| Brian Stelter here at 11:13pm ET on Tuesday, August 31 with the latest on President Biden, LinkedIn, Fortune, Mike Richards, Wirecutter, "The Talk," Vice, and much more...
Overlapping misinformation
"Prior to his reported health issues," ABC's team reported, "Pierce pushed conspiracy theories surrounding the insurrection on his Twitter account, where he also espoused anti-vaccination conspiracy theorists." See? Overlapping misinformation.
Another example was in the news last week: Arizona's sham election "audit" report was delayed after the Cyber Ninjas CEO and others tested positive for Covid-19. CNN's team noted that the "Ninjas" were often seen without masks, and it was "not clear whether those who tested positive had been vaccinated." Now here's why I am bringing this up...
Losing trust
The Pew Research Center released a discouraging data set this week. "In just five years, the percentage of Republicans with at least some trust in national news organizations has been cut in half – dropping from 70% in 2016 to 35% this year," Jeffrey Gottfried and Jacob Liedke wrote. "This decline is fueling the continued widening of the partisan gap in trust of the media."
Overall, Pew found, 58% of US adults say they have at least some trust in the info from national news outlets. "This is the smallest share over the past five years this question was asked," Pew said. Of course, this reflects the views of everyone from MAGA diehards who believe Donald Trump's "enemy of the people" smears all the way to leftists who believe the press went way too easy on Trump's undemocratic conduct. Plus, each person's definition of "national news organizations" is different. But the GOP's collapse in trust is colossal. (And Gallup showed a similarly bleak divide late last year.)
Whether you feel these #'s make "the media" look bad or make Republicans look bad, they're absolutely worthy of analysis, because they telegraph what's happening to the country writ large. As Sara Fischer wrote for Axios, "the polarization of trust in the media presents one of the most clear and troubling signs for American democracy."
America is one country with two almost completely separate media ecosystems. It's getting almost impossible to appeal to both...
Democrats believe; Republicans disbelieve
Here's another way to slice the Pew data: "78% of Democrats say they have 'a lot' or 'some' trust in the information that comes from national news organizations – 43 points higher than Republicans. This partisan gap is the largest it has been over the past five years this question was asked."
WaPo tech reporter Gerrit De Vynck took the words right out of my head: "There's no way to look at this and not be deeply discouraged and sad."
Let's be honest and recognize that this trust-in-national-news gap isn't happening in a vacuum. NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen said his takeaway was that "Republicans trust everything less, including social, often seen as a freewheeling alternative to The Media, icon of right wing resentment theatre. Flooding the zone with s*** works. It lowers trust in the entire system, so the worst among us can profit."
The "flooding the zone" strategy includes a never-ending Fox News narrative about Big Media and Big Tech censoring and hurting and destroying everyone in its way. People who don't watch Fox every day don't understand what it's like to be told, by people you respect, that you can't trust anything from unapproved sources. The propaganda is incredibly effective. Fox didn't have any reporters in Afghanistan when Kabul fell to the Taliban, but Fox loyalists "knew" not to trust the national news outlets that actually did have journalists in harm's way covering the story.
View from the right
HotAir's Ed Morrissey highlighted the Pew #'s and said "clearly something broader than 'Republicans don't like the news' is happening here. What's causing the erosion of trust in national news media outlets? That's a worthy question for more serious study, but a few highlights over the last five years might explain some of it." Then he listed grievances like "the Russia-collusion social panic fueled by media," "the media's tongue bath given Andrew Cuomo while thousands of seniors died," and "the pile-on targeting Brett Kavanaugh and the media's embrace of Michael Avenatti."
View from the left
Vox veteran David Roberts, who now runs a newsletter called Volts, reacted to the Pew findings this way: "The decades-long, extremely well-funded conservative effort to completely cut its suburban/rural base off from mainstream sources of information has basically succeeded. Not clear that democracy can survive it."
Far-right politicians have filled the info-void. On Sunday Madison Cawthorn suggested there could be "bloodshed" over future elections while advancing 2020 election lies. On Tuesday Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed on Tucker Carlson's show that telecom providers that follow a standard request from the House committee probing 1/6 to preserve relevant records "will be shut down. And that's a promise." Mike Gallagher bashed WH chief of staff Ron Klain for "retweeting progressive journalists and creating an echo chamber," which stood out to me because the "echo" from Gallagher's "chamber" is overwhelming.
View from the inside
Rarely do I see a right-wing outlet trying in good faith to profile a mainstream media figure. But I see the opposite all the time. For instance: Manuel Roig-Franzia of the Washington Post traveled to Texas to profile former NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch, the "rising right-wing radio star" who "doesn't care if you call her a murderer."
Roig-Franzia documented how she produces "an avalanche of content" across radio, TV, print, and digital. "She connects with listeners by deploying a polished delivery, citing a blizzard of data, then pivoting for effect to the cadence of her backwoods youth," he wrote. So Loesch's Second Amendment absolutism and vaccine skepticism comes in between "anecdotes about family life, pop culture references, silly news briefs and updates about the latest medical woes of her pets."
None of it, of course, is newsroom-based. And that's probably the most important point to make. The GOP's world of media excels at talking-about-the-news, not gathering or processing the news. Bashing the rest of the media is a lot cheaper and easier than sending reporters on assignments. The result is a form of media illiteracy rather than the literacy that's desperately needed.
Goodbye, common set of facts
Brian Lowry writes: "When I read those Pew poll results, I couldn't help thinking about two men who have left us but who planted the seeds for the right's wholesale rejection of mainstream media: Rush Limbaugh and Roger Ailes. The conservative radio host and Fox News founder both had a clear profit incentive built into their formula, which Trump, and others, have taken and run with. By discrediting other forms of media, they cemented bonds to their audience. The other legacy of that, far more problematic, is the destruction of a society that can agree on a common set of facts regarding challenges and crises we face, much less how to address them." FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE -- Stoke enough anger about "the media," and people are primed to lash out. An arrest warrant has been issued for the "Ohio man accused of assaulting" NBC's Shaquille Brewster... (Sun Herald)
-- LAT's Matt Pearce made this point about the #'s: "The news business has taken pretty seriously the surveys showing declining trust in newsrooms, but given the same declining trust in doctors, local school boards, elections, and democracy, maybe we were being a little too hard on ourselves for things beyond our control." (Twitter)
-- Chris Cillizza examined the Pew #'s and called it "Trump's most lasting, damaging legacy..." (CNN)
-- Trump, naturally, used his Fox platform to assail his successor Tuesday... (Fox Biz)
-- Fox's audience remains as loyal as ever: In August, "Of the top 14 cable news programs in terms of total and demo viewers, Fox News held down 13..." (TheWrap)
-- CNN's highest-rated show of the month: "Cuomo Prime Time..." (TVNewser) Biden gives defiant defense of withdrawal from Afghanistan
"The country needed President Biden to speak even though there wasn't much that he could say," WaPo's senior critic-at-large Robin Givhan wrote Tuesday evening.
The month of August was defined, from a foreign policy POV, by the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan and America's evacuation effort. "Americans at home were appalled as they saw what their government had wrought, how nation-building had devolved, how a 20-year war — even the ending of it — was so infuriatingly, heartbreakingly messy," Givhan wrote. "All Biden could do with his Tuesday afternoon speech from the White House was craft a few minutes of order and eloquence at the tail end of profound havoc..."
Why not in prime time?
Oliver Darcy writes: "Regardless of what you think about the speech Biden delivered, the time in which he chose to deliver it was rather strange. Instead of delivering his address to the country in prime time – as President Obama, for instance, did with the conclusion of the Iraq War – he chose to talk at 3pm. It was a rather unusual time, to say the least, to mark the end of America's longest war..." FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO -- Kevin Baker writes about "the old cliché about Afghanistan that won't die..." (Politico)
-- "Despite the best efforts of Republicans and certain media figures, Americans have a nuanced view of withdrawal from Afghanistan," Greg Sargent wrote... (WaPo)
-- In this new opinion piece for the WSJ, Committee to Protect Journalists executive director Joel Simon says the Biden admin needs to do a whole lot more to support press freedom vis a vis Afghanistan... (WSJ)
-- "Among those stranded in Afghanistan are employees of US Agency for Global Media," Deirdre Shesgreen reports... (USA Today)
-- Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello is seeking help to get female guitar students out of Afghanistan, Marianne Garvey reports... (CNN)
-- Philip Kennicott argues that the "viral photo of the last soldier in Afghanistan is powerful," which is "why it's deceptive..." (WaPo)  Ida is a long-term story
Reporters were finally able to drive to Grand Isle, Louisiana on Tuesday, more than 48 hours after Hurricane Ida made landfall nearby. Jim Cantore went live from the barrier island and showed the devastation on The Weather Channel. "There isn't anything that's untouched here," he said.
Further inland, as Madeline Holcombe, Holly Yan and Eric Levenson wrote for CNN.com, the levees held but "the power grid did not. Millions of Gulf Coast residents who survived Ida's devastating winds and deluge of rain face a new danger -- widespread power outages that are expected to last for weeks, coupled with a period of excessive heat." Key supplies are also starting to run out...
On Wednesday's morning show rundowns
Ida's flooding rains are pushing into portions of the Appalachians, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast... The US is "battling climate disasters on several fronts..." Covid-19 continues to overwhelm hospitals in some states where vax rates are low... Child Covid-19 hospitalizations are hitting a new high... And there's trouble at the FDA...
Bonnaroo is off, again
Flooding has forced the organizers of the annual Tennessee festival to cancel. "It's the second year in a row that the festival has been called off," Melissa Gray reports... WEDNESDAY PLANNER Defense secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Mark Milley will speak in the Pentagon briefing room at 1pm ET...
Biden will welcome Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky to the WH. No joint presser has been scheduled...
Some streamers will "participate in #ADayOffTwitch, a walkout designed to bring attention to the ongoing hate and harassment that's plagued" Twitch...
On "NBC Nightly News," Kate Snow will reveal the results of a new study from the CDC and the National PTA re: how parents nationwide are feeling as schools reopen... A front page editorial
Above all the day's headlines, atop the "HOSPITALS IN CRISIS" alert and the "Crowded facilities" warning, there's a front page editorial in Wednesday's edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that says, quite simply, "Get vaccinated. Save lives." Here's a preview:  Three more headlines about Covid's impacts
-- "Google has yet again postponed a full return to the office, announcing that its employees can continue to work remotely until next year..." (CNN)
-- "Hall of Famer John Smoltz and former Met and Yankee Al Leiter will no longer appear in-studio for MLB Network after refusing" to get vaxxed... (NYPost)
-- This just in from Sandra Gonzalez: "KISS is postponing four tour dates after Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley tested positive for coronavirus..." (CNN)  "CBS Sunday Morning" on the weekdays
The "CBS This Morning" brand is being sunsetted. On September 7, when the CBS AM show adds new co-host Nate Burleson and moves to a new Times Square studio, the franchise will be called "CBS Mornings." And it'll draw on "CBS Sunday Morning" for inspiration. Why? Well, "Sunday Morning" is a ratings magnet. It's one of the best things CBS News has going. So "we're bringing more of that feature storytelling magic that 'Sunday Morning' is known for, to every day of the week," Gayle King said on Tuesday's show.
King, fresh off rehearsals the day before, said the reboot will have a "different feel," and Tony Dokoupil said there will be "urgency in the 7, optimism in the 8," signaling how execs are distinguishing between the two hours. The show will "place new emphasis on longform stories in its second hour," Variety's Brian Steinberg wrote...
--> CBS averaged 493,000 in the 25-54 demo in August, far behind "GMA" (777,000) and "Today" (908,000). Among total viewers, the results were similar...
In TV, everything old is new again
Steinberg interviewed new CBS News boss Neeraj Khemlani, who said "we are essentially building a franchise that is seven days a week." The weekday edition will incorporate the same trumpet fanfare and sunrise logo as "Sunday Morning," which will prompt questions about whether the Jane Pauley-led magazine show will be diluted by this approach.
Steinberg's story pointed out that CBS has tried to "import" the Sunday edition "to the rest of the week" before, back when Charles Kuralt was the Sunday host: "In the late 1970s and early 80s, Bob Schieffer and then Kuralt himself (with Diane Sawyer) hosted a weekday morning program that was heavy on magazine-style pieces, and won critical plaudits, but not as many viewers as affiliates would have liked." Everything old is new again... FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE -- Margaret Sullivan writes about the Local Journalism Sustainability Act, which she acknowledges is an "imperfect solution," but says it has "real value" and "could provide some relief to news organizations that are gasping for breath as they try to refigure their business models..." (WaPo)
-- "Some 60 years after the first papers rolled off its presses, the Tampa Bay Times has sold its shuttered St. Petersburg printing plant for $21 million. The buyer of the 27-acre property ... is the real estate arm of Alden Global Capital..." (Tampa Bay Times)
-- Rick Edmonds breaks down Press Gazette's report that found the top 25 US newspapers lost 20% of daily subscriptions between Q1 2020 and Q1 2021... (Poynter)
-- "Frontline" managing director Jim Bracciale is leaving the series this fall. He will be succeeded by Janice Hui... (GBH)
-- Laura Bassett is the new EIC of Jezebel, Scott Robson is the new EIC of AV Club, and David Ewalt is the new head of Gizmodo... (G/O Media) Facebook to de-emphasize political and current events posts
"Facebook plans to announce that it will de-emphasize political posts and current events content in the News Feed based on negative user feedback," Sara Fischer reported on Tuesday. The company will "expand tests to limit the amount of political content that people see in their News Feeds to more countries outside of the US," she added.
>> As Fischer noted in her story, this could "reduce traffic to some news publishers, particularly companies that post a lot of political content..." FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR -- Another one from Fischer: Trump wanted equity in Gettr, "the new social media app launched by former Trump aide Jason Miller..." (Axios)
-- Adam Satariano and Mike Isaac write about Accenture, "the silent partner cleaning up Facebook for $500 million a year..." (NYT)
-- LinkedIn will shut down its stories feature after September, Garett Sloane reports... (AdAge)
-- "TikTok is making it easier for brands and agencies to work with the influencers using its service," Sarah Perez writes... (TechCrunch)
-- "Spotify is officially rolling out Blend, a personalized playlist that will allow friends to discover the ways their tastes in music overlap," Brianna Provenzano writes... (Gizmodo) Fortune CEO postpones DC event ahead of union picket
Kerry Flynn writes: "Fortune CEO Alan Murray emailed the magazine's staff Tuesday that the upcoming CEO Initiative conference will be postponed. The decision came in the way of Fortune union informing management their plan to picket the conference unless the two sides agreed on a collective bargaining agreement. The ordeal is reminiscent of The New Yorker's union-planned picket of The New Yorker Festival, which prompted Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to withdraw from their speaking gigs. They later ended up speaking after the union secured just cause protection. Per The Beast's Max Tani, CEO Initiatives speakers Marty Walsh and John Kerry had been scrubbed from the conference website ahead of the announcement..." Wirecutter behind a paywall
Oliver Darcy writes: "The NYT said Tuesday that it will put the product review site behind a paywall, starting Wednesday. NYT premium digital subscribers will still have access to it, and those who do not subscribe to the paper can purchase a standalone subscription for $5. WSJ's Patience Haggin, who broke the news, explained the move like this: 'The Times, in its digital incarnation, is seeking to serve some auxiliary needs that traditional print newspapers once served, including by providing recipes and games and by helping users decide what products to buy.' But while Wirecutter will now be making revenue off of subscriptions, it will also continue to earn revenue through partnerships it has with sites like Amazon..." Vice's SPAC talks have ended
"Vice Media is raising over $85 million in fresh capital from existing investors, as talks to go public via a SPAC have ended for now, according to people familiar with the situation. As part of the fundraising, Vice's co-founder, Shane Smith, has agreed to give up his voting control," Jessica Toonkel scooped.
>> Kerry Flynn adds: "The news of Vice's funding round came shortly after the company's latest round of layoffs. While the company seemed to play them off as small scale, many respected managers and staffers were let go. And it's a black mark on its reputation. Vice has created a culture of annual layoffs, as Daniel Roberts noted..." Reversing the tides
What does it look like when a Substack writer quits his shingle and joins a print magazine? It looks like -- gasp -- Timothy Noah, who announced on his 'stack that he is rejoining The New Republic as a staff writer. He wrote, "It will be excellent to earn a salary again, obviously, but it will also be a pleasure to return to the company of other writers who may or may not think the way I do about this or that, and will certainly know a lot more about many such things than I do. After 15 months even I have gotten a little bored spending so much time in the company of Timothy Noah..." FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE -- Somehow missed this yesterday! NBC's Brandy Zadrozny has accepted a Harvard fellowship... (Twitter)
-- Elle Duncan and ESPN have struck a multi-year deal... (Variety)
-- Ben Strauss' latest: "Bishop Sycamore, IMG and the high school football game that duped ESPN..." (WaPo)
-- "The Talk" is in serious rebuilding mode: First Sharon Osbourne left, and now Elaine Welteroth is leaving "after just one season on the show..." (Page Six)
-- "Welteroth's departure leaves The Talk with three co-hosts at the moment: Sheryl Underwood, Amanda Kloots and the recently hired Jerry O'Connell..." (THR) Mike Richards is out
It was only a matter of time – or more specifically a matter of negotiation.
Kerry Flynn writes: "The news of Mike Richards' exit as EP of 'Jeopardy!' and 'Wheel of Fortune' was seemingly met with a resounding finally on Tuesday. But I'll admit that I was a bit surprised because sometimes it does feel like men in power are still protected no matter what they say or do. Sony has pulled the plug on Richards, so now we await the answer to the next question: Who will be the game show's permanent host?"
>> Michael Davies will "help with production on an interim basis..."
>> Jake Tapper tweeted: "We have higher standards for game show hosts than for Members of Congress, definitely a sign of a healthy society with its priorities in order..."
>> The Cut's headline: "Man Faces the Consequences of His Own Actions..."
>> Lesley Goldberg's much-anticipated story for THR landed later in the day: "Mike Richards left a tumultuous legacy at 'Price Is Right...'"
>> BuzzerBlog said it best: "I also never, ever, want to think about Jeopardy this much in my life ever again. I love Jeopardy but unless a giant event happens, like the current champion, Jeopardy should be a silent dependable friend in the corner..."  A vote for 'Impeachment'
Brian Lowry writes: "It really doesn't make much sense presenting 'Impeachment' under the 'American Crime Story' banner, but otherwise this is an engrossing, undeniably juicy FX limited series about the Clinton scandal, featuring an array of splashy performances but with Sarah Paulson pretty much stealing the show as Linda Tripp. And while I generally try not to criticize other critics (kidding; do it all the time), I confess to being a bit mystified by those deriding the project as tabloid and trashy, since that's fundamental to the story: The coverage of Clinton and Monica Lewinsky marked the triumph of trashy, tabloid media in the mainstream news space -- the program notably singles out Matt Drudge's ascent at the time -- and that's one of the not-so-subtle points of the show, as it illustrates (with Lewinsky's blessing as one of the producers) the toll exacted on her life." The series starts on September 7. Read Lowry's full review here... FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX -- Marianne Garvey's latest: "Candyman" director Nia DaCosta "has become the first Black female director to have a film debut in the top spot in the US box office, Universal Pictures announced Tuesday..."
-- DaBaby met with leaders from HIV organizations following his disparaging comments, Chloe Melas reports...
-- One more from Melas: In this interview with Esquire, Tim McGraw credits his wife Faith Hill for helping him to stop drinking... SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST...
Pet of the day!
Reader Jeanne Roubeix emails: "Here is Cheyenne, so cute and kind..."   Thank you for reading! Email us your feedback anytime. Oliver will be DJing this party for the rest of the week while I try to go on vacation 😉 Share this newsletter:
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