EXEC SUMMARY: America's top-selling book is "The Mueller Report." Plus: Pete Buttigieg on the cover of TIME, Randall Lane on this week's "Reliable" podcast, the Billboard Music Award winners, and much more...
What went wrong
One week ago the NYT published a baldly anti-Semitic cartoon in the international edition of the paper. How did this happen? Hadas Gold and Oliver Darcy and I started looking into this on Monday... And what we found was a short-staffed publication; an opinion section prone to self-inflicted wounds; and an ongoing debate about the paper's biases and blind spots.
Perhaps this staffer, granted anonymity, said it best: "I don't think anyone in our office believes for one second there is an issue with institutionalized anti-semitism at the NYT. But as with all newsrooms that have gone through radical restructuring in recent years, that so many checks and balances have been removed and that this could go up without being seen by a second pair of eyes makes reporters and editors alike concerned."
Concerned, indeed. This episode has prompted embarrassment inside the paper. But it has also prompted several changes. On Wednesday afternoon, NYT publisher A.G. Sulzberger said "we are taking disciplinary steps" with the editor who picked the cartoon, and making a series of procedural changes to "ensure adequate oversight." For one thing, there will be no more syndicated cartoons.
"Our journalists work hard every day to help people understand a vast and diverse world and ensure prejudices of any kind do not make it into our report," Sulzberger said in the memo. "Though I've been assured there was no malice involved in this mistake, we fell far short of our standards and values in this case." Those are much stronger words than the newspaper originally used to address the controversy. So here's our tick-tock of what happened... Including interviews with 16 NYT staffers...
Sulzberger's memo
Here's more of what he announced: "We are changing our production processes to ensure adequate oversight and address issues with the international Opinion pages that enabled this mistake."
But: The cartoonist, Antonio Moreira Antunes, said he had no anti-Semitic intent and only drew the cartoon as a political statement. He said people should not accept the idea that "any criticism of Israel is anti-Semitism." Here's our full story...
Speaking of the NYT's Opinion editor...
NYT editorial page editor James Bennet's brother Michael is the senior Senator from Colorado. Michael is booked on "CBS This Morning" on Thursday. He appears to be following Bernie Sanders' playbook of announcing a 2020 run on the CBS morning show. The network's promo just says he "will join us to talk about his plans for the future" -- wink, wink...
So what does that mean for James? Well earlier this year Times spokeswoman Eileen Murphy told VF that in the event Michael "announces an exploratory committee or a potential run for president," James "will recuse himself from any work generated by the opinion desk related to the 2020 presidential election." His responsibilities "will be handled by the deputy editorial-page editors, Kathleen Kingsbury and James Dao, for as long as Michael Bennet is seeking higher office."
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- The headline on Joe Pompeo's latest: "As The Markup implodes, Craig Newmark is learning how journalism really works..." (VF)
-- Just announced: CNN's Anderson Cooper will moderate a town hall with James Comey on May 9 -- exactly two years to the day after President Trump fired Comey... (CNN)
-- Via Hadas Gold: "Information war escalates as Venezuela tries to contain uprising..." (CNN)
THIS WEEK'S "RELIABLE" PODCAST:
A growing coalition of support for journalists in peril | | In India, Aasif Sultan is behind bars on anti-state charges for his coverage of the conflict in Kashmir. In South Sudan, editor Anna Nimiriano is fighting to protect her publication — the Juba Monitor — and is under constant threat of imprisonment from the government. And in Myanmar, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are still in jail for violating the country's official secrets act, a charge that Reuters says is baseless.
These are three cases on the One Free Press Coalition's "10 Most Urgent" list, alerting the public to journalists in peril. On Wednesday the coalition came out with a new list and doubled the number of news organizations that are members, to 33 total.
The members want to make sure that "people don't forget" about these cases, said Randall Lane, the top editor of Forbes magazine. "That's probably the most powerful thing we can do, is remind the entire world that these injustices continue to happen."
Lane joined me on this week's "Reliable" podcast... Hear the conversation via Apple, Stitcher, TuneIn, or other apps... Or read Katie Pellico's recap here...
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- Hillary Clinton sat down with Rachel Maddow on Wednesday night... (CNN)
-- Thursday morning: Nancy Pelosi and Kevin McCarthy will hold weekly pressers...
"The Mueller Report" is No. 1
Robert Mueller can add "best selling author" to his long list of accomplishments. "The Mueller Report" is debuting at No. 1 AND No. 11 on the nonfiction best sellers list compiled by the NYT. That's because there are several versions available for sale. The Washington Post and Scribner's version, with analysis by Post reporters and editors, ranked No. 1 in terms of sales last week, according to The Times. A different version produced by Skyhorse Publishing, featuring a critical introduction by lawyer Alan Dershowitz, ranked No. 11. Here's my full story...
Barr's test
This banner on "Cuomo Prime Time" sums up Wednesday in just a few words: "A.G. DEFIANTLY DEFENDS HIS HANDLING OF MUELLER REPORT."
And on the front page of Thursday's NYT: "Under Fire, Barr Defends Actions..." | | Now what about Thursday? Barr is skipping / declining / refusing to attend Thursday's House hearing. CNN's Ashley Killough and Jeremy Herb have the details here...
Lowry's take
Brian Lowry emails: The questioning by Sens. Blumenthal and Harris provided the kind of TV-worthy moments people rarely associate with congressional hearings, where speeches and pontification are often the norm. It played especially well to a culture weaned on "Perry Mason," "Law & Order" and "A Few Good Men..."
Trump goes on Twitter spree, then says "I don't care"
The president started and ended his day talking about Joe Biden.
He started it by retweeting "nearly five dozen tweets... rebuffing Biden's claim to support from firefighters." And he ended it in an interview with Trish Regan, when he said that even though Biden got the union's endorsement, its members would still vote for him. "I don't care, no. It just seemed to me what happened is, you know the firemen love Trump, the policemen love Trump," he said.
Three phoners in one week
Is this the president's new way to communicate with his base? He has called into Fox three times in the past week... With Sean Hannity on Thursday night, with Maria Bartiromo on Sunday morning, and with Regan on Fox Biz on Wednesday evening.
It's easy for Trump... it's comfortable... and it harkens back to the 2016 campaign season.
Several of the Dems vying for the 2020 nomination have also called in for cable news interviews this week... But it's striking to see the president "on the phone" here... | |
"Fact-checking President Trump isn't enough"
That's the headline from WaPo media columnist Margaret Sullivan. She says "the news media can't engage in business as usual" when a president is engaging in so much deception. "Yes, they have to do the hard work of fact-checking and keeping track. But they also have to bring some new tools and techniques — and maybe a new attitude — to the project," she writes... Here's the full column...
Wallace and Ingraham exchange fire
Oliver Darcy emails: Chris Wallace and Laura Ingraham traded barbs on Wednesday, taking digs at each other during separate on-air appearances throughout the day. It began when Wallace appeared on "America's Newsroom" and said the GOP will have to "do some rehabilitation to try to restore" Barr's reputation now that Mueller's letter is public.
A pretty innocuous observation, right? Not according to Ingraham. The pro-Trump host called into Fox and said the idea Barr would "distort and misrepresent" Mueller's report was "preposterous." Ingraham then proceeded to name-check Wallace, saying, "Now, I know Chris Wallace at the top of your hour was indicating that I guess that he kind of agrees with these other cable networks that this was an attempt by the DOJ to spin what the conversation was between Barr and Mueller. So I don't know if Chris Wallace has information that I don't have, but that he is saying that Barr is perpetuating a lie about this conversation between him and Mueller?" Ingraham added to the audience that her words were "not spin, by the way."
But it was spin, and Wallace appeared again on the network to call her out on it. "I know there are some people who don't think this March 27th letter is a big deal and some opinion people, some opinion people who appear on this network who may be pushing a political agenda -- but, you know, we have to deal in facts," Wallace said. Wallace said that comments that Barr "didn't reveal what was fully" in the Muller report "aren't opinions." He concluded, "That's not a political agenda. Those are the facts."
>> Context: The back-and-forth is yet another example of the rift between Fox's news and opinion divisions that has poured into public view in the Trump era. More and more regularly, news anchors such as Wallace and Shep Smith find themselves at odds with pro-Trump hosts. Viewers must be confused, as they are hearing totally different things from top faces at the same network...
Barr hearings provide endless content for hyper-partisans
Darcy adds: One of the big winners of the Barr hearings? Hyper-partisan news websites. A hearing like Wednesday's always produces plenty of material that fits into either the left or right ideological prisms. Hyper-partisan sites on the right pulled content from the hearing that was favorable to Barr or the Republicans (i.e. Gateway Pundit headline: "Bill Barr Laughs After He Schools Democrat Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse Over His Use of the Term 'Spying'"). And on the left, hyper-partisan sites raked in clicks hyping content critical of Barr or the Republicans (i.e. Palmer Report's headline: "Lindsey Graham has profane meltdown during William Barr testimony). All of this stuff does very well with their respective audiences, and further filters Americans into various ideological camps…
Charlie Kirk, the in-real-life "own," and how it's used on the Internet
Darcy emails: BuzzFeed's Anne Helen Petersen published a must-read story on Wednesday about pro-Trump personalities Charlie Kirk and Candace Owens. There is a lot of good stuff in it, and I highly urge you to read the piece in its entirety, but the one thing that struck me was how well she captured the value for personalities like Kirk and Owens to film an IRL "own" and then upload it to the Internet. Petersen noted that on their campus tour, Kirk and Owens welcome students with differing views to cut to the front of the line during the Q&A sessions to debate. Such content is valuable for partisan personalities, as it does well amongst target demographics, boosting their following and #brand online…
FIRST LOOK
TIME's "First Family" cover
TIME's cover story this week features Charlotte Alter's profile of Mayor Pete Buttigieg and his run for the presidency... Pete and his husband Chasten are pictured: | |
Who's to say what's "unreliable?"
The International Fact-Checking Network is out with "an index of unreliable news websites." The methodology is explained here. And so is the purpose of the project. "Aside from journalists, researchers and news consumers, we hope that the index will be useful for advertisers that want to stop funding misinformation," Barrett Golding wrote.
The index came under criticism on Wednesday for lumping lots of different types of sites together as "unreliable." Jim Geraghty of National Review, a site that's NOT on the list, spoke up in support of some of the sites that are listed.
Geraghty wrote: "I'd argue that putting RedState.com, DailyCaller.com, DailySignal.com, MRC.org, the Daily Telegraph – and Daily Kos! – on the same list as Pravda.ru, PrisonPlanet, InfoWars, etc. does more harm than good when it comes to sorting out what's unreliable and fake news."
Medium plans four new verticals
Katie Pellico writes: Four new editors-in-chief were announced on Wednesday, set to spearhead four new verticals at Medium. Adweek's Sara Jerde reports the publications will "revolve around topics popular among readers."
Former Essence EIC Vanessa DeLuca will run "a publication for and about black women." Previously at Penguin Random House, Brendan Vaughan will oversee "a publication centered around power." Also, expect a business publication run by FastCo's Paul Smalera and a personal development vertical run by Indrani Sen, who launched QZ's Quartzy...
Correction: Yesterday I wrote that Alex Trebek has prostate cancer. He actually has pancreatic cancer, which is very different. I'm embarrassed about this error, and I'm grateful to the hundreds of you who emailed me to point it out. My apologies -- and most importantly, all of our well wishes to Trebek...
Roberts interviews Trebek | | Trebek told Robin Roberts on "GMA" Wednesday, "It's great to be considered an inspiration to other people." As his condition is improving, according to his doctor, Trebek says, "People all over America have been sharing their good thoughts, their advice, their prayers, and I feel it is making a difference in my well-being." Watch the full interview here...
Holzhauer hits 20
That's 20 consecutive "Jeopardy!" wins for James Holzhauer. He has now tied for the second longest winning streak in the show's history. Details here...
--> I'll be talking about the "Jeopardy!" phenom on Thursday's "New Day" in the 6 a.m. hour...
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- Nexstar's Mark Meredith is joining Fox as a DC-based correspondent... (TVNewser)
-- "For the first time in recent history," The Guardian is making money... Joshua Benton breaks it down here... (NiemanLab)
-- Gannett's fight against Alden Global Capital's MNG Enterprises continues: The newspaper publisher reported "declining revenue but an increase in paid digital subscriptions" in Q1... (USA Today)
-- Josh Constine's takeaway from the F8 conference: "Facebook pivots to what it wishes it was," a clean and private place... (TechCrunch)
-- Vancouver-based social media service Hootsuite has laid off more than 100 people, or 10% of its workforce, CTV reports... (CTV)
Two days to promote press freedoms
Journalism groups across Canada will mark World News Day on Thursday... The Canadian Journalism Foundation is holding a flagship event in Toronto in the evening... and I'm hosting it! Susanne Craig, Sam Feist, Robert Fife, Connie Walker, Lisa LaFlamme, Craig Siilverman, and others will be speaking...
And on Friday, advocates will be promoting World Press Freedom Day... Look out for the Reporters Committee's report about recent threats in the United States...
Toasting the founding editor of The Marshall Project
Andrew and Nancy Jarecki held a cocktail party for outgoing Marshall Project editor Bill Keller on Wednesday night. Paine the Poet performed. Spotted: Neil Barsky, Laurie Hays, Lawrence Bartley, Jonathan Moses, Mario Van Peebles, Michael Luo, Barbara Raab, Joe Sexton, and Keller's successor Susan Chira...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR | | -- You can now navigate straight to "Sesame Street" in NYC! The renaming ceremony took place Wednesday at West 63rd St and Broadway... (Mashable)
-- Did you miss the Billboard Music Awards? Here are the winners... (Billboard)
-- "Walt Disney Studios president Alan Bergman has been named co-chairman of Walt Disney Studios alongside Alan Horn... Expanding his role, Horn will also serve as the newly appointed chief creative officer..." (Variety)
-- "What studio has shows at Netflix and Disney+ and is developing for Amazon, Apple and Hulu? The answer may surprise you." That's Joe Flint's tease for his latest story, about CBS embracing a strategy of making shows for its rivals... (WSJ)
-- The NewFronts continued on Wednesday with presentations from Hulu, Walmart's Vudu, Vice, and Ellen Digital Network... Here's the AdAge live blog... (AdAge)
Hulu nears 30 million subs
Frank Pallotta emails: Hulu said at its NewFronts presentation at MSG on Wednesday that it now has 26.8 million paid subscribers on its service. That's about 3 million more than what the service announced at the beginning of the year.
The increase is a sizable one for Hulu, but it still lags far behind Netflix, which has nearly 150 million subscribers globally, 60 million of whom are from the United States. (Hulu is available only in the United States.)
Marvel shows... and Kate McKinnon as Elizabeth Holmes...
Hulu also announced a slate of new programs on Wednesday. It confirmed plans for "The Dropout," a drama about Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes, and talked about an expanded partnership with Marvel Television with two new live-action series, "Ghost Rider" and "Helstrom." CEO Randy Freer called Marvel one of the "most successful and recognizable" brands in the world, saying "Just look at this weekend's box office..."
| | Regina King's deal with Netflix
Megan Thomas emails: Netflix announced a first-look deal with Regina King's production company, Royal Ties, on Wednesday. Her sister Reina will serve as head of the production partnership, which will produce both films and series..
>> During her acceptance speech for best supporting actress at the Golden Globes, Regina announced a challenge to herself to achieve a balanced representation of women -- on screen and off -- in her future projects. "So often we [women] aren't getting the opportunity because we're not experienced, and you can't gain experience if you don't get the first experience," King told CNN. "I've got a list of women that are a great at any job within a production. So I'm excited, I'm excited. I feel like I will walk out of 2019 having achieved that goal."
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
By Chloe Melas:
-- Viola Davis tells me she's down to do a Season 6 of "How To Get Away With Murder" – ABC just needs to give the go-ahead...
-- "The Night King" finally breaks his silence on *that* "Game of Thrones" episode in a new interview with THR...
-- Geto Boys co-founder Bushwick Bill has announced that he has stage 4 pancreatic cancer...
-- Rick Schroder has been arrested for domestic violence for the second time in 30 days...
| | "Big Bang" in cement
The stars of "The Big Bang Theory" cemented their handprints Wednesday at the famous TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, marking the first time a TV series has been honored in such a ceremony. CNN's Kendall Trammell has the full story here...
--> More: Sandra Gonzalez has this dispatch from the last live taping of the long-running sitcom...
Writers v. agents update
Brian Lowry emails: The Writers Guild posted a video urging members to be patient and stick together, acknowledging that the current standoff with the talent agencies is "frustrating and scary."
"It's the agencies' best tactic to make you think you can't survive without them," said WGA Negotiating Committee co-chair Chris Keyser, adding, "Change is not free. We need to be tough in the face of uncertainty." You can watch the full message here...
FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX
-- "Knock Down the House" hit Netflix Wednesday and the reviews are flooding in. Here's one from Scott Tobias for WaPo, focused on AOC's meteoric media rise... (WaPo)
-- And last but definitely not least, Norman Lear and Rita Moreno weigh in on the "agony of death by data at Netflix" for "One Day at a Time..." (THR)
| | | Thank you for reading. Email me anytime. See you tomorrow... | | | |
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