| | | | | You know what President Trump should do on Friday before leaving for a two-week "working vacation" (the White House's term) in NJ? He should hold a solo press conference for the first time in February. Trump was in great spirits at his rally in WV on Friday night... but his message would be heard much more widely at a presser. All the broadcast networks and cablers would carry it live... and he could frame some of the debates of the next two weeks. A presser is long overdue... | | | I'm going to flip the script and start tonight's newsletter with the day's non-Trump news... Scroll down for details about the day's leaks... | | Maria Elena Salinas leaving Univision | | Announced on Thursday evening: Maria Elena Salinas, one of America's best-known Spanish-language broadcasters, is leaving Univision at the end of the year. Salinas has anchored "Noticiero Univision," its main nightly newscast, for thirty years. Thirty!
Per TVNewser, here's what she told viewers: "I haven't been pushed out, I haven't quit, I'm not retiring. And I'm not leaving to another place to do the same as I do here."
"In the coming months, we will announce plans for the new anchor who will join Jorge Ramos on our flagship newscast and plans for the co-host who will join Teresa Rodriguez on our weekly newsmagazine show Aqui y Ahora," CEO Randy Falco said in an internal memo... | | "Green shoots" at Viacom? | | The initial Reuters headline about Viacom's Q2 earnings was "Viacom reports better-than-expected revenue, profit." But then investors and reporters read through the programmer's forecasts for Q3. It wasn't pretty. The new headline is "Viacom sees weak affiliate sales, shares plummet."
Here's how Jessica Toonkel and Aishwarya Venugopal summed it up: "The media company beat Wall Street's average estimates for fiscal third-quarter revenue and profit, helped by an unexpectedly strong 4% jump in such affiliate sales, but investors focused on the downbeat projection for the current quarter..."
-- Bottom line: This turnaround, if there is one, will take time. CEO Bob Bakish talked about "green shoots" on the earnings call... | | VF rejects Angelina Jolie's correction request | | Didja hear about this? Angelina Jolie objected to a chunk of Evgenia Peretz's September cover story about her. Then Jolie's lawyer contacted VF and asked the mag to run a statement with a correction and an apology... both online and in print...
So VF "reviewed the transcript and audiotape of Peretz's interview with Jolie for the story," concluded that the story was accurate, and said so in a statement Thursday night... Check it out... | | ESPN8: The Ocho is really happening* | | Frank Pallotta emails: For one day only, the best fictional sports network will become a reality. ESPN announced Thursday that on August 8 (aka 8/8), the company will turn ESPNU into "ESPN8: The Ocho." If that sounds familiar, it's because the fictional channel was featured in the 2004 film "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story" starring Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn.
On the 8th, the network will have a "line-up of unconventional sporting events ranging from Disc Golf to Ultimate Trampoline Dodgeball." Bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off... | | By Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman:
-- The Senate voted Thursday to re-up former FCC commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and to confirm new addition Brendan Carr... (Recode)
-- John Herrman's latest must-read: For a new generation of the right, YouTube is the new talk radio... (NYT Mag)
-- On a Facebook page reserved for NYT alumni, a claim was circulating that editorial page editor James Bennet softened an editorial at the behest of Governor Cuomo. "It's a complete lie," Bennet told Michael Calderone... (HuffPost)
-- Ben Mullin interviewed Peter Bale, launch editor for Jimmy Wales' WikiTribune, about how the operation will run... (Poynter) | | | Megan Thomas emails: The hackers who attacked HBO are threatening to release more content "on a weekly basis on Sundays," according to EW -- "a roll-out that echoes HBO's own original programming schedule." Meantime, U.S. intelligence officials tell the WashPost that the HBO intrusion appears much smaller in scale the the 1.5 terabytes of data the hackers claim to have stolen... | | Facebook steps up fake news fight with 'Related Articles' | | Two new Fox-related headlines today... | | This from Mother Jones' Andy Kroll about new harassment allegations: A former on-air guest at Fox News, Caroline Heldman, "says that a Fox consultant and top lieutenant to Roger Ailes," Woody Fraser, "sexually harassed her repeatedly for more than a year, including dangling the possibility of a paid job at Fox if she would have sex with him..."
And this from LawNewz writer Colin Kalmbacher is an analysis of the Seth Rich-related suit against Fox: "Multiple allegations in Rod Wheeler's defamation lawsuit against Fox News are undermined by the plaintiff's own statements both public and private..." | | | 🔌: Wheeler will be interviewed by Chris Cuomo on "CNN Tonight" in the 11pm ET hour Thursday... and I'll be on with Cuomo as well... | | In theaters on Friday: "Detroit" | | | Brian Lowry emails: Kathryn Bigelow's "Detroit" -- dealing with a horrifying event of police brutality during the riots that happened in 1967 -- is viewed as a possible Oscar contender. But director Bigelow's intense, disturbing film -- inspired in part by the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson -- suffers from some structural flaws that blunt its impact. Here's Lowry's full review... | | By Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman:
-- Columbia Journalism School is launching a three-semester data journalism program. That expertise is in high demand, and dean Steve Coll says the program is worth the $100,000 price tag... (Poynter)
-- The Atlantic's international footprint is expanding with the poaching of Rachel Donadio from the NYT. She'll stay in Paris and cover politics and culture from there... (The Atlantic)
-- Big announcement from NBC News: here's the makeup of its new investigative team focused on national security and politics... (TVNewser) | | WSJ scores grand jury scoop | | "Two people familiar with the matter" were the sources for the WSJ's news-cycle-starting scoop about Robert Mueller impaneling a grand jury in DC. The story hit just before 3:30pm, and other news outlets were able to confirm it within hours.
The White House's statement on the matter was simply a copy-and-paste from the WSJ story, sharing what Ty Cobb told the reporters before they published. I noticed that Trump's legal team responded quickly, with Jay Sekulow on Fox by 4:50pm... Yes, Fox covered this latest twist pretty thoroughly, perhaps because it was a Murdoch-owned paper leading the way... | | Post prints transcripts of two Trump calls | | | For six hours before the WSJ story hit, the WashPost owned the day's conversation thanks to Greg Miller's story revealing the full transcripts of Trump's calls with the leaders of Mexico and Australia back in January. National security and foreign policy vets on both the right and left expressed concern about the leak. Some normally anti-Trump commentators did, too. Here's David Frum: "Leaking the transcript of a presidential call to a foreign leader is unprecedented, shocking, and dangerous." Jesse Eisinger's rebuttal on Twitter: "Generally, those in govt should leak when they are alarmed about democracy, wrongdoing, recklessness." | | DOJ presser about leaks at 11am Friday | | | AG Sessions, Deputy AG Rosenstein, and DNI Coats will all gather for a news conference to emphasize how harmful leaks are. There's no indication that the officials will be announcing a new prosecution or investigation... | | "Did Mueller cross the red line?" | | Back to the Russia probe now. CNN's in-depth story came out at 4pm: "Mueller crosses Trump's red line as Russia investigation follows the money."
VOA's Steve Herman tried to shout this question upon the president's return to the W.H. after his Thursday night WV rally: "Did Mueller cross the red line?" Trump didn't respond... | | POTUS riffs on Russia investigation at rally | | Fox News carried the president's WV 7pm hour rally in its entirety while CNN and MSNBC stuck with the grand jury news, the leaked transcripts and the day's other developments.
I was struck by this Trump statement at the rally: "THEY'RE trying to CHEAT YOU out of the leadership you want with a fake story" (Russia ties) "that is demeaning to all of us..."
>> A few minutes earlier, WV governor Jim Justice, who used the event to announce he was switching from the Democratic to the Republican party, said this while praising Trump: "Most importantly of all, you know what, he has made us as common everyday Americans FEEL GOOD and BE PROUD of who we are." That's the whole ballgame, isn't it? | | Krauthammer: "I think we're really headed into very choppy and dangerous constitutional waters" | | After the rally coverage, Tucker Carlson chewed over it with Charles Krauthammer.
Carlson made this observation: "From the very first day" of Trump's time in office, "people were saying, 'We're going to take him out.' Now this investigation looks like it has the potential to do that. If that were to happen, some of these voters might conclude that they're not really allowed to pick their own president."
Krauthammer: "Well that's why I think we're really headed into very choppy and dangerous constitutional waters..." | | Mooch cancels Friday event | | | This time yesterday, we learned that Anthony Scaramucci would be holding an "online event" on Friday with the help of former Fox News exec Bill Shine. It was going to be Scaramucci's chance to "tell his own story." But not anymore. On Thursday afternoon he tweeted a cancellation notice -- "No Press Event Tomorrow: Focusing on Family, My Work in The Private Sector." | | Cantone playing Mooch on "The President's Show" again | | | Mario Cantone returned to Comedy Central's "The President's Show" on Thursday night, playing Scaramucci for the second week in a row... I happened to be interviewing the show's star, Anthony Atamanuik, on the day Mooch was ousted, and I remarked to him that the "President's Show" timing has really been excellent... While "SNL" has been off this summer, Atamanuik has been on, reacting to each week's events... | | "SNL" returns next week… kinda | | | Frank Pallotta emails: "SNL" is coming back to the airwaves next week. Well, kinda. "Weekend Update: Summer Edition" with anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che, kicks off next Thursday night on NBC. It'll be in the 9pm time slot for four weeks... | | BTW, Lizza shared some of the audio... | | | Last week The New Yorker decided not to release the audio recording of Ryan Lizza's infamous conversation with Scaramucci, but on Thursday the mag opened up... sharing excerpts on The New Yorker Radio Hour podcast to contextualize Lizza's conversation with David Remnick... Check it out here... | | Pro-Trump media trying to take down McMaster | | Oliver Darcy emails: The pro-Trump media world continued to unload on H.R. McMaster on Thursday. Breitbart splashed a headline in bold red on its homepage this morning referring to him as "THE OBAMA [FOREIGN POLICY] HOLDOVER," among other things. Then Circa's Sara Carter, who has authored a number of stories favorable to the narratives of Trump supporters, published a letter from McMaster to Susan Rice informing her she'd be allowed to retain her security clearance for information she dealt with while in office.
Sean Hannity immediately pounced on the report -- which by the way, was based on a leak and anonymous sources, which he often decries when they're not helpful to his cause -- to question whether McMaster needs "to go." It all comes as McMaster continues to exercise greater control of the National Security Council and remove Bannon allies... | | How Rubio is using Breitbart | | | One more from Oliver: This one was unexpected. Marco Rubio -- yes, the same Marco Rubio who has served as a favorite punching bag of Breitbart, being repeatedly trashed by the website time and time again -- submitted an op-ed for .... wait for it ... Breitbart. His spokesperson responded: "Senator Rubio has placed several op-eds in Breitbart before, including two last year, and will continue to reach out to different audiences to share his message..." | | | Brian Lowry emails: On Wednesday, MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell introduced Joy-Ann Reid -- filling in for Rachel Maddow -- by congratulating her on her ratings from the night before. There's some irony there, given that in the past -- before the network enjoyed its Trump-fueled primetime surge -- Maddow and others were prone to mock Fox News talent, like Bill O'Reilly, for bragging about how good their numbers were... | | "The blessing for us is, we always we knew we had to take care of things by 6am the next morning so we couldn't go to sleep mad at each other. Because Mika has the worst poker face in the history of television. She wears everything on her sleeve. I know if she goes on the air angry with me everybody's gonna to know it..."
--Joe Scarborough talking about his fiancé... | | NBC previews Winter Olympics promotional plan | | Brian Lowry emails: NBC is hopeful geopolitics won't overshadow the Winter Olympics, which will air Feb. 8-25 from Pyeongchang, South Korea. Although NBC will set the stage with coverage of the tensions involving North Korea, "Once the Games start, we hope we don't have to go back to it," Jim Bell, NBC's Olympics production and programming chief, said during a TCA session Thursday. As for news potentially intruding, Bell said, "Our colleagues at NBC News are there, if needed."
Bell also defended NBC's lower ratings during the Rio Olympics, saying they were still "robust," despite the dilution due to live streaming and spreading the coverage across multiple channels.
NBC will also air the Super Bowl on Feb. 4, providing an enormous platform, Bell noted, to promote the Games. Per NBC, the last time a network aired the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics in the same month was CBS in 1992... | | The "unfinished story" of "American Idol" | | (a/k/a justifying why it's being revived so soon after being retired) | | Megan Thomas emails: FremantleMedia Group CEO Cecile Frot-Coutaz talked with THR about the Ryan Seacrest deal, Katy Perry and "American Idol's" (some say premature) return:
"When 'Idol' wrapped, we did extensive research. We found that we'd recruited new, much younger viewers. Do you wait five or six years, with the landscape continuing to evolve, and risk losing those followers? In thinking about doing the right thing for the brand and franchise, it felt to us that it was an unfinished story. Even though the show lived on Fox for 15 years, its audience is actually closer to that of ABC or CBS." | | | For the record, part three | | | By Lisa France:
-- Oprah Winfrey is all about self-acceptance, but the media mogul says "I can't accept myself if I'm over 200 lbs..."
-- Is it too late now to say sorry? Justin Bieber has penned a letter to fans to explain the cancellation of the remaining dates of his world tour...
-- "Dukes of Hazzard" star Tom Wopat was arrested and scheduled to be arraigned just hours before he was set to take the stage in a Boston area production of the musical "42nd Street..."
-- Suge Knight pleaded not guilty Thursday to a charge of threatening "Straight Outta Compton" director F. Gary Gray...
-- But can she go back to using her "Countess" title now? That's just one of the questions as "Real Housewives of New York City" cast member Luann D'Agostino has split with her husband of seven months...
-- Kristen Stewart is currently in a relationship with a woman, but she says she would still totally date men... | | | 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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