| | | | >>> Jake Tapper on CNN Tuesday evening: "This is the president of the United States issuing a threat to use nuclear weapons, and then turning around and glibly chastising the media."
There's a word for this. Madness. This is madness. Fresh off his holiday vacation, President Trump tweeted sixteen times on Tuesday, veering from complaints about the NYT to calls for the jailing of political opponents to threats of nuclear war. Several of his posts were pretty clearly provoked by cable news segments. As Tapper said: "None of this [is] normal, none of this [is] acceptable, none of this [is] frankly STABLE behavior."
We're once again confronted by questions about the president's fitness. Questions about his health. It's uncomfortable. But it is incumbent on journalists to ask these questions and report out the answers... | | Here's what I brought up on "Anderson Cooper 360:"
What would we say if the leader of Germany or China or Brazil posted tweets like Trump's? How would we cover it? We'd say: That person is not well. We'd wonder whether that person is fit to hold office. | | "ARE WE CLOSER TO NUCLEAR WAR THAN EVER?" | | | That's what the banner asked on a special 10pm edition of "The Lead" on CNN. Tapper reminded viewers of what Ronald Reagan once said: "A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought." And John F. Kennedy: "The weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us." Was Trump watching? | | Checking in with Twitter... | | I asked Twitter PR if Trump's threat constituted a violation of the company's rules/terms of service. Personally I don't think it does, but I know some users immediately flagged the tweet and reported it as abuse. After I brought this up on CNN, W.H. director of social media Dan Scavino responded to me: "You and all of your liberal friends have NOTHING. Keep calling Twitter 😭 Stop trying to be the NEWS. Just report the NEWS & try keeping it REAL!"
No comment from Twitter yet... | | "There's the possibility that something else is going on here," Jeff Zeleny said on CNN, noting that Trump "knows more about the Russia investigation" than the public -- he knows more, "through his attorneys and other things, about what may be coming."
--> Juliette Kayyem tweeted: "Isn't the only question now whether it is WSJ, NYT, or Washington Post that has a story that is making Trump unhappy?"
--> "Trump's legal team held talks with the members of special counsel Robert Mueller's team a few days before Christmas," Evan Perez reported... | | Trump's least important tweet of the day... | | Came sixteen minutes after the "nuclear button" message. Trump said "I will be announcing THE MOST DISHONEST & CORRUPT MEDIA AWARDS OF THE YEAR on Monday at 5:00 o'clock. Subjects will cover Dishonesty & Bad Reporting in various categories from the Fake News Media. Stay tuned!"
This is a move straight out of the reality TV playbook... And some of his biggest fans on social media are already cheering the stunt... They think Trump is "sticking it to the fake news media..." | | "Watch Sean Hannity tonight" | | Oliver Darcy emails: Right after the "nuclear button" and "corrupt media awards" tweets, Trump told his followers to watch his friend Sean Hannity's TV program. But why? The Fox News host just recycled his typical opening monologue. Fresh from his holiday break, Hannity praised Trump, running through a list of what he said were his accomplishments. Then Hannity resumed his tired attacks on the media and Hillary Clinton while instructing Republicans in Washington to get in line. It was nothing new, only the same talking points and spin viewers have come to expect from Trump's most loyal soldier on cable news...
--> Later in the evening, Trump deleted his Hannity promo... | | Lest we forget, THIS was the top story of the day before the "button" tweet | | | Erin Burnett's lead at 7pm: "President Trump attacking his own Justice Department, accusing the agency of mass conspiracy against him. The president charging the department is part of a so-called 'deep state.' It's an unsettling and destabilizing charge." A straight-up conspiracy theory, really... | | Top reactions to Trump's day of tweeting | | -- Richard Haass tweeted: "In last 24 hours Trump has threatened to 1) cut aid to nuclear-armed, terrorist-laden Pakistan; 2) cut aid to miffed Palestinians after he alters US Jerusalem policy, and 3) boasted his nuclear button is bigger than Kim Jung-un's. This is our commander-in-chief. Think about it."
-- Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC: "No one in presidential history has played with fire more publicly and recklessly than Donald Trump."
-- NYT TV critic James Poniewozik tweeted: "He's been in office for a year, but he still tweets about being president like someone who watched a movie about being president."
-- The Daily Beast's Sam Stein: "Seriously beginning to wonder if John Kelly should construct a Truman Show like world around Trump, where all his TVs are tuned into a fake, benign Fox News and his twitter account goes out to a manufactured universe of bot followers." | | | President Trump apparently read new NYT publisher A.G. Sulzberger's letter to readers in Tuesday's print edition, because he posted a pair of tweets quoting from it, congratulating A.G. and criticizing the paper. It prompted me to write this piece: There's no relationship in the world quite like Trump's relationship with the NYT... | | "President Trump has made 1,950 false or misleading claims over 347 days" | | | That's the remarkable finding from the WashPost's team of fact-checkers, published on Tuesday morning. An average of nearly six false or misleading claims each day... | | | James Risen, now at The Intercept, has been working on an in-depth account of his time at the NYT covering national security issues. It will come out on Wednesday morning. From an Intercept rep: "Risen provides a unique window into how national security stories were handled at the nation's newspaper of record, particularly the degree to which senior editors negotiated with the government to balance the pros and cons of revealing classified information in the public interest..." | | -- New: The founders of Fusion GPS have an op-ed in Wednesday's NYT... And it's going to trigger several brand new news cycles... (NYT)
-- Heads up: Michael Wolff's book "Fire and Fury," a "fly-on-the-wall" account of the Trump White House's first year, is coming out next Tuesday...
-- LATimes editor in chief Lewis D'vorkin called a colleague "morally bankrupt." Why? David Folkenflik has the story and the audio recordings... (NPR) | | Vice president sidelined amid sexual harassment scandal | | Vice Media placed two of its top execs, president Andrew Creighton and chief digital officer Mike Germano, on leave. The decision was announced on Tuesday, more than a week after a much-anticipated NYT story was published... The story included sexual harassment allegations against both men…
--> Tom Kludt emails: The NYT's investigation came out at an inauspicious time, right before Christmas, when many media types were away for the holidays. The widespread anticipation may have ultimately blunted the effect of what was still a compelling (and damning) story. But for former Vice employees, including some who participated in the Times story, there was frustration stemming from what they viewed as an insufficient response from the company's brass. I spoke with multiple women who used to work at Vice in recent days who bristled at the notion that Creighton and Germano could remain employed (they were the only two individuals named in the Times story as having been the subject of allegations who still work at Vice). Tuesday's decision suggests that those controlling the levers of power in Williamsburg heard the complaints... | | | Tom Kludt adds: In a memo, CFO and COO Sarah Broderick said that Germano will be investigated by HR and an external investigator. Creighton, meanwhile, will be investigated by a special committee of Vice's board, which will make a recommendation to senior management prior to a scheduled board meeting on January 11. Broderick also said the company is "committed to 50/50 male/female at every level across the organization by 2020 and pay parity by the end of 2018," and that mandatory sexual harassment training will be announced later this week... Read more... | | Savannah Guthrie said it best: "This has to be the most popular decision NBC News has ever made." The decision was Hoda Kotb's promotion. On Tuesday Kotb officially replaced Matt Lauer as Guthrie's co-host on "Today..." A totally logical move... Andy Lack said the two women "have an undeniable connection with each other and most importantly, with viewers."
--> Looking ahead: "Today" is sure to benefit from NBC's broadcasts of the Super Bowl and the Olympics this winter... | | A joint interview and a People mag cover story | | Kotb and Guthrie are on the cover of this week's People... In an interview, they discussed Lauer's firing and said they're still in touch with him:
"We know he's working on his family, we know that for sure. Of course our hearts go out to the brave women who have told their stories," Guthrie said. "What we are experiencing and processing now is how to honor and remain a true friend to someone even in spite of learning things that are deeply disturbing. And we are trying to navigate that path with integrity." | | | On Tuesday Kotb told E! about Lauer's message to her: "He was sweet this morning. Certain texts popped up, and there was one from Matt: 'Congratulations!' And he said some nice words." Honest. But also awkward? | | Guthrie is now clearly the center of "Today" | | The transition from Lauer to Kotb has also been a leadership moment for Guthrie. In Tuesday's memo, Lack rightly called her the "center" of the show's family. "She's been a rock for our organization in tough times, and we are grateful," he wrote...
--> A veteran TV exec quoted by VF: "It's not always about a man and a woman. Sometimes it is. But it is ALWAYS about a family. [That's] what morning-show success is built on..." | | Tracy Grant named WashPost managing editor | | | Via Margaret Sullivan's Twitter feed: "Great news as Marty Baron names Tracy Grant to role of managing editor at the Washington Post, praising her 'caring, rigor and integrity.' Only the second woman in that Post role, after Liz Spayd in 2009... Very few women have reached this level at NYT, WashPost or WSJ. In addition to Tracy and Liz, this tiny club includes: Jill Abramson, Rebecca Blumenstein, Susan Chira and the late Janet Elder..." | | Examining John Skipper's exit | | Two weeks after John Skipper's abrupt exit from ESPN, James Andrew Miller is out with a must-read for THR about "Bob Iger's possible role." Miller recapped it this way in a tweet: "1. Skipper has substance abuse problem. 2. Don't believe he would leave ESPN because of it. 3. If Disney wanted new leader, couldn't fire popular Skipper. 4. Substance issue becomes vehicle. 5. His exit has nothing to do with any potential scandal."
--> Politico's Jason Schwartz tweeted: "Lots of conjecture here, but main takeaway is that nobody really knows what precipitated Skipper leaving ESPN when he did..." | | -- A noteworthy BuzzFeed story: With Disney trying to buy most of 21st Century Fox, thereby gaining even more power in Hollywood, some entertainment journalists "are worried that their already fragile relationship with the company will lead to even less access..." (BuzzFeed)
-- "JPMorgan was so worried about its ads appearing next to sketchy YouTube videos it developed technology to keep that from happening..." (BI) | | What are your 2018 resolutions for the media? | | In last night's newsletter, I asked for New Year's resolutions for the news media... Thank you for all the submissions... Here's a sampling:
-- Arkansas comms professor Dylan McLemore: "Remember to recap! The speed of the 2017 news cycle was a new kind of dizzying. If you missed a day (or even a few hours) of news, you felt like a stranger in a foreign land. If it's tough for those of us whose job it is to keep up, imagine the person who reads a couple headlines during their lunch break, or catches a few televised newscasts a week. In 2018, media has to remember to recap -- to summarize where we've been and contextualize why the new information is important."
-- Chicago Public Square publisher Charlie Meyerson: "Stop making predictions, journalists. Don't even answer questions that ask you to make predictions. Report what happened and why, and let the future reveal itself. As it does."
-- WNYC VP for news Jim Schachter: "Stay focused on the job at hand. For us in local media, that means doing journalism of consequence about topics others are ignoring -- and that, by our pursuit of them, can improve the lives of people in our community."
-- John S. Knight Fellow Don Day: "As I and other Stanford journalism fellows think big about the future of journalism in local communities, here's what I resolve: To pay for local journalism. Without spending a little money to fund investment in local communities in the form of investigative reporting, our democracy can't function. National news gets all the heartburn -- but local news is what is most threatened."
-- NYU professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat: "Less Trump, more attention to the forces that have mobilized across the nation to push back against his agendas and protect the rule of law." | | "Ripping the Band-Aid off" | | | Megan Thomas emails: This is a fantastic read from The New Yorker's Dana Goodyear in which she asks if Hollywood can really change its ways post-Weinstein. One former studio exec quoted anonymously in the story summed up the current climate around town this way: "It's a wrenching time of ripping the Band-Aid off and realizing that there is a deep wound that we all have to take some responsibility for creating -- for complacency, if not complicity. I'm horrified that these things must have gone on on my watch. I can say, 'Well, I didn't know.' But that's no longer acceptable..." | | | Another detail from Goodyear's piece: "In the past several weeks, the Hollywood Reporter has created a sexual-misconduct beat and assigned seven reporters, who are fielding ten to fifteen tips a day..." | | "I've come to believe that when it comes to Trump and the world, it's not better than you think. It's worse."
--Susan Glasser in her latest for Politico Mag... | | YouTube says Logan Paul video violated its policies | | Social media star Logan Paul has repeatedly apologized for filming a suicide victim and laughing about it in a YouTube post. But what about the company's responsibility? "YouTube confirmed to CNN Tech that the video violated its policies, but declined to comment on why it was not taken down sooner," CNN Tech's Kaya Yurieff reports...
-- An e-mailer adds: "This is a pretty good case study in why traditional newsrooms, with editors and journalists trained in news judgment, are still very important, even in an age of ubiquitous creators..." | | Rosy football ratings for ESPN | | | Frank Pallotta emails: The semifinal games of the college football playoff brought in big ratings for ESPN Monday night, with the barn burner between Georgia and Oklahoma drawing 26.8 million viewers, a year-over-year boost of 39%. That makes sense since last year's games were on New Year's Eve when the entire world was out drinking champagne. The second game of the night between Alabama and Clemson also excelled, nabbing 21.1 million viewers... | | Rose McGowan docuseries on E! | | "E! is joining the #RoseArmy," Sandra Gonzalez reports. "The cable network announced Tuesday it will air a five-part documentary series chronicling the life of actress and activist Rose McGowan."
More: "Citizen Rose" will "air in five parts, kicking off with a two-hour installment on January 30. The other four parts will air in Spring 2018..." | | Lowry reviews "Grown-ish" | | | Brian Lowry emails: Thirty years after NBC spun off "The Cosby Show" by sending the eldest daughter off to college, ABC does the same with "Black-ish." But in a sign of the times, "Grown-ish" -- which is pretty good-ish -- actually lands on sibling cable network Freeform. Read the full review here... | | | Chloe Melas emails: Two big stories from once former BFFs. While Paris Hilton was getting engaged, Kim Kardashian was in the hospital by her two-year-old son's side as he battled pneumonia... | | | "Reliable Sources" highlights | | | -- Sarah Lacy on Facebook, Google, etc: "These are companies that figured out a way to put planes in space that beam the Internet down from the sky. You're telling me it's too hard for them to figure out what is 'fake news' and not spread it? It just isn't a priority" for them. Watch...
-- Rebecca Traister on the "tipping point" moment: "I worry that we focus too much on the repercussions of these individuals, rather than looking at the larger systemic imbalances that have been revealed by this." Watch...
-- Jeffrey Toobin on the Russia investigations: "The president is very fond of saying there was 'no collusion.' We know, in fact, there was at least some collusion." Watch... | | | Email brian.stelter@turner.com... I appreciate every message. Happy New Year! | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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