| | | | | This is Oliver Darcy filling in for Brian Stelter. Brian is off tonight, so I will be walking you through today's media news. Let's get to it. | | 'There are no good Nazis' | | SOME LATE BREAKING NEWS...
21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch has written a blistering email in reaction to the events that took place in Charlottesville over the weekend, and President Trump's reaction to them. Read Dylan's full story on it here...
>> From the letter: "[W[hat we watched this last week in Charlottesville and the reaction to it by the President of the United States concern all of us as Americans and free people."
>>More: "I can't even believe I have to write this: standing up to Nazis is essential; there are no good Nazis. Or Klansmen, or terrorists. Democrats, Republicans, and others must all agree on this, and it compromises nothing for them to do so."
>> As Dylan points out, the letter is "all the more notable... because of Murdoch's father's relationship with the president. Rupert Murdoch, the executive chairman of 21st Century Fox, speaks with the president several times a week."
>> A hell of a kicker: Murdoch concluded his letter saying that he and his wife Kathryn would donate $1 million to the ADL. He encouraged his friends to also make a donation.
👀 James Murdoch's wife, Kathryn, has been vocal as of late on Twitter, posting a number of things critical of Trump. Take a look at her Twitter feed here... | | Trump Tuesday vs. Trump today | | President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that before he makes a statement on an important matter he likes to "know the facts" and "be correct." Today, two days later, Trump responded to the Barcelona terror attack by spreading a debunked rumor. You can read my full story on this here...
>> What Trump tweeted: "Study what General Pershing of the United States did to terrorists when caught. There was no more Radical Islamic Terror for 35 years!"
>> Trump was likely referring to a supposed practice of shooting Muslims with bullets dipped in pig's blood or burying them with the bodies of pigs. For some time, there have been rumors that claim Gen. John J. Pershing employed such tactics following the Philippine-American War in order to deter insurgents.
>> There is no evidence to support this claim. Snopes, a website that fact-checks Internet rumors, declared it to be false. Politifact, another fact-checking website, gave it a "Pants on Fire" rating. | | 'President Trump has told the world to study....A lie' | | Some 🔥🔥🔥 from Jake Tapper this afternoon as he responded on-air to Trump tweeting out the debunked rumor: "Just to be clear, what happened today, in the face of a horrific terrorist attack, where people were still finding out if their loved ones had been killed or injured, President Trump has told the world to study a story that is not true. A lie. About an American general dipping bullets in pig's blood and killing insurgents. A story that by the way does nothing to keep our soldiers and people traveling the world safer. At times of crisis the nation turns to its president for reassurance and for truth and for moral clarity. And the lie about General Pershing doesn't provide any of those." Watch Tapper's full reaction here...
| | Fox News amplifies Trump's false claim on Twitter | | For quite some time now, the Fox News social media accounts have amplified Trump's messages. Today was no different. After Trump urged his 36.1 million Twitter followers to "study" the false story about General Pershing, Fox News alerted its followers on Twitter.
>> The network's flagship account attached a screen grab of Trump's tweet and tweeted, "Moments ago, President @realDonaldTrump tweeted about General Pershing's response to terrorists."
>> As Media editor Alex Koppelman noted, "The thing this tweet is missing is a phrase at the end, 'which didn't really happen.'"
>>To the network's credit, anchor Shepard Smith did go after Trump for the tweet on his program and Fox News fact-checked the president's claim in an article posted online, and noted the fact-check in a later tweet as well. | | Trump has drawn criticism over the last several days from both sides of the aisle for waiting so long to forcefully denounce the Charlottesville terror attack. He said on Tuesday that was because he didn't want to respond without the facts and make an incorrect statement.
But as observers pointed out today, Trump's response to the Barcelona attack was strikingly different. He swiftly tweeted about the incident and showed no regard for the facts when he spread the debunked myth about Gen. Pershing. What gives?
-- Ayman Mohyeldin: "when its white terrorists in #charlottesvile Trump wants to wait to get the facts right when its terror in #Spain he just gets facts wrong." | | -- MSNBC was the No. 1 cable network on Wednesday across total day. (TV Newser)
-- Erik Wemple's latest: "New York Times story on bubble tea brews up a scandalito." (Washington Post)
-- Carol Costello's plan for moving from CNN to HLN: Cut the "bulls—-" and earn trust: "The trust issue is at the top of my list. I really want people to trust me." (The Wrap)
-- Tech companies are moving to suffocate white supremacist groups by cutting off the ways they communicate and move money. CNN Tech and Jeffrey Toobin examine your free speech rights. (CNNMoney)
-- Video shows Eiffel Tower going dark in honor of Barcelona attack victims. (@CharlesBaudry)
-- Photo shows One World Trade shining red & yellow in solidarity with Barcelona tonight. (@maximusupinNYc) | | Bannon's story shifts dramatically | | Last night, after Stephen Bannon gave an interview to the progressive American Prospect mag, associates close to him said the White House chief strategist was not aware his comments were on-the-record.
But the story took a 180-degree turn today. Bannon told Daily Mail politics editor David Martosko that his comments "drew fire away" from Trump and boasted he had "changed the [media] narrative" with a simple phone call. | | Matt Drudge's war on Bannon may have reached an apex this morning. The Drudge Report founder featured a banner headline on his website reading, "TOTAL ECLIPSE OF STEVE BANNON." Oof. As Breitbart's Charlie Spiering tweeted, this seemed like Drudge "going for the kill."
>> Important context: As I've previously reported, Drudge is aligned with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump in the White House, both of whom are said to be critical of Bannon. Drudge has regularly visited them in the White House and speaks frequently with Kushner.
>> Drudge's alignment with the Kushner/Ivanka wing of the White House has led some to joke he's become a "globalist," a dirty word in parts of the right these days. I asked Drudge about this tonight, but (shockingly) did not hear back... | | Some good stories on Bannon | | >> BuzzFeed Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith: "Squint at Trump and see a class warrior; open your eyes and see race." Smith wrote that "this is where class-based movements in American politics have always washed up. For race has trumped class." Read his piece here...
>> NBC's Kristen Welker and Adam Edelman reported via multiple sources that Bannon feels like he's on safe ground. Read their piece here...
>> CNN's Errol Louis cautioned Democrats against "falling into Bannon's trap." Read his piece here...
>> And Adrian Carrasquillo wrote about how Bannon detonated "his Trump survival plan with his on-the-record interview. A source told him Trump recently told a confidant, "That f**king Steve Bannon [is] taking credit for my election." Read his piece here... | | | This week's 'Reliable' podcast | | | | Did the media provide the right historical, and cultural, context around the events in Charlottesville? Brian Stelter talks with Robert P. Jones, CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute and author of "The End of White Christian America," about the questions we should ask in the aftermath of the violent protests. Listen here... | | Mic makes the dreaded pivot to video | | Mic laid off 25 staffers today as the millennial-focused digital news publication shifts to video. Business Insider's Max Tani broke the news this morning. Sources told Tani "staffers have speculated about layoffs since the company announced it would hold a daylong meeting on August 24 to discuss the future of the company."
>> One source told us that the mood was "bleak as hell" inside the company in the wake of the news. Mic CEO and co-founder Chris Altech sent a memo to staff explaining the changes. Frank Pallotta has the story here... | | Top magazines take on Trump and hate
| | | From Jackie Wattles' story: "Three of the most prominent and widely read magazines -- Time, The New Yorker, and The Economist -- are reacting to the latest controversies rocking the Trump administration with bold, pointed art on their covers." Read her full story here... | | By Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman:
-- Chronicles from the War for the Bundle: YouTube announced today that YouTube TV is now available to 50% of all U.S. households, and will be moving into 17 additional markets in the coming weeks. (TechCrunch)
-- Poynter surveys the best examples of journalists standing up to the KKK throughout the 1900s. (Poynter)
-- Also from Poynter: publications didn't shy away from using visual references to the KKK when covering Trump's reaction to Charlottesville. (Poynter)
-- eSports: it's big, but how big? Nielsen is looking to figure it out. (Bloomberg)
-- Today in Facebook: 1) They are going after clickbait in your News Feed -- especially those annoying video feeds of static images, and images that display fake video play buttons. (The Verge) 2) They will be offering in-stream-only video ads, that will be served to users when they are watching a video. (Marketing Land)
-- The Reddit app gets native video uploading and viewing, paving the way for video ad dollars flowing in in the future. (Variety)
-- From yesterday: Charlie Warzel on the pro-Trump media's identity crisis in the aftermath of Charlottesville. (BuzzFeed News) | | "I think Bannon just got Scaramucci-ed. Actually, he was self-Scaramucci'ed. It's kind of like a Japanese version of it where you, you umm, you sort of impale yourself."
-- Charles Krauthammer on the Fox News "Special Report" all-star panel... | | Lowry reviews 'Logan Lucky' | | Director Steven Soderbergh's "Logan Lucky" is fun — basically a Southern-tinged version of "Ocean's Eleven" — but might wind up being more notable, and closely watched in entertainment circles, for its business model, as the director seeks to bypass the studio system. Read Lowry's full review here...
| | | For the record, part three | | | By Julia Waldow:
-- "Trump's news conference on Tuesday was the moment he became a Breitbart contributing editor." Rich Lowry says that Trump's "whataboutism" at Tuesday's Q&A follows conventions typical of the right-wing site. (Politico)
-- The Society for Professional Journalists released a statement on covering discrimination and racism in light of Charlottesville: "We objectively know that discrimination based on sex, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and other inherited traits is wrong. Journalists should feel free to say so and forcefully challenge people who believe otherwise." (SPJ)
-- Press Patron, a journalism revenue startup from New Zealand that allows users to pay for "what they want for news," will enter the U.S. media market this fall. (Nieman Lab)
-- Almost 80 percent of Americans want online services to intervene when harassment occurs on their platforms. (Pew Research Center)
-- A new study analyzing millennials' radio habits reveals that many "hold public radio in the highest regard" but think journalists need to "press harder" in their coverage since the election. (Current) | | | Email us at reliablesources@cnn.com... we appreciate every message. The feedback helps us craft the next day's newsletter! | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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