| | | | Hello from LAX... I'm out west for the next week... but the action is in DC right now... | | President Trump says #PassTheBill. But the House GOP didn't get it done on Thursday. There are lots of losers in this scenario... right now, though, the cable newsers and news web site owners are winners... with so much intense interest in what's going on...
CNN's Dana Bash emails me from the Capitol: "We have seen this movie before. The scramble. The sweaty brows. The GOP leadership handwringing that they can't get their most conservative members on board. But there weren't supposed to be any more sequels to this movie now that Trump is president. Yet the franchise continues..." | | More from Dana Bash, who emailed this at 6:15pm ET: "What is really fascinating is standing in the hallway right now with Steve Bannon -- who ran a web site egging on the conservative hell no caucus -- now meeting with them trying to get them to yes..." | | Breitbart is giving prominent placement to polls saying "Ryancare" is "even more unpopular than Obamacare and Hillarycare..." | | | How the nightly newsers covered it | | >> Tom Llamas in for David Muir: "No deal on health care... chaos on Capitol Hill..."
>> Scott Pelley: "Mr. Trump, whose self-promotion as a negotiator was chronicled in his book 'The Art of the Deal,' has so far not had the political skill or capital to move the members of his own party..."
>> Lester Holt: "Trump and House Republicans blinked at the last minute... To call this day dramatic would be an understatement..." | | | This week's "Reliable" Livecast: Chris Arnade | | Chris Arnade, a Wall Street trader in a former life, now calls himself "a guy with a car and a camera." He crisscrosses the country, talking with ordinary people and taking pictures and telling stories via Twitter and The Guardian.
I caught up with him while he was in NYC this week... before his next road trip... and we talked about his "front row/back row" theory, "creeping elitism" in media, and his plans to write a book. Check out the podcast of our conversation here... | | | Now it's more than "just two cats fighting in a bag" | | An important point Arnade made on the podcast: "People in the media are much more aware of politics than voters are. For a lot of voters, it's just two cats fighting in a bag off in a corner somewhere."
Arnade's impression is that Trump has benefited from the yelling and fighting... until now... "where I've seen him go wrong is on health care. That's something that really impacts people's lives, especially in the communities I go... I think it's the first time that people who I call his 'hardcore base' have really started saying, 'Wow, maybe this guy isn't really entirely for me.'" | | | Three big media biz news stories --> | | | Iger now stepping down in 2019 | | Dylan Byers reports: Disney is once again extending CEO Bob Iger's contract, highlighting the absence of an obvious successor to one of the most powerful men in media and entertainment. Iger, 66, has extended his contract from June 2018 to July 2, 2019...
-- Remember: Iger had originally planned to step down as Disney CEO in 2015, but has repeatedly extended his contract since then...
-- On Thursday Iger remarked: "I'm serious this time around..." | | | Comcast scooping up nationwide rights for channels | | Bloomberg's Gerry Smith scoops: Comcast has "acquired rights from cable network owners to offer their channels nationwide, according to people familiar with the negotiations..." so if Sling, Vue, DirecTV Now, etc. catch on in a big way, Comcast will be ready.
But "for now at least, Comcast has no plans to offer a video service nationwide because it still sees opportunity to gain cable-TV subscribers in its footprint..." Read more... | | | Who will win Thursday NFL streaming rights? | | "The NFL is selling the rights to stream its 'Thursday Night Football' games next season, and at least four big tech companies are interested," Kurt Wagner reports. "Facebook, Amazon, Twitter and Google's YouTube have all submitted proposals to the NFL in the hope of streaming the games, according to two sources familiar with the process." These are the same bidders as last year... though "it's possible others have also submitted proposals..." a decision is expected "within the next month..." | | -- Three of ABC News's Twitter accounts were hacked Thursday morning, "sending out profanity-filled tweets to its millions of followers..." ABC said that it "resolved the issue quickly..." (The AP)
-- Jay Z and the Weinstein Company "are partnering on an ambitious series of film and TV projects about Trayvon Martin..." a six-part docu-series and a narrative feature film... (Variety)
-- "FBI agents posed as documentary filmmakers to talk to militia members during an armed standoff in the Nevada desert, then used the recorded interviews against two men now on trial in federal court..." (BuzzFeed)
-- WSJ's Lukas Alpert has an update on the showdown over Tronc... (WSJ) | | Michael Scherer wanted an interview with Trump for this week's Time magazine cover story about the president's relationship with the truth. White House aides tried to make it happen on Tuesday... no luck... again Wednesday morning... and they were eventually able to connect on Wednesday afternoon. Time published the transcript on Thursday morning, and it was really a stunner. If you haven't read it yet, click here.
For one thing, the interview about falsehoods was full of new falsehoods from the president. Here's my story all about that...
-- Scherer on CNN's "New Day:" Trump's misstatements and distortions "are incredibly viral..." Let's acknowledge that "it has actually been quite successful..." | | | Sunday on "Reliable Sources:" Nancy Gibbs | | Time's EIC will join me... along with Carl Bernstein, John Phillips, and more... | | A notable graf in this WSJ story about Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes: Theranos has reached an agreement "to buy back the shares purchased in early 2015 by Rupert Murdoch for about $125 million, people familiar with the matter said... Under the terms of that deal, Theranos agreed to pay Mr. Murdoch a nominal amount equal to a tiny fraction of the original purchase price, the people said. One person familiar with the matter said the amount was just $1." | | -- NowThis is investing "in longform video, investigative journalism, and other original content," Ricardo Bilton reports... (NiemanLab)
-- "The Bridges of Manhattan County:" An ode to NYC's "cinematic overpasses" by AMC CEO Josh Sapan... (Observer)
-- Interesting quote from a sports network exec to Ryan Glasspiegel: "I believe that password-sharing is proving to be at least as impactful as cord-cutting, if not more..." (The Big Lead)
-- Correction: Yesterday I said Libby Leist has been promoted at ESPN... but obviously I meant Libby Geist! (THR) | | | More NBC News branding on MSNBC | | What eagle-eyed viewers have noticed: "Since Saturday, MSNBC has featured the NBC News logo more prominently on its air, such as when MSNBC programs break for commercials, and on the primary set for the network's daytime programs," Variety's Brian Steinberg writes. A spokesman says "this is just one more way to communicate to viewers that we are one news organization..." | | "Nunes's claims appear increasingly baseless, but truth isn't the goal. The goal is a Trumpian alternative reality."
--Trump critic Evan McMullin in a tweet, linking to this ABC News story, "Intel chair Devin Nunes unsure if Trump associates were directly surveilled..." | | Megan Thomas emails: Graydon Carter's latest searing letter won't make Trump critics laugh: "The Trump presidency is already a joke."
"Trump may be a joke, but the chaos and destructive forces around him are not. If he can cause this much havoc during his first few months in office, imagine what the country and the world will look like at the end of four years," Carter writes... | | | Another Fox Newser joining the administration? | | Robert Costa tweets: "Trump wants to bring John Bolton into the administration. That's why Bolton is at the WH today, per a Trump confidant. Ongoing convo." Bolton is a Fox News contributor... perhaps this will be another example of the Fox News presidency? | | Sandra Gonzalez emails: I attended a panel with James Corden on Wednesday as part of PaleyFest here in L.A. and aside from being a really great conversation, he also spilled a bit on what his plans HAD been if Donald Trump had stopped by "The Late Late Show" during the campaign. His idea? To have Trump play a game called "Stand By It or Take it Back" that would give him a chance to defend his statements on the campaign trail or "take it back forever."
Corden also defended the criticism flung at Jimmy Fallon over his interview with Trump. "I felt like it was really unfair because I don't think anyone asked him the right questions [at the time]," Corden said. "I don't think anyone who had him on his shows took him to task or asked him the questions that needed to be [asked]." My full report here... | | Brian Lowry emails: Providing grist for its annual stability theme at the upfront presentations, CBS announced renewals on Thursday on 18 of its primetime series. There weren't many surprises on the list, although it's notable that the returnees will include five first-year shows: "MacGyver, "Bull," and the sitcoms "Kevin Can Wait," "Man With a Plan" and "Superior Donuts." The lineup also features all three versions of "NCIS" and the recently announced two-year deal on the network's top-rated show, "The Big Bang Theory..." | | | Lisa inside writers' rooms | | Lisa France emails: Ever wonder how your favorite sitcom manages to be so funny and feel so real? I went into the writers' rooms of three hot sitcoms, "Black-ish," "Insecure" and "Fresh Off The Boat," to learn their secrets and tricks of the trade. Pro-tip: Your day to day is funnier than you think... | | | Lowry reviews "Power Rangers" | | Brian Lowry emails: The obvious part of the new "Power Rangers" movie is the attempt to turn another old children's show into a "Transformers"-like blockbuster franchise. But the history is actually a bit more interesting than that, given that Haim Saban parlayed the fortune he earned producing the show into a partnership with Fox Family Channel and subsequent $5.2-billion sale of that network to Disney. (The studio soon realized it had overpaid for the property, so much so that Fox knocked $100 million off the final price.)
That series of deals — detailed in a good profile by the LAT's Meg James — helped transform Saban into a billionaire, one who has used his political influence to support Democratic candidates and causes... | | Sandra Gonzalez emails: Deadline reports that THR is on the road to settling a class-action lawsuit that alleged the publication was using independent contractors like full-time employees, in attempt to get out of providing the benefits given to official staffers. A judge has approved a $900,000 settlement. The suit was brought against THR by 35 contributors nearly three years ago... | | | For the record, part three | | | -- Lisa France writes: It's not a good time for Netflix and Asian-adapted projects these days. On the heels of the streaming giant facing charges of "whitewashing" by casting a white actor to play a martial arts expert in "Iron Fist," a new controversy has emerged. "Death Note," a Netflix film based on a Japanese manga series, quickly drew social media backlash for the same thing when its trailer debuted...
-- Megan Thomas emails: On Instagram, director Barry Jenkins shared a surprising response to finding a bootleg copy of his Oscar-winning film "Moonlight..."
-- More from Lisa: What you don't want to do is... tell Nancy Kerrigan to "break a leg" on "Dancing With the Stars." Kristi Yamaguchi learned that the hard way. It's just one more instance of what has been an interesting start to the new season, including "Handgate" and William Shatner's vendetta against "The Bachelor," Nick Viall. Seriously, that's a thing... | | | Brett Ratner thinks Rotten Tomatoes is 'the destruction of our business' | | Brett Ratner, whose company co-financed "Batman vs. Superman" and many other movies, quoted in EW:
"The worst thing that we have in today's movie culture is Rotten Tomatoes. I think it's the destruction of our business. I have such respect and admiration for film criticism. When I was growing up film criticism was a real art. And there was intellect that went into that. And you would read Pauline Kael's reviews, or some others, and that doesn't exist anymore. Now it's about a number. A compounded number of how many positives vs. negatives. Now it's about, 'What's your Rotten Tomatoes score?' And that's sad, because the Rotten Tomatoes score was so low on Batman v Superman I think it put a cloud over a movie that was incredibly successful." | | What do you like about this newsletter? What do you dislike? Send your feedback to reliablesources@cnn.com. We appreciate every email. 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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