| | | | ...Or are we counting up? This weekend we found out how President Trump's First 100 Days will conclude: with a campaign-style rally to counter-program the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday night. Between now and then, here's what we'll be talking about: | | | Trump only watching Fox News now? (Hmmm) | | POTUS continues to split the media into two imaginary camps -- "fake" and real -- and in this interview with the AP's Julie Pace, he says Fox is "the most accurate," while others are unfair and inaccurate.
Trump says he's not watching two of the three cablers anymore: "I don't watch CNN anymore. I don't watch MSNBC. I don't watch it." (Do you believe him?)
More: "I never thought I had the ability to not watch... Like, people think I watch 'Morning Joe.' I don't watch 'Morning Joe...' who used to treat me great, by the way, when I played the game. I never thought I had the ability to not watch what is unpleasant, if it's about me. Or pleasant. But when I see it's such false reporting and such bad reporting and false reporting that I've developed an ability that I never thought I had. I don't watch things that are unpleasant. I just don't watch them." | | Thank you, AP, for publishing the full transcript of the interview... Here it is... | | | "Inside Trump's obsession with cable TV" | | That's the headline on this must-read WashPost piece. "Most of the televisions in the West Wing display four channels at all times — CNN, Fox, Fox Business and MSNBC," Ashley Parker and Robert Costa write.
I loved this detail: "Some White House officials... have started tuning into Fox News' 'Fox & Friends' because they know the president habitually clicks it on after waking near dawn..." | | | Telling details from Parker and Costa's piece: | | -- "Sometimes, at night, he hate-watches cable shows critical of him, while chatting on the phone with friends, said someone familiar with the president's routine..."
-- "Trump is furious" with CNN president Jeff Zucker "for what he thinks is the network's unfair coverage but admires Zucker's business bona fides and ratings growth, said a friend..."
-- "He is still in touch with Roger Ailes..."
-- "The president also likes One America News..."
-- "West Wing staffers have begun including local news clippings in his morning briefing." But Trump "remains most focused on what he sees on his flat screens, going so far as to compliment print reporters on their television appearances..." | | | "The slap and tickle approach" | | "I never bought the shtick in the first place that he hated the media," Glenn Thrush said on today's "Reliable Sources," saying Trump opts for a "slap and tickle approach..." | | Jake Tapper helms CNN's 9pm hour -- "The Lead With Jake Tapper: The First 100 Days" all week long. It's a move that was pre-planned before O'Reilly was ousted and Tucker Carlson was shifted from 9 to 8pm.
Per NYT's John Koblin, "CNN executives have been reluctant to describe Mr. Tapper's prime-time move next week as a trial run, but if he does well, it could be an opening for him to make a move..." | | | Trump's interview with "Deface the Nation" host | | Speaking with the AP, Trump said he calls John Dickerson's show "Deface the Nation." This insult came in the context of Trump bragging about giving the show a ratings boost: "It's the highest for 'Deface the Nation' since the World Trade Center. Since the World Trade Center came down. It's a tremendous advantage."
Next weekend Dickerson will tape an interview with Trump, and it'll air on Sunday, April 30 on "FACE the Nation" and Monday, May 1 on "CBS This Morning..." | | | Politico Mag's Media issue is out now! | | | Floyd Abrams' book is out Tuesday | | Title: "The Soul of the First Amendment." NYT's Jim Rutenberg sits down with Floyd Abrams and previews the new book in this Monday NYT column... | | | Media week ahead calendar | | -- Monday evening: "Tucker Carlson Tonight" moves to 8pm and "The Five" moves to 9pm
-- Tuesday: Committee to Protect Journalists releases its annual "Attacks on the Press" publication
-- Tuesday after the bell: AT&T earnings
-- Tuesday evening: The Time 100 gala
-- Wednesday before the bell: Twitter earnings
-- Saturday: #WHCD in DC and Trump's counter-programming in PA | | | Remembering Kate O'Beirne | | Kate O'Beirne, the former Washington editor of National Review and a regular on CNN's "Capital Gang," died Sunday. "She was known for her conservative positions and her biting wit," Ana Cabrera said in a tribute on CNN. "She will be missed."
"She was simply one of the most remarkable women I have ever known," wrote Jonah Goldberg. | | -- Via NBC PR: Monday on the "Today" show: "Savannah Guthrie will sit down with Thomas Demetrio, the attorney for Dr. David Dao..."
-- Dave Itzkoff goes behind he scenes with Trump impersonator/new Comedy Central host Tony Atamanuik... (NYT) | | | FOX'S PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE | | | Alisyn Camerota describes harassment by Roger Ailes | | For a long time Alisyn Camerota was reluctant to describe the dark side of working at Fox News. She respects many of her former colleagues. She has close friends who work there. But a few days ago she decided to speak with me about Roger Ailes' sexual and emotional harassment.
She said she perceives that something has changed now that Roger Ailes and Bill O'Reilly have been ousted by the Murdoch family. "If I take the Murdochs at their word, they really want to know what was wrong there and what the culture was like," she said. Watch and read the full interview here... | | "It feels like this might be the right time to just have this conversation and let some daylight in," Camerota said. Seconding what Erik Wemple wrote Sunday afternoon: The women who worked with Ailes are "telling their stories when they're ready, and all of them deserve to be heard..." | | Ailes' attorney Susan Estrich called Camerota's allegations "unsubstantiated and false." It's a variation of the same statement Estrich issued when other women came forward. The accounts from accusers have been remarkably similar. Camerota pointed out to me that Estrich wasn't in the room when she met with Ailes... | | | "He said there was no other side" | | Another important detail from the interview: After Camerota rebuffed Ailes' advance, "he changed his M.O." She said he lectured and bullied her "because he thought that I wasn't reflecting the conservative agenda." She said she would push back, arguing that her job as a journalist was to present both conservative and liberal viewpoints, but "he said 'there is no other side.' In Roger's world view, there was no other side..." | | | NYT and WashPost's weekend stories about the Murdochs | | | Notable quotes from Sunday's show | | -- NYT reporter Emily Steel: During the O'Reilly investigation, "we talked to dozens and dozens and dozens of people..."
-- But this story was politicized. Sarah Ellison: O'Reilly "is backed up by the president of the United States, Donald Trump, who defended him right after Emily's story came out..."
-- True, but the Murdochs responded to activists and advertisers. Jamia Wilson: "Economic solidarity" works. "When we work together in diverse coalitions, we can make things happen. We can win..." | | David Zurawik on the "C block" of Sunday's show: "Changing a culture of 20 years is very hard work. You cut off the head, you got rid of the new face of this culture, but there's a lot more work to be done for FOX. I really believe that. And if they stop here, they are going to have a problem." Watch Zurawik + Laura Coates here... | | | O'Reilly posting a new podcast on Monday night? | | BillOReilly.com is promoting the return of the "NO SPIN NEWS" on Monday. What's that? It's the name of O'Reilly's daily four-minute podcast for paying subscribers, so some writers assumed that O'Reilly's staff is teasing the return of the podcast. Could it be something more? Something longer than four minutes? O'Reilly's rep Mark Fabiani told me he has no further info to share...
-- The site pointedly says the "NO SPIN NEWS" will be at 7pm ET, not 8pm, the old "Factor" time slot... | | | How Fox covered the Fox story | | Brian Lowry emails: Howard Kurtz had an unenviable job seeking to acknowledge Bill O'Reilly's exit on Fox News' "MediaBuzz." The solution: Bring on two friendly-to-Fox sources (The Hill's Joe Concha, the Washington Examiner's Susan Ferrechio) and, after a bit, steer the discussion to whether other news outlets were overplaying the story because of mainstream media hostility toward the network. (The consensus, not surprisingly, was yes.)
-- Lowry adds: Kurtz also interviewed Tucker Carlson, a segment less about O'Reilly's departure than promotion for the host's shift to 8pm... | | | Approval rating remains stuck around 40% | | Eli Watkins' CNNPolitics headline about the new NBC/WSJ and ABC/WashPost polls: "Trump, Democrats and GOP all unpopular." I noted on "Reliable Sources" that folks who predicted a bump for Trump after the Syria and Afghanistan strikes were mistaken... at least it seems that way... his approval ratings didn't spike significantly... | | | About the visitor logs... | | I brought up the Trump White House decision to withhold visitor logs during this panel discussion with three White House correspondents.
The Daily Caller's Kaitlan Collins: "It is not OK. We need to know who is going into the White House and who could be potentially influencing policy."
NYT's Glenn Thrush: "This is a very leaky White House, and my suspicion is that sooner or later, they're going to cough up these logs, whether they want to or not." | | | Catch up on Sunday's "Reliable" | | Congrats to Sara Murray and Garrett Haake... the couple's wedding hashtag was #CampaignToChampagne... the revelers included Maeve Reston, Katy Tur, Tony Dokoupil, Ashley Parker, Holly Bailey, Michael Barbaro, Philip Rucker, Reid Epstein, Evan Perez, Lauren Pratapas, Rachel Streitfeld, Anthony Terrell, and many more... | | | This weekend's box office report | | "The top of this weekend's box office looks a lot like last weekend as the top three films remain the same, once again headlined by The Fate of the Furious as it closes in on $1 billion worldwide," Box Office Mojo's Brad Brevet writes. "As for the weekend's new releases, Disney's Born in China topped the list with the best start for a Disneynature title since the $10.6 million opening for 2012's Chimpanzee. Otherwise, WB's Unforgettable, Open Road's The Promise, Cinelou's Phoenix Forgotten and A24's Free Fire all under-performed..." | | | Frank Pallotta interviews Bill Nye | | ICYMI on Friday: Frank Pallotta emails: It's been more than 20 years since "Bill Nye the Science Guy" hit the airwaves, but now Nye is back with "Bill Nye Saves the World," debuting this weekend on Netflix. The host sat down with me to explain how a post-fact planet can't last.
"Science will be back. No, you guys. This is not sustainable," he said. "You can't just pretend stuff's not happening that's happening. This just won't last." Watch/read more here... | | CNN's Joe Sterling and Tony Marco report: "Popular actress Erin Moran, a mainstay on TV from the late '60s to the mid-'80s and best known for her kid-sister role in the sitcom 'Happy Days,' has died. She was 56." Read the full obituary here... | | What do you like about this newsletter? What do you dislike? Send your feedback to reliablesources@cnn.com. We appreciate every email. | |  | | 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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