January 6 puzzle pieces; Thursday planner; Hannah-Jones tenure; Magnolia preview; Tarantino's best seller; Netflix's algorithmic mystery

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The year 2021 is half over. Whoa. Brian Stelter here at 11:01pm ET on Wednesday, June 30 with scooplets about "Sedition Hunters," Ted Turner, Rep. Ruben Gallego's new book, and Kara Swisher's interview with Ron Klain...

Putting the puzzle pieces together

"Thank God for a free press -- which is doing the investigating and reporting that Congress should have done way before now," Asha Rangappa wrote Wednesday.

She was talking about this brand new New York Times video investigation titled "Day of Rage," based on thousands of videos from the January 6 riot, plus radio dispatches, interviews with witnesses, and other material. The extraordinary Times production was widely praised by reporters on Wednesday.

But Rangappa could have also been talking about CNN's efforts in court to obtain riot footage; or ProPublica's recent investigation that indicated "Senior Trump Aides Knew Jan. 6 Rally Could Get Chaotic;" or Just Security's new "clearinghouse" for riot research. Her broader point is spot on: Newsrooms have been putting the January 6 puzzle pieces together, creating a detailed rough draft of history, in spite of partisan efforts to bury that history.

Now the House is creating a select committee to investigate the deadly attack. The front page of Thursday's Washington Post sums it up this way: "House, in partisan split, votes to create panel to probe Jan. 6." Karoun Demirjian's lead focuses on the "political challenges that face Democrats" as they investigate the attack, acknowledging that the lopsided vote showed how "Republicans have rallied against scrutinizing an attack they once strongly condemned."

"Just two Republicans joined with Democrats to support its formation -- Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois," CNN's story notes.

Multiple things are happening at the same time. Pro-Trump media outlets are becoming increasingly brazen about excusing the insurrectionists. Legit reporters are bringing new info about the attack to light. And government agents are locking more alleged rioters. "Prosecutors have also been targeting those who allegedly attacked members of the media or damaged their equipment," WaPo's Spencer S. Hsu and Rachel Weiner noted Wednesday...

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST...

Meet the "Sedition Hunters"

HuffPost senior justice reporter Ryan Reilly has spent much of the past six months covering the crowdsourced FBI manhunt for the rioters. On Wednesday he came out with a new story about the "anonymous online sleuths who tracked down the digital breadcrumbs that Capitol suspects had often unknowingly sprinkled across the internet."

These sleuths call themselves "Sedition Hunters" – and they've been "generating leads, making connections, and keeping the feds on their toes." Now Reilly is expanding his reporting to book form: Ben Adams at Public Affairs has acquired his work, tentatively titled "Sedition Hunters," about both the online investigators and "the probe's implications on civil liberties and 21st century policing."

This is the first book deal I've seen that is specifically pegged to January 6 and the aftermath. Many of the upcoming books about Trump's final year in office will contain new reporting about the riot, though...

PolitiFact's angle

Why are reporters for a fact-checking website reviewing court filings about January 6? Because they want to document what role misinformation played in the attack. Bill McCarthy published "initial findings" on Wednesday and promised more to come.

Documents pertaining to about half of the 430 defendants arrested through June 1 "shed light on how misinformed beliefs influenced the defendants' lives ahead of the riot," McCarthy wrote, from a music teacher in DC "who amplified false conspiracy theories on his podcast and YouTube channel" to a "woman from Pennsylvania who suggested on Facebook that people who 'start researching' will find that Democrats 'have been trafficking children for years'" to a "man from Ventura, Calif., who said in videos posted on YouTube and other platforms long before Jan. 6 that the Smithsonian Institution is hiding evidence of giants, and that we may be living in a simulation." Read the full report here. It really was a riot of lies...

Fresh fears about August, all because of a loony theory

Speaking of misinfo, here's the latest reporting from CNNers Zachary Cohen and Geneva Sands: "DHS officials are warning that the same sort of rhetoric and false narratives that fueled the January 6 attack on the US Capitol could lead to more violence this summer by right-wing extremists. A growing belief among some Donald Trump supporters that the former President will be reinstated in August, coupled with relaxed Covid-19 restrictions, has DHS officials concerned that online rhetoric and threats could translate into actual violence in the coming months as more people are out and in public places." Read on...

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- Banner headline on the Portland Oregonian's homepage tonight: "At least 63 people dead in Oregon heat wave..." (OregonLive)

-- And to the north in British Columbia: "Chief coroner reports hundreds died from heat over past five days..." (Vancouver Sun)

-- Jon Allsop writes: "The climate crisis is indeed making extreme heat worse, but -- as is so often the case with coverage of weather events -- news organizations haven't uniformly done a great job of prominently communicating this context..." (CJR)

-- When the AJC reported that "former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed appears to be under federal investigation for allegedly using campaign funds to make personal purchases," the paper attached several reader-friendly explainers that address "Why this story matters," "How we got the story" and "Why publish this story..." (AJC)

-- "Starting Thursday, college athletes will have the opportunity to make money from their name, image and likeness after the NCAA Board of Governors approved an interim policy that gives student-athletes in all three divisions the ability to profit from sponsorship opportunities for the first time," David Close writes... (CNN)

UNC board grants tenure to Nikole Hannah-Jones

"The board of trustees at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill voted Wednesday to grant tenure to award-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones after facing backlash from Black students and faculty who said the board's initial failure to do so reflected a history of systemic racism at the school," CNN's Nicquel Terry Ellis writes. "The board's 9-4 vote came after it met in a closed session for nearly three hours. When the board moved to a closed session, video surfaced on social media of law enforcement forcefully removing protesters from the meeting room." Get the full story here...

THURSDAY PLANNER

President Biden will travel to Surfside...

Reporters will be on Stephen Breyer watch as the Supreme Court finishes its term...

The Trump Organization is expected to be charged with tax crimes...

Princes William and Harry will attend the unveiling of the statue of their late mother Diana at a ceremony at the Sunken Garden...

"No Sudden Move" will premiere on HBO Max. This is director Steven Soderbergh's second movie for the streaming service in 7 months, Brian Lowry notes...

Furious reactions as Bill Cosby is freed

At lunchtime on Wednesday, Pennsylvania's highest court reversed "the first high-profile celebrity criminal trial of the #MeToo era."

The news of Bill Cosby's release from prison was met at first with shocked and confused reactions. Then came outrage and betrayal, expressed by Cosby's accusers and their attorneys. And celebration by his defenders. The headline on Philly Inquirer columnist Jenice Armstrong's piece has it all: "I'm shocked. I'm angry. But also a little happy."

>> CBS said correspondent Jericka Duncan "spoke exclusively off-camera with Bill Cosby inside his home following his release from prison." Duncan said "he was glad he had his freedom and that this sends a message around the world..."

SNEAK PEEK

Klain's stark talk about Facebook and vaccine disinfo

WH chief of staff Ron Klain is Kara Swisher's next guest on the "Sway" pod. Among Swisher's many Qs: Should tech platforms "be held liable" for vaccine misinformation?

"Look," Klain says, "I think the platforms need to do better. I think particularly Facebook needs to do better." Klain gives "some credit" to the company's efforts but says, "I've told Mark Zuckerberg directly that when we gather groups of people who are not vaccinated, and we ask them, 'Why aren't you vaccinated?' and they tell us things that are wrong, tell us things that are untrue, and we ask them where they've heard that. The most common answer is Facebook. And so we know it has become a giant source of misinformation and disinformation about the vaccines." He adds: "This is a life or death situation here."

The full episode will be released at 5am ET Thursday...

McCarthy calls for probe of Tucker's NSA claims

Oliver Darcy writes about the natural next step in this saga: "House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday called for an investigation into Tucker Carlson's totally unproven claims that the NSA was spying on him as part of a larger plot to boot his show from the air. 'Although NSA publicly denied targeting Carlson, I have serious questions regarding this matter that must be answered,' McCarthy said in a statement, adding that he has asked Devin Nunes 'to investigate and find answers on behalf of the American people...'"

>> Darcy adds: "What jumped out to me immediately when I read McCarthy's statement was how much further he was willing to go than Fox's own leadership. Thus far, two days after Carlson made his original claims, Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott and president Jay Wallace remain totally silent on the huge abuse of power scandal alleged by their top host. It's almost like they don't believe him..."

>> Naturally, Carlson promoted his theory on Wednesday for a third straight night...

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- David Folkenflik asked Carlson for proof of his claims. Carlson said his "word" was proof enough. "Carlson did not answer NPR's questions of whether he was in contact with people in Russia or Ukraine over the 2016 elections, the president's son Hunter Biden, or any related matter," Folkenflik added... (NPR)

-- "This is how it often works for Carlson," Philip Bump wrote. "He simply alleges that someone or something disliked by his audience has Done Something Bad, and they shift the burden onto Carlson's opponents to disprove the claim..." (WaPo)

-- In other news on Wednesday... "Trump went to the border to attack Biden — but he mainly talked about himself," Tyler Pager wrote. Trump got airtime on Newsmax and OAN, though, and he earned a prime time spot on Sean Hannity's Fox show, so I'm sure it was deemed a success... (WaPo)

-- Politico's much-buzzed-about story about "dysfunction" in the VP's office cites 22 anonymous sources. Biden senior adviser Anita Dunn, when "asked if she was aware of the complaints about the VP's office," said it was "not anywhere near what you are describing..." (Politico)

-- Attorney General Merrick Garland met with news execs again this week and signaled that the DOJ "will change its regulations around seeking records from journalists, in what appears to be a win for media outlets..." (CNN)

YOU SAW IT HERE FIRST...

Rep. Gallego's Iraq memoir

Congressman Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) will be announcing his forthcoming book, "They Called Us 'Lucky,'" on Thursday. The subtitle: "The life and afterlife of the Iraq War's hardest hit unit." That's Lima Company, "a reserve unit from Ohio that lost 22 Marines and a Navy corpsman while serving in Iraq in 2005."

HarperCollins' Custom House imprint says Gallego will be "opening up for the first time about his combat experience" and detailing "the struggles and the successes of Gallego and the rest of Lima Company during and following Iraq, examining the complicated matter of PTSD." The book will come out on November 9, just ahead of Veterans Day...

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- "A TV interview of an Oakland violence prevention official was interrupted by violence on Monday when two armed suspects attempted to steal the crew's camera and equipment..." (LAT)

-- Rachel Poser is the NYT's new Sunday Review editor... (NYT)

-- Cue the "Frozen" memes -- "Tropical Storm Elsa is likely to develop this week..." (CNN)

Ed Henry files defamation lawsuit against Fox

Oliver Darcy writes: "Fired Fox News host Ed Henry filed a defamation lawsuit on Wednesday against the right-wing network and CEO Suzanne Scott. The lawsuit accused Scott of having 'publicly smeared' Henry as a 'sex criminal' when she released a statement saying he had engaged in 'willful sexual misconduct' when the network terminated his contract. It also alleged that Scott had covered up an extramarital affair between Fox News president Jay Wallace and a subordinate." More here...

>> Darcy adds: "A Fox News rep responded in a statement saying that the network 'conducted a thorough independent investigation' and does 'stand by the decision' to fire Henry. The spokesperson said that the network 'conducted a full and independent investigation of the claims' against Wallace and that he 'was cleared of any wrongdoing and the allegations are false.' And the spox praised Scott's leadership…

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- "Facebook is testing drastic changes to Instagram to make it more like TikTok," Salvador Rodriguez reports... (CNBC)

-- Facebook is also "changing the structure of its performance reviews, Insider has learned," Ashley Stewart reports, writing that "it could be a sign that the social-media giant is maturing and attracting different kinds of employees..." (Insider)

-- "TikTok on Wednesday said it removed more than 7 million accounts 'from the full TikTok experience' during the first quarter of 2021 for potentially belonging to people under the age of 13," its first such disclosure, Sara Fischer reports... (Axios)

-- Slack has launched Huddles, which "are designed to replace those informal conversations you used to have with colleagues across desks..." (The Verge)

-- Instagram is building a feature allowing creators to publish exclusive content for subscribers... (TechCrunch)

-- "Spotify is considering entering the events business, using data about consumer interests gleaned from its music-streaming service to host virtual and possibly live concerts," Jessica Toonkel reports... (The Information)

-- Amanda Silberling writes about how Twitter's "entire account has been taken over by NFTs..." (TechCrunch)

Ted Turner makes CNN history again

CNN's first two NFT digital collectables were made available to purchase Wednesday on Vault by CNN. All 500 of the limited release of Ted Turner's speech announcing the launch of CNN in June 1980 sold out within 90 minutes. Here's the scoop: Turner is the first NFT buyer in CNN history. When he learned about this new market for CNN, he asked to be the first buyer, and the company minted a special series 1st edition NFT for him...

>> Wednesday's other digital collectible, CNN's live coverage of the start of the Gulf War in Jan 1991, is still available...

Tarantino is No. 1 on Amazon

Quentin Tarantino's first novel, which looks like a throwback from the 70s, has been No. 1 on Amazon's best sellers chart all week long. It's a mass market paperback version of "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," "two years after the theatrical release of the movie," Marianne Garvey explains here. It "follows much of the movie's dialogue and screenplay, but it also features some new elements..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

By Kerry Flynn:

-- Payday Report founder Mike Elk sued the NewsGuild earlier this week, "alleging he faced retaliation after he notified the union of sexual misconduct allegations against one of its leaders," Angela Fu reports... (Poynter)

-- Joshua Benton explains what happened with The Appeal. The criminal justice reform site "is officially dead — but hoping to be reborn," he writes... (Nieman Lab)

-- Sara Guaglione checks in on media companies' office returns as some plan phased reopenings in July... (Digiday)

-- Vanity Fair EIC Radhika Jones emailed staff about new hires: Maggie Coughlan as Vanities editor; Nate Freeman as art columnist; Delia Cai as Vanities senior correspondent. Jones also said from January to June, traffic is up about 30% year over year, time spent is up about 40% and site subscriptions are up 8%...

-- Speaking of VF: Kenzie Bryant profiled Tavi Gevinson, who is starring in the upcoming Gossip Girl reboot... (VF)

Two weeks til Magnolia launches...

For this week's THR cover story, Mikey O'Connell profiles Chip and Joanna Gaines and "their transition to TV executives" as Magnolia Network gets ready to launch via Discovery+ on July 15. He says Discovery boss David Zaslav "ultimately appealed to their love of renovation, only this time of a tired TV network..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX

-- TV ad of the week, at least: "Budweiser's new July 4th campaign, 'Go Fourth, America,' launched today, featuring a nostalgic appearance from Bill Pullman reprising his 1996 role as President Thomas J. Whitmore in the movie 'Independence Day...'" (AdAge)

-- Great piece by Michael Paulson: "The Boss is back on Broadway. The workers are coming back, too..." (NYT)

-- Former E! chief Adam Stotsky will be president of Religion of Sports, "a label that aims to be 'the Pixar of sports...'" (THR)

-- Intriguing reporting by Andrew Marchand: Maria Taylor and ESPN are "facing possible divorce" over "Stephen A. Smith money..." (NYPost)

-- I learned a lot from this Emma Carmichael profile of NFL analyst Mina Kimes... (SSENSE)

Busy 24 hours of Britney Spears news

Chloe Melas writes: "The past 24 hours has been filled with a lot of movement regarding Britney Spears' conservatorship. I can tell you that sources close to Spears say she's been on the phone 'begging' her attorney in the days since last week's hearing to finally file the necessary paperwork with the court to end the conservatorship – it would mark the first time in 13 years anyone has done so. Two other sources say Spears' attorney is imminently about to file a petition to terminate the conservatorship."

>> Melas adds: "In the meantime, late last night Spears' dad's legal team filed two petitions. One, asking the court to launch an investigation into the claims Spears made last week, and another which opposed appointing Jodi Montgomery the permanent conservator of Spears' medical decisions..."

An algorithmic mystery

How the heck do certain films hit the top 10 trending list on Netflix? Marianne Garvey explored that question in this new CNN.com story. As Paul Dergarabedian told her, "the list is 'head-scratcher' for movie buffs, who are often left wondering why so many weird, offbeat and some obviously mediocre movies are in the mix." Degerabedian said "he suspects bad movies may make the list because no one is ashamed to watch a horrible movie in the privacy of their own home..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART SEVEN

-- Brian Lowry's newest review: "Loki" pulls back the curtain a little more in its wildest episode yet...

-- Sandra Gonzalez writes: "Building on the buzz created from its Simpsons-Star Wars team-up, Disney+ announced on Wednesday its next short will bring the beloved Loki into the animated world of 'The Simpsons.' The Marvel-themed short will premiere on Disney+ on July 7..."

-- One more from Sandra: "If the dream you were wishing for was a look at Camila Cabello as Cinderella, your dream has come true..."

-- Mark Hoppus of Blink-182 has offered an update on his cancer treatment, Lisa Respers France reports...

A pandemic exception continues

Brian Lowry writes: "The Academy issued some revised rules for next year's Oscars, reconfirming that it will continue to let streaming movies be eligible for best picture, continuing a pandemic exception. Yesterday The Directors Guild announced it's withdrawing that policy and requiring an exclusive theatrical window..."