| | | | | Hello from Hollywood... I'm here taping an interview with Chelsea Handler... First time at Netflix L.A... Scroll down for a preview of Chelsea's next episode... | | | Executive summary: Hurricane Irma is still clocking 185 mph winds... Republicans are "shell-shocked" after President Trump sided with Dems... Trump will host his Cabinet at Camp David this weekend... Gannett is laying off a couple hundred people... Peter Rice is now president of 21st Century Fox... The seventh season of "Veep" will be its last... Did you hear about "Ratchet" and Netflix? | | Now Mueller has all this info --> | | The WashPost's Wednesday scoop: "Russian firm tied to pro-Kremlin propaganda advertised on Facebook during election." FB says the ads promoted "divisive social and political messages."
FB said there was a relatively small amount spent -- about $100,000 -- by accounts "likely operated out of Russia" targeting American voters. But "it is possible that there are more shadowy ad buys that Facebook has yet to identify," as Dylan Byers wrote in his CNNMoney story... Read it here...
-- Reuters says Facebook has "provided its findings to Robert Mueller..." When pushed, FB reps did not deny this...
-- WSJ's Christopher Mims tweets: "Of course Russian operatives used Facebook to target potential voters. This is exactly what campaigns do..." | | Trolls trying to "influence the election" | | | Rep. Adam Schiff on "The Situation Room" Wednesday evening: "This certainly confirms" that "the Russians were using paid social media trolls to try to influence the election, try to sow discord." He said the House Intelligence Committee would look into the ads and whether the buyers "would have needed help or assistance from the campaign." He means the Trump campaign... | | Why won't Facebook show us the ads? | | | A lot of folks think this is the essential problem with FB's black box. "It is completely unacceptable that Facebook says it will not release the actual ads it showed to its users," Pierre Omidyar tweeted Wednesday... | | Hey, here's a reason to be skeptical about Facebook's self-reported info... | | Quoting Lara O'Reilly's latest in the WSJ: Pivotal Research analyst Brian Wieser found "Facebook's Ad Manager claims to reach a potential audience of 41 million 18- to 24-year-olds in the U.S., whereas census data, most recently updated with a population estimate in 2016, indicates there are only 31 million people of that age group." Whoops...
-- The context: "Facebook has acknowledged on several occasions in the past 12 months that it had made errors that caused it to either understate or overstate the metrics it provides to advertisers and publishers..." | | Meantime, here's what Zuckerberg was doing on Wednesday... | | | He leveraged FB to protest President Trump's repeal of DACA: "The CEO took to Facebook Live for 45 minutes on Wednesday to stream a conversation in his home with three undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children," CNNMoney's Julia Horowitz reports... | | "Veep" is ending after season seven | | Brian Lowry emails: The producers of "Veep" had said that the series' future would depend on star Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and she's told The Hollywood Reporter that the coming season -- the seventh for the Emmy-winning HBO comedy -- will be its last. The show had seemingly reached the logical end of its life cycle...
-- HBO Programming prez Casey Bloys confirms: "We love the show and everyone involved but respect the producers' choice to bring Selina Meyer's journey to its conclusion after an extraordinary run of critical and award-winning acclaim... We look forward to producing the seventh and final season..." | | Netflix wins bidding war for "Ratched" | | "In very competitive situation, Netflix has landed 'Ratched,' a marquee new drama series from Ryan Murphy, with Sarah Paulson set to star as a younger version of the diabolical Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and the film's producer Michael Douglas set to executive produce alongside Murphy," Deadline's Nellie Andreeva reports. She says it's "one of the biggest deals of the year," following "a bidding war among Netflix, Hulu and Apple..." Netflix has signed up for a "two-season, 18-episode, straight-to-series order..."
-- Semi-related: "Apple: Kim Rozenfeld, Max Aronson, Ali Woodruff & Rita Cooper Lee Join TV Unit"
-- More via THR: "Apple, Amazon Join Race for James Bond Film Rights" | | Michael Calderone to Politico! | | HuffPost's Michael Calderone will join Politico and take over its Morning Media newsletter later this month.
He tells Dylan Byers: "There's never been a time in the past decade that I've covered media in which more people — whether inside the Beltway or across the country — seem to be glued to the political media story and future of the press in a democracy. And I think Politico is the perfect place to be to, once again, dive right in." | | -- Gannett's latest reorg "could result in about 210 jobs lost across the company..." (USA Today)
-- Congrats to Jay Sures and David Kramer, nnew co-presidents of UTA... (TheWrap)
-- "Spotify has lured digital-media veteran Courtney Holt over from Disney to lead its efforts around original video and podcast programming," Andrew Wallenstein reports... (Variety)
-- Jack Shafer says Verrit is a pro-Hillary "propaganda rag so shameless it would make Kim Jong Un blush..." (Politico)
-- Quartz's "first foray into print:" 5,000 copies of a $35 book titled "Quartz: The Objects that Power the Global Economy." Ben Mullin has details... (Poynter)
-- Bret Baier tweets: "For all of those asking about Charles Krauthammer -- he is still recovering from surgery in the hospital -- we hope and pray he'll be back soon" (Twitter)
-- I missed this yesterday: Amanda Terkel is HuffPost's new DC bureau chief...
-- Correction: last night I said Marc Caputo is still with the Miami Herald, when I've been reading his Politico stories for years. D'oh! | | Hillary's book rollout begins | | ...On "CBS Sunday Morning." Jane Pauley will have the first post-election interview with Hillary Clinton... CBS may release a clip on Friday evening... pushing to the Sunday morning interview.
"What Happened" comes out next Tuesday... I haven't been able to figure out who has the second interview yet... but CNN got a jump on the rollout by buying a copy of the book at a Florida bookstore on Tuesday, reading it overnight, and publishing a story with newsy tidbits on Wednesday morning... | | CBS has TWO big scoops this Sunday | | | Somewhere David Rhodes is smiling. Clinton is in the morning... and Steve Bannon is in the evening. Charlie Rose taped Bannon's first TV interview on Wednesday... it'll air on "60 Minutes" on Sunday and Rose's own show on Monday... | | Breitbart is already hyping the interview... | | Breitbart has a "source familiar" with the interview saying "Steve offered a full-throated defense of the president and his economic nationalist agenda." The site -- Bannon's site -- notes that "the broadcast will follow the NFL opening Sunday, historically one of the most highly-rated slots in the show's season." The story has behind the scenes shots, too...
-- From an emailer: "Such a glowing assessment of famed globalist Charlie Rose from Breitbart!" | | Oliver Darcy emails: The Miami Herald is gearing up to cover Hurricane Irma as it threatens to strike Florida this weekend. Managing editor Rich Hirsch told me Wednesday afternoon that the newspaper is preparing to cover the storm. "We're in a pretty good location aside from the fact that we could be in the middle of the storm's path," he said. "The building we are in is the former headquarters of the US Southern Command." Hirsch told me the Herald's newsroom is equipped with ballistic-proof windows and heavy-duty backup generators.
During the storm he anticipates about a third of the staff will be housed at the Herald's offices while others are deployed in the field. "You want to have people deployed geographically so you can hear back from them and get reports from the field," Hirsch said, adding, "We try to position them places where they will be able to tell the story, but be safe." | | | An ABC spokesperson told Oliver that "World News Tonight" anchor David Muir will be on the ground in Florida this week. (He was on vacation during Harvey.) Lester Holt will anchor "NBC Nightly News" from the storm zone beginning Thursday... He'll also be on "Today," along with Al Roker and Dylan Dreyer. TVNewser has details here... | | Important advice for journos: How to be "effective witnesses" | | An Phung emails: I reached out to Bruce Shapiro, exec director at the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, to solicit some pro-tips on self-care while covering natural disasters like Harvey and Irma. He has some serious advice for those who are reluctant to speak up.
"As journalists, we want to be effective witnesses to this massive disaster. That's our mission," Shapiro told me. "We can't do that job if we are too exhausted, too traumatized or even too excited to make clear, solid news judgements or practice our craft under the worst circumstances. Self-care isn't indulgence -- it is a necessary investment in our ability to tell this urgent story, to be there for the Houston community when it needs every bit of skill that reporters and photographers bring to bear."
Here are Shapiro's other tips for those in the field and in the newsroom:
-- "Eat as well as you can, stay hydrated, get sleep."
-- "Spend a few minutes every day checking in with colleagues about what went well, what was a challenge, what you'll do differently tomorrow."
-- "For local reporters in the flood zone especially -- look out for one another's families."
-- "If a colleague seems dangerously compromised, spend a little time talking, listening and helping them assess their own situation."
-- "Recognize, too, that during this crisis, everyone in the newsroom is a hero -- not just the reporters in kayaks or canoes, but the editors and producers whose families are just as much at risk as anyone's." | | | Houston's ABC affiliate is still in temporary quarters ten days after the flood. Winnie Wright tweeted this picture and said: "If you've ever wondered what a TV station does after they've had to evacuate the newsroom.. this. They do this." | | Will there be more of this during Irma? | | By An Phung:
-- HBO has renewed "Real Time with Bill Maher" through 2020... (THR)
-- The WashPost just launched a new commenting system to "better engage with readers who comment on its stories and help promote civil conversations..." (WashPost)
-- The NYT has hired writer Michelle Goldberg, adding to its stable of full-time columnists that currently includes only two other women... (HuffPost)
-- E.W. Scripps "has acquired carriage contracts from the Retirement Living Television." It will be replaced by "Newsy's 24-hour linear feed..." (Variety) | | "Boomer and Carton" co-host Craig Carton arrested for alleged fraud | | | Frank Pallotta reports: Craig Carton, the co-host of the New York morning radio show "Boomer and Carton," was arrested by the FBI on Wednesday morning and is being charged with a number of federal crimes, according to authorities. Carton is being charged with securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit both... Read the full story here... | | | For the record, part three | | | By Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman:
-- Erik Wemple reports on the departure of the Post's national editor Scott Wilson -- "after disputes with his superiors over newsroom resources for his coverage areas." The internal memo says he has "decided to return to writing..." (WashPost)
-- Important: The charges against Dan Heyman have been dropped. He was arrested in May "after 'yelling' questions at Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price in the West Virginia State Capitol..." (NPR)
-- Also: A federal judge in Massachusetts has dismissed the libel suit filed by Shiva Ayyadyrai against TechDirt... (Ars Technica)
-- NiemanLab has new details on The Atlantic's membership program, which will be called "The Masthead." It will cost $10 a month -- or $100 a year for early subscribers... (NiemanLab
-- Gimlet Media, the podcast startup behind "StartUp" and "Reply All," just raised another $5 million on top of a $15 million round raised last month... (Recode)
-- How does Harvey Levin feel about this? TMZ veteran Mike Walters is starting his own venture, called "The Blast." (New York Times)
-- Speaking of Levin... His Fox News series "OBJECTified" will premiere on Sept. 17... The ten episode series will air Sundays at 8pm... (Deadline) | | "Report on Network Sunday Morning Talk Show Content and Ratings" | | "There is literally no adrenaline rush as good as a scoop, nothing as good as having information that somebody else doesn't have."
--Maggie Haberman in this interview with The Cut... | | Brian Lowry emails: "It" might be bad news for clowns, but it should help begin scaring away some of the movie industry's box-office blues, with a smartly cast retelling of the Stephen King book that also makes a point of setting up an inevitable sequel...
Read the full review here >>>
-- Lowry adds: As Frank Pallotta noted, after a pretty abysmal summer there is some room for optimism regarding the fall. That kicks off with "It" and includes several highly anticipated films, among them "Blade Runner 2049," "Justice League" and especially the latest "Star Wars" sequel. Spreading more of those sort of blockbusters throughout the year could make full-year comparisons more illuminating in the short term than the customary approach of breaking box-office results down by season... | | Megan Thomas emails: This preview of the Toronto International Film Festival -- which opens Thursday -- from VF's Richard Lawson will help you prioritize your awards season moviegoing. Two films that sparked my interest that have started to buzz:
-- Denzel Washington stars in the legal drama "Roman J. Israel, Esq.," and there's talk it could score the actor his third Oscar after just missing it last year for "Fences..."
-- "Chappaquiddick," directed by John Curran, is a drama about (quite obviously) Ted Kennedy's 1969 Chappaquiddick scandal. Jason Clarke as Kennedy and Kate Mara as Mary Jo Kopechne... | | "Twin Peaks," flat ratings | | Brian Lowry emails: Showtime has been spinning that puny ratings for "Twin Peaks: The Return" on its linear network weren't a problem, given the sizable streaming audience for the show. Still, even in this subscription-driven day and age, it's hard to make the case that a program was a success when relatively few people watched it. Preliminary ratings for the two-hour finale on Sunday -- like the rest of the 18-episode run, intriguing in places but for the most part infuriatingly incomprehensible -- showed 489,000 viewers, including on-demand viewing. That's a pretty paltry number even by pay-TV standards...
-- Related: Cynthia Littleton's piece: "Tiny Crowd for 'Twin Peaks' Tests Value of Selling Subscriptions Vs. Pop Culture Sizzle" | | "Look What" happened to "Despacito" | | | Lisa Respers France emails: Taylor Swift dethroned "Despacito" before it could break the record for longest time at No. 1. "Look What You Made Me Do" climbed into that position this week... | | Megan Thomas emails: The trend of somewhat scathing-Taylor-Swift-song reviews continues. The pop star is shattering streaming records, and her single "Ready For It?" is scoring better with critics than "Look What You Made Me Do." Still, reaction to new-Taylor remains mixed (at best).
From The New Yorker's Amanda Petrusich: "Maybe we did all spend a little too much time japing about Swift and her band of lovers, back when the world felt steadier. Maybe, for a while, it truly did feel as if every headline in the newspaper was a variation of 'Taylor Swift,' per the unsubtle cover art for 'Reputation.' Maybe we exaggerated her importance, and now we have to answer for it. Certainly, pop stars shouldn't suddenly be expected to produce overtly or explicitly "political" art; I'm not sure what that would look like for Swift, even. But I do think there's a mandate now to make work that feels meaningful in some capacity -- not mercenary..." | | | For the record, part four | | | By Lisa Respers France:
-- A new Michael Jackson album is scheduled to be released this fall, just in time for Halloween. The timing was purposeful given the late singer's love of the holiday...
-- Pharrell Williams has revealed the skincare secret to his youthful look. He so hasn't aged that he's been accused of being a vampire. Seriously...
-- The new "Dancing With the Stars" cast was revealed... and this season a husband and wife are competing against each other with a pair of partners who are husband and wife... nice twist, ABC!
-- Dave Matthews Band is returning to its roots to help heal Charlottesville. The band is headlining a concert in the college town where they got their start. They're being joined by some other big acts, including Justin Timberlake and Pharrell... | | Chelsea Handler's "apology" on behalf of the Trump admin | | Here's a preview of this Friday's episode of "Chelsea," which she taped on Wednesday:
During her "Public Apologies" segment, she went on a self-described rant: "I would like to apologize on behalf of the entire Trump administration. We are sorry for making it clear that white supremacists and Nazis are welcome in this country where young immigrants brought here as children are not. The average Dreamer got here at six, was raised in the U.S., and knows no country other than this one. Dreamers are our coworkers, neighbors and friends, they defend our country, and last week they were some of the first responders saving people in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. These young people are the American dream -- 91% of them are employed and 99% have no criminal record. That means they've never obstructed justice, colluded with Russia, funneled millions of taxpayer dollars into their businesses, falsely accused people of wiretapping them, carelessly taunted a Korean dictator with nuclear weapons, bragged about sexual assault or pardoned a racist maniac." (Audience applause.) Handler ended the segment by urging viewers to "contact your member of Congress..." and "after you're done doing that, go on Twitter and tell Trump to start drafting his resignation tweet. Fingers crossed!" | | | Email 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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