Outraged by secretly-taped anti-Trump comments attributed to CNN President Jeff Zucker and others at the cable network, President Trump’s campaign is vowing to sue the company for “a substantial payment of damages,” the Washington Examiner reports.
Shari Redstone Mulls Starting Fox News Competitor
“In the midst of closing a merger between CBS and Viacom, Shari Redstone is quietly exploring a plan to launch a conservative TV outlet meant to square off with the Fox News Channel,” sources tell the Hollywood Reporter.
“Redstone has approached current and former Fox News personalities about such a plan, sources say, and she has spoken with former NBC News host Megyn Kelly.”
National Enquirer Shredded Secret Trump Documents
“American Media, Inc. and the National Enquirer shredded sensitive Donald Trump-related documents that had been held in a top-secret safe right before Trump was elected in 2016, according to fresh allegations made in a new book by journalist Ronan Farrow,” Politico reports.
“During the first week of November 2016, the book alleges that Dylan Howard, who was then editor in chief of the National Enquirer, ordered a staff member to ‘get everything out of the safe’ and that ‘we need to get a shredder down there.'”
Sale
Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators
- Ronan Farrow
- Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
- Edition no. 0 (10/15/2019)
- Hardcover: 608 pages
Facebook Courting Conservatives
“Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been hosting informal talks and small, off-the-record dinners with conservative journalists, commentators and at least one Republican lawmaker in recent months to discuss issues like free speech and discuss partnerships,” Politico reports.
“The dinners, which began in July, are part of Zuckerberg’s broader effort to cultivate friends on the right amid outrage by President Trump and his allies over alleged ‘bias’ against conservatives at Facebook and other major social media companies.”
That Video Is Worse Than You Imagined
As we noted last night, a video depicting mass murder by President Trump — in a church! — was shown at a conference of the president’s supporters at the Trump National Doral Miami resort.
Video of Fake Trump Shooting Media Shown at Resort
“A video depicting a macabre scene of a fake President Trump shooting, stabbing and brutally assaulting members of the news media and his political opponents was shown at a conference for his supporters at his Miami resort last week,” according to footage obtained by the New York Times.
Trump Called Head of Fox News to Complain
New York Times: “Fed up with the coverage on his favorite cable news station, President Trump decided late this summer that a direct intervention was needed. So he telephoned the chief executive of Fox News, Suzanne Scott, and let loose.”
“In a lengthy conversation, Mr. Trump complained that Fox News was not covering him fairly… Ms. Scott, who has led the cable network since last year, responded by urging Mr. Trump to sit for an interview with Bret Baier, the channel’s chief political anchor.”
Trump Slams Shepard Smith for ‘Bad Ratings’
President Trump took a shot at top Fox News anchor Shepard Smith’s “terrible ratings” before wishing the longtime host “well” following news of his exit on Friday afternoon, The Hill reports.
Said Trump: “I don’t know. Is he leaving? That’s a shame. Is he leaving because of bad ratings? If he’s leaving, I assume he’s leaving because he had bad ratings.”
He added: “He had the worst ratings at Fox. I wish Shepard Smith well.”
Shepard Smith Stepping Down at Fox News
Fox News anchor Shepard Smith announced he is stepping down: “Recently I asked the company to allow me to leave Fox News and begin a new chapter. After requesting that I stay, they graciously obliged.”
The New York Times calls the decision “an abrupt move that left some of his co-workers openly stunned.”
Related? Attorney General William Barr met with Rupert Murdoch earlier this week.
‘Don’t Mansplain!’
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) appeared on The View to promote his new book, The Case Against Socialism, but it didn’t go so well.
Facebook Is Threatening Our Elections Again
Vanita Gupta: “After Facebook was implicated in the 2016 election wreckage, the company made strides to shore up the platform against future harms to our democracy. But now, Facebook is sabotaging its own efforts through a new policy: the explicit exemption of politicians’ speech from its community standards.”
“Since 2016, Facebook has maintained a ‘newsworthiness’ exemption, meaning content that violates community standards—including hate speech and harassment—can still be posted when the public interest in viewing the content outweighs the risk of harm. With its new policy, Facebook will automatically presume speech from politicians to be newsworthy.”
“Simply put: While major news organizations are strengthening fact-checking and accountability, Facebook is saying: If you are a politician who wishes to peddle in lies, distortion and not-so-subtle racial appeals, welcome to our platform. We will not fact-check. You are automatically newsworthy. You are automatically exempt from scrutiny.”
Barr Meets with Rupert Murdoch
Attorney General William Barr “met privately Wednesday evening with one of President Trump’s frequent confidants, Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul whose holdings include Fox News, which has recently become more critical of the president,” the New York Times reports.
“The meeting was held at Mr. Murdoch’s home in New York.”
Warren Smear Shows How Facts Can Be Distorted
Margaret Sullivan looks at the story that challenged Elizabeth Warren’s claim that she was fired as a teacher for being pregnant and concludes, “A news report can be narrowly factual, and still plenty unfair.”
“There is no big controversy here. No apparent lie and no ‘character issue’ that should unduly concern the voting public. If there is a scandal here, it’s how — in the bad-faith media world — narrowly presented facts without sufficient context can do unfair harm.”
“They can and will be weaponized, falsely regurgitated and twisted beyond recognition.”
Matt Drudge Sours on Trump
CNN: “Not only is Drudge’s website aggressively covering the impeachment news, it is doing so by featuring commentary from some of the president’s fiercest critics or the harshest criticism of him.”
Woman Accuses Matt Lauer of Rape In New Book
Variety: “Ronan Farrow’s new book Catch and Kill recounts his investigation of Harvey Weinstein; the hurdles his then-employer NBC News put in his way that caused him to publish the story in the New Yorker instead; and how Weinstein hired Black Cube, an investigative firm that employs ex-Mossad officers, to stop him.”
“But Farrow’s most explosive interview in the book is with Brooke Nevils, the former NBC News employee whose complaint about Matt Lauer led to the co-anchor’s firing from the Today show in 2017… Nevils alleges that at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Lauer anally raped her in his hotel room.”
Secret Far-Right Site Linked to RealClearPolitics
“The company behind the non-partisan news site RealClearPolitics has been secretly running a Facebook page filled with far-right memes and Islamophobic smears,” the Daily Beast reports.
“Called ‘Conservative Country,’ the Facebook page was founded in 2014 and now boasts nearly 800,000 followers for its mix of Donald Trump hagiography and ultra-conservative memes.”
Talk of ‘Coup’ Proliferates on Fox News
“Considering removing a president from office via procedures outlined in the Constitution is not the same as a coup, defined as a violent overthrow of the government. That hasn’t stopped at least 15 Fox News personalities and guests from calling the House impeachment inquiry a coup in the 11 days since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that an impeachment inquiry would move forward,” the Washington Post reports.
For members: The Conservative Media Is Key to Trump’s Survival
The Conservative Media Is Key to Trump’s Survival
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