Brian Stelter here, hitting send at 11:23pm ET on Monday, January 3, sharing the latest on Elizabeth Holmes, Apple, Andy Cohen, "Harry Potter," and much more...
Context for Jan. 6 anniversary coverage
In an earlier era, journalists might have made certain assumptions about the aftermath of a violent attack on the Capitol. They might have expected unanimous condemnation and calls for accountability. They might have anticipated that coverage of the aftermath would be a major story, one that Americans would follow with equal fervor, regardless of partisanship.
Journalists might have thought that damning revelations about the ringleaders of the attack would be appreciated by the public. They might have assumed that minds would remain open to new information. Or at least that minds wouldn't be wholly closed.
But we do not live in such a world -- and, if we're being honest with ourselves, we haven't lived there for quite some time. We live in a world where Donald Trump's top supporters malign the media for being "obsessed" with January 6. A world where loyal Republicans are supposed to minimize what happened; deflect blame onto Democrats; sow conspiracy theories that raise doubts about the crimes; or -- incredibly -- defend the ransacking of our Capitol.
This is why all the old expectations are all the way out the window. We're not a single story or smoking-gun confession or criminal charge away from snapping back to a shared reality. Instead, we're experiencing something that might be best explained by psychologists or therapists or algorithm developers. To be clear, a majority of Americans accept that President Biden won the election and affirm that the January 6 riot was un-American. But a minority, largely composed of Republicans, deny that reality and make excuses for the inexcusable. And no amount of new information can persuade that minority. So what should the reality-based media call that denial?
Big picture context for this week's anniversary
Trump's attempted coup and the atrocious violence at the Capitol on January 6 didn't change the disturbing dynamics of our media environment, it only crystallized them. One year later, those dynamics are even more entrenched. Folks watching this week's news coverage of the anniversary on ABC or CNN or PBS should remember that folks watching Trump's approved channels aren't seeing the same thing. They're hardly seeing any riot-related coverage on Fox at all. And when the conversations do happen on far-right TV, blame-shifting and conspiracizing are the norm. (Watch how Trump's press conference is and isn't covered on Thursday.)
"The denialism is very much rooted in kind of a desire not to be pinned with something that was so horrific," researcher Nicole Hemmer told me. So it's a face-saving move, an attempt "to reclaim some good higher ground," she said.
Hemmer and I agreed that there will never be a widely agreed-upon narrative of 1/6. "I think it's important to recognize just how much the right sees itself as a victim of January 6 rather than the perpetrator," she said. Jonathan Swan of Axios has some new reporting about that.
That's the perfect set-up for this next item...
Donie's dispatch from DC
Donie O'Sullivan writes from DC: "Because of disinformation, denial and diversion, Americans do not have a shared understanding – a shared history – of what happened here on January 6 last year. In our Monday night report for 'AC360,' I spoke with Trump supporters about how they remember, and misremember, January 6. Many of the people I met who are genuinely convinced the 2020 election was rigged now seem to genuinely believe it wasn't Trump supporters who were at the Capitol that day." Here are a few of the memorable comments from Trump loyalists:
>> Lisa: "The Democrats were behind it all. They're the ones that caused it all."
>> Anita: "I think the whole reporting of it is a giant hoax."
>> Marge: "We are very peaceful people. So it was a total set-up. To me, it was the FBI had set it up."
>> Jeanie: "Trump won the election. They've proven it over and over again."
Donie adds: "There's a very sophisticated infrastructure of disinformation by design -- including both right-wing TV and social media rabbit holes -- so if people want to live in this narrative, they can, very happily. But here's what I see: Growing distrust in the integrity of American elections; a failure to acknowledge or learn from an attack on the Capitol; and an ongoing campaign to get election deniers to become election officials. None of it paints a pretty picture of what might come in the years ahead..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- Ipsos VP Mallory Newall discussing the firm's new poll for NPR: "There is really a sort of dual reality through which partisans are approaching not only what happened a year ago on Jan. 6, but also generally with our presidential election and our democracy..."
-- David Frum's insightful comment: "Unlike the 9/11 trauma, this is an interior challenge. It makes it in some ways more difficult and in many ways more painful..."
-- Michael Fanone, who was beaten by rioters on 1/6 and recently resigned from the DC police force, officially joined CNN as a law enforcement analyst on Monday. "Welcome to the family," Don Lemon told him on air...
-- Fanone discussed this awful newly released footage of a three-hour video of a battle between rioters and police. The footage demonstrates how the story of 1/6 keeps getting bigger and bigger, even as pro-Trump outlets try to make it shrink and shrink...
-- Look to Erick Erickson's Twitter feed for illustrative examples of right-wing reaction to the anniversary. "There is a genuine obsession in the press about" 1/6, he wrote Sunday. "It was a bad day, but it doesn't outweigh crime, inflation, COVID, school closures, etc. for voters." A bad day...
Talking about trauma
"We don't talk enough about the trauma many journalists endure — in large part because we are not supposed to know about it: Journalists never want to eclipse the subjects and broader themes at the heart of our stories," Jason Rezaian writes in his latest WaPo piece. But those journalists -- like the ones who "covered the insurrection, documenting the most direct threat to our democracy since the Civil War" -- need care and support, he writes.
This is why I led Sunday's "Reliable Sources" telecast with two reporters who have been candid about their mental health in the months after 1/6. Hunter Walker was on the outside the building, covering the attack for Yahoo, and Grace Segers was on the inside, reporting for CBS. "We're all kind of feeling the same thing right now, this sort of disbelief that already a year has gone by and here we are," Segers, now a staff writer at the New Republic, said. "There's a bit of an informal network of reporters who've been through it that day, and are still coping with that, who are leaning on each other and talking to each other," Walker, now the author of The Uprising newsletter, said.
Both emphasized the need for accountability. Walker said right-wing riot denialism "has almost made me want to stick to the story even more and made me mission-driven in my approach." Watch part one and part two here...
"We also need to focus on democracy's heroes"
Oliver Darcy writes: "Margaret Sullivan's Monday column was all about encouraging news orgs to put pro-democracy coverage front and center -- and it included some suggestions, such as placing stories on the subject in front of paywalls. But one other idea stood out to me: doing more to spotlight the people standing up for our democratic system, as much as spotlighting those who are working to tear it down. As Ruth Ben-Ghiat told Sullivan, 'We focus on the enemies of democracy, the villains, but we also need to focus on democracy's heroes.' Read on..."
White-noise factor?
Brian Lowry writes: "On Tuesday night PBS is airing 'American Insurrection,' the 'Frontline' report that was originally broadcast in April, and has been updated with new interviews and material. What I kind of fear is a white-noise factor with the crush of programming/special reports related to Jan. 6 this week..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- This report by Drew Harwell is the lead story in Tuesday's edition of the Post. Since Jan. 6, he writes, "the pro-Trump Internet has descended into infighting over money and followers..." (WaPo)
-- Brandy Zadrozny and Ben Collins are out with a new report about how "extremism in the U.S. shifted after Jan. 6..." (NBC News)
-- Check out Paul LeBlanc's analysis of new polling about the "rising acceptance of political violence..." (CNN)
-- Philip Bump's followup to new WaPo polling: "Republicans who watch Fox News are more likely to believe false theories about Jan. 6..." (WaPo)
-- Thomas Friedman: "We no longer share basic truths. The country as a whole is kind of losing its cognitive immunity, its ability to really sort out fact from fiction..." (CNN)
-- The NYT editorial board's message: "We should stop underestimating the threat facing the country..." (NYT)
Guilty on four counts
Sara Ashley O'Brien's lead for CNN Business from San Jose: "Elizabeth Holmes, the former CEO and founder of failed blood testing startup Theranos, was found guilty on four charges of defrauding investors, capping off the stunning downfall of a former tech icon." Read on...
>> On Twitter, Harry Litman pointed to the "interesting overlap" between the Holmes and Ghislaine Maxwell verdicts. Both were "basically spurred by press activity," he wrote – "the 2015 WSJ report that drew back the curtain on Theranos and showed it to be a fraud and the Julie K. Brown reporting on Maxwell/Epstein." John Carreyrou, a driving force behind the WSJ reports, tweeted out a message encouraging jurors to contact him...
TUESDAY PLANNER
New nonfiction releases include "Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy" by Rep. Jamie Raskin and "Let's Get Physical" by Danielle Friedman...
President Biden will make "brief remarks" about Omicron on Tuesday...
"This is Us" and "black-ish" kick off their final seasons, the latter with a cameo by Michelle Obama...
CES media days continue ahead of the event's formal opening on Wednesday...
Today in Covid
-- Drudge's banner on Monday night: "THE LAST WAVE?"
-- Dr. Leana Wen's advice in a WaPo op-ed: "As long as vaccines continue to protect against severe illness and the risk to most individuals remains low, our paradigm has to shift from preventing infection to stopping societal devastation..."
-- Tucker Carlson's prediction on Monday night: "2022 is going to be an improvement over the last two years. We can say that with confidence. How do we know? It's simple: The covid lunacy is finally going to end." Then he railed against vaccines...
-- Whoopi Goldberg tested positive during the winter break, so she is off "The View" this week, even though her symptoms are said to be "very, very mild..."
-- Tom Bartlett's August 2021 piece on Dr. Robert Malone spreading vaccine misinfo was one of the most popular stories on The Atlantic's website Monday. Why? Because Malone recently appeared on Joe Rogan's podcast and Fox hosts have been praising him over the last few days...
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- Monday's biggest news-about-newsrooms: David Fahrenthold is jumping from WaPo to the NYT, joining the DC bureau as an investigative reporter... (NYT)
-- Jeanine Poggi is the new editor of Ad Age... (Ad Age)
-- Does this sound like you? "Pelted by news alerts and emails, alarmed by the hair-on-fire claims of the extremely online, we end each day empty and worn." Here, John Dickerson has an idea for regaining "control during an uncertain time..." (The Atlantic)
-- Former Time Inc. EIC John Huey writes: "For 2022, I resolve to consume less news." Here's how and why... (WaPo)
MTG says Facebook blocked her for 24 hours
After being banned from Twitter, Marjorie Taylor Greene said Monday that she had also been blocked for 24 hours from posting to her Facebook account. A Facebook rep said that the company removed one of Green's Covid posts. The rep added, "A post violated our policies and we have removed it; but removing her account for this violation is beyond the scope of our policies." Donie O'Sullivan has more here...
Rand Paul says he's beginning an "exodus from Big Tech"
Oliver Darcy writes: "Rand Paul announced Monday in a Washington Examiner piece that he has quit YouTube for being what he described as 'the worst censors.' Paul said he will only post to the platform when he is criticizing it or promoting video on Rumble, a video-sharing platform that has been embraced by top conservatives as a YouTube alternative. Paul further said his exit from YouTube is part of a larger 'exodus from Big Tech' that he will embark on..."
>> Darcy adds: "It is true that YouTube does 'censor' some content, such as anti-vaccine misinfo. But it's worth (again) pointing out that social media platforms do not systemically 'censor' conservative views in the ways that Paul and others on the right often allege..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
-- On Monday morning, right-wing personalities lambasted Facebook for locking the account of a conservative children's book publisher. It seemed like a dumb error, and it was; by Monday night, the account was restored... (Fox Business)
-- Former Twitter CEO Dick Coostolo talks to Kara Swisher about moderation, telling her he believes social media companies "have to make calls" and not "twist ourselves into knots trying to explain to you why we did X and why we did Y..." (NYT)
-- By Shannon Bond: "2022 will be a tense year for Facebook and social apps. Here are 4 reasons why..." (NPR)
-- Eleanor Cummins writes about the "creepy" TikTok algorithm: "Although TikTok seems to uncover things about users that they didn’t necessarily know about themselves, in reality it’s more accurate to say that TikTok shows you where your attention already goes..." (WIRED)
Asked and answered already!
One of the questions in last night's 2022-preview newsletter was: "Will Apple become the first member of the $3 trillion club?" Here's the answer: "The iPhone maker topped a market value of $3 trillion Monday — the first publicly traded company ever to be worth that much," Paul R. La Monica reports. The stock later pulled back from that level, though, so we'll see what Tuesday brings...
Anatomy of a lie about Andy Cohen
On Monday a CNN spokesperson reaffirmed that Andy Cohen will be back to co-host NYE on CNN at the end of 2022, debunking a nonsensical Radar Online story that swept across gossip sites earlier in the day. I have some personal experience with Radar's lies, so allow me a short rant. They post something nutty; they claim to have multiple sources, but they don't check with the subject at all; and they aren't swayed by reality. Then they garner followup coverage from outlets with an ounce of credibility, which triggers even more coverage, and eventually the original "report" is two or three or four steps removed from the unreliable source. Ordinary users end up reading, sharing and sometimes believing a lie without realizing the original story was garbage. Radar wins page views and loses nothing because it had no credibility to start with. Sad!
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
-- Julia Horowitz writes: "Disney needs a comeback year. Will it get it?" (CNN)
-- Andrew Marchand says "Amazon, gambling and money will shape what sports fans watch, and read, in 2022..." (NYPost)
-- The NYT's Seattle tech correspondent Karen Weise quips, "Catching up on my 'Bezos' Google Alerts from last week has been quite something. You too can own that disco shirt for $1,128..." (GQ)
With a global network come global complaints...
I joined Bianca Nobilo on CNNI's "The Global Brief" to analyze "Emily in Paris" v. Ukraine. Specifically, the country's culture minister slammed the Netflix show for having an "offensive" Ukrainian character in season two. Sana Noor Haq and Katharina Krebs have details here. It's a remarkable example of something we're going to be seeing more and more often -- local and regional objections to programming that the entire globe gets to watch at once...
No, a Covid booster did not kill Betty White
Entertainment news sites found themselves in fact-check mode on Monday amid online speculation about the cause of Betty White's death. "I can absolutely, 100 percent say, Betty did not pass because of the booster, she did not pass because of COVID, she never had COVID," her longtime agent Jeff Witjas told "ET," a message he reiterated with other outlets. "She passed, with my understanding, of natural causes. Being 99 years old, unfortunately, you know. But there was no outside disease."
On a much happier note, Witjas also reflected on what White's fans' love meant to her. Lisa Respers France has details here...
FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX
By Lisa Respers France:
-- The trailer for Janet Jackson's forthcoming two-night documentary is out. The event kicks off January 28 on Lifetime and A&E...
-- Alec Baldwin addressed the “Rust” shooting tragedy in a New Year's video...
-- Here's some of what’s streaming this month...
Consumers as the final editor
Brian Lowry writes: "Every journalist has experienced this one in the Twitter age, and now add 'Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts' to the list, with the producers fixing an error – using the wrong picture to identify a young Emma Watson – after fans caught it while watching the special."
HBO Max has now "fixed and reuploaded" the special "after eagle-eyed fans and cast members alerted the streaming giant of a couple of editing mistakes over the holiday weekend," the LAT's Christi Carras reports...
Chloe's sleep study
Chloe Melas writes: "I'm really tired. No, seriously. I don't think I've slept through the night in four years. That’s why I set out on a sleep quest for the last 8 weeks with a sleep expert from Northwestern to cure my family’s sleep crisis -- check out what I learned!"
LAST BUT NOT LEAST...
Pet of the day!
Kristine writes: "This is Roksi, our Pomeranian who we adopted in 2017. She loves to sit on Mama’s lap while she watches CNN in the mornings!"
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