White House frustrated with 'hyperbolic' Delta coverage; NYT delays return to office; Lindell fights with Fox; Crouse resigns; Olympics ratings and NBC's bottom line

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Welcome to the weekend! Oliver Darcy here at 10:00pm ET on Friday, July 30, with the latest on Mike Lindell's fight with Fox News, news orgs delaying their return-to-office plans, Karen Crouse resigning from NYT, how low Olympics ratings might be affecting NBC's bottom line, an update from Bob Odenkirk, and more. But first...

White House blasts Covid coverage

The White House is frustrated with what it views as alarmist, and in some instances flat-out misleading, news coverage about the Delta variant. That's according to two senior Biden administration officials I spoke with Friday, both of whom requested anonymity to candidly offer their opinion on coverage of the CDC data released that suggests vaccinated Americans who become infected with the Delta coronavirus variant can infect others as easily as those who are unvaccinated.

At the heart of the matter is the news media's focus on breakthrough infections, which the CDC has said are rare. In some instances, poorly framed headlines and cable news chyrons wrongly suggested that vaccinated Americans are just as likely to spread the disease as unvaccinated Americans. But that isn't quite the case. Vaccinated Americans still have a far lower chance of becoming infected with the coronavirus and, thus, they are responsible for far less spread of the disease.

"The media's coverage doesn't match the moment," one of the Biden officials told me. "It has been hyperbolic and frankly irresponsible in a way that hardens vaccine hesitancy. The biggest problem we have is unvaccinated people getting and spreading the virus."

As the Biden officials explained to me, the administration is worried that the media's focus on these instances of breakthrough infections might lead to people being more hesitant to get a vaccine. Think about it: If you're a young person, and already believe you will be OK if you do get infected, why would you now get a vaccine, given that coverage suggests you can still just as easily become infected and spread the virus after receiving a shot?

The worry about this line of messaging from major media sources worried officials so much, I'm told, that they reached out to several major news organizations with the aim of getting them to dial back the coverage...

"YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG"

Unfortunately, in some cases, those outreach efforts might have occurred too late. The New York Times, for instance, tweeted early Friday morning, "The Delta variant is as contagious as chickenpox and may be spread by vaccinated people as easily as the unvaccinated, an internal C.D.C. report said." Ben Wakana, a member of the White House's rapid response team, responded bluntly: "VACCINATED PEOPLE DO NOT TRANSMIT THE VIRUS AT THE SAME RATE AS UNVACCINATED PEOPLE AND IF YOU FAIL TO INCLUDE THAT CONTEXT YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG." The Times ultimately added more context to its tweet in a follow-up.

But it wasn't just The Times. The Washington Post ran a headline that read, "CDC study shows three-fourths of people infected in Massachusetts covid-19 outbreak were infected." As Matthew Getz commented, "Please don't do this. Provincetown has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country. As vaccination rates increase the percentage of cases that are in vaccinated people NECESSARILY increases." The Post's headline was later updated to note that in the outbreak "few required hospitalization."

And NBC News also found itself facing criticism when it published a story with the headline, "Breakthrough Covid cases: At least 125,000 fully vaccinated Americans have tested positive." That headline failed to note that, per NBC's own data, that figure represented "less than .08 percent of the 164.2 million-plus people fully vaccinated since January." NBC updated its headline later to read, "Breakthrough Covid cases: Data shows how many vaccinated Americans have tested positive."

The focus should be on the unvaccinated

I reached out to Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a CNN medical analyst and professor at George Washington University's medical school, to get his thoughts on Friday's coverage. Reiner told me that he believed that the focus on breakthrough infections among the vaccinated "has been a little hysterical." He explained, "The vaccines still work remarkably well in terms of preventing serious illness and death. We're seeing that the risk of death for a vaccinated person in this country is 25X lower than for unvaccinated. If you look at the P-Town outbreak there were no deaths. So let's all take a deep breath..."

News orgs aren't the only ones to blame

I also called up Dr. Leana Wen, a CNN medical analyst and former Baltimore health commissioner, who agreed that the media is "missing the big picture, but so is the CDC." Wen explained that the CDC said it was changing its mask guidance because of the new data regarding rare instances in which a vaccinated person becomes infected and can then spread the virus. "They got it wrong," she said. "The reason why the guidance is changing is that Covid-19 is spreading really quickly, Delta is a big problem, and the reason for the spread is because of the unvaccinated." Wen said the primary reason the CDC needed to change its mask guidance is because the honor system wasn't working. In other words, people who were not vaccinated were acting as if they were and not wearing masks or following other basic safety protocols...

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- Mediaite has a round up of some of the criticism NYT, NBC News, and WaPo faced for their "horribly irresponsible framing" of breakthrough infections... (Mediaite)

-- "Communicating well in this moment, about the virus and the vaccines, is the key challenge of the pandemic," Dr. James Hamblin writes. "Because as bad as the virus is, it's not as dangerous as the breakdowns in trust and communication that cause people to refuse vaccination..." (The Body)

-- Speaking of messaging issues: CDC Director Rochelle Walensky had to walk back comments she made to Bret Baier after suggesting the Biden admin was looking into mandating vaccines at a federal level... (Twitter)

-- "Disney is requiring all its salaried and non-union hourly employees in the US to be vaccinated. Workers who are working on-site but are not yet vaccinated must do so within the next 60 days," Moira Ritter reports... (CNN)

-- "Lollapalooza officials announced masks will be required by all patrons in any indoor spaces at Grant Park beginning Saturday, based on advice from the Chicago Department of Public Health..." (WGN-TV)

-- Jack Healy writes: "Some people who once rejected the vaccine or simply waited too long are now grappling with the consequences, often in raw, public ways. A number are speaking from hospital beds, at funerals and in obituaries about their regrets..." (NYT)

-- "Google is profiting off ads for counterfeit COVID-19 vaccination cards, even though the product violates the company's own advertising policies prohibiting content that exploits a public health emergency," Olivia Little writes... (MMFA)

-- "Thailand implemented new regulations on Friday that appeared to broaden the government's ability to restrict media reports and social media posts about the coronavirus pandemic, raising immediate concerns that authorities will seek to stifle criticism," David Rising reports... (Associated Press)

NYT indefinitely postpones return-to-office

Another day, another return-to-office delayed. NYT said Friday that it will indefinitely put its plans to open up its offices on hold. "The company, which employs about 4,700 people, had been planning for workers to start to return, for at least three days a week, in September," NYT's Katie Robertson and Lauren Hirsch explained in their story. The offices, however, will remain open for vaccinated employees who want to voluntarily work from them...

>> NPR too: "NPR, which had been aiming for most workers to return to the office by early September, has now extended the return date to October 17," Steve Inskeep said on Twitter...

WEEKEND PLANNER

CNN is trying something new on Saturday night: An anthology of documentary shorts, starting at 9pm ET...

Sunday is the first day of August...

The "30 Rock" library returns to Netflix on Sunday...

The season finales of "War of the Worlds" and "The Chi" air Sunday at 9pm...

This Sunday on "Reliable"

Brian Stelter writes: "I'll be joined by Dr. Celine Gounder, Robby Soave, Rep. Jackie Speier, Anne Applebaum, Jared Holt, plus three local reporters in regions where Covid infections are surging: Keisha Rowe, Leada Gore, and Emily Woodruff. See you Sunday at 11am ET..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- A blunt piece by Kevin Drum: "The answer to the increasing amount of hate in our politics, then — the only answer that fits the data — is almost certainly Fox News." Here's his argument... (Mother Jones)

-- Molly Jong-Fast writes that it was another "truly terrible week" for "star propagandist" Tucker Carlson... (Daily Beast)

-- "The Daily Show" highlights Fox News' contradictory messaging regarding the coronavirus and migrants at the border... (YouTube)

-- "Infowars has launched another channel on the streaming platform Roku, which previously banned the conspiracy theory outlet from its platform," Alex Kaplan reports... (MMFA)

-- Do you remember the 1/6 hearing from earlier this week? David Zurawik makes the case that, "moving as they might be to some, TV hearings are no longer changing the course of history..." (Sun)

Pillow fight

Brian Stelter writes: "Spot checks of Fox News on Friday confirmed that Mike Lindell's MyPillow ads have dried up. As I said on 'Erin Burnett OutFront,' Fox is having second thoughts about sharing a bed with the MyPillow guy. Then again, if he reverts to his cheery housewares sales, his ads will be welcome on the air. The issue now is that he's selling a dangerous delusion -- Trump's imminent return to office -- that he can't deliver..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- Saad Mohseni writes about the media environment in Afghanistan: "The country's media is a light that exposes the cruelties Afghans face, connects them to each other and to the world, keeps their hopes aflame. Afghans and the international community can play a key role in ensuring they don't slip back into the darkness..." (AirMail)

-- Jake Tapper called out the White House over evacuating US allies from Afghanistan: "The Biden administration knew this was coming, and they haven't started acting on it in a real way until just now..." (Mediaite)

-- Erik Wemple writes about the University of California blasting The Atlantic over its story on admissions... (WaPo)

-- Amy Walter has been named the new publisher and editor-in-chief of the Cook Political Report... (Cook Political Report)

Crouse resigns after conflict of interest regarding Phelps

Reporter Karen Crouse announced Friday that, after 16 years at the paper, she had resigned from NYT. The resignation came after she was suspended for writing a celebratory story about Michael Phelps without disclosing that she was also working on a book with him. Crouse said she will "pursue nascent projects that are particularly timely." She described her time at NYT as a "wonderful run" and said she is "not done..."

>> WaPo's Erik Wemple, who has been all over this story, wrote: "Don't write a feature story about a person with whom you have a book deal. That's the upshot surrounding a bit of personnel news coming out of the New York Times..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- Must-read from Davey Alba: "Nooses, anger and no answers: Inside the uproar over a future Amazon site..." (NYT)

-- "Elon Musk and Apple deny wild story that he tried to replace Tim Cook," Jay Peters reports... (The Verge)

-- Alex Hagwood profiles Sriram Krishnan and Aarthi Ramamurthy, the couple behind one of Cluhouse's most influential programs, "The Good Time Show..." (NYT)

-- CNBC's Brian Schwartz has new details about the new media startup from Mark Bauman and Laura McGann. One of the key investors is Brian Edelman, who "has investments around the globe" and has "done some work in the Middle East..." (CNBC)

Low Olympics ratings affecting NBC's bottom line?

"Since the opening ceremony of the Olympics last week, NBC has been busy negotiating with anxious advertisers, offering ways to make up for the games' steep drop in viewers," Bloomberg's Gerry Smith reported Friday, citing sources. Smith noted that ad deals are "based on either the number of viewers or 'brand lift,' a term for how audiences perceive a brand compared with competitors."

Given ratings are down, NBC might need to use advertising inventory it set aside "in case ratings were lower than expected and the company was forced to give sponsors additional commercial time to meet its obligations." Doing that, Smith noted, "means NBC misses out on the revenue those extra minutes might have generated if the ratings were strong and advertisers wanted to reach more viewers." As one advertising exec told him, "Does it impact the amount of revenue NBC can generate? Almost certainly..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

-- "It's not just you, streaming the Olympics is a mess," Catie Keck writes, arguing that Peacock's coverage has been a problem "straight out of the gate..." (The Verge)

-- So where should you get your fix? "YouTube might be the best place to watch the Olympics," suggests Zoe Haycock... (Vulture)

-- Meanwhile, Tatum Hunter wonders, "Is TikTok winning the Olympics?" (WaPo)

-- And to that point: "Olympic athletes are showing us their funny, fascinating, complicated selves on TikTok and beyond," AJ Willingham writes... (CNN)

Odenkirk: "I had a small heart attack"

"Better Call Saul" star Bob Odenkirk tweeted Friday to thank fans for the "outpouring of love." Odenkirk was blunt, saying, "I had a small heart attack." But he said he is "going to be OK" thanks to the doctors "who knew how to fix the blockage without surgery." Odenkirk said he is going to "take a beat to recover," but will "be back soon." He thanked AMC and Sony for the support the companies have shown him, describing it as "next level..."

Johansson's agent unloads on Disney

The war of words between Disney and Scarlett Johansson's camp is really heating up. On Friday, Johansson's agent, CAA's Bryan Lourd, ripped into Disney. "They have shamelessly and falsely accused Ms. Johansson of being insensitive to the global Covid pandemic," he said in a blistering statement. Lourd described Disney's statement about Johansson's lawsuit as "beneath the company that many of us in the creative community have worked with successfully for decades." WSJ's Joe Flint has more here...

FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX

By Lisa Respers France:

-- Comments from DaBaby sparked a backlash from Elton John, Madonna and other celebs...

-- Broadway theaters will require vaccinations for audience and staff...

-- Dolly Parton supports Britney Spears and can relate to her struggle...

Jean-Claude Van Damme gets his kicks, but you won't

Brian Lowry writes: "Jean-Claude Van Damme stars in 'The Last Mercenary,' a pretty awful French production that reflects Netflix's appetite for original content, which has included more international films, the bonus here being that the actor once known as the Muscles from Brussels has a higher profile because of his box-office run in the '90s..."

LAST BUT NOT LEAST...

Pet of the day!

KWTX-TV assistant news director Robyn Geske emails: "This is my cat, Walter. Through the pandemic, he's 'helped' me lead editorial meetings on Teams, with his constant meows of approval/disapproval. He's like an unofficial station mascot now..."