Forward

EXEC SUMMARY: Scroll down for a preview of what's coming up this weekend... Plus, Sheryl Sandberg's letter, Heather Nauert's new position, Ze Frank's departure, a new acquisition by Nickelodeon, a groundbreaking episode of "Grey's Anatomy," and more...

Connecting all the Big Tech dots

In just the past week... Facebook vowed to ban white nationalism, Apple launched a news subscription service, Google partnered with McClatchy to create new local news websites, FB faced down civil charges by HUD over housing ads, Twitter said it is considering labeling Trump tweets that violate its rules, FB removed a set of "inauthentic" accounts in The Philippines, Google's CEO met with President Trump... And I'm sure this list is missing some stories.

🎧 🎤 On this week's podcast, we tried to connect the dots between all these pieces of news. Hear my conversation with Oliver Darcy and Donie O'Sullivan via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or your preferred app...

Going down YouTube's rabbit holes

The NYT's Kevin Roose made the most of this opportunity to interview YouTube product chief Neal Mohan. "The recommendation engine," Roose noted, "is a growing liability for YouTube, which has been accused of steering users toward increasingly extreme content."

Mohan said "we do take this notion of dissemination of harmful misinformation, hate-filled content, content that in some cases is inciting violence, extremely seriously." Read the Q&A and see if you agree...

"How a 119-Word Local Crime Brief Became Facebook's Most-Shared Story of 2019"

I'm so glad Will Oremus wrote this story. I wish I had thought of it. According to NewsWhip, the most-shared piece of web content in 2019, so far, is a story titled "Suspected Human Trafficker, Child Predator May Be in Our Area." The "alarming yet geographically ambiguous headline" helped it go viral, Oremus wrote.

Here's the key thing: The suspected child predator "was arrested nearly two months ago," he tweeted, "and was safely in custody even as the story about him being at large was being shared to massive pro-Trump pages and terrifying Facebook users across the country..."

The point of the story: "At a time when fortunes can be built and lost on Facebook traffic, the story's wild success might seem like a bizarre accident, a glitch in the system. But it also suggests that, for all of Facebook's efforts to improve its news feed over the years, the social network remains as capricious and opaque an information source as ever..."

Sandberg's letter to New Zealand

Donie O'Sullivan emails: Two weeks after the terror attack in New Zealand which was streamed live on Facebook, the company's COO Sheryl Sandberg says, "We have heard feedback that we must do more – and we agree."

Sandberg's comments came in a letter published by the New Zealand Herald on Saturday morning local time. Sandberg says Facebook is considering restricting who can stream live on its platform, including restricting users who have previously broken its rules.

--> Context: Facebook says it's policing its platform, but didn't catch the mosque massacre livestream. Here are some possible reasons why...

Alex Jones deposed

Oliver Darcy emails: Hours of video showing Alex Jones being deposed by an attorney representing some of the Sandy Hook families was released on Friday afternoon. Jones, of course, is being sued by some of the parents whose children were killed in the 2012 school massacre. (Previously, Jones called the lawsuit "frivolous" and predicted his legal team will ultimately be victorious.) In the surreal deposition video, which was uploaded online by the law firm representing the Sandy Hook families, Jones is repeatedly pressed on his role in spreading conspiracy theories about the shooting.

At one point in the more than three hours of deposition footage, Jones appears to blame "a form of psychosis" for making him think "everything was staged." Asked what he meant by that, Jones replied that "the trauma of the media and the corporations lying so much" had caused him to have problems trusting "anything." Jones explained, "Kind of like a child whose parents lie to them over and over again, well, pretty soon they don't know what reality is." You can watch part one, and part two of the deposition on YouTube. HuffPost and the Austin American-Statesman also have stories highlighting the key details...

>> In related news, a federal judge ruled on Friday that a lawsuit filed last year by a witness to the Charlottesville attack against Jones, InfoWars, and other far-right figures can move forward…

>> The NYT's Elizabeth Williamson has a unique angle about this: "How Alex Jones and Infowars helped a Florida man stalk Sandy Hook families..."

Boston Globe's big look at breaking up Big Tech

The Boston Globe's Sunday Idea section is dedicated to this special report, "Big Tech needs a Big Fix."

The paper's editorial board, which called for breaking up Google last year, now says "the problem clearly goes beyond one company, and beyond any single strategy to fight back." The board says Elizabeth Warren's proposal "is not a silver bullet, but she's onto something by challenging Silicon Valley's giants. The era of self-policing must end; it's time for reform and regulation in a substantive way." Here's the special section...

WEEKEND PLANNER

-- Numerous 2020 candidates are appearing at the Iowa Heartland Forum on Saturday...

-- Fox's Jeanine Pirro returns on Saturday after a two-week suspension...

-- The 50th annual NAACP Image Awards will take place Saturday evening at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood…

-- Jussie Smollett flew to L.A. the other day, presumably because he's up for an Image Award...

-- The pivotal Writers Guild vote over a new agency code of conduct closes on Sunday morning...

-- The final season of "Veep" premieres on HBO Sunday night...

-- Watch out, because Monday is April Fools Day...

NYMag says goodbye to Adam Moss

The staff of NYMag bid farewell to Adam Moss on Friday and marked the end of his remarkable 15-year run as editor of the magazine.

Here's a look at the staff's special tribute magazine for Moss... An homage to his famous Eliot Spitzer cover:

A sneak peek at his final issue...

Fresh off the mag's deal with Apple to be included in the Apple News+ subscription service, NYMag is releasing Moss's final issue a bit early, only in News+... I'm told it'll be available in the app on Friday night, ahead of the normal Sunday night release on the web.

The cover package is titled "74 Marriages..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- WSJ's Friday scoop: "Endeavor LLC, the international entertainment and marketing colossus" that owns WME and the UFC, has filed or is about to file "confidential paperwork for an IPO..." (WSJ)

-- An update on Maria Ressa's latest arrest: "She was released around noon after posting bail, about five hours after she was arrested..." (NYT)

-- A new AP Stylebook update discourages the use of the euphemism "racially charged" -- asserting, in essence, "It's OK to call something racist when it's racist," Doris Truong writes... (Poynter)

-- Caleb Ecarma reports: Donald Trump Jr. gave an interview to an obscure right-wing outlet, TruNews, "known for anti-Semitic conspiracies that said Trump is 'owned by the Jews.'" Jr. says he knew nothing about the outlet... (Mediaite)

A must-read by David Ignatius

This is a nearly 4,000-word investigation by WaPo's David Ignatius into "how Jamal Khashoggi's death six months ago has rocked the U.S-Saudi relationship."

Ignatius acknowledges that "this case is personal for us at The Post. Khashoggi was our colleague, and my friend for 15 years." After interviewing "more than a dozen knowledgeable American and Saudi sources," he says "the bottom line is that unless the crown prince takes ownership of this issue and accepts blame for murderous deeds done in his name, his relationship with the United States will remain broken. Saudi officials claim that MBS has made changes, firing Saud al-Qahtani, his former covert-operations coordinator. But the Saudi machine of repression remains intact, run by many of the same people who worked for Qahtani. U.S. officials worry that the young crown prince has become a Saudi version of Saddam Hussein, an authoritarian 'modernizer.'" Read on...

A few of the week's best reads

Some recommendations for your weekend:

-- "Collusion Was a Seductive Delusion," the NYT's Farhad Manjoo says

-- Slate's Willa Paskin says Rachel Maddow has "conspiracy brain"

-- The Atlantic's Taylor Lorenz recommends getting a nemesis, someone who pushes you "to work harder"

-- "Why slow journalism and finishable news is (quickly) growing a following" by NiemanLab's Benjamin Bathke

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- Maggie Haberman tweeted this summary of her newest story with Annie Karni: "POTUS himself was a high-energy staple of 2016. But so far he is reluctant to do lots of travel, even waving off a possible rally out West next week..." (NYT)

-- With Morgan Ortagus expected to take over as State Dept spokeswoman, her predecessor Heather Nauert... who withdrew from consideration as UN ambassador... has been nominated by POTUS to the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board... (Examiner)

-- A+ lead by Mike Allen! "Here's how not normal things are: The White House economic adviser broke with tradition and waded into Federal Reserve rate setting today." And it happened on TV... (Axios)

Waiting for the Mueller report...

"Mueller Week was more a whimper than a bang," Chris Cillizza wrote in Friday's The Point newsletter.

A.G. Bill Barr told lawmakers on Friday that the Mueller report is "nearly 400 pages long," and will be released by "mid-April, if not sooner."

That brings me to this piece by HuffPost's Ariel Edwards-Levy: "An initial wave of polling conducted after the conclusion of his report" shows "one broad point of consensus: A significant majority say they want to see the full report released..."

Trump says these Pulitzers should be revoked (?!?!)

Newt Gingrich and others on Fox have been saying this all week. And now Trump is saying it on his Twitter feed: "So funny that The New York Times & The Washington Post got a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage (100% NEGATIVE and FAKE!) of Collusion with Russia - And there was No Collusion! So, they were either duped or corrupt? In any event, their prizes should be taken away by the Committee!"

It's yet another baseless Fox talking point that has reached the president's Twitter feed. As WaPo's Josh Dawsey noted on Twitter, "not a single prize-winning story had a substantive correction." The NYT replied to POTUS a little while later and said, "We're proud of our Pulitzer-prize winning reporting on Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. Every @nytimes article cited has proven accurate."

But the right-wing narrative is baked. Done. Finished. From Trump on down, there's a near-universal line on the right that "the media" colluded to cook up a fake "collusion" story to take down the president. That narrative is also being used to suggest that all stories on Russia and the Trump team's connections to it are wrong, even when the Trumps themselves have confirmed them. That's what the press is up against...

"Our President of the Perpetual Grievance"

That's the headline on Susan Glasser's latest "letter from Trump's Washington" for The New Yorker. She says "what's been remarkable, this week, is how much Trump triumphant has sounded like Trump at every other point in his Presidency: angry and victimized; undisciplined and often incoherent; predictable in his unpredictability; vain and insecure; prone to lies, exaggeration, and to undercutting even those who seek to serve him." Her point: "Even without the existential peril to his Presidency that Mueller posed, Trump is still Trump, the same as he ever was."

This Sunday on "Reliable Sources"

I'll be joined by the aforementioned Susan Glasser... Plus Elaina Plott, Jane Coaston, Farhad Manjoo, Alice Stewart, Barbara Starr, Taylor Lorenz, and Knight Foundation CEO Alberto Ibargüen... And, with 2020 contender Pete Buttigieg having a "moment," as they say, I'll interview Buttigieg's communications adviser Lis Smith. See you Sunday at 11 a.m. ET on CNN!

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

By Katie Pellico:

-- A followup to yesterday's item: Google, under pressure, "has removed a so-called 'gay conversion' app..." (Gizmodo)

-- Instagram is testing a new feature that allows users to scrub through video posts... (The Verge)

-- The Atlantic's expansion continues: The mag announced five new hires on Friday... (The Atlantic)

Yashar Ali calls out NBC

On Thursday Yashar Ali broke the news that NBC will hold the first DNC-sanctioned debate of the year on June 26. NBC was planning to announce the date a little bit later.

On Friday Ali shared the story behind his story. He said that when he asked the DNC to confirm his info, a party rep asked him to hold off until the state parties were notified. When he said no, he couldn't wait, because "the news would leak and leave me without a story," his phone rang again, and it was Dafna Linzer, the managing editor of politics for NBC and MSNBC, who pressured him to hold off. Ali's tweetstorm described the call in detail. "She was trying to intimidate me..on behalf of the DNC," he said.

Ali's tweets went viral, particularly on the right. Laura Ingraham called it "proof that NBC News is an adjunct of the Democrat party. As if we needed it." Tucker Carlson led his 8 p.m. show with the story. The banner said, "Revealed: NBC News was doing errands for the DNC."

Here's what Carlson's show left out: The networks strike deals with both Democrats and Republicans to broadcast debates. This has been happening for decades. NBC PR declined to comment when I inquired, but a source familiar with the conversations and planning – who refused to go on the record – said this: "Informing internal stakeholders, 15+ presidential campaigns, and debate partners of a logistical detail an hour before it's public is completely in bounds and nothing more than run-of-the-mill event coordination done with both political parties."

Ze Frank leaving BuzzFeed

THR's Natalie Jarvey with the scoop: "Ze Frank, a key architect of BuzzFeed's video business who has served as chief research and development officer for the last year, is stepping down from his role, CEO Jonah Peretti announced in a memo sent to staff Friday." He will "stay on as an adviser..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- Now that AT&T and Viacom have resolved their carriage dispute, DirecTV Now "will soon add several Viacom networks to both of its subscription tiers..." (Deadline)

-- By Stephanie Merry: "Not that it's a race, but Michelle Obama's book is going to sell more than both of Barack's..." (WaPo)

-- How Tomi Lahren does it: Fox News created a "home TV studio" for her "in a concession to L.A. traffic and her unusual schedule that sometimes requires her to stay up until 3 a.m. for her appearances on the 'Fox & Friends' morning show..." (LAT)

How Hollywood uses its economic influence...

Brian Lowry emails: Hollywood talent has become savvier about using economic influence as a form of political pressure, evident in George Clooney's letter about boycotting certain hotels whose owners advance anti-gay policies in other parts of the world, and Alyssa Milano's campaign against Georgia's anti-abortion "heartbeat" bill. The bill is now on the way to the governor's desk, and he is expected to sign it. (Lisa Respers France wrote about the entertainment industry's opposition to the bill here.)

Given the amount of production in Georgia, there would likely have to be some scrambling to find other locations. But the state would also feel the loss of all that production revenue, on everything from Marvel movies to TV shows like "The Walking Dead," which happens to wrap up its season on Sunday night.

It's worth noting, too, that Clooney has long been especially astute in using these tactics. In the mid-1990s, the then-"ER" star successfully pressured the TV tabloid "Hard Copy" to stop stalking him — altering its use of "video paparazzi" — by threatening to boycott its sister syndicated mag, "Entertainment Tonight..."

Box office battle: "Dumbo" vs. Doppelgängers

Frank Pallotta emails: A famous flying elephant is looking to unseat Jordan Peele's "Us" from the top of the box office this weekend. "Dumbo," Disney's live-action remake of its 1941 animated classic, made $2.6 million on its opening night Thursday. The film is expected to debut at $50 million at the box office, which should be enough to make it the No. 1 movie this weekend.

"Us" is projected to bring in around $35 million -- roughly a 50% drop from its opening total. A drop of that size is somewhat in line with how other horror hits have performed after their openings. Read on...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

-- Nickeloden "has acquired the learning app Sparkler and plans to fold it into Noggin, a video service for preschoolers..." (Bloomberg)

-- "Weeks after generating controversy for discussing a past event in which he wanted to bait a black man into fighting him to avenge a recently raped friend, Liam Neeson has released an apology for the remarks..." (Variety)

-- The series finale of "Broad City" aired Thursday on Comedy Central. Megan Garber offers just one bittersweet goodbye... (The Atlantic)

A groundbreaking episode of "Grey's Anatomy"

"Moved by Christine Blasey Ford's testimony against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, 'Grey's Anatomy' explored consent with one of the medical drama's most powerful episodes in its historic run," THR's Lesley Goldberg wrote.

Thursday's episode -- with a detailed depiction "of precisely how a rape kit is administered" -- was initially "met with pushback from ABC's Standards and Practices department," but the network later "reversed its stance" and supported the episode in a remarkable way. Read all about it (with spoilers) here...

A milestone renewal of "Law & Order: SVU"

"'Law & Order: SVU' and its star Mariska Hargitay have cemented their places in television history," Deadline's Nellie Andreeva wrote Friday. "NBC has renewed Dick Wolf's series for a record-setting 21st season, making it TV's longest-running primetime live-action series, surpassing the previous mark of 20 seasons set by mothership series Law & Order (1990-2010) and Gunsmoke (1955-75). And the police procedural may not been done rewriting TV records books as I hear Season 21 is not currently envisioned as a final chapter..."

--> Brian Lowry tweeted: "A milestone, although it would be nice if they had run out of suspects by now..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX

By Lisa Respers France:

-- Rapper Lil Nas X has been kicked off of Billboard's country music chart, leading some to blame racism. His song "Old Town Road" is a viral hit...

-- Beyoncé and Jay-Z gave powerful speeches at the GLAAD Awards, where they paid tribute to some relatives who are members of the LGBTQI community...

"Veep" and "Barry" are back on Sunday

Brian Lowry emails: "Veep" begins its final campaign this weekend, with its central character, Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Selina Meyer, in full-on campaign mode. HBO has a winning ticket with its running mate, "Barry," which begins its second season dealing with the fallout from the first.

Read Lowry's review of the pair here...

Thank you for reading. Email me feedback anytime! See you Sunday....