👋 Brian Stelter here with an optimistic view of the news... Plus a look ahead at Tuesday's biggest stories...

Don't doom scroll past this

The news these days is relentlessly grim. The President of the United States is being likened to a super-spreader -- of the coronavirus, of disinformation, of dangerously bogus claims about the election. The social media universe is a giant sewer. Covid-19 is on the rise in the US, elsewhere in the Americas, and in Europe. The economic picture is beyond bleak. Experts say the estimated cost of the pandemic in the US is more than $16 trillion. The election is an overwhelming source of tension. Joe Biden supporters are scared. President Trump supporters are worried. Everyone's worried.

Every night, after I send out this newsletter, my inbox is full of stressed-out readers. My reply: You are not alone! Everyone seems to be "doom scrolling" through the day. There is no shortage of news to be troubled about. As Elahe Izadi wrote the other day, "each new development is more unbelievable than the last." And yet, let me offer a more optimistic take...

"Team Reality is a lot bigger than it seems."

That's what Monika Bauerlein, the CEO of Mother Jones, wrote in a column last week. "I've heard from you how hard and lonely and terrifying it can sometimes be, especially when the news grows more chaotic by the day," she wrote.

Bauerlein wrote that, for Trump, "the chaos is the point," because confusion "creates the stage for his alternate-reality show." But she wants everyone to remember that "Team Reality" has majority support. Polls prove this point almost every day. A clear majority of Americans recognize that the pandemic is a real threat, despite Trump's attempts to minimize it. "Overwhelming majorities back basic public health measures," Bauerlein wrote. "Two-thirds -- including half of Republicans -- agree that the president was infected because he didn't take the virus seriously, and only a third think he's honest about the issue." A huge majority of Americans see that Trump is untrustworthy. Right now the Trump campaign is twisting Dr. Anthony Fauci's words precisely because Fauci is on Team Reality.

"Authoritarianism has not yet prevailed," Bauerlein wrote. "Alternative facts still aren’t facts. And more and more Americans are seeing through disinformation and division and are ready to fight" to -- as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez put it -- "let our democracy live another day."

Bauerlein comes at this subject from a progressive POV, but membership on "Team Reality" is not inherently partisan. For example, plenty of Republicans as well as Democrats know that QAnon is a conspiracy cult. I'm not trying to paper over the poisonous political divides that exist in US life – or the fact that algorithms fuel these divides and even lead to radicalization. There is a new, harrowing WaPo story about people who feel like they have lost their loved ones to QAnon. It is a real and heartbreaking problem. All I'm saying is, don't be fooled by the loudest, craziest voices out there. "Team Reality" is still the mainstream, majority position in this disorienting world of disinformation.

Oliver's counter-point

Oliver Darcy writes: "I hear Brian's argument, but a minority can still wield significant power. It only takes a small margin of people not wearing masks to spread the coronavirus. It only takes small amounts of disinformation to poison the broader public. And as was evidenced in 2016, the election can be decided by a minority of voters. Which is to say, minorities matter."

"The real polls"

Look up above – at that scene in Sanford, Florida – at his Monday evening return to the campaign trail, Trump said his rallies are "the real polls."

The real real polls continue to show Trump losing by double digits. If you're wondering whether you can trust 'em, watch Sunday's "Reliable Sources" segment featuring Clare Malone and Ryan Lizza.

Monday was the start of a full week of Trump rallies. "He appeared virtually back to himself despite a scratchy-sounding voice, clocking in at 65 minutes," the NYT's Annie Karni and Maggie Haberman wrote. Their story had a Washington dateline, not Florida, which brings me to this next item...

Some news outlets are declining to be part of WH pool

In recent days "at least seven major news outlets" have declined to accept "one of the available press seats" on Trump's trips, the NYT's Michael Grynbaum reported Monday, citing sources. The NYT is one of the outlets... Along with the WSJ, WaPo, and BuzzFeed. Per Grynbaum, the newsrooms feel like they "do not have assurance that basic precautions will be taken to protect reporters' health."

I checked in with the AP's Zeke Miller, this year's president of the WHCA, who has been lobbying the WH to make the working conditions safer. He said that essential press pool coverage has not been impacted... While some news outlets are staying home, all the major media formats (print, wires, photo, radio, TV) are being represented during Trump's travels...

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- Jim Acosta reporting live from the rally: "As this crowd is chanting that there are members of the press here who suck, I should also point out, what also sucks: getting the coronavirus." (Mediaite)

-- In an interview with Jake Tapper, Dr. Anthony Fauci said he hopes the worrisome #'s jolt Americans to take steps to stem the spread of Covid-19. "It's on a trajectory of getting worse and worse," he said... (CNN)

-- "Excess death" data continues to be critically important: "During the coronavirus pandemic so far, there were 20% more deaths than would normally be expected from March 1 through August 1 in the US..." (CNN)

-- Don Lemon's lead on "CNN Tonight" Monday: "MASSIVE LINES AS EARLY VOTING STARTS IN GEORGIA." Details here... (CNN)

-- Meantime, over on Fox, "every segment" on Sean Hannity's Monday night show "has featured Hannity telling his guests that Biden is 'struggling cognitively' while asking them to weigh in on how mentally unfit Joe is," Justin Baragona wrote... (Twitter)

TUESDAY PLANNER

It's the first of two Amazon Prime Days...

At 1pm ET, Apple will announce new iPhones...

New books include Andrew Cuomo's "American Crisis" and James Steyer's "Which Side of History?: How Technology is Reshaping Democracy and Our Lives..."

"Totally Under Control," Alex Gibney's documentary, lands on VOD...

Biden campaigns in FL while Trump holds a 7pm rally in Johnstown, PA...

ACB hearing continues

The Senate Judiciary Committee hearings for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett will resume at 9am ET... And questioning rounds will begin...

A fait accompli?

That's the subtext of the SCOTUS hearing news coverage. As CNN's Manu Raju wrote here, Lindsey Graham "has officially laid the groundwork" for Barrett "to get approved by his GOP-led panel in 10 days, setting the stage for one of the quickest confirmation processes for a Supreme Court nominee in modern times -- all before she's taken a question from a senator." Raju wrote that "at the moment, it appears, the only thing that could stop the nomination is if more GOP senators test positive for Covid-19 and can't attend the committee session or the floor vote." Read on...

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- Advocacy groups are rallying around Jacob Kornbluh, who was targeted by Harold "Heshy" Tischler's supporters last week. Tischler was taken into custody Sunday night and released Monday.... (Daily News)

-- Another example of a journalist facing unacceptable harassment: Caresse Jackman of WSMV in Nashville shared video of a man who attacked her crew... (Twitter)

-- Mark Meadows "refused to speak to reporters" on Capitol Hill on Monday "after they requested that he keep his face mask on." Kudos to CNN's Kristin Wilson and the other reporters... (Axios)

-- By inauguration day, David Wallace-Wells wrote Monday, "there might be 100,000 more American deaths than there are today, each a tragedy unfolding amidst a considerably uglier humanitarian catastrophe — poverty and hunger, evictions and loss of health insurance, mass joblessness without commensurate federal support — than the pandemic has produced to this point." (NYMag)

1619 Project faces renewed criticism — this time from within

Amid all the external debate that the 1619 Project has provoked in the past year, the project led by Nikole Hannah-Jones has also prompted internal criticism at the NYT. Some of the angst is chalked up to the usual sniping that happens when a reporter becomes a "star." But there are substantive critiques too, and they were surfaced in an unusual column by Bret Stephens over the weekend. It has been on the NYT's most-emailed list ever since...

Sulzberger throws NYT's institutional weight behind 1619

As Oliver Darcy and I wrote in this story for CNN Business, Stephens' column touched such a nerve that A.G. Sulzberger, the publisher of The Times, issued a statement of support for the 1619 Project on Sunday night. He called 1619 a "journalistic triumph that changed the way millions of Americans understand our country, its history and its present." He added: "I believe strongly in the right of Opinion to produce a piece even when -- maybe even especially when -- we don't agree with it as an institution." More here...

Zuckerberg's flip-flop

Oliver Darcy writes: "Facebook announced on Monday that it will ban content that 'denies or distorts' the holocaust — a move that comes about two years after Mark Zuckerberg insisted that doing so would not be a good idea. In 2018, under questioning from Kara Swisher, Zuckerberg said that 'at the end of the day' he did not believe Facebook should 'take [holocaust denialism] down.' On Monday, however, the Facebook chief acknowledged he's changed his mind. 'My own thinking has evolved as I've seen data showing an increase in anti-Semitic violence, as have our wider policies on hate speech,' Zuckerberg wrote in a post on his page."

>> Kevin Roose's observations: "The absence of an apology here is notable. Also absent: any acknowledgement that allowing Holocaust denial on Facebook may have contributed to those trends in anti-Semitic violence he's now citing..."

>> Sarah Frier also reports: "The new policy doesn’t apply to the denial of other genocides, such as the Armenian or Rwandan genocides..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

By Kerry Flynn:

-- Kat Downs Mulder has been promoted to managing editor/digital of WaPo. She was most recently the paper's VP of product and design... (WaPo)

-- Context via Margaret Sullivan: "Almost overnight, the top newsroom management team at WaPo is mostly women. (3 of the 4 managing editors who work for Marty Baron)." (Twitter)

-- April Ehrlich asks: "Is wildfire preparedness reporting a waste of time?" Hope not! (CJR)

-- John Loeppky and Julia Métraux write that the pandemic has further exposed a "disability reporting gap..." (Poynter)

-- New York mag's new issue includes the relaunch of Curbed and a stunning cover photographed by Alexei Hay. EIC David Haskell: "We thought it appropriate to make a little event out of the cover, to send a note of longing, mourning, and warmth into the sky..." (NYMag)

How big is Disney's big reorg?

Frank Pallotta writes: "If there was any question that Disney+ is the center of Disney's media empire, Bob Chapek took away all doubt on Monday. The company announced a major reorganization to 'further accelerate' its streaming strategy. Under the reorg, Disney will create a new Media and Entertainment Distribution group that will be in charge of monetizing content via distribution and ad sales. The group will also oversee the operations of the company's streaming services like Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+. The group will be led by Kareem Daniel, who was formerly the president of Disney's consumer products, games and publishing division." Shares in Disney are up 5% in after-hours trading...

>> "Disney has faced external pressure to pivot more aggressively toward its streaming business," the WSJ's Joe Flint noted. "Activist investor Daniel Loeb, whose Third Point Capital is one of Disney’s biggest stockholders, sent a letter recently to Mr. Chapek calling for Disney to devote more resources to its streaming operations..."

>> LightShed's Rich Greenfield on CNBC: "What are their actions actually going to be?"

What does this mean?

Pallotta adds: "While the reorg is a major step, it's not necessarily a surprising one. Disney+ has quickly become the focal point and a saving grace of Disney's biz this year -- as the coronavirus pandemic has ravaged its bottom line. Does this mean the entire company is going to change overnight? I'm not so sure. What this reorg says to me is that Chapek knows that all of Disney has to be rowing in the same direction. That direction is Disney+ and streaming."

>> "This is further proof that the direct to consumer model is not only well received, but more critical than ever to Disney's future," said Trip Miller, a Disney investor and managing partner at hedge fund Gullane Capital Partners...

Trump mocks NBA ratings

Brian Lowry writes: "As Alex Koppelman pointed out, there's a lot of bad faith in the analysis of NBA Finals ratings from the president by way of conservative media, given the disruption to the schedule and the part of the year during which they played. It's a good reminder that pretty much everything over the next several months -- from award shows to sporting events -- is going to likely come with some kind of asterisk, in terms of the year-to-year/historic comparisons normally used to evaluate them."

>> Ron Brownstein tweeted: "Trump, by attempting to brand them as unpopular for criticizing him, is essentially daring LeBron James & the other NBA stars to prove they can mobilize turnout & move persuasion among Black voters, and young voters generally, between now and Election Day..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX

-- Lesley Goldberg and Kim Masters report: "Top unscripted executive Meredith Ahr is out at NBC following an investigation into claims that she and former NBC entertainment president Paul Telegdy fostered a toxic culture at the network. The inquiry sprang from a Hollywood Reporter report on allegations of homophobic, misogynistic and racist behavior, especially within the network's reality division..." (THR)

-- "A six-episode limited series about Elon Musk's SpaceX is in the works at HBO, with Channing Tatum's Free Association producing the project." The potential show is based on Ashlee Vance's book about Musk... (TheWrap)

-- This is a powerful essay by Cambridge Ph.D. student Rob Henderson about TV, social classes, and "bingeing to belong..." (NYT)

-- Best viral video of the day, via a Ring doorbell camera: This knock on the door late at night "was a professor's Nobel co-winner notifying him of their win..." (CNN)