| | | | | Exec summary: Congrats to the winners of this year's NAACP Image Awards... Stay tuned for Sarah Sanders' Tuesday afternoon briefing... And scroll down for the info on a special reading of "All the President's Men..." | | Did Rupert know about this story ahead of time? | | First time for everything, Rupert Murdoch edition: One of Murdoch's papers, the WSJ, broke the news on Monday that U.S. counterintel officials "warned Jared Kushner that Wendi Deng Murdoch, a prominent Chinese-American businesswoman, could be using her close friendship with Mr. Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, to further China's interests." Rupert and Wendi divorced in 2013.
If that's the shot, here's the chaser... | | | One of Murdoch's other papers, the NYPost, posted a curious gossip column by Richard Johnson a few hours after the WSJ story hit. Title: "Ivanka and Jared 'love it in Washington.'" The item quoted a friend saying "They love it in Washington. The kids love it. They are in it for the long haul..." | | Babe.net boss defends story about Aziz Ansari | | An anonymous woman's account of a sexual encounter with Aziz Ansari was debated all day long on Monday. Some people said it was a setback for the #MeToo movement. Others said the story jump-started a necessary conversation about dating.
Now the editors at Babe.net who published the story are weighing in. Joshi Herrmann, EIC of Babe's parent company Tab Media, says the editors have zero regrets. "We would publish this again tomorrow," he told me Monday night.
"It's newsworthy because of who he is and what he has said in his standup, what he has written in his book, what he has proclaimed on late night TV," Herrmann said. "Her account is pointing out a striking tension between those things and the way she says he treated her in private."
About 2.5 million people have the read the story so far -- a record for Babe's web site. Here's my full story... | | On her HLN TV show Monday evening, Ashleigh Banfield crystallized the critiques of the Babe story. She read an open letter to the anonymous woman: "By your own clear description, this wasn't a rape, nor was it a sexual assault. Your sexual encounter was 'unpleasant' at best. It did not send you to the police. It did not affect your workplace, or your ability to get a job. So what exactly is your beef? That you had a bad date with Aziz Ansari?"
--> The #1 trending story on NYTimes.com right now: This Bari Weiss column saying the allegation against Ansari "trivializes what #MeToo first stood for..." | | "Just because something is normal, doesn't mean it's OK" | | Counter-point: "The idea that reporters shouldn't investigate stories that don't involve law enforcement is patently ridiculous," Herrmann told me. He recalled one of his colleagues saying that Babe's reporters "want to represent these young women in the way they should be, not in the way they have been in the past." The average age of a Babe writer is 24.
--> Related: The reporter who interviewed the woman, Katie Way, said this on CBS: "Just because something is normal, doesn't mean it's OK. Just because something happens a lot, doesn't mean it should ever happen."
--> Context: Babe and sister site The Tab have office space in Williamsburg. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp was the lead investor when the company received $6 million in funding last year. More here... | | This conversation needs to be about "what's right," not just what's "legal" | | Jessica Valenti tweeted: "Our standard for sexual behavior has to be more than what's legal or illegal -- it needs to be about what's right..."
She added: "I'm sure we're going to hear lots of stories in the coming months about actions that aren't against the law, or that don't warrant repercussions. That doesn't mean that women weren't hurt, or that these stories aren't worth discussing." | | "Stand by us, stand for us, stand with us" | | | "Kerry Washington, Tracee Ellis Ross, Lena Waithe, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Angela Robinson and Laverne Cox shared a message encouraging viewers to 'stand by us, stand for us, stand with us' against harassment and for justice at the NAACP Image Awards on Monday night," THR reports... | | NYT op-ed columnist Michelle Goldberg: "In any other administration, evidence that the president paid hush money to the star of 'Good Will Humping' during the election would be a scandal. In this one it has, so far, elicited a collective shrug."
Goldberg is referring to last week's revelation -- via the WSJ -- that one of Trump's lawyers arranged a $130,000 payment to a porn star a month before the election.
She's right that journos have mostly moved on. Let's see if that changes on Tuesday. Here's what "Megyn Kelly Today" is promoting as an exclusive on Tuesday's show: "Alana Evans, friend of former adult-film star Stormy Daniels, says Stormy confided in her about a sexual encounter she had with President Trump in 2006, just a year after he married Melania. The White House denies it..." | | -- Lizzie Crocker, who resigned from The Daily Beast, "plagiarized more than once," Peter Hasson reports. Now a full review is underway, John Avlon says... (The Daily Caller)
-- I've been a fan from afar of Rappler, an independent news site in The Philippines. This is very troubling: The government there "is ordering the closing" of the site... (NYT)
-- Twitter's reaction to James O'Keefe's latest "sting:" "Twitter Says No, Hundreds Of Twitter Employees Are Not Reading Your DMs..." (BuzzFeed) | | HBO says "you won't get this much love at Netflix." That's the headline on Joe Flint's latest for the WSJ, which includes interviews with Richard Plepler and Casey Bloys. Flint says "HBO is resisting the impulse to bulk up, getting pickier about its programming" and "trimming its development pipeline..."
--> Key quote from Bloys summing up HBO's POV: "If you have 50 kids, you're not going to every soccer game. We go to every soccer game, and we're the snack parents at every soccer game. That's how we treat our talent." | | "Minneapolis Miracle" ratings | | | Frank Pallotta emails: Minneapolis Miracle? Hail Minny? Whatever you call it, Sunday's bonkers Vikings-Saints game averaged 35.6 million viewers and peaked at roughly 46 million viewers around 8pm ET, according to Fox. That's when the "miracle" occurred. It was a solid number, but to put the results into context, the Cowboys-Packers divisional round thriller on the same weekend last year averaged 48.5 million viewers for the *whole game* to make it the most-watch divisional game ever... | | -- A smart idea by the NYT: Imagining cell phone push alerts circa 1968. Here's what it would have looked like... (NYT)
-- Fox News programming chief Suzanne Scott: "We have a new schedule that's only been in play for a couple of months, but we are very pleased with the results that are coming in thus far. Our audience has stayed with us" despite "loss of the some major talent..." (Multichannel)
-- Jonathan Martin tweeted: "Remember when Trump was gonna sue Michael Wolff?" | | | Manu Raju tweeted: "Sarah Sanders behind the podium tomorrow for the first time since Trump called African nations 'shithole countries.' Briefing is at 3:30pm." This might double as a briefing on the president's recent physical... | | Right-wing reactions to "shithole" | | Rick Wilson on "CNN Tonight:" "Shithouse versus shithole doesn't make it better. It's the 'shit' part that's the problem."
Oh yeah? Tell that to "the digital redoubts of the far-right." VF's Tina Nguyen says pro-Trump sites and social media stars "were buzzing with excitement to see all their favorite adversaries -- Democrats, celebrities, CNN anchors -- so apoplectic" over the president's racist remark... Read more here... | | What Trump is really saying with his WSJ complaint | | | I was talking about Trump v. WSJ on some of CNN's programs on Monday. I said it's the latest example of the White House saying, in effect, "you shouldn't believe the news media -- you should really only trust Trump..." | | | This AP story from over the weekend captured the big picture reality really well: "A year into Donald Trump's fact-bending, media-bashing presidency, Americans are increasingly confused about who can be trusted to tell them reliably what their government and their commander in chief are doing. Interviews across the polarized country as well as polling from Trump's first year suggest people seek out various outlets of information, including Trump's Twitter account, and trust none in particular..." | | CNNPolitics' Eli Watkins writes: "GOP Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona plans to deliver a speech comparing President Trump's attacks on the press as reminiscent of Joseph Stalin, and said Monday that his colleagues should join him in speaking out."
Key quote from Flake's interview with Christiane Amanpour: "I hope that more of my colleagues will stand up when the President uses 'fake news,' for example, in ways that I think put journalists across the world in danger..." | | "For a President of the United States to have to say, straight out, 'I am not a racist,' which has echoes of President Nixon back in the mid-70s saying 'I am not a crook' -- As a people, as a country, as a society, We're better than this. We're better than this. Which is what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was always trying to say..."
--Dan Rather on "The Rachel Maddow Show" Monday night... | | Michael Wolff the media critic is back | | In this interview with The Guardian, Wolff said, of the Washington press, "They're stuck in the weeds. I'm clearly not stuck in the weeds." 🙄
--> Speaking of Wolff, he accused CNN's Michael Smerconish of "doing the work of the White House" in an interview last Saturday. Smerconish just posted a response to Wolff... Check it out on his web site... | | Cuomo's back and forth with the W.H. | | Sarah Sanders called out CNN's Chris Cuomo on Monday... After Cuomo identified W.H. spokesman Raj Shaj as "Raj whatever his name is" while discussing Trump's belated denial of "shithole."
Cuomo responded on Twitter: "Sorry for the mistake, Raj. Won't happen again. Please know that you are welcome to come on the show anytime." Later in the day, Sanders said, "Classy of @ChrisCuomo to do this, but be careful what you wish for @RajShah45 is tough! 😀" Cuomo also apologized on the air... | | | For the record, part three | | | -- In this new ad pact, Procter & Gamble is buying dialogue and plot on ABC's "black-ish," Brian Steinberg reports... (Variety)
-- "WME's parent company, Ari Emanuel's Endeavor, is poised to get a significant investment from Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman..." (TheWrap) | | Scrubbing Weinstein's name... | | "Though Paramount Network shows 'Yellowstone' and 'Waco' began as Weinstein TV projects, neither series will bear Harvey Weinstein's or The Weinstein Company's name in the official credits," TheWrap's Tony Maglio and Jennifer Maas write.
Paramount's plan for the shows was shared with reporters at the TCA Press Tour on Monday. The channel and Weinstein's former firm have a relationship, but "it won't be an active one until The Weinstein Company has new leadership and a clear direction..." | | NAACP Image Award winners | | TheWrap's Ashley Boucher writes: "Ava DuVernay won Entertainer of the Year at the 49th NAACP Image Awards ceremony Monday night, hosted by 'Black-ish' star Anthony Anderson at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. 'Girls Trip' took home Outstanding Motion Picture, the lone comedy in a group crowded with dramas. 'Black-ish' won big, taking home three awards. It won Outstanding Comedy Series," plus "Tracee Ellis Ross and host Anderson won Outstanding Actor and Actress in a Comedy Series for their starring roles..."
More: "Taraji P. Henson and Omari Hardwick snagged the awards for Outstanding Actress and Actor in a Drama series for their starring roles on 'Empire' and 'Power.' Octavia Spencer and Daniel Kaluuya took home Outstanding Actress and Actor in a Motion Picture for their roles in 'Gifted' and 'Get Out...'" | | Eliza Dushku accuses stuntman of molestation | | Lisa Respers France emails: Eliza Dushku has accused a stuntman of molesting her when she was a 12 year old actress starring in the film "True Lies." Joel Kramer denies the allegations and told me Dushku's story is "a well-crafted fabrication..."
--> New: Kramer is the subject of "two more allegations of sexual misconduct," Variety reports... | | "West Wing" stars to hold one night only reading of "All the President's Men" | | | It will take place in L.A. on January 27... Donations will go to the Society of Professional Journalists... Frank Pallotta has details here... | | Tiffany Haddish's viral story nabs her a Groupon gig | | | Lisa Respers France emails: Tiffany Haddish's viral story about taking Will and Jada Pinkett Smith on a swamp tour using a Groupon has landed her a gig as a spokesperson for the company and star of their Super Bowl commercial... | | Catch up on Sunday's show | | -- Van Jones on "shithole:" "Not only were those comments racist, they were also just inaccurate..."
-- Steven Brill: When Trump says "he wants to take a look at the libel laws, he's saying he wants to take a look at the Constitution..."
-- Norman Pearlstine: "Leaks are one of the ways in which we as a country learn about how our leaders are behaving, what our leaders are thinking, what our leaders are doing..." | | They were just out "doing their jobs" | | | The next hearing in Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo's case is on January 23. This story out of Myanmar needs international attention right now. "These are two young journalists with families, out doing their jobs, in what we all support: free and independent journalism," Reuters EIC Stephen Adler told me on "Reliable Sources." The pair were arrested a month ago, and now face 14 years of jail. Jackie Wattles has a recap of the interview here... | | | Email brian.stelter@turner.com... I love the feedback, corrections, suggestions, and tips. Thank you! | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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