November is here! Can you believe it? Here's the latest on CBS, Cardi B, Tucker Carlson, USA Today, Amazon, Bob Costas, "Squid Game," and more... |
Is The Atlantic's gain. Two veteran writers who resigned from The Washington Post over its non-endorsement decision are joining The Atlantic. Robert Kagan and Danielle Allen are both coming aboard as contributing writers.
>> Context: This week some Post rivals have sought to capitalize on Jeff Bezos's controversial decision by promoting their opinion writers' endorsements of Kamala Harris and by encouraging readers to subscribe. For The Atlantic, the Post imbroglio is also an opportunity to attract talent.
>> "The Atlantic is deeply committed to covering the crisis of democracy in all its manifestations, and having Danielle Allen and Robert Kagan join our already-excellent team represents a real boon for our readers," Goldberg says. Here's my full story...
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Kagan resigned within minutes of learning the non-endorsement news last Friday. One week later, has his view changed at all? No, he told me this morning, because it was "clear the moment I heard: Bezos betrayed his role as owner of the Post in order to protect his other business interests from Trump’s vengeance. It is an awful harbinger of what lies ahead if Trump wins."
>> NBC's Chuck Todd writes today in The Atlantic: "Bezos himself has fallen victim to the campaign to convince the world that all media should be assumed to be biased politically unless proved otherwise."
>> The Post's Philip Bump says "the issue isn’t that many Americans see The Post as biased when its opinions are presented. The issue is that many Americans, particularly on the right, see The Post as biased when it presents facts."
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Candidates' final media sprint |
I was up early on "CNN This Morning" talking with Kasie Hunt about Harris and Trump's media strategies. Both candidates are leaning into celeb starpower. In Trump's case, that meant sitting down for a "friendly chat" with Tucker Carlson in Glendale, Arizona, last night. Hunt led her show with a very unfriendly clip of Trump using violent rhetoric against Liz Cheney.
>> A couple hours after the Carlson event, in Las Vegas, Nevada, Jennifer Lopez said "this is the most important stage I've ever been on" as she endorsed Harris. Cardi B will join Harris in Milwaukee later today.
>> Harris taped an interview with radio/podcast host DL Hughley yesterday. She also did a "pull-aside" interview with NBC's Yamiche Alcindor, seen above. NBC immediately posted the full transcript.
>> Stephen Colbert interviewed Tim Walz in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, yesterday; the interview will air Monday. As for Trump and JD Vance, I expect they'll be back on Fox in the next few days, but no appearances have been announced yet...
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On Thursday, Joe Rogan's sit-down with Vance went live. Rogan also told listeners that he extended an "open invitation" to Harris's team. A Harris campaign spokesman told Gabe Fleisher that they're "not closing the door on anything there," suggesting a Rogan sit-down is still possible, but the VP is "pretty damn busy..."
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1A experts trash Trump's CBS suit |
Last night, Trumpworld gave an exclusive to Fox about Trump's lawsuit against CBS alleging "deceptive doctoring" of last month's "60 Minutes" interview with Harris. The suit asserts $10 billion in damages and attempts to apply a Texas statute "that is meant to prevent advertisers from misleading the public about a product being sold," CBS's own story notes.
The suit was immediately ridiculed by numerous First Amendment experts. "It's ridiculous junk and should be mocked," Rebecca Tushnet, the Frank Stanton Professor of First Amendment Law at Harvard Law School, told CNN's Jon Passantino. "This is a frivolous and dangerous attempt by a politician to control the news media," First Amendment lawyer Charles Tobin of Ballard Spahr added. "The Supreme Court has made it crystal clear: the First Amendment leaves it to journalists – and not the courts, the government, or candidates for office – to decide how to report the news." Read Passantino and Rashard Rose's full story here...
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Here's how CBS is responding |
The network is reiterating that Trump's claims are based on a faulty premise. The Harris interview "was not doctored," a spokesperson said last night. The lawsuit Trump has brought "is completely without merit and we will vigorously defend against it." |
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Scranton station's misfire |
WNEP-TV, an ABC affiliate in Scranton, accidentally aired test election results for a few minutes on Sunday. Three days later "conservative media outlets, social media skeptics and conspiracy theorists got wind of it," prompting the usual suspects to spread lies about election fraud, Scripps reported.
The screwup also resulted in some explainers that could (but probably won't) actually reinforce trust in election coverage. The station said in an apology note that "the numbers seen on the screen were randomly generated test results sent out to help news organizations make sure their equipment is working properly in advance of election night."
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Political media notes and quotes |
>> I admire Daniel Dale for always finding new ways to write about old, repetitive lies. Here's his latest lead for CNN: "The United States that Donald Trump describes in his rally speeches would be pretty bad if it actually existed..." (CNN)
>> Gannett Media chief content officer Kristin Roberts explained USA Today's non-endorsement during an earnings call yesterday. Roberts said "there is a significantly underserved audience seeking a viewpoint that reflects the middle majority, and we believe we are capturing this opportunity." (Poynter)
>> "Nate Silver accused pollsters of putting their 'f*cking finger on the scale' and 'lying' in an episode of his 'Risky Business' podcast on Thursday, arguing that they are shaping their results in presidential election polls to look like other pollsters," Isaac Schorr reports. (Mediaite)
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>> This morning Andrew Marantz is out with an absorbing, up-close look at "the Tucker Carlson road show," focusing on the "meta-narrative" Carlson is telling... (New Yorker)
>> Election falsehoods are taking off on YouTube "as it looks the other way," Nico Grant reports. (NYT)
>> A deep dive into how it happened: David Ingram shows "how Elon Musk turned X into a pro-Trump echo chamber." (NBC News)
>> By Nicholas Quah: "How Podcasts Became the New Battleground State." (Vulture)
>> Julia Preston was a dispassionate journalist for four decades. But in the Trump era, "I could no longer follow the rules" of impartiality, she writes. Preston is now canvassing for Harris. But "from this side of the line, I am if anything more aware of the value of that impartiality," and here's why. (CJR)
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More growth for Amazon's ads biz |
Amazon shares are surging this morning after the company posted better-than-expected earnings. Advertising was a "bright spot in the report," CNBC's Annie Palmer writes. "Sales in the unit expanded 19% year over year to $14.3 billion during the quarter, outpacing growth in Amazon's core retail business." Overall, "among online ad companies, Amazon showed the strongest growth, although its ad business still remains a fraction the size of juggernauts Meta and Google..."
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>> "Apple gave cautious guidance for the crucial holiday quarter on a call with investors, as uncertainty over how a rollout of new AI features will translate into sales of iPhones and other devices complicated otherwise solid quarterly results." (FT)
>> 24 hours later: Comcast's Thursday morning announcements about "exploring the creation of a separate company for its cable networks" and considering "partnerships in streaming" are notable enough that they're on the front page of today's Journal... (WSJ)
>> OpenAI is out with "a major overhaul of ChatGPT that enables the chatbot to search the web and provide answers based on what it finds," Gerrit De Vynck reports. (Wash Post)
>> "The Baltimore Sun Guild’s news members are launching a seven-day byline strike, from Nov. 3 to Nov. 10, including Election Day, citing sliding journalistic standards and union-busting proposals raised by management at the bargaining table," the union announced. (X)
>> "Observer staff have been warned that 'difficult decisions' lie ahead if the Tortoise deal to buy the title does not go ahead," Dominic Ponsford reports. (Press Gazette)
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Costas retiring from baseball play-by-play |
Focus on Sport/Getty Images |
"Bob Costas is retiring as a Major League Baseball play-by-play caller, marking the end of a legendary run in which he became synonymous with the game over four decades and earned a place in the broadcasting wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame," The Athletic's Andrew Marchand scooped yesterday. Costas, 72, said he'll discuss the decision at a later date. He "will continue with his emeritus work at MLB Network..."
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>> John Mulaney is hosting this weekend, with musical guest Chappell Roan.
>> Dave Chappelle helmed the show's first post-election episodes in 2016, 2020 and 2022, but "this time around, the late night show is going in a different direction, with comedian
Bill Burr tapped to host its return on November 9,"
Eboni Boykin-Patterson reports. (Daily Beast)
>> "SNL" is "meeting Gen Z where they are: on TikTok," Tess Patton writes in this feature about the show's social strategy. (TheWrap)
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>> "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy!" producer Sony Pictures Television "is suing CBS, the distributor, for allegedly undercutting the value of the shows to serve its own interests," Joe Flint reports. (WSJ)
>> "Universal Pictures and the Lego Group are linking up for three live-action movies:" Directors Jake Kasdan, Patty Jenkins, and Joe Cornish are "each developing a separate Lego film..." (THR)
>> "Warner Bros. has been quietly developing at least one film set in George R.R. Martin's epic fantasy universe," James Hibberd reports. (THR)
>> Netflix has dropped the official teaser for the second season of "Squid Game." (YouTube)
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