Good morning! Here's the latest on Meta, Nikki Glaser, MSNBC, Bill Simmons, Pokémon Go, "The Last of Us," and more. But first...
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Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images |
Four times in the past week, President Trump has interrupted a press pool Q&A to ask, "Who are you with?"
On one occasion it was because he loved a Breitbart correspondent's puffy queries. The other three times, he bristled at more serious questions from more serious outlets.
The inquiry takes on a different meaning now that the White House, and not the independent White House Correspondents' Association, is deciding who is in the press pool on any given day. Trump has the ability to cut off news outlets that cross him. That's why some White House correspondents have been paying attention to Trump taking roll call.
On condition of anonymity, several correspondents described it as a worrisome development because it might cause people to think twice before asking certain questions. One likened it to the president "taking names for his naughty or nice list." (The matter also came up at the association's town hall meeting last night.)
The Factba.se database shows that Trump asked "who are you with" every so often during his first term, but is doing it much more often this time around. In early February, he asked for S.V. Dáte's affiliation when the HuffPost reporter asked him, "the Vice President suggested that if the Supreme Court rules in a way that you don't like, they can just enforce it by themselves. Do you agree with that?" HuffPost was booted from its pool assignment later in the month.
Over the weekend when Trump gaggled on Air Force One, Washington Post reporter Michael Birnbaum asked him, "Is Putin disrespecting you by attacking Ukraine when you're trying to make peace there?" Trump seemed confused by the question. He asked "who are you with," and when Birnbaum named the Post, Trump said "you've lost a lot of credibility" and skipped the question.
And on Wednesday, when Voice of America correspondent Patsy Widakuswara asked Irish prime minister Micheál Martin "what about the president's plan to expel Palestinians out of Gaza? Are you discussing that with him?" Trump jumped in and said "nobody's expelling any Palestinians. I don't know -- who are you with?"
"I'm with Voice of America, sir," she said.
"No wonder," Trump said, waving his hand to the ground dismissively and repeating "Voice of America," the government-funded broadcaster.
This week happens to be Widakuswara's last as VOA's White House bureau chief. She was recently (and involuntarily) reassigned to a new role, stoking speculation inside the news outlet that she was sidelined to avoid Trump's retribution.
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During that same Q&A with Trump and the Irish prime minister, Real America's Voice representative Brian Glenn (also known as Marjorie Taylor Greene's boyfriend) asked Martin "why in the world would you let Rosie O'Donnell move to Ireland?"
Trump laughed and said he liked the question but Martin seemed confused. Glenn played it off as a joke – underscoring that it was an utter waste of time and access. But it's likely to keep happening because the White House wants slavishly pro-Trump personalities in the room for presidential photo ops, distorting the entire press corps dynamic.
>> I'm reminded of this great Peter Baker line from last week: "You're seeing basically inherently political organizations masquerading as news organizations, calling themselves news organizations, and injecting themselves into our pool. And for the viewer at home watching this, it's confusing. They don't know the difference between Marjorie Taylor Greene's boyfriend and the Washington Post."
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When NBC's Kelly O'Donnell pressed Trump over his "inconsistency" about tariffs, Trump snapped back, "There is no inconsistency. Only with NBC, which is one of the worst networks on television, by the way." O'Donnell responded: "It was your home for a long time." |
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Meta challenges author in arbitration |
Meta is "striking back against a former employee whose explosive book just came out — and in a very public way I've never really seen them go after someone," the NYT's Mike Isaac observed last night.
As CNN's Clare Duffy reported here, Meta filed an arbitration demand against author Sarah Wynn-Williams, stating that the claims in "Careless People" violate a non-disparagement agreement she signed when she left the company. On Wednesday an emergency arbitrator said she must stop promoting the book until the arbitration is finished.
"Careless People" is still for sale because the publisher is not enjoined by the order. (The book is doing well, and may be helped by the news of this legal tussle. When I checked last night, it was #10 on Amazon's new releases list. This morning, it is #3.) Still, this is a blow to Wynn-Williams' book tour plans...
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How Meta will roll out Notes |
This morning Meta said that the Community Notes system it announced back in January will begin to roll out next Tuesday. Some key details from the company's blog post: The beta test will take a while. "Initially we will use X's open source algorithm as the basis of our rating system." Once it's working well, Notes will roll out in the United States. Meta wants to expand it around the world, "but we won’t be doing that immediately."
>> A notable note about Notes: "Fact checked posts often had their distribution across our platforms reduced. That won't be the case with posts that have notes applied to them. Notes will provide extra context, but they won't impact who can see the content or how widely it can be shared." This means Meta will no longer try to reduce the reach of a lie, no matter how shameful or harmful.
>> In other Meta news, Mark Zuckerberg was back at the White House yesterday.
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The rebuild of MSNBC is well underway ahead of Comcast's "SpinCo" restructuring. In a cheerful new story this morning about what the channel will be once it splits up with NBC News, NYMag's
Charlotte Klein says "what MSNBC is doing is a bright spot for the news industry right now."
>> The details: "The network will be hiring more than 100 journalists — from field producers to correspondents to photographers — to work across the operation, which will include a bureau in Washington (for which it’s looking for a bureau chief) and a newsroom in New York." Read on...
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Univision airs 'fearmongering' deportation ad |
The Bulwark’s Adrian Carrasquillo highlights frustration at Univision over the network's willingness to air Homeland Security ads "warning immigrants that the government will find and deport them." (Immigrant-rights groups view the ads "as a blunt attempt at fearmongering on the taxpayer dime.")
One of Carrasquillo's sources pointed up, to Univision's owner, Televisa, whose co-CEOs have touted a "longstanding friendship with President Trump." The source remarked, "I've only known journalism in the States, I haven't done journalism in Mexico — they take care of whoever is in political power in Mexico — so I just feel that is trickling down in the States."
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Political media notes and quotes |
>> This morning's new CNN poll is full of fascinating #'s about the economy about the expected impacts cuts to federal programs. (CNN)
>> "DOGE makes its latest errors harder to find:" Musk's "group obscured the details of some new claims on its website, despite promises of transparency," but the NYT "was still able to detect another batch of mistakes." (NYT)
>> Check out this Politico piece about "who's in Elon's ear — and DMs." (Politico)
>> The FCC is asking the public to help it cut "unnecessary regulatory burdens." (The Hill)
>> "As markets whipsaw, conservative media shrugs," Ken Bensinger writes. (NYT)
>> Fallout from showing the Oscar-winning documentary "No Other Land:" Miami Beach's mayor "moves to end O Cinema lease after screening of Israeli-Palestinian film." (Miami Herald)
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A curious email to Ari Shapiro... |
NPR initially discouraged Ari Shapiro — one of the radio network's best-known gay staffers — from "attending a corporate LGBTQ Pride event" this year, even though he has spoken at similar events for many years, leading Shapiro to wonder "what's changed" this year. Was it the political climate? The guidance email to Shapiro was accidentally sent to a newsroom alias, so it was seen widely inside NPR, and someone sent it to Semafor's Max Tani. After Tani published a story about the matter, "an NPR spokesperson said the news outlet would let Shapiro attend the event after all."
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>> Police in Austin say the killing of Infowars employee Jamie White "was likely a random attack," not a hit. "But that has not stopped Infowars' founder, Alex Jones, from spreading misinformation." (NYT)
>> Guardian News and Media "has agreed to pay Spectator associate editor Douglas Murray 'substantial' damages to settle a libel claim." The error was a doozy. (Press Gazette)
>> "A federal judge has dismissed Fox News Media from a lawsuit filed by former Fox Business producer Jennifer Eckhart against the network and its former star, anchor and correspondent Ed Henry." (NPR)
>> Bill Simmons has signed a new contract with Spotify. He will "continue his namesake show covering sports and pop culture and serve as the company's head of talk strategy," Lucas Shaw reports. (Bloomberg)
>> Richard Rohr's "The Tears of Things" has debuted at #2 on the NYT's combined print/ebook nonfiction best seller list. John W. Miller's "The Last Manager" debuted at #10; Mary Ellen Matthews' "The Art of the SNL Portrait" at #11; and Ione Skye's "Say Everything" at #12. (NYT)
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>> OpenAI "has developed an artificial intelligence model that is 'good at creative writing,'" Dan Milmo writes. (The Guardian)
>> "A U.K. competition authority investigation of Apple and Google's mobile browsers has concluded that the mobile duopoly's policies are 'holding back innovation' and could also be limiting economic growth." But there's "still no enforcement in sight." (TechCrunch)
>> The Saudi sovereign wealth fund-backed Scopely "has agreed to buy Niantic's gaming business, including the mobile hit Pokémon Go, for $3.5 billion." (Bloomberg)
>> Jason Koebler's framing for the story: "Saudi Arabia buys Pokémon Go, and probably all of your location data" (404 Media)
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Nikki Glaser will host the Globes again |
"The Golden Globes hopes to be Pope-ular once again," AdWeek's Bill Bradley writes. "Today, CBS and the Golden Globes announced that comedian Nikki Glaser is returning to host the 83rd annual awards show" next January... |
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Entertainment odds and ends |
>> "Erik and Lyle Menendez will appear before the California Parole Board for a hearing on June 13." (THR)
>> "Ayo Edebiri says she received death threats when Elon Musk shared a fake 'Pirates of The Caribbean' reboot story." (TheWrap)
>> Alex Cooper has "landed her first unscripted series at Hulu, a 'unique' dating show with the working title 'Overboard for Love.'" (THR)
>> Bill Carter says John Mulaney met the moment on last night's premiere of "Everybody's Live." (LateNighter)
>> The official trailer for season two of "The Last of Us" raked in 158 million views across platforms in three days, making it "the most-watched trailer for any HBO and Max original within that time period." Only one more month til it's out... (TheWrap)
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