| Brian Stelter here at 10:48pm ET Tuesday with the latest on the GOP, the Manhattan DA, Tribune, Wayne Gretzky, "Chasing Life," Fox, John Cena, and much more...
The Greene conundrum
This moment on CNN's "New Day" summed up a current news media conundrum. On Tuesday morning Brianna Keilar began a conversation about Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene by saying "I want to talk about" – and then she caught herself mid-sentence. "I mean, I don't really want to talk about Marjorie Taylor Greene," she said. "But I think that what she has said about the Holocaust, it's an important topic to talk about." She highlighted the shocking silence of Republican leaders after Greene compared mask mandates to Nazi abuses of Jews in Germany.
Later in the day on Tuesday, Kevin McCarthy and other GOP lawmakers did weigh in, belatedly, which made the topic even more newsworthy. It was a "rare rebuke," Norah O'Donnell said on the "CBS Evening News." And it was "the latest in a series of blow-ups involving the Georgia congresswoman," Judy Woodruff said on the PBS "NewsHour."
The other network nightly newscasts did not mention Greene. Whether and when and how to cover Greene's appalling conduct continues to stir debate in newsrooms large and small. When Anderson Cooper played a sound bite from Greene on Tuesday night, he set it up by saying "this is the last you will hear from her on the program" because "this is less about her and her deeply stupid remarks and more about the people leading the Republican Party." These editorial calls are complex, so let's dig into it...
The new Trump, in terms of media attention?
"Marjorie Taylor Greene is now playing the media better than Trump," Mediaite's Colby Hall wrote on Tuesday. "Trump can barely merit a ripple in media attention," he argued, despite voluminous statements and many calls to right-wing outlets. Greene, meanwhile, is in the Trump-circa-2015 position: "It's like watching a reality show unfold in real-time, the concept of which could be explained as 'watch what happens when an uninformed and xenophobic person enters Congress.'"
Part of the story, of course, is the party's response to this conspiracy theorist. WaPo's Aaron Blake said it bluntly on Tuesday: "The GOP has no clue what to do about Marjorie Taylor Greene..."
"I know you cannot ignore them..."
"How do you cover reckless and dangerous politicians who are willing to traffic in lies? I have been thinking a lot" in light of recent news stories about Greene and Matt Gaetz, Baltimore Sun media critic David Zurawik wrote in this new column.
Politicians like Greene and Gaetz "are nothing but trolls," and "it would be nice if ignoring were possible. I would like nothing more," Zurawik wrote. "Like many in the mainstream media, I have been wrestling with this in connection with Donald Trump since 2015. I do not have a bulletproof answer. But I know you cannot ignore them."
CNN's John King raised this exact point on "Inside Politics" Tuesday afternoon. "There are days when I think 'I'm not doing this on television, I'm not giving her any more time, I'm not helping her raise money.' And people say, 'Why do you point it out if she's a nut job?' Well, because this is part of something bigger," King said. It's about the GOP being "the grand ostrich party."
His guest Nia-Malika Henderson had just made the salient point about Greene: "She's clearly anti-Muslim; anti-trans; anti-Semitic, but she's also one of the most famous, popular, powerful Republicans in the country. She's a powerhouse at fund raising, she's a powerhouse on social media," and "I think she's the closest political person to Trump in terms of her approach to politics," i.e. white identity politics and grievance politics. To miss what Greene is doing is to miss what a key part of the GOP is becoming. That's exactly what some outlets are doing, however – missing it...
See no evil, hear no evil...
"This is evil lunacy," Rep. Liz Cheney tweeted in response to Greene's recent comments. You probably won't be surprised to hear that Fox News adopted a "see no evil" approach. Greene was only mentioned one time on Fox all day Monday, by a liberal guest, and one time on Tuesday, as of 8pm ET, according to TVEyes. Tuesday's mention was a three-line script by anchor Bret Baier that ended with "Democrats are calling on Greene to resign." Fox loves the "Dems in disarray" storyline but wants no part of the "GOP in disarray" plot...
--> Conservative commentator Erick Erickson's argument: "James Carville said the Democrats needed to focus more on people like Marjorie Taylor Greene. The media is helping them. BUT Greene is helping them too. She's hurting her own party by becoming a distraction and putting her team on defense. She doesn't care. Her party does."
--> This is beyond party politics. CNN's Wolf Blitzer and Dana Bash, who both lost family members during the Holocaust, spoke personally about why Greene's remarks were "beyond the pale..."  1/6 commission vote coming soon?
"Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer moved on Tuesday to tee up a vote on the House-passed bill to create a commission probing the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol," The Hill's Jordain Carney reports. A key procedural vote is now slated for Thursday, when senators will be asked whether to advance the legislation to a final vote.
What will it say about us as a country if the vote fails? If an independent commission is not appointed?
"One could make a plausible case that the three most traumatic days in America in the last 60 years" were Nov. 22, 1963, Sept. 11, 2001, and Jan. 6, 2021, Gerald F. Seib wrote in the WSJ earlier this week. He asked readers to consider what it would mean if a commission isn't established. His answer: "The political system will have shown that it remains incapable of reversing the very problems that produced the violence in the first place — severe partisanship, rampant mistrust of the other side, a new willingness to question election results."
-- "The point of killing the 1/6 commission is so Republicans can portray the congressional investigations as partisan," Slate's Will Saletan argued Tuesday night. "The whole game is to persuade half the country to ignore whatever comes out of these investigations. Tribalism over evidence. And it will probably work." Speaking of that...
The 'Big Lie' is a daily lie
I mean that it's repeated practically daily by Trump and his allies. On Tuesday Trump went on Newsmax with a former campaign staffer, Steve Cortes, and railed against "Big Tech" and "drop boxes" in the same sentence. He repeated his 2020 lies so casually that a viewer might forget just how incendiary the rhetoric is. "The election was a fraud," he said. "It was a rigged election. And when you look at what they did, it's so illegal..."
The press should be pro-democracy
On last Sunday's "Reliable Sources," I asked, "How should the reality-based press cover an alternative-reality GOP?" It's a question that warrants an entire hour of discussion. But I appreciated that Perry Bacon Jr. began with a one-word answer: "Honestly."
"I mean, that's the key important thing here, is cover it honestly," he said... "Journalism has a bias for facts, evidence, truth. And if like half of the voters in one party and a lot of the elected officials in a party are not being truthful, journalists are going to cover that and look like they're covering that party more negatively. So in this environment... we have to be pro-truth, pro-democracy, pro-evidence and I think that's going to make it look like we're pro-Democratic. But I think we should be pro-democratic, small d – not pro-Democratic, capital D." WEDNESDAY PLANNER Jon Batiste starts a two-day gig as the next guest co-host of "CBS This Morning..."
The Amazon-MGM deal is expected to be announced Wednesday or in the coming days, "assuming the talks don't fall apart at the last minute...."
A "supermoon" and a lunar eclipse are both happening... Vox has an explainer here...  A grand jury has been convened...
WaPo's Shayna Jacobs and David A. Fahrenthold landed the scoop of the day: "Manhattan's district attorney has convened the grand jury that is expected to decide whether to indict former president Donald Trump, other executives at his company or the business itself should prosecutors present the panel with criminal charges, according to two people familiar with the development."
The story noted that the grand jury panel will sit for six months. "It looks like the DA is moving quickly," Renato Mariotti wrote... "but charges could be months away, and we don't know who will be named first."
>> McKay Coppins on "All In with Chris Hayes:" In a certain way, "the Manhattan D.A. is doing the dirty work for Republican Party leaders that they aren't willing to do themselves..." FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE -- A court filing in the Lev Parnas case contained faulty redactions, allowing reporters to see that the feds seized more info in the Rudy Giuliani case than previously disclosed. The filer made a rookie mistake: CNN's Erica Orden and Kara Scannell were able to read the redactions simply "by copying and pasting them into another document..." (CNN)
-- The WSJ homepage's lead story on Tuesday evening: "D.C. Sues Amazon, Alleging Monopoly That Raises Prices." Brian Fung has a full report for CNN here... (CNN)
-- The NYT is winning high praise for this "absolutely stunning and effectively immersive" interactive, "What the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Destroyed..." (NYT)
-- The WH said Tuesday that President Biden will travel to Tulsa for the 100th anniversary of the massacre next week... (Tulsa World) Fox adds prime time shows to streaming service
Oliver Darcy writes: "In its continued efforts to beef up Fox Nation, Fox said Tuesday that it will add its lineup of right-wing prime time shows to the streaming service. There is, of course, a caveat: Episodes won't be streamed live and viewers will have to wait until 5am ET the next day to watch on-demand. And it's unclear whether this move will actually boost subscriptions to Fox Nation. But it's still a significant step away beyond cable..." "Incredibly unique" circumstances
Last week's stories about Chris Cuomo joining strategy calls with his governor brother's aides were addressed "during a Tuesday afternoon town hall meeting" for CNN staffers, The Daily Beast's Maxwell Tani reported. CNN boss Jeff Zucker said "he understood the 'unease' over Cuomo's conduct, saying 'in no uncertain terms' that it was a 'mistake' for the primetime star to participate" in the calls.
>> Mediaite's Marisa Sarnoff has more from the town hall: "Zucker said the situation is "incredibly unique,' given the CNN anchor's relationship with a prominent politician embroiled in scandal... As to why Cuomo wasn't disciplined, Zucker said that it was 'more powerful and more honest' for Cuomo to publicly acknowledge his mistake and to apologize to his colleagues on air." Wednesday's Page One
The George Floyd family visit to the White House gets above-the-fold treatment in the Washington Post:  FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO -- Glenn Kessler writes about how the lab-leak theory "suddenly became credible..." (WaPo)
-- Jonathan Chait knocks the press for its coverage of the lab-leak theory: "It is not too early to grapple with the failures of the media, which reflect the wider struggles of trying to fairly convey the truth in an atmosphere deformed by misinformation," he writes... (NY Mag)
-- Maggie Haberman says part of the reason members of the media dismissed the theory was because Trump and his admin made it political... (Mediaite)
-- WaPo's Dan Diamond observes: "Probe into coronavirus origins is worthy and needed. Just hard to miss that some of the loudest voices calling to investigate - saying it was attack on homeland - refuse to ask similar questions about attack on their workplace," i.e. the Capitol... (Twitter) 50% vaccinated!
Half of the adult population in the US is now fully vaccinated against Covid-19, according to CDC data. And case counts continue to decline. WH senior Covid-19 adviser Andy Slavitt said at a briefing on Tuesday, "For those not sure yet, do your homework, talk to your doctor or your pharmacist. All concerns are reasonable, but do yourself a favor: Don't let some guy on Facebook answer your question when good answers are available." Well said! Lisa on "Chasing Life"
Lisa Respers France writes: "I'm grateful to my friend Dr. Sanjay Gupta for having me on his 'Chasing Life' podcast to talk about my pandemic weight loss and health journey. Covid-19 not only took my father, but it also 'scared me to life' and I have become more intentional and holistic about my health. To that end I wrote about how the pandemic helped me feel more comfortable in the fitness realm because not being able to go to the gym or attend classes also meant I didn't feel judged or in a minority. Turns out I'm not alone in that sentiment." Check out Lisa's essay here... FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE -- "Facebook is launching a trial news initiative in Canada in which the social-media giant will pay publishers to link to selected articles on their websites" not already posted on the platform. It's called the News Innovation Test, and 14 outlets are involved... (The Globe and Mail)
-- "More than 180,000 people have signed petitions in an ongoing outcry urging Facebook to scrap its plans for an Instagram for kids," Terry Collins reports... (USA Today)
-- Clubhouse CEO Paul Davison tells CNBC the app has "millions" who are "on waitlist" after launching on Android... (CNBC) Israeli media asks for "decisive action" from social giants
"Israel's 14 top TV stations, newspapers, radio stations and news websites said in emailed letters from their lawyer ... that threats and hate speech had risen in recent weeks, particularly during the 11-day conflict with Palestinian militants in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip," Reuters' Steven Scheer reported Tuesday.
Per Scheer, lawyer Noga Rubinstein wrote to Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey asking they monitor their platforms and "take appropriate and decisive steps to remove the posts, and do whatever else is necessary in order to prevent the incitement from spreading and intensifying." Rubinstein added, "These media groups ... all share a sense of urgency regarding the level of danger posed by these tweets and posts and the need for all concerned to take a decisive action in this matter..." NY Daily News criticized for Yang cartoon
Kerry Flynn writes: "NYDN Editorial Page Editor Josh Greenman defended the paper's editorial cartoon of Andrew Yang that depicted him as an NYC tourist, which Yang, his wife and others called out as racist. Evelyn Yang tweeted Monday it was a 'racist disfiguration' and elaborated on her view in a Tuesday press conference, saying, 'Every time you make a joke about Andrew not being a New Yorker, you are telling Asian Americans that they don't belong.'"
>> Greenman said the cartoon was "not a racial stereotype or racist caricature." He admitted the cartoonist, Bill Bramhall, altered the original because of how he depicted Yang's eyes. Evelyn responded: "Ok, you fixed how beady & slanted they are, yay. Ignore the fact that API leaders told you this 'perpetual foreigner' racist trope is inciting violence against APIs being told to 'go home' across the country. And you published it anyway."
>> Yang also posted a statement: "To paint me in the media as a perpetual foreigner to this city is wrong and subtly approves racism at a time when people are being beaten on the street on the basis of who they are..." FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR By Kerry Flynn:
-- "There was no public announcement, but regulatory filings indicated Alden completed its purchase of Tribune Publishing late Monday," Robert Channick reported. Filings also showed that Alden saddled Tribune with $278 million in debt... (Tribune)
-- On a related note, Tribune CEO Terry Jimenez, the only board member to oppose the sale to Alden, has left the company. He will receive $2.55 million, per filings. Alden president Heath Freeman is taking charge... (Chicago Sun-Times)
-- Following Ben Mullin's May 6 report that The Athletic was eying a merger with NYT, Sara Fischer says the two companies are talking. Sources also told her Vox has had conversations... (Axios)
-- The Nieman Foundation for Journalism announced its next class of fellows... (Nieman Lab)
-- Reporters from VICE News have been awarded the James Foley Medill Medal for Courage in Journalism for their coverage of the human rights crisis in Idlib... (Medill) The Great One joining TNT
Andrew Marchand's scoop for the NYPost on Tuesday: "Wayne Gretzky will be a lead analyst on Turner's forthcoming premiere studio show after agreeing to a contract that will pay him in the neighborhood of $3 million per season, according to sources." Marchand said that "Gretzky's buddy Charles Barkley" served "as a recruiter." The deal is expected to be announced on Wednesday... Boom time for boxing docuseries
Brian Lowry writes: "It's going to be a boom time for boxing over the next few weeks, beginning with 'Mike Tyson: The Knockout,' a two-part, four-hour ABC News documentary about the former champ, airing on the network and Hulu. There's not a whole lot new here, but the project does an interesting job of considering how Tyson's rise, fall and return played out after his rape conviction in the 1990s, and how the last act in that drama might have been very different today."
>> Lowry adds: "Coming up in June, meanwhile, are 'The Kings,' a four-part Showtime docuseries about Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran and the other 'kings' of their division during the 1980s; and 'City of Ali,' a documentary about Muhammad Ali's home town of Louisville, and how it was impacted by his death..." FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE -- "In the latest example of gambling companies wading into the world of media and content," FanDuel is paying the Associated Press "to be the service's source of gambling odds, lines, props, and anything else that's required..." (Awful Announcing)
-- This list is full of insights: Variety compiled the 100 most-watched TV shows of the September-to-May season, in both total viewers and adults 18-49... (Variety)
-- Stephen Battaglio profiled Frndly TV, a streaming service "for cord-cutters in Middle America..." (LAT)  John Cena tries to appease Chinese fans, and infuriates American fans
"'F9' star John Cena has professed his love for China after calling Taiwan a 'country' during an interview that generated a backlash among fans," Jill Disis reports for CNN Business. Here's the background. "The episode is a sign of how mindful business in general and Hollywood in particular has become about political sensitivities in China, the world's second biggest economy and the world's biggest box office." Then came the "piledriver" American Twitter users...
>> Sonny Bunch writing for WaPo: "Only time will tell if Hollywood can find the courage to tell the truth abroad as well as at home..." FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX -- Daytime Emmy nominations were unveiled Tuesday, with Larry King and Alex Trebek getting posthumous nods... (Variety)
-- "Netflix, Charlize Theron's Denver and Delilah, and Niki Caro are developing a feature film that is inspired by some of the top female surfers who are fighting for the right to compete in big-wave contests..." (Deadline)
-- Sandra Gonzalez writes: "Could we BE more ready for the 'Friends' reunion? There will be games. There will be laughs. And, the cast teases, some tears..." (CNN)
-- Richard Newby writes about Marvel's "Eternals" trailer and how the "teaser reveals no plot details, yet still tells audiences plenty about its spirit..." (THR)
-- "Seth Rogen is the latest comedian to weigh in on cancel culture — advising his fellow entertainers to stop complaining when people point out that a joke has 'aged terribly,'" Leia Idliby writes... (Mediaite) "This is Us" season finale night
"Tuesday night's 'This is Us' season finale is setting the stage (sort of) for what will be the show's sixth and final season," Brian Lowry writes. He'll have a full review on CNN.com overnight.
Note to my better half Jamie: We should binge these episodes soon! I think we're like five episodes behind... SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST...
Pet of the day!
Margie McAllister emails from Austin, Texas: "Macy in her favorite reading chair..."   Thank you for reading – email us your feedback anytime. Oliver will be in the newsletter chair tomorrow... Share this newsletter:
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