| | | | | "Most important political story of the year." | | That's how Bill O'Reilly framed Neil Gorsuch's nomination to the Supreme Court while recapping Tuesday's hearing... | | I'm curious to see the cable news #'s for Tuesday's coverage. Fox's Greg Gutfeld seemed to think it was boring... On "The Five," he teased analysis of the hearing and joked, "I know, you can hardly wait, right? Eh? Eh? He reminds me of Tom Bergeron from 'Dancing with the Stars.' Slightly less exciting."
But others were glued to the tube! WSJ columnist Daniel Henninger tweeted: "Gorsuch is absolutely mesmerizing and great TV." David Martosko: "I may be crazy to write this, but the Gorsuch hearing today is the most thoughtful TV I've seen in a long time. There's teaching going on." | | | Chris Matthews says "vote nay on Gorsuch" | | Even by Chris Matthews standards, this was an unusually intense commentary:
"It's not about Trump's pick, it's about President Obama's pick, the one Mitch McConnell and his bunch decided did not even deserve a vote, did not even deserve a hearing... Just like McConnell decided in 2008 he was going to destroy the Obama presidency at the get-go... This brand of bad politics has to stop. Since the Republicans aren't going to stop it, the Democrats have to..."
Matthews' bottom line: "It's not his turn. It's Merrick Garland's turn. And everyone knows it. Vote nay on Gorsuch, demand the 60 votes and don't give them to Trump. It's not this guy's turn, it's not his guy's turn and all the charm and dancing and Mr. Nice Guy is not going to change it..." | | | "Open mind" about Supreme Court cameras | | CNN's Ashley Killough reports: Gorsuch said Tuesday "he approaches the question of allowing cameras in the Supreme Court with an 'open mind,' but said he has not given the idea much thought and would like to hear all the arguments." Greta Van Susteren reacted on Twitter: "He said not thought about it. Really??? Not think about it?"
Amy Klobuchar asked the cameras Q... She's one of the lawmakers pressing for cameras in the courtroom... without success so far. Read Killough's full story about the issue...
-- Advocacy group Fix the Court, which wants cams: Gorsuch's answers, "signaling an openness to reform, closely mirror what every recent nominee has said..." | | | "Venturing into Baghdad Bob territory" | | "Spinning has its limits," and Sean Spicer has passed the limit, Dylan Byers writes in his latest story. Spicer "has lost his credibility."
Key graf: "This week, White House reporters and journalists who had previously defended Spicer's credibility in interviews with CNN said Spicer had sacrificed that credibility by insinuating that former President Obama had used British intelligence to spy on Trump, and by stating that Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort had a 'very limited role' in Trump's campaign. 'He's venturing into Baghdad Bob territory,' one White House reporter said..." Read more... | | | About that Manafort misfire | | On Monday, Spicer said Manafort had a "very limited role" in the campaign "for a very limited amount of time." Untrue. On Tuesday, Spicer told Byers: "I probably should've focused more on the time he was there than the role he played." | | | "Radio silence from President Trump on wiretap claims" | | That was the banner on "AC360" during Jeff Zeleny's segment. "The White House says they are standing by it, the president is standing by it, but if that's true, he's not standing by it very loudly," Zeleny told Anderson Cooper... "We'll see if he ever explains what he was talking about... The question here is about his credibility..." | | | Kicking the can down the road | | REPORTER AT TUESDAY'S BRIEFING: "Can we expect the president to, this week, present evidence he was wiretapped by Barack Obama or will he speak about it? Because he didn't mention it last night in his rally."
SPICER: "Right. Well, let's see how the week goes." | | | Haberman and Thrush's latest must-read | | "Within the White House, aides describe a nearly paralytic inability to tell Mr. Trump that he has erred or gone too far on Twitter," according to the NYT duo... | | -- A must read by Oliver Darcy: "Inside the identity crisis at the Independent Journal Review." He reveals that three staffers have been suspended over an irresponsible post last week... (BI)
-- Erin McPike's profile of Rex Tillerson came out Tuesday night. Earlier, McPike to Lloyd Grove: "I didn't know I was going to be maligned…as an enemy of the press corps..." (The Daily Beast)
-- "Fox News viewership dropped significantly when the network cut away mid-way" through the House intel proceedings on Monday, "while MSNBC and CNN, who continued their coverage, each saw a slight increase..." (TheWrap)
-- "Fox & Friends" wrongly told viewers that "you didn't miss much" at the hearing. CNN's Jake Tapper corrected the show... (The Hill) | | No new updates on Andrew Napolitano's status on Tuesday. He remained off the air... benched by Fox News... although he is not officially being "suspended." Bret Baier answered a concerned tweeter on Tuesday: "He has not been let go." | | VF's Sarah Ellison, in her latest piece about Fox and NBC, quotes a Fox insider: "The key thing Judge Napolitano did was to say 'Fox News is reporting that . . .' and he can't say that... That breaks the trust, and you saw what it cost him... He is not a reporter and knows he's not a reporter... It's a disaster. It's a nightmare." | | "Politics are being waged as infotainment — and all too often, mis-infotainment..."
--NYT's Jim Rutenberg in his second Mediator column of the week. It's about the Crooked Media podcasters... | | | Rick Knabb returning to The Weather Channel | | "Rick Knabb, director of the National Hurricane Center since the season of Isaac and superstorm Sandy in 2012, is leaving just before the 2017 season cranks up to become an on-air hurricane expert at the Weather Channel," the Miami Herald's Linda Robertson reports. Knabb was the channel's on-air tropical weather expert when he was tapped to lead the center in 2012. So now he's heading back... | | Congressmen who support the Corporation for Public Broadcasting are organizing opposition to Trump's proposed budget cut. BI's Maxwell Tani spoke with some station operators who are lobbying lawmakers. And Variety's Cynthia Littleton interviewed someone I wish I'd called -- Becky Magura, station manager at WCTE in Cookeville, Tennessee, the only local station "in the Appalachian region known as Upper Cumberland." For a real look at the stakes of this $$$ fight, check this out... | | -- "Pinterest, which makes all of its money from advertising, is targeting more than $500 million in revenue in 2017," Kurt Wagner reports. He also says people close to the company "believe Pinterest is on the path to an IPO..." (Recode)
-- "Advertising Age has named Brian Braiker its next editor, succeeding Ken Wheaton, who left at the end of December..." (AdAge)
-- THR's Joe Del Bruno is jumping to Variety... he'll become managing editor next month... (Variety)
-- "Anna Wintour will soon be planning a wedding. Her daughter Bee Shaffer is engaged to Francesco Carrozzini, the son of late Vogue Italia editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani..." (Page Six) | | | How much channels cost on a per-viewer basis | | Quoting from the WSJ story: "The easiest targets are channels whose slice of the cable bill is disproportionate to their actual viewership. The WSJ analyzed financial and viewership information for more than 100 TV networks, based on data from media-measurement specialist Nielsen and research firm Kagan, and ranked them on their cost relative to their actual viewership. The data showed that channels with tiny audiences, including Fox Sports 2—which airs reruns of extreme sports—MTV Classic, Chiller, Discovery Family Channel, Centric, ESPNU and Golf Channel, cost more on a per-viewer basis than well-known channels like CNN and HGTV..." | | | More writers are working, but they're making less $$, here's why | | Brian Lowry emails: 'Peak TV' Problems? Hollywood guilds usually worry that new technologies will land them getting the short end of the stick in labor negotiations, with some justification. In the past, they've seemingly left money on the table in the early days of videocassettes/DVDs and streaming. THR, however, has an interesting take on Writers Guild of America contract talks that center on a shift in the way TV is produced – namely, that writers are making less because, while there are more shows, channels are making fewer episodes of series.
Shorter orders led to a drop from an average 18.8 episodes per program in 2011-12 to 13.2 episodes three years later. In other words, more writers are working, but individually they're apt to be making less – not a huge deal for high-paid showrunners, perhaps, but significant further down the food chain... | | | History's new "annual scripted TV event" about presidents | | Sandra Gonzalez emails: History announced Tuesday that it is developing a "new annual scripted television event" that will dramatize key moments in history through the POV of various presidents called "The Commanders."
Stories they're looking to explore include those of Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Theodore Roosevelt, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. My take? I wonder why History didn't just go all-in and call this "American President's Story: Thanks, FX." | | | Seven straight weeks for Colbert | | Megan Thomas emails: "Late Show" is continuing its winning streak... Stephen Colbert's show has been the most watched in late night for seven consecutive weeks. (Fallon still winning in the demo, however...) | | | For the record, part three | | | -- Snapchat has deals with major networks, and now it is "getting into business with entertainment studios as well," starting with MGM Television... (AdWeek)
-- How about $30? Is that the right price point for movie rentals 30-45 days after theatrical premieres? (Variety)
-- A&E is bringing "Biography" back... (Variety)
-- Chloe Melas emails: The Anne Frank Center is demanding an apology from actor Tim Allen for comparing being a conservative in Hollywood to Nazi Germany... | | | Aging stars still face hurdles on ad-supported networks | | Brian Lowry emails: Not many TV shows star actresses are eligible for Social Security, so the return of "Grace and Frankie," coupled with "Feud: Bette and Joan," feels like progress. But ratings data for the latter (which skews 12 years older than other FX dramas) underscores why such shows generally gravitate toward pay platforms like Netflix or HBO, as opposed to ad-supported networks... Read Lowry's full story here... | | | "The Flash," musical edition | | More from Sandra: A tune-in alert for anyone with a weakness for TV musical episodes: The CW is airing a great episode of "The Flash" Tuesday night that builds upon the foundation set by "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"'s iconic hour "Once More, with Feeling." I've screened it and found it delightful. Bonus: "La La Land" songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul penned a number for it that made me a little misty. Check it out through on-demand, if you're inclined... | | | For the record, part four | | | 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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