| | MEDIA WINNER: Fox & Friends The Fox & Friends co-hosts Brian Kilmeade, Steve Doocy, and Ainsley Earhardt have been broadcasting in socially distant separation for three months. But today they are back in the studio together. "After 100 days apart, we are all back in the studio again social distancing," said Doocy to start the show on Monday. The co-hosts praised and thanked the show staff, some of whom had to come in to work throughout the lockdown, and they pointed out that the building has several coronavirus measures in place, including mandatory masks. To start of their week back in the building, they had some strong morning moments Monday. The topic of the weekend was President Donald Trump's campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The wisdom of that event was a subject of discussion. Kilmeade noted that the campaign is going to have to take a look at rethinking such events. “I don’t know who thought it was a good idea to put 20,000 people in a room with masks optional,” added Doocy. When White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany claimed Trump was not upset about attendance at the rally, Doocy called her out on it. It was a good first show back. 6.5.0 |
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| MEDIA LOSER: The Tennessean Nashville newspaper The Tennessean has had to issue an apology, and is opening an internal investigation, after running an insane, full-page anti-Muslim ad from a Christian group that baselessly claimed “Islam is going to detonate a nuclear device in Nashville, Tennessee.” The ad, printed in the Sunday edition of The Tennessean, claimed Muslims will “strike the US again” on July 18, 2020, information allegedly gleaned from biblical prophets. It featured an illustration of President Donald Trump and Pope Francis with an American flag behind them. The group also called Trump “the final president of the USA.” After the ad went viral online, Tennessean writers and editors spoke out about the paper’s decision to run it. Karen Grigsby, who has worked at the paper for 22 years, said a lack of staffing and an abundance of work could be to blame. “I don’t know if a copy desk would have caught it and stopped it before publication,” she wrote on Twitter. “But I guess we’ll never know.” And there were many more expressions of disgust and concern about what one non-profit called a "dangerous incitement against Muslims." Apology and investigation are good, but the damage to the paper's reputation, and to the community, will be hard to undo. 6.5.0 |
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| The Trump Rally It wasn't the crowd they were expecting. They did try hard to get the numbers up, and the president praised those who did show as "warriors" braving fake news, but the crowd just wasn't up to snuff, and there will probably be "recrimination" at the White House. As noted in the Winner column, the Trump who used to come on Fox & Friends would normally be "furious" about it. Although you wouldn't know it from Jeanine Pirro. Brad Parscale blamed and threatened the media over it, naturally. Better to get the ire away from his desk? John Oliver found it a good premise for mockery, at least. But the Lincoln Project probably got the last word there. And Trump got to drink a glass of water so there's that. But he should probably get on the same page with Kellyanne Conway on nomenclature. Bolton Blitz John Bolton was everywhere this weekend, in name and in person. His publisher won against a Trump lawsuit, which the president did not love. But he did love the fact that the judge in the case trashed Bolton. Other people trashing Bolton included Peter Navarro on CNN, Rep. Jerry Nadler, also on CNN, Rep. Adam Schiff on NBC, and, most colorfully, Sarah Huckabee Sanders in a remarkable and bleep-worthy thread this morning. Bolton's big interview with ABC's Martha Raddatz, though, is must-see. Cuomo Gov. Andrew Cuomo got a free ride on CNN when it comes to the massive number of nursing home deaths in the state under his administration's coronavirus response. But he did use that time to suggest that Trump is perpetrating a "set-up" to challenge an eventual loss in November and stay in the White House. On MSNBC he was challenged about nursing home deaths, but blamed Trump for that, too. On the subject of speculating about election fraud Trump did it, too. Good situation? Larry Footmouth -- wait, sorry, typo -- Larry Kudlow said, again, that "there is no second wave" of coronavirus. “It’s come a long way since last winter,” Kudlow said. “There is no second wave coming it’s just hotspots. They send in CDC teams, we’ve got the testing procedures, we’ve got the diagnostics, we’ve got the PPE, so I really think it’s a good situation.” Not so fast, Larry. "We are angry and outraged" NASCAR says it is investigating after a noose was found in the garage of Bubba Wallace — the first full-time Black driver in NASCAR’s Cup series since 1971.In a statement, NASCAR said it would ban the person or persons involved in the incident from the sport. Chris Wallace Fox News’ Chris Wallace pressed Joe Biden senior advisor Symone Sanders on the former VP’s campaign strategy and the fact that he hasn’t held news conferences in 80 days. He also called out Trump campaign senior adviser Mercedes Schlapp during an interview Sunday for “making campaign speeches” and trying to “filibuster" instead of answering his questions. Good situation? A group of celebrities, including Elton John, Frank Ocean, and Ian McKellen, teamed up for an article for the Guardian on Monday about celebrating Pride under lockdown. “The coronavirus pandemic has intensified the discrimination and prejudice against LGBTQ+ people," they write. “It’s time to act." 6.5.0 |
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🎤 FIVE(-ish) QUESTIONS: Star of both Fox News and Fox Business Maria Bartiromo has, in the last few years, become an increasingly recognizable face, a persistent presence on not just business topics but on politics. Bartiromo regularly interviews President Donald Trump as well as big players in business finance, from CEOs to gurus, lawmakers and regulators. Today, the Mediaite Most Influential-lister answered our Green Room Q&A. Here is that abbreviated Q&A. Or you can read the full answers here. People are scared about our economic future. Words like recession and depression are floating around. Does the economy make it? Will we get through to next year? Or is it time for the bunker? The economy is slowly getting better. The losses are narrowing. We will see a sharp contraction in the 2Q- probably 30%. But I am expecting growth in the 3Q, 4Q and throughout 2021. Don’t get me wrong- there will be many companies that do not make it. We have already seen bankruptcies in the retail and restaurant segments. It will take time and depending on which industry you are talking about, there will be different impacts. Some industries will see structural change. I’m not sure how quickly people will revert to what they were doing in terms of going in big crowds, travel, so some industries will have to adapt or die. Others have grown even during this and will continue to do so. . .The digital economy will penetrate further. E-commerce, telemedicine, tele-education, cloud computing, food delivery. These industries will get bigger and more penetrated in our lives. So although things look bad, will they get better soon? Yes things will get better. The second half much better than the first. It will take time to recover, although I do think jobs will be replenished fairly quickly. But 2021 I do think will be a good year for the economy. You have, this year, been right early on a number of stories. I’m thinking in particular of your reporting in March, accurately, that coronavirus cases could reach into the hundreds of thousands here, and at that time it wasn’t a popular view. But it proved correct. If you were to predict, what is the strong industry or sector that will roar soonest? Expanding on the above – the digital economy will accelerate faster than people expected. This shutdown will enforce digital even further and it’s likely well do what we are doing now after we get out of this. We will likely see a flight out of dense cities and crowded places. People may move office buildings to the suburbs. Retrofitting will take place in commercial buildings to include touch-less everything. Jobs will be in digital, engineering, healthcare, biotech, delivery, cyber security, among others. I want to ask you for one more bit of predictive advice. You reported this month that while home sales are down, real estate could be looking up soon. Is this a good time to refinance your home and maybe try to get a lower rate? Or even take the moment to try to buy? This is one of the best times to take out a mortgage or refinance. I can’t imagine we will see rates this low again soon. These rates are incredible to take advantage of if you have the resources to buy now. It depends on your situation, but prices have come down and a lot of people expect them to come down more, and it’s a great time to get a mortgage or refinance. A few weeks ago, among other topics, the president spoke to you about “Obamagate” and said Democrats are trying to force longer lockdowns because they want the economy to crash to improve their electoral prospects. There have been major gatherings since then, protests and more. Do you agree with President Trump that there was a political aspect to favoring shutdowns, as he suggested on your show? I do not think this administration will shut down the economy again. It hurt many people and businesses. I think we need to be alert to what happens within the next two weeks. Two weeks is the incubation period so we’ll know what happened with so many people shoulder to shoulder. And let’s be clear here – this is not solely a protest issue – we’ve seen images of people flocking to the beaches not adhering to social distancing protocols. So let’s hope everyone is still taking the safety precautions seriously so that we prevent a second wave. That said, there’s a national movement going on right now that demands attention. You can’t have a free nation without equality – that’s something I’ve fought for my entire life and it is the right of every American to exercise their voice – whether it be at the ballot or at a protest. And your questions about “Obamagate” and the November election – My job is to report the facts. I have no dog in this fight other than to seek the truth. One of the stories I broke & reported very early was the "no collusion between President Trump and the Russians" [story]. [ed. note: this question and answer were lengthy, you can read in full here.] I believe Mediaite trashed me when I first reported this as well. But this I knew very early on because of my constant focus on the origins of the investigation as well as from my own experience. The work from home revolution: permanent? partially permanent? Or back to the office we go? We’ll go back at some point. But for the time being, it seems to be working. Our ratings have been soaring, the guests have been amazing. And the commute is pretty darn good. We thank Maria Bartiromo for taking the time to answer these questions. |
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‘We’re Not Fake News’ An on-scene host for a right-wing live stream from President Donald Trump‘s rally in Tulsa extensively explained and asked to be excused by Trump supporters for her decision to wear a mask at the massive rally during the Covid-19 pandemic. For two full minutes, Liz Willis of Right Side Broadcasting Network (RSBN) practically scrambled as she attempted to not only explain why she was going to wear a mask (concern for her family’s health among the reasons) but to placate or in some way stave off the anticipated wrath of Trump’s very anti-mask base. It's not just amazing, it's mesmerizing. |
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