| | | | | Exec summary: Big Tech heads back to DC, NBC promotes Craig Melvin, The Economist defends its invitation to Steve Bannon... Plus, scroll down for the scoop about The Guardian's "Teacher Takeover..." | | | CNN's Khalil Abdallah captured this shot of a lightning strike near the W.H. on Tuesday afternoon. | | The noise machine is really cranking up to challenge Bob Woodward's book "Fear." But the book is about something fundamental, something that's hard for the pro-Trump media to fully counter. It's about whether Trump is fit for office. The book is full of reasons to doubt his fitness. And it details a White House that isn't just dysfunctional, but is downright broken. Here's the very latest...
-- "Fear" was #12 on Amazon BEFORE WaPo and CNN published excerpts around 11:15am Tuesday. By 5pm, the book was firmly #1, and it's not going to budge for days...
-- The publication date is still 9/11... Simon & Schuster is enjoying the pre-order spike...
-- So far there's been no known threat of legal action from Trumpworld, but I'm on the lookout because that's what happened with "Fire and Fury" and "Unhinged..."
-- All three books "tell basically the same story, it's just that Woodward has by far the most credibility of those three," Chris Hayes said on MSNBC. "It's basically an 'even worse than you thought' sort of theme..."
-- For the time being, Trump is trying a "fake news" defense, claiming (without a shred of evidence) that Woodward might have made up the stories in the book...
-- Will "he made it up!" really work against one of the most-respected, well-known reporters in the country? Maybe...
-- WaPo's Josh Dawsey tweeted: "Of 13 current and former White House officials I spoke to today, seven said they spoke to Bob Woodward for his book..."
| | >> WaPo's Wednesday story says Trump is "furious" and "particularly paranoid" right now. And as CNN's Kaitlan Collins reported earlier, he's irritated that his aides turned down Woodward's requests to interview him.
If you haven't listened to Woodward's recording of his 8/14 phone call with Trump, listen to/read it here. And think about this: Trump evidently thought he could single-handedly turn "Fear" into a positive, "accurate" book by talking to Woodward.
From the call, a Trump quote for the ages: "Accurate is that nobody's ever done a better job than I'm doing as President. That I can tell you. So that's -- And that's the way a lot of people feel that know what's going on, and you'll see that over the years. But a lot of people feel that, Bob."
| | Bernstein calls the book "indisputable" | | There was something special about listening to Carl Bernstein analyze Woodward's bombshells on CNN on Tuesday.
Bernstein's main point to Anderson Cooper: "Yes, there's been reporting on this, a good deal of it. But now we have a coherent, indisputable narrative that is absolutely chilling in the following way: The people closest to the president of the United States, in his W.H. and in his administration, are saying that they see their job as protecting the United States FROM the president of the United States. That he is a danger to the republic. That is the text of this book. Every meeting that Bob writes about, that is the subtext. And it's not just a sentence here or somebody calling somebody an idiot there, it is detail piled upon detail..."
>> Bernstein also vouched for Woodward's reporting talent as only Bernstein could do. "This is an irrefutable picture, because of Bob Woodward's methodology," he told Brooke Baldwin earlier in the day...
| | Robert Costa and Philip Rucker published the first excerpts in a WaPo story. CNN's Jeremy Herb, Jamie Gangel and Dan Merica followed with another eye-popping story just a few minutes later. Together, the two story formed the basis for a full day of news coverage, criticism, denials, etc.
Gangel made this point on "AC360:" Woodward had "dozens of sources," dozens of so-called deep throats. "He has hundreds of hours of taped interviews, almost every interview was taped... So people may be denying things now for their own reason. Maybe they're denying it because they do consider themselves 'the thin blue line,' and they feel that it's more important that they be in the job. But there are tapes."
| | From an emailer: "It's pretty shocking to me how many journalists are willing to draw firm conclusions about the book based on today's news coverage without actually reading the book..."
| | Top reactions to the excerpts | | -- WaPo veteran Robert G. Kaiser: "Just a reminder: Woodward does not make mistakes. He doesn't invent stuff. In our 40 years together at the Post, I remember just one correction of a Woodward story -- Watergate aficionados know the story, an insignificant slip-up."
-- Sean Hannity: "A book filled with speculation, rumors, hearsay."
-- Ezra Klein tweeted that "there should be a word for the pain of being repeatedly confronted with what you already know is true. That's the experience of reporting on Trump, and reading these Trump books. What's going on in the White House is exactly what it looks like, and that's scary every single time."
-- Panelist Morgan Ortagus on Fox's "Special Report:" "At the Applebee's in Winter Haven, Florida, where I waitressed in high school and college, no one is talking about the Bob Woodward book tonight. No one."
-- Brit Hume on Twitter: "The denials from Kelly, Dowd, Mattis are pretty explicit and direct. Bob Woodward's sources are, as always, anonymous so we may never know who's right."
| | --> Ari Fleischer: "I've been on the receiving end of a Bob Woodward book. There were quotes in it I didn't like. But never once -- never -- did I think Woodward made it up. Anonymous sources have looser lips and may take liberties. But Woodward always plays is straight. Someone told it to him."
--> Paul Begala: "24 years ago, Woodward quoted me in his Clinton book saying all kinds of profane and rude things. Why? Maybe because he's a Republican. Or maybe because: I. Said. Them."
| | He shared a five-word statement with reporters who asked him about the admin denials and other reactions to the book's revelations.
"I stand by my reporting."
Woodward has already taped his first TV interview about the book -- with David Martin for "CBS Sunday Morning" -- and right now Sunday seems like a long ways away. But authors like Woodward and the book publicists at S&S have been through this before...
>> On Tuesday's "CBS Evening News," Martin mentioned the interview. "I can tell you, from having interviewed Woodward, he is VERY confident of his information, much of which comes from diaries and notes..." | | | Brian Lowry emails: Chuck Todd's Atlantic piece about the damage done to journalism over the last 50 years – and the orchestrated campaign to achieve those ends – was a must-read. But the one thing he didn't resolve, in my mind, was how journalists can defend themselves and their work without sounding, well, defensive. It was striking, too, in light of Todd's argument to see Woodward's one-line statement – "I stand by my reporting" – in response to the denials and criticism directed at his book. It was an almost-perfect demonstration of the old-school mentality, as opposed to the greater transparency – and more full-throated defense – that many, including Todd, are advocating... | | Based on the WaPo and CNN excerpts alone, it's safe to say that "Fear" contains a wealth of new evidence that is making Trump's fitness a subject of discussion again. Furthermore, the book indicates that it already is being discussed by some of the highest-ranking officials in his administration.
Book after book, story after story, news cycle after news cycle all come back to the same uncomfortable question: Is he fit for office? You can expect to hear the Q asked a lot more in the coming weeks. Here's my column about it... | | The White House's response was delayed... | | The W.H. knew this book was in the works for months. It knew the pub date for weeks, just like the rest of us. Still, it took the press shop four full hours to release a statement dismissing the book as "nothing more than fabricated stories."
>> Maggie Haberman's reaction: "Took the WH four hours to come with the same statement it's used for the last two books."
| | Maybe the press shop was busy setting up this Oval Office interview with two reporters from The Daily Caller. In the interview, Trump claimed that Woodward might have made the stories up, contradicting his own previous praise of the author's reputation.
"It's just another bad book," Trump said. And he was right in one respect: "Fear" is not the first book to contain damning claims about the Trump W.H.
Chris Ruddy brought this up on Chris Cuomo's show: "This book is not so much 'fake news' as it's OLD news," Ruddy said. "I mean, it's a redo of Michael Wolff's book. Very similar themes." But Cuomo pointed out that the commonalities between "Fire and Fury," "Unhinged" and "Fear" actually buttress the points of all three books... | | -- In that interview with The Daily Caller, Trump "took his attacks on free speech one step further, suggesting... that the act of protesting should be illegal..." (WaPo)
-- National Review's new editorial: "The President's Shameful Attacks on His Attorney General..." (NRO)
-- Re: Trump's attacks against the media, Fox's John Roberts says "I think a lot of times the president goes too far..." (Variety)
-- Sarah Sanders posted a weird and wrong tweet mocking CNN's ratings. Here's what I had to say about it... (Mediaite)
-- Speaking of ratings... The CNN Films premiere of "RBG" was #1 in the 25-54 demo across cable news on Monday night... (CNN) | | With the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings dominating daytime cable news, Glamour retained TV critic Megan Angelo to "recap each day of these monumentally important proceedings." Great idea! Here's her recap of day one...
| | While the Kavanaugh hearings continue on Wednesday, Big Tech will have its third big outing in DC in less than a year.
Donie O'Sullivan emails: It's Sheryl Sandberg and Jack Dorsey's first times testifying before Congress. Both execs will be in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Dorsey is also going solo in the afternoon in front of a House committee. Google was invited by senators too, but the company is likely to be represented by an empty chair! More on that here...
| | Meet Facebook's top troll hunter | | Donie adds: Ahead of the hearings, I sat down with Nathaniel Gleicher, the guy who's responsible for pulling different parts of Facebook together to tackle the Russian troll problem. He says Facebook (and everyone else) wasn't prepared for Russian disinfo in 2016 because it was focused on preventing traditional styles of hacking — like stealing passwords, not the manipulation of the way Americans receive information. But just as the trolls were ahead of the curve in 2016, only time will tell if Silicon Valley's defenses have caught up with the next iteration of the info war...
| | | Mark Zuckerberg makes some similar points in this curtain-raiser for Sandberg's testimony. He has an op-ed in Wednesday's WaPo titled "Protecting democracy is an arms race. Here's how Facebook can help win it." | | Melvin promoted on "Today" — quietly | | If you blinked, you might have missed it. NBC mentioned Craig Melvin's promotion on Tuesday's "Today" show, but didn't even specify his new title, news anchor, which has been vacant for the past two years.
It's the latest sign that NBC is still treading carefully with its AM show, nearly one year after Matt Lauer was fired. The network has been successful with Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb, its unconventional combo of two female co-hosts. But the producers also want to broaden out the show and keep a deep bench of talent. So Melvin's role on the show is being formalized, but not hyped. Here's my full story about the move... | | | YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST... | | On Wednesday, The Guardian is launching something it's calling a "Teacher Takeover," featuring content from teachers and activists across the US, including some who are serving as "guest editors."
It's a three-day-long initiative... Wednesday through Friday... designed to "highlight the crisis in American schoolrooms and rising teacher activism," the news outlet says. Teachers "have helped commission stories and photography projects, and written first person essays and opinion pieces." Partners include Refinery29 and four local publications in states where teachers are especially low-paid... | | -- Two years after selling Cablevision to Altice USA, the Dolan family is suing Altice, "accusing the cable provider of laying off employees" at News 12 "in violation of a sale agreement..." (Bloomberg)
-- Important story by Jack Nicas: "Alex Jones Said Bans Would Strengthen Him. He Was Wrong." Traffic to Infowars is way down... (NYT) | | Standing in solidarity for the Reuters reporters behind bars in Myanmar | | | Via Reuters' Lauren Young: "In New York today, the entire Reuters newsroom stood in solidarity with our colleagues Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, charged in Myanmar for a crime they did not commit..." | | One day after The New Yorker uninvited Steve Bannon from its festival, The Economist explained why Bannon is still invited to its festival... Tom Kludt has the details here...
The key graf: "The future of open societies will not be secured by like-minded people speaking to each other in an echo chamber, but by subjecting ideas and individuals from all sides to rigorous questioning and debate..." | | | --> Michael Grynbaum in Wednesday's NYT: The New Yorker Festival became an "unlikely target for questions of free speech and journalistic ethics that have lately divided the political left..." | | | For the record, part three | | | -- Salena Zito's first detailed response to her critics: "The Twitter trolls attacking my work are all wrong..." (NYPost)
-- "The Outline, the Joshua Topolsky-founded culture website, laid off the last of its two remaining staff writers" on Tuesday, along with some "other non-editorial employees..." (Fast Company)
-- "The Getty family is buying back Getty Images from the Carlyle Group at a significant discount..." (FT) | | Ronan Farrow breaks his silence | | Right after I sent out last night's newsletter, Ronan Farrow released a statement about the Harvey Weinstein/NBC News controversy. He said Andy Lack's memo and the accompanying fact sheet "contains numerous false or misleading statements." You can get caught up via Oliver Darcy's story here...
Notably, Emily Nestor, a Weinstein victim who spoke to Farrow on the record for his New Yorker story, appeared to support Farrow's account...
And on Tuesday, a former Weinstein Co. exec, Abby Ex, ALSO sided with Farrow AND "refuted claims made about her" in the NBC memo. THR has the details here...
| | NYT's John Koblin is out with a new story breaking down all the points of disagreement between Farrow and the NBC execs... Here it is...
| | Trump is invoking Weinstein to trash NBC | | Trump tweeted: "NBC FAKE NEWS, which is under intense scrutiny over their killing the Harvey Weinstein story, is now fumbling around making excuses for their probably highly unethical conduct. I have long criticized NBC and their journalistic standards-worse than even CNN. Look at their license?"
First things first. NBC as a whole is not licensed. NBC owns some stations that are licensed. NBC also has lots of affiliates, owned by other companies, that are licensed.
Will Trump's pick for FCC chair, Ajit Pai, correct Trump on this? Don't bank on it. This is how he handled Trump's licensing threat last fall... | | "If you talk to news organizations, they will say they're experimenting with new ideas and new models for revenue and subscriptions. But if you take a narrower look at the details, literally nobody is doing anything new."
--Amy Webb in this WWD piece titled "future of media demands radical change..." | | | Typo of the year? 😉 Last night's newsletter mixed up the actors Geoffrey Owens and Geoffrey Rush. I apologize for the mistake. But I very much appreciated the emails from all of you eagle-eyed readers! | | Chloe Melas emails: I sat down with former "Cosby" star Geoffrey Owens in the CNN newsroom on Tuesday. He told me he hopes Fox News and the Daily Mail have learned a lesson -- to not "job shame" someone for trying to put food on the table for their family.
Owens said that he took the job at Trader Joe's 15 months ago, but has since had to quit because of the recent media scrutiny. He is currently looking for work and hoping to continue his acting career. Owens, a Yale grad, is grateful for the support he's received from fans and celebs — and said he hopes this conversation enlightens people not to judge another person's line of work. Read on... | | NBC orders 'Law & Order: Hate Crimes' | | Sandra Gonzalez emails: NBC on Tuesday announced a 13-episode order for "Law & Order: Hate Crimes," from executive producer Dick Wolf.
There's no doubt that this series is -- in the words of Lisa Katz, NBC's co-president of scripted programming -- "extremely timely." But I liked the point that Wolf made in his statement announcing the series: "Twenty years ago when 'SVU' began, very few people felt comfortable coming forward and reporting these crimes, but when you bring the stories into people's living rooms -- with characters as empathetic as Olivia Benson -- a real dialogue can begin. That's what I hope we can do with this new show in a world where hate crimes have reached an egregious level." Read more here... | | Tyler Perry announces civil suit... | | Sandra Gonzalez emails: Tyler Perry is helping seek justice in cases involving two Florida men who disappeared in the early '00s. On Tuesday, Perry and civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump announced the filing of a wrongful death lawsuit against a former sheriff's deputy who they believe may be responsible for the disappearance of two men -- Felipe Santos and Terrance Williams -- nearly fifteen years ago. Perry also announced he's increased his reward offer to $200,000 for information relating to the cases. The Collier County Sheriff's Office thanked Perry for "continuing to raise public awareness about these local cases and keeping them in the national spotlight."
The whole story by Gonzalez and Keith Allen is worth a read... | | | Brian Lowry emails: Sandra Gonzalez (with an assist from me) put together a by-no-means-comprehensive list of some of the high-profile series premiering, or returning, this fall. It's going to be an especially strong test for the broadcast networks this season, given the number of high-profile offerings from their cable and streaming competition... | | | For the record, part four | | | By Lisa Respers France:
-- September 4 is the holiday known as Beyoncé's birthday a.k.a #BeyDay...
-- The new "Bachelor" is Colton Underwood...
-- Dave Grohl joked that he won't "ever make out with Bono" again after Grohl too lost his voice, much like the U2 frontman did recently. Call it a case of "Bono Mono..." | | |
Thanks for reading! Email me your feedback... See you tomorrow...
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