Hey there, this is Oliver Darcy, filling in for Brian Stelter. I'm always eager to field your tips and general feedback, so get in touch through email or by finding me on Twitter. With that, let's get to things...
"MAKE AMERICA HATE AGAIN" | | The fact that it was not surprising did not make it any less disturbing. After President Trump assailed Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar at a North Carolina rally Wednesday night, his crowd of supporters broke into a chant, shouting in unison, "SEND HER BACK!" Then, as Kaitlan Collins reported on-air, Trump "paused a moment to let that chant grow some momentum."
The reactions were swift. Former Obama speechwriter and "Pod Save America" host Jon Favreau called it "one of the most chilling and horrifying things I've ever seen in politics." And former Jeb Bush aide Tim Miller tweeted, "I'd say to my friends in DC going along with Trump. Imagine how this video of the President leading a white mob in a 'Send Her Back' chant targeting a black refugee is going to look in your kids' high school government/history classes."
At the end of his program, Chris Cuomo summed things up succinctly: "Trump says he wants to 'make America great again.' But what he means is 'make America hate again.'"
"Traitor!" "Treason!"
It wasn't just the mention of Omar that drew scorn from the crowd on Wednesday night. The mention of the other four Democratic congresswomen drew jeers from Trump's supporters. According to WSJ, the mention of Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib "drew a deafening round of boos and shouts of 'traitor' and 'treason' from the crowd."
Omar quotes Maya Angelou
Responding to the chant that broke out at Trump's rally, Omar quoted Maya Angelou, tweeting, "You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I'll rise." Omar later added on Twitter, "I am where I belong, at the people's house and you're just gonna have to deal!"
>> Related: On Wednesday morning, "The Squad" appeared on "CBS This Morning" for an interview with Gayle King, reacting to Trump's attacks and denouncing them as a "distraction."
Maddow: Trump's racist outburst could be "new normal" until election day
Opening her show on Wednesday night, Rachel Maddow told her audience, "It has been another 'can you believe it?' day in news." After filling in viewers on the chant that broke out at Trump's rally, Maddow offered an unsettling thought: It's "possible this is the new normal for the next year and a half." She suggested Trump's re-election strategy might just be to "stoke the outrage any way" he can, in an effort to galvanize his base.
Over on Fox...
While hosts and guests on other networks expressed shock at what happened, things were of course different on Fox. I tuned into Laura Ingraham's program, and heard her excitedly exclaim, "The president was on fire!" And earlier in the evening, Tucker Carlson hosted a guest who bizarrely claimed the term "people of color" is a "racist term." Truly an alternative news universe...
Snapshot of America
Perhaps one of the better snapshots of our dystopian state of current affairs comes via the Merriam-Webster. On Wednesday night, the dictionary tweeted, "Tonight's top searches, in order: racism, socialism, fascism, concentration camp, xenophobia, bigot."
Coverage set to enter day five
Often, with the chaotic news cycle, it can be hard for stories -- even the explosive ones -- to stick. That has not been the case with the racist comments Trump has directed at the four minority congresswomen. On Thursday, coverage of the comments will enter day number five.
Trump "views his attacks on the four congresswomen of color as an unbridled political success," CNN's Kevin Liptak and Kaitlan Collins reported on Wednesday. Indeed, Trump told reporters he's "not relishing the fight" but is "enjoying" it. He later even called the Daily Mail's David Martosko to boast about it, insisting he was "winning the political fight" and "winning it by a lot."
Remember when?
"When is Donald Trump going to stop embarrassing his friends, let alone the whole country?" That's not a quote from a liberal MSNBC host reacting to this week's racist comments from Trump. And it's not from a Democratic presidential contender.
No, that is actually a direct quote from Rupert Murdoch four years ago Thursday. At the time, Trump had insulted John McCain on the campaign trail during the Republican primary race, claiming the Arizona senator was only a war hero because he had been captured as a prisoner of war. Murdoch didn't stand for it, and turned to Twitter -- which he no longer uses -- to blast Trump. | | Back then...
Murdoch's tweet is a good reminder of how much things have changed over the past four years. Back in 2015, before Trump cemented his takeover of the Republican Party, Murdoch and his news organizations were more willing to call Trump out when he crossed the line.
For instance, after Trump's comments on McCain, Murdoch's New York Post blasted Trump with a blistering front page cover the next day. "DON VOYAGE!" it read, calling Trump "toast" after leveling the insult at McCain. Bill O'Reilly, then the biggest star at Fox, grilled Trump over the comment, repeatedly pressing him to "admit" it "was a mistake."
Versus today
Compare that to how Murdoch's outlets have covered Trump's racist comments. Fox's opinion stars have defended Trump's comments, even at times laughing them off. It's even possible Tucker Carlson's commentary on Rep. Ilhan Omar led to Trump's racist outburst.
And instead of the Post blasting Trump on the cover for the comments (the newspaper never did), Tuesday's edition of the front page zeroed in on the "far left" congresswomen.
>> It's a small case study, but underscores quite a difference in how Murdoch's media organizations handled Trump's McCain comments back in 2015 vs his racist comments in 2019...
In any other news cycle...
Impeachment was a big story on Wednesday, but it was only one of many big stories -- which is a bit nuts. To be clear, Trump was not impeached, but a Texas Democrat was able to force a House vote on whether to take up impeachment articles against him. A little more than 40% of the Democratic caucus (95 Democratic representatives) voted to move it forward.
That's big news. In any other presidency, it's hard to imagine it not being the clear dominant story. And while it was covered Wednesday, it felt like the vote just came and went, as if it was just a normal course of business. It's yet another example of how numb we have become to the bonkers news cycle in which we find ourselves living.
THURSDAY PLANNER
-- Disney's live-action remake of "Lion King" hits theaters for Thursday evening showings...
-- CNN will hold a live drawing on "AC360" that will decide the lineup of the next Democratic presidential debates...
-- Jonathan Swan is in conversation with Tim Alberta at the Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington, DC. They will talk about the transformation of the Republican Party...
-- Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman will hold a party for their bestselling book "The Hill to Die On" at PayPal's offices in New York City...
Netflix stock plummets after massive subscriber miss
Frank Pallotta emails: In a word, yikes. Netflix added 2.7 million new subscribers in the second quarter. The company had expected to add 5 million. So it passed the 150 million subscriber milestone... and now has 151.5 million subscribers globally... but everyone is buzzing about the massive miss.
WSJ's headline: "Netflix reports first drop in U.S. users in nearly a decade"
And the LA Times headline: "Netflix has its biggest subscriber stumble since the DVD-by-mail era"
Netflix blamed the miss on this quarter's programming not driving growth as much as it anticipated, i.e. new people didn't sign up to watch what Netflix was offering. The stock is down 12% in after-hours trading...
Bad quarter or bad things to come for Netflix?
Pallotta adds: The question on Hollywood's mind: "Was this just a bad miss in a bad quarter or sign of bad times to come for the king of streaming?"
Netflix says it's the former, noting that one of its most popular series, "Stranger Things," kicked off Q3 and that its second half is full of notable releases like "The Crown" and the final season of "Orange is the New Black." But with competition like Disney+ and HBO Max looming and hit series like "Friends" and "The Office" departing, it's hard not to wonder.
>> Peter Kafka notes: "The company thinks it will add 7 million subscribers in the third quarter — more than Wall Street expected it to predict..."
Netflix promises no ads
A notable quote from Wednesday's letter to shareholders: "We, like HBO, are advertising free. That remains a deep part of our brand proposition; when you read speculation that we are moving into selling advertising, be confident that this is false. We believe we will have a more valuable business in the long term by staying out of competing for ad revenue and instead entirely focusing on competing for viewer satisfaction..."
Criminal case against Kevin Spacey dropped
| | The criminal case against Kevin Spacey was dropped on Wednesday after the person who accused the 59-year-old actor of assault pleaded the fifth. In a court filing, the district attorney said the decision was made "due to the unavailability of the complaining witness."
As Jean Casarez and Eric Levenson reported for CNN.com, Spacey "had faced criminal charges of indecent assault and battery in connection with a July 2016 incident where he was accused of groping a young man in a bar. The former 'House of Cards' star had pleaded not guilty and faced up to five years in prison, if convicted."
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- Emily Lenzner, Atlantic Media's EVP of communications, is moving over to the MPAA... Anna Bross has been named VP of communications for The Atlantic... (MPAA)
-- "United Talent Agency...has joined with the influential N.B.A. agent Rich Paul to create a sports division for the entertainment company..." (NYT)
-- Gizmodo Media staffers are infuriated at the new CEOs "insane" direction, Maxwell Tani reports... (Daily Beast)
-- Reporters at the Baltimore Sun "voted down a proposed three-year extension of their already 12-year-old union contract, arguing that pay increases are long overdue..." (Baltimore Biz Journal)
-- NPR has been characterizing Trump's comments as "racist." But the outlet's VP of newsroom diversity and training thinks it should be left up to the public to make that determination, not journalists... (NPR)
FIRST LOOK
NYT and Meredith's new pact
 Brian Stelter emails: The New York Times Company and Meredith Corporation are introducing a series of Times-branded special edition magazines. They'll be "available on newsstands, Amazon and Meredith's magazine store beginning July 26," a spokeswoman for the NYT says.
Here's a look at the cover of the inaugural issue -- exploring the "Summer of '69" -- coinciding with NYT's coverage of the 50-year anniversary of that summer. "There will be six issues as part of the collaboration, each devoted to historical events, significant milestones and cultural subjects," The Times says...
Field set for CNN's Democratic debates
| | CNN political director David Chalian announced on Wednesday's "Situation Room" the 20 candidates who qualified for CNN's Democratic primary debates. Set to take place later this month in Detroit, the debate stage will feature most of the same candidates who appeared at NBC's debates.
As Dan Merica notes for the CNN.com story, "The only change to the pool of qualifying candidates is that [Montana Gov. Steve] Bullock, a candidate who was left out of the first Democratic debates in June, will now be on the stage, replacing California Rep. Eric Swalwell, who dropped out earlier this month."
>> The drawing that will decide the candidate lineups for the debates will take place Thursday night on "AC360" at 8pm ET...
FaceApp virality prompts privacy concerns
If you've been on the internet this week, chances are you have seen your friends posting photographs of themselves with a FaceApp filter which ages their face. The app has gone viral in recent days, prompting some people to worry about possible privacy concerns. (The fact the app is Russia-based did not help.)
But is there actually good cause for worry? The Verge published a story delving into potential causes for concern, and didn't seem to find anything unusual. "Close research suggests FaceApp isn't doing anything particularly unusual in either its code or its network traffic, so if you're worried about FaceApp, there are probably a bunch of other apps on your phone doing the same thing," Ashley Carman wrote for the tech site.
Carman also noted that "the company's privacy policy incorporates broad language that allows it to use people's usernames, names, and likeness for commercial purposes." But she pointed out that "while this isn't great, users often agree to wide-ranging policies that specifically use abstract language."
>> Related: Seth Fiegerman writes for CNN Business: "The FaceApp episode highlights how, after more than a year of high-profile privacy scandals in the tech industry, consumers still don't adequately scrutinize services before handing over their sensitive personal data..."
DNC still urges caution against using the app
"The Democratic National Committee sent a security alert to 2020 presidential campaigns Wednesday afternoon warning them not to use the popular smartphone application FaceApp," Donie O'Sullivan scooped on Wednesday.
The DNC's chief security officer Bob Lord said it was "not clear at this point what the privacy risks are." Lord specifically underscored the fact that the app "was developed by the Russians," and said "what is clear is that the benefits of avoiding the app outweigh the risks."
>> Related: NBC's Frank Thorp reported Wednesday that Schumer asked the FBI and FTC to investigate the company behind FaceApp...
Yahoo's "counterproductive" Chris Pratt story
Yahoo on Wednesday ignited some controversy when its UK movies section published a story that said actor Chris Pratt had been "criticized for 'white supremacist' t-shirt." The t-shirt in question was one that featured the Gadsen Flag. While it has in recent years been adopted by individuals on the right as a symbol against big government, I have never heard of it described as a "white supremacist" symbol. Moreover, Yahoo's story only cited a handful of tweets from random users as evidence of the supposed criticism Pratt was facing.
The story was later updated to tone down the headline and remove references to white supremacism, but the damage had already been done. Outlets like Fox News and personalities like Sean Hannity had already used the incident to zing the media at large.
As Aaron Blake wrote in WaPo, "The whole thing is completely counterproductive when it comes to the debate we're having right now. It makes the media look rabid for this controversy and for more symbols to associate with racism. It allows defenders of Trump's racist tweets to point to the Yahoo story and say: 'See, look how out of touch these people are! They see racism everywhere.'"
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- Tuesday's focus group segment by CNN's Randi Kaye, titled "these GOP women see nothing wrong with Trump's comments," was eye-opening. The women are "members of an organized group dedicated to promoting Trump," Paul Farhi reports, quoting critics who said that fact should have been disclosed… (WaPo)
-- Erik Wemple notes: "Perhaps because of the concerns about truth-in-labeling, CNN host Ana Cabrera on Wednesday afternoon characterized 'several' of the women as being 'affiliated with groups that support President Trump.' The purpose, said Cabrera was 'to see if any of them have changed their minds.'" (WaPo)
-- Jon Stewart slammed Rand Paul and Mike Lee after the two Republican senators stalled the 9/11 victims bill... (Mediaite)
Facebook's alarming request
Hadas Gold emails: Facebook is asking a court to order discovery of communications between Six4Three, an app company in a protracted legal battle with Facebook, and reporters. At issue: Facebook claims Six4Three inappropriately shared a cache of documents that included internal Facebook communications between executives like CEO Mark Zuckerberg that were under seal. While visiting London last year, Six4Three's CEO was compelled by a British parliamentary committee investigating Facebook's handling of user data to produce the documents - which later shared them publicly.
Facebook asked the court to order an independent forensic examiner to do a "keyword search" of the Six4Three devices and accounts to identify anything that includes the names of several major news outlets. In the list are also specific names of reporters who have aggressively covered Facebook, as well as activists, academics and government officials.
A Facebook spokesperson said the focus of the discovery is on pursuing Six4Three, not any reporters. The spokesperson added that the court determined previous communications produced by Six4Three provided evidence that they shared Facebook confidential documents with others, and that the additional discovery they have requested is necessary to uncover all of Six4Three's violations. Attorneys for Six4Three declined to comment.
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- Jacey Fortin writes about the dark side to those viral "good stories" in the news, and why they sometimes "happen for bad reasons..." (NYT)
-- Keith Grossman has joined Time as president... (AdWeek)
-- Entertainment Weekly publishes its first monthly issue... (AdWeek)
-- NYT published a reconstruction of what happened during the Notre-Dame fire, concluding that the cathedral "came far closer to collapsing than people knew..." (NYT)
-- ICYMI: The Dodo has launched a vertical for kids... (Axios)
| | Comic-Con swings into 50th year with tributes to Stan Lee
Brian Lowry emails: Comic-Con officially kicks off in San Diego on Thursday (after some preview festivities Wednesday night), marking the sprawling convention's 50th anniversary. But this also represents the first gathering since the death of Marvel patriarch Stan Lee, who lived to see the comics he created and championed become the center of the pop-culture universe and a dominant cinematic force.
Lee will be memorialized during multiple panels at this year's event, and as former DC Comics editor Paul Levitz put it, "Stan's main reaction to the whole journey was the inner kid being amazed at what had happened."
What is old is new again
Brian Lowry emails: Thanks to streaming services, everything old is new again, with the twin announcements Wednesday that the comedy "AP Bio" is getting a new lease on life via NBC's streaming venture, and HBO Max rebooting "Gossip Girl." As a footnote, Hulu's revival of "Veronica Mars" marks its return July 26.
More on the "Gossip Girl" plans...
HBO Max has given the show "an order of 10 one-hour episodes from the original 'Gossip Girl' team, including executive producers Joshua Safran, Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz," Sandra Gonzalez writes.
The series will center on a new generation of New York private school students and "address just how much social media — and the landscape of New York itself — has changed in the intervening years," per Wednesday's press release...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
By Lisa Respers France:
-- The "Hustlers" trailer offers a first look at Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu and Cardi B as strippers...
-- Bad Bunny, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Ricky Martin have addressed the Puerto Rico chat messages controversy...
--This week on "Lisa, Sandra & Kristen Go to the Movies," Trace Lysette, star of "Transparent" and the forthcoming "Hustlers" film, talks about her love of movies with strong female leads like "Alien" in the latest episode of the podcast...
Tassler's homecoming
Lowry emails one more: Former CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler is enjoying a homecoming, aligning her company with producer Denise Di Novi's Patma Productions, with the network, which is acquiring an ownership stake in the company. Among the first projects: "American Martyrs," a limited-series adaptation of the Joyce Carol Oates novel for Showtime...
| | | Thank you for reading! Send me your feedback. Brian will be back for Thursday's edition... | | | |
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