Brian Stelter here at 11:12pm ET on Thursday, May 12. Here's the latest on Mark Zuckerberg, Reuters, Maria Taylor, Snap's "Crying" effect, Bill Simmons, "Top Gun," and much more...
Psaki signs off
Jen Psaki will hold her 224th and final briefing as White House press secretary on Friday afternoon.
Embedded in that total is a stark difference between presidents and parties. In about 16 months working on behalf of President Biden, Psaki held a greater number of briefings, 224, than all of President Trump's press secretaries combined. The Trump-era total was 205, according to Martha Joynt Kumar, director of the White House Transition Project. Kumar counted 58 briefings by Sean Spicer, 107 by Sarah Sanders, zero by Stephanie Grisham, and 40 by Kayleigh McEnany during a four-year period.
"Psaki has restored honor, dignity and class to the White House briefing room after four years of Donald Trump press secretaries, who seemed more interested in picking fights and criticizing the media than effectively communicating that administration's policies and agenda," Poynter's Tom Jones wrote.
Of course, Trump's spokespeople were doing what he wanted. And Psaki was doing what Biden wanted -- restoring a pre-Trump sense of normal. "She came in committed to holding daily briefings – and gaggles if they were on the road," Kumar said. "When you count workdays without weekends and holidays, they held briefing sessions 91% of the days."
How Psaki excelled
Conservatives (some of whom watched Psaki's briefings live on Fox) criticized Psaki for dodging questions. Liberals celebrated her for neutralizing loaded questions (including some asked by Fox) and defending Biden's agenda. WH reporters appreciated her accessibility, though it didn't make up for Biden's relative lack of press conferences and interviews.
WaPo's Erik Wemple tallied the number of appearances that Psaki made as press secretary on various networks and said "what sticks out here is the evenhanded treatment among networks, particularly Fox News." On Fox last Sunday, Psaki said her objective has been "speaking to the public and certainly engaging in and valuing a free press."
Kumar, a regular presence in the briefing room who taught one of my favorite classes at Towson University, told me Psaki excelled as a briefer "because she came in well prepared for the job."
"Perhaps her most important experiences were: 1) serving as State Department spokesperson and 2) learning the rhythms of a White House during the Obama years," Kumar said. "She learned in those years to listen to reporters as an early warning system for political and policy trouble the White House team may not have spotted."
"She also learned to think like a reporter as she prepared for the briefing," Kumar added. "In the State Department, she learned the resonance of language and the importance of each word when you are speaking for the president."
How will the role change?
Now Psaki is heading to TV land – though, as I reported on last Sunday's "Reliable Sources," she hasn't signed any deal yet, and she won't be starting any new role until the fall. Insider's Claire Atkinson described the role-in-waiting as a "global position that has her appearing on NBC News' MSNBC and the company's streaming service Peacock."
Psaki's successor, Karine Jean-Pierre, is a natural fit behind the WH podium, since she has filled in for Psaki on multiple occasions. But KJP (as she is known among WH reporters and on Twitter) is taking on the press secretary role at a very interesting time. Biden is shifting his language toward the GOP and the "ultra-MAGA" movement. He is becoming much more overtly political as the midterms come into focus. Jean-Pierre, who is already the subject of conservative criticism for past tweets, will be front and center...
FRIDAY PLANNER
Psaki's final briefing will start at 1pm ET...
"Firestarter," a new version of the Stephen King story, hits theaters and Peacock...
It's Friday the 13th, so be on your best behavior...
Funeral for slain Al Jazeera journalist on Friday
"Thousands gathered in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday to mourn slain Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, as the Palestinian Authority vowed to take the case to the International Criminal Court," CNN's Hadas Gold and Abeer Salman reported. Crowds were heard chanting "the honest voice never dies" and "we sacrifice our blood and spirit for you, Shireen."
Abu Akleh's funeral "will take place on Friday in the Roman Catholic Church in Bab Al-Khalil, before she is buried in Jerusalem’s Mount Zion Cemetery next to her parents..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- The CNN homepage's top headline right now: "Intense fighting at Ukraine bridge site." A satellite image shows that the Ukrainians blew up two Russian pontoon bridges, but they may have built a third... (CNN)
-- Polish news organizations are launching new products for the influx of Ukrainians crossing its borders…(NiemanLab)
-- An Phung flagged this fantastic multimedia piece showing what's on the other side of the Great Firewall: China's censors "were defeated, for a while, as citizens found inventive ways to upload a protest video gone viral" amid the country's strict Covid-19 protocols... (WaPo)
-- The US "is marking a grim milestone: One million American lives lost to Covid," Jake Tapper said Thursday, with "each victim leaving behind a story and a scar felt in their families and their communities and across the country." Watch... (CNN)
"Is the media clearly conveying to voters the choice they face?"
WaPo opinion columnist Greg Sargent asks: "How should the media cover a candidate who is running for a position of control over our election machinery — and has also displayed an open eagerness to steal elections?" He says this question is relevant with Doug Mastriano surging in the GOP primary for Pennsylvania governor. "Of course, Mastriano might lose the general election. Or he might lose the primary," he wrote. "But for now, it should be asked: Is the media clearly conveying to voters the choice they face?" Sargent cites Alex Koppelman's recent analysis for this newsletter, among others...
>> Speaking of the Pennsylvania primary, Sean Hannity hammered Senate candidate Kathy Barnette on Thursday night, though Laura Ingraham seemed to come to her defense one hour later. Much more to come...
>> Reporters were "largely barred" from a Barnette campaign stop on Thursday, according to the Philly Inquirer...
Right-wing media's baby formula message
BY OLIVER DARCY:
Right-wing media outlets spent Thursday expressing outrage and bashing the Biden White House over the notion that baby formula would be sent to border processing centers. The round of coverage was prompted by a tweet from a GOP representative who conveyed that she was upset migrants at the border were being provided a scarce resource. "This is what America last looks like," she tweeted.
Obviously the formula shortage is a big problem – it led several of the major nightly newscasts on Thursday – but Fox is filtering it through an immigration prism. WaPo's Glenn Kessler addressed the "faux outrage" here...
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- Steve Schmidt has been making a whole lot of noise lately. My podcast interview with Schmidt will be coming out on Friday afternoon...
-- Mitch McConnell granted a rare interview to NPR Congressional Correspondent Deirdre Walsh... More will air on Friday's "Morning Edition..." (NPR)
-- The Guardian is raising alarms about one of its reporters being swept up in "an aggressive leak investigation into media stories about an official inquiry into the Trump administration’s child separation policy at the southern border..." (Guardian)
SNEAK PEEK
Zuckerberg talks metaverse
Meta made news about mixed reality on Thursday, and Mark Zuckerberg showed a video demo teasing the company's next headset, known as Project Cambria for now.
Protocol senior reporter Janko Roettgers briefly tried out the headset earlier in the week, and "even those few minutes were enough to convince me that mixed reality on Cambria is a kind of secret superpower," he wrote.
On Friday morning Roettgers is publishing an exclusive interview with Zuckerberg. Here's an early excerpt, with Zuckerberg explaining why Meta is spending billions of dollars on the metaverse: "I want to live in a world where big companies use their resources to take big shots. Obviously, if people invest in our company, we want to be profitable for them. If employees join our company, I want to make sure that ends up being a good financial decision for them, too. But I also feel a responsibility to go for it..."
Elon Musk, political pundit
The billionaire in line to own Twitter shared two observations in quick succession on Thursday: "Even though I think a less divisive candidate would be better in 2024, I still think Trump should be restored to Twitter," followed by "Biden’s mistake is that he thinks he was elected to transform the country, but actually everyone just wanted less drama..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- "Twitter is halting hiring and parting ways with two senior leaders as it awaits" Musk's takeover, Clare Duffy reports. General manager of consumer Kayvon Beykpour and revenue product lead Bruce Falck are both leaving... (CNN)
-- "How Twitter lost the celebs:" A WaPo team looked at the reasons why the site's "most popular accounts have gone quieter over the years," and "why Musk’s ownership might only make it worse..." (WaPo)
-- With tech stocks plummeting, "it might be a good idea to sit very quietly and think hard about the growth-at-any-cost mantra that has illuminated tech for the past 13 years," Kara Swisher writes... (NYT)
-- "Behold, the Bottomless Pit Holding Everything Together:" My favorite story of the day, about astronomers capturing the Milky Way's "supermassive, mysterious abyss, 27,000 light-years from Earth." Here's Marina Koren with more... (The Atlantic)
Ex-Bloomberg reporter details Shkreli relationship via Substack
BY OLIVER DARCY:
Former Bloomberg News reporter Christie Smythe has started to tell the story about her relationship with "Pharma bro" Martin Shkreli through a serialized memoir on Substack. The first section of the memoir, titled "SMIRK: How I Fell in Love With the Most Hated Man in America," was published Thursday. You can read it here...
>> Smythe also appeared on Fox and criticized the news media as having "an antagonistic quality toward people who are conservative..."
Reuters under scrutiny
Zac Kriegman, formerly a director of data science at Thomson Reuters, turned heads on Thursday with a column for Bari Weiss's Common Sense site titled "I Criticized BLM. Then I Was Fired." Kriegman had told parts of his story in other forums before, but this time seemed different. The Daily Mail picked up on his column in an article headlined "White Thomson Reuters data scientist says he was FIRED from $350k role by woke bullies for sharing data showing cops kill more unarmed white people than black people – and claiming BLM contributed to deaths of thousands."
In response, Thomson Reuters reps emphasized that Kriegman did not work for the Reuters newsroom. The company said it doesn't discuss specific employee issues, but asserted that "Reuters, the news division of Thomson Reuters, reports on topics related to race and equality and the BLM organization in a fair, unbiased and independent manner, consistent with the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles."
Maria Taylor to host 'Football Night in America'
BY OLIVER DARCY:
NBC has named Maria Taylor, who joined the peacock network from ESPN last year, as host of "Football Night in America." Taylor will replace Mike Tirico who was recently appointed as the play-by-play announcer on "Sunday Night Football." As THR's Alex Weprin writes, "Football Night" is "one of the most-watched programs in the country" and her hosting the show further points to the fact that Taylor "has quickly become one of NBC’s most high-profile sports personalities..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
-- Dr. Zeynep Tufekci "will become the inaugural director of the Craig Newmark Center for Journalism Ethics and Security..." (Columbia)
-- Hope Corrigan has joined WaPo as editorial initiatives manager... (WaPo)
-- NYT has named Adam Sternbergh as deputy editor of Narrative Projects... (NYT)
-- Iliana Limón Romero has been named assistant managing editor for sports at the LAT, making her "the only Latina sports editor at a major U.S. newspaper..." (LAT)
-- Marcien Jenckes has been tapped to run Charter and Comcast's streaming joint venture... (THR)
Live events hand Endeavor a strong Q1
"Endeavor sales jumped 38% to nearly $1.5 billion and the company reported net income of $518 million as talent representation and live events jumped," Deadline's Jill Goldsmith wrote Thursday. The strong report, which the company owed to the increased demand for live events, helped the company's stock "buck a down market, rising 1.83% to close at $18.35." More from Goldsmith here...
More WarnerMedia departures
With Warner Bros. Discovery (CNN's parent) setting up a new corporate structure, numerous WarnerMedia execs are saying farewell. One of the latest, on Thursday, was HBO Max's US general manager Brad Wilson, Variety's Jennifer Maas reported. Insider's Claire Atkinson shared a memo that said other HBO Max execs are exiting.
Among the other departures reported earlier this week: TBS, TNT and TruTV general manager Brett Weitz; Johanna Fuentes, head of global comms for WarnerMedia studios and networks; and Tom Ascheim, president of global kids, young adults and classics...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
-- Caitlin Huston reports that Warner Bros. Discovery's "content spending strategy has already won over some Wall Street analysts..." (THR)
-- Shares in Disney declined 0.86% on Thursday, recovering from most of the after-hours selling that followed its quarterly earnings report on Wednesday...
-- Netflix is updating its corporate culture memo, adding an "anti-censorship section and a vow to 'spend our members' money wisely,'" Todd Spangler reports... (Variety)
-- Joe Adalian interviewed CBS CEO George Cheeks about "the success of the network's often old-school approach, how it fits into Paramount's broader streaming ambitions, and why he's already thinking about expanding the universe of Ghosts..." (Vulture)
-- "Spotify has lost a number of top executives in the past month, but Bill Simmons is sticking around... The sports talk personality is being elevated into a new role overseeing Spotify's global sports strategy," Ariel Shapiro writes... (Verge)
The power of a funny Lens
"Snap's done it again with another ridiculous but also ridiculously funny Lens effect," Social Media Today's Andrew Hutchinson writes. The "Crying" effect "makes you look, as it sounds, like you're crying, no matter how you try to contort your face to avoid it." Since it launched just last week, "over 180 million Snapchatters have engaged with the Crying Lens – using it, in total, a whopping 1.3 billion times..."
Top reviews for "Top Gun"
BY BRIAN LOWRY:
Paramount's two-year wait to launch "Top Gun: Maverick" into theaters looks destined to be rewarded, amid a flurry of glowing early reviews and clear anticipation for this decades-later sequel, which premieres May 27 in US theaters. Tom Cruise was just on the cusp of stardom when the original took off in 1986, and this better-than-it-has-any-right-to-be follow-up – which manages to feel both contemporary and like old-time summer entertainment -- provides a pretty nifty bookend to his career...
>> Scores of reviews have posted since the review embargo lifted on Thursday, and so far the film has a remarkable 96% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes...
FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX
-- A major change over at "Bridgerton:" Hannah Todd is taking over as Francesca Bridgerton as Ruby Stokes departs the Netflix show... (THR)
-- Netflix has dropped the trailer for its "Resident Evil" series... (Verge)
-- Discovery+ is launching a reality series following influencer Olivia Culpo and her sisters... (Deadline)
-- John Hopewell reports that while movie production levels in Europe are back to pre-pandemic levels, the box office "lags way behind..." (Variety)
Cancellation day
BY BRIAN LOWRY:
The major networks will host their upfront presentations next week, and the preparation for those new-program announcements has included a steady stream of leaks about the titles that aren’t being renewed. Some of the notable discards include two series from CBS comedy producer extraordinaire Chuck Lorre ("B Positive" and "United States of Al") and several CW dramas, which might hint at a less-ambitious lineup of scripted fare amid questions about the network's ownership future. Of course, if history's any guide, thanks to content-hungry streaming services, some of the axed shows might rise again. More details here courtesy of THR's Lesley Goldberg and Deadline, which has a handy breakdown of cancellations and renewals...
>> CBS Entertainment president Kelly Kahl, conveying the elation of pickups/renewals and the disappointment associated with cancellations/passes, tweeted that it's the "Best/worst day of the year..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART SEVEN
BY LISA RESPERS FRANCE:
-- Ashley Judd revealed that her mother Naomi Judd died of a self-inflicted firearm wound...
-- The "Tog Gun: Maverick" director explained why Kelly McGillis and Meg Ryan were not asked to be in the sequel...
-- Rebel Wilson is off the dating app and in a new relationship...
NOW FOR A MOMENT OF JOY...
Pet of the day!
Reader Ron Chan emails: "My pal Bo, who belongs to Luke and Emily, my Grandkids, and loves to play Frisbee with me..."
Thank you for reading! Email your feedback anytime. We'll be back tomorrow...
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