Brian Stelter here at 11:13pm ET on Wednesday, July 13 with the latest on Lis Smith, Wolf Blitzer, Microsoft, "bothsidesism," Paramount Pictures, Barbie and Ken, TikTok, and more... The horrible truth |
Two newspapers owned by Gannett, one in Indiana and one in Ohio, have humanized the new American reality about abortion now that Roe v. Wade has been reversed. And in doing so, they have highlighted the inhumanity of some partisan punditry. On July 1, the Indianapolis Star reported that a 10-year-old girl in Ohio was pregnant, and because "the Buckeye state had outlawed any abortion after six weeks," the girl was brought to Indiana for an abortion. The source was Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Indianapolis, who said she had conferred with a child abuse doctor in Ohio. No further details about the girl or the alleged rapist were obtainable, even though some news outlets tried. In recent days, after President Biden cited the news report and denounced Ohio's abortion ban, many conservative media outlets and Republican office-holders poured skepticism on the case, and some personalities flatly said they did not believe the 10-year-old existed. Rep. Jim Jordan tweeted: "Another lie. Anyone surprised?" You know what's coming next. On Wednesday, the Columbus Dispatch reported that a man has been charged in the case. Police say Gerson Fuentes, 27, "confessed to raping the child on at least two occasions." None of the media outlets that sowed doubt about the case were in court for the arraignment. Hardly any of them were even in the state. The Dispatch's Bethany Bruner said she was the "only reporter in the courtroom" when it happened. "This confirms that the case exists," she wrote on Twitter, sharing the link to her story. Bruner said the Dispatch relied on public records to track down Fuentes. It's "fitting," WaPo media critic Erik Wemple said, "that perhaps the biggest abortion story since the SCOTUS overturning of Roe v. Wade stems from regional/local newspapers, because that's where the reporting on this issue will be playing out for months and years. A brand-new test for a hollowed-out American media sector." The doubters and deniers Right-wing skepticism about the case bubbled up on social media last week and boiled over after WaPo fact-checker Glenn Kessler wrote about the difficulty in confirming Bernard's account. On Monday Fox's Jesse Watters hosted Ohio's Republican A.G. Dave Yost, who said there was "not a whisper" of any evidence that such a crime occurred. Up until Wednesday morning, "Yost was on a media tour casting doubt on the veracity of the story," and criticizing the Indy Star, Vice's Paul Blest wrote. Segments on Fox also heaped suspicion on the Star's story. The WSJ's editorial board called it an "unlikely story from a biased source that neatly fits the progressive narrative but can't be confirmed," adding, "PJ Media's Megan Fox was first to point this out." Once the Dispatch reported on the suspect's arrest, Fox came up with other reasons to blast the media, and Watters credited his show with putting on "the pressure" to find the suspect, adding, "we are glad that justice is being served." He plastered Bernard's photo on screen and accused her of participating in a coverup. Then his guest attacked the Indy Star and its "abortionist movement." One hour later, Tucker Carlson strongly implied that the identity of the suspect was shrouded in secrecy because, in Carlson's words, "apparently the rapist was an illegal alien." The suspect's immigration status is now the focus of right-wing media coverage. The WSJ editorial board attached an "editor's note" to its unfortunate piece and filed a new editorial "correcting the record" Wednesday evening. And as for Jordan's "another lie" tweet, well, he just deleted it. There are so many untold stories For more on this awful episode, check out NPR's new report by David Folkenflik and Sarah McMammon. They wrote that it "illustrates the high stakes of both the new legal landscape on abortion and of reporting in an age of deep political polarization and mistrust of major news outlets." NiemanLab's Laura Hazard Owen also wrote about the reporting dynamics on Wednesday. Her headline: "Unimaginable abortion stories will become more common. Is American journalism ready?" The Dispatch is ready. Wednesday's story by Bruner and her colleagues Monroe Trombly and Tony Cook not only contains critical details from the courtroom, it includes the broader context that everyone on every side of the reproductive rights debate needs to face. Like this: "An analysis of Columbus police reports filed since May 9 found 50 reports of rape or sexual abuse involving girls 15 years or younger." That's a report almost every single day, in just one metro area, and certainly a partial count – underscoring a vast number of untold stories. The Dispatch story also notes that "the ability of Ohio residents to seek abortion services in Indiana could soon be curtailed," since Republican lawmakers in the state are expected to enact new restrictions later this summer. A 10 year old is being treated "as a political chess piece" Editorial writers and TV talking heads will move on tomorrow, but the people at the center of this case will be changed forever. WaPo columnist Alyssa Rosenberg made a really important point here: "Even if the girl in Ohio remains anonymous — and the national media attention, the arrest of her alleged rapist and his naming in the press make that seem unlikely — she will someday know that her 10-year-old self was treated not as a person the whole nation had an interest in protecting, but as a political chess piece." Shame on the nation, she says, "that put a 10-year-old in the worst possible circumstances through an unnecessary ordeal, and then argued about whether she was a hoax." To counter the "hoax" claim, here are images from court, via CNN's story: |
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| -- View from the right: The anti-abortion site LifeNews says the media is exploiting the 10-year-old to "promote abortion..." (LifeNews) -- View from the left: Ohio's Democratic nominee for governor, Nan Whaley, says the state's GOP leaders should apologize for "retraumatizing this victim..." (Guardian) -- Legal reporter Chris Geidner's comment: "The idea that each horror story resulting from Dobbs and these extreme state laws should be presumed false is an attempt to hide the consequences of their policies..." (Twitter) -- "This Ohio tragedy is, among many other things, a lesson that there is no account deemed sympathetic enough to break through to people who simply do not care about the suffering they're causing," Irin Carmon says. "Instead we get denial, misdirection, or attacking those who told the story..." (Twitter) -- "Doctors worry that online misinformation will push abortion-seekers toward ineffective, dangerous methods," Naomi Thomas reports... (CNN) -- Here's a glimpse into how other countries see the US story: Abortion pills are "a new front in culture wars..." (BBC) |
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Three of today's media must-reads -- The forthcoming book "Bad City: Peril and Power in the City of Angels," by Paul Pringle, enumerates scandals at both USC and the LA Times. "Journalism prevailed," Pringle says. Maria L. La Ganga previewed the book in this detailed new piece for The Times... (LAT) -- Ray Epps is "the unwitting face" of a sprawling right-wing conspiracy theory portraying the Capitol riot as a false flag operation. The lies have upended his life. He is now in hiding. But he decided to speak with a reporter so that people know what it's been like. Alan Feuer landed the interview with Epps – "on the condition that the location of his new home not be disclosed." Read on... (NYT) -- "A bored Chinese housewife spent years falsifying Russian history on Wikipedia," and Rachel Cheung explains how... (Vice) |
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"Building up" to a series finale The House's 1/6 committee is "building up to a ground-shaking finale," LA Times TV critic Lorraine Ali writes. Ali says the structure of the hearings "is familiar to fans of serial television — and with each public revelation, the committee has only bolstered the expectation, like an expert writers room, that there are more surprises to come." According to some reports, the final hearing in this series is tentatively slated for Thursday, July 21 in prime time. Key words: In this series. CNN's Jamie Gangel said Tuesday that "I think we're going to see some in September..." Hearings turn off Fox's audience The audience patterns we've described around previous 1/6 hearings are very much still in effect. CNN and MSNBC's ratings surge when the hearings take place while Fox's ratings flatline. Fox News had more than 1.9 million viewers in the hour preceding Tuesday's hearing, but the audience declined rapidly as soon as the hearing began: 968,000 viewers in the 1pm hour, 849,000 in the 2pm hour, 723,000 in the 3pm hour. After the hearing coverage ended, "The Five" averaged 3 million viewers... >> Overall, Tuesday's top three programs on cable news in the 25-54 demo were "Tucker Carlson Tonight;" MSNBC's hearing coverage; and CNN's hearing coverage... >> One of WaPo's most-read stories tonight: "Meet the fans who follow the Jan. 6 hearings as must-see TV..." |
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SNEAK PEEK Lis Smith shares her media strategy Democratic political strategist Lis Smith's memoir "Any Given Tuesday" is generating lots of chatter ahead of next Tuesday's publication date. In chapter 11, "The Long Shot," which I read earlier this week, Smith writes about her former candidate Pete Buttigieg's 2020 media strategy. The cardinal rule of media, she writes, is "if you don't feed the beast, it will feed on you." So when Buttigieg began campaigning, "I put him in front of every reporter who had time for him," she writes. Smith details the thought process behind Buttigieg's rolled-up white shirtsleeves and blue tie (he "needed to establish a distinct visual brand") and the preparation for his "breakthrough moment" in the Dem primary, his hour-long town hall on CNN. "We woke up the next morning to a whole new world," she writes. The book's subtitle is "A Political Love Story," and it's easy to see why... >> Of note: Smith is now advising Michigan state senator Mallory McMorrow, as this recent Politico story described... |
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-- On Tuesday, live on CNN to a global audience, John Bolton told Jake Tapper that he helped plan foreign coups. "The global outcry was swift," Adam Taylor and Ana Vanessa Herrero write... (WaPo) -- President Biden granted a rare TV interview to Israeli news anchor Yonit Levi. He made news on several fronts... (Channel 12) -- After the interview, Biden led a group in singing "Happy Birthday" to Levi, who turned 45 this week... (Mediaite) -- Wolf Blitzer has been anchoring CNN's coverage of Biden's trip from Jerusalem. On Wednesday night he pressed John Kirby about Biden's upcoming meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince... (Twitter) -- Back stateside, the WH tried to tamp down the Bureau of Labor Statistics' fresh data showing inflation surging "to a new pandemic-era peak in June..." (CNN) |
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QUOTE OF THE DAY Jake Tapper to White House economic advisor Cecilia Rouse: "I just feel like every month one of you nice people from the White House comes on the show to talk about inflation, and you talk about these tools in the president's tool kit and you don't use them. You don't use these tools. And you know, there's debating and discussing going on, and meanwhile, prices are still going up..." |
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Biden continues his visit to Israel; his press conference with prime minister Yair Lapid is slated for 7am ET... "Resident Evil," a series version of the game/movie franchise, lands on Netflix... "Victoria's Secret: Angels and Demons" explores the brand's rise and fall on Hulu... |
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Bannon's latest attempt to delay
BY TIERNEY SNEED:
Steve Bannon asked again on Wednesday for the Monday start date of his trial to be delayed with a court filing citing Tuesday's 1/6 hearing and a CNN documentary about him set to premiere on Sunday. Bannon claims the hearings and the documentary will prejudice the jury pool against him. The special report, titled "Steve Bannon: Divided We Fall," is set to debut Sunday at 8pm on CNN... |
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Following up on the "hallway video" Ethical debates about the Austin American-Statesman and KVUE's publication of the Robb Elementary hallway video continued on Wednesday. CNN vet Christina Ginn, the news director at KVUE, said calls for transparency from victims' family members were "at the front of our minds in our decision to release the video." Reporter Tony Plohetski fielded tough questions from Kate Bolduan about it, and his primary point was that the news outlets had a "journalistic responsibility" to the public. He also said "we made efforts" to reach out to victims' families in advance, and took their concerns into consideration, for example by removing audio of childrens' screams. "We did not rush this out the door," he said. "We were very thoughtful and very considerate. And we stand by our reporting." Here is the segment... >> After publishing last night's newsletter, I heard from numerous journalists about this tough call, and I think Jerry Ceppos summed it up well: "I would have posted the video and prayed that I remembered to cover every base, as the Statesman did — eliminating the children's cries, writing an approachable column about why we're posting it, even producing short and long video versions. Above all, I would remember that journalists are not required to accept scraps from the authorities weeks after an event." |
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FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE |
-- Paul Farhi's latest is about the media debate on whether to publish photos of the victims of mass murder... (WaPo) -- "Lost for words?" Sarah Scire reports on "a new, free resource" from Vox Media, using funding from the Google News Initiative, that "offers journalists guidance on thorny topics." It's called "Language, Please." Check it out here... (NiemanLab) -- This week's amazing images from the James Webb Space Telescope "are just the beginning," Hannah Docter-Loeb points out... (Slate) -- This Conan O'Brien tweet cracked me up: "Waiting for the articles reporting half the country hates the Webb Telescope photos..." (Twitter) |
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Both sides of 'bothsidesism' Pew shared this new stat on Wednesday: "Journalists in the United States differ markedly from the general public in their views of 'bothsidesism' – whether journalists should always strive to give equal coverage to all sides of an issue." About 55% of the journalists surveyed "say that every side does not always deserve equal coverage in the news. By contrast, 22% of Americans overall say the same." To put it another way, 76% of news consumers say news producers "should always strive to give all sides equal coverage." >> My question: Is this because journalists tend to have thought a lot more about the "both sides" problem than the average reader? >> Another important data point: "US adults with less trust in the news are more likely to say journalists should always strive to cover all sides equally..." |
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FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR |
-- This week's NYT nonfiction best seller list includes two debuts: "Leadership" by Henry Kissinger at #9 and "The Invisible Storm" by Jason Kander at #11... (NYT) -- "A group of more than 75 workers" at the "PBS NewsHour" are "attempting to unionize with SAG-AFTRA." WETA says "our intent is to recognize the union voluntarily..." (THR) -- "Richard Hudock has been promoted to VP of comms for NBC News and MSNBC," and Liz Bader has been named director of communications for "Today..." (Twitter) -- "True-crime fans rejoice," Mark Mwachiro writes: "New episodes of 'Forensic Files II' will air on HLN beginning July 31..." (TVNewser) |
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Will this TikTok update help? BY CATHERINE THORBECKE: TikTok is making several updates intended to help users customize their viewing preferences and filter out content that may be problematic or too mature for young users. Users will now see fewer videos about topics that "may be fine as a single video but potentially problematic if viewed repeatedly," according to Cormac Keenan, the company's head of trust and safety. Keenan cited topics related to dieting, extreme fitness, and sadness as examples. Details here... |
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Netflix enlists Microsoft for ad support Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw broke this news on Wednesday: "Netflix selected Microsoft as the technology and sales partner for its new ad-supported streaming service," which is set to launch "by the fourth quarter of this year." Per Frank Pallotta's story for CNN, Netflix said "the move is in 'very early days' and that the company has 'much to work through' when it comes to introducing" the ad tier... >> Microsoft came as a surprise... Google and Comcast were thought to be the top contenders to enable Netflix's ad tier... >> Julia Alexander wonders if the "next partnership between Netflix and Microsoft is gaming of some kind..." |
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FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE |
-- "Elon Musk fans can't handle the truth," Whizy Kim writes: "Even as the Twitter deal falls apart, Musk's fans are claiming victory..." (Vox) -- Right now Twitter shares "are still pricing in the possibility that the two sides can agree on a transaction at a lower price," Jeran Wittenstein wrote... (Bloomberg) -- Related: What is the Delaware Court of Chancery? David Gura explains all... (NPR) -- New reporting from Sarah Krouse in Thursday's WSJ: "Americans age 50 and older are powering the growth of streaming video..." (WSJ) -- The race for NFL Sunday Ticket has "come down to Apple and Amazon," Dylan Byers reports. "While nothing has been signed or agreed to, I have been given ample reason to believe that Apple is the most likely winner of the sweepstakes..." (Puck) |
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'Where the Crawdads Sing' mostly hits the right notes BY BRIAN LOWRY: Adapting the bestselling book, "Where the Crawdads Sing" is a just-better-than-OK movie -- most likely to be remembered as a showcase for Daisy Edgar-Jones -- that it's nevertheless easy to root for because of what it represents: The kind of film, lacking major stars, that these days would go directly to Hulu, or become a six-episode series for it. In that context, its launch via theaters feels like an intriguing leap of faith. >> Read Lowry's full review here... |
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Not-as-Marvel-ous? BY BRIAN LOWRY: The "Ms. Marvel" finale triggered a lot of speculation in fan circles about what a couple of cryptic scenes mean for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But while Disney+ doesn't disclose viewing numbers, based on the overall response this likable but low-key series sort of feels like a miss for Marvel, at least in terms of generating the kind of buzz that its previous series have... |
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-- This just in: "Khloé Kardashian and her ex-boyfriend Tristan Thompson will welcome a second child via surrogate," Chloe Melas reports... (CNN) -- "'Top Gun: Maverick' has just sped past box office juggernaut 'Titanic' to become Paramount Pictures' highest-grossing movie at the domestic box office of all time..." (TheWrap) -- A revival of "Criminal Minds" has received a 10-episode order at Paramount+... (TVLine) -- Long tail! "27 years after its initial release — and five after it was uploaded to YouTube — Coolio's iconic 1995 'Gangsta's Paradise' has joined the one billion views club..." (Billboard) -- "Snoop Dogg takes a potshot at Biden with his new 'Sleepy Joe OG' cannabis strain..." (LAT) |
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| He has "Ken-ergy" BY MEGAN THOMAS: This is not at all consequential and exactly why Ryan Gosling's take on playing Ken was a welcome dose of levity today. After all, junket interviews can be notoriously repetitive and awkward for both artists and journalists alike. So kudos to Gosling and ET's Lauren Zima for this well-played exchange about the forthcoming "Barbie" movie. "I have that Ken-ergy that you can feel, obviously," Gosling joked to her. CNN's Scottie Andrew described their very funny conversation as "a fever dream of an interview" in her story about his comments... |
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LAST BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST... Cat of the day! Esther writes: "This is Sydney. He is handsome and smart. Syd spends most of his busy day sleeping..." |
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Thank you for reading! Feel free to email us anytime. See you tomorrow... |
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