Quote of the Day:
“’Unite the country’ is not in the journalist’s job description. We don’t write about planes that land or things that go well. Most of what’s newsworthy is controversy, crime, wrongdoing and tragedy.”
— Byron Tau, WSJ reporter.
Weatherman Al Roker fights back when accused of using R-word
On Friday morning, a viewer accused NBC meteorologist Al Roker of inappropriately using the R-word. His Twitter followers quickly marched to his defense.
And to his credit, he really wasn’t being offensive.
“So flame retardant shouldn’t be used. Just stop,” Roker snapped at a woman named Kim Zingery, who has since deleted her tweet and her entire account.
This is what she wrote to Roker: “@alroker did you intentionally mean to offend millions with the word ‘retarding’ in your fall color report today or don’t you care? Please find another word, here’s a few: delaying, slowing, or holding their leaves would have been much more appropriate. Goodbye Today, Hello GMA.”
Some reactions…
“Have people gone completely bananas? There are many more productive and meaningful ways to spend ones time than trolling @alroker.”
“Get a grip trashtrolls.”
“Al has a special needs child of his own and has ALWAYS shown love and respect to all people with special needs. Stop projecting your anger about a situation involving someone else’s mistake onto this kind man. #AutisimMom #GetOverIt.”
“Guys. She is a Nickelback fan. We aren’t dealing with someone with a full deck.”
“And you offended members of Gamblers Anonymous when you said there was a CHANCE of rain.”
OUCH! NYT‘s Maggie Haberman scolds CNN’s Brooke Baldwin for Trump Vs. media segment with Alisyn Camerota
“Can people stop asking whether he understands how dangerous what he’s saying about reporters is? It doesn’t matter if he does or doesn’t – he’s been told repeatedly by journalists how dangerous it is. He responds, ‘I must fight back.'” — Maggie Haberman, NYT.
Bill Kristol crushes VP Pence’s ego in two words
Kristol is the editor-at-large of The Weekly Standard.
ABC NEWS: “In Georgia, Vice Pres. Mike Pence notes Oprah Winfrey, Will Ferrell have been campaigning for Democrat Stacey Abrams in the state. ‘Well, I’d like to remind Stacey and Oprah and Will Ferrell: I’m kind of a big deal, too.'”
KRISTOL: Not really.
Esquire culture editor wonders if his behavior is weird
“Other people who work from home: Do you find yourself changing clothes at least 2-3 times every day, or am I just becoming a total weirdo?” Tyler Coates, senior culture editor, Esquire.
Answer: You are becoming a total weirdo.
The Observer: Oprah is not the answer
“Celebrity worship — and the worship of the rich — in the U.S. helped give rise to Trump. Oprah is not going to solve our problems.” — Jason Cherkis, HuffPost.
Deep Thoughts With CNN’s Brian Stelter
“Are you happy in this modern world? Or do you need more?” — Brian Stelter, host, CNN’s “Reliable Sources.”
In Unnecessary Tweeting…
“Is it weird that Austria looks beautiful and I kind of want to go?” — Seth Mandel, executive editor, Washington Examiner Mag.
“Iced coffee is a disgusting abomination. Don’t @ me.” — Lydia Polgreen, editor-in-chief, HuffPost.
First World Journo Problems
“Unique interviewing tactic of the day. Overheard @jdawsey1 telling a source: ‘I’m going to hold my breath until you call me back. So if you don’t call me back, I die.'” — Brady Dennis, national reporter, WaPo.
“The person has still not called me back. (You know who you are.)” — Josh Dawsey, reporter, WaPo.
Ex-New Yorker dining editor blasts Arizona GOP Sen. Flake
JEFF FLAKE: “Amidst it all, we visited in AZ tonight with those who are caring for asylum seekers. I was told ‘Let the politicians do what they will, just let us be Jesus.’ Thank you, Elizabeth and Magdalena, for a lesson in charity.”
EMILY NUNN: “You’re a Republican. You have and will continue to be a supporter of the Trump administration until it no longer serves you. As it stands, you’re all blather, and that’s almost worse. Pardon my bad grammar. But you’re just the worst kind of hypocrite. I mean honestly: how dare you?”
Gossip Roundup
TMZ: The site’s cameras found ex-CBSer Les Moonves and journo wife, Julie Chen, outside a fancy restaurant in Beverly Hills. Here.
Daily Mail: New details emerge about the news of NBA basketball player Tristan Thompson cheating on Khloe Kardashian just days before she gave birth to their child. Spoiler: They are still together. Here.
Splinter News: Fart-gate continues for GOP Rep. Jeff Fartenberry. Sophie Weiner writes, “It seems that in 2018 we can’t even enjoy a good fart joke without someone ruining it for everyone.” Here.
NYP‘s Page Six: It doesn’t look like Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande are reuniting together anytime soon. Here.
On masculinity…
Ben Shapiro, Daily Wire: Masculinity is protecting others and building families and institutions to keep the monsters at bay
Libby Watson, Splinter: Masculinity is building an extremely cool couch fort to keep the pirates out!!! Pew pew pew I killed them with my alien BLAST LASER!!!!
Humblebrag
“Hanging out w Dean Kamen, Jeff Bezos and Walter Isaacs.” — Mia Farrow, Democratic activist, actress, mother of The New Yorker‘s Ronan Farrow.
Lefty journo bashes Trump for Pittsburgh trip
“The whole time he was there, the back of his mind was racing with annoyance that the dead relatives of the grieving family members had stopped his momentum. He’s inhuman. The fact that he dropped into Pittsburgh two days ago, against the express wishes of the victims, to pretend he cared about what happened to the flesh and pulsing hearts of their family members, makes it so much more offensive.” — Brian Beutler, editor-in-chief, CrookedMedia.
The Observer II: Oprah might be the answer
“The wall to wall Oprah coverage on certain channels today for merely lifting a finger politically shows you what we’d be in store for if she *did* run — and how it would actually possibly overshadow Trump in the cable news hours he so obsesses over lol.” — Asawin Suebsaeng, reporter, The Daily Beast.
Travel Bitches
“Fort Myers — My 11th flight in a week features people who’ve been drinking double bloody marys at 7 a.m. and a man with a shirt that reads ‘Mayor of Crazytown.'” — Katie Rogers, White House correspondent, NYT.
“There is a girl loudly talking on her phone in the Amtrak quiet car. Do I say something.” Nisha Chittal, editorial growth and strategy, Vox.
And the outcome … “The update on my quiet car saga is that some other guy interrupted her phone call and told her. So I didn’t have to be the quiet car police after all!”
Female journo not interested in giving men editorial space
“This q&a about gender equality and sexism with astro teller, whose deputy left google x this week after a @nytimes report detailed how he stayed at Google even after sexual harassment allegations were made against him, is a pretty weird read today!” (Read what she’s talking about here.)
And then…
“I’m not into giving men editorial space just so they can talk about how woke and feminist they are, but I guess it’s good to have this stuff on record for when shit hits the fan like it did at Google, just to hear how hollow those words sound.”
— Maya Kosoff, Vanity Fair.
Oprah! Oprah! Oprah!
“Has everyone at this Oprah-Stacey Abrams event looked under their seats already?” — MJ Lee, CNN.