Congrats, we made it to the weekend! This is Oliver Darcy, ready to walk you through another day of media news. Send your feedback to me via email or find me on Twitter...
White House suspends Brian Karem's hard pass
| | It's official: In a letter to Playboy correspondent (and CNN political analyst) Brian Karem's lawyer on Friday, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said she had "made a final determination" to suspend Karem's hard pass for 30 days, "effective immediately" through Saturday, September 14, 2019.
This was, of course, expected. The White house first notified Karem about a "preliminary decision" on August 2nd. He then had the opportunity to appeal, which he did. What's notable is that Grisham appears to be following a process slightly different than the one used against Jim Acosta.
When the White House revoked Acosta's pass, it was abrupt and without warning. As a result, when CNN went to court, a key argument was that the move had violated Acosta's due process rights. In this case Grisham appeared to have followed a system set up late last year after the Acosta legal battle which allowed for -- or provided the illusion of -- at least some due process...
How Grisham says she arrived at her decision
In a letter posted by Karem's attorney, Grisham described Karem's behavior during a Rose Garden confrontation with Sebastian Gorka as inappropriate. She wrote, "Mr. Karem's conduct, taken as a whole, was unacceptable and disruptive, and requires a response to ensure that it does not happen again."
Grisham said she "carefully considered a range of potential responses," including "permanently revoking his hard pass, providing a written warning, and taking no action." Ultimately, Grisham said, she determined a "permanent revocation would be too great a punishment." But, she wrote, "Taking no action, on the other hand, would be insufficient."
I checked in with Grisham, but she had no immediate comment on Friday afternoon...
"We intend to seek immediate relief in federal court."
Karem is represented by First Amendment attorney Ted Boutrous, who was part of the team that represented CNN when Acosta battled the White House over his credentials. Boutrous told me the White House sent him an emailed version of its decision around 1:30 pm ET.
In a statement, Boutrous argued that the White House's decision "violates the First Amendment and due process and is yet another example of this administration's unconstitutional campaign to punish reporters and press coverage that President Trump doesn't like."
"The President and his administration are fostering an atmosphere of hostility and violence towards journalists that cannot be tolerated and they are illegally using the credential process to stifle freedom of the press and to disrupt the flow of vital information to the American people," Boutrous added. "We intend to seek immediate relief in federal court."
Karem's warning: "I wasn't the first and I won't be the last"
I spoke with Karem by phone Friday evening. "We all knew it was going to happen," Karem said. "It happened with Jim [Acosta]. We knew it was a matter of time they would try it again. I wasn't the first and I won't be the last."
"This is the White House ignoring due process, ignoring the First Amendment, going after reporters, chopping this up piecemeal, going after us one after a time," Karem said. "Trying very much to silence a press that has been critical of this administration. And they will use any method to do it."
Given that he did have the ability to appeal the White House's preliminary decision from earlier this month, I asked Karem about the idea he had due process in this case. "It's a kangaroo court," Karem said. "It's the exact opposite of due process. 'You're guilty, want to come in here and tell us why you're not?' No, that's not due process. That's the exact opposite of due process."
This Sunday on "Reliable Sources"
John Avlon will be in the anchor chair, filling in for Brian Stelter... He'll be joined by Adam Serwer, Catherine Rampell, Bari Weiss, Mary C. Curtis, Jim Rutenberg, Clarissa Ward, Danny Rogers, Matt Rivitz, and Carole Cadwalladr... plus Donie O'Sullivan and I will be on making our first panel appearance together. It's all happening Sunday at 11 a.m. ET!
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- Erik Wemple on the White House suspending Karem's credentials: "Instead of, like, hosting a White House press briefing, THIS is what your @presssec is doing with her time..." (Twitter)
-- When should news organizations NOT link to websites to avoiding boosting their rankings in search engines? It's an interesting question, and one tackled by Laura Hazard Owen... (NiemanLab)
-- Brendan Nyhan's latest study is a must-read. He looks at the impact of fact checks on individual statements made by politicians versus "a new format that presents a more comprehensive assessment of political statement accuracy over time..." (Sage Journals)
-- CNN announced it will host two more Democratic presidential town halls, taking place on August 25. Alisyn Camerota will moderate a town hall with Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, and Ana Cabrera will host another with NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio... (CNN)
"The Post scores a scoop and then botches it"
Don't take it from me, take it from WaPo media critic Erik Wemple. Wemple wrote a piece on Friday about the newspaper's scoop revealing that the autopsy of Jeffrey Epstein found the financier had several broken neck bones. Wemple's piece was titled, "The Post scores a scoop and then botches it." He focused on his paper's use of the "deepening the mystery" phrase in its headline and lede, calling them "ill-chosen words" that helped fuel conspiracy theories. Read his full piece here...
A "respectable way" to float a conspiracy
I thought Anna Merlan's piece in Jezebel was excellent on WaPo's fumbling of its Epstein scoop. "While it made sure to note that hyoids can also be broken in hangings, it was still, at its heart, a cautious and respectable way to float a conspiracy theory," Merlan wrote. She added, "All the Post story really shows -- besides the fact that Epstein was an old man -- is how astonishingly close the conspiratorial impulse is to the mainstream in this case."
WaPo continues to stand by story
After the medical examiner ruled that Epstein's death was the result of suicide by hanging, and after the sole forensic expert quoted in WaPo's Thursday piece issued a lengthy statement clarifying the comments he gave to the newspaper, I checked back in with a WaPo spokesperson.
"We're comfortable with the story as it was written," the WaPo spokesperson told me, noting "the story made no conclusive statements about the cause of death." Which is true. No conclusive statements were made. But the framing of the WaPo story was certainly off, and it fueled online conspiracies about Epstein's death.
Final point
The medical examiner may have ruled that Epstein died by suicide, but that of course will never satisfy the scores of people who have bought into the conspiracy theories about his death. And those people will forever have WaPo's story to point to and its URL to send to those they are trying to convince.
Deadspin editor quits
The editor-in-chief of Deadspin quit on Friday, the latest sign of tension between G/O Media's leadership and its editorial staffers. "I have been repeatedly undermined, lied to, and gaslit in my job," Megan Greenwell told The Daily Beast's Maxwell Tani, who broke the story.
One of the big issues, Greenwell told Tani, was that the G/O Media management declined to guarantee the site editorial independence and expressed a desire for Deadspin to "stick to sports." Greenwell said, "That's not something I feel I can ethically do."
G/O Media's editorial director, Paul Maidment, said in a statement, "We are laser focused on serving Deadspin readers sports and everything related to sports. Our former editor had a different vision and we wish her well in her future endeavors."
Union opposes new handbook
Tani also reported that G/O Media leadership distributed employees a "new staff handbook with stricter new rules" which was "alarming" to some staff members. The handbook, according to Tani, allowed for the company to search the personal belongings of staffers while in the office, in addition to electronic communications made on the property.
In a Friday afternoon statement, the GMG Union confirmed that employees were sent a "draft of an employee handbook" on Thursday night. "Many of the policies in that handbook contradict our union contract and do not apply for that reason," the union said. "Other policies suggested in the handbook...are incompatible with our work. These policies are not in force and should not be taken as the policies of our sites."
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- Jon Allsop writes about Bernie Sanders and how his media criticism "stands out from that of his rivals because it is structural..." (CJR)
-- Anthony Scaramucci told Jonathan Swan he had been briefly locked out of Twitter for "fat shaming" Trump... (Twitter)
-- "One potential route to flagging fake news at scale: Linguistic analysis..." (NiemanLab)
-- On Thursday night's episode of her show, Fox ~straight news~ host Martha MacCallum accused CNN and MSNBC reporters and analysts of being "giddy" about bad economic numbers. As evidence she played what Mediaite accurately characterized as "markedly un-giddy clips..." (Mediaite)
YouTube hiring "strategic partner" managers for conservative and progressive publishers
YouTube seems to believe that it needs additional help communicating with its conservative and progressive creators. "The Google-owned company posted two job listings on its careers page three days ago for 'Strategic Partner Manager' -- one for conservative political publishers and one for progressive ones," CNBC's Lauren Feiner reported on Friday.
YouTube said in a statement that it has "experts for many of our content categories."
NYT's outstanding special package on Gamergate
| | If you are not familiar with the history of Gamergate, this NYT Opinion special report is for you -- and it's an important one. As the headline on Charlie Warzel's piece succinctly states, the Gamergate "online mob" successfully "created a playbook for a culture war." Its "DNA is everywhere on the internet," Warzel wrote. He explained:
"It's evident in the way foreign actors use bot accounts to manipulate public sentiment, and in the way President Trump uses Twitter to rally his supporters around corporations (in defense of Home Depot; against Nike)," Warzel wrote, adding, "Between anti-feminist YouTubers taking to Patreon to fund their screeds and the shady crowdfunding campaigns to 'fund the wall,' the pledge drives from Pizzagate or QAnon truthers..."
More recommended reads for the weekend 👓
-- If you missed my piece from earlier this week, I spoke with Dean Baquet and nine NYT staffers to take you inside the newspaper as it debates its coverage of Trump and racism...
-- In light of the Gannett-GateHouse merger, John Temple stares down the "crisis in local media" for The Atlantic...
-- And Margaret Sullivan is out with a Friday column on the same subject: "Gannett's megamerger will probably just inflict more pain..."
-- Bernie Sanders joined Twitch, the only Dem candidate besides Andrew Yang to do so, "to connect with people where they are." Bijan Stephen's report for The Verge is titled "The Old Man and the Stream..."
-- A recommended watch from Claire Wardle, who warns that the "real danger of fakes -- deep or shallow -- is that their very existence creates a world in which almost everything can be dismissed as false..."
-- And this one comes from our own Bill Carter: Producer Michael Davies bet his career on a quiz show and won big time. "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" debuted 20 years ago Friday and changed the TV reality show landscape...
| | Apollo wants to do a deal with Tegna
Apollo Global Management is continuing to "bulk up its ownership of television stations," the WSJ's Cara Lombardo and Miriam Gottfried reported Friday.
Apollo struck deals for Northwest Broadcasting and for a majority stake in Cox Media Group earlier this year. And the private equity firm also sought a transaction with Tegna "at the beginning of the year," they revealed. "It sent a letter to the board in February, expressing interest in buying the company at a premium, and it has remained in regular contact despite so far being rebuffed... Apollo would also consider other options, such as merging its stations with Tegna or selling them to the company..."
>> Tegna closed up 10.2% on Friday following the WSJ story...
"I'm Nicky Bandini -- and I'm still a sports writer"
Katie Pellico writes: In an article published by The Guardian on Friday morning, freelance sports journalist Nicky Bandini came out as transgender. She announced, "I have written my last article under the name Paolo Bandini. From now on, it will be Nicky." Bandini met an "outpouring of love" on Twitter.
"I guess the thing that you need to know is that nothing much changes in terms of my work," Bandini explained in an accompanying video. "I'm still going to be covering Italian football, European football and hopefully a bit of NFL this season, as I have in the past."
>> ICYMI: BuzzFeed reported Thursday that two trans employees had left The Guardian in recent weeks, citing a "transphobic" work environment and "harm" done to the trans community through the publication's reporting.
>> Outsports managing editor Dawn Ennis responded Friday, writing that "the timing" of Bandini's announcement "is pretty awful." Ennis warned, "From one trans sportswriter to another, Nicky Bandini, watch your back!"
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- This new Dan Gillmor project wants to bring "news corrections further into the Digital Age." Craig Newmark is providing launch funding... (ASU)
-- Speaking of corrections: Apologies to Jessica Toonkel for last night's misspelling!
"Vice News Tonight" back on Viceland
Katie Pellico writes: Two months after the severing of a seven-year partnership with HBO, "Vice News Tonight" is moving to Viceland. The nightly newsmagazine will fill the void left by the short-lived "Vice Live" -- and before that, by "Desus & Mero" -- on the basic cable channel jointly owned by Vice Media and A&E Networks.
In a Friday email to staffers, president of global news and entertainment Jesse Angelo said, "News in many ways is the voice of VICE, and for many years our ability to distribute, license and showcase our incredible reporting to wider audiences across multiple platforms was restricted."
>> Deadline's Nellie Andreeva reported, "In addition to relaunching 'VNT' on Viceland, I hear Vice Media is in conversation with premium and streaming networks about branded news content."
| | Wyden calls on Facebook and Google
Donie O'Sullivan emails: 2020 campaigns are spending tens of millions on ads on Facebook and Google -- why? Because they are a great way to reach voters, and to target specific groups of voters.
Now Sen. Ron Wyden tells me he wants Facebook and Google to stop. He wants both companies to restrict just how Americans can be targeted. He said he is particularly concerned that such "micro-targeting" could be used to dissuade minority groups from voting. Keep reading...
How big is big?
O'Sullivan adds: Over the past 90 days, the Trump campaign has spent almost $5 million on Facebook ads, Tom Steyer comes in second at just over $3 million, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has spent just over $2 million...
Cicilline first to join International Grand Committee on Disinformation and "Fake News"
Hadas Gold emails: Rep. David Cicilline is the first U.S. lawmaker to join an international committee investigating social media. The committee has been holding hearings in Europe and North America with lawmakers from around the world. They've tried -- and failed -- to get Mark Zuckerberg to show up. But they keep holding hearings, gathering evidence and setting some important cooperative relationships across borders.
Cicilline's spokesperson tells me he's "attending in Dublin as an ex officio member of the Committee which will allow the Congressman [to] question witnesses..."
| | "Easy Rider" star Peter Fonda dead at 79
"Actor and director Peter Fonda, who rose to fame with his role in 'Easy Rider,' died Friday, his manager, Alan Somers, told CNN on Friday," Chelsea Carter and Sarah Moon reported for CNN.com. "He was 79. Fonda died of respiratory failure due to lung cancer at his Los Angeles home, the family said in an emailed statement. He was surrounded by family."
>> NYT: "Peter Fonda, the tall, lanky actor and screenwriter who became a star and a counterculture sex symbol in the film "Easy Rider," carrying on the Hollywood dynasty begun by his father, Henry Fonda, and his sister, Jane Fonda, died on Friday..."
>> THR: To a generation of young people, Fonda was 'Captain America' and a poster boy for the age. With his cool shades and leather jacket with the flag stitched on back, he sat perched atop a chrome-laden, high-handle-bar cycle, and the poster for the film was ubiquitous in college dorms in 1969 and the early '70s...
-- AP: "Born into Hollywood royalty as Henry Fonda's only son, Peter Fonda carved his own path with his non-conformist tendencies and earned an Oscar nomination..."
"Good Boys" open during the dog days of the box office
Frank Pallotta emails: We've entered the dog days of the summer box office season, when blockbusters can be hard to find, but that doesn't mean that there's not movies to see! Universal's "Good Boys," its R-rated raunchy comedy starring a bunch of tweens including Jacob Tremblay, is the big new opener this weekend.
The studio is projecting an opening north of $12 million, which would be a good start for the small comedy. Don't be surprised if it does better than expected this weekend since it has a solid 79% review score on Rotten Tomatoes. Plus, who doesn't like hearing kids use curse words?!
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
By Frank Pallotta:
-- Netflix has ordered a new animated series called "Agent King" about Elvis becoming a spy. Seriously... (Variety)
-- The G rating is dying as studios head for different movie ratings... (THR)
-- Disney's Haunted Mansion attraction turns 50 this year. Here's how one of Disney's spookiest rides became a fan favorite... (NYT)
-- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar explains how "Once Upon a Time In Hollywood" disrespects his friend Bruce Lee... (THR)
Lowry reviews "Blinded by the Light"
Brian Lowry writes: "Blinded by the Light" is an inspiring coming-of-age tale set to the music of Bruce Springsteen, but director Gurinder Chadha's movie – based on a true story about a Pakistani youth in London whose life is changed by the Boss' songs – has more on its mind, including a lot that's relevant to the current political climate...
Netflix's cancellations
Brian Lowry writes: Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw wrote a smart piece about the perceptions around Netflix's show cancellations. The takeaways via his Twitter feed: "Netflix has earned a reputation for canceling shows earlier than other networks. It's not accurate." Netflix "cancels 81% of shows before they get to season 4. HBO cancels 77%. CBS cancels 84%."
This reflects the double-edged sword of Netflix's public posture: The streaming service has done all its can to separate itself from the forces that impact the TV business, including the emphasis on ratings, and its reluctance to discuss them. So people are mystified when it behaves like every other TV programmer — namely, canceling programs that underperform.
One interesting note in Shaw's piece: "The popularity of most programs on the streaming service peaks in season one and falls thereafter — sometimes sharply. The majority of Netflix shows end after two or three seasons." Just like many other networks...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
By Lisa Respers France:
-- Days after splitting with her husband of less than a year Liam Hemsworth, Miley Cyrus has released the break-up song "Slide Away..." (CNN)
-- A year later, Aretha Franklin's death is inspiring research funding to find a cure for the rare cancer that killed her... (CNN)
| | | Thank you for reading. I always enjoy your feedback, so send me a note via email or find me on Twitter. See you Sunday! | | | |
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