| | | | One-on-one with Marty Baron | | WashPost exec editor Marty Baron has learned to tune out President Trump's insults. "It's almost become like background music to the work that we do every day," he says. But Baron still takes Trump's "effort to undermine our credibility" seriously.
I interviewed Baron at the Post's HQ this week... and we'll air the highlights on the TV edition of "Reliable Sources" this Sunday... but you can hear a sneak peek via our podcast right now. Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman has a full recap here... | | Baron's reminder about restrictions on info... | | | Via Francesca's story: In the interview, Baron said the Trump admin has "restricted access to certain kinds of information," citing the president's tax returns, White House's visitor logs, and various data sets from government agencies. He indicated that he is troubled by the lack of transparency on several different fronts. "Things could be better. Let's put it that way," he said... Read more... | | Harvey Weinstein's leave of absence is "indefinite" and effective now | | "Harvey Weinstein's future at the film company he helped found is in question, following a NYT report published Thursday that detailed numerous incidents of alleged sexual harassment, Sandra Gonzalez reports.
Statement from the Weinstein Co. board: "We strongly endorse Harvey Weinstein's already-announced decision to take an indefinite leave of absence from the company, commencing today. As Harvey has said, it is important for him to get professional help for the problems he has acknowledged. Next steps will depend on Harvey's therapeutic progress, the outcome of the Board's independent investigation, and Harvey's own personal decisions."
So... He's not coming back? This feels a bit like the point when Fox announced an "investigation" into Roger Ailes... | | Some board members have resigned | | | --> NYT's Megan Twohey and Niraj Chokshi write: "Also on Friday, three members of the board -- Marc Lasry, Dirk Ziff and Tim Sarnoff -- resigned, according to a board member and a company executive. Harvey Weinstein and the ninth member of the board, Paul Tudor Jones, did not sign the statement and did not respond to requests for comment..." | | NYT calls on Weinstein to release accusers from their NDA's | | | An unusually aggressive move by the NYT... one day after Weinstein threatened to sue the NYT... Times spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha said "Mr. Weinstein should publicly waive the NDAs in the women's agreements so they can tell their stories. As a supporter of women, he must support their right to speak openly about these issues of gender and power." CNN's full story here... | | Weinstein and one of his attorneys said Thursday that they intended to sue the paper... but there's no sign of the suit yet... so...
"The reason I am suing the New York Times is they didn't give me enough time to respond," Weinstein told The Wrap on Thursday night, which elicited a whole lot of mockery... | | "The real story didn't surface until now because too many people in the intertwined news and entertainment industries had too much to gain from Mr. Weinstein for too long..."
--Jim Rutenberg's column in Saturday's NYT... | | Many A-listers remain silent | | Sandra Gonzalez emails: I spoke with Kirsten Schaffer, executive director of Women In Film, a nonprofit that promotes gender parity in Hollywood, about the lack of response from many of the famous faces who have appeared in Weinstein films. She believes it won't last. "I'm hopeful it's going to come," Schaffer said, when asked about the radio silence from Weinstein's deep well of famous heavy-hitters. "If it doesn't come, we still live in a culture of fear. People are legitimately afraid of speaking out and that it will affect their careers because it has affected people's careers in the past..."
-- Anthony Bourdain tweeted this story about "Hollywood's loud silence" and said: "Nauseating, chicken-hearted enablers all." | | | Brian Lowry emails: Jake Tapper got it right on Twitter, chiding anyone participating in tit-for-tat partisanship over the Weinstein allegations compared to, say, their response to the Bill O'Reilly and Roger Ailes allegations. But the responses in his timeline, inevitably, were filled with people doing just that, a tactic that merely degrades the discussion... | | Weinstein story is part of a profound cultural shift | | Seconding what Steve Battaglio wrote in the LATimes: "Gretchen Carlson's sexual harassment suit against Roger Ailes and the women who came forward to accuse comedian Bill Cosby of sexual assault are getting some of the credit for paving the way for Weinstein's accusers to finally come forward..."
-- Reminder: Carlson's book comes out later this month... | | Host of a popular YouTube series is suspended | | | Andy Signore of the YouTube series "Honest Trailers" has been accused of sexual harassment by two women, THR reports... Both women published public statements on social media on Friday, and one said she was motivated to post "in light of recent events with Harvey Weinstein." The company Signore works for, Defy Media, said he has been suspended in light of the allegations... | | | After Friday's W.H. briefing, Brian Karem highlighted Sarah Sanders' non-answers about Trump's cryptic "calm before the storm" line. "So when POTUS said it was 'the calm before the storm' he was just playing games," he tweeted. "Turns out there is no 'calm,' only 'storm.'" | | On Sunday's "Reliable Sources..." | | | Brian Karem will join me on Sunday's show, along with Joanne Lipman, April Ryan, and "How the Right Lost Its Mind" author Charlie Sykes. Plus a conversation with Senator Amy Klobuchar about Facebook and Russia... the latest on the Weinstein scandal... and the aforementioned interview with Marty Baron... Join us, Sunday 11am ET on CNN... | | Bannon ally wants to turn government media agency into 'legacy' for former Trump adviser | | | My summary can't do it justice... Check out Hadas Gold's story about Steve Bannon's lingering influence inside the Broadcasting Board of Governors... she says the statements of a Bannon ally and BBG appointee named Jeffrey Scott Shapiro are "raising concern internally..." Shapiro "has told colleagues that his goal is to turn the entire Broadcasting Board of Governors into a 'Bannon legacy,' according to three sources..." | | -- Gabriel Sherman's latest scoop: Fox News in-house lawyer Dianne Brandi is taking a "voluntary leave" from the company... (VF)
-- PBS picked up 12 awards and CBS won nine (seven of them for "60 Minutes") at the News and Documentary Emmys on Thursday night. "ABC and HBO won five Emmys each, CNN and Univision took three and the Discovery Channel and MSNBC claimed a pair apiece..." (Gold Derby)
-- Look who's on "60" this Sunday: Trump campaign digital director Brad Parscale. "How Facebook ads helped elect Trump..." (CBS) | | Mark Mooney, a beloved editor at CNNMoney, died Friday. He was 66.
True to form, right til the end, Mooney wrote his own obituary. "If you are reading this, that means that I am no longer here," he wrote. "The prostate cancer finished toying with me on October 6, 2017. I was 66 and glad to be done with the damn disease."
Many of us at CNN had been fearing and dreading this day. Mooney was a thoughtful, generous, terrific colleague. He used to edit this newsletter at night, among his thousands of other contributions. The NY Daily News recounts his career here. Deepest condolences to his wife Barbara and his children Maura and Paul.
-- CNN SVP Ed O'Keefe emailed the Money newsroom: "I'm relieved Mark's suffering has ended, but incredibly sad to see him go..." | | "Mark instilled in me a true understanding of the craft..." | | | Tom Kludt emails: Mark Mooney was one of the finest professional mentors I've ever had. A journalist's journalist, Mark instilled in me a true understanding of the craft: how to talk to sources, how to approach a story, how to write. In my three years under his wing, he made me better at my job. But for my money, Mark's best quality was his fierce loyalty. When you worked with him, you were with him. Maybe your assignment left you in murky territory, with only a flickering flashlight to see your way through, but there was never any doubt that Mark was there by your side. That's all you can ask for in an editor. And that's why I will always consider Mark more than a colleague; he was a friend. I relished his trips to my desk, where he'd plop down next to me and regale me with stories about his travels around the globe. Mark had incredible memories to share, and a killer personality to match. I've been revisiting those memories today, as well as the emails we shared in these final months. "The camera likes you," he told me in April after seeing one of my videos. Later in the summer, I wrote to tell him I missed him, and to ask how he was coping. He was having "good days and bad days," he told me. "Spending my morning on a screened in porch with a breeze reading the news and answering emails," he wrote. "That's pleasant. But I miss the newsroom." | | "You made us all better journalists, and most of all better people" | | | Leezel Tanglao emails: It's rare to be surrounded by genuinely good people who saw the best in others -- I was lucky to have that chance with Mooney at both ABC and CNNMoney. Thank you Mooney for your wisdom, love and kindness. You made us all better journalists, and most of all better people... | | -- I wish I'd thought to do this: Yahoo produced a 30-minute doc and an incredible oral history of the "64 hours in October," i.e. what happened one year ago this weekend, between the "Access" tape, the second debate, the Wikileaks dump, and more... Check this out... (Yahoo)
-- Bret Baier on his efforts to snag a Trump interview: "He continues to say that it's coming but I have yet to see it materialize," Baier told McKay Coppins... (The Atlantic)
-- Remember "away messages?" Buddy lists? AOL Instant Messenger is shutting down on December 15... (CNN)
-- Apple's iOS has hundreds of new emojis coming soon... (CNN) | | Danny Sullivan joins Google | | | Danny Sullivan, the well-respected journalist and analyst, a go-to source for info about search engines, is joining Google. Sullivan retired a few months ago, but then Google called. "My title is still being determined, but the position will be to serve as a sort of public liaison for search," he says... | | Rob Gifford promoted at CBSN | | | Internal memo from CBS's Nancy Lane: "I'm pleased to announce that Rob Gifford has been named Managing Editor of CBSN. In this role, Rob will oversee the day-to-day live programming on our streaming network, including breaking news and special programming." Gifford joined the streaming network last year. He's a vet of Fox, MSNBC, and Bloomberg... | | Vice fires Broadly's managing editor | | | Oliver Darcy emails: A Vice company spokesperson told BuzzFeed on Friday afternoon that it had fired Mitchell Sunderland after some of his past emails to Milo Yiannopoulos were made public in Joe Bernstein's explosive Thursday story. Sunderland had served as the managing editor of Broadly, a site which bills itself as "devoted to representing the multiplicity of women's experiences." | | A fresh example of Facebook's "fake news" problem | | Oliver Darcy emails: Last week, right-wing social media platforms widely shared a fake news story about an NFL player supposedly burning an American flag in the team's locker room. The story was thoroughly debunked by a number of media outlets. Yet, days later, it was still being circulated on Facebook. One post peddling the fake story was shared more than 200,000 times this week, underscoring how fake news can flourish on Facebook even after such stories have been disproved.
>> When I reached a Facebook spokesperson for comment, the company took swift action. It deleted two pages largely responsible for spreading the fake news and unpublished their posts. But it's noteworthy the action from Facebook only came after CNN reached out to the company for comment. Left to its own devices, it's possible -- even perhaps likely -- the fake story would have continued to circulate unchecked...
>> That raises an interesting question: Is Facebook's reliance on an algorithm enough to combat misinformation that spreads on the site? | | Speaking of the NFL... here's a ratings update | | | Yahoo's Frank Schwab writes: "NFL boycotters are bringing the league to its knees, as shown by the 26% increase in ratings for 'Thursday Night Football' from Week 5 last season. Hey, wait … The NFL is doing fine, of course. CBS announced it and NFL Network did an average 11.1 rating with a 19 share for the New England Patriots' win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night..." Way up over week five last year... | | | For the record, part three | | | By Julia Waldow:
-- Roy Peter Clark explains why one "W" causes such difficulties for journalists, and how coverage of the Las Vegas massacre is no exception... (Poynter)
-- Snapchat says there was a nearly 40% uptick in Stories submissions since Snap Maps came on the scene, a feat that could help it compete with Facebook and Instagram... (Axios)
-- Gimlet Media, the podcast company behind "Reply All" and "StartUp," hopes to make a name for itself as the "HBO of audio..." Here's how... (Variety) | | | "Five days after the attack that shocked the nation and the world, we still don't have an answer to the most important question, and that is, WHY?" --Don Lemon on Friday's "CNN Tonight" | | Next week's New Yorker cover | | "Every day for John Kelly ends in 'why?'" | | | How long is chief of staff John Kelly going to last? This is a must-read by CNN's Gloria Borger, Dana Bash, Kevin Liptak and Elise Labott. The whispers about his future are "getting louder," they say. This quote from a source "close to the president" is remarkable: "Every day for John Kelly ends in 'why?' Every day is tense." The W.H. initially didn't respond, but after the story came out, a spokesperson said, "This story is completely false." | | Trump "controlled the narrative about himself" for a long time, but no longer... | | | Julia Waldow emails this fascinating read from CJR: Lloyd Grove reflects on his time as a gossip columnist for the NYDN in an age when Donald Trump loved the media, cozied up to editors and reporters, and "stoked" tabloid headlines about his relationships with women. "Through a combination of ego, ruthless energy, laser-like focus, utter availability, and even charm, he controlled the narrative about himself for the better part of four decades," Grove writes. "Now he has lost that control, and Trump simply has no idea how to respond..." | | "Spielberg" premieres Saturday on HBO | | Brian Lowry emails: The Hollywood who's-who that attended the premiere of "Spielberg," HBO's epic documentary devoted to director Steven Spielberg, already makes it a win for the pay network. But the film from Susan Lacy, formerly with PBS' "American Masters," ably stands on its own, providing a deep dive into the filmmaker's career and life... Read more...
-- The film premieres Saturday evening on HBO... | | | Hope you have a great weekend... | | | Email brian.stelter@turner.com... I 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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