Oliver Darcy here. Scroll down for Saturday's A1s, a look behind the scenes of the arrest of the CNN crew, Twitter's unprecedented position, Facebook's inaction, Taylor Swift's fury, weekend reads, and more. But first...

America in crisis

What do you write on a day like this? How can the day be neatly summed up in a string of sentences and paragraphs? How can the pain, agony, frustration, and fear felt by so many across the country be properly conveyed? Is it even possible?

I'm not sure.

I'm not sure how one conveys the emotions felt by a country that has watched, yet again, an unarmed black man die in police custody. How one conveys what it feels like to see major American cities set ablaze, or protesters clashing with Secret Service outside the White House. How one conveys a President of the United States who, instead of offering words aimed at consoling a nation, chooses to instead pour gasoline on the fire and turn the temperature up.

Imagine if you transported a recording of the news from Friday, May 29, 2020, back in time. Imagine showing people the state of America: With unrest spreading across the country, with a pandemic claiming the lives of more than 100,000 Americans, with 40 million out of work. Imagine explaining to people that a CNN crew was arrested live on-air for covering a protest, despite doing nothing wrong. Or that Twitter had to actually apply a warning label on the tweets from the President and White House for glorifying violence.

What would we think if we saw the events unfolding in America unfold in another country? "This country has been slowly unraveling for two decades; the acceleration in real time is terrifying to behold," tweeted Tim Alberta. It's hard to disagree.

Hayes' point

“The person with the country's most important job is the worst person imaginable for this moment," Chris Hayes argued on his program. "It just feels like today, and over the last 48 hours, that something is breaking in front of us. Or even more correctly, that things that have been broken for a very, very long time are somehow getting more broken."

Attacks on the press

The day started with an affront to the free press. And it ended with more astonishing attacks on the press. In Louisville, an officer fired what appeared to be pepper balls on a WAVE 3 News reporter, the outlet reported. The incident was caught live on-air. "Who are they aiming that at?" the anchor asked. "At us," the reporter replied. In Colorado, a Denver7 News crew reported being hit with paintballs and tear gas.

And in Atlanta, the CNN Center was swarmed by demonstrators who vandalized the entrance and destroyed police vehicles outside. The demonstrators eventually broke the windows to the CNN Center's entrance and engaged in a tense standoff with police. The stunning scenes were broadcast live on CNN. Correspondent Nick Valencia reported from behind police lines inside the center. "S**t!" exclaimed Valencia at one moment, after what appeared to be a firecracker was fired inside. Police eventually dispersed the crowd with teargas.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms addressed the incident in a press conference. "You have defaced the CNN building," she said. "Ted Turner started CNN in Atlanta 40 years ago because he believed in who we are as a city. There was a black reporter who was arrested on camera this morning who works for CNN. They are telling our stories. And you are disgracing their building."

>> White House's reaction: Trump responded by retweeting a right-wing commentator who wrote, "In an ironic twist of fate, CNN HQ is being attacked by the very riots they promoted as noble & just. Oops..."

Saturday A1s

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- The Drudge Report's banner headline: "AMERICA PLUNGES INTO CRISIS...."

-- Chris Cuomo noted during CNN's coverage: "We're in a time where these people who are out there have masks on, to protect themselves from a virus, at the same time they're protesting that the police don't protect them from others in society. It is just a bizarre reality that we are living through together..."

-- And Don Lemon replied, "Listen, I'm sure people wish that there was some sort of mask or something that would protect them from this other virus: that's racism. And perhaps they think the protests, in whatever form they are choosing to engage, whether it's peaceful or whether it's violent, they are hoping, in some way, that that's going to protect them..."

-- NBC DC reporter Shomari Stone at the White House protest: "You have folks out here who want the White House to show leadership, to show sympathy, to understand the issue of race relations, to understand the killing of unarmed black people by law enforcement in America. They feel that President Trump is not showing enough leadership..."

-- Julie Pace reports that many Republicans are staying silent about the President's behavior: "Several contacted by The Associated Press either did not respond to questions about whether Trump was appropriately meeting this moment of cascading national crises or would not speak about the matter on the record..." (AP)

-- Read Karen Attiah's column: "If we talked about what is happening in Minneapolis the same way we talk about events in a foreign country, here’s how the Western media would cover it..." (WaPo)

-- David Brooks writes, "If we had a real leader..." (NYT)

-- ProPublica's Alec MacGillis: "I don't know if this is how 1968 felt. I wasn't there. But here is how it seems similar: there's too much happening at once. It always boggled the mind: how could you have war and assassinations and riots and election at same time? Well, just swap in pandemic and econ collapse...." (Twitter)

-- Adam Serwer's point: "Whether you support the protests or oppose them, one question you should honestly grapple with is whether there’s an arrest of the officer who killed Floyd without them...." (Twitter)

A taste of the rhetoric on Fox

Don't count on cooler heads prevailing among the opinion commentators at Fox News. Tucker Carlson, for instance, decided he would use his air time to denounce former President Obama as "America's chief racial arsonist." Carlson ranted about how the country's leaders are allowing for "masked lunatics" and "thugs" to control the streets.

Later in the night, Laura Ingraham ignited outrage by booking Mark Fuhrman on her program for analysis. And Lou Dobbs, another one of the President's favorite hosts, decried what he described as a "failure" of the community's leadership: "I don’t know where the black churches are, I don’t know where the black teachers and leaders are."

>> That's not to say it was all like this: Geraldo Rivera unloaded on Trump: "What is this, 6th grade?!"

Trump's sham press conference

The White House announced that Trump would hold a news conference on Friday afternoon. Most assumed he would address the unrest occurring throughout the country — particularly after his widely condemned tweets about "looting" leading to "shooting." Instead, Trump walked out, announced that amid the pandemic the United States would sever ties with the WHO, and then he left without taking questions.

"Tip: it isn't a press conference when it's a statement delivered without taking questions," Maggie Haberman pointed out. Chris Wallace said on Fox, "The reason he left, clearly, is because he knew he was going to be asked a lot of questions about his response to the situation in Minnesota." Jim Acosta observed, "He is a President at times ... who likes to light the match, set the fire, and then run away from the flames — and that is essentially what he did in the Rose Garden just a few moments ago."

Only later did Trump address the demonstrations across the country. He said he wanted to "express our nation's deepest condolences and most heartfelt sympathies to the family of George Floyd." Trump also said he spoke to Floyd's family, who he described as "terrific people." The President, however, claimed not to have known the origins of the phrase, "When the looting starts, the shooting starts."

CNN crew arrested: Behind the scenes

Brian Stelter writes: This image of CNN's Omar Jimenez being handcuffed by Minnesota State Police is instantly iconic:

And the video, shown live on CNN, has been seen tens of millions of times already.

When Jimenez, Bill Kirkos and Leonel Mendez were taken into custody shortly after 6am ET, 5am local time, the CNN machine cranked into action immediately. Since it occurred on live TV, CNN's lawyers, led by David Vigilante, had all the information they needed to press for the crew's release. Mendez was able to stay in touch with CNN HQ for part of the time while in custody, and his camera continued to transmit live pictures the entire time, thanks to cellular phone TV technology called LiveU.

CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker spoke with governor Tim Walz shortly after 7am ET, and the journalists were released about 12 minutes later. Walz recounted the call later in the day: "I appreciate his understanding in a situation that he was rightfully incredibly angry, and that falls squarely on me. That apology has been issued. And I think going forward to make sure it doesn't happen again."

"The most important call"

Speaking with Wolf Blitzer, Jimenez said he spoke with Zucker right after he was released from police custody. "He told me that he made the most important call of my life for me," Jimenez said. "I assumed it was to the governor. He said, 'No ... [it] was to your mother.' He called my mother to let her know I was okay and I really did appreciate that."

Show of solidarity

Stelter adds: Rival TV networks, press freedom groups and labor unions stood shoulder to shoulder and defended the CNN crew on Friday. The Committee to Protect Journalists called the episode "simply outrageous." Here's my full story, "Arresting reporters at a protest is an affront to the First Amendment..."

>> From Poynter's Al Tompkins: "23 guidelines for journalists to safely cover protests this weekend..."

"A view of American disintegration"

This WaPo essay by Phillip Kennicott is worth your time. Kennicott wrote about the CNN crew's confrontation with police and how the camera on the ground captured "a view of American disintegration." He explained, "As the CNN crew member was being led away, someone picked up his camera and carried it a few yards before setting it down again. The machine was still recording, and inadvertently and passively it captured another vision, common to people across the world."

"Its eye bounced along above the pavement," Kennicott wrote, "as if connected to a body that was offering no resistance, that was being carried off limp and compliant by armed thugs in state uniforms. And then it just lay on the ground, seemingly broken and spent, but still conscious, still looking out at the boots of the cops a few feet away."

"Staged" trend highlights social media "rot"

"The word 'staged' is trending because of a conspiracy theory by people who have absolutely no idea how the world works believe that the detainment of CNN reporters was staged," NBC's Ben Collins tweeted. The rot that social media companies have caused and abetted in people's sense of reality is profound."

"Black Journalists Are Exhausted"

You should read this by Patrice Peck, creator of the newsletter "Coronavirus News for Black Folks." Peck wrote, "It's an especially peculiar time to be a black journalist. The pandemic has laid bare many of the same racial inequities that generations of black journalists have been covering since 1827 when the Freedom’s Journal birthed the black press. While this pandemic is unique, the waves of trauma crashing down on my community are not." Here's the full NYT op-ed...

Twitter's unprecedented position

It is quite a sight to behold: a label warning that official tweets from the President of the United States and White House accounts violated Twitter's terms of service which prohibit the glorification of violence. Twitter applied the label to Trump's tweet that warned "looting" will lead to "shooting."

The decision "capped off a rocky week in which Twitter's decision to place warning labels on two Trump tweets set off a presidential firestorm that culminated in an executive order that seeks to punish the entire social media industry," Brian Fung and Seth Fiegerman reported for CNN. "Twitter now finds itself in an unprecedented position. For years it was Trump's favored platform; now Twitter is locked in a war with the president simply for choosing to enforce its policies. Seemingly every tweet on the platform ... are being scrutinized anew. Republicans are coming after it. Rivals are throwing it under the bus or staying silent."

The White House's defense

After Twitter actioned both accounts, the White House tweeted its defense: That the Supreme Leader of Iran had encouraged "jihad" to free Palestine. "Twitter has determined that it will allow terrorists, dictators, and foreign propagandists to abuse its platform," the White House argued. As many pointed out, when you're pointing to terrorists and dictators and essentially asking, "What about them?," you should probably consider rethinking your position...

>> Related: Aaron Blake writes about how Ted Cruz offered a "very strained defense" of Trump's tweets...

"The President versus the mods"

That was the headline on this excellent read from Kevin Roose on Trump's war with social media. Recalling his time on online message boards in the early years of the internet, Roose wrote, "No matter the topic, there was one universal experience: On every board, some divisive issue would inevitably erupt into conflict, and an angry group of users — often led by a single, vocal one who felt they were being treated unfairly — would lead a rebellion against the 'mods,' the moderators who had the privileges to delete posts, ban unruly users, and set the rules of the board."

As Roose wrote, that is what we have effectively seen this week from Trump and the White House. Roose wrote that by seeing it in such terms "clarifies the dynamics at play." He explained, "Mod drama is never really about who’s allowed to say what, or which specific posts broke which specific rules. Often, it’s part of a power struggle between chaos and order, fought by people who thrive in a lawless environment."

Facebook's inaction

Mark Zuckerberg said on Friday that the company would do nothing with Trump's message, which was cross-posted from Twitter onto Facebook and Instagram where they racked up hundreds of thousands of interactions. "I know many people are upset that we've left the President's posts up, but our position is that we should enable as much expression as possible unless it will cause imminent risk of specific harms or dangers spelled out in clear policies," Zuckerberg wrote.

Zuckerberg added, "Although the post had a troubling historical reference, we decided to leave it up because the National Guard references meant we read it as a warning about state action, and we think people need to know if the government is planning to deploy force." Zuckerberg, who published his post after remaining silent on the matter for 18 hours, said, "Unlike Twitter, we do not have a policy of putting a warning in front of posts that may incite violence because we believe that if a post incites violence, it should be removed regardless of whether it is newsworthy, even if it comes from a politician."

Related: Mike Isaac and Cecilia Kang write about how Facebook and Twitter have "similar policies." But, "Facebook is more permissive when the user is President Trump..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- Sarah Scire reports on the work of Unicorn Riot, a nonprofit media organization that is covering the Minneapolis protests... (Nieman Lab)

-- The Society of Professional Journalists offered reporters some tips: "Show compassion for those who may be affected by coverage. Weigh consequences of reporting personal info. Balance public's need for info against potential harm or discomfort..." (SPJ)

-- In other news, newly released documents show that Michael Flynn told the Russian ambassador not to escalate on sanctions... (CNN)

-- Marshall Cohen tweeted, "These transcripts CONFIRM pretty much everything Mueller accused Flynn of doing, and they DEBUNK much of what Trump has said about Flynn. The transcripts corroborate Flynn's guilty plea and further prove that he lied to the FBI about his Russian calls..." (Twitter)

-- David Roth writes: "Through the Obamagate..." (CJR)

-- "Troll farms from Macedonia and the Philippines pushed coronavirus disinformation on Facebook..." (NBC News)

Weekend reads

By Katie Pellico:

-- CNN's Bianna Golodryga tweeted, "Everything that’s happened THIS WEEK ALONE backs up this line from George Packer: 'The coronavirus didn’t break America. It revealed what was already broken.'" Here's that piece from Packer in the June issue of The Atlantic... (The Atlantic)

-- Bakari Sellers writes, "This is not the America I want to pass down to my children..." (CNN Opinion)

-- Carlos Lozada's review for Masha Gessen's forthcoming book, "Surviving Autocracy," explains Gessen's suggestion "to fight back against Trumpism" with "moral aspiration..." (WaPo)

-- Still not clear on the significance of Section 230? Casey Newton details "everything you need to know..." (The Verge)

-- Michael Schulson goes behind the scenes of one viral Covid-19 conspiracy video, speaking with its creators about how it was "concocted..." (FastCo)

-- Zoë Beery gives us "the bad news quietly buried during the pandemic..." (CJR)

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

By Kerry Flynn:

-- Lucia Moses reports Microsoft News laid off dozens of editorial workers as it moves to an AI-driven system... (BI)

-- Lauren Johnson reports The Athletic laid off its six-person programming team due to clashes with management... (BI)

-- Lindsey Ellefson reports Playboy laid off 25 staffers, including most of its editorial team, on Thursday... (The Wrap)

-- Lucinda Southern reports how Bloomberg Media has changed its events business with virtual events... (Digiday)

-- BuzzFeed News union and management agreed on a workshare program to cut costs. Employees in the union will have their pay and hours cut by 20% and qualify for partial unemployment. LATimes union implemented the program, whereas Vice union advocate for it but management refused... (Daily Beast)

-- Staffers at Hearst, who announced their intention to unionize in November, officially have a date for their election. On June 12, the NLRB will mail ballots to more than 500 staffers... (Twitter)

Forbes v. Kylie Jenner

Amid all the tragic news, Kylie Jenner duked it out with Forbes after the outlet published a story about her "web of lies" and how she is "no longer a billionaire." Reporters Chase Peterson-Withorn and Madeline Berg wrote, "Similar to Donald Trump’s decades-long obsession with his net worth, the unusual lengths to which the Jenners have been willing to go—including inviting Forbes into their mansions and CPA’s offices, and even creating tax returns that were likely forged—reveals just how desperate some of the ultra-rich are to look even richer.

Jenner responded on Twitter: "what am i even waking up to. i thought this was a reputable site.. all i see are a number of inaccurate statements and unproven assumptions lol. i’ve never asked for any title or tried to lie my way there EVER. period." After receiving criticism for focusing on the story versus the dire problems facing the nation, Jenner tweeted, "i am blessed beyond my years, i have a beautiful daughter, and a successful business and i’m doing perfectly fine." Jenner also posted on Instagram about Floyd's death...