| | | | President Trump is watching Fox News... peddling info from Fox... tweeting about Fox stories... giving most of his interviews to Fox... and getting support from Fox stars. He's promoting Fox as "fair" and attacking its rivals as "fake." He's working with former Fox staffers. And now he's dealing with an international incident provoked by a Fox commentator.
That's what we're witnessing. A presidency shaped by Fox News. Do you like what you see? | | | Trump's media literacy skills | | This is ultimately about the president's sources of info. What he believes and why. As RCP's Rebecca Berg said on "The Situation Room" Friday evening: "It seems like Donald Trump... listens to Fox News and other cable news shows as if they were his advisers." | | | This is a big moment for Fox... | | So this edition of the newsletter will take you through it step by step. At issue: Whether Fox's top judicial analyst, Judge Andrew Napolitano, was right when he said, citing anonymous sources, that Obama used the British to spy on Trump.
Here's the short version of the story: Monday, Napolitano brought up the theory on the air. Tuesday, he reported it as fact. Thursday afternoon, Sean Spicer repeated it from the White House podium. Thursday evening, British officials expressed outrage and denied the explosive charge. Friday, Trump was asked about it at his joint presser. He said the reporter should talk to Fox... | | | Here's where it gets really interesting | | | What's Rupert Murdoch thinking right now? | | A London emailer points out that Rupert Murdoch's American network has ticked off the Brits at an inopportune time for 21st Century Fox:
"Murdoch must be seething. His U.S. network Fox is the root of the Trump/Spicer GCHQ accusations and as a result the anger from PM's office No.10 – just as the British regulator Ofcom has decided it will review Murdoch $$ billion bid for a bigger slice of UK broadcaster SKY. You can't make this stuff up, although I'm sure Murdoch wishes it was made up..." | | | What Murdoch's UK tabloid says | | In Saturday's edition of The Sun: "Russia is 'behind' the White House's wild claim that GCHQ tapped Donald Trump's office, say top spies" | | | Napolitano "stands by his report," but Fox does not | | At the presser, Trump basically said "what's the big deal?" when asked about Spicer's briefing room behavior.
"All we did was quote a certain very talented legal mind... That was a statement made by a very talented lawyer on Fox... You shouldn't be talking to me, you should be talking to Fox. Ok?"
Ok! Fox told me Napolitano "stands by his report." But a few minutes later, Shep Smith said "Fox News cannot confirm Judge Napolitano's commentary."
So was it a "report" or was it commentary? There's a big difference between news and commentary about the news. Fox's blurry lines are partly to blame for this... | | | Here's what Napolitano "reported" | | On at least three occasions, Napolitano cited Fox News "sources," giving his claim the imprimatur of the network as a whole.
12pm Monday: on an opinion show, "Outnumbered," he said "Fox News has spoken to intelligence community members who believe that surveillance did occur, that it was done by British intelligence." Key word: "Believe."
7pm Monday: on Fox's 7 p.m. newscast "The First 100 Days," he said "sources have told Fox that if then-Mr. Donald Trump" was surveilled, "it was done by a foreign intelligence entity," specifically the British. Key word: "If."
6:45am Tuesday: on the opinion show "Fox & Friends," Napolitano said "three intelligence sources have informed Fox News that President Obama went outside the chain of command... he used GCHQ... the British spying agency." | | So the judge made the remarks on Fox opinion shows as well as a Fox newscast. He consistently backed up his assertions by saying the information was coming from Fox News sources. Did anyone at Fox vet those sources ahead of time? Did anyone at Fox know the names of the sources, approve the use of the anonymous sourcing, etc? I've asked... I haven't gotten any answers... Here's my full story... | | | What Fox's news division is saying now | | Shep Smith could not have been more clear on Friday: "Fox News knows of no evidence of any kind that the now-President of the United States was surveilled at any time in any way. Full stop." Bret Baier, too, said "we love" the judge, but "the Fox News division was never able to back up those claims" and it "was never reported on this show." It WAS reported on Martha MacCallum's show. She handed off to Trace Gallagher, who then told her, "For the record, the news division here at Fox News has not independently verified any claims involving GCHQ, Trump Tower or the Obama administration." (So why didn't MacCallum tell viewers that on Tuesday?) | | | No comment from the judge... | | But NYT's Michael Grynbaum has this in his Saturday story: Larry C. Johnson, "a former intelligence officer best known for spreading a hoax about Michelle Obama," said "in a telephone interview that Mr. Napolitano called him on Friday and requested that he speak to The New York Times. Mr. Johnson said he was one of the sources for Mr. Napolitano's claim about British intelligence." BUT Johnson says he, in turn, heard the underlying claim from OTHER sources! Le sigh... | | This Napolitano assertion gave the president a boost -- a boost he needed because there's been no back-up for his "Obama had my 'wires tapped' in Trump Tower" tweet.
What were Trump's tweets in the first place? They were a reaction to investigations and news stories about his campaign's connections to Russia.
So it all comes back to Russia... and to Obama. "Wiretapping" is ultimately about saying "it's Obama's fault," a message that Trump loyalists hear loud and clear.
"In fact, the contours of his recent Obama fixation have much in common with birtherism," CNN's Nia-Malika Henderson wrote Friday. "With his wiretapping claims, Trump once again positions himself as the great unmasker of Obama, a fraudulent figure who isn't who he says he is -- or so the theory goes. For Trump's base, Obama is the ready-made villain, now recast as the embodiment of the 'deep state...'" | | | What media types are saying about it | | >> Don Lemon: "Just when you thought it couldn't get it worse..."
>> Chris Matthews: "Anything SNL can do, Donald Trump proved this afternoon he can do worse..."
>> NYU's Jay Rosen, after quoting Spicer saying "I don't think we regret anything:" "White House to the rest of the world: we don't care if what we're saying is true. So stop asking us about that..."
>> Chuck Todd: "This administration is struggling from a crisis of credibility..."
>> Maggie Haberman on "AC360:" "These are crises of their own making..."
>> Carl Bernstein an hour later: "The real story is, the president of the United States is a compulsive liar..." | | "In a fevered effort to try and force this outlandish claim into something remotely resembling – passably, perhaps, maybe – the truth, the White House appears willing to actually repeat another wild accusation that potentially could alienate our nation's most important ally. Does smearing British intelligence make your family more safe? No? So why is the White House doing it? What is the White House defending here? Because it damn sure isn't national security or American credibility before the world."
--Jake Tapper on Friday's "The Lead..." | | | Sunday on "Reliable Sources" | | PBS CEO Paula Kerger, WSJ's Bret Stephens, HuffPost EIC Lydia Polgreen, Observer EIC Ken Kurson, NPR's David Folkenflik, and Recode's Kara Swisher will all join me... Along with Chris Arnade, a Wall Street trader turned Guardian contributor who's been documenting Trump voters' fears, pains, hopes, and dreams through photos, columns and Twitter stories... I've been wanting to have Arnade on the program for a few months. Sunday is the day. Join us! 11am ET on CNN... | | It had to be this one... In NYT public editor Liz Spayd's blog post... "An earlier version of this column misstated Bow Wow's relationship to Snoop Dogg." The rest of the column generated a lot of controversy, as The Daily Beast's Ben Collins explains here. He says Spayd has an "alt-right blindspot..." | | | Brazile admits she shared Q's with the Clinton campaign | | In a new column for Time mag, ex-DNC chair and ex-CNN commentator Donna Brazile admits (for the first time so explicitly) that she did "share potential town hall topics with the Clinton campaign."
Brazile: "I helped ensure those events included diverse moderators and addressed topics vital to minority communities. My job was to make all our Democratic candidates look good, and I worked closely with both campaigns to make that happen. But sending those emails was a mistake I will forever regret."
She does not specify how she obtained the potential Q's. When her emails were exposed by Wikileaks last October, it was a huge embarrassment for CNN. Brazile resigned from the network under pressure. CNN said the network's staffers "never gave Brazile access to any questions, prep material, attendee list, background information or meetings in advance of a town hall or debate." What's new, in the column, is Brazile's expression of regret... | | | Now back to the top story, the "Fox News president..." | | | Five of eight TV interviews since January 20 | | Frank Pallotta crunched the #'s: "Since taking office on January 20, Trump has given five sit-down TV interviews with Fox News hosts." The fifth, with Jesse Watters, will air on Saturday. He's only given three other TV interviews: one to ABC, one to the Christian Broadcasting Network, and one to NBC. And the NBC interview was a short stand-up chat. So Fox has had 5 of the 8. Details here... | | | Preferential treatment for Fox at the DMZ | | Dylan Byers emails: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson invited Fox News to cover his meeting at the Korean Demilitarized Zone, on the North-South Korea border, but denied access to the network press pool. This is the latest in the Trump administration's efforts to control news coverage by giving preferential access to favorable outlets -- a move critics say is dangerously reminiscent of state-controlled media... | | As we noted earlier this week, Tillerson only allowed one reporter on board his plane... IJR's Erin McPike... who still hasn't filed any stories from the trip. Was this part of the deal with the State Department? I talked with McPike via Twitter DM, and she said "there was absolutely no agreement with State" to forgo daily writing or reporting. "I am also not the pool reporter. I'm doing a longer piece."
As for why she hasn't been tweeting about the trip, despite her unique access, she said IJR CEO Alex Skatell "specifically told me not to tweet and to concentrate on writing a great piece."
"And I think it's just important to note that a news organization is allowed to make a call to write a long form piece. That was the decision that was made," she said. "Magazines do it and no one questions them. I don't think it's appropriate for people to tell me how to do the job."
McPike (who used to work at CNN) also pushed back on the idea that she had exclusive insight into Tillerson's whereabouts. And she said she prizes objectivity and fairness: "I completely reject the state-run media charge" leveled by some observers. | | | Pence adviser is an investor in IJR | | BuzzFeed's Steven Perlberg scoops: One of VP Pence's "top political advisers," Nick Ayers, "is a major investor" in IJR. But "there's no indication that Ayers was involved in this week's controversial State Department decision" to give McPike the sole press seat on the plane...
Perlberg calls Ayers' investment in IJR "another example of close ties between Trump's orbit and a favored media outlet..." | | -- By Theodore Schleifer: "TV ads in West Palm Beach aim for an audience of one..." (CNN)
-- "Dallas FBI agents on Friday arrested a man they believe sent a strobe-like tweet to Newsweek journalist Kurt Eichenwald with the intention of triggering his epilepsy..." (NY Daily News)
-- Jake Tapper is the Los Angeles Press Club's 2017 Presidents Awardee for Impact on Media... (L.A. Press Club)
-- "Who files the most FOIA requests? It's not who you think..." (CJR) | | | Strong start for March Madness | | Brian Lowry emails: They shoot, they score: Per CBS and Turner Sports, ratings for the opening day of NCAA Tournament coverage were up 5% versus last year. Live video starts were also up 19%... | | | Disney's blockbuster formula for rebooting tales as old as time | | Frank Pallotta emails: As "Beauty and the Beast" waltzes into theaters this weekend, the live-action take on the 1991 animated classic is looking rosy for Disney. The film is the next in line of the company's live action reboots of its animation classics and looks to nab a big opening weekend in the range of $140 million (even though I think that number is an undersell). I spoke with Sean Bailey, president of Walt Disney Studios motion picture production, about the company's strategy of adapting its animated classics for contemporary audiences, and he told me it can be traced back to Walt himself.
"We looked a lot at what Walt did," he told me. "Walt took these beautiful, timeless stories he knew had lasting relevance, and he then sort of applied the sensibilities of his times." Read more... | | | Lowry checks out Amazon's latest pilots | | Brian Lowry emails: Amazon's "pilot season" kicks off again today, offering five new pilots, and giving viewers the opportunity to weigh in on which ones they would like to become series. (Had always thought making those decisions was what executives were for, but never mind.)
It's a fairly undistinguished, forgettable bunch, with the most promising being "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel." Created by "The Gilmore Girls'" Amy Sherman-Palladino, and set in 1958, it's about a Jewish housewife who, through a series of twists, decides to try her hand at becoming a stand-up comic... | | | Lots of swings but few if any "hits" | | More from Brian Lowry: THR pulled together what, piecemeal, has been pretty obvious — namely, despite 17 new shows, the broadcast networks haven't launched anything during this calendar year, with the possible exception of NBC's latest "Chicago" show, that appears to have legs... | | | No new "SNL" this weekend... | | | For your weekend podcast queue | | Megan Thomas emails: Interesting podcast discussion from Variety featuring Samantha Bee and "Full Frontal" showrunner Jo Miller. (They had some nice things to say about a few of our cable news colleagues...) | | | For the record, part three | | | What do you like about this newsletter? What do you dislike? Send your feedback to reliablesources@cnn.com. We appreciate every email. See you Sunday... | |  | | 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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