TGIF! The end-of-August vibes are undeniable right now. We're going to be off next week, but we'll be back tomorrow with a special weekend reads edition. Now here's the latest on President Trump, The Onion, Wikipedia, CNN, Lorne Michaels, "KPop Demon Hunters," and more... |
How the Bolton news broke |
Journalists, live-streamers and neighborhood gawkers are lined up outside John Bolton's home in Bethesda this morning to watch an FBI search of the Trump critic's home. CNN is reporting that the court-authorized search is part of a national security investigation.
One of the first indications of unusual activity on Bolton's street in Bethesda came from Benjamin Wittes, the editor in chief of Lawfare, who had the first camera — his cameraphone — on the scene outside. Wittes sent some photos to a journalist friend of his, then went live on Substack, where he virtually connected with Lawfare managing editor Tyler McBrien and The Bulwark's Tim Miller.
Wittes, who has been chronicling Trump's acts of retribution on a near-daily basis, called the FBI action "theatrical," noting that "doing it this way allows lots of pictures."
During the livestream, Miller speculated that the New York Post was tipped off to the FBI action, since the Post published a story well before any other news outlet. FBI director Kash Patel also seemed to "tease" the search on X, writing just after 7 a.m. that "NO ONE is above the law… @FBI agents on mission."
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Triggered by Bolton's tell-all? |
The search of Bolton's home "stems from a now-resumed investigation into whether he disclosed classified information in his 2020 book," CNN's Kristen Holmes reported, citing a a source familiar with the matter. Bolton's "The Room Where It Happened" was one of the best-selling tell-alls about Trump's first term. (I remember writing about its staggering first-week sales totals.)
The context: "Trump had previously threatened to jail Bolton over the book, and the Justice Department launched an investigation into possible mishandling of classified information. But that probe was closed and a related lawsuit was dropped in 2021, when the department was under President Joe Biden."
"There are all kinds of reasons to look at this with a jaundiced eye," Andrew McCabe said during CNN's breaking news coverage this morning. "We know that the president is embarked on a pretty extensive effort to go after his perceived enemies," McCabe said.
Bolton has been on CNN several times in the past week, including on "The Source" just last night. (Here's the transcript.)
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Countries call for press access in Gaza |
CNN's Sana Noor Haq reports: An international press freedom coalition has called on Israel to allow "immediate independent foreign media access" into the Gaza Strip, where months of bombing and siege have wrought an "unfolding humanitarian catastrophe." Britain, France, Germany and Australia were among 27 nations who co-signed the statement on Thursday, raising fears over the "extremely high" number of fatalities, arrests and detentions of journalists and media workers in the region. The US did not sign. Here's the statement.
>> Both Israel and Egypt, which control Gaza’s borders, have so far refused to give international journalists unfettered access to the strip, saying that they cannot guarantee their safety. The Committee to Protect Journalists has been documenting how the war "has taken a catastrophic toll on Gazan journalists."
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CBS News says it's profitable |
Earlier this week, Puck's Dylan Byers reported that CBS News is losing "around $50 million a year," citing sources. Yesterday, a news division spokesperson refuted the report on the record, saying "the division is currently profitable." Byers wrote on X, "Why the discrepancy? There are nuances in the accounting that deserve further exploration. 60 Minutes is profitable, the rest is… complicated."
>> "The disputed number may ultimately be less important than the larger narrative it helps justify: CBS News is about to face some painful budget cuts," Oliver Darcy wrote for Status overnight.
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Discovery's $$ investment in CNN digital products |
CNBC's Lillian Rizzo and Alex Sherman are out this morning with an in-depth profile of Gunnar Wiedenfels, the CEO-elect of Discovery Global, the half of the soon-to-be-split WBD that will include CNN. A key graf: "Wiedenfels said the company would be investing in building out CNN's future streaming and digital products, calling it 'a pretty significant financial commitment in an industry with declining linear secular trends.' The company is on track to invest at least $100 million in the network so far, with plans for further investment next year."
>> CNN CEO Mark Thompson is also quoted in the piece, saying, "in CNN's case he's more than met our ask on investments. In fact, he's asked whether we need any more."
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'SNL' news from Lorne Michaels |
In a rare and very newsy interview with Puck's Matt Belloni, Lorne Michaels says he'll be making final decisions about next season's "SNL" cast in the next week. (Trump impersonator James Austin Johnson will be back.) "Michaels promised me a significant shake-up, with several current castmembers expected to exit," Belloni wrote here.
Michaels also talked about Stephen Colbert's cancellation. Belloni: "Have you been assured by Comcast that the Jimmy and Seth shows are safe for the foreseeable future? They're both signed through 2028." Michaels: "Yes." Read on...
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Opening this 'bag of chips' |
Earlier this week at a campaign event in Harlem, Winnie Greco, a top advisor to NYC mayor Eric Adams, attempted to give The City reporter Katie Honan a wad of cash stuffed inside a bag of chips. The City reported the incident to investigators, then published a story about it, and Greco was suspended from Adams' campaign.
According to the NYT, this "was not an isolated incident in Chinese-language media circles." Times reporters "witnessed other Adams supporters handing out red envelopes with cash at three separate campaign events." In one incident, an Adams ally "was seen by The Times holding $50 bills and handing out red envelopes to reporters from Chinese-language news organizations." One reporter anonymously told the Times that it's common practice for Chinese-language journos to receive cash for covering all kinds of events.
>> Meanwhile, The City launched a brilliant "CHIP IN TODAY!" fundraiser off the incident. The subject line: "We don’t take payoffs — but we do take donations."
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Journo detained by ICE sues for release |
Mario Guevara, the Salvadoran journalist who was arrested during a "No Kings" protest near Atlanta in June, filed for release on Thursday, per the ACLU. Though Guevara was granted bond on July 1, he has remained in ICE detention. "His detention on this basis is unlawful and sends a chilling message to other journalists, particularly non-citizen journalists, that they will also face retaliation if they report on public officials," Scarlet Kim, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, wrote in a statement. CPJ has also filed a declaration of support in Guevara...
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Taking The Onion's print success seriously |
"One year ago this week, The Onion returned to print. In that one year, we've grown to the 13th largest print newspaper in the United States, just ahead of the Boston Globe, and growing fast. In short, it's working," CEO Ben Collins shared yesterday.
Collins thanked subscribers and shared this WSJ story about the milestone. Alexandra Bruell reports that the satirical publication "has a new deal to sell its papers at Barnes & Noble, and is expecting about $6 million in revenue this year — up from less than $2 million in early 2024."
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Fooled by an 'AI freelancer' |
Could the next freelance submission you receive come from a hoaxster aided by AI? WIRED, Business Insider, and other publications have taken down news features written by "Margaux Blanchard" over concerns that "they are likely AI-generated works of fiction," Press Gazette's Charlotte Tobitt reports in this in-depth (and very human!) accounting.
>> WIRED released a detailed explainer of how it got "rolled by an AI freelancer." A BI rep told CNN that "we have removed first-person essays that didn't meet Business Insider's standards and have since bolstered verification protocols."
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>> TikTok "is poised to lay off hundreds of staff in London working on content moderation and security, just as the UK's Online Safety Act comes into full force requiring international tech companies to prevent the spread of dangerous material or face huge fines," Anna Gross and Tim Bradshaw report. (FT)
>> Speaking of the Online Safety Act... FTC chair Andrew Ferguson is warning Apple, Alphabet, and other tech companies "that efforts to comply with British and European digital content laws could violate U.S. law if they weaken privacy and data security protections for American users," Jody Godoy reports. (Reuters)
>> Elon Musk tried to enlist Mark Zuckerberg "for the $97.4 billion bid that his consortium made for OpenAI earlier this year, but the CEO of Meta Platforms did not come on board." (Reuters)
>> Musk and X "have reached a tentative agreement to settle a lawsuit filed by former Twitter employees who said they were owed $500 million in severance pay," Dietrich Knauth reports. (Reuters)
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>> AdWeek's TV team tried the new ESPN and Fox One streaming apps. The takeaway: They're "fine," with caveats. (AdWeek)
>> The MLB's next TV/streaming deals are coming into focus. The WSJ says NBCUniversal is nearing a three-year deal for games, while Netflix is in "advanced talks with the league to stream the Home Run Derby." (WSJ)
>> And there's more: MLB and ESPN "have a framework agreement that would give the network the exclusive rights to sell all out-of-market regular-season games digitally and in-market games for five clubs over the next three years," Andrew Marchand reports. (NYT)
>> Apple TV+ "is raising its monthly price by 30% in the U.S., to $12.99 per month." (THR)
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"To a casual viewer, the video that's been bouncing around social media of Jon Stewart at 'The Daily Show' desk condemning Donald Trump's threatened 50% tariff on India seems plausible enough," LateNighter's Jed Rosenzweig writes. But it's a fake, pulling in "millions of views across more than a dozen accounts on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube." And "The source of the video is a mystery — no single account has claimed authorship, and the intent is equally opaque..."
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>> "This is the first summer in recent memory — except for the heart of the pandemic — when not one Hollywood movie crossed $600 million domestically, or $500 million for that matter," Pamela McClintock reports. (THR)
>> A sing-along version of Netflix's "Kpop Demon Hunters" is coming to theaters this weekend and "looking at a surprise No. 1 win" at the box office. (Deadline)
>> "Happy Gilmore 2" has "set a record on Nielsen's streaming charts for its premiere weekend." (THR)
>> "The Office spinoff The Paper is switching up its premiere plans and will now debut all 10 episodes of Season 1 at once." (IGN)
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This edition of Reliable Sources was edited by Andrew Kirell and produced with Liam Reilly. Email us your feedback and tips here. We'll be back tomorrow with weekend reads, and then we're off for the rest of the month. |
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