Brian Stelter here with the latest on Tucker Carlson, Kayleigh McEnany, Barack Obama, Dealbook, Jack Dorsey, Substack, Taylor Swift, Cinemark, and much more...
Lie after lie after lie
We have reached the tragic endpoint of President Trump's war on truth.
Two weeks after Election Day, Trump and his media allies continue to contest the results. Baseless "Trump won" conspiracy theories continue to fill up social media feeds and far-right-wing TV shows. Call me naive, but I kind of thought this shtick would start to subside by now! But it is actually getting worse as time goes on. CNN.com's lead headline captured it on Monday night: "Trump aims to undermine Biden's legitimacy as legal challenges fizzle."
There is an understandable reticence to give oxygen to this stuff. As CNN's Daniel Dale noted on Monday, "almost nothing Trump is saying about the election is true."
But it's still seeping into the groundwater, like contamination from an overturned tanker truck. Millions of people are hearing what Newsmax hosts and guests are saying. One America News shows are trying to one-up Newsmax. And Fox News shows are reacting to this far-right pressure. So let me walk you through what's being said and who's being smeared...
Newsmax's narrative
I watched several hours of Newsmax TV on Monday to soak up the channel's messaging. This quote from 7pm host Greg Kelly summed it all up: "This is not over. Ignore what the mainstream media is telling you right now."
Newsmax's narrative is that the election is not over, the media is wrong, Biden is weak, and Trump is strong. The channel's CEO Chris Ruddy says "Newsmax will accept state results and the Electoral College when certified," but until then it is operating in a fictional universe where Trump still has a path to victory. It is bashing Fox News and snaring some disaffected Fox viewers: Last Friday the channel averaged 700,000+ viewers from 4 to 8pm, up from 100,000 on a good day prior to the election.
On Monday night, Kelly alternated between playing dumb and playing confident. One minute he self-assuredly said "it's not over yet" and "these things are still under review" and, regarding Biden, "I don't think he will be president." The next minute he ignorantly asked why Trump's "I won" posts were being flagged by Twitter, but Biden's posts were not, when Twitter's policy about election claims is public for all to see. He basically did a dumbed-down version of Sean Hannity's show, complete with aggrieved banners like "TRUMP SUPPORTERS ATTACKED" and "MICHELLE OBAMA IS SO BORING." I was amused by the banner that said "MSM CALLING TRUMP A LIAR" because there is nothing controversial about media figures covering Trump's lies. But in the pro-Trump fictional universe, the people correcting the lies are the liars...
Far-right shows provide false hope
According to Newsmax's talk shows, the president is still in it to win it, and big breaking news might be right around the corner. I can see why this coverage is exciting, even though it's a lie. Kelly's guests on Monday night were Trump lawyers Victoria Toensing and Jenna Ellis and strategist Dick Morris. Kelly assured the audience that "the president has some of the best lawyers in the country working for him." Morris boldly stated that "I believe that this election was absolutely stolen." Kelly responded, "I agree with you," and "I feel like something is going to break our way, in a big way, very very soon." Later in the hour, he told Ellis that "tens of millions are rooting for you."
In the real world, Trump's longshot lawsuits are falling apart. Lawyers are quitting. But Newsmax is offering an alternative: A fantasyland where, in the words of 8pm host Grant Stinchfield's first guest, convicted liar Roger Stone, "it's pretty evident that President Trump actually won a majority of all legal votes cast."
Stinchfield cloaked himself in a facts-first mentality: "All anybody wants is the truth. that's all we're asking for." Then he claimed, without a shred of evidence, that "more than a million Trump supporters descended on DC" over the weekend. One has to wonder how these viewers will react when Biden's win IS certified and this false hope fizzles out...
What about One America News?
Trump has promoted OANN more than Newsmax over the years, and he did so again on Monday, tweeting "Try watching @OANN. Really GREAT!" However, the channel has not capitalized on the appetite for election denialism quite as much as Newsmax has, sources at the channel told me. Some shows have emphasized that OANN hasn't called the election yet. (This claim is meaningless since the channel doesn't have a decision desk.) Some talk show hosts have moved on and attacked Biden's transition team, while others have zoomed in on voter fraud fantasies. "We must stop the steal now," 9pm host Kara McKinney said in a promo on Monday.
Is this stuff working? Well, OANN is not rated by Nielsen, so we don't know. But Newsmax IS rated, and its shows are putting newfound pressure on Fox. At 7pm on Friday, for instance, Kelly averaged 168,000 viewers in the key cable news demo of 25- to 54-year-olds, while Martha MacCallum's Fox show "The Story" averaged 328,000 viewers in the demo. CNN was way ahead of both channels with 651,000 viewers in the demo for "Erin Burnett OutFront." Fox is not used to being in this position -- losing to CNN, and feeling pressure from far-right challengers. In response, the network is loudly touting its prime time lineup, showcasing promos that say they're "standing up for what's right..."
is Fox expanding Tucker's show?
Some curious comments from Tucker Carlson on Fox News Monday night: "Over the weekend we got a lot of calls asking if we're leaving Fox News. Ironically, at that very moment, we were working on a project to expand the amount of reporting and analysis we do in this hour across other parts of the company."
What was Carlson talking about? It's unclear. I was unaware of any chatter about Carlson leaving Fox. He seemed to be reacting to a fake post on Parler. But he told his viewers, "This show is not going anywhere. It's getting bigger. The people who run Fox News want more of it, not less, and we are grateful for that. We'll have specifics soon." Okay, how soon?
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- Craig Silverman and Ryan Mac's latest must-read: "Facebook knows that adding labels to Trump's false claims does little to stop their spread..." (BuzzFeed News)
-- Key detail from the story: Three Trump posts advancing election denialism "accounted for the three most-engaged posts on all of Facebook in the past 24 hours, according to CrowdTangle, an analytics platform owned by Facebook..."
-- Peter Wehner writes: "Obsessing over Trump, even as he burns out like a dying star, is emotionally unhealthy..." (The Atlantic)
-- "Trump Can't Fight the Laws of Presidential Eclipse:" Jack Shafer says "the man who craves attention above all is beginning to confront the public's growing indifference..." (Politico)
-- Manu Raju and Ali Zaslav with the latest from Capitol Hill: "While a growing number of Republicans say that the formal transition process should begin… few are willing to challenge Trump's lies that the election was stolen from him, an allegation rejected by GOP and Democratic election officials across the country." (CNN)
-- Ronald Brownstein's question: "Is Joe Biden ready to cope with an entire party committed to ignoring reality and corroding democratic institutions to placate its hard core base, even at the price of undermining the response to the coronavirus outbreak? Is American society ready for the implications of that?" (Twitter)
-- Monday's must-read: "The Oral History of CNN's Election Week." Kate Storey spoke with practically the entire team... (Esquire)
Stern shoots down Trump TV
Oliver Darcy writes: "Howard Stern on Monday went after Trump for ranting about Fox News, summarizing Trump's gripes with the channel as being over it having 'some reality' infused in its coverage of the election. Stern then turned his attention to the idea that Trump would launch his own TV network. '[If] he thinks running the country is hard, wait ‘til he has to run a news network,' Stern said. 'That’ll fail inside of a year like all the other businesses. This is just insanity what’s going on.'"
>> Stern added to Trump: "For once do something good for the country, calm down your f---ing loony hillbilly friends and tell them you lost the election and you’re going to help the transition..."
Vietor advises Biden on how to deal with Fox
Oliver Darcy writes: "Former Obama spokesperson Tommy Vietor published a column Monday advising Joe Biden on how to deal with Fox News. Vietor wrote that the Obama admin was 'bullied by the Washington axis of media elites' into treating Fox like a serious news org and encouraged Biden to 'learn from our mistakes.' He recommended Biden 'approach Fox News with eyes, not arms, wide open' and 'call Fox for what it is: an extension of the Republican Party.' Vietor also recommended Biden's admin 'develop closer ties with progressive outlets' and 'give them scoops and access and grow their audiences and influence the way Trump's team has nurtured fringe rags like Newsmax and OANN...'"
Coming up Tuesday on 'Fox & Friends'
It's pretty easy to predict what anti-Biden storylines will be promoted by "Fox & Friends" each day. Here's a prediction for Tuesday: The hosts will call out the "media" for throwing softballs at Biden.
Right after Biden's Q&A with reporters on Monday, Fox's Bill Hemmer quipped, "You've been watching what amounts to a bit of a lovefest here." Hemmer's comments have been promoted by Fox all evening long. Right-leaning hosts on Fox have repeatedly complained that the Biden press corps asks too many questions about Trump and not enough about Biden's plans. My reaction: By all means, Biden and his transition team should be more accessible. Of course they should field more Q's, more often. But the reason why reporters keep asking about Trump is because Trump is engaged in an unprecedented obstruction of the peaceful transfer of power. It's a big deal! Folks on Fox keep pretending that it's not...
Why has the WH stopped holding press briefings?
Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, has stopped doing her job. McEnany last formally briefed the WH press corps on Thursday, October 1 -- the same day Trump tested positive for Covid-19. The briefing room sat empty for more than a month. It was briefly used on Thursday, November 5 when Trump gave his lie-filled remarks about the election. But he took no questions... So October 1 is the last day any admin official took Q's from the briefing room.
McEnany has been making frequent appearances on TV as a Trump campaign spokeswoman, but not as a WH rep. Last week she literally referred a question to the White House. Everyone who has advocated for more transparency from the Biden camp should also be pressing Trump to hire a functioning press secretary and hold daily briefings amid this deepening Covid-19 crisis...
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- All of Monday's nightly newscasts led with the great news about the Moderna vaccine, followed by grim updates about the out-of-control spread of Covid-19 across the country... (Reuters)
-- CNN.com's headline: "Good news on the vaccine front shows 'light at the end of the tunnel.' For now, the Covid crisis is unabated..." (CNN)
-- The alarming case numbers and death totals demonstrate that "the coronavirus has become personal..." (NYT)
-- Laura Curran, the county executive of Nassau County, NY, used to be a reporter at the NY Daily News and The NY Post, and her eye for details comes through in this New Yorker essay about Nassau's fight against Covid-19... (TNY)
-- The NCAA is planning to host the entire men's March Madness tournament in Indianapolis... (CNN)
"A Promised Land" is here
Barack Obama's memoir is a historical document, a narrative journey back in time, and a jolt in the arm for struggling bookstores. "A Promised Land" is out on Tuesday -- and Kramers in DC is opening at midnight to mark the occasion.
The book "is shaping up to be one of the top-selling political memoirs of all time, and a potential lifeline for booksellers whose sales have plummeted during the pandemic," the NYT's Alexandra Alter and Elizabeth A. Harris wrote. Last night I said Crown was printing 3 million copies, but I was wrong – the publisher is allotting 3.4 million copies just for the US and Canada, "and another 2.5 million for international readers." Details here...
Obama's global media tour
Alter and Harris noted that the book is being released simultaneously "around the world, and will be available in 19 languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, Finnish, Romanian and Chinese," with other translations still in the works.
A global launch means a global book tour. Obama spoke with historian David Olusoga of BBC Arts for an interview that will be broadcast later this week. The highlights are already online here. Obama's other interviews with international outlets include Univision in the US and Latin America; Germany's Bertelsmann Media Network and ZDF; France 2; Brazil's Globo Network; and Nieuwsuur in The Netherlands.
In the US "we are very divided right now, certainly more than we were when I first ran for office in 2007 and won the presidency in 2008," Obama told the BBC.
He said the spread of misinfo "turbocharged by social media" is a big difference between then and now. "There are millions of people who subscribed to the notion that Joe Biden is a socialist, who subscribed to the notion that Hillary Clinton was part of an evil cabal that was involved in paedophile rings," Obama said. "I think at some point it's going to require a combination of regulation and standards within industries to get us back to the point where we at least recognize a common set of facts before we start arguing about what we should do about those facts."
-- Obama to NPR's Michel Martin: "What role can we play in rebuilding social trust?"
-- He also shared a Spotify playlist of songs to accompany the book...
Dorsey and Zuckerberg testify again on Tuesday
CNN Business senior editor for programming Elana Zak tweeted: "Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey and Jack Dorsey's beard are appearing before a Senate committee tomorrow. (Yes, again.) In case you forgot, this was Jack Dorsey's beard last time."
The hearing before the GOP-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee is titled "Breaking the News: Censorship, Suppression, and the 2020 Election." It'll get underway at 10am...
TUESDAY PLANNER
"Baseball for Breakfast" resumes on ESPN at 4:30am ET... Scroll down for details...
The NYT's two-day Dealbook conference begins, in online summit form, with Dr. Anthony Fauci and other key speakers...
CITIZEN BY CNN is back with "What Next, America?" at 10am ET...
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
By Oliver Darcy:
-- Daisuke Wakabayashi reports that, according to researchers, right-wing channels "pushing unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud are gaining a larger share of views among conservative YouTube channels than before the election..." (NYT)
-- Philip Bump argues that Biden's "main political opponent" is "right-wing misinformation" and that it "remains unvanquished..." (WaPo)
-- Univ. of Illinois associate prof Nikki Usher's point is critical to understand: "Misinformation to those of us who believe in the reality-based media is information to the 75% of Republicans who don't trust mainstream journalism any more..." (Medium)
-- On Monday's "New Day," an ER nurse in South Dakota told Alisyn Camerota about the real-life effects that disinfo has on patients: "Their last dying words are, 'This can't be happening. It's not real.' And when they should be... FaceTiming their families, they're filled with anger and hatred..." (Twitter)
The Substack debate
Kerry Flynn writes: "Clio Chang's CJR feature on the rise of Substack, creatively called 'The Substackerati,' prompted debates across media Twitter, in particular thoughts from men with newsletters.
>> Glenn Greenwald ranted about the piece, in which he was name checked as someone who recently joined Substack and offers 'screeds about the dangers of cancel culture.' His tweets were emblematic of that description...
>> Andrew Sullivan retweeted one of Chang's old tweets about how the media industry is too white and too male, seemingly suggesting that made her unqualified to write about Substack...
>> Ben Thompson, on the other hand, criticized the substance of the piece, including the premise of whether Substack is a platform or a publisher...
>> Chang asks, 'Did a newsletter company create a more equitable media system—or replicate the flaws of the old one?' While I don't think the piece answered the question -- or rather the answer ended up being 'it depends' -- Chang was thorough and fair. I also appreciated the spotlight on Patrice Peck, a freelance writer who I interviewed after she spoke out about diversity problems at BuzzFeed and have greatly admired her work since. Read it..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
-- ICYMI: Michelle Obama posted on Instagram about how "she put her anger aside for a peaceful transition..." (CNN)
-- "The Daily 202" newsletter author James Hohmann is becoming a columnist for WaPo's Opinions section... (Twitter)
-- The NYT's Caitlin Dickerson is jumping to The Atlantic as a staff writer... (Atlantic)
-- Wondering why Harry Styles was trending on Monday? Conservative pundits Candace Owens and Ben Shapiro are under fire after shaming pop star Harry Styles for wearing a dress on the cover of Vogue..." (LAT)
Job opening: The Atlantic CEO
Kerry Flynn writes: "Who will be The Atlantic's next CEO? Business Insider uncovered some of the apparently 100 people David Bradley has interviewed. Names reportedly under consideration include Insider's global EIC Nich Carlson (a disclosure in the story), former Hearst exec David Carey, former Quartz publisher Jay Lauf and Dotdash CEO Neil Vogel. Previously, Digiday reported former The Hollywood Reporter co-president and chief creative officer Janice Min and BI cofounder Kevin Ryan were candidates..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
By Kerry Flynn:
-- Flipboard expects to generate $1M in revenue from affiliate commissions this year as it invests more in commerce, Max Willens reports... (Digiday)
-- Samantha Ragland shares tips on how journalists can avoid burnout... (Poynter)
-- Quartz says it had its "best week ever" for membership, adding 1,200 new members last week after news of CEO and cofounder Zach Seward buying out the company from Uzabase. Quartz now has 25,000 paying members...
-- Russell Contreras joins Axios as a justice and race reporter. He was most recently at AP... (Twitter)
Two notable new documentaries
Brian Lowry writes: "Two notable documentaries premiere on Tuesday. 'American Voices: A Nation in Turmoil,' airing via Frontline, looks at the sharp partisan divide in the US; and 'The Test and the Art of Thinking' explores the flaws in the SAT and ACT exams, which, as one tutor interviewed notes, 'primarily measures mastering the tricks of taking it.' The latter will be available on demand via iTunes and Amazon..."
Baseball for breakfast
Here's the latest from the ESPN Press Room: "ESPN’s exclusive English-language coverage of the 2020 KBO League season culminates with the 2020 Korean Series, which begins Tuesday, November 17 at 4:30 a.m. ET on ESPN2."
Taylor Swift speaks out about sale of her masters
"Scooter's Big Payday" is the headline on Variety.com Monday night: "Some 17 months after Scooter Braun's Ithaca Holdings acquired Big Machine and its music assets, the manager has sold the master rights to Taylor Swift's first six albums for over $300 million."
Chloe Melas picks up from there: "Swift took to Twitter on Monday to post a lengthy and emotional message about the music exec. She said she was never even given a chance to buy her masters back. She said in her message that she has also begun re-recording her old music, which she called 'exciting' and 'creatively fulfilling...'"
A magical tour of George Lucas' galaxy
Brian Lowry writes: "The 1978 'Star Wars' holiday special was notoriously bad, which makes it ripe for the sort of cheeky sendup that Lego specializes in providing. Enter 'Lego Star Wars Holiday Special,' a Disney+ offering that playfully takes fans through 40-some-odd years of "Star Wars" history, as characters celebrate 'Life Day,' which was at the center of the original. Read on..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX
-- On the eve of her book launch, Dolly Parton has advice for a "divided" America, Lisa Respers France writes... (CNN)
-- Hulu is hiking the price of its live TV subscription bundle by $10 a month... (TheWrap)
-- The newest episode of "The Simpsons" is a send-up of the true crime podcast craze... (Hulu)
-- One more item from Lisa: Ethan Hawke says he learned a valuable lesson from River Phoenix's death... (CNN)
Cinemark and Universal's deal
This is, as the LAT's Ryan Faughnder writes, "the latest crack in the traditional theatrical window during the COVID-19 pandemic:"
"Cinemark Theatres, the third-largest cinema chain in the U.S., has reached an agreement with Universal Pictures to allow early home video releases for the studio's movies... Under the terms of the deal, all of Universal's theatrical films will stay in theaters exclusively for at least 17 days after their debut before they become available on video on-demand services, the companies said. Movies that open to more than $50 million at the domestic box office will stay in theaters exclusively for at least five weekends, or 31 days." Read on...
>> Faughnder noted on Twitter: "The odds that a movie opens to more than $50 million in domestic box office before next summer are pretty much zilch..."
LAST BUT NOT LEAST...
Pet of the day
Pat writes in: "I nominate my rescue cat for pet of the day. This is Jilly; sometimes I call her Jilly Bean. Her early life may have been traumatic, as she had no hair on her ears and appeared very wary of people. Now Jilly is by my side each morning when we read the newsletter. I think the photo demonstrates that she feels safe with me, as she lays on top of her favorite toy, the peacock feather."
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