murdochs | | | This story is pay-walled but worth reading -- Matthew Garrahan's deep dive into Murdochworld -- Garrahan will be on this Sunday's "Reliable Sources..." | | "How to Save CNN From Itself" | | | "How to Save CNN From Itself" is the title of former CNN correspondent Jessica Yellin's new NYT op-ed. She wants the government to force AT&T/Time Warner to sell off CNN "to a new independent entity," thereby reducing the network's profit motive. She also blasts pundit-driven shows on the network. WashPost's Callum Borchers writes: "In response to the op-ed, a CNN spokesman pointed out that the network chose not to renew Yellin's contract in 2013..." | | | Now back to our top story... | | | "If you see me on TV, it's because he wants me there." That's what Conway told Michael Wolff in this new profile. She indicates that she'd like to spend less time on the air and more time in the Oval Office with POTUS... | | The new White House photographer | | | Over the weekend, I reported that Shealah Craighead was "in the running" to become Trump's chief W.H. photographer. On Thursday Sean Spicer said it's official... Craighead now has the job... | | Almost every media outlet from left to right, from Salon to Fox News, has debunked Trump's claim about millions of illegal votes.
Almost.
Trump has a happy enabler at Alex Jones' Infowars site. Tom Kludt and I wrote about the alliance... Check out our full story here... | | Press credentials for Infowars? No | | | An excerpt from the story: On Wednesday Jones claimed in an online video that Infowars had been offered press credentials by the new administration. But Hope Hicks denied the claim on Thursday. "This is not true," she told Tapper... | | ICYMI: Trump's obsession with being #1 | | Jeff Bridges, star of "The Big Lebowski" and "Hell or High Water," spoke with Dylan Byers about the need for patience and understanding in Trump's America...
"We point fingers at people, we point fingers at Trump, he points fingers at people. How are we going to come together and realize that we're on this little dust spec in space, you know? ... That's what I think is needed today, to kind of put a check on ourselves and knowing what's right or wrong and being so sure that Trump is an asshole and that he's going to be terrible and all this. You can have very strong opinions, but to go after this peace and this beauty that we're after I think we gotta show up and give a little space for something beautiful to bloom out of it."
"As the Dude might say," he added, "'this aggression will not stand.'" | | Lowry reviews "Z: The Beginning of Everything" | | | Brian Lowry emails: The format of Amazon's "Z: The Beginning of Everything" might be as interesting from a how-TV-has-changed standpoint as the series. Chronicling the tumultuous relationship of Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, the drama (which stars Christina Ricci) is debuting with 10 half-hour episodes, which cover only the first few years of the couple's life together. In the not-so-distant past, the entire relationship almost surely would have been covered in a single miniseries. Read more... | | | What do you like about this newsletter? What do you dislike? Send your feedback to reliablesources@cnn.com. See you tomorrow! | |  | | We'd love to share our other newsletters with you. Check out Five Things for Your New Day, CNN's morning newsletter. Give us five minutes, and we'll brief you on all the news and buzz people will be talking about. | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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