| | | | | Exec summary: Lots of news about Rupert Murdoch, CBS, Amazon, the NYT, etc. And scroll down to the very end of tonight's newsletter to find out how many times President Trump has used the word "fake" since taking office. Seriously, I tallied up every single time... For a good reason... | | First, let me take you inside Henry Holt publisher Steve Rubin's Wednesday evening book party for Michael Wolff. Rubin called him "my hero" and revealed that Wolff is under contract for another book... But that's way off in the future.
Editors, anchors, execs and some of Wolff's family members filled every corner of the apartment... Wolff accepted congrats from well-wishers and recounted some of the stories from the book... I told him he's become "quite a ridiculous figure" 😉 and asked if he's heard anything from Robert Mueller's investigators yet. Nope. Besides, he said, everything he learned is in the book. Well that's not true, I responded -- I mean, he has said stuff on the book tour that's not in the book! (About White House hostility to the AT&T-Time Warner deal, for instance.)
Wolff conceded that there are a few "explosive" bits of reporting that didn't make it into the book... | | | Just before the party started, the NYT confirmed the obvious: "Fire and Fury" is #1 on the best selling books list for a second week. It's going to remain there for a while... I hear the book is now in its 15th printing... And Amazon is still quoting a two-to-four-week wait. Remember, it was just two weeks ago today that the first excerpts came out... | | | Lydia Polgreen, Steve Brill, Lisa Dallos, Joe Pompeo, Janice Min, Tammy Haddad, Michael Grynbaum, Eric Kuhn, David Rhodes, Lawrence O'Donnell, Emma Keller, Alex Koppelman, Dylan Byers, Pat Eisemann, Sriram Krishnan, James Ledbetter, Oliver Darcy, Larry Kramer, Matt Stone, Brian Braiker, Hillary Frey, Ed Pilkington, Michael Calderone, Ann Coulter, Emma Cline, Eric Nelson, Tim Wu, Lucia Moses, Keach Hagey, Maxwell Tani, Tina Andreadis, Brad Grossman, and many more... | | | Steve Bannon. He was invited -- and didn't RSVP no -- so some people hoped he would make an appearance... | | Wylie selling international rights | | Rubin toasted Wolff for "taking on the planet's biggest bully" -- that would be Trump -- and for energizing the book world. "In an era when television and social media dominates the national conversation, it is absolutely thrilling that a BOOK had a profound effect on a presidency and on an entire nation," he said. "It has surely sparked an urgent debate on Trump's fitness for office."
Rubin also gave away some news... Which I subsequently confirmed with Andrew Wylie, Wolff's literary agent... Wylie has sold the rights to "F&F" in at least 35 countries so far... | | THR broke this news earlier in the day on Wednesday. It's Endeavor Content's "largest deal to date," said to be "in the seven-figure range." So which TV networks will be bidding? (Remember, HBO's plans to adapt the next edition of "Game Change" were scrapped when Mark Halperin was fired.)
--> More: "Wolff was expected to be the executive producer of the project, and would be joined by the British television executive Michael Jackson," NYT's John Koblin notes... | | | There's something cosmic about Wolff celebrating while one of his previous subjects, Rupert Murdoch, is recovering from a fall. | | We learned Wednesday afternoon, via VF's Gabriel Sherman, that Murdoch injured his back in a sailing accident earlier this month. He was with Jerry Hall on Lachlan's yacht in the Caribbean. He had to be helicoptered off the yacht to the hospital. But now he's at home... Here's my full story...
--> More: "While I am well on the road to recovery, I have to work from home for some weeks," Murdoch wrote in an email to Fox execs. Here's hoping it's a speedy recovery... | | | Tom Kludt emails: My latest video -- done as always in collaboration with Jon Sarlin -- tackles a timely subject: the uneasy alliance between Trump and Murdoch. We spoke with two people who know them better than just about anyone: David Folkenflik and Michael D'Antonio... Watch... | | Amazon just cancelled these three series | | | The reboot of Amazon Studios continues: "Amazon has canceled three original series -- 'I Love Dick,' 'One Mississippi,' and 'Jean-Claude Van Johnson,'" Variety's Daniel Holloway reported Wednesday night... | | | Paul Farhi's WashPost piece about Stormy Daniels and the press: "A porn star had a racy tale about Trump. Why are we only learning about it now?" CNN's Maria Spinella summed it up this way: "Read how the news media applied strict & appropriate journalistic standards to the benefit of a candidate/president who continually disparages and disdains them..." | | -- The White House has been giving most of Trump's interviews to Murdoch-owned outlets. But on Wednesday, a change: A group of Reuters reporters had an Oval Office interview... (Reuters)
-- Erik Wemple's latest: "Staffers at The Hill press management about the work of John Solomon..." (WashPost)
-- Jason Rezaian, who was freed from an Iranian prison exactly two years ago, is rejoining the WashPost "as a staff writer for WorldViews, a newsletter and blog launched last year that targets an international audience..." (HuffPost)
-- On a very different note, Lacey Rose's interview with Ellen Pompeo is amazing... (THR) | | NYT risking reader backlash with this... | | On Thursday, the NYT is not running any editorials in print. The editorial board decided to devote the page to letters from Trump supporters. I loved the idea. But the paper is being pilloried on social media for making space for more "why Trump supporters support Trump" content.
So why is the paper doing it? Here's why: "In the spirit of open debate, and in hopes of helping readers who agree with us better understand the views of those who don't, we wanted to let Mr. Trump's supporters make their best case for him as the first year of his presidency approaches its close." Friday's paper will feature letters from disillusioned Trump voters and ticked-off NYT readers... | | WSJ's latest on CBS and Viacom | | | "Shari Redstone is advocating for new blood on the board of CBS Corp. as she renews her push to merge the company with Viacom," the WSJ's Keach Hagey and Joe Flint report. She is also "dissatisfied with current succession planning at CBS and has suggested there is a general lack of long-range strategic planning at the company." Read more... | | The official word is that Don Nash "stepped down" after five years as the executive producer of "Today." But the truth is that he was forced out. Yes, he was exhausted by the early morning hours, and yes, he now gets to take a break, but he wasn't ready to give up the job.
Per Wednesday's announcement, Libby Leist is taking over immediately -- marking the first time the 7 and 8am hours of "Today" have had a female producer in charge...
--> More from my story: There is no indication that Nash knew about Matt Lauer's alleged wrongdoing. But he and Lauer worked together for decades. That's why, a month and a half since Lauer's firing, Wednesday's announcement was viewed by some people as a break with the past...
--> Page Six's headline: "NBC wiping 'Today' show of Matt Lauer allies" | | "Today" has been #1 in all key ratings categories ever since Lauer was fired. It's odd to see a sudden E.P. shakeup when a morning show has so much momentum... On the other hand, it's not odd for an anchor change to be followed by an E.P. change...
--> Nash is in talks with NBC about a new role at the network. Andy Lack's memo said "we hope he'll stay in the family..." | | The Nash news came on the same morning that Ann Curry gave her first TV interview in years. Speaking on "CBS This Morning," she described a "culture of verbal harassment" at NBC. She said she was "not surprised" by the allegations against Lauer, but declined to say more...
--> BTW: I inquired about the status of NBC's investigation into the Lauer matter. Word is, it's ongoing... | | Couric back at NBC for the Olympics opening ceremony | | A few hours after the Nash news, NBC had another surprise: Katie Couric will "co-host the opening ceremony for the Winter Games in PyeongChang" next month. Mike Tirico will sit alongside her. CNNMoney's Ahiza Garcia interviewed Couric about the gig here...
--> The backstory: Lauer, Guthrie and Meredith Vieira hosted the Rio opening ceremony broadcast. Vieira wasn't interested in participating this time around, and the "Today" bosses preferred that Guthrie and Kotb stay focused on the morning show, so that's what led to Couric + Tirico... | | -- A sad sign of the "post-truth" times: Dr. Sanjay Gupta analyzed the president's medical records and stated a fact: "Like most men of his age, President Trump has a common form of heart disease." And for that, Gupta was mocked by conservative tweeters and criticized by the White House... (CNN)
-- Anderson Cooper talked with Conan O'Brien about the comedian's Trump-inspired trip to Haiti, which begins later this week... Turns out Cooper gave him some travel tips... (Twitter)
-- I think this is the headline of the day -- it's on Greg Krieg's story -- "Democrats and Republicans are divided on whether Trump is dividing them" (CNN) | | NFL playoff ratings are down... but there are some catches | | | Frank Pallotta's latest: "The NFL saw its ratings fall yet again last weekend for its divisional playoff round, but there are some asterisks involved in the comparisons to last year's slate of playoff games. NFL ratings were down 16% this weekend for its divisional round match ups compared to the same weekend last year. That includes Saturday's games on NBC and CBS down 6% and 10% and Sunday's playoff games on CBS and Fox down 15% and 27%." However: These are not apples-to-apples comparisons. Details here... | | | For the record, part three | | | -- ICYMI: Jennifer Jacobs' piece on "how Michael Wolff got into the White House..." (Bloomberg)
-- AP's fact-check of Trump's first year: "Trump presidency creates an alternate reality..." (AP)
-- Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman interviewed The Root's editor in chief Danielle Belton... (CNNMoney)
-- Charles Riley and Donie O'Sullivan's latest: "Facebook to look again for evidence of Russian meddling in Brexit..." (CNNMoney) | | | Brian Lowry emails: Coincidence? Probably. But the A1 story in the LATimes print edition about David and Louise Turpin -- the Perris, CA, couple arrested for allegedly abusing and holding captive their 13 children -- featured a picture of the pair smiling at Disneyland. That's hardly an image/juxtaposition that Disney -- which barred Times reporters and critics from screenings in November, before rescinding the ban under criticism -- is apt to relish... | | Kristen Wiig to star in comedy series from Apple | | Sandra Gonzalez emails: Kristen Wiig is coming back to the small screen for her first regular TV role since "SNL." She will star in a half-hour comedy series from Apple and Reese Witherspoon's production company, Hello Sunshine. The untitled series, Apple's first foray into scripted comedy, is inspired by Curtis Sittenfeld's upcoming short story collection, "You Think It, I'll Say It." Something to consider amid Apple's recent deluge of original content news (if you're keeping score, they have THREE shows in the works with Witherspoon and three other buzzy TV projects in the works): Where is all this going to live and how much will it cost?
-- Related in THR: "How HBO's 'Big Little Lies' Stars Leveraged Apple for Big Paydays"
-- Reminder/disclosure from Brian: I'm a consultant on one of those other Apple projects... | | Lowry reviews "The Final Year" | | | Brian Lowry emails: The release date for "The Final Year," Greg Barker's fly-on-the-wall documentary about President Obama's national security team, is no accident. Opening in select theaters this Friday, almost a year to the day since Trump's inauguration, the HBO-bound film is seemingly designed to make Obama supporters feel wistful, and in the process irritate the Trump faithful... Read more here... | | Avoiding a "Mark Wahlberg situation" | | Megan Thomas emails: This is a good read by The Atlantic's David Sims on the lessons that can be drawn from Mark Wahlberg's inflated salary on the "All the Money in the World" reshoots:
"The paychecks involved in making 'All the Money in the World' might come off as ludicrous—most women outside of Hollywood worried about inequity in the workplace aren't competing with movie stars raking in millions of dollars. But cases like these can still offer compelling examples for other companies, and within Hollywood a 'Mark Wahlberg situation' is something that any business-minded studio should seek to avoid in the future. The how and why of Wahlberg's $1.5 million donation might have been tawdry and convoluted, but the end result was genuinely meaningful..." | | | For the record, part four | | | Lisa Respers France emails:
-- The DIY Network has apologized after one of its hosts made an anti-Semitic remark on a recent episode...
-- Seal is under investigation for alleged sexual battery. He denies the allegation made by his former neighbor -- which came days after he publicly supported the #MeToo movement...
-- Enrique Iglesias and Anna Kournikova showed off babies, despite never publicly confirming they are now parents... | | Wait, did I miss something? | | Was there a big awards show on Wednesday night? #FakeNewsAwards trended on Twitter, but the president's long-promised "corrupt media awards" event wound up just being a list of well-worn media mistakes and miscues posted on the RNC web site. Fox News tried to prop it up by sending out a news alert and leading FoxNews.com with the list, but the "awards" were anti-climactic to say the least. WashPost fact-checker Glenn Kessler pointed out that most of the "awards" were for "reports that were wrong -- and quickly corrected."
Oh, and the RNC's site crashed when Trump tweeted out the link. Jim Acosta said it was "crushed by the weight of its own absurdity..." | | Guess how many times Trump has used the word "fake" since Inauguration Day | | I added them all up, using Factba.se data. The total was even higher than I expected. POTUS has used the word "fake" more than 400 times since Inauguration Day.
So that means that more than once a day, on average, he has publicly assailed "fake news," "fake polls," "fake media," and "fake stories." This repetition -- constantly labeling real news as "fake" -- is what has made the slur so powerful and so poisonous. Here's my full story, pegged to Trump's one-year mark... | | | Brian Lowry emails: Everyone can have a good laugh at Wednesday's Twitter debate over Trump's weight -- which MSNBC's Chris Hayes dubbed the #girther movement -- but it speaks to an issue that has dogged this presidency since Sean Spicer chided the press over the size of inaugural crowds: potentially lying, sometimes over matters that appear completely trivial... | | That's why Jeff Flake gets the last word today... | | Senator Jeff Flake's critics think he's just trying out for a TV commentator job. We'll see. He sounds sincerely worried about the state of our democracy. His floor speech on Wednesday... the first in a series... was about standing up for truth... and encouraging his fellow GOP senators to stand with him.
"For without truth, and a principled fidelity to truth and to shared facts, Mr. President, our democracy will not last," he said.
If you missed it, Chris Cillizza highlighted Flake's "20 most damning lines about Donald Trump's assault on the press."
Flake: "2018 must be the year in which the truth takes a stand against power that would weaken it." | | | Email brian.stelter@turner.com... I love the feedback, corrections, suggestions, and tips. Thank you! | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
