You've made it through another work week! Oliver Darcy, here at 6:30pm ET on Friday, April 29, with a newsletter containing the latest on Sean Hannity, Elon Musk, Kate Bedingfield, Joe Morgenstern, Dolly Parton, and more...
Weekend reads, WHCA dinner edition 🏛️
It's WHCA dinner weekend -- and, after weeks of anticipation, the festivities are finally set to begin. I am here in DC with Brian Stelter, filing this early edition of our newsletter from the lobby in my hotel before heading out to some of the events. Here are some long-reads about the annual event to kick things off...
>> Michael Schaffer talks to PR pro Juleanna Glover about why she's dreading WHCA dinner weekend: "On a weekend dedicated to freedom of the press, is it okay to raise a glass and toast with a seditionist?" (Politico)
>> Meredith Shiner argues that the annual dinner "broke the Democratic Party." Here's Shiner's argument: "A generation of operatives raised on West Wing fantasy and armed with Twitter accounts leveraged their proximity to Barack Obama to make celebrity the end goal of public service..." (Rolling Stone)
>> Jason Linkins: "The annual gala celebrating the sleazy relationship between Beltway power brokers and reporters is back—and the discourse surrounding it is dumber than ever..." (New Republic)
>> Kevin Liptak writes about how a "serious" Joe Biden "looks to prove he can be actually funny..." (CNN)
>> Max Tani examines the "rise and fall of the star White House reporter." Tani writes, "For years covering the White House was a kind of golden ticket in the media. Then came the Biden administration..." (Politico)
>> Dylan Byers writes about how Justin Smith and Ben Smith are hosting an "informal get together" for WHCA dinner weekend: "Media’s most anticipated start-up is gunning for a launch in Q4, and the money bag is in sight. Semafor’s plans, at least the initial ones, are coming into view. And they’ll start not globally, but in Washington..." (Puck)
>> Ted Johnson writes about how DC is getting "back to the social whirl" this weekend... (Deadline)
>> Not a long-read, but news you can use: West Wing Playbook has a handy list of Covid requirements for all the various WHCA dinner festivities... (Politico)
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More weekend reads
BY BRIAN STELTER:
-- Michelle Ruiz spoke with Clarissa Ward, Isobel Yeung, Sabrina Tavernise, and Leila Fadel for this feature titled "how female correspondents are defining war coverage in Ukraine..." (Vogue)
-- Outgoing and incoming NYT editors Dean Baquet and Joe Kahn sat down with Kyle Pope to discuss the past and the future of the news organization... (CJR)
-- "The Intoxicating Pleasure of Conspiratorial Thinking:" Virginia Heffernan shares "what a remorseful January 6 insurrectionist taught me about why we believe..." (WIRED)
-- "The Department of Homeland Security's creation of a Disinformation Governance Board has set off a backlash on the right — even as it’s not entirely clear what the perhaps unfortunately named board will do," Aaron Blake explains... (WaPo)
-- While some believe Facebook's scandals "are reason enough to quit the platform," Mansee Khurana says there is one "good thing" left: Groups... (The Atlantic)
-- Michael Schulman's latest: "How Elisabeth Moss became the dark lady of the small screen..." (New Yorker)
-- A WSJ team in three countries reported out this story: "Netflix's battle for Asian subscribers pits it against rich rivals, hundreds of local upstarts..." (WSJ)
-- Timely given streaming's topsy-turviness: "A handful of companies are bucking the trend and leaning into linear TV," Alex Weprin writes... (THR)
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The 2022 NFL Draft concludes on Saturday, with coverage from noon ET onward on ABC and ESPN...
CNN presents live coverage of the WHCA dinner starting at 7pm Saturday. C-SPAN will have the raw feed beginning at 8...
The NBA Playoffs continue with the Boston Celtics hosting the Milwaukee Bucks Sunday at 1pm on ABC...
The second season of "Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy" premieres Sunday on CNN at 9pm, followed by the premiere of "Nomad with Carlton McCoy..."
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This Sunday on "Reliable"
BY BRIAN STELTER:
Molly Ball, April Ryan, Leigh Ann Caldwell, and David Zurawik will all join me around the table in Washington. Plus: Kristen Soltis Anderson, Moira Whelan, and new Committee to Protect Journalists president Jodie Ginsberg. Join us Sunday at 11am ET on CNN...
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-- WH comms director Kate Bedingfield became the latest high-ranking official to get Covid. She said Friday she had tested positive, but that she was "not considered a close contact" of Biden "as defined by the CDC..." (CNN)
-- Is there an "invisible Covid wave" rippling through the country right now? That's what Yasmin Tayag asks in her latest piece. Tayag is referring to Covid cases, which are more difficult to count with at-home tests being widely used. But you could make the same argument that because of the void in data, the possible wave is also more "invisible" than other waves in the news media... (Atlantic)
-- "The confusion [around Covid-19 vaccines for children] has become one more factor contributing to Americans’ distrust of major institutions like the government, the media and the medical system," David Leonhardt writes... (NYT)
-- This story in The Economist details how social media posts deleted by the gov't, which showed Shanghai residents protesting lockdown Covid measures, has offered "a glimpse of censorship at work in real time..." (Economist)
-- As the media industry rebounds from Covid, "one area where things appear to have returned to normal is in the way that their leaders are enriched for the decisions they make," as Brent Lang reports... (Variety)
-- "The Talk UK" host Sharon Osbourne is "taking some time off from her new job to help her husband through Covid-19," Lisa Respers France reports... (CNN)
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DEVELOPING...
Disney comms boss suddenly leaving
"Battered by the ongoing battle with Florida Gov. and 2024 POTUS hopeful Ron DeSantis and internal dissent, Geoff Morrell is out as Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at the House of Mouse," just a few months after joining, Deadline's Dominic Patten wrote Friday afternoon. CEO Bob Chapek simply said Morrell is "leaving." Morrell said in an employee email, "After three months in this new role, it has become clear to me that for a number of reasons it is not the right fit." Kristina Schake, who just came aboard as chief spokesperson, will now report directly to Chapek...
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What Hannity's texts to Meadows reveal |
In the text messages that Mark Meadows provided to the 1/6 committee, Sean Hannity's name and number came up and over and over again. The two men exchanged dozens of texts between November 2020 and January 2021. CNN reviewed all the texts in question, and the result is this story by Jamie Gangel, Jeremy Herb, Elizabeth Stuart and yours truly. There's an enormous amount of detail here, and I don't want to leave anything out, so go ahead and give it a click...
>> Also caught up in the texts: Maria Bartiromo. As WaPo's Jeremy Barr points out, "As far as I know, Maria Bartiromo is still considered to be a member of the News division at Fox, which makes her sharing her Trump questions with Mark Meadows ahead of time particularly noteworthy..."
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-- "Since President Biden was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2021, Fox News has talked about what’s being taught in schools more than 1,000 times," Philip Bump reports. "On average, there have been 2.3 15-second such segments per day..." (WaPo)
-- Year-over-year traffic to the Washington Free Beacon "soared by 102%" and attracted 1.2 million unique visitors in March, according to The Righting... (Righting)
-- Ruby Cramer profiles "the man behind the account that blew up Capitol Hill." She says "Dear White Staffers" has "chronicled the rotten bosses in Congress for two years. It’s not running out of material..." (Politico)
-- Greg Sargent argues that "it’s a mistake to evaluate [Elon] Musk's trolling purely as an empirical matter. It might better be seen as a statement of intent. Musk’s trolling might be revealing in real time how his pending purchase of Twitter will fuel and enable right-wing extremism..." (WaPo)
-- Four bylines on this big story from WSJ: "As Elon Musk’s crusade against Twitter escalated from a war of words to a full-on takeover, he was egged on behind the scenes by a mix of voices—from fellow billionaires to internet trolls—with their own beefs with the social-media platform..." (WSJ)
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Musk sold $8.5 billion in Tesla stock |
Elon Musk sold $8.5 billion Tesla stock in the three days after the Twitter board agreed to sell the company to him. Musk sold 3.7 million shares of Tesla stock on Tuesday, for a total of $3.3 billion, and another 735,000 shares on Wednesday, bringing in $654 million, according to Thursday filings he made with the SEC. On Friday morning he disclosed that he had sold an additional 5.2 million shares for a total of $4.5 billion. All told, he received an average price of $883.09 per share. The sales represent only 5.6% of the Tesla shares he held outright at the start of the day Tuesday, and less than 4% of his total holdings of Tesla if stock options he controls are included...
"Let's embrace change"
That was the advice that Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal had for employees during a town hall meeting late Thursday night. "Let’s embrace change. Let’s embrace uncertainty," Agrawal said, per a report from Casey Newton, who listened in on the meeting. "If we see this as an opportunity, it will manifest as an opportunity. If we see this as doom and gloom, it will manifest as doom and gloom..."
>> Agrawal defended voting in favor of the deal: "As I’ve said, the board decides based on two factors. We act in the interest of our shareholders and look for value for them in the long term..."
>> One key bit of news from the meeting: No Q&A with Musk and employees is on the books yet...
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FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE |
-- Matt Rivers reports on how Kira Obedinsky, orphaned by war, "was taken and used in Russian propaganda..." (CNN)
-- "A news program in Russia discussed the prospect of nuclear strikes on Europe, with one guest suggesting Moscow's latest missile should target the U.K because of its support for Ukraine," Brendan Cole reports... (Newsweek)
-- "Legal action and threats are becoming the new normal for those in Russia who defy the strict censorship around the war in Ukraine," Alexey Gorbachev reports... (VOA)
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Radio Liberty journalist killed in Kyiv |
Another journalist has been killed as a result of Russia's invasion in Ukraine. The latest is Ukrainian journalist Vira Hyrych, who worked for Radio Liberty which reported that she "died in Kyiv after a Russian missile strike hit the residential building where she lived." In a video posted online, RFE/RL President Jamie Fly said, "Given the important role she played in Svoboda's operations, in organizing our production, assisting her colleagues, and we really will always remember her commitment to our mission of sharing the truth." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Hyrych is the 23rd known member of the media to be killed...
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How 'propaganda peddlers rake in cash' |
Mathew Foresta takes a look at how "propaganda peddlers rake in cash and followers at the expense of the truth and oppressed people in Ukraine, Xinjiang, and Syria." Foresta starts with a look at former RT America TV host, Lee Camp, who lost his job when the network shut down after Russia invaded Ukraine. Foresta writes, "Make no mistake though: Camp does not find himself destitute." He adds, "Misinformation is a profitable racket..."
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FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR |
-- Cathleen Decker has been named editor of WaPo's America desk... (WaPo)
-- Michael Fabiani has been promoted to SVP of comms at MTV... (Variety)
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Pulitzer Prize-winning movie critic Joe Morgenstern is retiring after 27 years with WSJ, saying in his farewell column, "I’ve got books to write and read, a life to live free of the weekly deadlines I kept telling myself took no toll, and, of course, new movies to see as a paying customer..."
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FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE |
-- Alex Weprin writes about how amid the streaming boom, "some companies love linear TV" and are "leaning into the cable bundle..." (THR)
-- Brian Steinberg reports that UTA is trying to convince networks "to consider correspondents and contributors to whom they might not have given a serious look in the past..." (Variety)
-- If you’re wondering why your viewing queue is growing, Michael Schneider explains the seemingly more-pronounced-than-ever logjam of TV shows premiering as the close to the May 31 Emmy eligibility window nears... (Variety)
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A tense finish for "Ozark" |
Confessing to some initial skepticism that the show was simply "Breaking Bad Lite," "Ozark" wraps up its run after four seasons having steadily built to take its place among Netflix’s best dramas, with a tense finish that mostly sticks the landing. Here is my spoiler-free review...
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-- Dolly Parton has changed her mind. She tells NPR in an interview that she will accept the induction to the Rock & Roll hall of fame, if she gets it... (NPR)
-- "The Marvels" and "Ant Man" are trading release dates, Disney announced on Friday. That means that the former will be released in February 2023 and the latter in July 2023... (Variety)
-- Apple TV+ has green-lit "Pachinko" for a second season... (The Wrap)
-- The main cast of "The Conners" have "reached agreements on new pacts to return next season," Nellie Andreeva reports, noting a season five renewal is "likely to follow..." (Deadline)
-- Michelle Pfeiffer says she’s would consider playing Catwoman again, Lisa Respers France reports... (CNN)
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LAST BUT NOT LEAST...
Pet of the day!
Reader Gordon Aylward emails: "My daughter's dog (Ruby) – sweet dog but bites strangers – was a concern with the baby coming, so I was going to take Ruby for a few months – turns out Ruby is obsessed with the baby (Penny) and watches over her day and night – amazing really..."
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Thank you for reading! Email your feedback anytime. We'll be back on Sunday... |
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