Happy Monday! Hope you had a great weekend. Here's the latest on Jessica Valenti, Marc Maron, TikTok, Tom Llamas, RFE/RL, Gabrielle Cuccia, "Karate Kid," Patti LuPone, + more... |
Arrest in New Hampshire reporter harassment case |
"JUST THE BEGINNING!" That's what the threat spray-painted in red on the side of Lauren Chooljian's house said.
Chooljian, a reporter and host at New Hampshire Public Radio, was targeted at home after she published this investigation in 2022. It was titled "He built New Hampshire's largest addiction treatment network. Now, he faces accusations of sexual misconduct."
Now he stands accused of masterminding the vandalism. The defendant, Eric Spofford, was indicted and arrested at the end of last week for what federal prosecutors called a "scheme to harass and intimidate journalists and their families."
Chooljian's family members were targeted too, as well as her editor. Bricks were thrown through windows. Threatening messages were left for the victims. "The vandalism was part of a growing trend of physical attacks against journalists in the United States," the NYT's David Enrich noted.
Four men previously pled guilty for their roles in the retaliation. Now Spofford stands accused of orchestrating it all. He is set to appear in federal court this afternoon, and his attorney hasn't responded to a request for comment. It is striking to scroll through Spofford's Instagram page now; on Friday morning, shortly before the feds arrived, he was posting influencer bait from a yacht in Miami. "You’re in control of your happiness," he wrote. "You can change it the second you realize this as the truth and take accountability."
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New Hampshire Public Radio has a policy of not covering itself, so WBUR in Boston handled reporting on the indictment on Friday, and NHPR published their story.
The public radio station's CEO Jim Schachter thanked the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office for their persistence in the case. Schachter said Spofford's "attempt to silence NHPR’s reporting on abuses of power in the addiction recovery industry failed, as should every attempt to snuff out press freedom."
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Abortion, Every Day is expanding |
Jessica Valenti, author of the newsletter Abortion, Every Day, is adding a full-time reporter to her team. Kylie Cheung, a staff writer at Jezebel who is about to come out with a book titled "Coercion: Surviving and Resisting Abortion Bans," will be working alongside Valenti to cover post-Roe America.
Abortion, Every Day, which is housed on Substack and has a network of social channels, is growing fast, with 100,000+ newsletter subscribers and community forums like live video chats. Valenti works with an operations person and a social media consultant, but Cheung is her first full-time editorial addition.
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Marc Maron is signing off |
Deadline's Peter White with the scoop: "A podcast institution is coming to an end. Marc Maron's WTF podcast, which has had close to 2,000 episodes since its 2009 launch, will be turning off its microphones in the fall." Maron's show "has been one of the most popular podcasts in the world, arguably kicking off the booming trend of audio series since launching on September 1, 2009..."
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This is one of the most interesting stories I read over the weekend: "More than half of all the top trending videos offering mental health advice on TikTok contain misinformation," an investigation by The Guardian's Rachel Hall and Rachel Keenan found. People seeking help "are confronted with dubious advice, such as eating an orange in the shower to reduce anxiety... promotion of supplements with a limited evidence base... methods to heal trauma within an hour..." and more.
>> TikTok said The Guardian's study opposes "free expression" and "suggests that people should not be allowed to share their own stories."
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If you haven't heard about (or seen!) this TikTok trend yet, it "pairs sexually suggestive clips or music with scenic images and footage of America's natural wonders," CNN's Clare Duffy writes.
"The videos are funny and moderately unhinged in the way TikTok trends often are, but they have a serious aim: to raise awareness about threats to US public lands amid the Trump administration's efforts to gut national parks staffing and designate more of America’s wild lands for drilling, mining and logging." Read on...
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Tom Llamas and the American dream |
Tom Llamas takes the helm of the "NBC Nightly News" tonight, becoming, as the LAT's Stephen Battaglio notes in this Q&A, "the first Latino to anchor an English-speaking nightly newscast."
Llamas told him, "My life story is something I’m very proud of." His parents, who fled from Cuba, "essentially came to this country with nothing. They had no money, they barely spoke the language, and this incredible country gave them a second chance. It gave them a new home. And they taught me hard work, but they also taught me to love this country. And I do, I think this is the greatest place in the world, hands down. To become the anchor of 'Nightly News' tells me that the American dream is still very alive."
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Today: NY Tech Week kicks off, and more than half the events "deal with AI."
Wednesday: The Tribeca Film Festival opens with the world premiere of "Billy Joel: And So It Goes."
Thursday: Nintendo launches the Switch 2 console.
Thursday night: The heavily-favored Thunder play the Pacers in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on ABC.
Saturday night: "Good Night, and Good Luck" airs live on CNN.
Sunday night: The Tony Awards air live on CBS and Paramount+.
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NYT says Musk is trying to 'distract' |
"To be clear, I am NOT taking drugs! The New York Times was lying their ass off," Elon Musk said in a reply to one of his superfans on X over the weekend. This prompted the NYT PR account to push back.
"Musk is just lashing out because he doesn't like our article," The Times said, noting that the carefully-sourced article cited texts, legal documents, photos, and a dozen Musk associates. Plus, "we provided Musk with multiple opportunities to reply or rebut this reporting before publication and he declined, opting instead to try to distract with a social post and no evidence."
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Another narrow win for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in its ongoing battle against the Trump admin: On Friday Judge Royce Lamberth ordered USAGM to release the $$ that RFE/RL was supposed to receive for the month of May. "The will of Congress is clear and now the court, yet again, agrees: RFE/RL is to receive its appropriated funds," CEO Stephen Capus said.
>> Speaking of Congress, The Washington Post has a great new story about Trump trying to claim the Library of Congress is his, part of an effort to "erase the traditional lines that separate the branches of government." His campaign against PBS and NPR is another example.
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More scrutiny on Pentagon press crackdown |
Gabrielle Cuccia's Substack post about the Pentagon's press access restrictions has earned a lot more attention in the aftermath of my Saturday scoop about One America News firing her. Pete Hegseth's old home Fox News also highlighted the press crackdown on Sunday, with ex-CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr making an appearance on air.
As for OAN, Cuccia told me she is trying to figure out her next steps. Over the weekend she heard that OAN is trying to fill the open Pentagon spot ASAP; potential replacements reached out to her for intel about the job...
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>> TheWrap's takeaway from a strong opening segment on Sunday's "This Week:" "
George Stephanopoulos, unfazed by $16 Million ABC settlement, accuses Trump of corruption." (TheWrap)
>> Michael Strahan is expected to sign a new deal and stay on ABC's "GMA," but with "a lighter schedule," Max Tani reports. (Semafor)
>> New from the WSJ this morning: "Meta aims to fully automate ad creation using AI." (WSJ)
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Peabody winners sound alarm |
The Peabody Awards were presented in L.A. last night. Peabody winners "sounded the alarm on the threats to democratic norms, criminal justice reform and forward progress in diversity and inclusion goals," Variety's Cynthia Littleton reports, citing several powerful speeches by winners. Check out the incredible gallery of this year's winning work here.
>> "The team from Al Jazeera (which took home two Peabody Awards) walked the red carpet while holding placards commemorating the slain journalists in Gaza that read 'Targeting journalists is a crime' and 'They can't kill the story.'" (Deadline)
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'Thanks for the memories, TNT' |
TNT's final NBA broadcast was Saturday night. "We note here one of the great runs in sports television," The Athletic's Richard Deitsch wrote afterward. "Thanks for the memories, TNT."
>> Thankfully "Inside the NBA" will continue next year on ESPN, and Shaquille O'Neal "promised Saturday night that the show wouldn’t lose its freewheeling, unscripted, sometimes-not-ready-for-prime-time vibe," WaPo's Cindy Boren notes.
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Canada celebrates 'The Apprentice' |
This... does not feel like an accident. Ali Abbasi's Trump biopic "The Apprentice" won best movie at the Canadian Screen Awards in Toronto last night. While accepting the award, co-producer Daniel Bekerman looked to Abbasi and said, "Ali, I told you, you have to come to Canada if you want to find some guts in this industry." THR's Etan Vlessing describes the "politically charged" evening in more detail here...
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"'Karate Kid: Legends' slashed its way to $21 million at the domestic box office, a decent start, although one that’s slightly behind expectations," Variety's Rebecca Rubin reports. "Lilo & Stitch" ranked #1 for the second weekend in a row, with "Mission: Impossible" #2.
>> Also: Wes Anderson's "The Phoenician Scheme" opened in limited release and averaged $95,000 per location, ranking "as the top screen average of 2025."
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Entertainment odds and ends |
>> "Patti Lupone has issued an apology after making what she now describes as 'demeaning and disrespectful' comments about two fellow Broadway stars in an interview with the New Yorker last week," Alli Rosenbloom writes. (CNN)
>> Emily Yahr's followup to Friday's big music industry news: "Taylor Swift got what she wanted. So what do 'Taylor's Versions' mean now?" (WaPo)
>> "On the brink of what should be another exciting summer festival season, dozens of music festivals are shutting down." Here, Leah Asmelash sums up the reasons why. (CNN)
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