| Reading President Trump's racist tweets and hearing him claim that some Democrats "hate" America and watching him say they can leave if they don't like it here, Edward R. Murrow comes to mind. | | In his famous commentary from March 9, 1954, he said Joseph McCarthy's primary achievement "has been in confusing the public mind" about communism. Then he said: "We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men – not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular."
"This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy's methods to keep silent, or for those who approve," Murrow said. "We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of a republic to abdicate his responsibilities. As a nation we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age. We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home."
Do you remember how Murrow's commentary ended? This way: He said McCarthy's actions "have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his. He didn't create this situation of fear; he merely exploited it – and rather successfully. Cassius was right. 'The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.' Good night and good luck."
Scroll down for more words of wisdom from Murrow...
"Go back," day two
Here are the top headlines from four news homepages at 10pm ET Monday:
AP: "Trump digs in on racist tweets: 'Many people agree with me'"
WaPo: "'They hate our country': Trump steps up attacks on Democrats"
NYT: "After Trump accuses congresswomen of hating the U.S., they push back"
FoxNews.com: "Progressive Dems slam WH 'occupant' Trump as president hits back with new tweets"
Most news outlets are now calling the tweets "racist"
In yesterday's newsletter I showed that most of the country's most popular news outlets were refraining from calling Trump's tweets "racist" -- CNN being the biggest exception.
But on Monday this changed in a big way. Outlets like The AP and CBS stopped attributing the word "racist" to "critics" and stated it as a fact, in an institutional voice. This evolution was evident throughout the day: The morning show on CBS leaned on "critics," but the network's evening newscast said "racist tweets." Notably, it was on Norah O'Donnell's debut as the new "Evening News" anchor. Over on NBC, correspondent Hallie Jackson said Trump was "deploying a racist trope meant to marginalize people of color."
Correction: In last night's newsletter I botched one of the quotes attributed to ABC anchor Tom Llamas. On Sunday night he did not say "Democrats" were calling Trump's remarks racist, he said "critics" were. On Monday morning, ABC's institutional stance apparently changed: George Stephanopoulos repeatedly referred to Trump's "racist attack." ABC declined my request for comment about the change...
Sullivan: Not directly calling out racism a "dereliction of duty"
Oliver Darcy emails: "Tiptoeing around Trump's racism is a betrayal of journalistic truth-telling." That was the headline on Margaret Sullivan's latest piece for WaPo. Sullivan conceded that it "makes good sense for media organizations to be careful and noninflammatory in their news coverage." But she also noted that "a crucial part of being careful is being accurate, clear and direct." Sullivan concluded, "When confronted with racism and lying, we can't run and hide in the name of neutrality and impartiality. To do that is a dereliction of duty." Amen...
Notes and quotes
-- "This is who he is" was Anderson Cooper's lead on "AC360" Monday night. "President Trump has shown yet again that he is a demagogue.."
-- New W.H. press secretary Stephanie Grisham waded into this mess on Monday evening and said the "media and Dems" are attacking Trump "for speaking directly to the American people." That's definitely not why Trump is being scrutinized right now. "His message is simple," she said: "the U.S.A. is the greatest nation on Earth, but if people aren't happy here they don't have to stay." Again, that's not what his Sunday morning tweets said...
-- Geraldo Rivera said on Fox, about POTUS, "I feel embarrassed for him and by him..."
-- Ezra Klein tweeted: "Trump going full racist and unifying House Democrats when their internal divisions were erupting is your latest evidence that there's no strategy here, only authentically reactionary impulses, blurted out whenever a microphone is nearby..."
-- Some GOP lawmakers "are feeling the pressure" and denouncing Trump's tweets, but "many leaders in the party are so far not weighing in publicly." CNN has a list of the statements here...
Will Kellyanne Conway be asked about this?
And if not, why not? Her husband George Conway is out with a piercing new op-ed for the Washington Post titled "Trump is a racist president."
He says Trump's "go back" tweets were "racist to the core." And "by virtue of his office, he speaks for the country." So, Conway says, "what's at stake now is more important than judges or tax cuts or regulations or any policy issue of the day. What's at stake are the nation's ideals, its very soul."
"Many people agree with me"
Credit to Fox's John Roberts for asking Trump this question at Monday's surprise Q&A session: Does it concern you that many people saw that tweet as racist AND that white nationalist groups are finding common cause with you on that point?" The Q prompted Trump to say, "It doesn't concern me because many people agree with me..."
Trevor Noah: "Imagine if Hitler was..."
On Monday night's "Daily Show," Trevor Noah played that clip of Roberts and Trump, then said, "I don't know where to begin. First of all, just because many people agree with you doesn't mean you aren't being racist, okay. Imagine if Hitler was like, 'I know everybody says I'm bad, but have you seen how many people are waving at me in the streets? Yeah? If I was racist, they would say something, yeah? They would say something, yeah.'" | | --> More late-night TV lines: Here's the clip from Stephen Colbert's monologue about Trump's tweets -- "a new personal best at being the worst..."
Correcting some of Trump's smears
During Trump's aforementioned Q&A that was carried live on cable, he falsely accused Ilhan Omar of praising al Qaeda. I wonder if there have been sufficient fact-checks of this smear on the channels where it aired live. As CNN's Daniel Dale and Sarah Westwood explained here, Trump was "referring to an Omar comment that has circulated this year in conservative media, including Fox News." Even that short clip "does not include Omar praising Al Qaeda in any way." Details here...
--> A close-up photo of Trump's prepared notes showed that the word "Alcaida" was written in black ink at the top. Presumably this is his misspelling of al Qaeda...
Fox's "The Five" can't stop laughing
One more from Oliver Darcy: On Monday afternoon Shepard Smith called Trump's tweets a "misleading and xenophobic eruption of distraction and division."
The panelists of "The Five" either weren't watching or weren't persuaded. The panelists couldn't seem to stop themselves from laughing as they discussed Trump's racist comments. Greg Gutfeld, in particular, appeared to find the whole situation amusing. Gutfeld read Trump's reprehensible tweets in a jovial fashion, laughing and joking throughout. The segment was especially striking, given the criticism Fox received on Sunday when the network's "Fox & Friends Weekend" hosts were skewered for laughing off Trump's comments...
Tucker's framing
Almost a week ago, Tucker Carlson was in the news for demonizing Omar and saying immigrants like her "undermine" America. I see a pretty straight line between his anti-Omar commentaries and Trump's attacks. But on Monday Carlson didn't reference his own recent controversy. And he reiterated his view that Trump shouldn't tweet. His banner said that "RADICAL DEMS ARE DESTROYING THE PARTY" while he claimed to give advice to the Dems. "When Omar is talking," he said, "Democrats are losing," and that's true for all four members of "the squad." Extremely online Dems don't know that yet, but "they'll find out," Carlson asserted.
Carlson went on to say that "it's pretty obvious that they are becoming, with the help of CNN and MSNBC, the face of the Democratic Party." This is a fascinating claim to make, given that Fox never passes up a chance to cover Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and co. Carlson's guest Richard Goodstein quipped, "this network does a pretty nice job of elevating her." Carlson conceded the point and called AOC a moron. "It's not just Fox promoting these people," Carlson said. "They have a constituency and over time they will define what the Democratic party is in the minds of voters." Sounds like that's what he wants...
Ken Cuccinelli claimed he hadn't seen Trump's racist tweet. Alisyn Camerota reminded him otherwise
Oliver Darcy emails: Ken Cuccinelli, who is currently the acting director of Citizenship and Immigration Services, tried claiming he hadn't seen Trump's racist tweet when asked about it during a Monday morning interview with Alisyn Camerota. "Well, I didn't see that tweet actually," he claimed after Camerota asked for his thoughts on them.
But Cuccinelli wasn't being truthful. He had also spent part of his weekend appearing on "State of the Union" with Jake Tapper, where Trump's racist tweets had been a subject of his interview. A few minutes into the interview, Camerota brought that up. "Did my colleague Jake Tapper read that tweet yesterday on the air?" she asked. "Yes, he did," replied Cuccinelli. "So you have heard this tweet -- and you have had 24 hours to process it," Camerota pointed out. Cuccinelli's response? "So what? So what?" Uhh…
Twitter says Trump's racist tweets don't break its rules
Donie O'Sullivan emails: Twitter told me today that Trump's racist tweets don't break its rules, a conclusion that appears to be contradicted by Twitter's own policies. "We are committed to combating abuse motivated by hatred, prejudice or intolerance, particularly abuse that seeks to silence the voices of those who have been historically marginalized," Twitter's policy reads. 🤔
Twitter is in a difficult spot. Clearly, removing the tweets of the leader of the free world could cause some problems. So... as a potential solution to that, Twitter said last month it would label, not remove, tweets sent by world leaders that broke its rules. But there are no labels on these Trump tweets, so according to Twitter there's nothing to see here... 🤷♂️
--> Donie will be talking about this on CNN's "New Day" Tuesday morning...
TUESDAY PLANNER
-- On Tuesday, the House will take up a resolution condemning Trump's remarks...
-- Tim Alberta's "American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump" could not have been more perfectly timed. The book comes out on Tuesday... Stories like this one continue to reveal shocking new excerpts... (NYT)
-- Alberta will be on CNN's "New Day" and "Cuomo Prime Time" on Tuesday...
Another big hearing about Big Tech
House Judiciary's antitrust subcommittee will call execs from Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple Tuesday at 2pm ET... There's likely to be a live stream available here.
Antitrust attorney Tim Wu and others will also testify in opposition to the concentrated power of Big Tech. CNN's Brian Fung will have a full report from the hearing room afterward...
Emmy nominations day
The Television Academy will reveal this year's nominees at 11:30am ET Tuesday.
Brian Lowry emails with his preview: The Emmys always wrestle with a balance between old and new, but the final seasons of several high-profile series and past winners — including three-time champs "Game of Thrones" and "Veep," as well as Jim Parsons of "The Big Bang Theory" — could tip the scales more toward sentiment/career achievement when the nominations are announced... | |
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- Speaking of the Emmys... Andrea Mitchell "will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 40th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards" this September... (NBC)
-- ProPublica immigration reporter Hannah Dreier, winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing, is joining WaPo as a staff writer for National Enterprise...
-- And The AP's Susannah George is joining WaPo as the paper's next Afghanistan and Pakistan bureau chief...
-- "Jason Klarman, who helped launch Fox News Channel and was a marketing exec at the cable news network until moving on to top positions at the likes of USA Cable, Bravo, Oxygen and Fullscreen Media, is officially returning" as EVP Marketing at Fox News Media... (Deadline)
-- Michael Calderone's latest: Bernie Sanders' campaign staffers are "unusually vocal in calling out coverage they dislike, fueling frustration once again among the senator's supporters about whether he's getting a fair shot at the White House..." (Politico)
Lippman departs Playbook
"Daniel Lippman will probably be awake at dawn this morning, but it won't be to help to slip Politico Playbook into your inbox," Washingtonian's Andrew Beaujon wrote Monday. "After more than five years at the famous DC newsletter, Lippman will leave Playbook to concentrate on full-time reporting on the White House and Washington for Politico." Read their Q&A here...
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
By An Phung:
-- Marshall Cohen, Kay Guerrero and Arturo Torres' exclusive for CNN: "WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange received in-person deliveries, potentially of hacked materials related to the 2016 US election, during a series of suspicious meetings at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London..." (CNN)
-- Michael de Adder, the Canadian cartoonist who lost his job shortly after depicting Trump playing golf over the bodies of two drowned migrants, wrote a column for NBC and made this point: "Editorial cartoons have never been more important, and with social media, they have an increasingly broad reach. In a sense, they are a more powerful tool than they have ever been. Newspapers are cutting one of their best assets when they are at their most vulnerable. And in turn, democracy is losing one of its most treasured safeguards..." (NBC News)
-- Two male historians and a male host who appeared on NPR to talk about tobacco regulation failed to credit Sarah Milov's book "The Cigarette" even though it was the source for the material in the segment. "Every single word they said was from my book," Milov said. "Then I got to the end of a nearly 10-minute segment and did not hear myself credited at all." The people involved have now expressed regret... (The Lily)
A link between screen time and depression in young people?
"For every additional hour young people spend on social media or watching television, the severity of depressive symptoms they experience goes up, according to a study published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics on Monday," CNN's Jacqueline Howard reports.
The study did have some limitations. "More research is needed to see whether there is a causal relationship between screen time and depression in young people. If there is, we need to know how this is happening and how to prevent depression in young people," Dr. Michael Bloomfield, who was not involved in the study, told Howard...
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- Trump's favorite pseudonymous meme-maker, known as Carpe Donktum, "adopted a fake name" to go on the pro-Trump cable channel OANN last week. "Viewers had no idea it was a fake name, and OANN didn't see a problem with it," Craig Silverman writes. Here's his full story, co-bylined with Jeremy Massler... (BuzzFeed News)
-- "The BBC has agreed to conditions set by the Islamic Republic of Iran to not share reporting materials it gathers in Iran with its Persian-language channel, BBC Persian," Yashar Ali reports, citing an internal email. "The agreement represents a capitulation to a government that has been hostile to press freedom..." (HuffPost)
-- "A recent high school graduate -- who cultivated an online following, particularly among gamers, by posting selfies -- was killed over the weekend," Saeed Ahmed and Scottie Andrew report. The suspect then shared graphic photos of her dead body on the gaming chat app Discord... (CNN)
| | The Fox 2000 team lands at Sony
"Elizabeth Gabler is joining Sony Pictures Entertainment in an innovative media deal that will see the veteran executive produce film and TV content based on HarperCollins books," Variety's Matt Donnelly and Brent Lang scooped on Monday. "Gabler was the longtime steward of Fox 2000, which was shuttered after the Walt Disney Company acquired much of 21st Century Fox in March. She will bring her entire development team of Erin Siminoff, Marisa Paiva, Nikki Ramey and Molly Saffron to Sony at the end of August."
Brian Lowry emails: As WaPo's Steven Zeitchik noted, it could be a shrewd move by Sony — largely bereft of major movie franchises other than its Marvel deal on Spider-Man — to carve out a niche in the sort of mid-sized films that the Disney and Warner Bros.'s of the world have little interest in making...
"Why Is Everyone So Scared of Disney?"
Brian Lowry adds: On that latter point, Variety critic Owen Gleiberman wrote an interesting if not wholly convincing column about Disney's franchises over the weekend, suggesting that there's less to fear from the bulked-up, franchise-heavy studio because the best days of Marvel and "Star Wars," specifically, are behind them. There's some truth in that, but it risks downplaying the enormous arsenal that Disney possesses, as its long-delayed animated sequels have demonstrated.
Quentin Schaffer leaving HBO after 39 years
HBO's head of corporate communications Quentin Schaffer is departing in August. THR's Lesley Goldberg said "Schaffer revealed the news via a heartfelt internal memo," and you can read it here.
Schaffer is a legend in TV showbiz circles. "HBO has been an amazing place to work alongside the brightest and most creative people I've ever come across, particularly the communications team," he said Monday. "What made it special was that we always had an enviable slate of programming to work with. In looking back, I feel lucky to have had the greatest temporary job in the business. For 39 years." Citing the new arrival of Kevin Brockman, he said, "with Kevin now here, the team is in good hands and I can feel comfortable moving on."
Brian Lowry's take: All things come to an end, but Schaffer's departure as HBO PR chief continues the institutional brain drain that WarnerMedia is experiencing with its management shift at the pay network, including the relationships and hard-earned trust that go with it...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
By Lisa Respers France:
-- Kelly Clarkson has an idea for Taylor Swift's feud with Scooter Braun...
-- Pink has responded to criticism over her kids running through the Holocaust memorial in Berlin...
-- Kim Kardashian West shared a photo of sons Saint and Psalm...
Austin Butler will play Elvis in a biopic from Baz Luhrmann
Whitney Friedlander writes: "After a long search, Baz Luhrmann's Elvis Presley movie has crowned Austin Butler as its King. Luhrmann, who is directing and co-writing the biopic, shared the news on social media by tweeting Presley's infamous mugshot next to a red carpet photo of Butler..."
LAST BUT NOT LEAST...
O'Donnell invokes Murrow on her first "Evening" newscast
Norah O'Donnell concluded her debut broadcast by bringing up the storied history of CBS News, and quoted the aforementioned Edward R. Murrow: "This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and even it can inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise, it's nothing but wires and lights in a box. There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and indifference. This weapon of television could be useful."
"To Mr. Murrow," she said, "we will try to use it well – and with integrity. For all of us at CBS Evening News, I'm Norah O'Donnell. Goodnight." | | | Thank you for reading! Send me your feedback anytime. See you tomorrow... | | | |
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