TGIT! Here's the latest on "The View," MSNBC, Spotify, Tom Hanks, OpenAI's mystery product, and much more... |
Trump's disappearing transcripts |
"The Trump White House is the most transparent in history," it says, while removing a database of official transcripts documenting President Trump's announcements and appearances.
The "remarks" section of the White House website now features YouTube videos rather than the transcripts that have been published by past administrations for decades. It's yet another example of the White House trying to exert more control. Rather than printing every transcript, thus creating a comprehensive record for the public, the White House is selectively publicizing some events and skipping others.
HuffPost's S.V. Date, who observed that the administration was cutting back on Trump transcripts earlier this spring, wrote last week that the White House was "excluding many of his most unhinged comments" from its website. In response, WH comms director Steven Cheung told Date to "stop beclowning yourself."
Now the transcripts have been removed altogether, with one exception: Trump's inaugural address. "Government stenographers are still recording and transcribing Trump's remarks," NBC reported yesterday. The records just aren't being posted.
The YouTube videos are not really a replacement because many of Trump's events are not being archived in video form, either. "Also missing are videos of Trump's various interactions with the media," NBC noted. Those exchanges are still being transcribed, too, but the White House is not posting the documents.
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The website change impacts journalists and researchers more than the average taxpayer. But it's revealing in terms of the administration's priorities — and what Karoline Leavitt means when she touts "transparency."
Words matter. But words tend to be scrutinized and nit-picked and fact-checked. Trump cares far more about images — specifically images of strength and dominance. He wants people to promote his slogans, not parse his speeches.
When I reached out for comment on the website change, Leavitt said "the president's remarks are live on the website for every person in the world, including journalists, to access and watch for themselves. The Trump White House is the most transparent in history."
Yes, the live streams exist. But this transcript purge is still quite telling. As Semafor's Dave Weigel remarked this morning, "It was a mini-scandal (correctly) that the Biden WH cleaned up the 'the only garbage is his supporters' gaffe by adding an apostrophe ('his supporter's') in the official transcript. No transcript, no problem!"
>> FYI: My favorite database of presidential words and images is the Factba.se website. I use it almost every day.
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That's how CNN's Larry Madowo described Trump's confrontation of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during yesterday's Oval Office meeting. The president repeatedly touted disproven claims of white "genocide."
Ramaphosa and his South African entourage — including white businessmen and government officials — all tried to convince Trump he'd been misled. But Trump ignored them. At one point, in a truly stunning display, he called for the lights to be dimmed and showed the room a four-and-a-half minute video. It was a literal display of Trump's tendency to believe what he sees on TV, even if a person sitting right next to him tells him otherwise.
CNN's Daniel Dale has a detailed fact-check here. Justin Baragona at
The Independent also went through the news clippings Trump waved around. Trump said the printouts represented "thousands of stories" about "death, death, death" in South Africa, but one of the articles was clearly about a different country altogether.
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Trump repeatedly attacked NBC's Peter Alexander for asking about the Qatari jet "gift" yesterday. He called the well-respected reporter an "idiot" and a "jerk" and said that NBC parent Comcast and its CEO Brian Roberts "ought to be investigated."
Well, add Roberts to the list. The NYT's Peter Baker posted a list of just some of the people "charged, investigated or threatened with investigation by Trump or his team" recently:
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ABC News is not commenting, which means it is not pushing back, on an overnight Daily Beast story titled "Disney CEO Told Hosts of 'The View' to Tone Down Trump-Bashing."
The story by Corbin Bolies is nuanced, revealing that ABC News president Almin Karamehmedovic "suggested the panel needed to broaden its conversations beyond its predominant focus on politics," leading the hosts to push back "forcefully." According to Bolies, Ana Navarro had a followup conversation with Disney CEO Bob Iger, who "confirmed he supported the show" but "reaffirmed that the show needed to tone down its political rhetoric."
Given the show's liberal leanings, that would mean toning down the anti-Trump talk. So it will be interesting if this story causes any backlash among viewers of "The View." (It's worth noting here that the majority of Americans, and certainly the majority of "View" fans, disapprove of Trump.) I messaged Navarro (who is also a CNN contributor) for comment and haven't heard back.
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Political media notes and quotes |
>> Music insiders are slamming Live Nation's "transactional" decision to appoint Trump ally Richard Grenell to the board, THR's Ethan Millman reports.
>> Given Trump's pressure campaign against Paramount, "it's easy to view the exit of CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon as fourth-estate martyrdom. But maybe she just wasn’t very good at her job," Puck's Dylan Byers writes.
>> "Following reports from CNN and other news outlets, Senator Maggie Hassan is demanding information about how Spotify is handling phony podcasts promoting potentially illegal online pharmacies," CNN's Clare Duffy scoops.
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MSNBC is quickly standing up its own newsgathering operation as it gets ready to separate from NBC News and become part of Versant. Today's new hire is Joey Cole, who is returning to MSNBC as VP of planning for newsgathering. Cole is currently an executive producer at NBC News NOW.
Scott Matthews, the senior VP in charge of newsgathering, also recently hired Erin Zimmerman from ABC and Sudeep Reddy from Politico. And earlier this week MSNBC welcomed Marcus Mabry, an alum of CNN, who will build direct-to-consumer and subscription business and ID new revenue streams. |
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>> A "significant expansion" by Fox Nation into the sports docuseries space: It is "picking up a new season of '100 Days to Indy,' as well as the rights to the show’s first two seasons." (THR)
>> DirecTV and the Tribeca Festival are launching "a streaming hub for films, talks and behind-the-scenes content." (Deadline)
>> Disney's Hulu + Live TV service is adding TelevisaUnivision channels. (Variety)
>> More action in the Washington Post-to-Atlantic pipeline: The Atlantic is poaching Gitesh Gohel, who will serve as chief product officer. (The Atlantic)
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New allegations about star journalist |
Several journalists and students spoke with CJR's Betsy Morais for this story about alleged sexual misconduct by prominent journalist Wesley Lowery. The interviews "attest to a pattern of predatory behavior toward young women in journalism, going back years," Morais wrote.
In a statement, Lowery said, "CJR's portrayal of these periods in my personal life is incomplete and includes false insinuations about complicated dynamics," and said he "should have better upheld boundaries that would have protected myself and others."
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Epic Universe is now officially open in Orlando, kicking off the latest front in the "theme park wars." Mark Woodbury, the chair of Universal Destinations & Experiences, told me yesterday that the new park "will transform Universal Orlando Resort into a full week vacation destination that delivers mind-blowing experiences for global audiences." Here's my CNN story with all the context...
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Elon Musk, by the X numbers |
Back in February, "as many as 75% of Musk's posts on X were about DOGE or U.S. politics," Sarah Ellison writes. That figure that has fallen to 10% recently as Musk has resumed "posting more about battery technology and AI."
"It's a return to pre-X Elon, who presented as a quirky Silicon Valley guy," Ellison writes. Read her full story with Clara Ence Morse here...
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🔍 OpenAI's mystery product |
What a moment for OpenAI. "There may be no limit to OpenAI's ambitions," top tech analyst Gene Munster said yesterday after Sam Altman announced a merger with former Apple design chief Jony Ive's secretive hardware company io. "I think we have the opportunity here to kind of completely reimagine what it means to use a computer," Altman said. CNN's Lisa Eadicicco has the lowdown here.
>> The WSJ obtained an audio recording of an OpenAI staff meeting with "a few hints at the secret project they have been working on." It's not a phone or a pair of glasses. "The product will be capable of being fully aware of a user's surroundings and life, will be unobtrusive, able to rest in one’s pocket or on one’s desk, and will be a third core device a person would put on a desk after a MacBook Pro and an iPhone." More here...
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>> Google has "detailed its plans to bring ads to AI Mode." (TechCrunch)
>> The News/Media Alliance says AI Mode is "further depriving publishers of original content both traffic and revenue." (NMA)
>> Spotify "says its ability to direct its customers to external payment links in its iOS app has already had a positive impact on sales." (TechCrunch)
>> Amazon "is testing short-form AI-powered audio product summaries on select product pages," voiced by "AI-powered shopping experts." (TechCrunch)
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Bruce Springsteen keeps calling out Trump, and the president's responses keep getting more juvenile. Hours after The Boss released an EP from his European tour — which includes his on-stage speeches railing against the president — Trump posted a spliced video to his Truth Social showing him hitting a golf ball that then hits Springsteen on stage.
>> Ireland's "barber to the stars," who has appeared in public several times with Springsteen, told an Irish tabloid that he recently spoke with Bruce, who allegedly told him "he has been writing about the American dream for more than 50 years and he cannot sit silently..."
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Entertainment odds and ends |
>> Tom Hanks is the latest A-lister to grace New York's theater scene. He will star in "World of Tomorrow," a play that he wrote, at The Shed over eight weeks this fall. (THR)
>> Ira Boudway argues that "not every team deserves a Netflix sports documentary." (Bloomberg)
>> Beyoncé's five-night streak at Met Life Stadium begins tonight. (NYPost)
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