EXEC SUMMARY: Scroll down for the takeaways from Disney, Fox and The NYT's earnings... A first look at TIME's next 2020 cover... A preview of Vox's next podcast... And much more...
Is this a crisis?
Some top Democrats are saying yes -- "we are now in a constitutional crisis." But you wouldn't know it by looking at the nightly news ledes or most other barometers of news. I mean, look at Drudge, he's got the cannons out... But most other sites are rather muted about the unfolding situation. | | This WaPo web headline is emblematic: "Trump denies access to full Mueller report; Barr's contempt vote clears House panel." A reader is left to wonder: What the heck is going on?
I thought Bob Woodward said it well on "AC360" on Wednesday evening. "It's a constitutional confrontation, I don't think it's yet a crisis," he said. Maybe the key word is "yet."
Nadler's argument
"They are breaking the law six ways from Sunday," Nadler told Don Lemon on Wednesday night. "They're denying the American people the information needed to hold them accountable, and THAT is a constitutional crisis."
He said impeachment may be a remedy: "We will see." He said "the bottom line in all of this is, what are they afraid of?"
Scroll down for more of the day's political headlines...
Glor's 6:30 goodbye will be on Friday
Now we know Jeff Glor's "CBS Evening News" end date. Glor "has told staff he will step down as anchor of the evening newscast after Friday's program," Variety's Brian Steinberg reported Wednesday night. Norah O'Donnell isn't starting until the summer, and it is not yet known who will be filling in.
As for Glor, he "is currently in discussions about taking a new role at CBS News," Steinberg wrote...
| | The Stern show
 Howard Stern's book is not out for another week, but it is already close to the top of Amazon's chart. Per Simon & Schuster publisher Jonathan Karp, it is the publishing house's fastest seller of the year, thanks to all the pre-orders.
The book rollout began Wednesday on the cover of THR. Stern revealed a cancer scare and much, much more. The book, "Howard Stern Comes Again," is full of "musings on fame, sex and spirituality," Lacey Rose wrote. Here are a few of the headlines:
-- Trump used to be one of Stern's all-time fave guests, but they "haven't had any interaction since Stern declined his request to speak at the RNC."
-- Stern jokes: "A more self-serving person would have gone all in on Donald because I'd probably be the FCC commissioner or a Supreme Court justice by now."
-- Stern wonders if Hillary Clinton would have had a better chance in 2016 if she hadn't rebuffed all of his interview requests. Read on...
How Stern is approaching his SiriusXM contract talks...
Per Rose, Stern's brush with cancer is the reason why he's been having "real discussions about what's next once his contract with SiriusXM, which reportedly pays him $90 million a year, expires at the end of 2020."
Key graf: "Stern's been spending a lot more of his time 'thinking about the hourglass,' he says, 'and the sand emptying.' He daydreams about the next chapter, when he'll wake up, read the paper and paint for hours at a time. Still, it's hard to imagine the guy who regularly sneaks onto Twitter to gauge listener reactions is really ready to hang it all up. His eyes, which have been darting around the studio for the past hour and a half, suddenly settle on the microphone hanging high above his desk: 'To walk away from what I'm good at?' he says, questioning himself already. 'I don't even know that I have it 100 percent right yet. And maybe there's more to explore...'"
Disney had a good quarter, with more to come
Frank Pallotta reports: Disney's stock keeps rising: It was up more than 1% Wednesday after hours, in the wake of a better-than-expected earnings report. Revenues rose to $14.9 billion, a 3% increase compared to a year earlier. Worth noting: Missing from Disney's second quarter this fiscal year are multiple blockbuster hits like "Black Panther," which raked in $1.3 billion last year, and "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," which opened over the holidays. "Avengers: Endgame's" massive windfall came after the second quarter closed...
But: Another write-down on Vice
Disney's investment in Vice Media was NOT what it had hoped. "The company has recorded a $353 million impairment charge on its ownership stake in the new media startup," THR's Natalie Jarvey writes. "That follows a $157 million write-down on its Vice investment in November." Disney recently took control of Fox's chunk of Vice...
>> Peter Kafka says "Disney's accounting decision is yet another example — perhaps the most stunning one — of the turnabout we've seen in digital media over the past few years. Investors have decided that high-flying publishers that once confidently explained that they'd created a new media paradigm are now worth very little ... or even less."
Iger confirms Hulu talks
Another story by THR's Natalie Jarvey: Disney CEO Bob Iger "confirmed that there 'has been dialogue with Comcast about them possibly divesting their stake.' It's unclear how advanced these negotiations are or what a potential timeline would be for a Comcast sale of its Hulu stake..."
Fox News propels the new Fox Corp
Fox Corporation, in its newly slimmed down form, also "outperformed Wall Street's expectations." As expected, Fox News and Fox Sports were "the biggest earnings drivers, delivering $741 million of earnings compared to $99 million for the broadcast television segment," Variety's Cynthia Littleton wrote...
NYT's growth story continues
Tom Kludt reports: Digital subscription growth continues to serve as the engine powering The New York Times Company, as evidenced by these better-than-expected earnings posted on Wednesday. The Times reported net income of $30.2 million, beating analysts' expectations and outpacing the $22 million in net income it posted a year ago.
The newspaper continues to benefit from a growing digital sub base. In the first three months of 2019, the Times added 223,000 digital-only subscriptions, bringing the total number of subscribers to 4.5 million. It marks the third straight quarter that the Times has added more than 200,000 digital subscriptions. Moreover, digital ad revenue rose 18.9% to nearly $56 million in Q1. More...
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- SNEAK PEEK: I hear Vox Media is launching a new podcast on media and the presidency this week... Details to come...
-- Yashar Ali scoops: John Heilemann "is in talks to host his own MSNBC show on Saturday evenings..." (Yashar)
-- One of Fox's small # of liberal commentators is suddenly leaving the network: Marie Harf has accepted a role as deputy campaign manager for policy and comms for Rep. Seth Moulton's 2020 campaign. Hanna Trudo has a full story here... (Beast)
Elizabeth Warren is back on the cover of TIME
Last week Pete Buttigeg was on the cover of TIME... This week it is Elizabeth Warren... The mag says Haley Sweetland Edwards "interviewed Warren about her policy-driven populist agenda, the proposed 'ultra-millionaire' tax, and more..." | |
Lowry on the "myth-making power of TV"
Brian Lowry emails: It's hardly an original thought, but the NYT's latest Trump tax story has already triggered a number of people to point out the myth-making power of TV in general, and in Trump's case, "The Apprentice" in particular. It's also a good reminder that while we like to believe the audience is savvy and cynical about something like reality TV, in terms of the broader images that the shows convey, for many people, seeing really is believing, without any thought of the editing, scripting or sleight of hand that goes into making them...
"A big failure on the part of the media going back decades"
CNN's Andrew Kaczynski wrote Wednesday: "I've been thinking about with the NYT story is how false perceptions of Donald Trump's wealth/business acumen represent a big failure on the part of the media going back decades." Read his thread here...
--> WaPo's Paul Farhi added: "News reports regularly misstated/overstated Trump's wealth and business acumen -- based largely on Trump's say-so..."
--> "The Apprentice" helped too, of course, but the point is that this inflation was going on way back in the 80s and 90s...
Trump avoided tax Q's, then rallied his fans
The White House closed Wednesday's cabinet meeting to cameras, which meant no opportunity to shout questions about the NYT's tax investigation and other stories. Trump didn't answer any Q's on the way out of the W.H. either. But he held a raucous rally in Panama City Beach, FL... And tweeted on the way, "Will be live on @FoxNews! #MAGA @TuckerCarlson @seanhannity." Tagging the hosts was a nice touch.
An emailer asked: "Did he tell Fox to take his speech? Or did THEY tell HIM they were? Either way, it breaks every rule there is..."
W.H. tightens rules for "hard" press passes
WaPo's Paul Farhi reports: "The White House has implemented new rules that it says will cut down on the number of journalists that hold 'hard' passes, the credentials that allow reporters and technicians to enter the grounds without seeking daily permission." Reactions to the rules -- which were posted in March -- have been mixed. Some people say it's not a big deal. But others, Farhi says, are worried "that the ultimate aim is to keep critics in the press away from the White House and President Trump."
Opinion columnist Dana Milbank advanced this view in a piece on Wednesday evening. Read Farhi's full explainer here...
"Liberal media overlords"
Great band name, right? The always-quotable Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) coined it during Wednesday's House Judiciary Committee hearing. He said the Dems' demand for the full Mueller report "is all about impeaching the president. Now why don't they just say it? Why don't they just jump to the impeachment proceedings like their liberal media overlords are telling them to do?"
Laugh if you will, but this really is how some Republicans see the other side...
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- "Following the success of the politically minded doc RBG, CNN Films is partnering with Trilogy Films, Color Farm Media and AGC Studios to bring a feature about Georgia Congressman John Lewis to the big screen." It will be directed by Dawn Porter... (THR)
-- Brooke Baldwin's silence in this Wednesday afternoon segment said it all. The segment was about children being terrorized by school shootings -- 35 in the United States since the fall. A graphic on the screen read: "ENOUGH." (Twitter)
-- Plus: Don't miss Baldwin's interview with 12-year-old Nate Holley, who said "I was gonna go down fighting..." (CNN)
Robert Pear, irreplaceable NYT reporter, dies at 69
Robert Pear, a veteran reporter for the New York Times, died Tuesday from complications of a stroke. For 40 years and nearly 7,000 bylines, Pear covered healthcare policy and "other critical national issues." Sam Roberts' report for the paper mourns the man who "went about his reporting meticulously and, to the wider public, inconspicuously. Appearances as a talking head reporter on cable news were not for him. Colleagues described him as an almost sphinxlike good listener... Yet his reporting — exacting, authoritative and closely read, particularly in Washington — spoke volumes."
>> In Pear's honor, the DC bureau will be retiring the slug "HEALTH," used internally to refer to his pieces or pitches because, per bureau chief Elisabeth Bumiller, "it can only be by Pear."
| | Television news glosses over UN report
Oliver Darcy emails: You might have seen the headlines earlier this week. Scientists warned in a UN report that one million species are threatened with extinction due to human activity. It was "described as the most comprehensive assessment of global nature loss ever," my colleague Isabelle Gerretsen wrote in CNN's report. But it was largely ignored by broadcast and cable, according to a study by the liberal group Media Matters.
The study, published Wednesday, found that "World News Tonight" and "NBC Nightly News" ignored it altogether, while finding time to discuss the royal baby birth. The "CBS Evening News" did include it. Over on cable, MSNBC did not mention the report during prime time. CNN covered it during "The Lead with Jake Tapper" and Fox covered it on "Special Report," though Fox's coverage "was riddled with skepticism," Media Matters wrote. The group's point: "Overall, out of a total of 26 prime-time news shows aired on the major broadcast and cable networks on May 6, only three included coverage of the global assessment."
"I think more reporters cover Jacob Wohl than climate change"
Oliver Darcy emails: How much attention should journalists pay to right-wing grifters? On Wednesday morning, after some DC reporters showed up to a press conference put on by Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, discussion on the matter commenced. "I think more reporters cover Jacob Wohl than climate change," observed BuzzFeed's Joe Bernstein.
Others also echoed that sentiment. Vice's William Turton tweeted, "Still incredible to me the amount of reporters that will allow themselves to be willingly played by jacob whol in order to....get a lot of retweets?" And Wired's Paris Martineau noted, "It's hard to turn off that voice in your head that says 'PeOpLe NeEd To KnOw,' esp when amplifying far-right extremists brings in so many outrage likes, RTs, and clicks; but that's what good editors are for."
>> Darcy's take: There are some instances when coverage of these characters is noteworthy. BUT... It is worth questioning whether people like Wohl and Burkman should be covered if there isn't any actual news. A lot of these people feed off of engagement and tweets from the media, so there should be a high bar for giving it to them.
Press not welcome at Fox Nation subscribers event
Well this is interesting. WaPo's Erik Wemple is a paying subscriber to the deep-red Fox Nation streaming service. He signed up to attend Fox Nation's "inaugural summit" in Arizona. He was confirmed for it via Eventbrite. But then Wemple received notice from Fox that he would not be permitted inside. "We saw your name on the FOX Nation Summit RSVP list and wanted to remind you this event is closed to the press, so we will not be able to accommodate you," a Fox events manager told him. Wemple wondered, among other things, "What is the rationale for barring the press to an event that's being livestreamed anyhow?"
Instagram still has a vaccine misinformation problem
Kaya Yurieff emails: Two months to the day after Facebook pledged to fight vaccine misinformation on its platforms, Instagram is still recommending posts from anti-vaccination accounts and anti-vaccination hashtags to anyone searching for the word "vaccines." On Tuesday, Instagram held an event for reporters in New York about "safety" on the platform, including its efforts to combat vaccine misinformation.
While the company has taken action on some hashtags, our review found that the hashtag #VaccinesKill was still a top result when searching for "vaccines." When I asked why #VaccinesKill was acceptable when hashtags like #VaccinesCauseAIDS were not, an Instagram spokesperson said there isn't an officially debunked claim that vaccines kill. However, experts say it's alarming that this hashtag exists the platform... | |
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- Brittany Kaiser, a Cambridge Analytica whistleblower, is writing a book titled "Targeted: My Inside Story of Cambridge Analytica and how Trump and Facebook Broke Democracy." HarperCollins says it will come out on Oct. 22... (AP)
-- Justin Ray reveals that Brian Collister, who worked for the Nexstar-owned NBC affiliate in Austin, got the Sandra Bland cell phone video more than a year ago... "But his station wasn't so enthusiastic about the video..." (CJR)
Domenech viciously attacked Meyers in Twitter meltdown
Darcy emails: You may have noticed the uncomfortable exchange Meghan McCain had with Seth Meyers on Tuesday night. And if you did, you weren't the only one. McCain's husband, The Federalist co-founder Ben Domenech, was also watching. Domenech, angry with the way Meyers questioned McCain, went on a now-deleted Twitter tirade. I'll spare you the vulgar details -- The Daily Beast has the tweets archived here -- but Domenech eventually apologized. "I love my wife. I apologize for rage tweeting about how Seth Meyers treated her," Domenech wrote. "I don't like him, I think he's a hack, but I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry to anyone I offended."
The Times-Picayune's post-mortem: Death by "digital-first"
WaPo's media columnist Margaret Sullivan performed the "post-mortem," showing the slippery "digital-first strategy" that led to the Times-Picayune's sale: As print ads dwindled, "they decided to deliver the print paper to subscribers' homes only three days a week... To put it mildly, it didn't work." At the same time, The Advocate, the T-P's competitor-turned-owner, made an "aggressive" bet on print circulation and old-fashioned gumshoe reporting, to their Pulitzer Prize-winning, paper-buying success. Read more of the tale of two papers...
| | "Maligned in black and white"
Katie Pellico writes: This is the title of Mark Pinsky's tremendous piece for Poynter, exposing the "major" role of Southern white-owned newspapers as "cheerleaders for white supremacy." The four-parter offers an often hard-to-read blow-by-blow of problematic reporting on segregation and racial violence, and the apologies papers have since offered for it. What impact do these apologies have now? Keep reading...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
-- Salt Lake Tribune owner Paul Huntsman published a letter Wednesday detailing the decision to file as an NPO, making it "the first legacy newspaper in the United States to take this bold move..." (Salt Lake Tribune)
-- Josh Constine has this helpful roundup on the heels of Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai's contrasting keynotes this month: "Facebook talked privacy, Google actually built it..." (TechCrunch)
-- What are Spectrum Originals? This story "lays out Charter's original series business model that includes a nine-month U.S.-only exclusive window..." (Deadline)
Georgia production studios react to new abortion law
Brian Lowry emails: Georgia's new abortion law is again leading to Hollywood figures to lobby against the industry continuing to shoot so many movies and TV shows there, after several dozen actors signed on to a letter opposing the bill. But it will probably take talent with considerable clout balking at filming in Georgia to compel studios eager for the production tax-credit savings to shift or relocate individual productions elsewhere...
| | Billy Bush on "Extra Extra"
It's official: Billy Bush "is heading back to television news with 'Extra Extra,' a modernized, fresh take on the current iteration, Extra, co-hosted by Mario Lopez," People mag's Aili Nahas wrote. The rebooted show will premiere in September...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
By Katie Pellico:
-- 22 years after Tyra Banks was the first Black woman to get a solo SI cover, she came out of "modeling retirement" to do it again... (Twitter Moments)
-- The teaser trailer for HBO's upcoming "Watchmen" series starring Regina King dropped Wednesday. This is HBO's first superhero venture... (Gizmodo)
-- Comedy Central is launching Comedy Central Productions, "a new in-house studio-production arm, along with five first-look development deals to create original programming for third party platforms..." (Deadline)
-- Noah Berlatsky for The Verge: "The Latinx superhero film 'El Chicano' is a long Latinos for Trump ad..." (The Verge)
"Empire" awkwardly skirts Smollett's absence
Brian Lowry emails: "Empire" closed its fifth season with Jussie Smollett's character, Jamal, still missing in action, the product of "a storm" that left him unable to get out of the Seychelles, where the character was on his honeymoon. That still leaves behind the rather thorny question of how Fox explains his absence next season, having renewed the show. The network said it has "no plans" to bring the actor back but left the door ajar to the possibility of his return.
FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX
By Lisa Respers France:
-- Rapper/actor Common has revealed he was molested as a child. He said he went public with the painful incident to help others.
-- Nathalie Emmanuel sees your "Game of Thrones" grief over her character's demise, and she loves you for it.
-- Reese Witherspoon was afraid to drive Denzel Washington's Porsche when she worked as an intern on one of his films decades ago.
-- Johnny Galecki has us in our feels about the ending of "Big Bang Theory."
-- Chadwick Boseman is set to play an African samurai in the film "Yasuke."
-- The royal couple aren't the only ones. Amy Schumer has shared her new son's name as well!
| | | Thank you for reading. Email me anytime. See you tomorrow... | | | |
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