| | | | Scoop: On Monday the White House asked the broadcast networks for a chunk of prime time for President Obama's farewell address. The speech is set for Tuesday, January 10 in Chicago. Obama's aides are eyeing the 8pm hour, and they're requesting half an hour of airtime from the networks, two sources confirmed Monday evening.
Presidents make these requests from time to time, and the networks occasionally grumble about the scheduling nuisances. But I'm hearing no such grumbling this time. ABC/NBC/CBS similarly carried George W. Bush's farewell address in prime time in 2009. The White House declined to comment... | | | Trump's press conference plan: January 11 | | When will President-elect Trump's long-awaited, long-promised press conference take place? Team Trump had not specified... til Monday night, when Kellyanne Conway told Anderson Cooper: "I believe it was rescheduled for January 11, originally, and if the lawyers and the compliance officers feel like we're ready, then we'll stick to that date. It's really up to them. But I know that -- I spoke to the president-elect today about press conference, and I know that's the current plan. So that's next week." She didn't mention a time.
The way Conway described it, the date has been known internally for a while. But this is news to the rest of us. January 11 will give Trump a rebuttal to Obama's farewell address the night before...
-- Programming note: Bill Carter and I will be talking about all this on CNN's "New Day" on Tuesday 8:50am... | | | The new "Apprentice" catch-phrase is... | | | Anti-climactic, eh? But entertaining nonetheless. Scroll down for details on the premiere... | | | Joe Scarborough "going to war against lies" | | "I am sick and tired of people misrepresenting me and making snide assumptions and giving readers false conclusions," Joe Scarborough told Dylan Byers in an interview on Monday. In 2017, he said, he is "going to war against lies."
In the must-read interview transcript, Scarborough defended his New Year's Eve meeting with Trump and confirmed that he also had dinner with PEOTUS the previous night. Scarborough reiterated that he was there to seek an on-camera interview. Here are just a few of the pull quotes:
-- "The only difference is that Donald Trump is now the person calling us up. So for some reason, this is now shocking and everybody's aghast when the fact is, again, my interactions with Donald Trump are so much more limited than Fareed Zakaria's with Barack Obama or Ben Bradlee's with JFK or Walter Lippmann's with LBJ... or Chris Matthews with John Kerry or Andrea Mitchell with half of official Washington."
-- "I do have a message [for my critics]... Don't let Donald Trump get into your head. Don't let him change the basic rules of journalism. You still pick up the phone, you still ask questions. Facts still matter. You still pursue stories that matter to people across the country instead of venting or trying to write the most snide tweet or the most snide article."
-- "I'm a news analyst, I'm a political analyst, and I get paid by NBC to tell people what is happening and what is going to happen. That's how I see my job ... Basically I look at myself as somebody that is in a position that John Madden was in when he was on TV analyzing NFL football games." | | | What's Fabio got to do with it? | | A priceless part of the interview:
Dylan: "We were also sent a picture of you with Trump and Fabio, [the fashion model], that was dated on Friday night. Did you meet with him then as well?"
Scarborough: "Yes, that was the night I met with him. I met with him that night on the 30th...."
Dylan "Was there a reason Fabio was there, or was that happenstance?"
Scarborough: "Oh, I have no idea why he was there... Sylvester Stallone was there, and there were a lot of other people there... I don't think Fabio was looking for an interview." | | Dylan emails: I reached out to Scarborough on Monday morning via text to ask him for an interview. His response: "I want to ask you a serious question. Why would I ever talk to you about anything related to the subject when you have been the perpetrator of just about every lie in print about Mika and my relationship with Donald Trump over the past year?..."
From there, we spent more than an hour debating my coverage of him and discussing the criticisms on his relationship with Trump. Finally, he agreed to do an interview on the condition that it was transcribed and published in full, with nothing left out. (Hence the length.) We conducted the interview over the phone, recorded on both sides. | | | What Scarborough is missing | | Media editor Alex Koppelman emails: Scarborough does have a point when he says that the criticism of his relationship with Donald Trump is really about Trump, not the relationship, which isn't so different than ways other prominent journalists have operated. But I think he misses two important caveats.
First, many younger journalists have been criticizing these kinds of practices for some time now. It's not just about the chumminess, and it's not scolds saying you can't get a drink with a potential source -- it's the sense, driven by Scarborough and Mark Halperin and Mike Allen, among others, that this has gone beyond friendships and become a circle of people treating what we all cover not as something that affects real people's lives and livelihoods, but a game among the in-crowd.
(See, for example, people breaking news about a potential major shift in U.S. nuclear weapons policy while doing a show in their pajamas.)
And it's not just some journalists who've noted this with distaste: as this past campaign showed more clearly than ever before, it's everyone else, too.
Second, arguing that criticisms of these practices are a result of bias against Donald Trump isn't actually a defense. It shouldn't take revulsion toward Trump to prompt change — but that negative feelings towards Trump are a catalyst doesn't make change unnecessary. | | "You aren't the story!" NBC's Chuck Todd said in a Monday morning tweet to the "media." His followup seemed directed straight at Scarborough: "It really stinks to watch others continue help ruin the reputation of your industry. But fighting each other about only hurts the democracy." After Scarborough responded, Todd simply posted a link to "Let It Go" on YouTube...
-- BTW: Scarborough also wrote a WashPost column about this... In it, he called himself a "Republican reporter..." | | | The final word on this... | | | From a veteran TV newser: "Joe is right about most of what he said except just one... All the other pols and their senior staff he and others dined and socialized with didn't TOTALLY trash the journalism business the way Trump has... It is galling when someone on our network or some other network -- who does what we do! -- is chummy with a President who calls us scum, totally dishonest and worse." | | | Hannity interviews Assange in person | | In-person interviews with Julian Assange are exceedingly rare. But Sean Hannity had one on Monday. He flew to London to sit down with the WikiLeaks founder inside the Ecuadorian embassy. In the interview, Assange repeated his position that "our source" for the stolen emails "is not the Russian government and it is not a state party." Assange said the Obama White House is pointing the finger at Russia to "delegitimize the Trump administration," to say that "president-elect Trump is not a legitimate President." The interview will air on Tuesday's "Hannity..."
The obvious question: When Trump said on New Year's Eve that he "knew things that other people don't know" about the hacking, and he said "you'll find out on Tuesday or Wednesday," did he know that Hannity's interview was in the works? | | | Greta close to a deal to take over MSNBC's 6pm time slot? | | | First Politico mentioned the "idea" that MSNBC could "hire Greta Van Susteren for its 6 p.m. hour..." then The Daily Caller said she's getting the time slot... now NYMag and Daily Beast contributor Yashar Hedayat is saying Greta's show will launch next Monday. Hedayat tweeted the tip on Monday afternoon. No confirmation from MSNBC... Van Susteren may not have signed on the dotted line quite yet... But a source says the news could be announced on Tuesday... | | | "Unprecedented" feedback about a book cover | | Around 12:55pm Monday, I was on CNN talking about Trump, mentioning the new edition of CNN's book about the election, "Unprecedented." I described how the famed photographer David Hume Kennerly took a portrait of the president-elect at Trump Tower two weeks after election day. Kennerly's striking shot is the cover of the new "inaugural edition" of the book...
| | Anyway, as I was describing it on TV, we accidentally showed an image of the FIRST edition of the book, which has a more traditional Kennerly shot of Trump speaking at the podium on election night. It turns out Trump did not like that cover photo. After my live shot, Trump tweeted this about the book: "Hope it does well but used worst cover photo of me!"
A Trump source confirmed that he was reacting to the original cover, not the new edition. (BTW: CNN sought access to both Trump and Hillary Clinton for portraits.) | | | "Wow, I look better there than in real life!" | | Does any of this matter? Only insofar as it shows how much Trump cares about visuals, including photos and videos of himself. Here's what Kennerly told me when I interviewed him about the portrait session:
"The deal was, they had no picture approval on the portraits. But after I'd taken two or three shots, Trump asked, can I see what you're doing? I said, 'Sure.' I'd do that for anybody. I showed him the back of the camera, and he said, 'Wow, I look better there than in real life!'"
Ed O'Keefe shared this behind the scenes pic from the portrait session: | | | I teased this feature in Sunday night's newsletter... But on Tuesday it's really coming out. An oral history of election night -- how Trump's shocking win was covered in real time -- featuring Kennerly and 20 other journalists... | | | How to see inside Trump's private parties | | CNN's Kevin Liptak and Jon Sarlin report: "Trump gave a lengthy description of his electoral victory, and lavished praise upon a Dubai business partner, during a ten-minute speech to 800 paying guests at his Florida estate Saturday night." How do they know? Because "video of the speech was provided to CNN by a person who attended the party."
The president-elect seemed to think reporters and camera crews were in the back of the ballroom. In the audio and video obtained by CNN, Trump can be heard saying "They're really garbage." But the reporters weren't there. The press pool was not brought inside Trump's party, so social media from attendees is the only way to know what was said... | | Tom Kludt writes: Incoming WH press secretary Sean Spicer was asked Monday during an interview on Fox News whether Trump planned to maintain his current Twitter account, @realDonaldTrump, or tweet from the official account, @POTUS. "I think he'll probably be tweeting from both, or whatever he chooses," Spicer said.
Spicer opined: "I know it is unbelievably frustrating to the mainstream media" that Trump can "go straight to the American people and have a conversation with them..." | | | When to use the word "lie" | | | "I'd be careful about using the word 'lie,'" WSJ EIC Gerard Baker said on Sunday's "Meet the Press," rekindling a debate about how to cover Trump's flagrant, repeated falsehoods. Dan Rather weighed in on Monday, writing on Facebook that journalists should not hide "behind semantics and euphemisms..." | | | Will Arnold top Donald's ratings? | | A reality TV star was elected to the highest office. Now a former governor is taking over for the reality TV star. It's a perfect made-for-TV story, right?
Arnold Schwarzenegger made his debut as the new "Apprentice" host on Monday night... And we'll be keeping an eye on the ratings... Just like NBC, Schwarzenegger and Trump will be. Trump's final season, back in January 2015, premiered to 6.5 million viewers... Do you think Arnold will top that #? | | | Frank is watching "The Bachelor" for the right reasons | | Frank Pallotta emails: One of the best-produced shows on TV is back. I'm talking about "The Bachelor." And I'm not kidding.
You may scoff at ABC's dating competition, but I think that mentality undervalues a show that is loved by everyone from Ellen DeGeneres to Sean Penn. (Not to mention, deconstructed by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.)
The show had a big two-hour premiere on Monday followed by a post-show special hosted by avid fan Jimmy Kimmel. It even has a fantasy league, which of course I'm a part of (congratulations on second place, everyone else I work with). So you can look down at "The Bachelor" -- or you can enjoy one of TV's best guilty pleasures. Either way, I'm here for the right reasons. | | | Blockbuster box office expectations for 2017 | | | More from Frank: The U.S. box office raked in $11.4 billion in 2016, making it the highest-earning year in movie history since, well, last year. So what about 2017? It is shaping up to be a blockbuster year. The 2015 box office had so many shattered records (everything from "Fifty Shades of Grey" to "Jurassic World") that I had my editors ask me with each story if it was an "actual record." 2017 looks to be, in true Hollywood fashion, the sequel to that huge box office year. The year is stacked with highly anticipated films like "Fifty Shades Darker," "Beauty and the Beast," "The Fate of the Furious," "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2," "Spider-Man: Homecoming," "Justice League" and of course "Star Wars: Episode VIII" in December. So while 2016 held the line, I'd bet next year will have plenty of "actual records" to write about... | | Via Chloe Melas:
-- Mariah Carey's team is in a back-and-forth battle with Dick Clark Productions over her botched NYE performance. Carey's team says they "set her up to fail" with their audio issues, but DCP is firing back, calling those accusations "absurd, outrageous and defamatory." Neither side wants to take the blame, but they keep pointing fingers...
-- Billie Lourd has broken her silence. The 24-year-old shared a touching tribute to her mother, Carrie Fisher, and grandmother, Debbie Reynolds...
-- And on a much lighter note: Britney Spears has been spending quite a bit of time with a mystery man. His name is Sam Asghari and here are five things to know about him... | | | Highlights from Sunday's "Reliable Sources" | | | | New year, new hope for Austin Tice's family | | Austin Tice's Christmas stocking was hanging on the mantle and his gifts were waiting under the tree again this year -- the fifth Christmas that Tice has been missing.
The American journalist disappeared in Syria in August 2012. But his parents Debra and Marc Tice remain optimistic that he will return home safely. "We have every reason to believe he's reasonably well," Marc told me in an interview on "Reliable Sources."
Debra said she views the Obama-to-Trump transition as "almost doubling the strength on our team." The Tices have started "reaching out" to the Trump transition team... Read more and watch the interview here... | | | Avlon: "Devaluing the idea of truth" is "incredibly dangerous" | | On Sunday's show, John Avlon and I talked about how the term "fake news" -- originally meant to describe hoax web sites that are designed to deceive people -- has been distorted and redefined by partisans.
Avlon: "People are saying, 'You know what? Let's expand that definition to anything we disagree with.' So therefore we can't possibly say what's true and what's false because everything comes with a different perspective and bias and spin. That's incredibly dangerous. That approach, which is devaluing the idea of truth, the idea of facts, that's something sinister that we need to push back on, and we do it as journalists by insisting on a fact-based debate. And we do it without apology." Watch...
-- Related and great: Craig Silverman's latest: "Here Are 50 Of The Biggest Fake News Hits On Facebook From 2016" | | At the end of Sunday's show, I asked the panel of newsroom leaders for 2017 resolutions. Their answers:
-- Until Sunday, Kathleen Carroll was the executive editor of The AP. Now, she said, she has some free time for sleep; red wine; and "the sites and publications and news organizations that I haven't been able to spend as much time consuming..."
-- NPR's Michael Oreskes talked about his plans to "devote a lot of time this year to rebuilding local journalism…"
-- Carolyn Ryan shared the NYT's institutional resolution: "Engaging with readers, wherever they are, in more conversation." | | | What do you like about this newsletter? What do you dislike? Send your feedback to reliablesources@cnn.com. | |  | | 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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