Covid news we can all use; 'in between' time; Trump's DOJ seized WaPo reporter phone records; Dr. Jill Biden's PSA on Lifetime; Elon on 'SNL' preview; weekend reads

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Brian Stelter here at 11:01pm ET Friday with breaking news from the Washington Post, plus recommended reads, key weekend TV shows, and a look ahead to next week's storylines...

News we can all use

How can the average American minimize risk while resuming normal activities after one year plus of pandemic disruptions? That's the ultimate example of "news you can use" right now.

Here's what I am seeing across the media landscape. One: Articles and TV segments are helping to shift the conversation about Covid-era restrictions, especially among vaccinated adults. Two: Analysts are calling out the government's guidance when it's overly cautious. Three: Interviewers are presenting those concerns and questions to health experts and elected officials.

In the past few days, I've watched CNN's John Berman question Rochelle Walensky about way-too-complex guidance; NBC's Savannah Guthrie press Dr. Anthony Fauci about masks outdoors at summer camps; and CNN's Alisyn Camerota challenge DC mayor Muriel Bowser about a widely-mocked rule against dancing. And that's just to name three examples. In this way, the press is standing up for common sense and helping the country navigate a gradual way out of the pandemic thicket...

Next: Questions about indoor mask mandates?

Questions about indoor mask mandates are increasingly on the table, as well. CNBC's Shep Smith asked Dr. Scott Gottlieb on Thursday, "When do you think the CDC can have a meaningful conversation about lifting the mask mandates indoors?" Shep seemed surprised when Gottlieb answered, "I think we can do it right around now. I think we should start lifting these restrictions as aggressively as we put them in." His rationale: "We need to preserve the credibility of public health officials to perhaps re-implement some of these provisions as we get into next winter, if we do start seeing outbreaks again."

Some people will read those quotes and try to tap on the proverbial brakes, believing it's too soon for a revision of indoor mask mandates. Others will observe that it is already happening in many states. The point is: A huge, nationwide reassessment of risk is underway. For example, a White House reporter (I couldn't tell which one) posed this question to President Biden on Friday: "You walked out to the podium with your mask on. Why do you choose to wear a mask so often when you're vaccinated and you're around other people who are vaccinated?" His answer: "When we're inside, it's still good policy to wear the mask."

It's also obvious that Biden is trying to model safe behavior. But it's just as important when he models what vaccinated people can do safely -- as he did by stepping off Air Force One without a mask on Thursday. It's a signal to vaccinated people of what they can do now, and to the unvaccinated of the benefits of getting the shots...

Caveats abound

The pandemic is still a present-tense threat. Lives are still being stolen. Some people and places are much more vulnerable than others. Vaccination rates are slowing. Also, pandemic trauma is real, and the fears of a resurgence are also real. Recovery is different for different people. Folks should be able to move at their own pace.

Now, all that said, recovery is a must. And I think the small-bore Twitter-type debates about whether and when to wear masks outdoors (which, I admit, I've been a part of) miss the much bigger story.

Many Americans are striving for more normalcy in their lives every day post-vaccine. But many others are confused by the maze of rules and recommendations and are inclined to keep laying low. (And many of the vaccinated people trying to return to normal are confused too.) The media's role is to cut through that confusion -- to give people the information they need to stay as safe as possible while getting back to their lives as fast as possible...

This is "the 'in between' time"

"Leaders need to model good public health guidance," CNN medical analyst and former Baltimore health commissioner Dr. Leana Wen told me. "That means modeling caution when that's warranted and hope when that's needed. In this 'in between' time, when both caution and hope are needed, we really need leaders to do both, and demonstrate the roadmap back to normal while also showing where caution is still needed."

I found that to be a helpful way of thinking about this stage: "In between" time. We have to "unlearn" some behaviors, but not all the way, and we have to respect the whiplash that folks are feeling.

>> Wen also said the messaging about risk needs to be a lot clearer. "There are two main points: Outdoors is really safe, even for unvaccinated people. We don't need masks outdoors except in large crowds. Also, vaccinated people pose very little risk to public health. Those fully vaccinated should be able to return to any level of activity they choose. Those who want caution shouldn't be mocked, but those who want to return to pre-2020 life shouldn't be shamed either. Focus our attention to those who are not vaccinated – they are at high risk for contracting and spreading coronavirus."

Two articles that shaped my thinking this week

Coincidentally, both were published by the Washington Post, and both are from professors:

>> Dr. Ashish K. Jha⁩: "The coronavirus pandemic marks the clearest dividing line in most of our lives. But while the pandemic had a clear beginning, the ending will be much more gradual..."

>> Joseph G. Allen on how almost everything is now about "personal risk tolerance," i.e., doing whatever you feel comfortable doing: "The U.S. is entering into a new phase of the pandemic, in which decisions about things such as masking outdoors and going to a restaurant shift from being a debate about public risk to individual risk..."

"America's Covid vaccine hesitation is an insult to countries in need"

"As a field producer covering vaccine hesitancy in rural America, I've been hearing from people who sit on the extremes of the vaccination hesitation spectrum," Julia Jones writes in this Opinion piece for CNN.com.

Jones recounts what residents in rural Oregon said -- for example, "a woman of advanced age breathlessly explained to me how she was never taking the vaccine because Covid-19 'is just the flu'" -- and reflects on what her family members and friends in Brazil are going through. "Brazil is struggling not only to import vaccines but with a massive Covid wave," she writes. Read the rest here...

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- The new Michael Lewis book "The Premonition" is "a sweeping indictment of the CDC." I'm halfway in, and it's wild... (NPR)

-- In an interview with Ana Cabrera on Friday, Frank Luntz listed three ways to convince more people to get vaccinated. "The key to messaging is, it's what you get," like reuniting with family... (YouTube)

-- "Inside one of the biggest public service campaigns in U.S. history:" David Montgomery wrote about The Ad Council's pro-vax effort... (WaPo)

-- Remy Tumin has the story of "Sesame Street" helping to spread the good word... (NYT)

-- Global Citizen's "Vax Live: The Concert To Reunite the World" will air Saturday at 8pm ET on ABC, CBS, Fox, YouTube, and many other platforms... (Global Citizen)

BREAKING

Trump-era DOJ seized WaPo reporter phone records

In 2020 someone inside the Justice Department used subpoenas to secretly obtain the phone records of three reporters who worked at the Washington Post "over reporting they did in the early months of the Trump administration on Russia's role in the 2016 election." The Biden-era DOJ notified the reporters about the Trump-era DOJ's conduct in letters earlier this week.

WaPo's Devlin Barrett revealed the seizures on Friday evening. Right now it's the lead story on the Post's website. According to a DOJ spokesman, the reporters were not being targeted by prosecutors; leakers were. Still, the news set off alarm bells. This is "way beyond Nixon at his worst," John Dean commented. "This should never have happened," the ACLU said.

>> Barrett will join me on Sunday's "Reliable Sources" telecast...

Coming up this weekend...

Elon Musk hosts "SNL..." Scroll down for a preview...

Stacey Abrams is on "CBS Sunday Morning" to roll out her new novel...

Don Lemon hosts a CNN special, "What's Going On: Marvin Gaye's Anthem for the Ages," Sunday at 8pm...

And no one can forget about Mother's Day, of course!

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- Dr. Jill Biden's message to fellow moms in a PSA that will air on Lifetime all weekend long: "I know how hard you're working, and I want you to remember that you're strong, you're resilient and you're doing an amazing job. From one mother to another, I see you, and I thank you..." (Deadline)

-- My better half Jamie spoke with Marie-Rose Sheinerman of The Forward about post-vax reunions in time for Mother's Day... (The Forward)

-- "Flowers are nice, facts are better:" I noticed an email in my inbox pitching a special subscription offer "for mom" from WaPo. I'm sure other savvy news outlets are doing the same thing...

-- "In a grief-filled year, brands from Etsy to Pandora" are making it easier to "skip Mother's Day emails," Rachel Treisman reports... (NPR)

Sunday on "Reliable"

Susan Glasser, David Zurawik, Amanda Marcotte, and a professor who studies memory for a living, Dan McAdams, are among my guests on this Sunday's program. Plus: Liz Bowie of The Baltimore Sun and Larry McShane of the NY Daily News, on their efforts to free Tribune Publishing from Alden's grip, and an exclusive interview with Brad Stone, the author of "Amazon Unbound," which comes out next Tuesday. See you at 11am ET on CNN...

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- Red news/blue news, economic edition: "This morning's dismal jobs report only goes to prove whatever people already believed about government policy," Felix Salmon says... (Axios)

-- Michael Smerconish on CNN Friday night: Self-preservation is the new Republican strategy for staying in office..." (CNN)

-- Philip Bump writes about Tucker Carlson cherry-picking VAERS data: "In a sense, it's been useful to have Carlson misinterpret bad data because it reveals how he approaches his job..." (WaPo)

-- Gayle King has taped an interview with Michelle Obama, to air on Monday's "CBS This Morning..." (CBS)

Luntz: "I think Tucker is running for president"

Kara Swisher asked the aforementioned Frank Luntz about Tucker Carlson's recent attacks on him for Thursday's edition of her "Sway" podcast. Luntz said that, at this point, Carlson 'realizes that he can make any accusation he wants to make' because he's 'very popular among a certain segment of conservatism.' Luntz added, 'I think Tucker is running for president. And I think that's what he's going to do. And I think he's going to try to demonize and destroy anyone who might stand up against him. And that's all that this is...'"

Fox loses WH correspondent Kristin Fisher

Fox News just lost another key member of its news operation. Kristin Fisher, one of the network's White House correspondents, "announced Friday she's leaving the network, effective immediately," The Wrap's Lindsey Ellefson wrote.

Fisher announced her departure during a live shot on "Special Report with Bret Baier." It's highly unusual for a WH correspondent to exit the beat so early into a new president's term. However, Fox has proven to be a very difficult environment for reporters, especially in recent years.

Ellefson, citing an anonymous source, reported that Fisher is "heading to CNN to cover space as a correspondent." Mediaite and Deadline reported the same. A CNN spokeswoman declined to comment. My guess: Fox leaked Fisher's new gig, and CNN won't be confirming it for a while, but I don't know for sure...

>> Earlier on Friday, Politico's Christopher Cadelago published a profile of Fox's other WH correspondent, Peter Doocy...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- This week, through noon on Friday, Liz Cheney was mentioned 300+ times each on CNN and MSNBC. On Fox News? Just 48 times. Look out for my piece about all this on "CNN Tonight" in the 11pm hour on Friday...

-- Fox was a hot topic on "The View" Friday morning. Sara Haines said her impression, based on asking Fox types over the years, is that "they absolutely know what they're doing is wrong, and they choose to do it..." (Twitter)

-- A cryptic new message from Lou Dobbs, who was benched by Fox three months ago: "Our journey together is far from over. We'll see you soon." Newsmax has been making noise about why Fox banished him... (Twitter)

Psaki shuts down Newsmax conspiracy narrative

At Friday's briefing, Jen Psaki "busted a reporter who tried to frame a question around supposed chatter from unnamed colleagues," Mediaite's Joe DePaolo wrote. The questioner was Emerald Robinson of Newsmax, who was alluding to a right-wing conspiracy theory that VP Kamala Harris is really in charge of this "third term of President Obama," while President Biden relaxes on the sidelines. Robinson asked vague questions like "What do you say to people who say that?" and Psaki kept saying "Who's saying that?" People in the media, Robinson claimed. "Who in the media?" And so forth. Here's the striking exchange on video...

Washingtonian staffers' strike

Kerry Flynn writes: "'The CEO of @washingtonian media has taken to the op-ed page of the Washington Post to threaten her own employees,' HuffPost labor reporter Dave Jamieson tweeted Thursday. Indeed, Washingtonian staffers did not take Cathy Merrill's WaPo op-ed lightly. On Friday, staffers referred to the piece as a 'public threat' in identical tweets announcing their decisions not to publish for the day. Merrill apologized to her staff in a memo and in a statement. More in my story here..."

>> Related: "Working remotely for the last year has revealed just how much of office culture is accidental, arbitrary, and sexist, " Laura Hazard Owens wrote in response to Merrill's op-ed...

LA Times publisher: 'The government needs to step in'

Some news from Bloomberg's interview with the owner of the Los Angeles Times: Patrick Soon-Shiong "is calling on the government to throw its support behind newspapers, saying the loss of advertising to tech companies and declining readership threaten local journalism," Yueqi Yang and Gerry Smith wrote.

He "didn't outline specifically what he'd like the government to do, but he said tech companies, which generate ad revenue by hosting news articles and videos from others, should pay newspapers for their content." A reference to the bargaining code in Australia, perhaps? Soon-Shiong said "the government needs to step in a little bit..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

-- Google has gone "nuclear" against Roku "by adding YouTube TV to the main YouTube app," Chris Welch reports... (The Verge)

-- Speaking of... "Roku shares popped as much as 18.6% on Friday" after the co. reported "its highest quarterly revenue growth rate since going public..." (CNBC)

-- Gannett confirmed its plans for "an online subscription strategy at USA TODAY" and shared other $$ strategies while reporting a decline in Q1 revenue on Friday... (USAT)

-- The NYT is launching an Editing Residency... (NYT)

-- Keith J. Kelly reports that "voluntary buyouts" are being offered to all sales and marketing employees at Hearst Magazines... (NYPost)

Weekend reads, part one

-- Max Fisher is out with a new look at the "social and psychological forces" that make misinfo such a massive problem... (NYT)

-- "The internet has been a bit quiet lately," Quinta Jurecic writes: "Trump's banishment created a silence where there had once been a foghorn..." (The Atlantic)

-- Inside Alden, by Jonathan O'Connell and Sarah Ellison: "In a hedge fund's bid for Tribune's newspapers, a hidden risk lurks in the fine print" (WaPo)

-- Thomas Boswell is retiring after 52 years with WaPo's sports department. I savored reading his reflections about the medium... (WaPo)

-- This came out last weekend, but it was an interview decades in the making: The "reclusive, mysterious, almost mythical" comedy writer John Swartzwelder finally opened up about his contributions to "The Simpsons" to Mike Sacks... (The New Yorker)

-- A fascinating story from Laura He in Hong Kong: "Chinese cinemas are showing old propaganda movies. Is Hollywood going to lose out?" (CNN)

ICYMI: Rana Ayyub on this week's Reliable podcast 🎧

Rana Ayyub, the Mumbai-based journalist and WaPo global opinions writer joined me on this week's Reliable podcast for an in-depth talk about the perilous state of the pandemic in India; the weaknesses of domestic news coverage in the country; and the conduct of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Hear our convo via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or your favorite app...

Weekend reads, part two

By Katie Pellico:

-- CJR's "Existential Issue" asks the question, "What is Journalism?" Answers are offered by way of "media diaries," columns, comics and more... (CJR)

-- Vaishnavee Sharma reports on "how social media is saving lives during India's COVID crisis..." (PBS NewsHour)

-- "Amid wave of anti-trans bills, trans reporters say 'telling our own stories' is vital." Hear from journalists Orion Rummler, Imara Jones and Kate Sosin... (NPR)

-- "Black mothers are the real experts of the toll of gun violence." Medill lecturer and mother Arionne Nettles interviews 15 Black mothers from across the country... (NYT)

-- This is partly a media issue: "Why Black women are often missing from conversations about police violence..." (538)

-- From Poynter's Barbara Allen: "How the role of personal expression and experience is changing journalism..." (Poynter)

-- Matt Levine's must-read column captures the absurdity of covering Dogecoin: "Dogecoin Is Up Because It's Funny..." (Bloomberg)

Weekend review-palooza!

By Brian Lowry: "Billy Crystal directs his first movie in 20 years with 'Here Today,' a slim comedy/drama intended to showcase him and Tiffany Haddish, serving up occasional laughs with a heavy side of schmaltz."

Lowry continues: "Netflix, meanwhile, premieres 'Monster,' a movie that has essentially sat on the shelf for three years since it was on the festival circuit, with star Kelvin Harrison Jr. and co-stars John David Washington and Jharrel Jerome all having watched their stock soar in the intervening years. Finally, there's 'Jupiter's Legacy,' another dark superhero series adapted from a graphic novel. The story has its moments, but thanks to the sluggish pacing, nobody will ever accuse the show – whose original showrunner left midway through production – of moving faster than a speeding bullet..."

Live from New York...

Frank Pallotta writes: "'Saturday Night Live' has had some odd picks for hosts in its history (Nader? Forbes? Trump?!), and that off-kilter tradition continues this weekend as Elon Musk hosts the show. Miley Cyrus will join him as musical guest. 'SNL' is not known for picking tech CEOs to host the show, but then again, Musk defies categorization. How will he do? Tune in Saturday night to find out..."

The most important summer movie season… ever?

Frank Pallotta writes: "Summer movie season, which would've kicked off this weekend, is delayed because of the pandemic. But the late start doesn't mean this summer isn't important. In fact, this could be one of the most crucial summers for Hollywood ever. With theaters still struggling to rebound and streaming gaining strength, how these films fare with audiences could determine how studios release films for next summer, and beyond." Read Frank's full story here...

FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX

-- On Friday "a group of more than 100 Hollywood publicity firms" expressed concerns "about the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's recently released plans to overhaul" the Golden Globes org... (Variety)

-- Later in the day came this: "Netflix has declared that its will not be working with the Golden Globes group until it gets its act together, to put it mildly," Dominic Patten scooped... (Deadline)

-- Paramount "is in a pay dispute" with Hollywood power couple John Krasinski and Emily Blunt "over the studio's streaming plans for the new horror picture 'A Quiet Place Part II,'" Lucas Shaw reports... (Bloomberg)

SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST...

Dog of the day

ElixirAdvisors managing partner Gail Zauder emails about her dog Newton, who was a big fan of the newsletter, but sadly passed away this week: "She was 14.5 and had a bunch of health issues this year... On Tuesday, before she died, Newton got to see herself named The Animal Medical Center's Living Legend for 2021. She had decided that she had to fulfill both of her obligations – to both be a legend and living." Here's a photo from happier times: