EXEC SUMMARY: Hello from SFO, where they're cheering on the Warriors... here's a big look ahead at the week's media news... with the latest from London, NYC, Philly, DC, Atlanta, L.A. and points in between...
George Orwell predicted this
Part of President Trump's prep for his state visit: Interviews with two of Rupert Murdoch's papers, the Sun and the Sunday Times. It was The Sun's Tom Newton Dunn who asked about Meghan Markle and prompted another one of those "who do you believe" moments -- the president or your own ears?
After Dunn described Markle's past criticism of Trump, the president said "I didn't know she was nasty." When the audio clip came out, news outlets like CNN noted the word "nasty" and Trump's kind words about Markle. What happened next is incredible. Trump's campaign came out and denied that he called her "nasty" -- by posting the audio and transcript -- which confirmed what he said. But they denied it anyway.
On Sunday this got even crazier. Minutes after Fox aired a "MEDIA TWISTS TRUMP'S WORDS" segment, Trump tweeted, "I never called Meghan Markle 'nasty.' Made up by the Fake News Media, and they got caught cold!" | | I wasn't going to mention the "nasty" quote on the TV edition of "Reliable Sources" -- until Trump tried gaslighting everyone. I commented that a throwaway insult by Trump isn't a big deal. But the "don't believe you ears" destruction of truth IS a big deal. It can't be ignored.
He even doubled down on Sunday night, when a reporter asked about it on his way out of Washington. "No, I made no bad comments," he said.
As Orwell wrote in "1984:" "The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."
How does this benefit anyone?
Let me be cynical for a moment: This story is irresistible to news junkies and irrelevant to most everyone else. Trump critics are outraged by his crass comment about Markle. Trump fans are able to excuse it and claim "fake news." Journalists like yours truly respond by showing that it's real news. And the political discourse gets a little bit more polarized.
And speaking of the war on truth...
"Chernobyl" finale on Monday
Brian Lowry says the "Chernobyl" finale finishes powerfully. I haven't started the HBO mini-series yet, but it's at the top of my list. NYT science writer Henry Fountain -- who has toured the site of the nuclear disaster -- wrote this Sunday story that says "a lot" of the details in the drama are "made up." But "in the end, though, none of this really matters. For the mini-series gets a basic truth right — that the Chernobyl disaster was more about lies, deceit and a rotting political system than it was about bad engineering or abysmal management and training..."
--> Eric Boehm's latest for Reason: "Chernobyl is about what happens when citizens believe telling the truth Is futile..."
Where's Wolff?
Parts of Michael Wolff's new book "Siege" leaked almost a week ago. Critics have cited "cringeworthy" errors and the special counsel's office has said that key documents described in the book "do not exist." Wolff will start to respond on Monday when he appears on NPR's "Morning Edition" and ABC's "The View."
In the NPR interview, Steve Inskeep asked many questions about Wolff's sourcing, "and Wolff defended his methods without getting into much detail about how he is able to capture the thoughts and utterances of close Trump advisers and even the president himself." Wolff: "Everything in this book is something that I concluded is accurate and true..."
--> Reporters by and large are reacting to "Siege" with a mix of skepticism and shrugs. Newsrooms should treat the book as a "series of tips and rumors from a semi-reliable narrator," Noah Shachtman said on "Reliable Sources." Sarah Ellison and Elaina Plott also weighed in...
Wolff says Trump is "functionally a madman"
Via NPR: "In the 'Morning Edition' interview, Wolff says those who have spent the most time with President Trump describe him as 'vile and ludicrous.' Wolff says over the course of writing two books he has come to believe Trump is governing on impulse and whim, that there is no method to the madness and that someone who is 'functionally a madman' is president of the United States."
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- First I noticed my Nest cam was down... then my Gmail... later I realized the outages were connected: Google said YouTube, Gmail, Google Calendar "and nearly all its of other consumer-facing services experienced major service problems for about four hours after reports of outages flooded in from users around the country..." (NBC)
-- Over the weekend Twitter "apologized for suspending accounts that were critical of the Chinese government's response to the Tiananmen Square protests of June 4, 1989," Victoria Cavaliere reports... (CNN)
-- Edmund Lee is out with a big new story about WarnerMedia's streaming service plans. A key Q: "How much should it cost for subscribers?" (NYT)
Media week ahead calendar
Monday: The annual HRTS network chiefs luncheon is at the Beverly Hilton...
Tuesday: George F. Will is out with a new book, "The Conservative Sensibility..."
Wednesday: "Black Mirror" season five arrives on Netflix...
Thursday: The FT's Future of News event in NYC has a jam-packed lineup of speakers...
Friday: "Dark Phoenix" premieres, the latest "X-Men" movie, and biggest Fox title released since Disney took over...
Friday night: The "XY Chelsea" documentary about Chelsea Manning premieres on Showtime...
Saturday: The Belmont Stakes...
Will Holzhauer beat Jennings' record?
As this show promo says, James Holzhauer is "on the verge of making 'Jeopardy!' history!" After the episode that aired on Friday, the pro sports gambler is right behind Ken Jennings' 2004 total -- "just $58,485 from breaking Jennings' record," USA Today noted. And he's done it in less than half the time. So Monday's episode will be big.
But: I need to tell you something. As a true blue "Jeopardy!" fan, I'm loath to even mention this. I don't want to spoil anything. But there WAS a viral clip on social media on Sunday... showing a shocking outcome on a future episode of the show... and Sony has since had it removed on copyright grounds. If you want to know what the clip showed, the NYPost has all the details. But seriously: If you like watching "Jeopardy!" I do NOT recommend reading it.
>> In his latest for WaPo, sports humor columnist Norman Chad says it's "preposterous" that some people are rooting against Holzhauer's run. "Appreciate greatness."
>> Holzhauer's amusing response to Chad: "My kid cried about the possibility of her dad losing, so I told her we could have a party the day after it inevitably happens. Now she cries when I win."
Apple news coming Monday
Heather Kelly emails: Apple's World Wide Developers Conference starts at 10am PT Monday. I'll be there. The rumored announcements include a dark mode on iPhones; updates to make the Apple Watch more independent; and the likely death of iTunes after 18 increasingly bloated years. Here's our preview.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has iTunes details here: "The company is launching a trio of new apps for the Mac – Music, TV, and Podcasts – to replace iTunes..."
"The Handmaid's Tale" is back...
Season three of "The Handmaid's Tale" starts streaming on Hulu on Wednesday. From what I've seen so far, it's another nail-biter of a season. And it's almost impossible not to think about the current abortion battles while you're watching...
"We're on a very slippery slope to Gilead right now"
| | That's what "Handmaid's Tale" exec producer Warren Littlefield told me on Sunday's show. "Yes, yes," said actor Ann Dowd, who plays Aunt Lydia.
And when I asked how close or how far America is from the reproductive dystopia of Gilead, Dowd said "we're a heck of a lot closer than we were in season one, which is terrible."
Re: the Georgia law effectively banning abortion, now the subject of court fights: "When I saw what was going on in Georgia, I thought, 'This can't be real.' It stunned me," Dowd said. Watch/read more from the interview here...
FOR THE RECORD, TOWN HALL EDITION
-- CNN aired town halls with Seth Moulton, Tim Ryan and Eric Swalwell from the network's Atlanta HQ on Sunday night... Highlights here... (CNN)
-- When Jim Sciutto asked Swalwell about Georgia's new anti-abortion law and the media companies that might pull shows and movies out of the state, Swalwell commented that "CNN may have to move. There's a lot of young women who work at CNN that will be affected." CNN's parent WarnerMedia has said it will consider moving "new productions," not the HQ... (Mediaite)
-- Fox held a town hall with Kirsten Gillibrand, who took the opportunity to criticize Fox's "role" in fueling a "false narrative" about infanticide. Chris Wallace said she wasn't being polite... (Fox)
-- Michael Grynbaum reports that Bill de Blasio, who tore into Fox and the Murdochs when he came on "Reliable Sources" last summer, is now looking to score a Fox town hall invite... (NYT)
-- By Steve Rabinowitz: "Few emblems of American democracy are as storied and historic as the New England town hall meeting of colonial times..." (CNN)
| | Swan challenges Kushner
This back-and-forth between Jared Kushner and Axios reporter Jonathan Swan is a must-watch. Swan asks if Kushner has ever seen Trump "say or do anything that you would describe as racist or bigoted," and Kushner says "no, absolutely not. You can't not be a racist for 69 years, then run for president and be a racist..."
Then this happened:
SWAN: "Was Birtherism racist?"
KUSHNER: "Um, look, I wasn't really involved in that."
SWAN: "I know you weren't. Was it racist?"
KUSHNER: "Like I said, I wasn't really involved in that."
SWAN: "I know you weren't. Was it racist?"
KUSHNER: "Look, I know who the president is, and I have not seen anything in him that is racist. So again, I was not involved in that."
Axios has other clips from the season two debut of its HBO show up on the web here...
THREE ITEMS ABOUT TRUMP AND TV
1: Did Mueller's TV moment change anything?
I started off Sunday's "Reliable" with a monologue about Trump's dependence on TV... and I questioned the conventional wisdom about Robert Mueller's big televised statement the other day. How much, I asked, really changed as a result? I made the case that nobody else in the public square is even coming close to countering Trump's fire hydrant of frequently false talking points. And public opinion is so hardened that I don't see many minds being changed by a day or two of Mueller reading out loud from his report on Capitol Hill...
>> This new CNN poll shows Trump's approval rating holding steady, and only a slight uptick in support for impeachment...
2: Why the Pentagon has stopped holding on-camera briefings
Defense officials sometimes hold gaggles and other Q&A sessions with reporters. But it's been more than a year since a Pentagon spokesperson fielded Q's on camera. Why? "Several senior officials say televised briefings stopped because of worry [that] TV watcher in chief President Trump would get angry if he saw something he didn't like," CNN's Barbara Starr reported on Sunday's "Reliable..." Here's her full report...
3: Trying to get through to Trump via Fox...
Fox's status as Trump's favorite TV network occasionally causes some weird moments. Case in point, this Sunday afternoon segment written up by Mediaite: In the middle of an unrelated segment, guest Chip Franklin silently held up picture of John McCain. Franklin then explained: "In the off chance the president is watching, it's to remind him of the real heroes of this country..."
--> NYT: Mick Mulvaney sought "to play down the White House's directive to hide a Navy destroyer named after Senator John McCain during the president's visit to a naval base in Japan last week..." But neither Chris Wallace or Chuck Todd were buying it... I wonder what Trump thought of Mulvaney's performance...
How Trump's trip is being promoted in the UK
Sky News -- now owned by Comcast, not Fox -- has been running this viral promo on TV and online promoting its coverage of Trump's state visit: | |
BACK AT HOME...
"Most critical month?"
"For the House's growing impeachment caucus, June is shaping up to be the most critical month to make their case to a reluctant Speaker Nancy Pelosi," Politico's Kyle Cheney and Andrew Desiderio wrote Sunday.
This exchange on CNN's "SOTU" stood out to me: Jake Tapper said to House Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn, "It sounds like you think that the President will be impeached, or at least proceedings will begin in the House at some point, but just not right now?" and Clyburn said: "Yes, that's exactly what I feel."
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"One of the benefits of Trump's Twitter approach is it creates headlines, and that's what it's intended to do, and underneath those headlines, everyone else in the administration can go about peacefully doing their job." HHS has "released several very important, significant regulations that changed the nature of Obamacare, of healthcare, with very little coverage in the press."
--David McIntosh, president of the conservative Club for Growth, speaking with Reuters...
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- On Sunday's "Reliable" I had the first national interview with Chris Arnade about his new book "Dignity..." I'll share my impressions of the book tomorrow... (CNN)
-- Happy 190th birthday to The Philly Inquirer! On Saturday the newsroom moved from Philly.com to Inquirer.com... And on Sunday it "unveiled a new logo and flag for the first time in decades," in part to make the logo more web-friendly... (Inquirer)
-- During Game 2 of the NBA Finals, ESPN tested a special stream of the game "aimed just at teens..." (Variety)
-- "Rick Sanchez is back on the air. He is host of his own show, The News With Rick Sanchez, on RT America, the Russian state-funded television network..." (Miami Herald)
Daily Beast ID's man behind viral anti-Pelosi video
Who was behind that distorted video that made Nancy Pelosi sound drunk late last month? The Daily Beast's Kevin Poulsen says a Bronx sports blogger named Shawn Brooks was responsible. Brooks insisted someone else posted it to his Facebook page, but a FB official refuted that. And Brooks professed "concern over how easily prominent figures like Rudy Giuliani were fooled by a little audio trickery."
The man's identity says something about the democratization of propaganda. "You don't need some sophisticated operation in order to publish fake news," Beast EIC Noah Shachtman told me on Sunday's "Reliable Sources."
I asked him about the critiques, mostly from the right, that the Beast was irresponsible for outing a private citizen who was just having some fun on the web. Shachtman: "First of all, I think he outed himself by attaching his name to several fake news sites that then pushed the video, then he spoke to our reporter at length..."
What will the DOJ do?
With the DOJ exploring an investigation of Google, the NYT's tech and political teams took a deep dive over the weekend...
>> One of the notable grafs: "The White House did not respond to questions about whether the president would support an investigation into Google. But according to two people familiar with his thinking, Mr. Trump would probably welcome any action." One of the sources said the DOJ's head of antitrust, Makan Delrahim, has built up "a lot of authority" in the Trump admin...
| | "Godzilla" No. 1, but...
"Godzilla: King of the Monsters" managed to sell "about $49 million in tickets over the weekend, enough for first place. But the Legendary Entertainment sequel will nonetheless go down as the first big-budget disappointment of Hollywood's summer season," the NYT's Brooks Barnes reports...
"Aladdin" was a "strong second in its second weekend" while "Rocketman" was in third for the weekend. Details here...
| | | Above illustration via Screen Rant | | "Avengers: Endgame" close to topping "Avatar"
Brian Lowry emails: In terms of high-class problems, "Avengers: Endgame" has crossed the $2.7 billion plateau worldwide. That leaves the superhero epic about $75 million behind all-time champ "Avatar" in non-adjusted dollars, but slowing down enough that it might need a bit of a re-release push to surpass it.
>> Why a "problem?" Really just a minor one, unique to Disney as a corporate parent: Because with its Fox acquisition, the studio is now very much in the "Avatar" – and director James Cameron – business, along with Marvel, Lucasfilm and Pixar. In Hollywood terms, that's a lot of hungry egos to feed...
Emmy FYC season is here
Brian Lowry emails: This year's Emmy eligibility window has officially closed, so any of the big shows premiering/returning in June won't be contenders for this year's awards. That also triggers the most fierce few weeks of For Your Consideration campaigning, with the nomination voting deadline on June 24...
| | | Thanks for reading! Send me your feedback, tips, ideas here. See you tomorrow... | | | |
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