Brian Stelter here at 9:30pm ET Monday with the latest on Mike Lindell, Spotify, Maggie Haberman, National Review, "SNL," Taylor Swift, and much more... Unimaginable
More than 500,000 Americans dead from Covid. More than 500,000 lives cut short by a pandemic the rest of us will never forget. Journalists are stretching for words and illustrations and imagery to meet the magnitude of the moment.
As NPR's Pien Huang wrote Monday, "Losing half a million lives to this disease was unimaginable when the first few people died of COVID-19 in the U.S last February."
Huang quoted Dr. Camara Phyllis Jones, a past president of the American Public Health Association, who said "the massive number and the loss of those people from our society has not been acknowledged. We cannot think these people are disposable and dispensable and that we can just get along very well without them. It's those kinds of blinders that sap the strength of the whole society."
President Biden and his administration did their best to acknowledge the loss with a tribute and a candlelit moment of silence at the White House at nightfall on Monday. The broadcast networks carried it live along with the major cable news networks. Several of the broadcasts showed faces of the victims and personalized the unfathomable loss.
"Please don’t look away from this or grow numb to the pandemic," CNN's Lisa Respers France, a daily contributor to this newsletter, tweeted on Monday. Lisa's father died last week. She wrote, "My dad & my uncle are included in this number and it's a pain I wish on no one. Death always hurts, but it’s excruciating when you know it didn't have to be."
CNN's Brianna Keilar "broke down on air" while "sharing tragic clips of those who have lost family members to Covid-19 — urging viewers to remember the lives lost even if they are 'tapped out' and 'tired' of the pandemic," Mediaite's Leia Idliby wrote.
"I know it is hard. I hear it from so many of you," Keilar said. "I know you're tired. I know you're tapped out. It has been more than a year since the first reported coronavirus case. The quarantining, the hoping that this would subside only to realize that it wouldn't any time soon, the struggling to make ends meet, the worrying that if this is the day you might spike a fever or start to cough, the juggling your job while you're homeschooling your kids, being afraid to see your grandparents, being afraid to see your grandkids, knowing that there is a vaccine that you and your loved ones can't yet get, struggling with mental health. And for almost 500,000 Americans this past year, losing their lives. This is a collective loss. We're taking this moment to acknowledge that. You are not alone. And if you are lucky enough to still have a little fuel in your tank today, it is a good day to remind someone in your life that you are there for them."
Faith, reflection, healing
CNN is airing "We Remember 500,000: A National Memorial Service for Covid-19" at 11pm ET Monday. I asked host Jake Tapper how the special hour-long program came about. "Last spring, given the refusal of the administration to acknowledge the momentous loss our nation was suffering, a good friend of mine suggested CNN fill that chasm," Tapper replied. "That was for 100,000 dead from Covid in the US." (The special aired on Sunday, May 31.)
"Tragically, we're at another gruesome and heartbreaking milestone, 500,000. So it made even more sense to take a moment to try to honor the loss, and maybe find community and maybe even larger meaning in faith and reflection," Tapper said. "I am grateful as always to work at a news network and for a boss that allow such moments."
We will never know the total death toll
At Monday's Covid response team briefing, a reporter brought up the fact that "some officials and health experts have said that we are almost certainly undercounting COVID-19 deaths in this country." CDC director Rochelle Walensky affirmed that: "I think that when history writes this, we will understand that the mortality related to this pandemic is far greater than the numbers that we have been counting, for numerous reasons." ![]() FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE -- "By now, we all know someone who grieves, or worse, someone who's gone," John Berman said on "AC360." And "whatever scale the loss may be, whether close enough to touch or too large to grasp, it's clear by now that we've all seen too much..." (Video via Twitter)
-- Dr. Sanjay Gupta wrote: "If I tell you the story of 1 person who died of Covid-19, you are likely to have lots of empathy. If I tell you that story 500K times, your empathy may start to fatigue. We can't let that happen. These numbers should not wash over you and please don't let your compassion fade..." (Twitter)
-- Correction: In last night's newsletter I said Jared Holt is affiliated with Right Wing Watch. But that's no longer the case: He is now a resident fellow at The Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab...
-- What can we all learn from coverage of President Trump? Perry Bacon Jr. reflected on his own coverage and offers nine lessons on the topic... (538)
-- "We have to dig deep:" Read Rolling Stone's new profile of PBS correspondent Yamiche Alcindor... (RS)
-- A must-read by CNN's Jim Sciutto: "The Capitol rioters speak just like the Islamist terrorists I reported on..." (WaPo) Yemeni journalist jailed for 'doing his job'
"Rights groups are calling for the release of jailed Yemeni journalist Adel al-Hasani after news of his more than five-month detention broke earlier this month," CNN's Salma Abdelaziz reported Monday.
"Hasani, who has worked with several prominent media outlets including CNN, was detained at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Aden last September. At the time of his arrest, Hasani was working to secure the release of two European journalists who were held in the port city of Mocha and later deported, according to one of those journalists." Please read about this case here... TUESDAY PLANNER A bipartisan Senate inquiry into the Capitol riot will begin...
"Superman & Lois" premieres on the CW... Brian Lowry will have a full review tomorrow...
I'll be speaking at this "Trust Falls!" event organized by students at BCC in Montgomery County, MD... Dems demand answers from TV providers
Oliver Darcy writes: "Two congressional Democrats wrote letters to the top TV providers — including Comcast, AT&T, Spectrum, Charter, Dish, and Verizon — expressing concern about their role 'disseminating misinformation' to millions, NYT's Rachel Abrams scooped Monday. 'Misinformation on TV has led to our current polluted information environment that radicalizes individuals to commit seditious acts and rejects public health best practices, among other issues in our public discourse,' said the letters from Reps. Anna Eshoo and Jerry McNerney, which were sent ahead of Wednesday's disinfo hearing in the House. I checked in with the major TV providers to see if they had any comment, but didn't get any..."
>> Darcy adds: "In their letters, Eshoo and McNerney posed a number of questions — some of which I have asked and been unable to get the answers to — to TV providers. One question asked, 'What moral or ethical principles (including those related to journalistic integrity, violence, medical information, and public health) do you apply in deciding which channels to carry or when to take adverse actions against a channel?' Another question asked, 'Do you require, through contracts or otherwise, that the channels you carry abide by any content guidelines?' Those are fair questions these companies do not seem to want to answer..."
>> Fox News Media's response to the inquiry: "For individual members of Congress to highlight political speech they do not like and demand cable distributors engage in viewpoint discrimination sets a terrible precedent..." FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO -- "Networks booking election-deniers helps keep Trump's Big Lie alive," Charlotte Klein writes... (Vanity Fair)
-- Erik Wemple's take on ABC booking Steve Scalise on its Sunday show: "When you're dealing with these election liars, there is no solution. Let them stick to their more friendly interviewers at Fox News? Invite them on the Sunday shows at the risk that they’ll poison the airwaves? Both options stink..." (WaPo)
-- "Months after social media giant YouTube promised to crack down on misinformation," Rudy Giuliani "is still pushing conspiracy theories on the platform," Beatrice Mount and Madeline Peltz point out... (Media Matters)
-- Lindsey Ellefson says "Fox & Friends" helped Ted Cruz with his post-Cancun image rehab: "The morning show focused instead on the investigation into the potential leak of Cruz’s flight information from an airline employee" instead of his trip... (TheWrap) Dominion v. Mike Lindell
"Dominion Voting Systems filed a defamation lawsuit Monday against MyPillow chief executive Mike Lindell, accusing him of seeking to boost pillow sales by promoting false claims that Dominion's voting machines were manipulated to rig the 2020 election against President Donald Trump," WaPo's Emma Brown wrote... "The lawsuit says Lindell contributed to a 'viral disinformation campaign' about Dominion on social media, in broadcast interviews, at pro-Trump rallies and in a two-hour documentary" that "he created and paid to have aired 13 times this month on One America News." Lindell says he's looking forward to the discovery process...
"The lie sells pillows"
Monday's lawsuit shows the "Stop the Steal" grift in action: As I commented on "CNN Newsroom," Dominion is charging that Lindell "sells the lie to this day because the lie sells pillows." So there's a commercial, not just political, motivation for Lindell. His embrace of the Big Lie is, at least in theory, rewarded by Trump true believers who turn around and buy more pillows... Have you noticed this?
The NYT's Katie Rogers hit on what a lot of national reporters have noticed lately: Weekends are back. She says Biden's "demonstrable uninterest in generating audacious headlines only emphasizes how much the Trump-size hole in Washington has created a sense of free time in all realms of the capital. Psychically, if not literally."
I told Rogers that "we used to leave a five-minute-size hole" in Sunday's "Reliable Sources," expecting some sort of big news to break on Saturday night, but "now we don’t assume that's going to happen anymore." But we're still ready if it does, of course! Here's her story... FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE -- The lead story on NYTimes.com right now: "The Supreme Court cleared the way for prosecutors in New York to obtain former President Trump’s federal income tax returns and other records..." (NYT)
-- "Reporters have griped about Biden's personal inaccessibility, especially when compared with Trump's reliable lack of filter," Jon Allsop notes... (CJR)
-- Jen Psaki said Monday that Biden will have a solo press conference at some point, "but I don't have a date for you..." (WH.gov)
-- Abby Phillip has joined the board of the News Literacy Project... (NLP) ![]() The former president and the boss...
Kerry Flynn writes: "Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen are teaming up for a podcast that will be heard exclusively on Spotify. It's the latest big release in Spotify's growing library of exclusive podcasts and one of dozens of announcements the company made on Monday as part of its virtual event, Stream On." Here are the other headline-worthy moves:
>> Expanding to more than 80 new markets to potentially reach 1 billion people
>> Spotify HiFi, a higher-quality audio service at a pricier subscription fee
>> New tools for podcast creators including integrations with WordPress
>> Paid podcast subscriptions, allowing creators to charge a fee for exclusive content
>> Spotify Audience Network, an ad marketplace to reach listeners across the platform
>> Plus, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made a buzzy appearance
"There is not one Spotify"
Shortly after after Monday's event, Flynn spoke with Courtney Holt, Spotify's head of studios and video. Three takeaways from the conversation:
>> Machine learning is everything: "The secret sauce of Spotify is it just has this incredible foundation for discovery... There is not one Spotify. It's one for each individual."
>> Video is growing: "It's a mishmash of things" at Spotify with music videos, podcasts as "backgroundable videos" (not necessary to watch) and "then video output based on our IP."
>> Not focused on live: "I think this idea of synchronous and asynchronous play different roles. But our focus is really we want to make sure we're great at the on-demand element of it." FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR By Kerry Flynn:
-- Alison Overholt has been named general manager of O, the Oprah Magazine, and Arianna Davis has been promoted to senior director of editorial and strategy, as the brand plans for a new name, refreshed website and membership program... (WWD)
-- The Charleston Post and Courier launched a new watchdog project called "Uncovered." A team of six will work with small community papers to report and distribute coverage, Sarah Scire reports... (NiemanLab)
-- Pocket Outdoor Media is rebranding to Outside, after acquiring five outdoor sports media and tech companies and raising $150 million, per Sara Fischer... (Axios)
-- "Ad buyers see potential in Gannett-McClatchy local ad network’s pitch to national brands," Sara Guaglione writes... (Digiday) Haberman's new beat
Oliver Darcy writes: "Now that the Trump White House is in the rearview mirror, Maggie Haberman is getting a new beat. NYT announced Monday that Haberman will join the paper's investigative/enterprise team to 'help land stories and projects about the new administration.' Additionally, Haberman will 'continue to work with the Politics desk to track the post-Trump landscape and the early rumblings of the 2022 midterms and the 2024 presidential campaign.' Haberman's colleague Katie Rogers joked that Haberman 'now has the opportunity to ruin the days of even more competitors...'" National Review Online's new editor
National Review EIC Rich Lowry announced a big organizational change to the conservative mag on Monday. Charlie Cooke, who has been the top editor for National Review Online since 2016, will become a full-time writer again. Filling his spot will be Philip Klein, the exec editor of the Washington Examiner... Key findings from Pew's 2020 report
Oliver Darcy writes: "Pew Research Center on Monday released its report examining how Americans 'navigated the news in 2020.' The report found that, unsurprisingly, there are 'dramatic divides between different groups of Americans based on where people get their information about what is going on in the world.' Here are some of the bullet points..."
>> "Overall, 24% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents consistently turned only to sources with right-leaning audiences ... and 25% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents chose only outlets with left-leaning audiences..."
>> "Republicans who turned to Donald Trump as a key source of news about these events had different perspectives from Republicans who did not..."
>> "Just 6% of Republicans who only used Fox News or talk radio as major sources for post-election news said there had been too much attention paid to the fraud allegations, compared with 78% who said there had been too little attention..."
>> "U.S. adults whose most common way of getting political and election news is social media lag behind Americans who turn to most other sources of news in their knowledge and understanding of national politics, current events and the COVID-19 pandemic..."
>> "For Republicans, attention to news about the COVID-19 outbreak diminished throughout the year .... Democrats’ overall level of attention to COVID-19 news remained much steadier, with modest dips..." A virtual memorial for Limbaugh
Oliver Darcy writes: "Kathryn Limbaugh announced Monday that she is in the 'initial stages of planning' a virtual memorial for her late husband Rush Limbaugh. The announcement came when Kathryn took calls from listeners on Monday's program. She said that the coronavirus had posed challenges for having an in-person memorial, but added that there will be a 'celebration of life that will be able to be viewed by all of the audience and friends and extended family at some point in the near future.'" FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE -- "Discovery Inc. is the latest to take advantage of consumers' embrace of streaming media. Q4 earnings came in higher than expected. Subscriptions for its new Discovery+ are on pace to reach 12 million by the end of this month..." (Barrons)
-- "Cord-cutting stats for the full 2020 are in now that Dish has reported its Q4 sub count today," Andrew Wallenstein noted... (Twitter)
-- Steven Zeitchik's reaction: "So with all the hullabaloo over cord-cutting in the past four years, the drop in the number of Americans with some form of TV package is exactly...9 percent. I guess people love their cable channels after all." (Twitter)
-- Eye on the NFL TV rights battle: "The gap between the initial offers from Disney and the NFL is around $1 billion per year -- a difference so vast that some ESPNers have suggested the network could be better served by walking away from the deal," John Ourand reports... (SBJ) Megan Thee Stallion on the cover of Bazaar
An Phung writes: "Alaa Elassar wrote about why Megan Thee Stallion's appearance on the cover of Harper's Bazaar March issue matters. The rapper 'hasn't wavered in her beliefs, and continues to invite fans to join her in advocating for equality and diverse representation in all aspects of society,' Elassar wrote. 'It's a message that even old-school fashion magazines can no longer ignore.' Read on..." ![]() The status of the "Jeopardy!" host search
As I mentioned yesterday, "Jeopardy!" exec producer Mike Richards is the next guest-host of the game show. USA Today's Gary Levin interviewed Richards about the challenge of replacing Alex Trebek and wrote that "'Jeopardy!' will take its time and may not replace Trebek until the show begins its 38th season in syndication in September." Katie Couric, Anderson Cooper and others will guest-host in the months ahead.
Here's what Richards told Levin: "We're going to look at the guest hosts, we want to see how the community reacts, how people feel. I felt it was very important to not choose someone right away, because we are all still mourning Alex, we all still miss him. Whoever we put in that role would have been in an unwinnable war, so that’s the reason for the direction that we've taken. My guess is it's going to be the end of this season or the summer when we’re going to make that announcement. That decision hasn't been made. It's not like I've got the person and I'm just holding them back. We’re legitimately looking at some of these (guest hosts), and some of them are just there for charity and to show their love of the game." Full Q&A here... Seven years later...
Jamie and I celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary in pandemic style on Monday by picking up sushi to-go at a local restaurant and scrolling through our phones to find pictures from the ceremony. (It was more romantic than it sounds!) Jamie found a couple screen grabs that you might appreciate: Specifically, the "Reliable Sources" segment from this day in 2014 that was titled "THE DONALD'S FIFTEEN MINUTES MAY BE UP."
Yes, that Donald.
I had pre-taped the show a couple of days before the wedding. The TV segment specifically asked: "Shouldn't reporters stop covering his circus-like antics?" Well, seven years later, that same question still arises from time to time. I suppose the 2014 conversation was way, way ahead of its time 😉 ![]() Two more political/historical miniseries in the works
Brian Lowry writes: "Not one, but two new politically themed limited series were announced Monday by pay networks: Julia Roberts and Sean Penn will play Martha Mitchell and Nixon Attorney General John Mitchell in 'Gaslit,' for Starz; and fresh off 'The Crown,' Gillian Anderson will play Eleanor Roosevelt in 'The First Lady,' Showtime's anthology series. Other installments of the latter, previously announced, will feature Viola Davis as Michelle Obama and Michelle Pfeiffer as Betty Ford..." FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX -- "Amazon Studios has acquired the worldwide rights to the documentary 'Mayor Pete,' which follows Pete Buttigieg on his campaign trail..." (TheWrap)
-- Movie theater chain stocks soared on Monday after NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that theaters in NYC "will be allowed to reopen at 25% capacity" on March 5... (Deadline)
-- In the meantime: "More and more Hollywood studios are concealing their box office grosses amid the pandemic and ongoing theater closures," Pamela McClintock points out... (THR)
-- Disney is "teaming with For All Mankind creator Ron Moore to develop a franchise for streamer Disney+ that is set in Disney's beloved Magic Kingdom," Lesley Goldberg reports... (THR)
-- "SNL" was "burning for 'Bridgerton' breakout star Regé-Jean Page, who brought the heat and the ratings to the sketch comedy this weekend..." (LAT)
-- Olivia Rodrigo's "Drivers License" is leading both of Billboard's global charts for a sixth straight week... (Billboard) Success 'Story'
Sandra Gonzalez writes: "Taylor Swift's re-recording of 'Love Story' is now a success story. 'Love Story (Taylor's Version)' debuted at No. 1 on this week's Hot Country Songs chart, according to Billboard. The song is shockingly Swift's first No. 1 debut on that chart..." One on one with Zack Snyder
Brian Lowry writes: "Vanity Fair's Anthony Breznican has a lengthy interview with Zack Snyder, about the tragedy that explained his exit from 'Justice League' originally, and the micro-managing by Warner Bros. that contributed to the decision behind the scenes. Among other tidbits, Snyder says he has never seen the version that was released in 2017, having been advised by his wife, Deborah, not to watch it. The piece also points out that some of those advocating on social media for the Snyder cut of the movie -- described as 'a noxious contingent of followers' -- actually set back the campaign..." Caption contest >>> ![]() Seemingly every time I turned on Fox News on Monday, hosts and guests were talking about Disney adding an "offensive contest" disclaimer to some old episodes of "The Muppet Show." Somehow this was cast as "cancel culture," as evidenced by Donald Trump Jr.'s tweet that "apparently The Muppets have now been canceled. There’s nothing these psychos won’t destroy." Fandom managing editor Eric Goldman responded: "Disney literally just made this show available to a huge audience, many of whom have never been able to see it before, so this is a truly fascinating use of the word 'cancelled.'" But voices like Goldman weren't given airtime on Fox; instead, the daytime shows were in "freak out" mode... ![]() LAST BUT NOT LEAST...
"News hound" of the day!
Reporter Andrew Feinberg writes: "I hereby nominate this very good girl for Dog of the Day. Her name is Pippa, and one of my few regular non-work-related outings over the past eleven months has been my occasional trips to dog-sit her when her human has had an unavoidable engagement. By outward appearances, Pippa is a cattle dog/dachshund mix. But over the course of many visits with her, I’ve discovered that she might be more accurately described in her native language (German, of course) as a pressehund, or 'news hound.' Not only does she always perk up and pay close attention whenever the TV is tuned to cable news, she's even taken to helping me with the mundane tasks of reportage, such as looking over my copy to tell me if it’s too 'ruff,' and monitoring White House Zoom briefings." Here's another photo: ![]() ![]() Thank you for reading! Send us your feedback anytime. Oliver will be running the show tomorrow... Share this newsletter:
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