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"The event that set in motion Eric Swalwell's swift downfall, from congressman running for governor to political outcast accused of sexual assault, was the most routine act in journalism: a cold call."
That's how Demian Bulwa, the San Francisco Chronicle's director of news, opens this piece about the painstaking reporting process that led to twin stories about Swalwell's alleged misconduct.
The cold call was placed by reporter Alexei Koseff to a former Swalwell staffer. At first, the woman didn't share any info, but she urged the Chronicle to "keep digging." The former staffer eventually opened up to both Koseff and a reporter for CNN's investigative unit, Allison Gordon, and alleged that Swalwell sexually assaulted her twice.
In part, Bulwa wrote, the accuser was motivated by strength in numbers — by the knowledge that CNN "was working on a story that would include multiple women." She "decided to speak with the network as well in solidarity with these women," appearing on camera in silhouette to protect her identity.
The Chronicle and CNN stories landed back-to-back last Friday. I appreciated this point Bulwa made about that: "The articles complemented and strengthened each other precisely because we had worked in competition, not collaboration — another foundational argument for why strong journalistic institutions benefit readers."
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Why it took a long time... |
This week, many right-wing critics have assailed the mainstream media for not reporting on Swalwell's alleged behavior sooner, given that many DC insiders have said there were "whispers" and rumors about him over the years.
CNN's Sarah Ferris wrote that "dozens of lawmakers and senior aides said Swalwell's womanizing reputation was widely known, though those relationships were believed to be consensual." But the behavior described in the CNN and Chronicle stories was predatory and in some cases potentially criminal.
Here's the reality, as Tangle editor in chief Isaac Saul put it in this worthwhile column: "The media wasn't 'protecting' Swalwell because he was uniquely valuable to them; the standard to publish the story wasn't met until the accusers came forward."
"These stories have to go through rigorous scrutiny before they can be published, and having at least one victim willing to submit their story to media scrutiny and the discomfort of public attention is key, even if they remain anonymous," Saul wrote.
In the Swalwell case, the women were encouraged to do so by "two content creators, Arielle Fodor, a former teacher who goes by 'Mrs. Frazzled,' and Cheyenne Hunt, a lawyer and former congressional candidate," who "played a key part in the story getting out," CJR's Bill Grueskin wrote this morning.
"What made the creators' approach notable wasn't just their persistence," he wrote. "It was their understanding that social media influence alone would not be enough to take on a powerful politician and care for Swalwell’s accusers."
"Behind the scenes," The New Yorker's Jon Allsop wrote, the online influencers "brought together his accusers and steered them in the direction of CNN, which had the institutional heft — and, most important, high-powered media lawyers — that they lacked."
The reporters on the story made many, many calls — and while many of the women had positive experiences with Swalwell, the CNN team found both a range of inappropriate conduct and a "similar pattern of events" of sexual misconduct with others.
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'Serious stories require serious process' |
I liked the way Saul explained it to his readers: "Serious stories require serious process."
Both Gordon and Koseff talked about their reporting processes on KQED's Forum earlier this week.
"At CNN, we have a very high bar for reporting on allegations like these," Gordon said. "Much of the communication happened on Snapchat, where messages disappear, so we had to be creative. We corroborated accounts by speaking with people the women confided in at the time—friends, family, coworkers. We reviewed text messages and other communications, including WhatsApp. We also verified the congressman's phone number and Snapchat username."
"We reviewed documents, including some medical records, and cross-checked timelines," Koseff added. "We also looked at things like social media posts to confirm Swalwell’s location at key times, and those aligned with the accounts we were given. That helped strengthen our confidence in the reporting."
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Kennedy Center insider speaks out |
"I am heartened by the fact that we are still hearing from whistleblowers, given the way that whistleblowers have been treated just in this past week by this administration," Alicia Menendez remarked on MS NOW last night.
She was talking with MS colleague Jacqueline Alemany, who shared an interview with Josef Palermo, a Kennedy Center curator who was let go last month. "What I observed there is far worse than the public knows," Palermo wrote in an essay that's #1 on The Atlantic's most-read list this morning. He described "cronyism," incompetence, and chaos...
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Speaking of whistleblowers... |
CNN's Christiane Amanpour interviewed former USAID global health official Nicholas Enrich, who is out with a book titled "Into the Wood Chipper. A Whistleblower's Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded USAID."
Amanpour asked if he feared speaking out, and he said yes: "I was intimidated for a long time even though I told myself not to be. But ultimately, I found that I hit my breaking point. And once I did, once I no longer felt like I could be silent..."
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NOTUS "will be renamed The Star and relaunch in the first week of June," the NYT's Katie Robertson reports. As The Star, the news outlet "will soon cover local news and local sports" and "will also increase its coverage of Congress and the White House." The newsroom will also "probably more than double to 95 journalists by the end of the year."
>> There is "a need for a publication that really focused on both political Washington and 'normal' Washington, as The Post retreats on that front," editor in chief Tim Grieve says...
>> Post alum Paul Farhi explains the history behind the name: "The name is a throwback to the daily newspaper that competed against the Post in Washington. It was owned for several years by Joe L. Allbritton, the late father of Robert Allbritton, who co-founded NOTUS and Politico. JLA sold the Star to Time Inc., which closed it in 1981."
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NPR "has received two of the largest gifts in the public media network's existence, totaling $113 million," David Folkenflik reports.
The public radio org said the donations "will be used to expand audience connection, accelerate digital transformation, and increase the sustainability of the national NPR Network."
Connie Ballmer, the wife of former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, gave $80 million to upgrade NPR's tech infrastructure. "I support NPR because an informed public is the bedrock of our society, and democracy requires strong, independent journalism," she said in a statement.
The other $33 million came from a donor who chose to remain anonymous and is earmarked for building and acquiring "tools and services" for the network. Folkenflik has more here…
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Netflix stock slides on unchanged outlook |
Netflix shares opened down about 11% this morning, ending its recent momentum, despite a strong Q1 earnings report last night. "The latest figures exceeded most expectations, and the global streaming giant stuck to its 2026 guidance — but many investors had hoped for more," THR's George Szalai wrote this morning.
>> "Management's decision to maintain rather than raise guidance reflects a measured approach given it remains early in the year with 'plenty of time to go, plenty of work left to do,'" Michael Morris of Guggenheim Securities wrote...
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Hastings to step down from Netflix board |
"Netflix co-founder and executive chairman Reed Hastings will not seek re-election to the company’s board of directors once his term expires in June," CNN's Liam Reilly reports.
>> During yesterday's investor call, Ted Sarandos "pushed back on rumors that Hastings' departure was due to the company's WBD bid," Reilly adds...
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Netflix brings Brian Williams aboard |
"With scientists predicting that every American will have a podcast by 2030, I thought it was time to get in the game," anchorman Brian Williams said in a cheeky statement about his podcast deal with Netflix. He'll host a weekly show, titled "We're Back! With Brian Williams," Stephen Battaglio scooped yesterday. The show "will feature Williams in extended interviews with pop culture figures and newsmakers in a casual setting."
When I read about the deal, I immediately pictured Williams anchoring the next Artemis space launch for Netflix. Just sayin'...
>> Netflix announced several other new podcasts yesterday, too, including "Allegedly," a true-crime show produced by NBC News Studios and hosted by correspondent Ellison Barber...
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Ellison repeats theatrical pledge |
"Paramount Skydance chief David Ellison made a surprise appearance at CinemaCon on Thursday, assuring movie theater owners that the studio’s planned acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery would not hurt the movie business," NBC's Rebecca Keegan reports from Vegas.
>> Ellison's appearance came one day after he declined to attend Sen. Cory Booker's "shadow hearing" about the deal. Paramount cited a death in the family. Ellison is hosting an event in DC "honoring the Trump White House and CBS White House correspondents" next week, so Booker's renewing the invite, per Status.
>> In other Paramount news, the company "held its first upfronts presentation for advertisers Thursday," Variety's Michael Schneider reports. PSKY will "continue the road show in the coming days, with several more meetings and events planned in markets including New York..."
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Tarlov turns Trump's attack into a book plug |
Since 6 p.m. yesterday, Trump has posted three times about his key MAGA critics — Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and Megyn Kelly — calling them "LOSERS" with "Low IQ" who are "dying fast."
And in one of those posts, he appeared to be live-tweeting an episode of Fox's "The Five" aboard Air Force One, attacking the show's lone liberal voice: "I am watching one of the Least Attractive and Talented People on all of Television, Jessica Tarlov. Her voice is so grating and terrible, I had to 'turn her off!' Her Democrat soundbites are FAKE. She makes up 'Poll Numbers,' and nobody challenges her, because she is so boring."
Trump, not Tarlov, is the one who makes up poll numbers. Ever the good sport, she responded on X by saying, "My numbers are far from fake — Trump really is that unpopular," and linking to the presale for her new book, titled "I Disagree."
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>> "The NFL and YouTube have entered a long-form contract review for a five-game package," Ryan Glasspiegel reports. (Front Office Sports)
>> Getty Images "has been told to sell the editorial business of Shutterstock by the British competition watchdog in order to secure approval for the $3.7bn merger of the two US-listed photo agencies," Daniel Thomas reports. (FT)
>> Roku now has "more than 100 million households" using its streaming platform. (Bloomberg)
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Disney tries to set a $10M bar for Super Bowl ads |
Variety's Brian Steinberg has a very early look at the negotiations for next year's Super Bowl ad inventory. Disney "has told advertisers it believes they should pay $10 million for a 30-second ad," but "the high price tag has some marketers sitting on the sidelines," Steinberg writes...
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>> Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is visiting the White House today "while his AI company battles the Trump administration in court for blacklisting its Claude AI model." (CNN)
>> "A new report from the nonprofit research group Tech Transparency Project claims that Google and Apple's app stores go beyond simply hosting harmful ‘nudify’ and ‘undress’ apps that remove women’s clothing in images, and actually encourage users to download those apps," Samantha Cole reports. (404 Media)
>> Google's latest Ads Safety Report shows how many deceptive and problematic ads it blocked last year. Jagmeet Sign's takeaway: "Google is now targeting bad ads over bad actors." (TechCrunch)
>> "Things can't go on like this," Keir Starmer reportedly told social media execs "in a meeting about internet safety at Downing Street," Dan Milmo and Kiran Stacey report. (The Guardian)
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The 'Infinity Vision' workaround |
Puck's Matt Belloni called this Disney announcement an "admirable effort" to blunt the fact that "Avengers: Doomsday" lost out to "Dune" for IMAX exclusivity:
Both the re-release of "Avengers: Endgame" in September and the launch of "Doomsday" in December "will also be presented in 'Infinity Vision,' a new certification for premium large format theaters, which is touted as delivering 'the biggest, brightest and most immersive cinematic experiences for moviegoers,'" Variety's Angelique Jackson writes...
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>> "Warner Bros Pictures has landed feature rights to 'A Harrowing Race Against Time to Find a Downed U.S. Airman in Iran,' a buzzy recent piece from The New York Times." (Deadline)
>> "Paramount is investigating the online leak of its upcoming film 'The Legend Of Aang: The Last Airbender,' but the company has determined that it did not come from within the studio." (Variety)
>> Lana Del Rey and "five-time Bond film composer David Arnold… dropped the official title song for the upcoming video game '007 First Light,' from IO Interactive and Amazon MGM Studios." (Variety)
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