Fox's vaccine messaging; an 'ocean of doubt;' Olympic competition is underway; Biden town hall time; Lowry reviews 'Sexy Beasts'

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Good evening or good morning to you! Brian Stelter here at 12:10am ET on Wednesday, July 21. The Milwaukee Bucks just won their first NBA title in 50 years. Here's the latest on the Houston Chronicle, Substack, Netflix, Stephen Colbert, "Marvel fatigue," and much more...

"Demonstrably bad advice"

"Get vaccinated," Senator Mitch McConnell said Tuesday. And, he added, "ignore all of these other voices that are giving demonstrably bad advice."

McConnell's words were arguably only newsworthy because of the so-called "other voices" -- the anti-vaccination talking heads that have overwhelmed common sense in GOP circles this year.

For every knowledgeable right-wing leader who has pointed to the vaccines as the only way out of the pandemic, louder know-nothings have instilled doubt and denial via radio, TV and the web. The result has been measurable through maps of deaths and disease. "Conservative swaths of the country are being hit particularly hard," the NYT's Jonathan Weisman and Sheryl Gay Stolberg wrote. "Intensive care units in southwestern Missouri and northern Arkansas are filled or filling fast, while 40 percent of new cases are cropping up in Florida."

So: Is there a path out of this political divide and out of the pandemic?

"Suddenly, Conservatives Care About Vaccines"

The Atlantic's David A. Graham wrote Tuesday: "A number of leaders on the right suddenly urged their audiences to get vaccinated in the past day. Why now?" Graham cited Rep. Steve Scalise's decision to get inoculated, plus pro-vax pronouncements by Fox News and Newsmax.

"Yesterday I went and got the jab at CVS," Fox Business host Charles Payne said Tuesday. "The place was dead," he said, observing that "there was no demand" for the vaccine. Elsewhere in the Fox orbit, host Kayleigh McEnany went out of her way to promote the "Trump vaccine;" anchor Neil Cavuto defended Dr. Anthony Fauci from far-right villainizing; and multiple anchors directed viewers to the Vaccines.gov website. So as Graham wrote: "Why now?"

There is no single or simple answer. An optimist might say, innocently, that the Fox machine is raising awareness about vaccines while the Delta variant causes newfound alarm about Covid-19. A cynic might say that Fox is trying to score PR points so that the Biden White House doesn't name and shame them, like President Biden did with Facebook last week.

Speaking of Biden...

The WH's outreach to Fox

The White House is trying to fix the problem of slowing Covid-19 vaccinations by engaging with an unlikely source: Fox News.

We all know the network has been a home for vaccine hesitancy and outright hostility. And we all know the network is remarkably popular among Republicans. So, as Kaitlan Collins and I reported on Tuesday, "the WH has attempted some outreach to Fox News over the last several months, though it's unclear how successful the administration has been. A source familiar with the talks told CNN that there have been regular conversations between the White House and Fox News regarding the network's coverage of the pandemic and the vaccines." Here's our full story...

>> Notice what the admin hasn't done: "The White House hasn't called out the network. Nor has it engaged it aggressively," Politico's Christopher Cadelago and Sam Stein wrote. "Some supporters of the vaccine campaign say that's a mistake..."

An "ocean of doubt"

We live in a media environment where a few minutes of pro-vaccine commentary by Steve Doocy or Sean Hannity is used to portray Fox as a responsible party, even though those minutes are undermined by hours of reckless programming. Here, for example, WaPo's Jeremy Barr described how Doocy's pro-vaccine message "has run up against his longtime co-host Brian Kilmeade, who has bristled at the push to encourage Americans to get vaccinated, even as cases have spiked in recent days because of the delta variant of the virus."

Philip Bump, also of the Post, wrote that "it's tricky to determine whether Fox's coverage is reflecting or driving its viewership," but "there's clearly a correlation between viewership and skepticism. And since the vaccine rollout began in earnest, the default position of the network's heavily watched prime-time shows has been to sow doubt." That has certainly been true for both Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham. Bump called it an "ocean of doubt..."

>> MSNBC's Chris Hayes summed up the Fox message in a Tuesday night segment: "It's not, 'Don't get vaccinated.' It's, 'We're just asking questions. We don't take a position. Don't take medical advice from people on TV. They're trying to get you to comply, so you should not comply.' It's like, anti-pro-vax." Mediaite has more here...

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- A new Annenberg survey asked people who said they're not likely to get vaccinated to give their reasons why. Top reasons included "the vaccines were still too untested," "don't trust the government," and "just not concerned" about Covid... (APPC)

-- In a new op-ed, Newsmax boss Chris Ruddy writes that Biden "should be applauded for making a huge dent in the COVID pandemic" with the Covid vaccines he "inherited" from the previous admin... (Newsmax)

-- Peter J. Hotez says Biden's warnings "about the power of vaccine myths" spreading on social media "fail to acknowledge how the anti-vaccine movement has expanded and globalized..." (The Daily Beast)

-- In other news... A coalition of US news organizations delivered letters to Biden and Congressional leaders on Tuesday requesting "humanitarian assistance for those Afghans who have worked with the US media as journalists, interpreters, and support staff" and now fear reprisals... (Twitter)

Rethinking Covid coverage

Oliver Darcy writes: "Do news orgs need to rethink the way they cover Covid infections? I'd argue that the answer is yes. This time last year, a positive case of Covid had far worse implications: That person wouldn't have been vaccinated, so the odds of developing serious illness were higher. That person would also have been able to spread the virus more easily to those who they were in contact with. But, thankfully, that's not the environment we are in today. Vaccinated individuals are incredibly well protected against serious illness. And the news coverage should reflect that, but it seems many news orgs haven't fully adapted to this reality yet. Tuesday's example: More than 20 questions at the briefing were related to a WH official testing positive for the virus. That's not to say that the topic didn't deserve some inquiries. But it ate up most of the briefing, as if there were not more pressing topics to cover..."

Biden town hall time

Tuesday was the six month anniversary of President Biden's term. On Wednesday, Don Lemon will moderate a town hall with Biden in Cincinnati, Ohio, live on CNN at 8pm Eastern. Here's a curtain-raiser: Biden and his team are confronting "epic challenges," Kevin Liptak, Phil Mattingly and Jeff Zeleny report...

Olympic competition is underway!

"Tokyo 2020 Olympic competition has begun," CNN Sports' Jill Martin wrote. "The host nation Japan has taken the field in Fukushima against Australia for the first game of the opening round in softball. Softball is back in the Olympics after a 13-year hiatus." The game aired on NBC Sports Network on Wednesday night in the US. Sticking with US times, the US Women's National Soccer Team will kick off with a match vs. Sweden at 4:30am ET Wednesday on the USA channel, ahead of Friday's opening ceremony...

Mission accomplished for Jeff Bezos

One of the headlines on Page One of Wednesday's Washington Post: "Bezos, eclectic crew soar in awe to edge of space." The third paragraph of the story noted that Bezos owns the paper.

Bezos and his brother Mark gave a round of TV interviews not long after returning to Earth on Tuesday morning. Check out the conversation with CNN's Anderson Cooper – taped inside the capsule. (Alexis Benveniste has a story about the interview here.) Gayle King also has a sit-down interview airing on Wednesday's "CBS This Morning..."

Bezos donates $100M each to Van Jones and José Andrés

Oliver Darcy writes: "After flying to the edge of space, Bezos made another splash with this announcement: That he was launching a philanthropic initiative called the Courage and Civility Award. And the first two recipients were CNN contributor Van Jones and chef José Andrés, each of whom were awarded $100 million to spend on charity. 'We need unifiers and not vilifiers,' Bezos said. Jones said 'sometimes dreams come true' and that he would use the money to 'give to others who have a similar spirit.' And Andrés said the funds would help him start a 'new chapter' in feeding the world. Here's my full story..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- Jonathan Chait made a pretty compelling case that Tom Brady mocking him, even playfully, will drive Donald Trump absolutely crazy... (NYMag)

-- Speaking of Trump, Alex Shephard has a survey of the publishing landscape, calling the former president both a "godsend" and a "nightmare..." (NYMag)

-- On launch day, Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker's "I Alone Can Fix It" is the #2 book in the country on Amazon, only behind Mark Levin... (Amazon)

Greg Sargent's 1/6 "plea" for news orgs

Greg Sargent's Tuesday column started off with a "plea" for news orgs: "If and when the Republicans who serve on the Jan. 6 select committee do everything in their power to sabotage a full accounting, let's not treat this as just Republicans being Republicans." Sargent argued that we are "not obliged to accept GOP venality, bad faith and contempt for the public interest as just normal features of our politics, ones that we must all tolerate, because, well, that's just how Republicans conduct politics these days." Read his full argument there...

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- "Press freedom in the United States just got its biggest boost in years with the Department of Justice's new policy limiting its own power to seize records and notes from journalists," Stephen J. Adler and Bruce D. Brown write, while calling for legislation to make it permanent... (NYT)

-- Maria Douglas Reeve, managing editor of the Houston Chronicle since November 2019, is succeeding Steve Riley as exec editor. Reeve is "the first journalist of color to lead the Chronicle..." (Chron)

-- What went wrong at KUSA 9News? David Folkenflik writes: "Latina journalists' ousters from Denver TV powerhouse spark outrage..." (NPR)

FIRST LOOK

Stephen Colbert on the cover of Variety

This week's edition of Variety, out Wednesday, features Cynthia Littleton's profile of Stephen Colbert, in what is his first lengthy interview since returning to the studio. The publication says they talked about "The Late Show" ratings streak and the near catastrophic technical glitch that had exec producer Chris Licht saying, "Oh dear God, oh dear God." The story will be live at 11am ET Wednesday at this link...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

By Kerry Flynn:

-- "Substack is funding the launch of a new podcast network called Booksmart Studios," Sara Fischer reports. Seasoned public radio journalists Michael Vuolo and Matthew Schwartz are launching the network and among the first projects are podcasts by John McWhorter and Bob Garfield... (Axios)

-- NewsGuild says about 90 of its new units are currently negotiating a first contract. Angela Fu reports on how these negotiations are going... (Poynter)

-- Robyn Tomlin, top editor of The News & Observer and the Durham Herald-Sun, has been promoted to VP of local news at McClatchy... (N&O)

-- "Instagram users can now control how much sensitive content they see," Clare Duffy reports... (CNN Business)

Facebook announces new Bulletin writers

Facebook on Tuesday announced "the next wave" of writers for its Bulletin platform. The dozens of additions included most notably Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai and global affairs analyst Ian Bremmer. As Sara Fischer wrote, "The new additions show that Facebook's initial investments in Bulletin, including millions of dollars' worth of writer advances, have so far proven successful in luring global talent to the platform..."

"Choppiness" for Netflix

Frank Pallotta writes: "Netflix posted relatively sluggish subscriber growth when it reported earnings Tuesday, but it forecast bigger gains ahead. The streaming service said it has 209 million subscribers globally, which means it added a little more than a million subscribers in the second quarter of 2021. That's ahead of the company's own expectations for the quarter – a rather low bar. Notably, roughly 430,000 subscribers in the US and Canada dropped their Netflix subscriptions in the second quarter. So all of the growth came from other markets."

>> Netflix's message in a letter to investors: "The pandemic has created unusual choppiness in our growth and distorts year-over-year comparisons as acquisition and engagement per member household spiked in the early months of Covid..."

>> Netflix's stock initially fell in after-hours trading, but shares are now up overnight...

Netflix confirms plans to get into gaming

Frank Pallotta writes: "The company confirmed that it's in 'the early stages' of expanding into gaming. 'We view gaming as another new content category for us, similar to our expansion into original films, animation and unscripted TV,' Netflix said. Games will be a part of a member's regular subscription 'at no additional cost similar to films and series' and that initially it will be 'primarily focused on games for mobile devices...'"

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

-- Apple "told real-estate developers it wants to lease a large production campus in L.A. for its growing entertainment operations, according to people familiar with the matter, a move that would further deepen big tech's presence in Hollywood..." (WSJ)

-- Stephen King is working on "his first podcast, 'Strawberry Spring,' which will be based on his classic 1978 collection of short stories 'Night Shift...'" (TheWrap)

-- "Patricia Mays, who comes to THR from ESPN, will oversee the digital strategy of the award-winning publication across the brand, including its recently relaunched website..." (THR)

-- Lucas Shaw says media bankers are popping champagne as the value of certain production companies and library owners seems to skyrocket... (Bloomberg)

-- On a related note, "Imagine Entertainment, the production banner run by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, has been the subject of renewed acquisition talks in recent weeks," Matt Donnelly reports... (Variety)

Marvel fatigue? Probably not...

Brian Lowry writes: "The Washington Post's Steven Zeitchik (and some analysts he interviewed) wondered if the rapid decline of 'Black Widow' at the box office might be less attributable to the streaming option than 'Marvel fatigue,' which would be bad news for Disney. While it's too soon to tell, I'd vote 'no' on that, for two reasons: 1) 'Black Widow' was sort of a 'mid-quel,' a self-contained story that didn't have the same epic connections as some other Marvel fare, which should have tempered expectations; and 2) if anything, the hubbub over the Disney+ series has seemingly invigorated the brand. Of course, if that means people are more accustomed to consuming its aspiring blockbusters via TV, then yes, long term, that's a potential problem for the box office..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX

By Lisa Respers France:

-- Rapper and actor Ice T's five-year-old daughter is his twin, and the internet can't get enough of that fact...

-- Kanye West is throwing a listening party in Atlanta for his new album "Donda" which is named for his late mother...

-- Like baby, baby, baby no: Hailey Bieber has shut down pregnancy speculation...

Lowry reviews "Sexy Beasts"

Brian Lowry writes: "Netflix has developed an appetite for weird dating shows, but the really telling thing about 'Sexy Beasts' is how retro it feels, basically just dressing up 'The Dating Game' (three unseen contestants vie for a date) by dressing them up in makeup a la 'The Masked Singer.' The inherent cheat -- like 'Love is Blind' -- is that just about everyone is physically attractive once stripped of their masks, so the big reveals turn out to be a big snooze..."