New Covid warnings falling on deaf ears; America's pandemic dead deserve accountability; Fox hires Lara Trump; hope for Tribune's future; goodbye, stuck boat

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Brian Stelter here at 10:40pm ET Monday with the latest on Rochelle Walensky, Substack, Jane Mayer, Tucker Carlson, HarperCollins, and more...

"Far from won"

Doctors are accustomed to delivering bad news. And right now, the medical prognosis about the pandemic is especially hard to hear. But is anyone listening?

As the ground thaws and the weather warms and the vaccines reach millions more American arms every day, signs of relaxation and normality are everywhere. But so are signs of backsliding and rising case counts.

That's why, as CNN's Jake Tapper put it, CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky "threw out her script" on Monday. Walensky grabbed the attention of reporters when she described a "recurring feeling" of "impending doom" due to the steady rise in cases. "We have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential of where we are and so much reason for hope," she said. "But right now, I'm scared."

President Biden echoed her dire warning later in the day and said the war is "far from won." In a rare reference to his media habits, he cited "reckless behavior" he has seen on television. CNN's Jason Hoffman said Biden was "likely referring to images of partiers gathering during spring break."

Whether the message is coming from a doctor or a president, I want to know, is it getting through? Or are most people so tired of the doom and gloom that they're resuming their lives regardless of the warnings? My impression, as states continue to open up and vaccinations continue to ramp up, is that Facebook posts and Instagram photos and generalized FOMO feelings are overshadowing any official pleas...

How it's playing

-- Walensky's comments were the No. 2 story on the network nightly newscasts, after the Derek Chauvin trial...

-- LA Times: "Biden warns 'we're in a life-and-death race' with COVID-19"

-- NYT: "Biden pushes mask mandate as CDC director warns of 'impending doom'"

-- Bloomberg: "Vaccines become a race against time as CDC warns of Covid surge"

"It isn't fair"

On Tapper's "The Lead" Monday afternoon, Dr. Megan Ranney said that during her "last week of shifts in the E.R., I saw more Covid patients than I'd seen in the prior month. It's because we are letting more people into restaurants unmasked. We are allowing bigger public gatherings, often unmasked." Ranney chastised governors who seem "unwilling to hold on just a little bit longer in order to protect people" and said "it isn't fair to our populations to be lifting regulations so quickly, when we haven't gotten vaccines out to everyone yet..."

Embrace the contradictions

The key is to accept, even embrace, the complex terrain in front of us. On the same day the CDC director tried to scare folks straight, so to speak, a CDC study found that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are 90% effective after two doses in real-world conditions. All the data points about the vaccines are amazing. Here's what Brown U's School of Public Health dean Ashish K. Jha recommended on Monday:

"We need to keep few seemingly contradictory facts in mind:

1. Vaccinations going great!

2. Variants causing spike in cases

3. We have a lot of high risk people vaccinated

4. And many are not

Summer will be great

How many get infected now, sick or die next month is up to us."

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- Unvaccinated reporters in NYC, among many others across New York state, expressed relief when the state said anyone 30+ is eligible for a vaccine starting Tuesday... (Gothamist)

-- As Claire Howorth put it, "Never has 'directly into my veins' been so literal an expression of joy..." (Twitter)

-- "Why People Keep Asking Which Vaccine You Got:" Ian Bogost says "vaccine small talk has given America something to chat about again..." (The Atlantic)

-- Oliver Darcy sees another battle in the Covid culture wars about to begin: "Right-wing media personalities are gearing up to push back against so-called vaccine passports..." (Fox)

-- Dr. Peter Hotez's new piece for Scientific American: "The Antiscience Movement Is Escalating, Going Global and Killing Thousands..." (SA)

America's pandemic dead deserve accountability

Dr. Sanjay Gupta's "COVID War" documentary reaffirmed that the US government's response to the pandemic in early 2020 was a 9/11-level failure. So why hasn't there been a 9/11-level examination established yet? Stephen Collinson hit on some of the reasons in this CNN.com piece. "While various congressional investigations are underway to probe the origin of the pandemic and the US response, the possibility of an independent, non-partisan Covid-19 commission modeled on the 9/11 panel appears questionable," he wrote.

--> The film was a reminder that there's still so much to learn about Trump's actions and inactions. "We're only about two months past the end of his term in office, and efforts to understand what happened within his administration are still just beginning," Philip Bump noted...

--> If you missed the documentary, here are 10 of the revelations. Trump naturally lashed out at the doctors in a long and ugly statement on Monday evening...

This is just the beginning

The CNN special was "among the first of a slew of in-progress books and other projects plumbing the Trump administration's oft-chaotic response to the coronavirus," WaPo's Dan Diamond wrote Monday.

--> Dave Winer opined: "Last night it was good journalism on CNN's part, now, to sit all these people down, while they're all accessible and their memories are fresh and the pandemic is still ongoing, to get them on the record..."

TUESDAY PLANNER

The daily WH press briefing is slated for 12:30pm ET...

New books include Sen. Tammy Duckworth's "Every Day Is a Gift" and Amanda Gorman's "The Hill We Climb..."

Lester Holt is receiving the Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism...

All eyes on Minnesota

The proceedings in the Derek Chauvin trial will resume Tuesday at 10am ET. Monday's opening statements "were shown live on at least 12 TV networks," from ABC to Newsmax, C-SPAN to the Black News Channel, the AP's David Bauder wrote Monday. Live streams were ubiquitous. On cable, Fox reverted to regular programming relatively quickly while CNN and MSNBC showed the trial for hours...

"Goodbye stuck boat"

"Goodbye stuck boat," NBC's Jason Abbruzzese wrote Monday. "You were the perfect news story. I miss you already." Let's bid farewell to the EVERGIVEN by highlighting one of the excellent leads from Egypt: "To get the giant container ship blocking the Suez Canal unstuck, engineers needed the stars to align. Actually, the sun, Earth and moon," the WSJ's Rory Jones and Amira El-Fekki wrote. For a meme overview, click over to BuzzFeed...

BREAKING

Big new funding round for Substack

"Substack is raising $65 million in new venture capital funding that would value the company at around $650 million," Axios reporters Kia Kokalitcheva and Dan Primack scooped Monday night. "Existing investor Andreessen Horowitz is leading the round..."

Hope for Tribune's future

Kerry Flynn writes: "Hope is what Tribune staffers are feeling as it looks more and more feasible that local ownership could be in their futures – instead of Alden. Two Florida businessmen have expressed interest in owning Tribune papers, The Orlando Sentinel reported Monday. The paper confirmed Lukas Alpert's earlier scoop that Mason Slaine, a minority shareholder in Tribune, is reportedly willing to contribute $100 million to Stewart Bainum's bid. Slaine is seeking to own that newsroom along with the Sun Sentinel. The paper also reported that Craig Mateer, founder of Orlando-based Bags Inc, also has expressed interest but had not yet spoken to Slaine or Bainum..."

>> Plus: Hansjörg Wyss has committed $100 million and is eyeing the Chicago Tribune, and Gary Lutin has expressed interest in The Morning Call...

WaPo rescinds absurd ban

Kerry Flynn writes: "WaPo rescinded its ban preventing Felicia Sonmez, a national political reporter, from covering sexual misconduct due to her being a survivor of assault, Sonmez announced Monday. 'This is good news, but it's unfortunate that it had to come at such a high emotional toll, and after my distress was dismissed for years,' she tweeted. Like many women in the industry, I was horrified when Sonmez shared what she had been going through at the paper. There are valid conflict of interests to consider in this industry, but this was not one of them. I hope WaPo leadership learns from this mistake and does better so current and future staffers feel comfortable and supported in that workplace..."

>> WaPo chief comms officer Kristine Coratti Kelly's statement: "Following a newsroom discussion two weeks ago, editors began re-evaluating limitations on the scope of Felicia's work as a breaking-news reporter. They have concluded such limitations are unnecessary."

>> To WaPo's credit, media reporter Paul Farhi covered the matter for The Post... Here's his story...

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- Jane Mayer's latest scoop: She obtained a recording of a private conference call of prominent conservatives who bemoaned the popularity of proposed election reforms, "even among Republican voters..." (The New Yorker)

-- A streaming chat show called "Tucker Carlson Today" launched Monday on Fox Nation... Part of Fox's attempt to gain subscribers for its streaming service by providing exclusive Tucker content... (Mediaite)

-- MSNBC has renamed its daytime shows with the name "Reports." As Brian Steinberg wrote, "The change represents a bid to ensure viewers can distinguish between breaking news content from anchors such as Stephanie Ruhle and Katy Tur and programming that tilts more toward analysis and opinion..." (Variety)

Fox hires Lara Trump

Oliver Darcy writes: "A member of the Trump family is now officially on the Fox payroll. The right-wing channel announced Monday that it had signed Lara Trump as a contributor. Lara has been a constant on Fox for years now, even joking during her first segment as an employee that 'I sort of feel like I've been an unofficial member of the team for so long.' That Fox would hire Trump poses an ethical dilemma beyond the inherent dishonesty in her commentary: Lara is mulling a run for Senate in North Carolina which means Fox is effectively boosting her candidacy by giving her exposure ahead of time. She knows she'll have to leave the network if she officially announces a campaign..."

Fascinating findings from Pew...

When it comes to judgments of the former president, the US is not a 50-50 country. "Overall," Pew Research Center says, "35% of Americans say Trump was a great (17%) or good (18%) president, while far more say he was a poor (12%) or terrible (41%) president. About one-in-ten Americans (12%) say Trump was an average president." Maybe that 17% figure, identifying Trump as "great," is a proxy for the size of the MAGA base...

Dominion lawyer: I "expect" more media lawsuits

Oliver Darcy writes: "Speaking to Axios, Dominion attorney Tom Clare said he expects the voting tech company will file more lawsuits against additional media companies. 'We're looking at other media outlets, and making sure we can meet all of the elements of defamation,' Clare said. 'There were other outlets that played a similar role to Fox in spreading these lies. I expect that we're going to be holding them accountable as well.'"

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- Luke Winkie's latest: "How Stat survived, and thrived, during the craziest year in health reporting history..." (NiemanLab)

-- I missed this the other day: Indian Country Today, "an online news publication and daily broadcaster covering tribes and Indigenous peoples," is now an independent nonprofit... (AP)

-- Good Housekeeping expects to reach 10,000 paying members a year into its new subscription product, providing one case study into how magazines can transition their reliance from print revenue... (Digiday)

HarperCollins' expansion

New York Times Book Review editor Pamela Paul's question: "Will 2021 take publishing down from the Big Five to the Big Three?"

News Corp's HarperCollins announced its $349 million deal for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books and Media on Monday. "The acquisition will help HarperCollins expand its catalog of backlist titles at a moment of growing consolidation in the book business," Paul's colleague Alexandra Alter wrote. "Houghton Mifflin publishes perennial sellers by well-known authors such as J.R.R. Tolkien, George Orwell, Robert Penn Warren, Philip Roth and Lois Lowry, as well as children's classics and best-selling cookbooks and lifestyle guides." Yes, this means Rupert Murdoch will be publishing George Orwell's books, if the deal passes muster...

"The Inevitable News"

"It is time to radically reconsider how guns and gun deaths are covered by the press in America," CJR editor Kyle Pope says. Next week CJR and the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma are convening "a virtual summit to rewrite how we think about gun coverage." Plus, CJR has placed "news boxes around New York featuring broadsheets we're calling 'The Inevitable News,'" with 14 pages of fill-in-the-blanks stories about past mass shootings. The papers are meant to show "how gun violence has been treated as rote, and inevitable, by the nation's media..."

Correction

Last night I wrote an item about the blank front page of the Northeast News in Kansas City, fully aware the paper is in Missouri, because geography is my best "Jeopardy" category 😊 But then I sloppily called it a "Kansas newspaper" in the headline. The mistake has haunted me all day. Thank you to everyone who flagged it!

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- McClatchy is laying off at least 26 staffers by outsourcing its page design and typesetting, Kristen Hare reports... (Poynter)

-- Josh du Lac is named director for global live news at WaPo as the paper expands it desks in Seoul and London... (WaPo)

-- T-Mobile "is scrapping its efforts to crack into the home television market on its own after the wireless company failed to build its skinny bundle of channels into a profitable service." TVision is kaput, and customers will be offered YouTube TV instead... (WSJ)

-- "The world of 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' is taking shape," Sandra Gonzalez writes: "Disney+ on Monday revealed the cast for the upcoming 'special event series...'" (CNN)

Viacom and Discovery's plunge

David Marcelis and Benjamin Mullin of the WSJ can catch you up on the market gyrations here. ViacomCBS "lost more than half of its market capitalization last week," they wrote, "yet it still remains nearly four times as valuable as it was a year ago."

Last week's Viacom stock collapse "came amid an avalanche of forced selling by New York-based hedge fund Archegos Capital Management and banks." Discovery "suffered similar losses last week as part of the fund's unwinding." Details...

Lowry reviews "Godzilla vs. Kong"

Brian Lowry writes: "'Godzilla vs. Kong' can be viewed on two levels, by far the more interesting being how well it performs in terms of luring people to US theaters, after having opened to promising results in international markets. As for the quality of the movie itself, this built-toward showdown between 'alpha titans' in Warner Bros.' 'MonsterVerse' yields a C-level attraction, armed with all the usual visual effects bells and whistles, without much improving upon the original version of this rumble almost 60 years ago consisting of guys in monster suits destroying miniature buildings." Read on...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

-- Lisa Respers France writes: "Woody Allen has again denied his daughter's allegation of sexual abuse when she was a child, this time in a rare interview with 'CBS Sunday Morning' that is now streaming on Paramount+..." (CNN)

-- Armie Hammer has been dropped from the film "Billion Dollar Spy" "in the wake of sexual assault allegations and continuous online chatter that has been spiraling across social media," Elizabeth Wagmeister scoops... (Variety)

-- Chloe Melas writes: "I spoke with former 'Bachelor' star Ben Higgins about the Chris Harrison controversy..." (CNN)

-- Peter Berg has entered into a first-look deal with Netflix "to produce and direct live-action films and series..." (Deadline)

-- One more from Lisa: "Lady Gaga gushed about her 35th birthday gift from her boyfriend..." (CNN)

"Live Events Face a Shortage of Workers"

That's one of the headlines in Tuesday's WSJ. "Artists can't wait to get back on tour, but after more than a year on pause for the Covid-19 pandemic, the live events business is facing a potential worker crisis: not enough roadies," Anne Steele reports...

SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST...

Cat of the day!

Susan Wagener emails about her feline companion Sophia: "She sits patiently waiting for breakfast while I read Reliable Sources each morning..."

Reporters, producers, editors, media execs, and readers: We want your pet photos! Submit your cat, dog, or other animal for Pet of the Day by emailing us. Make sure to include your name, a brief caption, and your occupation (if relevant and if you'd like.)