One month down, eleven to go! Brian Stelter here at 10:20pm ET Sunday...

Biden from the inside and outside

For a White House press corps that grew accustomed to multiple presidential interviews and gaggles per week, this "new normal" is an adjustment. To viewers and readers who resented the daily deluge of lies and smears and tweets, this is a relief.

President Biden is intentionally laying low — in yet another stark contrast to former President Trump. "Whereas Biden has not done a television interview, Trump had conducted three by this point in his presidency," Politico's Christopher Cadelago and Sam Mintz wrote Sunday.

Trump's narcissistic streak and Fox fixation often hurt him. Biden, on the other hand, may benefit from having aides speaking on his behalf. "Biden is leaning on doctors and health experts to publicly detail his Covid policy. He's relying on his Cabinet, economic advisers and other high-ranking administration officials to help sell his nearly $2 trillion rescue package," Cadelago and Mintz wrote. "Biden's press team, meanwhile, is standing in for their boss by blanketing TV programs with pledges to tell the truth even when it's inconvenient." All true – but reporters would definitely prefer more access to Biden...

>> Another point of contrast: "On Twitter alone, Biden has yet to announce anything approaching news, let alone reveal — as Trump often did — that he'd fired a top aide or scuttling his party's congressional negotiations..."

>> And yet, as Paul Begala says, Biden's team seems to be "enormously aware of the fact that simply not being Trump is no longer enough..."

"The experts get to talk"

"It is hard to overstate the magnitude of change that has taken place from the rampant disinformation and unhinged, politicized briefings of the last administration to the sober, professional communications we now see," WaPo's Jennifer Rubin wrote Sunday.

She highlighted the three-times-a-week Covid briefings -- Monday, Wednesday and Friday -- by officials from the Biden WH's coronavirus task force. The Biden WH's framing is that the experts are getting to lead. "The hearings are detailed and dry," Rubin wrote, "but they are thoroughly reassuring in that experts are finally able to speak openly and without political restraints..."

>> Press secretary Jen Psaki continues to bring key aides up to the briefing room podium as well. National security advisor Jake Sullivan is coming soon, I hear...

The growing power of progressive media

For years I've been trying to dissect the pro-Trump media universe. Now that Biden is in charge, the likes of Sean Hannity and Jeanine Pirro are losing power. Progressive voices are gaining power. So on Sunday's "Reliable Sources" we took a look at the progressive podcasters, writers and hosts who are pressuring the Democratic party and the Biden White House, with the help of WaPo reporter Dave Weigel and two opinion leaders, Briahna Joy Gray and Elizabeth Bruenig.

>> Weigel pointed out that Trump-era MAGA media was "really rotating around the president" while left-wing media has more of a bottom-up mentality. Structurally, there is no left equivalent to Fox News...

>> "Many progressives feel like there isn't enough of a willingness to be critical of the Democratic party and the ways in which it is itself an obstacle to the kind of economic equality we're all looking for," Gray said...

>> "Left media presents an image of the left political identity, and whether or not that can consolidate into something enduring is the difference between whether the left remains active and able to apply pressure, or whether it fades," Bruenig said. Watch the rest here...

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- Biden's big event on Monday, a visit to the State Department and a speech on "restoring America’s place in the world," has been postponed due to the storm... (CNN)

-- Did the VP's press outreach in West Virginia backfire? Key swing vote Joe Manchin "expressed frustration" about the local TV appearance by Kamala Harris – meant to stoke support for a Covid relief bill – and said "that's not a way of working together..." (The Hill)

-- BTW, some reporters noticed that Harris referred to West Virginia's 'abandoned land mines," when she meant "abandoned mine lands..." (Examiner)

-- Overall, the Biden WH is earning high marks for accuracy: The NYT checked out 20 of Biden's week-one claims and said all but three were accurate... (NYT)

-- Biden chief of staff Ron Klain's reaction to that Times story: "We're working hard to level with the American people. We won't always get it right. But we know that it matters." (Twitter)

-- "For the record," WaPo fact-checker Glenn Kessler said, "in the past week we have awarded 4 Pinocchios to Biden..." (WaPo)

-- Per Monmouth, Biden "starts out with a 54% approval rating," Harry Enten wrote. "While Biden's initial net approval rating is higher than Trump's ever was, it's nothing to really write home about... Hyperpartisanship likely isn't going away anytime soon..." (CNN)

Monday's big storm

"MAJOR WINTER STORM DRIVES EAST" is the banner headline on The Weather Channel website right now.

On Twitter, Joe Bernstein captured the harshness of a snow day when every day is a pandemic day: "Finally time to hunker down inside with my family and avail myself of the cornucopia of entertainment options and conversational topics I've neglected..."

Snowman in chief!

Marek Wałkuski, a WH correspondent for Polish radio, tweeted this photo with a caption that says in English, "Biden wasn't doing anything today so out of boredom I made a snowman."

Nice start, Wałkuski, but hopefully there will be lots more snow on Monday...

Media week ahead calendar

Monday: Black History Month begins...

Monday: The Sundance Film Festival continues... Scroll down for details...

Tuesday: Mark Harris releases "Mike Nichols: A Life" and Adam Grant releases "Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know." Another big new book: "Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019," edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain...

Tuesday: Alphabet and Amazon report earnings after the close...

Tuesday: "Fake Famous," Nick Bilton's documentary about influencer culture, premieres on HBO...

Wednesday: Spotify reports earnings before the bell; IAC after the close...

Wednesday: Golden Globes nominations will be announced at 8am ET...

Thursday: The NYT reports earnings before the bell; Snap and Pinterest after the close...

Thursday: SAG Awards nominations will be announced at 11am ET...

Sunday: The Super Bowl!

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- Trey Gowdy is this week's host of Fox's 7pm hour...

-- On Saturday CNN broke the news that Trump's defense team was falling apart... On Sunday, Trump named two new lawyers... (CNN)

-- NYT media reporter Michael Grynbaum provided some context: "One of Trump's new impeachment lawyers met with Jeffrey Epstein in prison and told Fox he didn't believe he killed himself. The other declined to prosecute Bill Cosby in 2005 for sexual assault, citing insufficient evidence." (Twitter)

-- "It appears that Trump will insist on repeating the same dangerous lie that sparked the Capitol riot -- that the election was stolen from him -- and led to his (second) impeachment in the first place," Elie Honig wrote... (CNN)

-- WaPo's Juliet Eilperin commented: "There is definitely a TV legal drama to be written about Trump's dispute with his lawyers for his second impeachment trial..." (Twitter)

-- Felix Salmon tweeted: "All these news stories seem to be predicated on the idea that, faced with a panel of 100 impartial judges, Trump will want a first-rate trial lawyer who will use the force of argument to persuade those judges to acquit him on the merits. In reality Trump knows that >95% of the judges already know how they’re going to vote, which makes the trial a cable-news reality-TV spectacle. Which is exactly the kind of thing he’s an expert in exploiting..." (Twitter)

-- There are seven powerhouse bylines on this NYT reconstruct titled "77 Days: Trump's Campaign to Subvert the Election..." (NYT)

-- Erick Erickson tweeted: "The number of people who continue to send me links to fringe websites I've never heard of as proof the election was stolen, etc. is rather alarming. Each has a common style -- they seize on an easily confirmable piece of truth then wrap it in a ton of lies and misstatements." (Twitter)

Reducing info-pollution

My opening monologue on Sunday's show proposed looking at Fox propaganda and social media hate speech through a prism of harm reduction. Facebook is not going away. Neither is Fox. But can the harm be reduced? That's the nuanced conversation that should be underway... Rather than the "CENSORED" screams that dominate right-wing TV. More here...

>> Also from Sunday's show: Nick Kristof says conservative media is scamming its audience...

Goldberg calls out Fox for lies

Oliver Darcy writes: "Speaking on Fox on Sunday, Jonah Goldberg called out Fox's prime time propagandists, saying that it 'should not be surprising' some critics want the network taken off the air when it allows some of its talent to 'perpetuate lies about the election being stolen' and shows more interest in 'canceling Liz Cheney than they are about canceling Marjorie Taylor Greene.' Goldberg said it was 'incumbent on institutions on either side to police their own in responsible ways and turn things down a little bit and not push out misinformation and lies...'"

>> Darcy adds: "While I agree with Goldberg's argument, the notion that this is an equal problem on 'both sides' of the political spectrum is misleading. Fox traffics in lies and conspiracy theories on a daily basis. It's actually impossible to keep up with the volume of misinfo the network pumps out. We need to stop suggesting outlets like MSNBC are on the opposite sides of the coin. They're not..."

Alex Jones' role in "Stop the Steal" rally comes to light

Alex Jones played a key role in helping spark the 'Stop the Steal' rally that preceded the riot on January 6. The WSJ, citing documents and unnamed rally organizers, reported Sunday that Jones pledged more than $50K to the event in exchange for a 'top speaking slot.' WSJ also reported that Jones helped facilitate a donation of approximately $300k from Publix Super Markets heiress Julie Jenkins Fancelli. Grassroots organizer Cindy Chafian confirmed Jones' assistance to CNN's Paul Murphy, saying, 'He agreed to pay for a percentage of the event...'"

"I apologize for thinking that you ate babies"

Oliver Darcy writes: "It's early in the year, but this segment from CNN's QAnon special, which aired over the weekend, should be nominated for most surreal cable news clip of 2021. A former QAnon believer explained to Anderson Cooper that he did really believe Cooper and others were drinking the blood of children. "I apologize for thinking that you ate babies," the QAnon believer said. As many pointed out, it was jarring to see a video interview demonstrating exactly how far down this rabbit hole this person had gone. Watch the segment here..."

>> Darcy adds: "While it's surreal to see, it's also important to point out that there are countless other Americans who believe this nonsense. Pulling these people back into reality is going to prove challenging..."

"Fairness," reconsidered

Brian Lowry writes: "Two separate but I think related tweets of note over the weekend: Citing political analyst Larry Sabato's observation that the GOP is 'no longer salvageable,' TPM's Josh Marshall tweeted 'It's remarkable to see -- one by one -- that guys who used to be the custodians of non-partisan or rather beyond partisan political analysis come to the conclusion the two sides are not equal and in fact the GOP is a pressing threat to democracy and America itself.' And former USA Today critic Robert Bianco -- commenting about the temporary shutdown of Covid vaccinations by protesters in L.A. -- said, 'We have over-indulged stupidity for far too long in this country and we're now paying a heavy price.' Those thoughts seemingly represent two sides of the same coin, echoing a point you've made regarding media: that we have indulged fringe positions in the name of fairness, and that it's increasingly no longer a tenable approach when the views espoused are simply divorced from reality..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- Shannon Bond reports on how QAnon followers are flocking to fringier platforms: "What they're essentially doing is walking straight into an incubator for radicalization," Jared Holt told her... (NPR)

-- On a related note: Listen to Sarah McCammon's piece about people who have lost family members to conspiracy theories... (NPR) And Sabrina Tavernise's story about "one woman's journey out of QAnon..." (NYT)

-- Big new reporting from the WSJ's Jeff Horwitz: Facebook's own research found that Groups "became a vector for the rabid partisanship and even calls for violence that inflamed the country after the election." Now the company is belatedly trying to get the product under control. Lots of damning details here... (WSJ)

-- It is not a "subversion of free-speech values" for "news organizations to make editing decisions or for social media platforms to make and enforce rules," Margaret Sullivan points out... (WaPo)

-- New York Mets owner Steve Cohen announced over the weekend he's suspending his personal social media use over "misinformation" which he says has "led to our family getting personal threats..." (CBS News)

-- Russell Brandom reports on how Facebook is "getting pulled into a fight about the politics of Israel" over how moderators "should treat the term ‘Zionist...'" (Verge)

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- CNN's latest Covid overview: "Covid-19 hospitalizations drop, but January has been the deadliest month of the pandemic. Here's what to expect next..." (CNN)

-- Jonathan Reiner on hopeful signs: "Hospitalizations have dropped 24% and daily cases have dropped 33% over the last 2 weeks. Nationwide positivity is down to 8.2%. These trends are very encouraging. Now is the time to surge vaccinations. Nothing is more important." (Twitter)

-- Important story on the front page of Sunday's NYT: "As Far-Right Peril Brewed, U.S. Scrutinized the Left." Trump's obsession with Antifa distracted federal agencies. And what drove Trump's obsession? His favorite Fox TV shows... (NYT)

-- Tom Llamas said goodbye to ABC News viewers on Sunday ahead of his expected leap to NBC. Will Linsey Davis replace him on the weekend evening news? (TVNewser)

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

-- Speaking of Blinken, Andrea Mitchell landed the first sit-down with him... It will air on "Today," "Nightly News," and MSNBC on Monday...

-- Fareed Zakaria had an exclusive interview with John Kerry, special presidential envoy for climate, for Sunday's "GPS." Highlights here... (CNN)

-- "21 Men Accuse Lincoln Project Co-Founder of Online Harassment:" The NYT built on articles in The American Conservative and Forensic News and detailed John Weaver's sexual overtures to young men, prompting the Lincoln Project to condemn him... (NYT)

-- Dan Froomkin says political reporters should be rebranded as "government reporters," freeing them "to cover what is happening in DC in the context of whether it is serving the people well, rather than which party is winning..." (Press Watch)

Virtual Sundance

"I haven't left the house since the festival started," A.O. Scott wrote in his diary about the virtual Sundance Film Festival. Here are his first three diary entries. "Maybe it's the absence of audible buzz, the familiar domestic setting or the technology, but this version of Sundance feels especially subjective," he wrote on Saturday...

Record-breaking sale

Deadline's Mike Fleming Jr. broke this news on Saturday: "In the first big deal of the 2021 virtual Sundance Film Festival, Apple has landed worldwide rights to 'CODA,' for a number just north of $25 million. That sets a new Sundance acquisitions record — above the $22.5 million that 'Palm Springs' received last year from Hulu/Neon."

Variety's Matt Donnelly pegged the purchase price slightly lower, at "close to $25 million." Either way, it's a record. "It came down to a pitched battle between Apple and Amazon," Fleming Jr. wrote. "Writer-director Siân Heder's coming-of-age drama is about a high school senior who is the only hearing person in her deaf family and is torn between holding together that unit or seeking her own dreams." This film has Oscar Best Picture contender written all over it. More here...

"Kick down some doors..."

Key quote from the director about "CODA," which is an acronym for Child of Deaf Adults: "I hope that this film and Apple's powerful support will help kick down some doors standing in the way of inclusion and representation and pave a path for more stories that center characters from the Deaf and Disabled community. The world has waited too long for these stories to be told. Now is the time. No more excuses."