Reporter writing book about Alex Jones and 'the Sandy Hook families' fight for online truth'
New York(CNN Business) A version of this article first appeared in the "Reliable Sources" newsletter. You can sign up for free right here.
There are big, shocking stories to be told about media manipulation in this day and age. NYT feature writer Elizabeth Williamson is telling one of them.
On Thursday Dutton will announce the acquisition of Williamson's "definitive new book" about "the Sandy Hook families' fight for online truth against conspiracy theorists led by Alex Jones."
Williamson has been reporting on this subject for many months... Some of the Sandy Hook parents have been pursuing Jones in court... And Dutton says Williamson's book will shed "significant light on how Infowars and others profited from spreading falsehoods about the shooting."
Dutton's John Parsley bought the book in a pre-empt deal from agent Gail Ross. There's no title or target release date yet. But I would preorder a copy right now if I could...
Keep reading...
Joe Pompeo, quoting a source, says The New York Times has become "a book-deal factory." Williamson's book deal further proves the point of his story. NYT reporters "are landing lucrative publishing contracts left and right these days," Pompeo writes. "One of the latest deals, I've learned, is Rachel Abrams and James B. Stewart on CBS and Les Moonves, which sold to power editor Ann Godoff at Penguin. Stewart is also about to turn in his other book, Deep State, about Donald Trump and the F.B.I. Then you've got Mike Schmidt on Russiagate, Jeremy Peters on the G.O.P., Peter Baker on James Baker, Julie Davis and Michael Shear on Trump and immigration, Carl Hulse on the Supreme Court, Kate Kelly and Robin Pogrebin on Brett Kavanaugh, Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang on Facebook, Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey on #MeToo, Jim Rutenberg on truth and the media, Adam Nagourney on The New York Times, David Enrich on Trump and Deutsche Bank, Mike Isaac on Uber, Vanessa Friedman on Kate Spade, Alexandra Jacobs on Elaine Stritch, Alan Feuer on El Chapo, Jonathan Mahler on 1980s New York, Ron Lieber on the cost of college, Nikole Hannah-Jones on school segregation, Kevin Sack on race and faith, and Ben Hubbard on Mohammed bin Salman, to name a few."
Pompeo describes how the paper's management is handling this overflow of books...
Speaking of books...
"Donald Trump Jr. has signed a book deal with Center Street Books, an imprint of the Hachette Book Group, for a book 'that will focus on politics, current events and the future of the MAGA movement,'" the Playbook crew reported Wednesday morning...
THURSDAY PLANNER
-- Tom Hanks is co-hosting a special hour of "Today" with Savannah Guthrie... People mag has a preview here...
-- It's Fleet Week in NYC, so "Fox & Friends" will be live from the deck of the USS New York in the morning... Guests include Mike Pompeo and Donald Trump Jr...
-- "Aladdin" screenings start in the evening...
McClatchy's new VP of news
McClatchy is appointing Kristin Roberts, currently its executive editor for politics and regional editor for its eight East Coast newsrooms, as the VP of news, with oversight for the company's 30 newsrooms across 14 states. "She is the first woman to lead News in the 162-year history of the company," McClatchy notes. She will report to CEO Craig Forman, starting next week...
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- The "Colbert primary" continues: Kamala Harris is on "The Late Show" Wednesday night... (Twitter)
-- EU elections kick off on Thursday, and Facebook has already had to address 77 pages and 230 accounts peddling "bogus" info. Note that these "bogus mainly far-right disinformation networks were not identified by Facebook — but had been reported to it by campaign group Avaaz — which says the fake pages had more Facebook followers and interactions than all the main EU far right and anti-EU parties combined..." (TechCrunch)
-- Examining Radio and Television Martí: "A U.S. agency that is supposed to broadcast objective Spanish-language news programs into Cuba fails to meet basic standards of journalistic fairness and last month let an anchor describe Trump administration officials as the 'dream team' for Cuba policy, according to an independent review..." (WaPo)
Fox News more destructive than Twitter, Twitter co-founder says
Donie O'Sullivan writes: I spoke with Ev Williams, co-founder of Twitter, who now runs Medium, here at the Collision tech conference in Toronto. He says that he believes that the potential negative effects of the president's tweets on the country's political discourse are "trivial compared to the effect of the broader media." He particularly pointed at Fox News. (Fox didn't respond to our request for comment.)
Williams is not alone. His views are shared by others in Silicon Valley I have spoken to: they believe traditional media outlets have devoted extensive coverage to the destructive effects of big tech companies while not examining their own role in creating a more polarized society.
→ PLUS: Williams talked about the false allegations made against Pete Buttegieg that were first published on Medium. Read and watch here...
Williams calls Trump the 'master of the platform'
More from Donie's story: "What Trump has done with Twitter is pretty genius, frankly," Williams said in the interview on Wednesday. "He's a master of the platform like few others." Read on...
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- Sarah Sanders last held a W.H. press briefing on March 11. She "has appeared at least 12 times on various Fox News programs" since then, Erik Wemple calculated... (WaPo)
-- Eliza Collins is jumping from USA Today to the WSJ, where she'll be covering 2020... (Twitter)
-- Read more of Wednesday's "Reliable Sources" newsletter... And subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox...
-- The "PBS NewsHour" is expanding its on air and online arts reporting with the help of a "$1.7 million gift from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation..." (ArtNews)
