EXEC SUMMARY: Meet this year's Knight-Bagehot Fellows... Get the skinny about Univision's sale of GMG... And look ahead to Tuesday's key hearings on Capitol Hill...
The Purge
"Purge" is definitely the word of the week so far. "We appear to be in the middle of what one senior official tells CNN is a near-systematic purge at the Department of Homeland Security," Anderson Cooper said Monday night.
The word was used on the NBC, ABC, and CBS nightly newscasts, too. And it's the lead story on the WaPo website right now: "Trump removes Secret Service director in widening purge of DHS leaders." In print, the NYT's lead on Tuesday is "In Shake-Up, Trump Seeks Hard Line on Immigration." The first paragraph refers to the "purge."
Practically the only place I couldn't find "purge" talk on Monday was Fox News. Actually, I couldn't find much coverage of any of the Trumpworld chaos on Fox. The word "purge" never came up during Monday's coverage, according to a closed captioning transcript search. The network's prime time shows didn't completely ignore the shakeups, but they spent a lot more time criticizing Fox's usual Democratic targets.
It was a strange sight for channel-surfers. Normally Fox is the network that's laser-focused on immigration... But not right now. My prediction: Fox's prime time hosts will wait a day, then attack all the rest of the media coverage...
Finding out your boss is being forced out... from the TV
Shortly after CNN reported that Secret Service director Randolph "Tex" Alles "is being removed from his position," the reporting team added this detail to their story: "Secret Service officials have been caught by surprise with the news and are only finding out through CNN," per a source close to the director...
Eye-popping quotes from anonymous sources
-- The president "just wants to separate families," a senior admin official told CNN's Jake Tapper...
-- The WSJ has a similar quote from an admin official: "He has been pushing for it since the day he stopped it..."
-- "They are decapitating the entire department," a DHS official told the Post...
Top reactions
-- CNN's Chris Cuomo: "We've never seen a blood-letting like this before..."
-- Michelle Goldberg on "All In With Chris Hayes:" "The conventional language of American politics is not up to describing what this administration is and what it's doing..."
-- Cooper called to mind Adam Serwer's seminal essay about the Trump age, "The Cruelty Is The Point," while discussing family separations at the border: "The cruelty is not a bug of the system, it's a feature..."
-- MSNBC's Rachel Maddow: "If you tried to declare something a national emergency, that would mean you'd want to staff up the parts of the federal government that are assigned to deal with that supposed emergency." Right? Guess not. "It's quite the opposite here..."
Miller's conservative media backchannel
Quartz's Heather Timmons has some very interesting reporting about the White House and the Washington Examiner:
When Nielsen "pushed back on implementing a new, draconian W.H. directive on immigration," Timmons says, Stephen Miller "relied on a special trick to force her to relent." Miller "would leak the latest numbers on apprehensions or asylum seekers at the border to reporters at the right-leaning Washington Examiner." The Examiner, she says, would write a story "with an alarming headline about the growing number of people crossing into the US, sometimes criticizing Nielsen. Then Miller would print the story out, and get a paper copy to Trump. Trump, ever sensitive to bad press, particularly from conservative outlets, would read the report, then pick up the phone and blast Nielsen, they said, and she'd capitulate on the issue at hand..."
Kobach's audition
Kris Kobach -- whose name has been mentioned as a Kirstjen Nielsen successor -- started his day on Fox Business and ended it on Fox News.
Kobach told Tucker Carlson that past DHS leaders have been "unwilling to execute many of the president's plans." He accused them of "deliberate foot-dragging." Carlson asked him, "if you're running DHS tomorrow, what would you do first?" But for some reason Carlson didn't bring up the obvious -- that Kobach was using his show to audition...
IN OTHER NEWS...
Nunes says he's suing McClatchy
Rep. Devin Nunes filed suit against Twitter three weeks ago. The lawsuit was widely derided. Now he's doing it again: He's suing the McClatchy newspaper chain and "alleging that one of the news agency's reporters conspired with a political operative to derail Nunes' oversight work into the Hillary Clinton campaign and Russian election interference," Fox News reported Monday night. | | >> Nunes went on Sean Hannity's show to promote the $150 million lawsuit. "We're coming after the rest of them" too, Nunes said... "If you're out there and you lied and you defamed, we're coming after you..."
>> McClatchy's response to me: "With the limited opportunity we have had to review this claim, it is wholly without merit and we stand behind the strong reporting of The Fresno Bee..."
April Madness!
My bracket has UVA winning it all... So I'm going to hit send on this newsletter now, and watch the Cavs beat the Red Raiders... !
The scoreboard
Brian Lowry emails: CBS' Final Four ratings were predictably up compared to 2018, when the games aired on TBS. But they were down (also predictably) compared to 2017, the last time the games aired on CBS. The Big Lead accused CBS PR of an "omission trick," but more charitably, chalk it up as a case of accentuating the positive...
TUESDAY PLANNER:
-- A.G. Bill Barr will be on Capitol Hill for a 9:30 a.m. hearing...
-- This year's Peabody nominees will be announced...
-- I'll be in Brooklyn for Erin Lee Carr's book launch event, details here...
-- Erin Burnett will moderate a town hall with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand at 10 p.m. on CNN...
Facebook and Google will face Congress on Tuesday
Donie O'Sullivan's preview of Tuesday's House Judiciary Committee hearing: Reps from Facebook and Google will be on Capitol Hill "to face questions from lawmakers about how their platforms are used by white supremacists."
Candace Owens and a rep from the Anti-Defamation League will also be on hand. Here is O'Sullivan's curtain-raiser...
FIRST LOOK
Meet this year's Knight-Bagehot Fellows
The Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in Business and Economics at the Columbia J-School will name ten fellows for the 2019-2020 academic year on Tuesday. Raju Narisetti says "these Fellows reflect what was one of the most globally competitive and diverse applicant pools the Bagehot program has seen in its 44 years." Seven of the ten journos -- who hail from Kenya to DC, NYC to Venezuela -- are women... | | From left to right: Jillian Berman, María Eloísa Capurro, Katie Jennings, Hannah Levintova, Larry Madowo, Akiko Matsuda, Eshe Nelson, Oheneba Ama Nti Osei, Andrew Rosati, and Hamza Shaban.
The "Colbert primary" continues
"Stephen Colbert's The Late Show became the first TV program on which two candidates have announced their 2020 White House bids with Monday's announcement by California Rep. Eric Swalwell," Deadline's Lisa de Moraes wrote.
"Boy, did it feel good to say that!" Swalwell said after announcing his 2020 bid on the show. Kirsten Gillibrand announced her exploratory committee on Colbert back in January...
--> Swalwell's first post-announcement interview will be with Rachel Maddow on Wednesday night...
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- William D. Cohan is out with a big new story about the "CEO-search chaos" at CBS. The subtitle: "Plepler is a no. Katzenberg is a no. Ianniello wants to stay—but he's a Moonves guy. Will an A-lister come to clean up Redstone's mess?" (VF)
-- Via Erik Wemple: "Chris Lehmann has been selected as the next 'full-time editor' of the New Republic..." (Twitter)
-- WSJ is shuffling some beats: Dana Mattioli is covering Amazon; Ben Mullin "is taking on a bigger role in TV and corporate-media coverage;" and Lillian Rizzo is covering the cable industry... (Talking Biz News)
Univision sells Gizmodo Media Group
Tom Kludt emails: We learned Monday where Gizmodo Media Group's portfolio of websites will be shipped off to: After nine months of exploration, Univision is selling The Onion, Jezebel, Deadspin, The Root, etc to the private equity firm Great Hill Partners. What we don't know is what exactly Great Hill has in store for journalists at the sites.
The staffers I interviewed on Monday expressed some anxiety about working under the auspices of private equity, but those same folks acknowledged that it's just too early to say what the sale means for them. We do know that the company will operate under a different name: GMG is now "G/O Media Inc." Here's our full story…
Univision's loss
This is an embarrassing come-down for Univision, which acquired the GMG sites in 2016. The price back then? About $135 million. Now the sites are being sold for less than $50 million, Recode's Peter Kafka reported. WSJ's Ben Mullin matched that price range later in the day...
>> Univision says its goal is to "return to its core strengths in Hispanic media and marketing..."
The word from Great Hill...
Tom adds: The man who will be overseeing "G/O Media" is James Spanfeller, who will also be an investor in the company. "I believe in the power of content, yes even in these platform nuanced times, and the idea of editorially driven businesses," he wrote to staffers on Monday. "And I am very excited to work with the wonderful brands that make up our company and all of you, the professionals who drive these brands day in and day out. I also believe in the partnership that must work between both sides of the house to make media companies successful. While editorial independence is critically important, there needs to be a healthy and productive partnership with the business side for the company to be truly successful. Without an audience we have nothing to offer advertisers, eCommerce partners or subscription efforts. And without the revenue from those sources we have no way to fund the content and those who create it that attracts that audience in the first place." Suffice to say, there are some doubters out there...
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- ABC News staffers are mourning the death of Alexa Valiente, 27, a producer at the network for the past six years. "She was known for her infectious laugh and one of a kind personality that stretched far beyond the walls of the newsroom..." (ABC)
-- BuzzFeed News PR vet Katie Rayford "is leaving to join Slate as the digital publisher's first director of media relations..." (Variety)
-- Taylor Lorenz's latest: Incoming college freshmen are using Instagram the way students used to use Facebook... (The Atlantic)
"Today In" shortcomings
An Phung emails: Nieman Lab's Christine Schmidt tested Facebook's local news section, "Today In," and what she found... wasn't great. Lots of random crime and car crash news. "For a company that says it wants to 'encourage meaningful interactions between people,' it doesn't immediately strike you as the sort of content that's going to build social cohesion, develop a sense of place, or otherwise do the good things that local news can do," Schmidt wrote about her findings...
Media Matters v. Fox update
The anti-Fox group Media Matters is urging Dems not to appear on Fox News during the network's "critical ad sales period." The group's president Angelo Carusone specifically told HuffPost that Bernie Sanders' decision to hold an April 15 town hall on Fox will be used by the network to "try and assuage advertisers' concerns."
Marianne Gambelli, the president of ad sales at Fox, responded via a statement to The Hill. She said Fox "had a very successful upfront presentation where our advertisers walked away feeling extremely positive about our story and the value of our audience... We expect no change in our business going forward..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- "MTV has named former Bleacher Report president Rory Brown to the newly created position of Head of Digital and Social for MTV, VH1, CMT and Logo..." (Deadline)
-- "Dateline NBC" will be joining the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame later this year... (B&C)
-- ABC's John Quiñones is this year's recipient of RTDNA's John F. Hogan Award... (Radio Online)
-- Greta Van Susteren's new employer, Gray Television, is giving her a weekly show called "Full Court Press" on Gray's 93 stations... (TheWrap)
Amanpour and Wintour
Anna Wintour granted a rare interview to Christiane Amanpour last week... It's airing on CNNI and PBS... and the highlights are now up on CNN.com.
Wintour talked about using Vogue to "take a stand." She also said "I think it's very, very important to have a point of view, and we profile women in the magazine that we believe in... After the defeat of Secretary Clinton in 2016 (in particular), we believe that women should have a leadership position and we intend to support them..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
-- Lesley Goldberg's latest: Apple "has handed out an eight-episode, straight-to-series order for an adaptation of Stephen King's 2006 horror-romance best-seller Lisey's Story. Oscar winner Julianne Moore will star in the series, with King — in a rare move — writing all eight episodes of the drama, which is being produced by J.J. Abrams and his Warner Bros. TV-based Bad Robot Productions..." (THR)
-- "Rush Hour 4" may be in the works... Chloe Melas has the details here... (CNN)
-- Felicity Huffman pleaded guilty and issued an apology on Monday... Prosecutors are pursuing prison time for her... (CNN)
More "Killing Eve"
One day after season two premiered to rave reviews, BBC America ordered a third season of "Killing Eve" on Monday. New showrunner: "British writer Suzanne Heathcote takes over for Emerald Fennell as the Phoebe Waller-Bridge drama continues to pass the baton to a new female writer every season," THR reported...
--> Spotted at Josh Sapan's home for a "Killing Eve" celebration Monday night: The show's stars Sandra Oh, Jodie Comer, Fiona Shaw, Sean Delaney... Plus Bob Balaban, Sarah Barnett, Dan Abrams, Jodi Applegate, Samantha Bee, Jim Dolan, Colman Domingo, Sara Gore, Jason Jones, Chris Licht, Pat and Dawn Kiernan, Steve Kroft and Jennet Conant, Joanne Lipman and Tom Distler, Jane Rosenthal, Lori Stokes, Michelle Wolf, Peter Kafka, and more...
| | The next "Dead"
Brian Lowry emails: "The Walking Dead" has faded considerably, but it remains one of cable TV's most-watched series, which explains why AMC keeps doubling and tripling down on the zombie drama. Specifically, the network has given the go-ahead to a third series derived from the concept, in addition to the movies previously announced featuring former star Andrew Lincoln.
Then again, with the core cast either gone or having become a whole lot more expensive, spinning off new hours offers a way to hang onto the franchise, likely for considerably less than it costs to keep the flagship show alive beyond what will be its 10th season...
>> Here's Sandra Gonzalez's full story about the latest spin-off...
Lowry reviews "Fosse/Verdon"
Brian Lowry emails: Current Playbills feature splashy ads for "Fosse/Verdon," which suggests FX knows its audience for this latest look back at old Hollywood — in the mode of "Feud: Bette and Joan" — focusing here on the tumultuous relationship between director Bob Fosse and star Gwen Verdon, played by Sam Rockwell and Michelle Williams. If concept and casting are half the battle for this kind of show, the slow-starting series still earns a standing ovation before the overture...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
By Lisa Respers France:
-- "Dog the Bounty Hunter" star Beth Chapman was hospitalized over the weekend. She's been battling cancer.
-- R. Kelly's first post-jail performance was 28 seconds long.
-- Rapper Kodak Black was slammed for comments he made about Lauren London, the girlfriend of slain rapper Nipsey Hussle.
First time for everything!
Ryan Seacrest was sick when it was time to tape Monday's episode of "American Idol" a few weeks ago, so someone else filled in for the first time in "Idol" history. Radio host and Seacrest-sorta-look-alike Bobby Bones filled in, as Chloe Melas wrote here... "Bones revealed on Twitter that in exchange for stepping in, Seacrest sent him a pair of sneakers with a cheeky card that read, 'Thanks for filling in my shoes for me on American Idol.'"
>> "Idol" judge Katy Perry tweeted: "Proof that @ryanseacrest is human after all 😱🤖 And it only took 17 years for you to use your sick day, not bad..." | | >> Seacrest tweeted: "I'm back next week when the Top 14 sing for your votes! See you then"
IN CASE YOU MISSED SUNDAY'S SHOW...
How to catch up
Read the transcript of Sunday's "Reliable Sources," watch the video clips on CNN.com, or listen to the podcast via Apple Podcasts or other apps...
How would we cover Trump if he ran a different country?
On Sunday's show, I suggested a "mental exercise" for the Trump age: What would you think if these headlines were happening in some other country? How would President Trump's conduct be covered? Here are the examples I cited...
Ex-Murdoch exec speaks out
Joseph Azam joined Rupert Murdoch's News Corp as an SVP in 2015. He says he loved working there. But after the presidential election, he noticed a disturbing "change in tone."
"I was fine with working with and for people who had different values and opinions than I did, but I noticed a significant shift in the ferociousness and, frankly, in the relationship with facts, you know, particularly on the Fox side," Azam told me on Sunday's "Reliable Sources." After Trump took office, "it became very profitable to kind of fall in line with an anti-immigrant, anti-refugee, anti-Muslim rhetoric," he said. "And I was affected by that." He resigned in late 2017. (News Corp declined to comment.)
--> During the interview, I said that his concerns about Fox's change in tone are shared by others -- meaning, current employees at Fox and News Corp -- who feel they can't speak up...
--> Azam first spoke out publicly in an interview with NPR's David Folkenflik last month. In that interview, and again on Sunday, he cited recent acts of violence by extremists as a motivating factor. Here's my full story, plus video of the interview...
| | "Cover the electorate, not the polls"
David Axelrod's nonpartisan University of Chicago Institute of Politics is co-sponsoring a Campaign Journalism Conference later this week. Axelrod gave me a preview on Sunday's show. His key bit of advice: "Cover the electorate, not the polls." Watch...
--> Brian Lowry emails: Axelrod's assessment of campaign coverage is one of the more astute I've heard, and given the pace of the current cable news cycle, one of the least likely to be heeded in, as he observed, the crush to blanket the story of the day/moment...
Women candidates facing harsher news coverage?
StoryBench, a project at Northeastern University's School of Journalism, has been analyzing articles about 2020 contenders. It recently found that "female candidates running for president are consistently being described in the media more negatively than their male counterparts." On Sunday's show, Laura Bassett and David Zurawik reacted to the research... Watch...
How the Sun brought Baltimore's City Hall scandal to light
The scandal surrounding Mayor Catherine Pugh is an embarrassment for Baltimore. But the reporting is a powerful example of first-rate local journalism — in this case, by The Baltimore Sun. The paper has published 30+ stories about Pugh's book deals since reporter Luke Broadwater broke the story last month. On Sunday's show, I talked with David Zurawik, the Sun's media critic, about the power of local news...
| | | Thank you for reading. Email me feedback anytime! See you tomorrow... | | | |
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