THE DAILY NEWSLETTER - FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2022

Media Winners & Losers

MEDIA WINNER:
Gretchen Carlson

It's easy now, more than four years after he died and more than five years after he resigned from Fox News, to forget how powerful Roger Ailes once was.

When Gretchen Carlson filed her lawsuit in 2016 alleging Ailes had declined to renew her contract when she rebuffed his advances, she was stepping forward alone against the most powerful man at the nation's cable news ratings winner. Other female Fox News employees spoke out later, but only after Carlson had been the intrepid original accuser.

Thus, Carlson deserves the lion's share of the credit for Ailes' downfall, and she's now turned her personal ordeal into a force for good that will benefit sexual harassment victims nationwide. She's been a vocal and eloquent critic of the legal ensnarements that make it more challenging for victims to fight back against abusive employers, including NDAs and forced arbitration clauses

This week, Carlson celebrated the passage of the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act, which allows employees to take their sexual misconduct claims to court instead of being forced into confidential proceedings that often allowed employers to sweep bad behavior under the rug.

Enjoy your victory lap, Ms. Carlson. You've earned it. 

MEDIA LOSER:
Mike Lindell

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has imagined himself to be a media baron in the wake of former President Donald Trump's 2020 election loss, not only amplifying Trump's baseless claims of election fraud, but promoting his own utterly bonkers conspiracy theories.

Getting smacked with a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems wasn't enough to dampen Lindell's tinfoil hattery and he's loudly criticized Fox News for not following him down his various rabbit holes (while once again throwing piles of cash at them to buy pillow ads, but we digress).

In Lindell's latest wild rant on The Lindell Report, which runs on his web channel Lindell TV, he attacked Fox News for refusing to air his so-called "evidence" the 2020 election was stolen.

He went so far as to suggest hacking their broadcast to force them to run his show. “Maybe we should get our cyber guys, who looked at all the evidence, to hook up our stream to Fox’s."

To be clear: what Lindell is suggesting is a crime. We highly doubt he has the technical ability to even attempt such a thing, but his repeated support for actual action is what makes his conspiracy mongering potentially dangerous. From reportedly encouraging Trump to impose martial law to calling election workers criminals, he has been a key part of the miasma of misinformation that has sparked real-world threats and violence.

The A-Block

"You're being a wise guy with me"

President Joe Biden sat down with NBC's Lester Holt for an interview that will air on Super Bowl Sunday as part of the network's pre-game coverage, and a number of headline-worthy excerpts have been released. 

Biden told Holt that he had narrowed his list of potential Supreme Court nominees to "about four people," a shortlist he described as "incredibly well qualified and documented."

In response to Democratic governors lifting mask mandates, the president acknowledged it was a "tough call," but still viewed it as a "premature" move.

Biden chafed at Holt's characterization of his past comments about inflation, calling the NBC News anchor a "wise guy."

He also pushed back at a recent U.S. Army report that was critical of certain aspects of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying that he "rejected" the report's conclusions as "wrong." 

Holt asked about Russia's military buildup around Ukraine, leading to what Mediaite's Tommy Christopher deemed a "jaw-dropping" moment in the interview.



Longtime Fox News correspondent Jim Angle has passed away at the age of 75. After stints at NPR, CNN, and ABC, he joined Fox News when it launched in 1996, eventually serving as the network's senior White House correspondent and chief national correspondent.

Our condolences to Angle's family and friends. Requiescat in pace.
 

Congratulations to CNN's Anderson Cooper, who welcomed his second son, Sebastian Luke Maisani-Cooper, to his family. Cooper introduced the adorable tot to his audience Thursday night before announcing he was taking the week off to spend time with Sebastian and his older brother Wyatt.
 
In Other News...

Alyssa Farah Tells The View Her Pro-Trump Family Boycotted Her Wedding After She Turned on Former President

WATCH: Clemson Guard Ejected for One of the Most Disturbingly Reckless Fouls in College Basketball History

Democratic State Rep Shredded For Deleted Tweet Telling Parents to Home School or Pay for Private School If They Want to ‘Have a Say’

Mediaite’s Colby Hall Says CNN is ‘Trapped’: ‘They’ve Painted Themselves Into an Anti-Trump Corner’

CHRISTOPHER: Why Can’t We Have Nice Things Like Free Crack Pipes, Jen Psaki?

Must See Clip

"See you later"

MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle gave an emotional sign-off on Friday of her morning show as she joins the network’s primetime cast.

After two seasons of Stephanie Ruhle Reports, and six overall in the 9 a.m. slot on MSNBC, Ruhle will move to the 11 p.m. slot on the network, succeeding Brian Williams. Ruhle’s morning slot will be filled by an extended fourth hour of Morning Joe.

The schedule shift is widely viewed as a promotion and great opportunity for Ruhle, and she was effusive with praise and gratitude for her team in her final message of her morning show. 

Watch here.

Links We Like

Team USA Is Leading a Secret Protest Movement Inside the Winter Olympics
- Matt Sullivan, Rolling Stone
Joe Rogan is too powerful to keep acting as if he’s just a regular guy chopping it up
- Monica Hesse, Washington Post
China Brings Out the Hypocrisy in Corporate Social Justice Warriors
- John Stossel, Reason
I Gave Myself Three Months to Change My Personality
- Olga Khazan, The Atlantic
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