Forward

EXEC SUMMARY: Welcome to the weekend... Scroll down for recommended reads, Stephanie Grisham's letter to Brian Karem, G/O Media's story about its CEO, Meghan McCain's audiobook deal, Nancy O'Dell's news, and much more...

Battle over Baltimore

"It's been an all-hands-on-deck week."

That's how Luke Broadwater described this week at the Baltimore Sun. "We've just been trying to hit every angle hard," the reporter said. "Residents' reactions. Fact-checking. Political analysis." And, of course, there was that unforgettable editorial by the opinion team.

This week we found out: How will a city's newspaper respond when the president trashes an entire American metro area? The Sun rose to the unusual challenge. The paper's newsroom staff is much smaller than it used to be, but I was impressed with its output -- a vivid variety of straight news stories, searing columns, cartoons, and fact-checks.

"Like any story, we are scrutinizing every statement from our elected leaders and others to ensure their words are accurate when describing the facts and figures about the Baltimore region," publisher and EIC Trif Alatzas told me on Friday. "And we have asked the people who live in this district what they believe is needed moving forward and ensured that their voices are heard during this debate. We've also provided a platform for residents to share their stories."

"I'm sub-human"

Whenever a Trump controversy grows, some people (especially his supporters) seem to forget his first tweet. They'll point to a clean-up tweet and say Trump is just trying to help. So it's imperative to remember his first anti-Cummings tweet: The one that said "no human being would want to live" in his vibrant district of 700,000+ people. This led freelance writer Edward Hoyt to write an op-ed that began "Hi, I'm Edward. This weekend, I found out I'm sub-human."

Trump, of course, claims the White House has been flooded with calls from people thanking him for highlighting Baltimore's woes. But story after story has busted that myth. "In some ways," Broadwater told me, "President Trump has a point: The condition of the trash and blight in some neighborhoods in Baltimore is terrible, and wouldn't be tolerated in wealthier, whiter parts of town. We cover the problems in Baltimore nonstop. But the difference between what the Trump is saying as opposed to other politicians who make similar observations is whether they actually try to help the city. People feel like Trump is just mocking them."

The Sun's newest editorial

On Sunday the editorial board called Trump a rat. On Wednesday it came out with "Rat droppings: Five dumb things Trump apologists have said about the president's anti-Baltimore tirade." And on Sunday the editors chronicled "the pitiful day a U.S. president used a political rally to mock Baltimore's homicide rate." They also included Trump's "too bad!" tweet about the break-in at Cummings' home. "This is the behavior of a jerk, a clod, a dolt, a schmuck," the editorial board wrote Friday. "Every American should watch that tape so they may be spared the delusion that Mr. Trump's criticism of Baltimore comes from a constructive place. He is dancing on graves."

Will Trump fans ever hear this fact-check?

While the opinion pages have stood up for the city, the news pages have tried to lay out all the facts that debunk Trump. I particularly liked this fact-check of Trump's claim that "billions" have been "stolen" by Baltimore's "corrupt" government. "One problem: City Hall doesn't get anywhere near a single billion dollars, let alone the 'billions' Trump has repeatedly proclaimed," the Sun noted.

"Trump made it seem like he gave some extraordinary amount of $ to Baltimore, & Elijah Cummings stole it," Broadwater tweeted. "Turns out, it was just routine government spending for retirees' Social Security, residents' Medicare/Medicaid & military members' health care, the same as every district gets..."

A brief "Trump bump"

Renee Mutchnik, the Sun's director of marketing, said that in the first three days of the controversy, Saturday through Monday, the site's pageviews tripled and the Sun sold 10 times as many digital subscriptions versus a typical three-day average.

Cummings is about to hold his first public event

I've seen some media outlets describe what's going on between Trump and Cummings as a "feud," which is odd since Cummings has only said one thing about Trump all week. And it was rather measured. Cummings has been out of the public eye, but he's holding a public event on Saturday at a play space opening in Baltimore. I'm told that this will be the first time he's seen on camera all week...

Lest we forget...

All of this started when Trump got riled up by a Saturday morning segment on Fox News. A conservative commentator, described by Fox as a "Republican strategist," showed videos of rundown rowhomes in west Baltimore and asserted that Cummings should focus on his own community instead of conditions at the border. So at its core this is really about Trump and his allies rejecting criticism and accountability. I'm still hearing speculation about Trump's supposed "strategy," but the truth is, he was reacting to something he saw on TV. Fox hosts have barely acknowledged the network's role in this saga since last Saturday, but it's a key part of the story...

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- Two must-reads about Thursday's Trump rally from two magnificent political observers: Elaina Plott for The Atlantic and Dan Zak for WaPo...

-- The NYT's Patricia Mazzei summing up the situation for reporters in Puerto Rico: "We've all learned to keep constitutional experts on speed dial..." (NYT)

-- Here is CNN's latest on Pedro Pierluisi being sworn in as Puerto Rico's new governor... (CNN)

-- "Can House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ignore this number?" That was CNN anchor Pamela Brown's question after the count of House Dems supporting an impeachment inquiry surpassed 50%... (CNN)

BREAKING:

W.H. threatens to suspend Brian Karem's press pass

White House reporter and commentator Brian Karem received a letter on Friday saying his "hard pass" for W.H. access will be suspended for 30 days starting Monday. The letter from press secretary Stephanie Grisham cited his behavior at Trump's event with social media allies on July 11, when Karem exchanged words with pro-Trump radio host Sebastian Gorka.

Grisham intended to keep the letter private. Karem chose to make it public in a tweet on Friday evening. "I can and will appeal this decision," he wrote.

What's going on here

The W.H. appears to be following the process that it announced last fall after a judge sided with CNN and said the administration couldn't revoke Jim Acosta's hard pass without due process. (The hard pass is a badge that speeds up entry to the W.H. grounds.)

So this is a "preliminary decision," according to a source. Karem has a few days to submit a response. Grisham has time to make a final determination. But I can't imagine what Karem could say that will change her mind.

Karem is a controversial figure on the W.H. beat. He writes columns for Playboy, hosts a podcast, and appears on CNN as a political analyst. Some W.H. reporters think he strays way too far into advocacy territory. WaPo's Erik Wemple called the spat between Karem and Gorka "a battle of loudmouths." Some videos of the incident showed Karem provoking Gorka by calling the pro-Trumpers "eager for demonic possession." But Karem claimed that he was provoked by the group's snide comments. I think both Karem and Gorka came away looking bad. But Karem is a fixture at the W.H. Trump fielded one of his questions on Friday. Even if you absolutely disagree with his approach to the job, this suspension seems like it could be the top of a slippery slope...

DNI-ed

"Even by the tumultuous standards of the Trump administration," John Ratcliffe's nomination to be intelligence chief "was a spectacular flameout," the Washington Post's team wrote on Friday evening.

It was also another proof point about the power of real reporting. Numerous news outlets showed that Ratcliffe had padded his resume -- in the words of the Post, he "exaggerated his role in terrorism and immigration enforcement cases when he served as a federal prosecutor in Texas." The paper also said some of Ratcliffe's colleagues "described him as one of the least involved members of the House Intelligence Committee." As Erin Burnett said on "OutFront," Trump blamed the media, "but the truth is that Republican senators had serious concerns about Ratcliffe's qualifications."

--> Burnett added: "It's all part of what one GOP source tonight calls 'Trump's sh--show.'"

The media's vetting process for Trump's nominees

"I like when you vet. You vet! I think the White House has a great vetting process. You vet for me," Trump told reporters on Friday. "When I give a name, I give it out to the press. A lot of times you do a very good job. Not always." He said "we save a lot of money that way."

WaPo's Josh Dawsey summed up that inanity this way: "Trump both says that the press is the 'enemy of the people' but that he trusts the press to vet his nominees to serious federal government posts and that the press does a good job at it."

No need for hyperbole...

Brian Lowry writes: Journalists do a lot of little things that damage credibility, but one of the most nagging now is overselling stories in tweets. The Hill is one of the most frequent practitioners of that "Boy who cried wolf" craft, with its tweet on Friday saying that Nikki Haley "blasts" Trump. She merely called his tweet about the break-in at Cummings' home "unnecessary..."

Right-wing media MIA after Trump praises North Korean dictator

Oliver Darcy emails: Once upon a time, the right-wing media was furious about the idea of a US president simply meeting with the leader of North Korea. Just the suggestion of it set that media universe into a tizzy. But now, with Trump in the Oval Office, the same media machine doesn't seem to flinch when the North Korean dictator is casually referred to by the US president as his "friend."

In fact, when Trump on Friday praised the "great and beautiful vision" he claimed Kim Jong Un has for his country, amid concern about new missile tests, the reaction from the right-wing press was pretty much nonexistent. In the afternoon, I checked over on the Fox News website, and did not see the news being highlighted. The same was the case over on sites like Breitbart and The Gateway Pundit, where control + F searching for "North Korea" turned up zero results. Hmm, I wonder why that might be... 🤔

New legal challenge for AMI

"The Manhattan District Attorney's Office sent subpoenas to the Trump Organization and American Media Inc. on Thursday as part of an investigation into the hush money paid to two women who alleged affairs with President Trump," CNN's Kara Scannell reported. The prosecutors are "looking into whether the Trump Organization filed any false business records in how it accounted for the reimbursement of the payments to Michael Cohen..."

--> Reminder: AMI is in the process of selling the National Enquirer to James Cohen, no relation to Michael...

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- An Phung writes: Gizmodo – formerly Gawker and now G/O Media – has nailed the delicate craft of reporting on the alleged bad behavior of its own leadership. The site did it again Friday with this explosive Laura Wagner story aptly titled "This Is How Things Work Now At G/O Media…" (Deadspin)

-- Mediaite has a list of five revelations from the story about CEO Jim Spanfeller and his new hires... (Mediaite)

-- ESPN's "Outside The Lines" -- the investigative team known for its reporting on Larry Nassar and the related systemic issues at Michigan State -- is out with a new bombshell, detailing decades of alleged sexual abuse at the hands of track and field coach Conrad Mainwaring. (Mainwaring "rejected repeated interview requests," they say.) The 13-month collaborative reporting effort began with a tip obtained by KPCC reporter Mike Kessler... (ESPN)

-- Meghan McCain has signed a deal to write and record an Audible Original audiobook... It will come out next spring... (People)

The leadership team for CBS-Viacom?

Major progress in the CBS-Viacom reunion: The WSJ's Ben Mullin and Cara Lombardo say reps for the two companies have "reached a working agreement on the management team that would lead the combined company."

Viacom chief Bob Bakish would be CEO of the combo, as expected... Acting CBS CEO Joe Ianniello "would be offered a job overseeing all of CBS's branded assets at the combined company..." And Christina Spade, the the chief financial officer of CBS, would become CFO of both.

Here's the "but" paragraph: "CBS hasn't yet submitted a formal offer for Viacom and negotiations are still fluid, some of the people said. The timing of the deal is still uncertain, but both companies are making progress, they said." Earnings come out on Thursday. Read the rest here...

WEEKEND PLANNER

-- AAJA's national convention continues in Atlanta...

-- On Saturday HuffPost will livestream AFSCME's forum with 2020 contenders in Las Vegas. HuffPost's Amanda Terkel and The Nevada Independent's Jon Ralston will moderate...

-- On Sunday Larry Kudlow, Pete Buttigieg and Cory Booker will join Jake Tapper on "SOTU..."

-- The TV Press Tour continues in L.A...

James Foley's mom and Steven Sotloff's dad on this week's "Reliable" podcast

These two families were united by tragedy five years ago. Their journalist sons were gruesomely killed. And now they're pouring their pain into something positive for other journalists who are heading into harm's way.

I'm sure you remember when James Foley and Steven Sotloff were both executed by ISIS in the summer of 2014. The beheading videos appalled the world. I met Diane Foley and Art Sotloff at separate events earlier this year and learned that they both now run foundations that seek to train and support journalists who cover conflict. So on this week's podcast, we talked about the legacies of their sons, the motivations for their advocacy work, changes to U.S. hostage policy, and more. Hear the conversation via Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, Stitcher, Spotify, or your preferred app...

This Sunday morning on CNN

My interview with Diane Foley and Art Sotloff will air on this Sunday's show. I'll also be joined by Olivia Nuzzi, Irin Carmon, Wesley Lowery, Nikole Hannah-Jones, and Catherine Rampell. Join us Sunday at 11 a.m. ET on CNN...

Tim Pool raises $1 million for his media venture

Oliver Darcy emails: YouTuber and political commentator Tim Pool says he has raised more than $1 million in under 24 hours for his new media venture Subverse. That's a record for the least time to pass $1 million on WeFunder, the website Pool used to crowdfund the money. Pool, who is liked by members of the so-called "intellectual dark web," has strongly criticized conventional news organizations as partisan. Pool and his partner Bill Ottman are promising Subverse will get "real information" to their audiences.

How effective is Facebook's Third Party Fact-Checking project?

Mathew Ingram's latest is about Facebook's nearly three year old Third Party Fact-Checking project, which now includes 50 partners operating in 42 languages. "It's still very much an open question how effective the program is at stopping the spread of misinformation," he reported Friday. The biggest problem "is that the social network doesn't provide enough data to determine whether the program is actually having any effect or not..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- "In a big shift, Facebook plans to signal its control of Instagram and WhatsApp by adding its name to both apps," Alex Heath reported Friday evening, citing three sources. "The social network will rebrand the apps to 'Instagram from Facebook' and 'WhatsApp from Facebook,' the people said..." (The Information)

-- I missed this yesterday: "Facebook reveals early results from its subscription-focused local news accelerator..." (TechCrunch)

-- Endeavor "is delaying its initial public offering until September, at the earliest," as the talent agency nears a deal to buy "On Location Experiences for as much as $700 million..." (WSJ)

-- "Ratings for the NFL's preseason opener look to be at an all-time low for the second year in a row," Rick Porter wrote. But "for what it's worth, the ratings for last year's Hall of Fame Game were not at all predictive of the regular season..." (THR)

"Fast and Furious" test drives spin-offs with "Hobbs & Shaw"

Frank Pallotta writes: The "Fast and Furious" franchise has done lots of crazy things, including driving a sports car through multiple skyscrapers. But its riskiest stunt could come this weekend: releasing its first spinoff, "Hobbs & Shaw."

Spinoffs from big franchises have been mostly hit-or-miss, and Universal, the studio behind the franchise, is hoping to avoid the latter option this weekend. Universal is projecting that the film, which stars Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Jason Statham, will make $60 million at the domestic box office. If it does, it will be the biggest opening this summer for a film not made by Disney or Marvel. Keep reading...

--> Brian Lowry adds: "Hobbs & Shaw" is, among other things, a reminder that the buddy action comedy, like Peter Pan, won't grow up. Seemingly rooted in the 1980s, it remains one of the movie industry's most durable genres, which, despite talk about toxic masculinity, often involves the leads hurling juvenile insults back and forth and fretting about who dates their sisters. Read on...

'Descendants 3' sees its musical magic starting to fade

Brian Lowry writes: The tragic death of star Cameron Boyce cast a cloud over "Descendants 3," the latest installment in a clever Disney Channel franchise that's begun to lose its magic. The movie also comes at an interesting time, as the studio follows its pattern of raiding its vaults and reimagining established properties not only on the movie side but to create content for its upcoming streaming service.

"How TV Dramas Put a Human Face on Deportation Headlines"

"On shows like 'Years and Years' and 'Orange Is the New Black,' storylines about characters facing deportation and detainment are making the political powerfully personal," THR's Caryn James writes...

LAST BUT NOT LEAST...

Nancy O'Dell leaving "ET"

Nancy O'Dell said farewell to "Entertainment Tonight" on Friday night after nine years as co-host. She said she's "leaving this position, but it does not mean I am leaving the genre. I'll be back and it won't be long." TheWrap has details here...

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