| | | | | Exec summary: Netflix has severed ties with Kevin Spacey... The NYPD says it has a strong case against Harvey Weinstein... Jarl Mohn has apologized to NPR staffers... Hope you have a great weekend... Don't forget that the clocks "fall back" an hour on Sunday morning... | | We're at the end of a landmark week in Robert Mueller's investigation. There have been new revelations every day since Monday's indictments and the George Papadopoulos guilty plea.
Friday night's scoop: "Carter Page, a former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, told House investigators he met with Russian government officials during a July 2016 trip to Moscow. He has long denied doing so," the NYT's Mark Mazzetti and Adam Goldman reported. CNN's Jim Sciutto spoke with Page and confirmed it... | | | "A lot of people are disappointed in the Justice Department, including me." That was President Trump on Friday, stepping up his criticism of the DOJ by explicitly saying he wants investigations of his political rivals. Look, Trump is not shy about his enemies list. "They should be looking at the Democrats," he said Friday. But we all know Hillary Clinton isn't the only one on his list. He counts CNN and other major news outlets as enemies, as well... | | Tapper's reminder: "None of this is normal." | | | On Friday's "The Lead," Jake Tapper placed viewers in the shoes of Justice Department staffers who are hearing the boss criticize them: "Might that impact what you do? Might that have an effect? It's a staggering lack of regard for the sanctity of judicial matters and the norms of the U.S. government, and yet we don't hear much criticism of this" from the GOP. "Just another periodic reminder: None of this is normal." | | Toobin and Shaub's reactions | | | "You know, Richard Nixon tried to use the Justice Department to punish his political enemies," Jeffrey Toobin said on CNN Friday night. Former Office of Government Ethics head Walter Shaub added: "This is the stuff that authoritarianism is made of... It's simply the scariest thing that I've seen happen so far in this administration. He just simply seems to have no appreciation for, or interest in, the importance of the independence of the DOJ." | | RE: AT&T, CNN, TRUMP AND SESSIONS... | | This brings me to the most important media merger that's being reviewed by the DOJ right now: AT&T's pending acquisition of Time Warner, including CNN. I wrote about this in last night's newsletter, and I elaborated on it in a column for CNNMoney.
Thursday's WSJ report that the DOJ is "actively considering" going to court to block the deal came as a big surprise... Raising the question... Is the Trump administration trying to stymie the deal in retaliation for CNN's coverage? Maybe this sounds far-fetched. But it's worth asking. "You have to wonder" about the behind-the-scenes machinations "given that Trump has a vendetta against CNN and has openly talked about using these types of deals to punish them," Trevor Timm, exec director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, told me... Read the rest here... | | DOJ antitrust chief eyeing asset sales? | | | On Friday, Bloomberg followed up on the WSJ's story... and emphasized Trump's antitrust chief Makan Delrahim's role in the review... "Delrahim may explore asset sales to address competitive harm," Bloomberg said, citing a person familiar with the matter. AT&T has repeatedly said it does not intend to spin off CNN... | | Disney blocks LA Times from movie screenings over Anaheim story | | This editor's note in Friday's LA Times packed a punch: "Walt Disney Co. studios declined to offer The Times advance screenings" of its holiday movies this year, "citing what it called unfair coverage of its business ties with Anaheim." The paper said it will "continue to review and cover Disney movies and programs when they are available to the public."
What's this about? A two-part investigation by Daniel Miller detailing Disney's business dealings in Anaheim, the home of Disneyland.
Disney's blacklisting of the LA Times spurred outrage among journalists all day long. At the end of the day, Disney defended itself. The company told Frank Pallotta that it routinely works with news outlets that "we don't always agree with," but this situation is different because the LA Times "showed a complete disregard for basic journalistic standards." After the stick came the carrot: "We hope they will adhere to balanced reporting in the future..."
-- Ben Muessig, a tech editor at the Times, tweeted: "Most-read LATimes business story so far today? Happens to be @DanielNMiller Disney-Anaheim investigation," which came out in September... | | -- Politico's Josh Dawsey is jumping to The Washington Post... (VF)
-- Lots of news in Ben Mullin's latest: CNN "plans to launch tiered subscription offerings for its digital news business as early as the second quarter of next year..." (WSJ)
-- Jann Wenner is on "CBS Sunday Morning" this weekend... He calls Joe Hagan's new biography "bullsh*t" and a "disappointment..." (CBS)
-- Correction: Last night I said that "Robert Mercer sold his stake in BuzzFeed." I meant Breitbart! It got a good laugh from readers at both shops... | | This Weinstein case could lead to an arrest | | Some NYPD detectives believe they have enough evidence to arrest Harvey Weinstein. "This is the strongest case we've had that fits within the statute of limitations," a source told CNN's Brynn Gingras on Friday. The case involves rape allegations lodged by actress Paz de la Huerta. She alleges that Weinstein raped her in her apartment on two separate occasions in 2010. So will the Manhattan District Attorney's office bring charges?
-- More: De la Huerta told Gingras that she called the NYPD rape hotline last week to report the alleged assaults... | | Kevin Spacey off "House of Cards" | | BREAKING: Netflix said in a Friday night statement that it "will not be involved with any further production of 'House of Cards' that includes Kevin Spacey. We will continue to work with MRC during this hiatus time to evaluate our path forward as it relates to the show." MRC quickly followed up and said that Spacey "has been suspended" from the show, "effective immediately." So he's off the show... Sandra Gonzalez has details here...
-- Earlier in the day: Variety said "Cards" producers are considering killing off Spacey's character...
-- Also: Netflix said "we will not be moving forward with the release of the film 'Gore,' which was in post-production, starring and produced by Kevin Spacey..."
-- NYT's Brooks Barnes tweeted: "As of this afternoon, Sony was sticking by his December film. There is also his unfinished indie titled -- cough -- 'Billionaire Boys Club'" | | The fallout impacts 100s of people | | Netflix's announcement came little more than 24 hours after CNN's Chloe Melas reported on allegations against Spacey from "House of Cards" production staffers.
Chloe Melas emails: I felt an enormous weight this week in telling these stories for a number of reasons, including the fact that hundreds of jobs are at stake. Not many shows come to Baltimore, where the show is filmed. Everyone I've spoken with is hoping the writers simply kill off Spacey's character -- and I get why. My heart aches for the employees that are terrified this weekend that they won't be able to pay their bills and feed their families if "House of Cards" get canceled. As journalists we must continue telling these very important stories and exposing allegations like this in the hope that we leave the world a safer place. The people with whom I spoke who say they were victims of Spacey's behavior -- and numerous others -- have told me this week, "keep going." We will.
-- The show's creator Beau Willimon "says he didn't know..."
-- Related: BuzzFeed's latest on Kevin Spacey, focusing on three new accusers, says he "used the closet to silence his victims..." | | Friday's other developments | | -- Per Deadline: The LAPD says a "second victim" of Weinstein's came forward this week...
-- Remember when Terry Crews said on Twitter that he had been groped by a "high level Hollywood executive?" Variety has identified the exec as Adam Venit, the head of WME's motion picture group, and says he has been placed on leave from the agency... Venti declined to comment...
-- #MeToo in DC: This AP story is about female lawmakers alleging harassment by colleagues in the House...
-- Via Sydney Ember: "Hamilton Fish, president and publisher of The New Republic, is OUT following allegations of misconduct by female colleagues..."
-- Recommended: Lizzie O'Leary writes about "navigating the exhausting gray area that's not quite harassment, but still not OK." Title: "The things I shrugged off then horrify me now..." | | -- ICYMI: Frank Bruni says Sarah Sanders doesn't draw nearly the censure or ridicule that Sean Spicer did, "and the reason isn't her. It's us..." (NYT)
-- I said on "CNN Tonight:" Some journalists will look back in 10 years and be proud of their Trump coverage. Others might not. Will Sanders be proud of her Trump defense?
-- "Meet the Press" will mark its 70th anniversary on TV this weekend... (Orlando Sentinel)
-- See you at the NY Press Club's annual journalism conference on Saturday... (Press Club) | | Can NPR CEO Jarl Mohn survive the Michael Oreskes harassment scandal? Mohn addressed angry staffers at a town hall Friday and apologized for moving too slowly to address the allegations against Oreskes. Too little, too late? Numerous sources throughout NPR told me that they've lost confidence in Mohn as a result of the scandal. But several town hall attendees told me that Mohn sounded committed to regaining the staff's support...
-- A town hall attendee emails: "If Jarl is to remain, he has a long, painful walk ahead of him to regain our trust, a trust that was already strained due to the recent contentious union negotiation we just went through. Our morale took a big hit there, and then this happened..."
-- Former NPR ombudsman Alicia Shepard tells me: "The NPR newsroom staff is so talented and yet it seems weighed down by its management's fumbles, ineptitudes, and poor decision-making..." | | One woman's experience with Oreskes | | Oreskes was a guest on my program "Reliable Sources" almost a dozen times, most recently in September. On Thursday, a woman contacted me with info about an incident that stemmed from one of his appearances. She was impressed by his comments on the program, so she followed him on Twitter. He followed her back and sent her a private message. Things started out professionally, but when they had dinner together, she said it turned inappropriate. After dinner, "he suddenly kissed me on the lips," she said. Later in the evening, he texted her, "Wow that was really special. Or you're special." She said she cried herself to sleep that night, fearing his power. I included her account in this story...
-- Oreskes responded: "I had absolutely no intention to offend or harass. I'm deeply sorry for allowing myself to say anything that would be taken that way." | | | NPR's media correspondent David Folkenflik has been getting plaudits from his colleagues, deservingly, for covering the in-house controversy without fear or favor. On Friday, he did not attend the employee town hall because it was deemed off the record, and he gathered info from sources instead... Remarkable... | | | -- NPR's Susan Davis tweeted: "I've worked in 7 newsrooms. None would allow as much transparency & journalistic independence to cover our own shame than NPR..." | | Sunday on "Reliable Sources" | | | I'll be joined by the aforementioned David Folkenflik, along with Michael Isikoff, Eliana Johnson, Errol Louis, Ronan Farrow, Indira Lakshmanan and more. See you Sunday at 11am ET on CNN... | | | For the record, part three | | | By Julia Waldow:
-- Recommended reading: Jason Schwartz says the president's trip to China could be a "test of Trump's media views..." (Politico)
-- Happy iPhone X day! Here's CNNMoney's recap of the big gadget reveal...
-- Heather Kelly reviewed the new model and says Apple's product is "kind of intense." To start, she writes, "it wants to make more eye contact than I'm comfortable with..." (CNNMoney)
-- New from BI's Maxwell Tani, and common fodder for reporters' Twitter accounts: "Sebastian Gorka keeps trying to roast reporters when they reach out to ask him questions..." (BI) | | | DNAinfo and Gothamist shutting down | | "What a loss for our city" | | -- "Journalists from DNAinfo and Gothamist who lost their jobs" on Thursday "will rally on Monday with their union." Here's what the Writers Guild of America, East is planning...
-- NYC mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted about the owner's decision: "Joe Ricketts is a coward. He wouldn't last a minute under the intrepid scrutiny of the reporters he employed. What a loss for our city." Rahm Emanual responded to the loss of Chicagoist as well... | | | -- Errol Louis on NY1 Friday night: "Be sure to support local journalism. The city you may save may be your own.".." | | Milo writing for The Daily Caller | | Oliver Darcy emails: Right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos now has a weekly column with The Daily Caller. The conservative publication's EIC, Geoffrey Ingersoll, told me the site approached Yiannopoulos initially about writing an oped on harassment allegations against Kevin Spacey because they "thought him particularly fit for it." He said the opinion editor ended up getting a weekly contribution from him.
Ingersoll said it's unpaid and that he intends to "pay close attention to each [submission] as it comes [in]." This news comes of course one day after billionaire conservative donor Robert Mercer ripped Yiannopoulos in a letter to his colleagues. Mercer, who had previously supported the former Breitbart editor, said he would no longer support him... | | Provocative cover of The Economist: | | U.K. asks Twitter for list of Russia-linked accounts | | | Samuel Burke and Charles Riley write: "British lawmakers asked Twitter on Friday to provide a list of accounts that are associated with a Russian government-linked troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency." There are suspicions that some of the accounts were posting content "related to British politics." Brexit related? | | Claire Wardle wants us to retire the term "fake news" | | | "Fake news" has become "weaponized," and "we have a responsibility to just not use that word," Claire Wardle says. On this week's "Reliable" podcast, the exec director of First Draft says she prefers using the terms "mis-information," "dis-information," and "mal-information." We also discussed the #TechHearings... Listen here via iTunes... Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman has a full recap here... | | | For the record, part four | | | By Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman:
-- Laurie Segall writes: "Trump's Twitter account got taken down by a rogue Twitter employee, and that's a big deal..." (CNN)
-- Mike Allen reports that Steven Brill is raising money for a new startup called "News Guard," which will rate news content to help users know what to trust... (Axios)
-- Recode reports that sites like the WashPost, the Miami Herald, BuzzFeed and Vox have occasionally quoted tweets from Kremlin-tied accounts in their stories, without realizing it... (Recode)
-- Digiday says there's evidence to suggest that food videos on Facebook are no longer going like hotcakes... (Digiday) | | What was the Country Music Association thinking? | | | Lisa Respers France emails: The Country Music Association issued media guidelines threatening to revoke the credentials of journalists covering the upcoming "51st Annual CMA Awards" who asked about politically charged topics including last month's Las Vegas mass shooting at a country music festival. The association reversed its decision Friday after widespread criticism, including from the awards show co-host Brad Paisley... Read more here... | | "Hiding" is "not a solution..." | | Kurt Bardella, publisher of the country music world's Morning Hangover newsletter, wrote this piece for CNN.com about the reversal:
"This situation at the very least provides a teachable moment. The hasty attempt to control the conversation only ignited focus and attention on the very topics they were trying to avoid being fixated on by the media. As a long-time media and communications professional, I understand that impulse to want to try and control every facet of the conversation surrounding your event. However, hiding from uncomfortable topics and issues is not a solution. Particularly when you're talking about a format that uses music and lyrics so effectively to address social issues." | | Check out this NYT home page test | | Oliver Darcy emails: On Friday afternoon I was served up a test of a new version of The New York Times homepage... and it looked kind of like a blog. (Take a look for yourself here.) The images are much bigger and the page is seemingly designed for continuous scrolling downward. Design aside, there was also one other big noticeable change to the Times homepage: no bylines displayed for news stories. When I posted a screen grab, Times media editor Jim Windolf tweeted, "#keepthebylines..."
-- NYT spox responds: "Nothing is set. We are constantly testing different designs on desktop..." | | Netflix: Nielsen's 'Stranger Things' ratings are 'upside down' | | Frank Pallotta emails: "Stranger Things" is one of the most buzzed about shows on TV. Notice that I didn't call the series one of the "most popular." That's because we don't quite know just how popular it is, since Netflix is so secretive about its audience. On Thursday Nielsen started to unravel that mystery by giving a glimpse into the potential ratings of the series. But Netflix pushed back on the #'s on Friday. "Their math might be from the upside down," a Netflix spokesperson told me. "Nielsen only measures a fraction of our members' viewing. For example, they don't measure mobile viewing. Our series are global and member viewing patterns vary greatly (what device they watch on, where they're watching, what they are watching), making it very difficult to model, even if they had accurate samples."
But, hey, if Netflix really wants to show how big their shows are, they could always, you know, release the data... | | "Tonight Show" taping canceled due to Jimmy Fallon family matter | | | More from Frank Pallotta: The taping of Friday's episode of "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" has been canceled due to "a private Fallon family matter," NBC said. A person familiar with the matter told me earlier today that the cancelation is because Fallon's mother Gloria is in the hospital. The source went on to say that "Jimmy comes from a very close knit family" and that they are "by her side right now." Fallon is expected back behind the desk next week... | | ICYMI: Jennifer Lawrence asks Kim Kardashian West all the right questions | | | Lisa Respers France emails: Jennifer Lawrence asked Kim Kardashian West the questions we all wanted to know the answers to when Lawrence guest hosted "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" No subject appeared to be off limits to Kardashian super-fan Lawrence... | | | 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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