| | | | | Not only are all the major networks going to carry James Comey's testimony live at 10am ET on Thursday... they're announcing the coverage plans several days ahead of time. NBC is the only broadcast network that has yet to confirm its plans, but live coverage is a certainty. George Stephanopoulos will anchor on ABC. Norah O'Donnell, Gayle King and Charlie Rose will anchor on CBS. Shep Smith will anchor on the Fox broadcast network. All the cablers will be live, of course, with special reports starting at 9am. CNN started running a countdown clock on Monday AM. This will be a day-and-night-long event: Fox News says Tucker Carlson and Bret Baier will have special live editions of their shows Thursday at 11pm and midnight ET respectively... | | NYT SAYS THIS IS "FIRST LEAK CASE OF THE TRUMP ERA:" | | Someone sent The Intercept a genuine, classified NSA report about a 2016 Russian military intelligence cyberattack on a U.S. voting software supplier. One hour after The Intercept published its story on Monday, the Justice Department announced charges against the woman who it says is responsible for the leak -- Reality Leigh Winner, 25, a contractor with Pluribus International Corporation in Georgia. Winner is accused of "removing classified material from a government facility and mailing it to a news outlet" and she is facing up to 10 years in prison.
Per CNN's report, "prosecutors say when confronted with the allegations, Winner admitted to intentionally leaking the classified document." She was arrested on Saturday. From what we know so far, both the alleged leaker and the news outlet did things that made it easier for the government to tag her as the source...
-- From a DC emailer: "The fact that the NSA saw the document, and saw it a crease on it, helped them determine it had been printed... If the Intercept had simply reported the info and the NSA hadn't known they had a document, it likely would have been harder to find the leaker..." | | Proper use of the Espionage Act? | | USA Today's Brad Heath tweeted that it's "easy to view arrest of The Intercept's source as the first salvo in a Trump admin. war on leaks," but "I suspect Obama DOJ would've done it too." I think that's 100% accurate. CNN contributor Steve Vladeck also agreed: "Whatever the public interest in the leaked information, this is a 793(e) prosecution any recent DOJ would've brought..."
Still, I hope there's a public debate about whether this is a proper use of the Espionage Act. This is "a 100-year-old statute intended for use against spies and saboteurs working on behalf of foreign governments," Peter Sterne of the Freedom of the Press Foundation told Poynter. "Yes, it is illegal, but there IS a public value to getting access to some classified information," Jeffrey Toobin said on CNN... | | The Intercept's reaction to the arrest | | | Statement: "The NSA document was provided to us anonymously. The Intercept has no knowledge of the identity of the source." | | -- NYT natsec reporter Adam Goldman: "This leak arrest has huge implications. Signals Sessions/Rosenstein are going to carry out Trump's marching orders and imprison leakers."
-- Author Kim Zetter: "The story of the leaker and how she was caught is important, but the leaked information about Russian hacking is more important."
-- Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski: "If you leak, you will be caught!" | | CNN tells Donald Trump Jr.: "This is absolute nonsense. You are misleading your followers." | | I mentioned on Sunday night that pro-Trump/anti-media commentators were wrongly claiming that CNN "staged" a pro-Muslim live shot in London. The claims spun even more out of control on Monday. One of the president's sons, Donald Trump Jr., fell for it -- he shared a link to an inaccurate Gateway Pundit story and wrote "Not at all surprising at this point. They create the narrative they want to push & sell it at all costs."
CNN PR responded to his tweet: "This is absolute nonsense. You are misleading your followers. CNN didn't stage a demonstration. Those are the facts."
--> Snopes concluded that these "staged protest" claims were a "politically motivated mischaracterization of what occurred..." | | Spicer back at the podium on Tuesday | | | Dylan Byers emails: Once again, for the umpteenth time, Sean Spicer isn't going anywhere. The White House has long talked about having Sarah Huckabee Sanders do more of these briefings to give Spicer more time to work on the other responsibilities of being a press secretary/comms director, and that's what happened on Monday. Spicer will brief Tuesday, on-camera at 2pm ET, the White House confirms... | | Another day full of Q's about Trump's tweets | | At Monday's briefing Sanders fielded Q's about the president's latest, greatest barrage of tweets. She blamed the media for, in effect, caring too much. "I think that the media obsesses over every period, dot" of the tweets, she said...
-- Jake Tapper's bottom line: "On its face, this is, of course, sheer nonsense..."
-- Dylan Byers emails: Sanders isn't any better at this than Spicer, she just hasn't been under as much scrutiny. Like Spicer, the majority of her answers were evasive or uninformative. In some cases they were downright nonsensical, like when she suggested the media spent too much time focusing on Trump's tweets. Reminder: He is the President of the United States. | | | I'll be talking about all of this on CNN's "New Day," Tuesday at 7:50am ET, see you then... | | Maddow out sick for a second week | | Rachel Maddow, MSNBC's highest-rated star, has been ill for at least ten days now... she last hosted on MSNBC on Thursday, May 25. Ari Melber filled in on the first night and again three times last week. Joy Reid filled in once last week and again on Monday night.
No word on what Maddow's specific ailment is, but she called in to the Melber-led show on Friday... | | "Eric Bolling has signed a long-term contract with Fox News," TVNewser's A.J. Katz reports. "Bolling will remain a co-host for the FNC's new 5 p.m. show Fox News Specialists," plus his Saturday show and the network's annual New Year's Eve special.
What stands out to me: He wasn't already under a long-term deal when Fox promoted him amid the post-O'Reilly schedule reshuffle! But Fox is now sending signals that its lineup is stable... first by announcing Martha MacCallum's new contract, now by announcing Bolling's... | | Opening statements in BPI v. ABC | | | Sioux City Journal reporter Nick Hytrek, in the courtroom, writes: "Two differing stories will confront jurors hearing Beef Products Inc.'s $1.9 billion defamation lawsuit against ABC, they were told" during four hours of opening statements on Monday. BPI's lawyer repeatedly used the phrase "media attacks..." | | -- "GMA" is promoting an exclusive interview with Trump's sons on Tuesday morning's show... (Twitter)
-- CNNMoney's Charles Riley asks: "Will Qatar sacrifice Al Jazeera to mend regional ties?" Keeping a close eye on this... (CNN)
-- A very different kind of leak: "A hacking collective is claiming that it has leaked unaired episodes of Funderdome, ABC's upcoming show hosted by Steve Harvey..." (THR)
-- "Amazon Studios has acquired 'Linda And Monica,' the Black List script by Flint Wainess" about the Linda Tripp-Monica Lewinsky friendship and falling out... (Deadline) | | Breitbart writer out after inflammatory tweets | | | Oliver Darcy emails: Breitbart management took action against one of its writers who tweeted a number of inflammatory comments in the immediate aftermath of the London terror attack. Late Monday morning, several sources at Breitbart contacted me to say Katie McHugh was no longer with the company. McHugh later confirmed the news on Twitter, writing that she had been fired from the site for her remarks about Muslims. What's not clear is if Ryan Saavedra, a Breitbart writer who called for the return of the crusades after this weekend's attack, is still with the company... | | Context for this firing... | | | I figured it's because Breitbart is gradually trying to appeal to a more mainstream audience. Former Breitbart spox Kurt Bardella emailed with a more specific theory: "Part of me thinks that this was done to avoid this becoming a bigger issue -- one that ends up on the door-step of the West Wing. Had they not taken immediate action -- this is a story that ends up being driven to the briefing, where reporters are asking the White House what they think of Katie -- do they agree with her sentiment -- do they think she should be fired or not -- what does Bannon think, etc. If Trump/Bannon aren't in the White House -- not sure Katie gets fired as she's tweeted fairly awful/similar things like this in the past as you know..." | | Megyn Kelly's premiere #'s | | Pro-Trump sites like Breitbart seized on the ratings for Megyn Kelly's "Sunday Night" premiere to score points and clicks. "Premiere loses to rerun of '60 Minutes' in total viewers," Breitbart wrote. Yes, but did any TV insider expect the brand new newsmag to beat "60?" The surprise, as reported accurately by the LAT's Stephen Battaglio, was that "Sunday Night" "finished ahead of CBS in the audience group sought by advertisers, a strong showing for Kelly's new program."
This just goes to show how ratings can be twisted by ideologues. The reality is that NBC News is feeling really good about the premiere #'s... though it's going to be hard to keep the #'s up this summer... | | | Frank Pallotta emails: ABC said Monday that this year's NBA Finals are the most-watched since 1998 (aka Jordan-era) through two games... averaging 19.1 million viewers so far... | | ABC's favorite team right now: Cleveland! | | | Brian Lowry adds: ABC's favorite team right now is Cleveland. With the Cavaliers down 2-0 in an NBA Finals that are drawing big ratings, the network needs LeBron James and company to win a couple of games in order to extend the series and maximize the amount of ad time the network has to sell... | | "This obsession with covering everything he says on Twitter and very little what he does as president..."
--Kellyanne Conway on Monday's "Today" show. Philip Bump's reaction: "Conway wants the media to cover a President Trump who may not exist" | | Headlines from Apple's WWDC event | | | A smart speaker called HomePod, a new iMac Pro, and a deal to bring Amazon Prime Video to Apple TV boxes. It's an Apple-Amazon detente after years of drama! Jessica Lessin's take: "A big shift in strategy that says Apple knows it can't enjoy the same lock on services it has in the mobile world in the home." | | A new problem for some publishers: Apple's browser blocking autoplay videos | | "Apple is taking a stand against autoplay video," AdAge's Garett Sloane reports. "Safari web browser will now feature the ability to keep websites from automatically playing video whether or not consumers want it." Also announced on Monday: "a 'no tracking' option that hides people's internet habits from ad targeting..."
-- Nieman's Joshua Benton: "Apple, like Google, is using its position in the browser market to try to control elements of the advertising market..." | | App Store overhaul coming soon | | | Quoting CNNMoney's story: "Apple is redesigning the App Store, its first major overhaul in its nine years. The store's 500 million weekly users will see new tabs highlighting curated collections and article-like stories made by Apple, not just developers. A Today section will show off apps the company wants to highlight, a Games tab will do the same for games and also display in-app purchases..." | | By Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman:
-- Bloomberg's Gerry Smith writes that since WSJ tightened its paywall for visitors coming from Google, subscription numbers grew 4x, but traffic from the search engine decreased by 44%...
-- BuzzFeed's Charlie Warzel argues that pegging the issue of misinformation on Twitter on nefarious bots is "an enticing but partial explanation for a far more difficult problem," one that is far more human than it is automated...
-- "New York Times copy editors were just told how to (try to) keep their jobs," Poynter's Ben Mullin reports... | | | Brian Lowry emails: Bill Maher has often griped about politicians being skittish about appearing on his show. Sen. Al Franken's decision to pass suggests that's only going to become more difficult since the controversy triggered by his use of a racial epithet, and may well cause others to steer clear, at least temporarily. Meanwhile, THR speculated about whether the situation's timing will cost the comic an Emmy nomination, which, all things considered, should be among the least of his and HBO's concerns... | | Chloe interviews Taylor Schilling | | | Chloe Melas emails: I had a chance to catch up with Taylor Schilling about the upcoming fifth season of "Orange is the New Black." She says it's their most "overtly political" season yet. It begins streaming Friday night at midnight... Watch/read the interview here... | | | Megan Thomas emails: The current season of "Veep" wasn't supposed to draw comparisons to President Trump. After all, the plot for Season 6 was finalized last summer. But as The New Yorker's Ian Crouch points out, "then Trump and his inner circle moved into the Oval Office, and from the start began acting, well, 'Veep'-ish—brazenly lying about matters large and small, shouting behind closed doors, calling each other names in the press, searching for the light switches in the West Wing, and setting several small fires each day, only to attempt to extinguish them with gasoline." | | | For the record, part three | | | By Lisa Respers France:
-- All eyes were on Keshia Knight Pulliam Monday when she escorted her TV dad Bill Cosby into court...
-- Rapper Kendrick Lamar bought his sister a car... and folks got mad about it...
-- Martha Stewart recently gave an interview where she talked about dating... and about getting Snoop Dogg drunk... | | "If You're Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast" | | | Brian Lowry emails: Given how depressing a lot of HBO documentaries are, "If You're Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast" — a look at those living vitally into their 90s, featuring 95-year-old Carl Reiner as a sort-of tour guide — is notable for how uplifting it feels. The project was produced by Reiner's nephew, George Shapiro, who also happens to manage Jerry Seinfeld, who makes an appearance, along with Mel Brooks, Dick Van Dyke, Betty White and Kirk Douglas (100), among others... Read Lowry's full review here... | | Have you finished "The Leftovers?" | | | I haven't... I'm behind on a bunch of TV series since baby Sunny is the best show in our house... but "The Leftovers" ended on Sunday night, and Brian Lowry wrote a fond farewell here. He says it was a sendoff "possessing levels of clarity, grace and satisfaction that, frankly, seemed unlikely. As series finales go, that's definitely better than being left hanging in limbo..." | | Campaign coverage, Hollywood style | | | Megan Thomas emails: This column from Vanity Fair's Rebecca Keegan about the challenge of keeping up with the slew of Peak TV shows campaigning for Emmys made me laugh. Every word is true. There are "For Your Consideration" banners and billboards all over town. (The window for Emmy nomination voting officially opens June 12). Sandra and I will be attending a panel event for "Master of None's" Season 2 at the Television Academy later tonight. And, yes, we plan to enjoy courtesy cocktails... | | | Highlights from Sunday's "Reliable Sources" | | | "Trump is not nearly as effective at presiding over a cover-up as Nixon was" | | | Carl Bernstein on Sunday's show: "I think the real comparison with Watergate that is apt -- and that tells us a lot so far -- is that Donald Trump is not nearly as effective at presiding over a cover-up as Richard Nixon was..." | | | Also on Sunday's "Reliable Sources:" I had an exclusive interview with Andrew Feinberg, who was the White House correspondent for the Russian-owned Sputnik News service until a week or so ago. He said he was fed questions by his bosses and blocked from developing his own story ideas. He described how stories get slanted and turned "upside down." There's nothing necessarily wrong with state-sponsored news entities like the BBC or AFP, he said. But Sputnik is different, "Sputnik is state-controlled." Read Jackie Wattles' recap of the interview here... | | Trump hasn't granted a TV interview in three weeks | | | His last sit-down was with Jeanine Pirro. This is an unusually long stretch of time for this POTUS to go without a TV interview, as I noted during a segment with D.C. correspondents Olivia Nuzzi and John Gizzi... Watch our discussion about W.H. communications problems here... | | | Email us: reliablesources@cnn.com. Let us know what you like and dislike... what you want more of, what you want less of. 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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