| | | | | Exec summary: Glamour has a new editor, Viacom has a new acquisition, and Henry Holt has a message for President Trump's attorneys... But first... | | What does Ivanka's tweet mean? | | Imagine how many eyebrows this raised in the White House. On Monday night, a full day after Oprah Winfrey's speech, Ivanka Trump tweeted: "Just saw @Oprah's empowering & inspiring speech at last night's #GoldenGlobes. Let's all come together, women & men, & say #TIMESUP! #United"
Here's my latest reporting about Oprah and 2020... | | Oprah's friends are telling her: "You can do this" | | Oprah Winfrey is being urged to run for president by many of her high-powered friends. She's listening intently; she's taking it seriously; and she is actively thinking about a bid.
This is according to three of her friends, all of whom I contacted on Monday after Winfrey's stunning speech at the Golden Globes. The sources outlined what an Oprah for President campaign could look like -- if Winfrey decides that running for high office is her calling.
To be clear: Winfrey is not saying she's in, but she's definitely not ruling it out either. Officially, her camp declined to comment on Monday.
"She's listening to a lot of people who are saying: 'You can do this,'" one of her friends told me.
"I don't know what she'll do. She doesn't know yet," another source added. "But any way this plays out, this is a long game." After all, we're still ten months from the midterms... | | She has political star power and Obama on speed-dial | | ...But let's not kid ourselves. The so-called invisible primary is already underway. Winfrey is not the only celeb who will eye the ballot. But her phone is ringing partly because many of her friends feel like the Dems have a weak bench of candidates. Winfrey has Barack and Michelle Obama on speed-dial... She vacationed with them in Tahiti last spring... It's unclear if they've spoken about the possibility of a presidential bid.
Winfrey's speech made "Oprah For President?" a top story on the morning shows Monday A.M. Then my CNN story hit... saying that she's considering a run... and that caused even more chatter.
"This is Donald Trump's worst nightmare," Joy Behar said on "The View." Stephen Colbert's Twitter page dubbed her "HOPE-RAH." Others predicted that Trump would nickname her "NOPE-RAH." Kirsten Gillibrand said "I think her voice is powerful and important, and whatever she wants to do she should do." Robert Costa's WashPost headline: "Talk of Oprah running for president captivates Democrats." | | Van Jones: "Bedlam in Oprah-land" | | Van Jones with me on "AC360:" "If she wants to do it, she can do it. She is probably the most beloved human being on Earth... If she runs, she will destroy anybody in front of her. The question is, does she want to do it? I've talked with a lot of people who are close to her, who are around her. There's basically bedlam in Oprah-land right now, as people are begging her 'please run, please run, please run.' She's given no indication that she has moved off her position that she doesn't want to do it." (Hmm, wasn't her speech an indication that she's entertaining the possibility?)
"Last night was extraordinary," Jones added. "That speech -- she did in 9 minutes what Barack Obama did in 17 minutes in 2004..." | | The NYT's James Poniewozik explains what politicians could learn from Oprah's speech:
"It's a master's stage performance. It builds from kitchen confession to mountaintop thunder. It shifts perspective cinematically -- close in on young Ms. Winfrey sitting on the linoleum floor, pull back to a panorama of America. It uses preacherly rhythms and even cliffhangers... People are drawn to stories for a reason: In politics as in art, they say more than a list of bullet points..." | | Who was in the room when it was written? I'm still working on that. One of her friends said Winfrey "handcrafted" the speech because she wanted to address the #MeToo movement. "It was very important for her to meet this moment," the source said.
This person told me that Winfrey didn't intend for the speech to be political. Uh, forgive me for being skeptical here. To a lot of listeners, it sounded like a warm-up for Iowa and NH.
But I was most struck by this comment from the source: Winfrey, the friend said, expected a reaction to the speech, but was surprised by just how intense the reaction was, how much of an emotional outpouring there was... | | Does she really want to subject herself to this? | | | That's what kept coming up in my conversations with Oprah insiders and political strategists on Monday. What about the attack ads? And Trump's insulting tweets? Is this how she wants to spend the next few years? | | Brian Lowry emails: Here's a note of skepticism on the "Could she run?" story: If you subscribe to the view, as many do, that Trump got into politics in part as a brand-building exercise, it's difficult to foresee Winfrey -- as studious and skilled a guardian of her image as media has produced -- subjecting herself to the scrutiny of a presidential campaign.
-- Also worth reading: Ashley Feinberg's take on how fighting celebrity with celebrity, in essence, might be a "liberal fantasy," but that it's the wrong lesson for Democrats to take away from Trump's election... | | | "I hate to spoil everybody's fun, but I don't believe for a minute that Oprah Winfrey will run for president," Chicago's veteran media columnist Robert Feder writes. He says "the Winfrey I know is smart enough to realize that her life is infinitely more meaningful and satisfying outside the political maelstrom..." | | | Tuesday's Daily News cover: | | Trump's struggles are informing Winfrey's talks | | Alex Burns and Amy Chozick in Tuesday's NYT: "Even to close friends and admirers, the prospect of an Oprah 2020 race appeared far-fetched or impossible as recently as last year."
I've been asking sources about that. Winfrey has alternatively stoked speculation about a bid and sworn off the possibility. So what's going on? Well the three sources I cited earlier say they think something has changed in recent months... The worse Trump's presidency looks, the more Winfrey is being urged to look into running...
--> Here's some more detail: Winfrey has told friends she is appalled by some of Trump's actions, but that she feels motivated/energized by Trump at the same time. I wonder if this relates to the record # of women running for office this year... | | Gayle King was in the audience for Sunday night's awards ceremony. Afterward, according to the LAT, King said Winfrey's speech gave her "goosebumps." So I'm very curious to hear what -- if anything -- Winfrey's best friend says about 2020.
King was off work on Monday. She flew home to NYC... And she'll be back on "CBS This Morning" on Tuesday... Winfrey's speech will have to come up... | | | Winfrey has several stories in the works for the CBS newsmagazine "60 Minutes." Her role at CBS would conflict with any serious exploration of a presidential run. A CBS News spokeswoman declined to comment on Monday... | | White House spokesman Hogan Gidley, aboard Air Force One, said "We welcome the challenge whether it be Oprah Winfrey or anybody else."
--> Chris Cuomo commented on Twitter: "If they say nothing there is no story. Say this, and now you have a run of 'who would win' stories..."
--> I'll talk with Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota on CNN's "New Day" in the 6am hour on Tuesday... | | Right's POV: Oprah is left's "new messiah" | | Sean Hannity's commentary on Monday night: "To the media -- the left in this country Oprah is their chosen one, the new messiah they'll worship and follow like the sheep they are." More here via Mediaite...
-- On Sunday night Winfrey's detractors immediately began circulating old photos of Winfrey with Harvey Weinstein... | | | -- Related?! "NBC removed a tweet sent from the network's main account that appeared to endorse the idea" of Oprah 2020... | | Oliver Darcy emails: You may have seen National Review editor Rich Lowry on MSNBC Monday. That's because he is no longer with Fox News. Lowry's spokesperson told me that Fox chose not to renew his contract when it lapsed in October. Lowry had been a Fox News contributor since 2004, the spokesperson said, and the network gave no reason for not re-upping him, but one can only speculate on whether it had anything to do with his position on Trump and the conservative magazine's infamous "Never Trump" issue.
I asked a Fox News spokesperson for comment twice today and did not hear back. For his part, Lowry said, "I've enjoyed my formal relationship with Fox immensely, and still have a lot of friends there..." | | | A soundbite from KFILE: "Seb Gorka is a Fox contributor and Rich Lowry is not. This pretty much tells you where current winds in the GOP are right now..." | | The first excerpts hit on Wednesday. Now it's Monday, and Michael Wolff is making the rounds on TV and radio shows, defending his reporting and elaborating on what he learned from his months inside the White House.
--> Wolff to Don Lemon on "CNN Tonight:" "This is not a book about my impressions of the President. It is a book about the impressions of the people around him of him..." | | Publisher responds to Trump's legal threat | | Oliver Darcy emails: Remember Trump's demand that Henry Holt cease and desist further dissemination of Wolff's book? Attorney Elizabeth A. McNamara responded Monday by saying "my clients do not intend to cease publication, no such retraction will occur, and no apology is warranted."
The letter came hours after John Sargent, CEO of Macmillan, the parent company of Henry Holt, told employees about the company's "firm" response to Trump, telling staff it "is a matter of great importance" that is about "much more" than the book itself... | | | JMart with a fiery lede in the NYT: "He is a New Yorker in Washington, far more consumed with the news media and personalities than policy issues. He elides facts, fudges the specifics and dispenses with professional norms in the service of success and status. And while affecting a contempt for the mainstream press, he cannot help dropping the mask to reveal the double game he is playing. I am talking, of course, of the writer Michael Wolff, who with 'Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House' has delivered an altogether fitting, if ultimately unsatisfying, book on the chaotic first nine months of President Trump, another media-obsessed Manhattanite..." | | -- The Newseum's Power Shift Summit will be held in DC on Tuesday. There will be a livestream here... (Newseum)
-- "Mediaite managing editor Colby Hall is taking a leave from the company and will become an editor at large..." (TheWrap)
-- Viacom is acquiring the "influencer marketing shop Whosay Inc., joining the list of media companies investing in advertising services..." (WSJ) | | Samantha Barry is Glamour's new editor | | Congrats are in order for CNN's executive producer for social and emerging media Samantha Barry, who will be the next EIC of Glamour.
Barry, a surprise pick, "will replace Cindi Leive, who announced her departure last September but has still been running the magazine," Jill Disis reports. Barry's hiring "signifies a clear focus on digital for the 78-year-old magazine." Read more...
-- More: CNN announced that Ashley Codianni will succeed Barry... | | | Oliver Darcy emails: The revolving door was spinning awfully fast on Monday. The Atlantic announced it had hired the Washingtonian's Elaina Plott as a staff writer covering national politics and Reihan Salam as a contributing editor. The New York Times named Katie Rogers as a White House correspondent. The New Yorker said Hannah Goldfield will be its food critic and Helen Rosner its roving food correspondent. And CNN Politics announced Veronica Strac was coming onboard from ABC... | | -- Oliver Darcy notes: Business Insider moved into its new -- and larger -- offices in the Financial District today. Previously, the company was in Flatiron...
-- A job opening at Digiday: "We are hiring a media reporter who is obsessed with modern media business models..." (Digiday) | | About 19 million viewers tuned in | | | Frank Pallotta emails: The Golden Globes brought in 19 million viewers for NBC, a bit down from last year's telecast, which averaged 20 million viewers. Read more... | | Brian Lowry emails: NBC has to be pretty happy with those numbers. While a year-to-year decline is never welcome, given the nature of the nominees — including a lot of movies that relatively few people have seen — those levels aren't bad.
The LAT's Stephen Battaglio, meanwhile, highlighted a sharper decline among male viewers than women, while raising the question as to whether the telecast's emphasis on the Time's Up movement might have prompted some men in the audience to tune out. As he noted, other factors are also at play, including the ready availability of show clips online... | | Buzzy stories from the broadcast | | By Lisa Respers France:
-- Rose McGowan slammed what she viewed as the "Hollywood fakery" on display at the awards show...
-- Here's what Tommy Wiseau wanted to say at the Globes -- had James Franco not blocked him from the microphone...
-- One last Q about Sunday night: WTF was up with Frances McDormand getting bleeped unnecessarily at the Globes? | | | -- Related: "What the men didn't say" at the Globes spoke volumes. Read more via The Atlantic... | | Looking ahead to the Oscars... | | "If there was one clear winner on Sunday, it was 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,' which nabbed Globes as best drama, for writer Martin McDonagh (who also directed the film), star Frances McDormand and co-star Sam Rockwell," Brian Lowry writes.
"Lady Bird" also received a boost. So what did the Globes mean for the Oscar race? That's... unclear. Read Lowry's full column here... | | Brian Lowry emails: Shonda Rhimes showcased two new dramas during ABC's TCA tour day on Monday, reinforcing that — with five series in production for the network, and another in development — she'll be in business with ABC for some time, despite her new Netflix deal. "It's like saying I have five kids and I'm going to leave them and go off someplace else," she said.
Rhimes also grew a bit prickly when asked about the amount of workplace romance within her shows, and whether that sent potentially confusing messages to the audience, even as the industry seeks to address its sexual harassment problem. Rhimes — who has been active on the issue — noted the distinction between consensual relationships and abusive behavior, and that she saw the line as pretty clear... | | | "Reliable Sources" highlights | | | Catch up on Sunday's show | | "Fire and Fury" notes and quotes | | -- Michelle Cottle said Wolff has "had paparazzi outside his house" in recent days...
-- Karoun Demirjian expressed concern that Wolff's "unconventional" way of doing business could hurt the wider journalism profession...
-- Indira Lakshmanan: "Go ahead and write a cease-and-desist letter for my next book! My goodness, from a commercial, financial POV, that guaranteed that this became a best selling book..." | | Bernstein: "We're in a real constitutional crisis" | | | I began Sunday's "Reliable" with Carl Bernstein, who said, "We're in a real constitutional crisis, in an unprecedented place, where we as a country and where we as journalists have never been before, in which a huge part of the citizenry of our country and the leadership of the country in Congress, privately and in public, openly question the fitness and stability of the president of the United States. So it raises a great question: How do we report on this reality?" Here are his answers... | | | 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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