| | | | | What are you thankful for? I'm thankful for a reprieve from the news cycle. I'm thankful for Sunny, who took her first Amtrak ride today... and for Jamie, an amazing wife and mother. I'm thankful for for my family in MD, VA and PA... especially when they tolerate my late-night newslettering. I'm thankful for my CNN colleagues on the media team and beyond. I'm particularly proud of our clear-eyed coverage of stories involving the parent company lately. I'm thankful for "peak TV." For "This is Us." For Twitter. For Thanksgiving Day parades! I'm thankful for viewers and subscribers and sources and media literacy educators. I'm even thankful for editors 😉 And I'm thankful for your readership. If you haven't taken a moment yet to take stock, now's the time. What are you thankful for? | | | Programming note: This newsletter will resume on Sunday... | | Facebook will show users what Russian propaganda they liked or followed | | CNN Tech's Kaya Yurieff reports: "On Wednesday, Facebook announced a new portal that lets users see which Internet Research Agency-linked Facebook pages or Instagram accounts they liked or followed between January 2015 and August 2017, when the pages were shut down. The Internet Research Agency is a troll farm with ties to the Russian government." The tool "applies to users who followed or liked those accounts," but it "won't work for users who saw posts from the accounts on their feed because a friend liked them or who saw them via paid advertisements." Read more...
-- ICYMI: ProPublica's new investigation found that discriminatory ads still get through on FB... | | How Trump's FCC is rewriting the rules | | A very smart story by CNN's Seth Fiegerman: "Ajit Pai may go down as one of President Trump's most effective, and controversial, regulators." The FCC chairman "has moved fast to eliminate regulations for large internet service providers and broadcast media conglomerates." Along with the "net neutrality" rollback...
-- Pai is reviewing "existing rules that prevent broadcast companies from owning TV stations that reach more than 39% of all TV households in the U.S..."
-- "Earlier this month, the FCC voted to eliminate a longstanding rule that prevented entities from owning a radio or TV station and a newspaper in the same market. The FCC also loosened restrictions to make it easier for a company to own more than one TV station in one market..."
-- "This month, the FCC also voted to begin scaling back a federal program" called Lifeline "intended to help low-income U.S. households get access to the internet..." | | CBS station blackout continues on Dish Network | | | Frank Pallotta's latest: CBS and Dish Network don't appear to be any closer to making a deal to end a blackout of CBS for Dish customers, even with Thanksgiving -- and the traditional holiday NFL game on CBS -- quickly approaching. "We remain far apart on terms," CBS said in a statement on Wednesday. This may just be public posturing, but the network says "as it stands" right now, "Dish customers won't be watching CBS in the days and weeks ahead..." | | Vice employees are bracing for more after sexual harassment report | | "There are storm clouds encircling Vice Media," Tom Kludt writes. "As allegations of sexual misconduct pile up in the worlds of media, entertainment and politics, the Brooklyn-based company -- a multimedia juggernaut eying an IPO -- appears to be staring down an inevitable reckoning."
Last week's story by The Daily Beast is just the beginning. There's an assumption that the next story will be published by the NYT. While people wait for it to come out, there's a "sinking sense of morale" at Vice HQ, Kludt says, and some employees feel that "the company's leadership has exacerbated an already-tense situation."
>> A Vice editor told Kludt on condition of anonymity: "Given the rumors of what the New York Times story contains, there is overwhelming dread... I've said to people that the mood is 'pitch black' and I think that's accurate..."
>> A reporter: "It feels stupid to be reporting on harassment and assault when we all feel embarrassed by how Vice is handling this..."
>> In a statement, Vice admits it has "fallen short when it comes to our workplace culture." Read the rest here... | | Charlie Rose pledging to help his producers | | What's going to happen to the producers of Charlie Rose's talk show? The staff of 18 is in limbo. "Charlie is going to do everything he can to help the young people get placed, and he's going to talk to Bloomberg and others to see if he can't help them," Dick Beattie, Rose's friend and lawyer, told NBC's Claire Atkinson...
-- More from Atkinson's story: "PBS has been providing stations with programming, including repeat episodes of other PBS shows, while the network works to decide what will replace it..." | | What about the women who left the industry "because of an abuser's power over them?" | | "I never in a million years thought that we, Charlie Rose, CBS would be involved in this story in this way," Gayle King said on Wednesday's "CBS This Morning." "But I also think we're not shy about reporting it. I think that's important."
"It is very important," said Vladimir Duthiers, who filled in for Rose. He added: "I keep thinking about the number of talented women that have left media and entertainment because of an abuser's power over them. The loss of talent that these industries have suffered." Here's my full story about how CBS is handling this story... | | Wednesday's other developments | | -- Lisa Respers France emails: Nick Carter is the latest celeb to be accused of sexual misconduct. Former pop singer Melissa Schuman is alleging that the Backstreet Boy raped her when she was 18 and he was 22. Carter is denying the allegation...
-- Jordan Chariton, who was fired from "The Young Turks," "says he intends to sue the show over its response to sexual assault allegations leveled against him, escalating a rift between the outlet and its former employee," Politico's Cristiano Lima reports...
-- Here is Russell Simmons' "response to sexual assault allegations..."
-- Poynter's Anne Glover weighs in on the AP's decision to use the word "misconduct" as an umbrella category for harassment and assault, and suggests some words to avoid...
-- Caitlin Flanagan's latest: "To Hell With the Witch-Hunt Debate..." | | Roy Moore's comms director resigns | | Elaina Plott's scoop: "John Rogers has resigned as communications director from Roy Moore's Senate campaign."
Meanwhile, the campaign says it's done replying to any Q's from the WashPost: In response to the paper's latest story, campaign strategist Brett Doster called the paper "a worthless piece of crap that has gone out of its way to railroad Roy Moore" and said "there is no need for anyone at the Washington Post to ever reach out to the Roy Moore campaign again because we will not respond to anyone from the Post now or in the future." He added: "Happy Thanksgiving." The Post printed the statement... | | "Late Night in the Age of Trump" tonight at 10pm ET | | | If you missed our prime special about how POTUS has changed last night, it's getting a Thanksgiving Eve replay at 10pm ET... One of the most interesting characters in the doc is Trump impersonator Anthony Atamanuik... I interviewed him in his office and outside Trump's childhood home in Queens... Today, we published the extended interview on the "Reliable Sources" podcast page... | | -- NBC has "won 13 new parade advertisers" for its coverage of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade... (Variety)
-- "The next great idea is waiting out there." In the next issue of Bloomberg Businessweek, Megan Murphy talks with HBO CEO Richard Plepler... (Bloomberg)
-- "The Voices in Blue America's Head" -- this Sunday's NYT Mag features Jason Zengerle's profile of the "Pod Save America" crew... (NYT Mag)
-- Ryan Mac says "Peter Thiel may be looking to buy Gawker.com..." The story is based on a new motion in court... (BuzzFeed) | | Trump's newest Twitter tirade | | | Trump's early morning tweets about LaVar Ball prompted some candid conversations on cable news on Wednesday. "Looks like there's some dog whistling going on there," Jim Sciutto said on "The Situation Room." Ryan Lizza agreed: "There's obvious racist overtones here. He just constantly tweets at and attacks African Americans... He has some issue with people of color who call him out... I think it's a race thing." Sciutto responded: "There are prominent athletes who have been very critical of President Trump. Gregg Popovich, for instance. Steve Kerr. They, at least so far, haven't gotten this kind of treatment, Jackie." "Right. And therein lies the pattern," Jackie Kucinich said... | | "One of the few constants..." | | Megan Thomas emails: Sparked by Trump's rants about LaVar Ball, Van R. Newkirk II wrote for The Atlantic about "Donald Trump's Eternal Feud with Blackness."
"In a presidency defined by its unpredictability, one of the few constants is the president's eagerness to attack black people for failing to show deference..." | | UNITED STATES VERSUS AT&T | | DOJ putting Corporate America on notice | | | "Blocking AT&T's purchase of Time Warner is a seemingly odd assault on business from the CEO president," CNNMoney's David Goldman writes. Trump's DOJ "just became the first since the Carter administration to fight a merger between two companies in different lines of business... A stark change in how antitrust law is enforced in the United States... Particularly surprising for a Republican president who campaigned on a pro-business, anti-regulation platform..." | | | "Meet the judge who'll oversee DOJ's antitrust case against AT&T-Time Warner" -- Here's David Shortell's new profile of Judge Richard Leon, a George W. Bush-appointee who has served on the US District Court for DC since 2002 and will preside in the case... | | By Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman:
-- Jon Christian says that we still have no idea how Google News works, as Google's criteria for inclusion in the product are "broad and vague..." (The Outline)
-- Tiffany Stevens, writing for CJR, touches base with local reporters in Puerto Rico, where the situation is still extremely dire... (CJR)
-- With Black Friday just around the corner, Digiday looks at how Wirecutter has been flourishing after the NYT acquisition, growing its staff from 35 to 65 people... (Digiday) | | "YouTube Is Addressing Its Massive Child Exploitation Problem" | | | That's the headline on Charlie Warzel's latest must-read. After he provided YouTube "with dozens of examples of videos -- with millions of views -- that depict children in disturbing and abusive situations," the company says it is cracking down... | | Frank Pallotta's latest: "Rashida Jones is denying a report by THR that she left 'Toy Story 4,' along with writing partner Will McCormack, because of an unwanted advance" by John Lasseter. She says it was creative and "philosophical differences..."
--> Key quote from Jones and McCormack about Pixar: "We remain enormous fans of their films, but it is also a culture where women and people of color do not have an equal creative voice..." | | Thanksgiving viewing guide! | | | Megan Thomas emails: Vulture has compiled an excellent list of TV viewing selections for your post-turkey food coma... | | Lowry reviews "She's Gotta Have It" | | | Brian Lowry's latest: Just over 30 years later, Spike Lee revisits his breakthrough film, "She's Gotta Have It," by expanding it into a 10-episode Netflix series. Temporarily setting aside the "Why" of that, what emerges is a reasonably entertaining, tangent-prone update distinguished by its star, DeWanda Wise, as the romantically omnivorous Nola Darling. Read more here... | | | For the record, part three | | | By Lisa Respers France:
-- Famous fans from Katie Couric to Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys are mourning the death of former teen idol David Cassidy...
-- "Dancing With the Stars" crowned its latest winner. Here are the details...
-- Happy Thanksgiving! | | | Email brian.stelter@turner.com... I appreciate every message. The feedback helps us craft the next day's newsletter! | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
