| | | | "Trump Jr. Met Russian for Dirt on Clinton" | | That's how the NYT summed up its blockbuster story in eight simple words.
Saturday's initial story was about Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner meeting a Kremlin-linked lawyer during the 2016 campaign, but with no mention of Hillary Clinton.
On Sunday morning Reince Priebus downplayed the story. And Corey Lewandowski cited the reports of Trump's meeting with Vladimir Putin to say on Fox, unequivocally, "there was no collusion, there was no coordination," and "the issue is officially dead." But then... | | A few hours later, the NYT published part two -- jam-packed with what the Times said was new reporting about the "motivation" for the meeting it revealed on Saturday. The story cited advisers to the W.H., among others, and said Donald Jr. "was promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton before agreeing to meet with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer." Donald Jr. issued a new statement after being "presented with The Times's findings."
The WashPost followed up a couple of hours later. The story is sure to lead morning show conversations on Monday... | | The NYT scoop does not pair well with @realDonaldTrump's tweets earlier in the day. In lieu of a traditional post-G20 press conference, Trump tweeted a readout of his Putin meeting. He said it's "time to move forward" and work constructively with Russia.
-- More fodder for the morning shows: After nightfall, Trump changed his tune about the joint U.S.-Russia "Cyber Security unit" he discussed with Putin. He now says "it can't" happen... | | Do you think the W.H. will allow cameras at the briefing on Monday? | | | The press office will confirm its plans by 9am ET... | | Sunday afternoon's NYT bombshell triggered followup headlines like this one, from The Daily Beast: "Is Donald Trump Jr.'s Meeting the First Hard Evidence of Collusion With Russia?"
Drudge's banner asked, "DIRTY TRICKS ON DONALD JR?," promoting the theory that Democratic operatives concocted this whole thing last year. Presumably those operatives were a heck of a lot smarter than the ones who left the DNC vulnerable to hacking... | | Oliver asks: Does Fox News ever cover the actual story? | | | Oliver Darcy emails: Bombshell report after bombshell report, I've noticed Fox News do one of two things: 1.) Attack the so-called "mainstream media" for its coverage and/or 2.) Frame the story around pro-Tump talking points. This evening, the latter was on display. Each of the top stories on FoxNews.com pushed the pro-Trump viewpoint in regard to the latest Russia developments. Take a look at the front page and judge for yourself... | | Notice the sourcing of the NYT story... | | | TPM's Josh Marshall suspects that "the most important detail in this story is the sources." Here's why: "The Times reports that they got the information from 'three advisers to the White House briefed on the meeting and two others with knowledge of it.' They apparently talked after the release of the first story. This is highly, highly significant. Needless to say, advisors to the White House are not in the business of taking highly damaging stories and volunteering new information which makes them catastrophically damaging. The only reason a President's allies ever do something like that is either to get ahead of something much more damaging or get a first crack at shaping the public understanding of something much more damaging. There's really no other explanation. We don't know yet what drove them to volunteer such highly damaging information. Five of them did it. It wasn't a matter of one person going rogue..." | | Views from four CNN commentators | | -- Norm Eisen tweets: "Most damaging part of Don Jr. admission: by taking meeting, he, Manafort & Kushner sent message back to Russians: yes, we are ready to deal"
-- Amanda Carpenter: "Not sure you can claim ignorance as a defense after you lie about the events that took place so deliberately."
-- Jeffrey Lord: "Newsflash? Campaigns of all stripes collect dirt on opponents. It's called 'oppo research' as in 'opposition.' HRC and Dems did to Trump."
-- Steve Vladeck: "Seems to me that the narrative coming from @realDonaldTrump & co. may soon change from 'no collusion' to 'so what; collusion isn't illegal.'" | | "It's critically important that the press shine a light..." | | After the first NYT story about the meeting, but before the detailed followup story, I asked Rep. Eric Swalwell, Democrat of California, about this subject on "Reliable Sources."
"I think we are seeing an unprecedented amount of contacts -- personal, political and financial -- that Trump, his family, his team, his business had with Russia prior to the election. That's not illegal," he said. "However, the fact that Russia was interfering in our campaign warrants us probing whether this was a convergence or just a bunch of coincidences." About the news media: "It's critically important that the press shine a light on what these contacts were..." | | This NY Daily News cover won't surprise you... | | | The headline is "KID PRO QUO:" | | Speaking of Donald Jr.... | | | He "posted a doctored clip from the 1986 movie 'Top Gun' to his social media accounts Saturday, in which his father is portrayed as a fighter pilot shooting down a jet emblazoned with the CNN logo," CBS News notes... | | -- I'm sure you've read it by now, but if not, click here: Brooks Barnes' profile of exiled Sony Pictures chief Amy Pascal...
-- Charlie Warzel's weekly INFOWARZEL newsletter continues to be a must-read. Here are his "five thoughts about the pro-Trump media's war against CNN..." | | Spider-Man swings to a big box office | | | Frank Pallotta emails his weekend box office story: Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can. Spins a box office any size, catches moviegoers just like flies. "Spider-Man: Homecoming" brought in an estimated $117 million for its opening this weekend. That's a big win for Sony and Marvel Studios, which co-produced the film, and a win for our friendly neighborhood web-slinger as well. Spider-Man is Sony's biggest franchise while Marvel Studios is looking toward a future where Spider-Man is its potential star. As for the character, "Homecoming" shows that even though Tom Holland is the third Spider-Man in 15 years, audiences will still line up for the hero's adventures... Read more... | | "Baby Driver" still speeding along | | | Frank adds: It was a double win for Sony this weekend. The studio's other buzzed about summer film, "Baby Driver," which opened last week, brought in $12.7M for a third place finish this weekend. That's only a drop of 38% from its opening -- a really strong number for an original film that is getting rave reviews. The film starring Ansel Elgort, Jamie Foxx, and Jon Hamm, has made $56.8 million so far on just a budget of $34 million... | | Media week ahead calendar | | -- Monday night: "Will" premieres on TNT...
-- Monday night: Amazon's "Prime Day" begins at 9pm ET... it runs til 3am ET on Wednesday...
-- Tuesday: Allen & Co.'s annual confab gets underway in Sun Valley...
-- Tuesday night: Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski on Stephen Colbert's "Late Show..."
-- Thursday night: Emmy nominations!
-- Friday: "War For the Planet of the Apes" begins... | | Newspapers want to collectively negotiate with Google et al | | Jim Rutenberg's Mediator column in the NYT teed up Monday's big media biz news: he said a coalition of news outlets "we used to call 'the newspaper industry'" is seeking bargaining rights against Google and Facebook. The two giants are frequently accused of being a "digital duopoly." News Media Alliance CEO David Chavern has an op-ed in Monday's WSJ saying that their "duopolistic dominance of online advertising" is a greater threat to the press than anything Trump has said.
"The only way publishers can address this inexorable threat is by banding together," Chavern writes. "If they open a unified front to negotiate with Google and Facebook -- pushing for stronger intellectual-property protections, better support for subscription models and a fair share of revenue and data -- they could build a more sustainable future for the news business. But antitrust laws make such coordination perilous."
So the industry is seeking a limited antitrust exemption. Rutenberg has details here... | | -- NYT CEO Mark Thompson quoted in Rutenberg's column: "The temperature is rising in terms of concern, and in some cases anger, about what seems like a very asymmetric, disadvantageous relationship between the publishers and the very big digital platforms."
-- Quartz's Zach Seward tweets: "What exactly does the newspaper industry want from Google and Facebook? I don't think it knows."
-- The Information's Amir Efrati: "Media companies should focus less on acting like victims and more on getting paid for the value they provide." | | "There's a growing atmosphere of hate and disdain towards journalists. My situation was certainly an aberration. But when you think about the threats that journalists are facing every day, just for doing their jobs in the United States of America, that's what raises the real concern..."
--Ben Jacobs, who was body-slammed by a congressional candidate in Montana in May, speaking on Sunday's "Reliable Sources" | | HIGHLIGHTS FROM SUNDAY'S "RELIABLE SOURCES..." | | Democratic lawmaker wonders if Trump is trying to "chill" CNN by threatening AT&T-Time Warner deal | | When I asked Rep. Eric Swalwell about national security-related leaks, he pivoted, invoking Michael Grynbaum's recent NYT report that White House advisers "have discussed" the pending AT&T-Time Warner deal as "a potential point of leverage" over CNN, which is owned by Time Warner.
"Some of the leaks have also been coming out of the White House," Swalwell said. "We just saw a leak that I think was intentional, where the White House suggested that they may use its ability to approve the Time Warner-AT&T merger as a way to threaten the media."
His blunt reaction: "That's not how America works. You don't get to threaten the press or bully the press by using your power in office to affect what they do on the business side." He compared it to Trump's tweets about James Comey and "tapes" and said he thought the intent was a "chilling effect." Here's the video clip... | | | He hewed to a popular Democratic line -- that the AT&T deal should be examined for anticompetitive concerns. "You know, there are fair questions about whether this merger helps consumers or hurts consumers, and those should be tested," he said. "But now there are fair questions about whether the White House is trying to use this merger to quiet and suppress the press." | | A "noticeable uptick" in harassment | | | In this segment, Kirsten Powers said there has been a "noticeable uptick in harassment" against journalists "since Donald Trump basically came on the scene." John Avlon and Ben Jacobs joined the conversation... | | Notable quotes from the show | | -- Why no solo presidential press conferences? The Daily Beast EIC John Avlon: "It's clearly a discomfort with transparency, and a constitutional discomfort with what the president might say..."
-- Columbia Journalism Review editor Kyle Pope on the topic of Trump tweet coverage: "I'm saying that every presidential tweet need not be a story with the volume that we're giving it..."
-- Iowa radio news director Robert Leonard: "Fox News is a very powerful force, something conservatives trust..." | | My essay about "anti-journalism" views | | "The solution to poor journalism is more journalism," I said in an essay on Sunday's show. "But some people want less of it or none of it. They want to stamp out journalism altogether."
I asserted that there's a big difference between well-meaning people who are skeptical of the press -- they're pro-journalism, they want improvements -- and anti-journalism people who promote resentment and hatred. Those anti-J voices are getting louder these days, partly because they are being amplified by some pretty powerful politicians. IMHO, that's all the more reason why newsrooms and media companies need to take media literacy seriously. Here's the video of the full comment... | | Four ways to catch up on the show | | By Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman:
-- Recode reports that over in the UK, Google is funding a new software project to automate the work of journalists in local news outlets. (Is that really the best way to save local journalism?)
-- I really enjoyed this Q&A with the legendary Larry King over at CJR. Best quote? "I'm a pure layman who's intensely curious. What I do have is a sense of pace." | | CNN's support for Jim Acosta | | "This is not a crusade. This is not partisan. This is journalism. We're trying to hold them to account." That's Jim Acosta quoted in Paul Farhi's WashPost story about his aggressive approach on the air and in the W.H. briefing room...
Farhi describes how Acosta has become a target of criticism by the White House and some of its allies. CNN DC bureau chief Sam Feist expresses support for him: "Jim Acosta is a fantastic reporter, a great White House reporter... If you look at the reporting he did in the Obama White House, you'll find he's the same Jim Acosta." Read more... | | "A great year by virtually all measures" | | Fox News Channel's ratings "have eroded somewhat" in recent months, but the network is "still #1" among cable newsers. And the replacements for Bill O'Reilly and Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson and "The Five," are "less expensive" shows, so Fox is in a strong position, Joe Flint writes in this WSJ piece. He spoke with several staffers... here are the highlights:
-- Rupert Murdoch in a statement presumably meant to blunt speculation about further exec level changes: "We have a great and settled leadership team which I enjoy working with every day..."
-- Regarding changes to workplace culture and the swift dismissal of Bob Beckel: "We're sending signals that we are going to operate differently," Jack Abernethy said...
-- Tucker Carlson re: involvement from the Murdochs: "I haven't gotten any notes..." | | How a Charlottesville news director explained his decision to cover a KKK rally | | CNN's Alice Donaldson emails: One of the local news stations in Charlottesville, VA released this video of the station's news director discussing how a team of journalists sought to responsibly cover a KKK rally led by Richard Spencer on Saturday.
It was a really great articulation of a much larger discussion over how to best cover controversial groups, terror attacks or mass shootings without devolving into sensationalism or providing a harmful megaphone and unnecessary platform. Also a great example of how we can be more transparent with our audience about the editorial process... | | | What do you like about this newsletter? What do you dislike? Email us... we're at reliablesources@cnn.com... we appreciate every email. | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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