Vaccine mandates work; Facebook whistleblower update; Chicago news combo; inside the Britney Spears courtroom; a stealthy 'Squid'

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Welcome to the last day of September. Brian Stelter here at 11:29pm ET on Wednesday, Sept. 29 with the latest on SCOTUS, Katty Kay, "Peril," Woody Harrelson, "Aladdin," Brian Robbins, Jon Stewart, and more...

"We've got to put the COVID era behind us'"

When I turned on "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on Wednesday, I was told that "VACCINE MANDATES ARE HURTING THE COUNTRY."

But almost everywhere else, the reality was clear: The mandates are helping the country. Yes, there are tradeoffs. Yes, there are complications. But there are many, many signs that the Carlson-style predictions of widespread civil disobedience were totally hollow. This banner on "Cuomo Prime Time" told the real story: "ALMOST ALL UNITED AIRLINES WORKERS COMPLY WITH VAX MANDATE." That's what reporters are finding again and again as they check in with companies and government agencies.

A majority of US adults got vaxxed a while ago. For the holdouts who needed a nudge, employer mandates are getting the job done. "Mandates work," NYC mayor Bill de Blasio told John Berman on "New Day" Wednesday. "We've got to keep each other safe," he said. "We've got to put the COVID era behind us."

Members of the media should think carefully about the framing of these stories. James Fallows commented that he keeps seeing stories that say things like "Hospital fires 175 for refusing vaccine" and "Airline fires 600" for rejecting vaccine requirements. In all the instances, Fallows said, the headline "could (and should) have been: 'Hospital reports 99.5% vacc rate among staff' / 'Airline gets 99% compliance with vacc mandate' / etc."

Here's how Jordan Weissmann framed the situation for Slate on Wednesday: "Public and private vaccine mandates seem to be a promising route to getting this pandemic under control, but many states and businesses are hesitant to implement them, not just for ideological reasons, but out of a practical fear of how it will affect the workforce. By focusing its coverage on 'mass terminations' and quits, the media is only going to amp up those concerns, when in reality, the overwhelming majority of people are being sensible by choosing to get vaxxed if it means keeping their paychecks."

Lest we forget...

Anti-vax propagandists are quite persuasive. Tucker Carlson's Wednesday monologue cast hospital employees who refused to get vaccinated -- a/k/a refused to protect their patients -- as the victims of evil mandates. He claimed that "mass firings" are underway and cited the state of New York as an example. He said things like "who's going to staff the hospitals?" even though Gov. Kathy Hochul rebutted the hospital-closing rhetoric hours before his broadcast. Then Carlson said, "How do unvaccinated people hurt anybody?" which is a truly, pathetically ignorant comment. Unvaxxed people spread the virus and clog hospital wards. Maybe one of Fox's doctors can explain it to him?

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- AT&T (CNN's owner) "is extending its Covid-19 vaccination requirement to union employees represented by the Communications Workers of America, bringing about 85,000 staffers under the mandate..." (Bloomberg)

-- "We're not frustrated with the misinformed," Idaho Hospital Association prez Brian Whitlock says. "We're frustrated with those who propagate the misinformation because it's costing people their lives...." (AP)

-- Following up on last night's newsletter lead: Andrew Court, citing a source, says ABC insiders are "furious at 'The View's' producers for embarrassing the network..." (Daily Mail)

-- The Covid-19 memorial installation on the National Mall is featured on the front page of Thursday's WaPo. I snapped this photo of the fields of white flags as I flew out of DC today...

BREAKING

"Aladdin" interrupted

This cancellation, the NYT's Michael Paulson reports, is "the first missed performance of a Broadway show for Covid-related reasons since theaters started reopening in late June:"

"On Tuesday, 'Aladdin' held its first performance since Broadway closed for the pandemic. On Wednesday, the show was canceled because of several positive coronavirus tests." The breakthrough cases were discovered due to "rigorous testing protocols," the producers said...

Too little too late?

YouTube's action on Wednesday -- pledging to remove any videos spreading misinfo about any approved vaccine -- "is potentially significant because of its impact on the misinformation ecosystem," CNN's Clare Duffy reported Wednesday. Lisa Fazio, a Vanderbilt professor, told her that a lot of anti-vax baloney on other platforms "links to YouTube videos." But that's been true for years! "YouTube didn't act sooner," WaPo's Gerrit De Vnyck wrote, "because it was focusing on misinformation specifically about coronavirus vaccines, said Matt Halprin, YouTube's VP of global trust and safety..."

>> ABC's Evan McMurry nails it: "We need a term for being grateful a social platform is cracking down on misinfo while also incredulous at how it took so long..."

>> NBC's Brandy Zadrozny: "The question now, as always, is will YouTube enforce their new policy? Will anti-vaxxers — a savvy, financially-motivated opportunistic bunch — get the better of the platforms again?"

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- CNN.com's lead story right now: "Schumer announces vote on stopgap bill to avert shutdown." The subhed notes that "the clock is ticking with government funding set to expire on Thursday..." (CNN)

-- Move over, "too big to fail:" President Biden's expansion of the social safety net may be "too big to describe..." (AP)

-- "Woody Harrelson, currently filming 'The White House Plumbers' for HBO about the Watergate scandal, met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today..." (Twitter)

-- Dylan Byers, citing "three network sources," reports that CNN boss Jeff Zucker "plans to stay on at least through the Discovery-WarnerMedia merger, which they believe will close in the second quarter of 2022." Zucker shared this at a CNN town hall last week... (Puck)

Facebook back in Congressional hot seat

Oliver Darcy writes: "Facebook will be back in front of Congress Thursday at 10:30am ET. The company's global head of safety, Antigone Davis, will testify before the Senate on a hearing examining 'protecting kids online' and the potential 'mental health harms' Facebook and Instagram may cause. 'This hearing will cover Facebook's research into the impact of its apps on young audiences, its actions to address threats to these users, and policy considerations to safeguard kids online,' the Senate subcommittee conducting the hearing said Wednesday. Of course, the hearing comes after a series of WSJ articles revealed Facebook had internal research about the mental health impact its products may have on teens. Facebook has disputed WSJ's characterization of its research and it's likely to do so again Thursday...

THIS JUST IN...

"60 Minutes" has the whistleblower

Here's the short promo CBS just released: ‪"She left Facebook concerned, with copies of thousands of pages of research. What don't they want you to know? The Facebook whistleblower, only on '60 Minutes,' Sunday." The same woman is expected to testify at a Senate hearing next Tuesday...

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- An important step toward making SCOTUS live audio permanent: This fall, for the first time, the Supremes "will provide direct access to the livestream of oral arguments this fall on its website..." (Bloomberg Law)

-- Speaking of... Veteran SCOTUS reporter Tony Mauro has launched The Marble Palace blog, a place for deeper analysis of the court... (Law.com)

-- Alexandra Jacobs' first book review in her new role as a staff critic is a tear through Stephanie Grisham's "revenge" tour of the Trump WH... (NYT)

-- "Peril" by Robert Costa and Bob Woodward is No. 1 on this week's NYT best sellers list. "Vanderbilt" by Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe is No. 2... (NYT)

Milley grilled on whether he linked Newsmax to "terror"

Oliver Darcy writes: "According to 'Peril,' General Mark Milley jotted down the names of two media outlets, Newsmax and The Epoch Times, while trying to make sense of the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill. Milley, it seemed, was trying to figure out where the right-wing extremist threat was coming from. He also wrote down the words 'Big Threat: domestic terrorism.' And on Wednesday, Milley was grilled about this on Capitol Hill by Rep. Jim Banks. Banks asked whether Milley does in fact have a notebook listing the two outlets as terrorists. Milley replied, 'I don't know.' He added that he didn't 'recall' having a conversation about such a thing and committed himself to producing his notes to the committee. Banks asked whether he believes the two outlets are domestic terror orgs. Milley replied, 'No ... not at all...'"

THURSDAY PLANNER

All eyes on the House and Senate votes...

Gayle King interviews R. Kelly's former girlfriend Azriel Clary on "CBS Mornings..."

"The Problem with Jon Stewart" starts streaming on Apple TV+...

Chicago news combo?

First Robert Feder broke the news, then execs confirmed the news to him! Talks are underway, he said, between the Chicago Sun-Times "and the parent company of public radio station WBEZ 91.5-FM" for a partnership agreement between the two outlets. The aim, Chicago Public Media interim CEO Matt Moog told staffers, is to "strengthen local journalism in the city and our region." There was a board meeting slated for Wednesday night. Details from Feder here...

Three of today's Ozy updates

When Katty Kay, a recent hire by Ozy Media, appeared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" without any mention of Ozy in her title, I messaged her to ask for comment. Was she breaking off ties with the embattled startup? Indeed she was: Two hours later, Kay announced on Twitter that the allegations in Ben Smith's Monday media column were surprising and "deeply troubling," so she had left the company. It was one of several blows to Carlos Watson's enterprise on Wednesday. A&E was revealed to have shelved a planned broadcast of a show co-produced by Ozy. And VC Ron Conway was reported to have given up his shares. Smith and his NYT colleague Katie Robertson said Watson and Ozy still have no new comment...

>> Caleb Ecarma's headline for VF: "Ozy's digital media meltdown is just getting started..."

"It's now the end of my chemotherapy"

After disclosing earlier this year that she had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, Christians Amanpour offered an update on her health Wednesday during a conversation on "GMA" with Robin Roberts. "It's now the end of my chemotherapy that I announced back in June," Amanpour said, adding that her final session after 18 weeks will take place Thursday. Amanpour described herself as "lucky," and stressed how important an early diagnosis was in her case. "I want women to understand they must pay attention to their bodies," she said. "Whatever feels abnormal to them in terms of what they know to be their body's normal state, they need to pursue it..."

"Katie Couric roasts colleagues, rips celebs, and admits to icing out rivals in new book"

Well that's quite a headline, via The Daily Beast. Couric's book "Going There" is coming out in four weeks, but the memoir has already started to leak, courtesy The Daily Mail's Dan Bates. He says, "The book has sparked outrage among people who have seen the manuscript, [with] one saying that it 'should be called Burning Bridges by Catty Couric.'"

Bates says, "Among the most striking passages is Couric explaining how she didn't stick up for other women at work [in her NBC years] because she saw them as a threat to her own career." In a later chapter, she writes about the "insurgency" against her at CBS and says, upon leaving the "CBS Evening News" after five unhappy years, that "the body had rejected the organ early on." Overall, Bates writes, Couric uses the book "to settle scores from her four decades in TV..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- Paul Farhi's latest: "A New Yorker staffer questions racial equality at the magazine — and becomes the talk of the town..." (WaPo)

-- "Steve Chaggaris has started as Washington bureau chief for Sinclair Broadcast Group..." (Politico)

-- Diana Falzone writes about how she helped get a female Afghan journalist to safety... (Daily Beast)

A massive legal victory for Britney Spears

Chloe Melas writes: "I was in the courtroom to watch the showdown between Britney Spears' new attorney Mathew Rosengart and her father Jamie's attorney Vivian Thoreen. They went back and forth for an hour, with Rosengart wanting to have Jamie suspended, calling him an 'abusive, cruel and toxic' man. Thoreen was asking for the conservatorship to be terminated -- which is what Britney has always wanted, right? Well, it all began to make more sense during the hearing. Rosengart said Jamie likely did not want to be suspended because he would have to turn over his accounting and private bookkeeping from the last 13 years. Ultimately, the judge sided with Britney and suspended her father. There was a collective sigh of relief in the courtroom. Then John Zabel was officially appointed as Britney's temporary conservator. The next hearing is slated for November 12..."

Brian Robbins, profiled

New Paramount Pictures boss Brian Robbins gave his first post-promotion interview to the WSJ's Joe Flint and Erich Schwartzel. His key lines for readers, investors and Hollywood agents: "We know where consumer behavior is going," to streaming, but "I'm not one of these guys who thinks theatrical is going away."

>> Flint and Schwartzel write: Robbins said "he hopes the studio is still releasing in 2025 as many theatrical releases as it did before Covid-19..."

>> Robbins "already has his eye on Paramount's collection of franchises, from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Star Trek and Transformers." In the interview, "Robbins outlined new plans for each of them, from TV shows to theatrical releases, that he hopes will revive the characters, provide a steady stream of content to Paramount+ and give the studio the kind of franchise-model success that rivals like Walt Disney Co. have enjoyed..."

A stealthy "Squid"

Brian Lowry writes: "The fact that everybody (including CNN) seems to suddenly be doing stories about 'Squid Game' underscores something that Netflix can achieve by virtue of its platform like nobody else right now -- namely, launch what amounts to a stealth hit, without the benefit of a major marketing/PR push. In this case, it's a Korean drama that seemed to take off out of nowhere, building social media mentions into its own self-generated campaign. It's both an endorsement of Netflix's reach and, frankly, further evidence of the old Hollywood adage that nobody knows anything..."

>> To get caught up, read Lisa Respers France's story on "Squid Game:" "What it is and why you will be obsessed with it..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

-- Geoffrey Fowler says the Big Tech monopoly "made smart speakers dumber..." (WaPo)

-- "Instagram Reels are now widely available on Facebook in the US," Richard Lawler writes... (The Verge)

-- Snapchat "is witnessing a resurgence in India, with the country emerging as the US company's largest user base outside its home market," Shephali Bhatt reports... (Mint)

Solid start for "La Brea"

Great Rick Porter lead for THR: "La Brea opens with a huge sinkhole opening under the tar pits in Los Angeles, so had it debuted to poor ratings, the headlines would have written themselves. Fortunately for NBC, the drama series scored very solid numbers for its premiere Tuesday: It leads all new series in the first two weeks of the season in the adults 18-49 demographic (0.77 rating), and its 6.37 million viewers are second only to the 6.58 million for the debut of NCIS: Hawai'i on CBS..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX

-- Blink 182 singer Mark Hoppus is cancer-free. He shared the news via Instagram, Sandra Gonzalez reports... (CNN)

-- The aforementioned Lisa Respers France reports: "Alan Jackson has revealed a degenerative illness that's affected his performing..." (CNN)

Disney's next Star Wars series

Frank Pallotta writes: "Disney+ has found success with a series about the adventures of one bounty hunter in a galaxy far, far away. So why not two? 'The Book of Boba Fett,' a new Star Wars series starring the franchise's infamous bounty hunter, will premiere exclusively on the service on December 29, Disney announced Wednesday. Disney is focusing on enriching its catalog as it competes with Netflix and a slew of other streaming rivals. Plus, the holiday-season release is a perfect time to sell Star Wars merchandising..."