So many 'moving parts' in Congress; visualizing Covid's death toll; Zuckerberg's media bashing; Netflix and Amazon's one-two punch; 'Climate Night'

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Happy first day of fall! Brian Stelter here at 10:44pm ET on Wednesday, Sept. 22 with the latest on Mark Zuckerberg, "60 Minutes," Whoopi Goldberg, The Athletic, "The Wonder Years," Apple, "SNL," and more...

What's at stake? "Just about everything"

This is one of those weeks when it feels like every single story is about Congress. Lawmakers are grappling with a government funding deadline, multiple infrastructure bill votes, a debt ceiling fight that shouldn't be a fight at all, and more. If you're anything like me, you're wondering, "What the heck is going on?"

It's easy to find incremental updates about statements and negotiations. It's often harder to find the step-back, big-picture, what-it-all-means reporting. If you're following along every minute of every hour, then you feel well served, but if you're just tuning in for the first time, you may feel lost.

That's why this coverage needs lots of "insider" beat reporting but lots of options for "outsiders" too. I'd humbly suggest that two types of stories could appear side by side on homepages: "Here's the very latest on the infrastructure battle" next to "Why are lawmakers arguing over road construction at all?"

I liked the way John King set it up on "Inside Politics" Wednesday: "At issue? Well, just about everything," he said. "The size of a giant Democratic spending plan; how that money is split up among a long list of Democratic policy goals; how to keep a promise to centrists to vote on a separate roads and bridges plan by Monday; and do that without infuriating progressives who insist both spending plans need to proceed at the same time."

Much of Wednesday's coverage revolved around President Biden's peace-seeking meetings with Democratic leaders, moderates and progressives. Afterward, John Berman said on "AC630," "the impasse is still there, even if both sides are using words like 'constructive' and even 'productive' to describe the talks." There will be more meetings on Thursday...

"So many moving parts..."

I asked CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju: What's the most challenging part about covering all of this legislative maneuvering? Here's what he said:

"This is a highly complex and complicated story to cover. There are just so many moving parts in this negotiation, so many key players who have concerns both big and small -- and so much uncertainty about what's going to happen. There are private meetings and calls that are constantly happening. There are members walking through the Capitol whom you need to grab for the two minutes that they're in the halls. So you have to be in the right place at the right time to stake someone out and hope they don't take a different route. And with the rules in the Capitol, we can only grab members on camera in certain locations -- making it trickier to calculate where to be in any given moment."

There are multiple clashes happening at the same time, Raju pointed out: "Unlike the Affordable Care Act, which was another all-consuming debate to cover, that dealt with just one issue: health care. This debate over $5 trillion worth of legislation deals with every issue under the sun -- not to mention an economic crisis waiting in the wings if the two sides can't get a deal to hike the debt ceiling and avert a government shutdown. So there's a fight within the Democratic Party over the Biden agenda -- and a fight between the two parties over averting a catastrophe."

"So many developments through the course of a day are happening at the exact same time in different wings of the Capitol -- in both the House and the Senate -- so we need to make a calculation about where to be at any given moment," he added. "Because if you're not reporting for every minute, you're missing something."

Raising the debt limit is about "reality"

Here's how CNN's Jake Tapper put it on Wednesday: "Republicans are refusing to vote to raise the limit on federal borrowing, also known as the debt ceiling, despite having done so under President Trump, and despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of the debt was accrued before President Biden."

Now some Democrats are floating a "Plan B" way to raise the ceiling. But the GOP resistance can't be overlooked. As Lawrence Summers told WaPo: "We took on this debt in a bipartisan way. We're prepared to expand the debt in a bipartisan way. I don't see why it's justified to refuse to acknowledge reality. Reality is not a partisan thing. Raising the debt limit is acknowledging reality, not making a partisan choice."

Unfortunately, we're way past the point of "shared reality" in American politics. Meantime, Google Trends data shows that some people are searching for info about this: "Trending questions" about the debt ceiling in the past week have included "What does raising the debt ceiling mean?" and "What happens if the US defaults?" My favorite: "Why is there a debt ceiling?" Here are the government benefits that would be at risk if the Congress doesn't act...

Even more news from Capitol Hill

-- As Rep. Peter DeFazio told NBC, "I've been here for cliffs and crises and wars, and this is going to be the biggest mashup we've ever had since I've been here... and I have no idea how it all works out..."

-- Page One of Thursday's WaPo: "Legislative negotiations on policing are fruitless..."

-- House Dems "have quietly moved to restrict the GOP's ability to use its limited power in the minority to press for investigations," CNN's Melanie Zanona and Manu Raju report...

-- "A group of bipartisan lawmakers is dedicated to getting a new memorial to honor military veterans of the global war on terrorism built in a place of prominence: the National Mall in Washington, DC," CNN's Ali Zaslav reports...

-- For some reason Jessica Rosenworcel is still only the acting chair of the FCC. On Wednesday 25 Democratic senators urged Biden to re-up her appointment and name her chair. Here's the letter...

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- Per Punchbowl News, Lesley Stahl is profiling Liz Cheney for this Sunday's "60 Minutes." The pair were seen together at the Capitol on Wednesday... (Twitter)

-- A view from the right: "Biden press coverage turns sour as some see a 'credibility crisis...'" (Fox)

-- "Biden's two run-ins with the press this week reflect mounting frustrations with the administration's shielding of the president at pivotal moments during his term," Naomi Lim writes... (Examiner)

-- The WSJ editorial board asks a good question: "Who Wants to Buy Hunter Biden's Art?" (WSJ)

-- Eye on the Big Lie: "Reuters interviewed 9 of the 15 declared Republican candidates for secretary of state" in five battleground states, and only two "said that Biden won the election..." (Reuters)

Ignoring a literal coup memo?!

Oliver Darcy writes: "The news that one of Trump's attorneys produced a memo outlining how the former President could overturn the election has received significant coverage on CNN. But Matt Gertz pointed out Wednesday that the same cannot be said about the broadcast networks. 'The ABC, CBS, and NBC morning and evening news broadcasts have all ignored the revelation that one of then-President Donald Trump's lawyers authored a memo laying out how Trump could effectively pull off a coup,' Gertz wrote. That's not a great look for any of those networks."

>> Dan Froomkin also called out the NYT for its relative lack of coverage...

Mary Trump's lawyer responds to lawsuit

"Donald Trump has once again sued a news organization alleging that its reporting was unfair to him. If history is any guide, this one is also likely to generate a flurry of attention before quietly stalling out," WaPo's Paul Farhi and Sarah Ellison wrote Wednesday. (But perhaps the attention is all he wanted?)

In this newest case, involving both the NYT and Mary Trump, Mary has retained Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., the same lawyer who has represented several past Donald Trump targets. Boutrous had this to say on Wednesday: "This is the latest in a long line of frivolous lawsuits by Donald Trump that target truthful speech and important journalism on issues of public concern. It is doomed to failure like the rest of his baseless efforts to chill freedom of speech and of the press..."

THURSDAY PLANNER

Biden has no public events scheduled...

The jury in R Kelly's trial will begin deliberations...

A key CDC advisory committee will likely make a recommendation about Pfizer boosters...

You have to see this

If you're in DC in the next ten days, you must stop and see the white flags. "In America: Remember" is an installation on the Mall to honor every American who has died from Covid. The sight is absolutely staggering. It goes on and on. It practically forces you to fall down to your knees and stop and stare. I visited the installation yesterday and wound up being late for a meeting. Today.com has a thorough story about it.

From a media POV, it's a valuable visualization of the pandemic's largely invisible death toll. "In a traditional sense, this art can be interpreted as a memorial," artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg says. "In scientific terms, it is large scale data visualization. Experienced in totality, it will be the physical manifestation of empathy."

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- Another RTO update: The NYT is now targeting the first quarter of 2022 to fully reopen its office... (Twitter)

-- "Toxic TikTok:" A new NewsGuard investigation finds that the app "feeds vaccine misinfo to kids within minutes after they sign up..." (NewsGuard)

-- Michael Flynn "is pushing a new conspiracy theory that the Covid-19 vaccine will be placed in salad dressings," Graeme Massie reports... (Independent)

-- That said, Eoin Higgins writes about how it is not just right-wingers who are anti-vax: "In the hills of western Massachusetts and in neighboring regions of upstate New York, a traditionally left-leaning area, these theories also hold purchase..." (The Atlantic)

-- Misinfo is also affecting the homeless: "There's a lot of misinformation out there, a lot of confusion about vaccines, and trying to conquer that is a task unto itself..." (NBC)

-- A 75-year-old man is in custody in Michigan, accused of "leaving pipe bombs and threatening letters" outside of cellphone stores and towers. According to the feds, the man "was angry that telecom companies broadcast pornography, cursing and 'immoral content...'" (The Detroit News)

"Real-life implications"

I cited "missing white women syndrome" -- a phrase famously used by Gwen Ifill nearly 20 years ago -- in Sunday's Reliable newsletter. The subject has been getting more attention every day, just as Gabby Petito's death and Brian Laundrie's disappearance have. Richard Prince has an overview of the meta conversation here.

On CNN's "New Day," Mara Schiavocampo talked about the harms: "This has real-life implications for women of color. It makes them less safe. Predators know, if you want to get away with murder, you seek the victim that no one is going to look for." Also, she said, media attention "puts pressure on law enforcement and directs resources to these searches and increases reward money. So the women are much more likely to be found."

She's spot on. The other factor in the Petito case, of course, is the digital detective work that spurred reporters to pay attention. "Print and TV media were desperately trying to catch up to social media," Matthew Zeitlin commented on Twitter. The NYT's Katie Robertson is out with a new story about all this...

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- Michael Strahan has signed a new four-year deal with ABC, Brian Steinberg reported in the AM... (Variety)

-- Whoopi Goldberg has also inked a new four-year deal with ABC, Lesley Goldberg reported later in the day... (THR)

-- Andrew Neil says he has completely severed ties with GB News... (Daily Mail)

-- David Simon says he is pulling his upcoming HBO series from Texas over the state's new abortion ban... (CNN)

-- CNN has unveiled a new brand campaign, with both a four-minute and 60-second spot showcasing the network's diversity. Alex Weprin has the details... (THR)

Zuckerberg's media bashing

Mark Zuckerberg has been in a chatty mood lately. He hit back at the NYT's story on FB's "push to defend its image" with a cheeky post on his wall on Tuesday, accusing the outlet of getting a detail wrong. Then he replied to a user who said "now you know how the rest of us feel when the media blatantly falsely reports stories or even your own 'fact checkers' who negate attempts at healthy debate," and said he has "a lot of empathy for what you're describing." He added, "I don't normally point out everything the media gets wrong, but it happens every single day."

>> Donie O'Sullivan's reaction: "This Zuckerberg comment must be a bit of a slap in the face for FB's own fact-checkers, some of whom have received death threats for trying to stop the spread of misinfo on the platform. One of the fact-checkers texted me after seeing Zuck's comment and said we 'get slapped around by all sides. We have to turn the other cheek to maintain our neutrality.'"

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- Alex Heath writes: "Facebook is serious about being a long-term player in hardware. On Wednesday, the company promoted Andrew Bosworth, the current head of its hardware division that makes Oculus and other consumer devices, to the role of chief technology officer..." (The Verge)

-- Google has announced "a change to its online ads, which will now display new disclosures," Sarah Perez writes... (TechCrunch)

-- "YouTube is testing an official way to download videos on your desktop web browser," Jay Peters reports... (The Verge)

-- Wednesday marked the first edition of Inside CNN, an exclusive newsletter "offering an insider's view of what's going on at CNN." To receive the weekly email, create a free CNN account here... (CNN)

Tim Cook hunts for leakers

Oliver Darcy writes: "Tim Cook is on a hunt for leakers. That's according to a leaked memo published by The Verge's Zoe Schiffer on Wednesday. Cook wrote Apple employees about how there have been recent leaks to the press, expressing his frustration. 'I want to reassure you that we are doing everything in our power to identify those who leaked,' Cook wrote. 'As you know, we do not tolerate disclosures of confidential information, whether it's product IP or the details of a confidential meeting. We know that the leakers constitute a small number of people. We also know that people who leak confidential information do not belong here.' Whether they belong at Apple or not is one matter, but I would suggest to Cook that threatening to hunt leakers down like this isn't necessarily the best look -- especially for a company that prides itself on privacy..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

By Kerry Flynn:

-- The Athletic hired LionTree to explore options, including a sale that could value the company at $750 million, Sahil Patel and Jessica Toonkel scoop... (The Information)

-- New hope for an old publication? "Nearly 100 prominent journalists and community leaders" are rallying to support the moribund Chicago Reporter... (Feder)

-- Claire Carusillo detailed how Substack took away her politics.substack.com domain, since it was inactive, but then gave it back... (Gawker)

-- Another fun one... Ryan Kellett, WaPo's outgoing senior director of audience who is soon to join Axios, is the person behind "washingtonpost" on Peloton. He explained the strategy to Andrew Beaujon... (Washingtonian)

-- Chelsea Macdonald is joining Clubhouse as head of entertainment partnerships. She was previously in similar roles at Community and Instagram... (THR)

Gannett CEO's letter to NewsGuild draws ire from journalists

Kerry Flynn writes: "Late last night, Gannett CEO Mike Reed responded to NewsGuild President Jon Schleuss' letter about the union investigating the company's workplace culture starting with unpaid overtime. Reed's letter reads similarly to the Gannett PR quote I had included in my story in that it argues NewsGuild was conveying misinformation. Suggesting the company's own journalists are liars sparked outrage among those very journalists and others. As The Arizona Republic reporter Rebekah Sanders, whose tweets sparked the investigation, told me, 'It is stunning that the CEO of America's largest newspaper company would call his employees' truthful recounting of the company's illegal behavior 'general frustration' or a 'personal belief.'" Indeed, many current and former Gannett employees have since texted me sharing their personal experiences with unpaid overtime, some saying the practice is pervasive and prompted them to leave or want to leave the company..."

Phasing out the "CBSN" name

"CBS News plans to rename its news streaming service CBSN to CBS News later this year and will convert the former 'CBS This Morning' studio into the organization's streaming studio," Digiday's Tim Peterson reports. "The move is meant to reflect how CBS News is unifying its efforts across traditional TV and streaming as well as between its national and local coverage, with its CBSN local streams set to be similarly renamed..."

It's "Climate Night"

Stephen Colbert, Samantha Bee, James Corden, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and Trevor Noah are all "focusing their programming on climate change" Wednesday night. "Though the subject matter is serious, there will be jokes," Marianne Garvey wrote. Fox's late-night comic, Greg Gutfeld, is absent...

Remembering Marvin Van Peebles

This just in: "Melvin Van Peebles, a trailblazing African-American director who helped champion a new wave of modern Black cinema in the 1970s, has died," CNN's Megan Thomas reported Wednesday night. Peebles was 89. "Moonlight" director Barry Jenkins wrote, "He made the most of every second, of EVERY single damn frame..."

'The Wonder Years' shines in ABC's reboot

Brian Lowry writes: "After 'One Day at a Time' and the recent 'Doogie Kamealoha, M.D.' comes 'The Wonder Years,' another promising sitcom that reboots a beloved sitcom around a family featuring people of color. The front-loaded pilot (directed by original star Fred Savage) plucks some emotional chords that will be tough to match going forward, but it's a very savvy way of getting the ABC series out of the starting gate with the best chance of succeeding..."

Speaking of the new TV season...

Brian Lowry adds: "As much as it's fashionable to make fun of stodgy old CBS and its alphabet soup of dramas, its trio of 'FBI' shows ranked first on Tuesday night, per Nielsen data, averaging 6.6 million viewers and flowing almost seamlessly from one hour into the next..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX

By Lisa Respers France:

-- The Fugees are reuniting for "The Score" 25th anniversary tour...

-- In a new autobiography, Elvira, everyone's favorite "Mistress of the Dark," has shared that she's been in a 19-year relationship with a woman...

-- Podcast plug! I'm featured on episode 3 of Dana Bash's excellent podcast "Total Recall: California's Circus" talking about celebrity and how that plays into politics...

Owen, Kim Rami, and Ted Lasso

Frank Pallotta writes: "NBC's 'SNL' returns Oct. 2 with host Owen Wilson and musical guest Kacey Musgraves. On the 9th, Kim Kardashian West comes to Studio 8H, followed by Rami Malek on the 16th and Ted Lasso himself (and former cast member) Jason Sudeikis on the 23rd. NBC also said Wednesday that the shows will once again be aired live coast-to-coast and livestreamed on Peacock. However, they have yet to say anything about any new cast members or cast departures." Sandra Gonzalez has details here...

One-two punch

Brian Lowry writes: "The same day Netflix announced a deal with the proprietors of the Roald Dahl estate, Amazon announced a three-movie deal with Eddie Murphy on the heels of having acquired 'Coming 2 America.' The one-two punch points toward an escalating arms race for the stars and intellectual property that will drive subscriptions. And while Hollywood has a long history of banking on stupid money coming in – and just as quickly disappearing – newish competitors like Amazon and Apple have such deep pockets that studios have reason to wince at what that could mean for the cost of doing business..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART SEVEN

-- "On Wednesday, Apple unveiled the official trailer for 'Invasion,' a sci-fi drama premiering globally on Apple TV+, with its first three episodes, on October 22," Matt Grobar writes... (Deadline)

-- Tatiana Siegel profiles "No Time to Die" director Cary Fukunaga, who talks about maneuvering the 007 franchise in a post-#MeToo era... (THR)

-- Rebecca Rubin asks: "Can 'Dear Evan Hansen' dethrone reigning box office champ 'Shang-Chi'?" (Variety)

-- "Kevin Hart and director F. Gary Gray are set to team for the first time on 'Lift,' a heist film that Netflix acquired last March," Mike Fleming Jr. reports... (Deadline)

Eichner talks about playing Drudge

Oliver Darcy writes: "Billy Eichner spoke with The Daily Beast's Kevin Fallon about playing Matt Drudge in 'Impeachment: American Crime Story.' Eichner said that he is 'in that age group of media-savvy people who used to run home and immediately check Drudge Report.' Eichner said he is not sure if Drudge has seen his performance as him, but noted that the conservative media mogul has hyped the show. 'It's beyond surreal,' Eichern said. 'You truly could not have predicted. So, he is definitely aware of it. And I don't know him personally, but I have a feeling he's getting a kick out of it. That's my gut feeling.' Read the full Q&A here..."

LAST BUT NOT LEAST...

Goat of the day!

Kayla writes: "This is my little goat Nori. She grew up as a 'house goat' inside and now lives in my yard with my other rescued animals. She still likes to come inside to hang out, watch TV, and attempt to eat everything she can get her mouth on."