Forward

CNN EXCLUSIVE

Inside Weinstein's world

CNN's Chloe Melas writes: "It's a fall day in midtown Manhattan and a man is seen shuffling along a sidewalk, gripping his walker. His facial expression is vacant, his skin is a pale shade of gray and his clothes are ill-fitting. A passerby might never guess that he used to be one of entertainment's most powerful, a man whose infamous arrogance would make those around him shudder. This man is Harvey Weinstein."

Almost no one feels sorry for him. Weinstein has been accused of sexual abuse by dozens of women. He has been charged with predatory sexual assault, a criminal sexual act, first-degree rape and third-degree rape. The trial is set to begin January 6.

So what is Weinstein thinking? What is he planning? Melas has all the details in this must-read new story. It turns out that Weinstein still has an "inner circle," but it's small. According to his remaining friends, and his lawyers, "he isn't sorry about his alleged misconduct. He's combative, maintains he is innocent of any crime and is planning for a career comeback post-trial. His attorneys have maintained that any sexual contact between Weinstein and his accusers was consensual." Read more...

Key quotes from the story

-- "These days he's mostly alone in his Manhattan apartment, 'obsessing' about the trial and the women who have accused him, said one of his friends. Weinstein is constantly Googling himself, according to those close to him..."

-- One of Weinstein's friends: "He feels like he is owed an apology from Hollywood. I think there's a part of him that thinks he will come out on the other side of this and be welcomed back to some version of his old life."

-- "Harvey thinks every single woman is seeking their 15 minutes and believes these were simply affairs," a source said. "He seems more upset that he's been stripped of his power and less about trying to take this as an opportunity to become a changed man."

-- Weinstein "has thoughts about rebuilding his life. If acquitted, Weinstein wants to continue to make films and potentially set up a production company in Europe..."

Placing trust in the criminal justice system

Caitlin Dulany, an actress who has accused Weinstein of sexually assaulting her during the Cannes Film Festival in 1996, told Melas that she is hopeful he will be held accountable at his upcoming trial: "He used his influence and power to assault and silence us for over 20 years. The repercussions to our lives and careers have been devastating and still continue. I have to trust that the criminal justice system will serve those of us who were the victims of his many crimes and will protect other women who may potentially be vulnerable to his predations in the future."

From A to Z

In the Trump age we often talk about "alternative universes" of information -- about the administration, about impeachment, about the economy, about pretty much everything.

The divide between these two universes of information is extreme -- but I find it hard to describe sometimes. That's why I was so struck by something that John Dickerson said the other day.

I was on a panel with Dickerson, the "60 Minutes" correspondent and contributing writer to The Atlantic, when he talked about the way the discourse has changed. I don't have a recording of the session, so I asked him to summarize the point. He said: "The standards of the interview have snapped. It used to be that public shame meant that people would give answers that ranged from A to D. They might not give you the God's honest truth, but they'd be too afraid or embarrassed to go beyond D. Now many politicians have no fear. They give responses instead of answers and the range is between A and Z."

Exactly. The range of answers used to be from A to D -- government officials and other newsmakers might spin or deflect, but at least their answers existed in a shared reality. Not anymore. Interviews are derailed when the interviewee goes to Z by changing the subject, straight-up lying, or swerving into conspiracy theory territory. This same concept applies to Trump's tweets and on-camera comments too -- he goes from A to Z multiple times a day.

Ever since I heard Dickerson's depiction of this scale, I see it in action... And I wonder if there will ever be a return to the "A to D" range...

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- "Washington has indeed changed," Fred Barnes writes. "The word 'polarization' doesn't quite capture how raw and hateful the division between Democrats and Republicans has become..." (Examiner)

-- Trump continued to attack the whistleblower on Monday... And his media and political allies continued to help him... (Mediaite)

-- Tuesday's editorial from the USA Today editorial board: "Don't reveal the whistleblower on Donald Trump's phone call with Ukraine..." (USA Today)

-- "Over the course of two weeks, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham may have out-Sarah Sanders-ed Sarah Sanders," Paul Farhi writes... (WaPo)

-- Speaking of press secretaries, Sean Spicer survived another week on "Dancing With the Stars," thanks to viewers' votes...

"Schiff just got real"

That's Stephen Colbert's recap of Monday's big news. The House Intelligence Committee released transcripts from depositions with former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and former State Department adviser Michael McKinley... And Sean Hannity's name came up repeatedly in the Q&A with Yovanovitch...

Wemple: Docs showcase "centrality of Hannity" in Trump apparatus

Oliver Darcy emails: WaPo media critic Erik Wemple published an excellent story on Monday offering a bottom line on what all these documents mentioning Sean Hannity tell us. Wemple notes that Hannity is repeatedly mentioned in recent troves of documents released to the public.

"The material here is significant because it showcases Trump campaign aides attesting to the centrality of Hannity in their maneuvers," Wemple wrote. He said Hannity "probably shouldn't worry, however. He has a job in which he's allowed to commit massive ethical transgressions of his own, blast other media outlets for picayune or nonexistent ones, and then rely on their reporting for his segments..."

>> Hannity's response to all the coverage on Monday: "I never talked to Secretary Pompeo about Ukraine, I never talked to anyone at the State Department about this ambassador..."

Donald Trump Jr. on CBS

Oliver Darcy emails: Donald Trump Jr. will join "CBS This Morning" on Tuesday to promote his new book "Triggered." According to a tweet from the show's account, the discussion will also involve his foreign business ties and the impeachment inquiry...

>> The context: Don. Jr. usually sticks to Fox for TV interviews, so it will be interesting to see him on CBS, where he will almost certainly face more difficult questions...

TUESDAY PLANNER

Election Day!

Jury selection begins in the Roger Stone trial...

Transcripts of Kurt Volker and Gordon Sondland's testimony are set to be released...

Brian Kilmeade, Tim McGraw, Mo Rocca, and Mitch Albom have new books out...

"Little Mermaid Live" airs on ABC...

Facebook fact-checkers are about to meet

Donie O'Sullivan emails: Greetings from Lisbon 🇵🇹 – I'm here for Web Summit...

Back in the states, Tuesday is the start of a summit for fact-checking groups hired by Facebook to tackle misinformation on its platform. The summit at Facebook HQ in Menlo Park, CA, has been scheduled for some time, but it comes as the company is mired in controversy for allowing politicians to run false ads. One fact-checker hired by Facebook told me he will propose the company change its policy at the meeting...

This is a first for a daily newspaper...

"The Salt Lake Tribune is now a nonprofit, an unprecedented transformation for a legacy U.S. daily that is intended to bolster its financial prospects during a troubling time for journalism nationwide," the Tribune's Matt Canham reported Monday. "The IRS approved the shift in a letter dated Oct. 29, deeming The Tribune a 501(c)(3) public charity. That means supporters can start making tax deductible donations now."

This is "a big step for Salt Lake City — but also a major opening for other newspapers who might find nonprofit status a more appealing alternative than selling or closing down," NiemanLab's Christine Schmidt wrote... Details here...

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- The NBC, ABC and CBS nightly newscasts led with the foiling of a synagogue bomb plot in Denver... (ABC)

-- Katelyn Polantz's behind-the-scenes story: "How CNN got the secret Mueller interview documents..." (CNN)

-- "A Virginia judge postponed a hearing Monday on California Republican Rep. Devin Nunes' lawsuit against the McClatchy Company, siding with a defense lawyer affected by the devastating California wildfires..." (McClatchy)

-- "Vice Media on Monday finalized its $400 million deal to acquire Refinery29." Co-founders and co-CEOs Philippe von Borries and Justin Stefano "will step away from day-to-day operations and into advisory roles with the new leadership team." Here's the new exec team... (TheWrap)

Trump's DOJ v. "Anonymous"

"A Warning" by "Anonymous" is back at No. 1 on Amazon's best seller list, hours after the Justice Department sent a letter to the publisher of the book, asserting that the author may be violating "one or more nondisclosure agreements." Hachette rejected the argument and said the book will be released as scheduled. And the author's agents accused the government of trying to "intimidate and expose" the author. I broke the news of the letter on Monday morning... Here's my full story... Plus a few of the notable reactions:

>> PEN America's statement: "It is a brazen attempt at bullying and reeks of intimidation..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- Erica Orden's latest: E. Jean Carroll is suing Trump for defamation "over what she says were his lies denying her public accusation in June that he sexually assaulted her in the 1990s..." (CNN)

-- Carroll tells Molly Jong Fast, "I really feel like" the lawsuit is "for the women who've come forward and were ignored, laughed at, ridiculed, disparaged..." (Daily Beast)

-- "ABC News is expected to partner with New Hampshire's WMUR-TV to host another Democratic debate in the days leading up to the 2020 New Hampshire primary, which is scheduled for February 11," Michael Calderone reported Monday... (Politico)

-- "YouTube banned Sebastian Gorka from its platform on Monday, apparently because the former Trump White House adviser refused to stop playing songs from pop rock band Imagine Dragons on episodes of his radio show that were later uploaded to the site," Will Sommer reports... (Daily Beast)

"Are you kidding me?"

Oliver Darcy emails: Things got tense on Fox Monday afternoon when Steve Hilton accused his colleague Marie Harf of having covered up corruption during her time in the State Department. Harf, who worked in the Obama administration, said on "Outnumbered" that there was "no evidence" of corruption related to Ukraine when she served.

Hilton then attacked Harf, saying, "So you're covering up corruption, too. You defend it." Harf, taken aback, asked, "Are you kidding me? I am on this couch with you talking about news. Please don't accuse me of covering something up." Hilton doubled down, saying, "You are!" Harf again insisted Hilton's claims were unfounded. Mediaite has the full clip here...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- CNN's next two town halls: Tom Steyer on Sunday and Joe Biden on Monday... (CNN)

-- Syracuse grad David Bauder is out with a new story about how the Daily Orange and other college papers are evolving... And how college journalism programs are adapting... (AP)

-- Casey Newton's latest: "The mounting pressures on TikTok..." (The Interface)

-- Philip Bump shows how "Lawrence Lessig predicted the new era of cherry-picking details from massive chunks of information to win political fights..." (WaPo)

-- Correction: Yesterday I misspelled Martha MacCallum's name. D'oh!

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Lester Holt speaking in Phoenix, accepting the 2019 Walter Cronkite Award from ASU:

"Rather than lick our wounds, this is journalism's time to shine, to shine a light in dark places as we never have before, and to hold individuals and institutions of power accountable. That's what we do. That is our calling. That is what we will do."

New edition of "Top of the Morning"

Forgive the 🔌, but I want to let you all know that my book "Top of the Morning" is being rereleased on Tuesday, coinciding with the premiere of "The Morning Show" on Apple TV+. (Reminder: I'm a consulting producer on the show, and my book was used as source material.) The new edition of the 2013 book has a new afterword about how morning TV has been reshaped since the Matt Lauer and Charlie Rose scandals. I mostly just want to show you the new cover, which I love:

Jim Bell leaves NBC after nearly three decades

Frank Pallotta writes: NBC veteran Jim Bell -- who has been in charge of "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" for the last year -- is departing the company.

Bell's explanation: "The past year with Jimmy and the terrific team at the show has been a blast, and I will always be grateful for this opportunity. But after serious contemplation, I realized I did not want to extend my time at the show." He says he wants to "delve into something new — to build on my experience in news, sports, and entertainment so I can broaden and deepen my leadership role in the content universe."

Bell has held some of the top jobs at NBC, including "Today" show exec producer and NBC Olympics boss...

>> Gavin Purcell will return to run "The Tonight Show" on an interim basis...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

-- "Jim Lanzone is stepping down from his post atop CBS Interactive after eight years and his longtime deputy, Marc DeBevoise, is being promoted to CEO to fill his role..." (THR)

-- Tim Castree, the "North American CEO of the world's largest ad buying agency network, GroupM, has left after less than a year," Lucia Moses reports... (BI)

-- "Is Publishing Too Top-Heavy?" Rachel Deahl writes: "As megabestsellers command more of publishers' marketing budgets and retailers' shelf space, breaking out the next crop of hit makers has become a challenge..." (Publishers Weekly)

-- "As Men Are Canceled, So Too Their Magazine Subscriptions:" Alex Williams says the boys' club of glossy publishing is confronting "an identity crisis..." (NYT)

-- ICYMI: This big LA Times story by Stacy Perman: "Hollywood assistants are in open revolt. Here's why..." (LAT)

Seth Meyers lets Netflix users skip politics

Frank Pallotta writes: Seth Meyers thinks some comedy fans may be burned out by DC politics, so he asked Netflix to help him do something about it. The late night host's new comedy special "Lobby Baby" debuts on Tuesday, and in it there will be a "skip politics" button. The button lets users skip over all the jokes about Trump in the same way you can skip over intros on Netflix shows. Clever!

"It dawned on me that because it was on Netflix, there would be this opportunity to put in technology that would allow people to skip it," Meyers told me. "It was a way to build in the response to anyone who would say, 'Oh, let me guess there's going to be jokes about the President.'"

Scorsese's new op-ed

Martin Scorsese is out with this brand new piece for the NYT: "I Said Marvel Movies Aren't Cinema. Let Me Explain."

BEFORE SCORSESE WEIGHED IN WITH A TIMES OP-ED, LOWRY SENT THIS ITEM ALONG...

Brian Lowry emails: Seemingly everyone in Hollywood has been asked to weigh in on Martin Scorsese's criticism of Marvel movies as being "not cinema," but the director's critique becomes a little more complicated considering that his epic gangster movie "The Irishman" will almost surely be viewed not in theaters, but in the comfort of homes on Netflix.

In that respect, has Scorsese made a movie, in the traditional sense, or -- as Steven Spielberg argued about the Oscar eligibility of projects making theatrical pitstops en route to homes -- basically an expensive 3 1/2-hour limited series?

Frankly, I can go either way in answering that, but it underscores that the changing nature of distribution is impacting such definitions, and the hill that Netflix has to climb in its push for movie awards. More here...

Strong start for "Harriet"

"A series of controversies surrounding the new biopic 'Harriet' doesn't appear to have kept people away opening weekend," Lisa Respers France writes. "According to THR, the film earned a A+ CinemaScore from audiences and raked in $12 million from 2,059 theaters during its opening weekend. That's a promising starts for a film that has been plagued with complaints from the beginning. But not everyone enjoyed the film and some took exception with the inclusion of a black bounty hunter in the film." Read on...

Lowry not impressed by "His Dark Materials"

Brian Lowry emails: "His Dark Materials" falls within what seems to be a growing genre -- that is, series built around established sci-fi/fantasy properties that produced disappointing feature films. Philip Pullman's "Northern Lights" novels were previously turned into "The Golden Compass..." Now, in the series that debuted on Monday night, the novels provide the foundation for a handsome but mundane HBO-BBC collaboration, following a similar movie-to-TV migration for "Watchmen" and plans for the upcoming "Green Lantern" series on HBO Max...

FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX

By Lisa Respers France:

-- "Real Housewives of Miami" Joanna Krupa and Douglas Nunes are now proud parents...

-- Ellen DeGeneres is set to receive the Carol Burnett Award at the Golden Globe Awards...

-- Here's the winners list for the 2019 MTV Europe Music Awards...

Thanks for reading! Email me your feedback anytime...

ICYMI...

Catch up on Sunday's "Reliable Sources"

Read the transcript on CNN.com... Listen to the pod via Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, Stitcher, Spotify or your preferred app... Or watch the video clips here...

Joe Walsh's warning

The right-wing media's "alternative reality" about impeachment is "an absolute shame" and downright "dangerous," former congressman and conservative radio host Joe Walsh told me on Sunday's "Reliable Sources." Walsh, who is running for the GOP presidential nomination, told me he doesn't get booked on Fox anymore. "Most of the people in the conservative media are not going to change," he said. But, he asserted, the polls indicate that "more and more Republicans understand that the president did something wrong." Clare Duffy wrote up the interview for CNN Business...

Key notes and quotes

-- Debating the role of pro-Trump voices on CNN: I asked Aisha Moodie-Mills, Colby Hall and Irin Carmon about Sean Duffy and his appearances on this very network...

-- The panel also discussed the pros and cons of political ads on social media... Moodie-Mills said Facebook is "literally spreading lies, misinformation, propaganda, and it's clear that Mark Zuckerberg and the gang care more about profit than they do about principle..."

-- Plus: Why the president's way-too-frequent typos matter...