| | | | | Exec summary: Brian Ross will not cover Trump stories for ABC anymore... PBS will air "Amanpour" on an "interim basis…" WNYC's CEO will face Q's about John Hockenberry on Tuesday… "House of Cards" will resume production… | | W.H. spokesman refuses to speak | | President Trump flew to Utah on Monday, so there was no W.H. press briefing. Reporters thought there would be a "gaggle" aboard Air Force One, but White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley told the press pool that he would not answer any Q's on the record, which obviously defeats the purpose of a Q&A. Presumably he was trying to avoid addressing Monday's headlines about possible obstruction of justice and Trump's endorsement of an accused child molester...
Gidley made statements on several topics, including Jerusalem and Moore, but then told the press pool he would not answer any questions on the record. An excerpt from the haggling that ensued:
Q: "We have to ask the questions--"
A: "I understand that, you have a job to do and so do I."
Q: "You're not doing your job. Your job is literally to take questions from us. That's the whole point of this." If you don't want to do that, "you can release paper statements if you want."
A: "Please tell me more about my job if I get to tell you more about yours..."
Once it was clear that Gidley wouldn't field ANY Q's on the record, the press pool scrapped it... | | "This is not acceptable. It's not acceptable. And we will all pay the price for a long time," ABC News prez James Goldston told staffers Monday morning in the wake of the Brian Ross blunder.
We obtained audio from ABC's morning editorial call. On it, Goldston said, "I don't think ever in my career have I felt more rage and disappointment and frustration that I felt through this weekend and through the last half of Friday." He said the news division had been "absolutely pilloried" for reporting info that was "just plain wrong" and for taking so long to correct the record.
--> Re: Ross's error about Michael Flynn: "We just went on air with that information," he said. "We hadn't approved doing that. And the thing that just kills me about this is all we had to do was wait. We had to wait a few minutes." Here's the full story Oliver Darcy and I wrote... | | "Full review" is underway | | Goldston told staffers there's "a full review going on right now over what went wrong. We are examining every single step that we took."
Amid speculation that Ross, the network's chief investigative reporter, will not return to work after his four-week suspension, Goldston said that Ross will no longer cover stories related to President Trump... | | "The White House Weighs In On Media Companies Firing Employees (Again)" | | | That's the headline on Jeremy Barr's latest for THR. He notes that Kellyanne Conway said on Fox Biz that "if Brian Ross worked for me -- and I was a private employer for many years -- it would not be four weeks unpaid suspension for a guy making seven figures to lie on the air. It would be a complete termination..." | | "Weaponizing" media mistakes | | The effects of journalists' errors -- self-inflicted wounds -- was a sub-theme of Poynter's inaugural Journalism Ethics Summit in DC on Monday. Participants brought up the ways that mistakes are "weaponized" by pro-Trump commentators and groups. "Even small mistakes are used to undercut the entire credibility of the press," NYT's Peter Baker told me during one of the sessions.
I'm noticing more and more push-back about this. As Felix Salmon tweeted Monday: "To err is human. Trumpkins don't care about newsroom protocols, they'll take any excuse to bash Fake News whether it's justified or not. Journalists must operate on good faith, not in an atmosphere of fear that any unwitting mistake might cost them their jobs." | | MSNBC parting ways with Sam Seder over an eight-year-old tweet? | | TheWrap says MSNBC is dropping contributor Sam Seder after an online controversy about an eight-year-old tweet Seder posted about Roman Polanski. He says it was just a joke. Liberal commentators, including some people who work at the network, are deeply troubled by this action, partly because far-right-wing twitterer Mike Cernovich triggered the controversy. AV Club's headline: "MSNBC cuts ties with Sam Seder after giving in to 'alt-right' smear campaign." Mother Jones: "MSNBC Cuts Off Sam Seder Over a Single Lame Joke From Eight Years Ago."
-- MSNBC's 8pm host Chris Hayes tweeted: "I reiterate my longstanding position that people shouldn't be fired for a tweet, *particularly* one that is obviously being read in manifestly bad faith." He added: "The entire culture and our politics are now dominated by people who have weaponized bad faith and shamelessness." | | Fox gets it wrong about MSNBC | | | Oliver Darcy writes: Fox News corrected a demonstrably false report the network aired on Sunday about MSNBC's coverage of the Kate Steinle verdict after social media users pointed out the error to Fox News and nearly 12 hours after CNN first alerted the network's PR department. During a "Fox & Friends Weekend" segment, host Pete Hegseth told viewers that "MSNBC did not cover the verdict once on Friday or on Saturday." But MSNBC did mention it. Details here... | | | I'm sending this out before Monday's "Late Show..." But we'll have a recap of Billy Bush's conversation with Stephen Colbert on CNN.com overnight... In this preview clip, Bush says he was motivated to write his NYT op-ed because "enough's enough..." | | -- Does Bush have an agent right now? Several news outlets said he signed with UTA in June, but I'm told he's no longer with the agency...
-- A good read by Megan Garber for The Atlantic: "Billy Bush, Active Bystander"
-- 🔌: Bill Carter and I will be talking about the interview on CNN's "New Day" in the 6am hour on Tuesday... | | Trump accuser says "we're forgotten" | | | "We're forgotten by politicians who think it's more convenient to keep Trump in office," said Rachel Crooks, one of the women who accused Trump of sexual misconduct before election day. Crooks alleged that the incident took place inside Trump Tower in 2005. She spoke with Alisyn Camerota on Monday... Here's the interview... | | -- For a full recap of Poynter's summit, here's Scott Nover's story... (Poynter)
-- Fox News contributor Gillian Turner is becoming a correspondent in the DC bureau... (TVNewser)
-- Jeff Glor premiered as the new "CBS Evening News" anchor on Monday... Here's a video of his extended family watching and cheering along... (Twitter) | | Monday night at Gotham Hall: Mike Bloomberg's gala dinner for Bloomberg Businessweek's new "Bloomberg 50" list. Keegan-Michael Key emceed... Mandy Gonzalez performed... and A-lister attendees included Adam Silver, Georgette Mosbacher, Eric Schmidt, Jeffrey Bewkes, Jon Batiste, Hilary Rosen, Tammy Haddad, Jordan Klepper, Ken Burns, Martha Stewart, Tamron Hall, Justin Smith, Megan Murphy, John Micklethwaite, Marty Schenker, and more...
--> Bloomberg joked: 'Other media companies have lists selected by editors. Nothing wrong with that. But we wanted to create a list using hard data. That's the Bloomberg way. And so we have created a list of the 50 leaders who are driving measurable change in the world. Now, I know what you're all thinking: Why isn't Mike Bloomberg on the list?! Good question. I was wondering that myself. But I was told it would be seen as self-promotion -- and as we all know, the American people will not stand for a business executive who promotes himself at every turn..." | | Darcy at Lewandowski and Bossie's book party | | Oliver Darcy emails: Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie's book is out on Tuesday... So the pair threw a book party Monday night at Del Friscos in Midtown Manhattan. I got an invite from a friend at the last minute and, dressed in a red CNN shirt, decided to head over and check things out. My attire, coupled with the list of attendees, made for an interesting night.
When Steve Bannon strolled in, he shouted "fake news," gave me a hug, and joked I probably found out about the event via a Breitbart Slack leak which he vowed to close. Bannon also said Matt Drudge "is my homie," calling the conservative news heavyweight "the king," despite the barbs Drudge has thrown his direction. (Bannon also said he would do a full interview soon.)
A lot of other right-wing luminaries were in attendance. Unfortunately they weren't very eager to talk to me or CNN. When I greeted Sean Hannity, he looked at me, realized who I was and hurried away to talk to James O'Keefe. Eric Trump also managed to avoid Q's. Lewandowski sarcastically thanked me for breaking news of his book earlier this year before heading off to greet others... | | | Full spotted list from the event: Eric and Lara Trump, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Bill Shine, Jeanine Pirro, Monica Crowley, Ann Coulter, Bill Hemmer, James O'Keefe, Raheem Kassam, Alex Marlow, Keith Urbahn, Amy Holmes, Brett LoGiurato, Allen Smith, Joshua Green, Gabe Sherman, Rita Cosby, Lou Dobbs, and Alexandra Preate... | | Tuesday's book tour stop... | | | Lewandowski and Bossie were on the 8am hour of "Today" on Monday. Come Tuesday morning, they'll be on the 9am hour with Megyn Kelly... Which is notable because it's her first time interviewing Lewandowski since he allegedly threatened her ahead of the second Fox News debate in 2015... | | "'You're fake news' is the new 'You're fired' for Trump..."
--Jim Acosta at Poynter's summit in DC... | | | On Monday, AdAge named New York mag its Magazine of the Year... and Adam Moss its editor of the year... In 2016, it was The New Yorker... In 2015, Bon Appetit... | | PBS has a plan for replacing Charlie Rose's late-night interview program, and it starts with Christiane Amanpour. "Amanpour," her existing program on CNN International, will be aired by PBS stations at 11pm "on an interim basis," the public broadcasting network said Monday.
The network said it is also "finalizing plans for a second public affairs program to follow 'Amanpour' on PBS in the 11:30pm half hour time slot, rounding out the hour." (Who's hosting and producing that one?) Here's my full story... | | Discovery buys part of Oprah's stake in OWN | | Discovery Communications is paying $70 million for 24.5% in OWN, a/k/a/ the Oprah Winfrey Network. Discovery previously owned 50%, and Oprah owned the rest, so now she'll be down to 25.5%. "With the deal, Winfrey is cashing in on her involvement in OWN," Nellie Andreeva writes. "According to Discovery, this is the first time Winfrey has received a payment from her company's ownership stake in OWN in the 10 years since forming the joint venture with Discovery." Oprah "will retain a 'significant minority interest' in OWN and Winfrey will continue in her role as CEO. Her exclusivity contract with OWN, including as on-air personality, has been extended through 2025..."
-- Brian Lowry emails: Considering that the OWN network was once considered a huge albatross for Discovery management, the fact that the company has chosen to up its investment is further indication of the turnaround at OWN, helping justify its bet on the Oprah name... | | A million fake comments to the FCC? | | | Donie O'Sullivan emails: With a week to go before the FCC is due to vote to repeal Obama-era "net neutrality" rules, Democrats are making a lot of noise. On Monday New York's attorney general said more than one million comments submitted to the FCC on the issue were fake using stolen identities... and said even one of the AG's own staffer's ID was used without her knowledge... | | -- Howard Rubenstein and Zenia Mucha were among the honorees at the PRWeek Hall of Fame dinner in NYC on Monday... (PRWeek)
-- Here's Brian Steinberg with the post-Rose, post-Lauer state of play in the morning show wars... (Variety)
-- ICYMI, here's my recap of the Trump-less Kennedy Center Honors... (CNNMoney) | | Bill O'Reilly sued for defamation by one of his accusers | | | "A woman who settled with Bill O'Reilly is suing the former Fox News star and the cable network that used to employ him for defamation and breach of contract," Tom Kludt reports... Read his full story here... | | WNYC CEO facing questions | | | Amid Q's about harassment and bullying allegations against former public radio host John Hockenberry, WNYC CEO Laura Walker will be on "The Brian Lehrer Show" Tuesday morning... | | "House of Cards" to resume without Kevin Spacey | | | Sandra Gonzalez writes: Netflix has decided to move forward with the final season of "House of Cards" without Kevin Spacey, a source familiar with the decision says. Production on the eight-episode sixth season had been hold due to allegations of sexual misconduct made against Spacey. Production will resume in early 2018, the source said... Read more... | | | For the record, part three | | | Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman emails:
-- Here's Mathew Ingram on Civil, a media startup looking to leverage blockchains and cryptocurrencies to save the news business... (CJR)
-- A new study, released at Poynter's summit, says Trump is causing "unprecedented" levels of polarization in how media is perceived by audiences... (BuzzFeed News)
-- The Pulitzer Prizes are tweaking the Breaking News category to include national and state news organizations, versus only local ones... (Poynter)
-- Rick Edmonds analyzes the Meredith takeover of Time Inc., looking at what they did right and what they did wrong... (Poynter) | | Spotlight on Alabama local media | | | Julia Waldow emails: AL.com -- an Alabama outlet that's in the spotlight amid the Roy Moore controversy -- is looking to foster a dialogue with the state's voters through an online expansion called Reckon. The brand, which includes a Facebook page and a Twitter account, is essentially a news platform and social platform rolled into one, generating conversation around Alabama-related events, issues, and data, as NiemanLab's Christine Schmidt explains here. Described by AL.com's vice president of content as a "social/video-driven brand that offers a mix of audience-centric, accountability journalism," Reckon includes explainers, satirical videos, and news updates... | | Careful with your "millennials" stories! | | "Millennials" has become "a sort of snide shorthand in the pages of The Wall Street Journal," the paper's style editors say in the latest Style & Substance column... "What we usually mean is young people, so we probably should just say that..."
The editors say it's worth remembering "that millennials are an important group of WSJ readers (not to mention many of your colleagues). We risk alienating them if we write about them with such disdain..." | | | For the record, part four | | | By Julia Waldow:
-- Upgrades are afoot at The Information, with the rollout of new subscription packages (including one for people ages 30 and under), plans to double its editorial head count in the year to come, and a concentration on events... (Digiday)
-- "Curb Your Enthusiasm" executive producer Jeff Schaffer sits down with THR to reflect on the season 9 finale and a potential future season 10: "We really are at the stage of talking about talking about it..." (THR)
-- Instagram and Facebook are becoming even more intertwined, with users now able to import Instagram contacts directly into Facebook Messenger... (TechCrunch) | | Reminder: "Person of the Year" on Wednesday | | | I can't believe I forgot to include this in the Media Week Ahead Calendar! Time's "Person of the Year" announcement is coming on Wednesday... The reveal always happens on the "Today" show... And on Monday, Time shared the shortlist... | | | Megan Thomas emails: The Academy released its first trailer for the 2018 Oscars on Monday and poked a bit of fun at last ceremony's "envelopegate" fiasco. Jimmy Kimmel is returning, along with producers Michael De Luca and Jennifer Todd, but the Academy is promising "better surprises" at the next Oscars. Here's the trailer... | | | -- Speaking of Oscars… VF's Richard Lawson looks at how the current political landscape could influence Academy voters, asking, how do you pick a best picture in Trump's America? | | Huge # for "Carol Burnett Show" special | | | Brian Lowry emails: If you like nostalgic TV, Sunday was a good night for you. CBS's "The Carol Burnett Show" 50th anniversary special attracted more than 15 million same-day viewers, per Nielsen results. And although the audience not surprisingly skewed older, the huge total-audience tally will surely be enough to inspire more retrospectives involving classic series... | | | For the record, part five | | | By Lisa Respers France:
-- Garrison Keillor's successor, Chris Thile, had a few things to say on this weekend's "A Prairie Home Companion" about the scandal that cost Keillor his job...
-- That "Frozen" short so many people hate is ending its run as the opener for the more successful animated film "Coco." But according to reports it's not getting pulled for that reason...
-- Ed Sheeran revealed a Beyoncé secret and we are so here for it...
-- Congrats Lin-Manuel Miranda! He and his wife Vanessa Nadal are expecting their second child. He says their 3 year old son can't wait... | | | "Reliable Sources" TV highlights | | | Three ways to catch up on Sunday's show | | | 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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