EXEC SUMMARY: From "Veep" to vaccines... from James Comey to Chris Hughes... from StoryBots to Spotify... this edition of the letter has it all. Plus and a record 8 stories from Lisa Respers France! Here you go...
The leak hunt is getting more serious
Thursday's CNN.com headline: "Former intelligence analyst charged with leaking classified docs to reporter."
This time, the case involves Daniel Hale, a 31-year-old who allegedly printed out secret documents in 2014 and slipped them to a reporter.
The reporter and news outlet are not named, but it's pretty clear that the recipients were Jeremy Scahill and The Intercept, which came out with "The Drone Papers" in 2015. Scahill cited a "whistleblower" who provided "an unprecedented glimpse into Obama's drone wars."
| | Scahill declined to comment... And The Intercept, of course, declined to say anything about its sourcing... But here's what EIC Betsy Reed did say: The drone strike documents are "of vital public importance, and activity related to their disclosure is protected by the First Amendment. The alleged whistleblower faces up to 50 years in prison. No one has ever been held accountable for killing civilians in drone strikes." Reed also said the Trump admin is "following in the dangerous path" of the Obama admin by prosecuting leakers...
When news outlets publish classified documents…
VF's Joe Pompeo says "Hale's case is being closely watched by the journalism community, and in particular the circle of reporters who cover national security and federal-law enforcement. Several of them, from major national news outlets, told me that the recent Intercept prosecutions underscore the risks inherent in publishing classified documents in their entirety."
Why? Because government agencies are able to track the people who accessed the docs. But the primary source material makes the story much harder to refute. Pompeo quoted a source who said "The issue of publishing documents is an ongoing debate in newsrooms right now. I think it's a real issue."
The list is getting longer
Many of Thursday's stories about Hale noted that this would be the third time someone has been charged with leaking info to The Intercept. WaPo's story by Rachel Weiner cited "former Air Force linguist Reality Winner and former FBI agent Terry J. Albury."
The big picture via CNN's story: "The indictment of Hale comes amid a spate of court cases the Justice Department has opened against alleged government leakers — ranging from charges against two individuals who allegedly passed internal banking information to news outlets and others and to the high-profile arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange last month following his indictment for conspiracy to commit a computer crime."
Chelsea Manning is free... but maybe only temporarily
Gizmodo's Dell Cameron had the scoop on Thursday evening: "Chelsea Manning was released today from the Virginia jail where she spent 62 days for refusing to testify about her past ties to WikiLeaks before a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia. Attorneys for Manning said the release came after the grand jury's term expired on Thursday."
But here's the thing: "She is subject to another grand jury subpoena and will need to appear in court again on May 16. If she again refuses to testify, she could be found in contempt of court a second time," CNN's story by Adrienne Winston notes...
House Dems are going to Fox school
As Ashley Killough and I reported earlier this week, the House Democrats' messaging arm is holding a "Winning on Fox News" training session on Friday to prep members for Fox appearances. Fox's Dana Perino evidently read our story and decided to write this: "Perino's six tips for successful Fox News interviews... for Democrats."
Among her bits of advice: "Know what program and program type you are going on," know the host, and "pull your punches." Yes, she says "if you plan to come on Fox News just to take a shot at the network or the host, you'll lose." Fox hosts tend to fight back whenever it happens...
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- The point of Karen Tumulty's newest column: "It turns out Trump's business success was a media-made myth..." (WaPo)
-- Jeffrey Katzenberg, Peter Chernin, Rob Reiner, and Terry Press hosted a Hollywood fundraiser for Joe Biden on Wednesday night... (CNBC)
-- Todd Spangler took a closer look at Disney's $353 million impairment charge "for its investment in Vice Media — another sign that the youth-culture company has lost ground in the past year..." (Variety)
Chris Hughes' P.R. blitz
Chris Hughes knew his New York Times op-ed would be huge. And he made sure it landed with maximum impact. He arranged a 5 a.m. hour publishing time; taped an interview with NBC's Kate Snow; and got on the phone with NPR's "Morning Edition." NBC played clips from the interview on "Today" but promoted it as an "NBC Nightly News" exclusive. In the evening, Hughes was on MSNBC with Chris Hayes. And the interviews will continue on Friday...
>> Hughes' 6,000+ word op-ed will run in print in Sunday's NYT...
>> Here is Hadas Gold's full story for CNN Business...
>> FB's response, from Nick Clegg, who's still new to the job: "Facebook accepts that with success comes accountability," he said. "But you don't enforce accountability by calling for the breakup of a successful American company..."
Notable quotes
-- Hughes told NPR's Noel King that Mark Zuckerberg is "unaccountable" to shareholders, users and the government, "and I think that that's fundamentally un-American. And I think government should step up, break up the company and regulate it."
-- When Snow asked on NBC if he believes Facebook is "dangerous," Hughes said "I do."
-- And when Snow brought up Zuckerberg, Hughes shared the understatement of the day: "I don't know if we're gonna be friends after this. I really don't know."
Hughes is not the only one pointing out FB's problems
Hadas Gold wrote: "Hughes is the latest in a series of prominent entrepreneurs and tech executives to call for stricter regulation of Facebook and other online platforms. They are speaking out as countries around the world rush to put better controls in place following a wave of scandals related to data privacy, election meddling and the spread of misinformation."
>> The Verge' Casey Newton put it this way: "What's most important here is the consensus that Hughes' op-ed now reflects..."
>> WaPo's James Hohmann observed that Amy Klobuchar "talks constantly about the danger of monopolies on the campaign trail. This is not some obscure debate for law school faculty lounges any longer. Crowds eat it up — in rural Iowa..."
Widespread concern about Singapore's "fake news" law
Michelle Toh emails: Google, Facebook, and Twitter are all raising concerns about a so-called "fake news" law approved this week in Singapore. The new measures criminalize the spread of "false statements of fact" — as defined by the government. Critics argue the law will hurt freedom of speech by forcing social networks to censor users in order to avoid potential fines.
A Facebook rep told CNN Business: "We remain concerned with aspects of the new law which grant broad powers to the Singapore executive branch to compel us to remove content they deem to be false and to push a government notification to users." Read on...
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
An Phung emails:
-- "Should the media quit Facebook?" CJR's Mathew Ingram asks, and answers... (CJR)
-- The Salt Lake Tribune announced early this week that it wants to "transform itself into nonprofit news organization -- a move no other major newspaper has made and which may draw IRS scrutiny. (NiemanLab)
-- Jared Holt wrote about that bizarre press conference held by Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman. It prompts me to reiterate the question Oliver posed in last night's letter: It is worth questioning whether people like Wohl and Burkman should be covered if there isn't any actual news? (CJR)
Instagram blocks "#VaccinesKill" hashtag after CNN Business report
Kaya Yurieff writes: Instagram had another press event on Thursday (this time in SF) about safety on the platform, including vaccine misinformation. The company said it will now block additional hashtags that surface vaccine misinformation. The context: In this CNN Business story on Wednesday, I pointed out that the hashtag #VaccinesKill surfaces vaccine misinfo in its top results. That hashtag has now been removed. But: There are still other related hashtags alive and well on the platform, such as #VaccinesHarm. When asked if Instagram would take action on those, the company said it's currently reviewing hashtags and will block ones with a certain level of misinformation. The seemingly neutral #Vaccines hashtag is also polluted with anti-vaccine misinfo...
"A certain level of misinformation"
I am so intrigued by this language from Instagram. What "certain level" of nonsense is acceptable? What's unacceptable? (They say they won't answer the Q's because the info could help people game the system.) Will this rubric apply to all hashtags?! | |
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- The AP's Catherine Lucey is joining the WSJ to cover the White House...
-- TechCrunch's Taylor Hatmaker is The Daily Beast's new senior tech editor...
-- The Beast obtained emails "at the center of an effort by" Harvey Weinstein's legal team to discredit accuser Melissa Thompson.... (Beast)
-- Alex Trebek is on "CBS Sunday Morning" with Jane Pauley this weekend... (CBS)
Fox's pitch to Wall Street
Takeaways from Fox Corporation's investor day: It is a "more focused company," Rupert Murdoch said, with news and sports and other live programming.
There are big plans for a legalized sports betting product called "Fox Bet."
But there are NOT plans for a "Fox branded direct-to-consumer offering" aside from Fox Nation, COO John Nallen said.
Another key Nallen quote: "We're not running this company to sell it. We're running it for growth."
And on the local level, Fox TV Stations CEO Jack Abernethy talked up the "windfall of revenue" that will come from the 2020 election. He said he's interested in buying more stations "if the right stations become available at the right price."
| | 59 days without a formal W.H. briefing
Thursday marked 59 days without an on-camera press briefing at the White House. Friday will be day 60. Here are a few of the stories that warrant comment from the press secretary on the record and on camera right now:
-- Trump has decided to nominate Patrick Shanahan as Defense Secretary...
-- CNN's Haley Byrd and Phil Mattingly write: This stalled disaster relief package "shows Congress-White House split..."
-- Trump continues to claim -- falsely -- that "we gave Puerto Rico $91 billion for the hurricane." Why lie over and over again?
About the new "hard pass" rules...
Former W.H. press secretary Joe Lockhart is worried about the new W.H. policy "that cracks down on who gets the permanent -- or 'hard' -- press pass." Lockhart, now a CNN commentator, says Sanders and co. are on a "slippery slope..." Here's why...
Shafer's reaction to this press pass tiff
"That Trump continues to toss pebbles rather than heaving cannonballs is a better indicator that the president is losing his campaign with the press than winning," he wrote on Thursday. "A harassment campaign like this one is vintage Trump, like a slap-fight in a bar, something that gives the illusion that he's a tough guy when he's closer to a pushover..."
The biggest Trump story of the day?
CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin summed it up in 280 characters on Twitter: "President Trump keeps calling for his political opponents to be criminally prosecuted. Today, it's John Kerry. This is a dangerous and un-American practice." Here is CNN's fact-check about Trump and Kerry...
Comey says "it sure looks like" Trump obstructed justice | | This was a novel use of the CNN town hall format: Anderson Cooper moderated an audience Q&A with James Comey on the two-year anniversary of his firing as FBI director. Comey said "it sure looks like" Trump committed obstruction of justice, per the Mueller Report. Here are a few other key quotes:
-- Comey said he worries a lot about a foreign effort to "confuse us, to drive us apart, to make us even more polarized than we are now. We're not equipped to respond." He said Russia "will be back to build on" 2016...
-- When a member of the audience asked "Why do you think that voters should prioritize Trump's personal flaws over their own economic well-being?," Comey said, "You cannot have a president who's a chronic liar... The president of the United States cannot be someone who lies constantly. I thought Republicans agreed with that..."
-- Comey disagreed with the recent Dem claims about a "constitutional crisis." He said "our system is being stress-tested, but it's up for it."
One of Trump's ghostwriters speaks
Charles Leerhsen ghost-wrote Trump's second book "Surviving at the Top..." And on Thursday, motivated in part by the NYT's recent tax story, he came forward to share his experience. He wrote a column for Yahoo! News and joined CNN's Erin Burnett to discuss it.
Back in the late 80s Trump "was just like a middle-level real estate guy," Leerhsen said. "I didn't think he was evil at the time, but I think he is now...
Old and new: "Two completely different worlds"
Snapchat's Peter Hamby is the next guest on Yahoo! reporter Jon Ward's podcast "The Long Game." The episode will be up on Friday morning. Hamby, formerly of CNN, reaches young people with a political show on Snapchat and writes columns for VF on the side. "Some days I feel like I inhabit two completely different worlds," he told Ward.
Ward says he's been exploring this generational gap issue for a while. He writes: "Nicco Mele, who pioneered online fundraising in Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign, also used the analogy of two worlds existing alongside one another. One world is dominated by people who came into adulthood and even lived much of their lives before the Internet ever existed. They still control much of the media and many other aspects of society. The other world is populated by those who are internet natives, those who have never known a reality without the web. They are beginning to exercise more control and influence in politics and culture."
>> Related: Read this new piece in The Atlantic, "The Coming Generation War..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
-- As we previewed yesterday... Vox launched its "Primetime" podcast on Thursday. Critic-at-large Todd VanDerWerff hosts the pod, exploring the "hidden history of television" and, in the first episode, "TV's relationship with the presidency..." (Vox)
-- In case you're wondering, we skipped a "Reliable Sources" podcast this week because we were busy with our move to CNN's new NYC building. We'll be back on the pod next week... And your guest ideas are always welcome...
-- A BBC radio host was fired after posting a racist tweet about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's new baby... (CNN)
Netflix acquires StoryBots
Frank Pallotta emails: Netflix is solidifying itself even more in the children's programming space. The streaming giant has agreed to acquire StoryBots, the company behind the Netflix's children series "Ask the StoryBots." Per CNBC, this is Netflix's "second content company acquisition after buying MillarWorld in 2017."
>> StoryBots CEO Gregg Spiridellis: "Netflix really wants to create an educational franchise that's global. That's what they see StoryBots as. We want to make StoryBots the next generation of Sesame Street."
>> Netflix's strategy? Giving users lots to watch at a very early age, building a life-long connection to Netflix...
"Netflix's big acquisitions are people"
That's what the WSJ's Joe Flint noted in the wake of the StoryBots news. What's striking is how little Netflix has acquired over the years. Millarworld and an Albuquerque TV and film facility are the only two other deals.
As for Storybots, a source told CNBC the price "will be immaterial to Netflix." Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw pointed out, "Bankers love tossing Netflix's name around for big acquisitions, but the company still hasn't made any large transactions in 22 years..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
-- At least two production companies in Georgia are threatening to halt production over the state's new anti-abortion law... (LA Times)
-- NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists will be honoring Variety EIC Claudia Eller in L.A. later this month... (Variety)
-- Lisa Respers France reports that Britney Spears has been granted a temporary restraining order against a former member of her inner circle, Sam Lutfi... (CNN)
Spotify plans app revamp to spotlight podcasts
The aforementioned Lucas Shaw reported Thursday that the upcoming Spotify app "overhaul" will give "podcasts more prominence" and "make it easier for people to find and listen to radio-style programs." Large "tabs" will allow users to easily switch between "music" and "podcasts," sources tell Shaw...
First full trailer for Showtime's Fox series
Here it is -- the first full trailer for Showtime's "The Loudest Voice" -- the seven-part series starts on June 30. And Chloe Melas has the write-up here...
| | UPFRONTS 2019
Fox announces orders for six new series
Brian Lowry emails: Fox announced orders for six new series, which is nothing new for this time of year. But the network's release noted that this was a "strategic move" that demonstrated its "commitment to scripted programming," addressing questions about whether Fox is going to become more reliant on sports, wrestling and reality after shedding most of its production assets in its deal with Disney. Fox is taking an ownership stake in the new projects, which originate from various studios, including a trio from 20th Century Fox Television, now part of Disney...
"Veep" finale countdown
"The time has come for 'Veep' to say goodbye," THR's Jackie Strause wrote. "After seven seasons, the Julia Louis-Dreyfus-led HBO political comedy will offer one last commentary on Washington, D.C. politics with Sunday night's supersized series finale." The episode will run 45 minutes long...
And on Thursday night, the entire cast came together for a special sit-down with Stephen Colbert. I'm setting my DVR right now... | |
"Power" to end with massive sixth season
Lisa Respers France reports: It will soon be over for Ghost and the gang. Starz has announced it is ending its wildly popular crime drama "Power" with season 6. The final season, premiering on August 25, will have 15 episodes.
"We will follow some of your beloved 'Power' characters beyond the scope of the initial series," said Courtney A. Kemp, who is both the creator of "Power" and an executive producer. "But we will play with your expectations of which characters, where, and the master timeline of it all, creating a 'Power' universe as unpredictable as the original."
FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX
-- Ahead of upfront week, here's an appropriately-timed look back at the 28-and-counting series coming to an end this year... (THR)
-- "A massive fire on Thursday destroyed the upstate New York set of a new HBO series" titled "I Know This Much Is True." No one was injured, "but about a dozen production vehicles for the show — which had filmed there all day Wednesday — were destroyed..." (NYPost)
-- The trailer for "It: Chapter Two" came out Thursday, showing the Loser's Club all grown up, including Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy and Bill Hader. THR revealed that the hate crime in Stephen King's novel will be worked into the movie... (THR)
-- Fran Drescher tells Chloe Melas that "The Nanny" may be headed to Broadway... (CNN)
Lowry reviews "Pokemon Detective Pikachu"
Brian Lowry emails: "Pokemon Detective Pikachu" owes an obvious debt to "Who Framed Roger Rabbit." It's just that this live-action version of the popular franchise featuring Ryan Reynolds as the wisecracking voice of Pikachu is less colorful, and more irritating, in virtually every way. Read on...
FOR THE RECORD, PART SEVEN
By Lisa Respers France:
-- Kip Niven, an actor best from roles in "Magnum Force," "The Waltons," and "Alice" has died at the age of 73.
-- Jason Momoa has apologized for overshadowing the Mueller report release with news of him shaving his famous beard...
-- George Clooney shares a birthday with Baby Archie, but the actor has shot down reports he will be godfather to the newest royal...
-- Tyra Banks has a new model name. She now goes by "BanX" as a statement regarding the changing face of beauty...
-- "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" is returning to Netflix as an interactive special...
-- Thursday was Billy Joel's 70th birthday -- and he celebrated by working. He had a show at the Garden. The icon is still going strong and taking it in stride that people think his youngest kids, who are three and one, are his grandchildren...
| | | Thank you for reading. Email me anytime. See you tomorrow... | | | |
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