How Eric Schmitt’s Big Media Gamble Fell Apart in One Viral Moment

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TOP STORY

SENATOR’S EPIC FAIL?

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) had it all Tuesday morning: an iron-clad gotcha moment for former special counsel Jack Smith, the backing of his team and fellow senators, and even rumors he might be Vice President JD Vance’s running mate in 2028.

And then it all came crashing down around him in about two minutes during yesterday’s hearings, when he accused Smith of attending an Atlanta Hawks game and suggesting he colluded with Fulton County, Georgia, DA Fani Willis.

Except… a politely befuddled Smith told Schmitt he’d attended an Iowa Hawkeyes game that night, because he wanted to see then-college hooper Caitlin Clark play.

The resulting fallout was swift and brutal, and Schmitt’s mistake dominated media coverage of the hearings — including today’s media newsletters.

THREE TAKES

The Bulwark’s Morning Shots, Bill Kristol and Andrew Egger — The “junior senator from Missouri had been working hard building a MAGA-pleasing brand as a staunch Trump ally who wasn’t afraid to play footsie with the blood-and-soil right,” Egger lamented today. Unfortunately, that was of his own making, when he decided to set out “on a bizarre line of questioning intended to link Smith with another Trump enemy” — and he was wrong. Schmitt still hasn’t apologized for the wild mistake or for calling Smith a “dirtbag” and insisting he’d “already perjured” himself. But if people are hoping this will slow Schmitt down, they should think again, Egger warned: “It’s not clear that this humiliation will hurt Schmitt’s aspirations to higher office in the slightest. Right-wing media pulled their tweets crowing about Schmitt’s big win, but didn’t comment on the mishap “at all.”

The Poynter Report, Tom Jones — Jones agreed Schmitt “thought he was going to dunk on his opponent,” but instead ended up “flat on his back in a wild moment on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.” Unlike Egger, Jones seemed to hint it’s possible at least some members of the conservative media were rocked by the faux pas — after all, Clark is pretty apolitical, and confusing the Hawks and Hawkeyes is pretty embarrassing no matter who you are — and Scott Jennings admitted it was a “rough moment.”

Townhall, Matt Vespa — Vespa sidestepped the moment entirely by focusing on other parts of the hearing during which Schmitt didn’t make an egregious mistake. “Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) ripped into Smith over the donor-information subpoenas, while Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) asked a pointed question about how Smith was ever selected for this job in the first place,” he wrote, moments that made Smith “visibly uncomfortable.” Smith ultimately “found nothing” while investigating whether President Donald Trump mishandled “classified materials and alleged actions relating to possibly overturning the 2020 election,” Vespa insisted. Per Smith’s report, that’s not true — he insisted the president “resorted to crimes” to attempt to remain in office after President Joe Biden won the election, and that he “used deceit to target every stage of the electoral process.”

TAKEAWAY:  The Senate Judiciary committee was hoping to toss some red meat to the base with Tuesday’s hearing. Instead, they got a viral clip of one of their rising stars making a flub for the ages. The efforts from Town Hall and other conservative letters to call attention to some of Smith’s low-lights proved futile. We’ve talked recently about the GOP’s efforts to knock topics like Iran and the economy out of the headlines. This story was an example of how that strategy can backfire.

📰 TOP SCOOPS & ANALYSIS 📰

SCOOP 🍨CJR’s The Interview, Amos Barshad — Assal Rad is a Middle Eastern historian and activist who often corrects headlines by the mainstream media on the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. Her new book “takes a sweeping look back at press coverage of Israel’s assault on Gaza since October 7, 2023” and she “compellingly and provocatively argues that, in part by striving for traditional journalistic objectivity, the mainstream press has failed to properly inform the American public about Israel’s actions.” Rad told Barshad among other things that the “facade” of the ceasefire resulted in “the space to cover it less” and that, “There’s a whole argument about impartiality, but the truth is impartial. What I would argue is, if a genocide is happening and you refuse to call it that, you’re not being impartial. You’re being partial because you’re not telling it as it is.”

SCOOP 🍨Status, Oliver Darcy — CNN is preparing to launch CNN Vital, which will be helmed by Sanjay Gupta, Status reported today, and is “one of the standalone lifestyle products the network is developing as part of a broader suite of apps.” The app also recently went“into internal beta testing and is billed as a vertical that will deliver short-form health and wellness content alongside an interactive element in which users can incorporate the tips into their lives and track their progress.”

SCOOP 🍨CNN’s Reliable Sources, Brian Stelter — The Paramount/Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) merger should be complete next week, sources told CNN, and the new name of the company may be announced as soon as Thursday of this week. But layoffs and departures are beginning, a reality proven by yesterday’s news that streaming head Cindy Holland has opted to leave. Stelter added, “Paramount plans to announce its leadership team for the combined company in the coming days so that staffers know who’s in charge on ‘day one,’  in corporate parlance.” This also means “among other things, that we’ll hear more about Paramount’s intentions for CNN and CBS News.”

SCOOP 🍨POLITICO Playbook, Megan Messerly, Adam Wren, Dasha Burns, and Will Steakin — Democrats who are “running high on the possibility of claiming Senate seats in Iowa, Alaska and even Kansas” are also “quietly”  looking even further to the west: Nevada is, apparently, in play. Democratic consultant Emmy Ruiz told Playbook, “We’re talking about states that we weren’t 18 months ago. Nevada is an incredibly difficult state that you have to fight for.” So the party is pouring buckets of money “into a state that will vote second in the party’s presidential nominating contest, and be a key battleground in the 2028 general election.”

ANALYSIS 👀The Free Press, Audrey Fahlberg — The GOP may be rejecting the MAHA movement, or Make America Healthy Again. MAHA was “supposed to crash into Washington like a wrecking ball” and knock down “the corporate interests that its activists claim have poisoned our food and pushed dangerous chemicals and drugs.” But now it “seems like the corporate crowd has taken over—at least by the looks of the MAHA Summit held on Tuesday.”

ANALYSIS 👀The Federalist, Liza Libes — Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden may not be universally well-received, Libes wrote today, and that’s in part because of Florence Pugh’s portrayal of Cathy Ames. “Cathy is not supposed to be sympathetic. Cathy is supposed to be evil,” Libes wrote. Instead, Pugh wants “to try and get you guys to sympathize and maybe fall in love with [Cathy] a little bit.” Libes isn’t buying it. As she put it, “There is no question that Cathy is written to be vile and subhuman.”

📈BUSINESS OF MEDIA 🎥

Status, Oliver Darcy — Comcast announced plans to spin off its NBCUniversal assets into a separate company — but not so fast. Executives are thinking of retaining its 12 local television stations to avoid a potential regulatory fight with Trump’s FCC chairman Brendan Carr over license transfers. QUOTE 📣 “The licenses for the 12 stations are registered to NBC Telemundo License LLC, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal and Comcast. A normal tax-free spinoff in which current shareholders would receive stock in both companies, which Comcast is executing, would not normally prompt a change-of-control scenario, meaning the licenses would simply transfer over, Andrew Jay Schwartzman, a veteran communications attorney, told Status. But Carr has bucked FCC precedent and could argue that because the new NBCU spinoff is technically a brand-new company, the license transfer must be blessed by his FCC.”

Nieman Lab, Sarah Scire — NPR Chief Content Officer Nadine Zylstra outlined the public radio company’s strategy to adapt to a video-first audio landscape after the major acquisition of the Machine Gods video podcast. QUOTE 📣 “Machine Gods is not NPR’s first video-first show. Wild Card and Newsmakers (and Tiny Desk Concerts, for that matter) all precede it. But acquiring the popular podcast may help NPR as it seeks to shift from ‘reaching people wherever they are’ to nudging users toward NPR’s own platforms. NPR CEO Katherine Maher described third-party platforms as the ‘top of the funnel’ in a recent interview and has directed funds toward overhauling NPR’s own app.”

Barrett Media’s Morning Edition, Garrett Searight — Hubbard elevated John Goforth to President of Gamut Podcast Network following two years of 47% revenue growth. Nominative determinism at work here, people! This places the podcast division on equal organizational footing with Hubbard’s traditional broadcast properties.. QUOTE 📣 “Goforth has led Gamut since 2024 and will continue overseeing content, sales, and growth strategy. The new title puts Gamut alongside Hubbard’s other media and entertainment companies. … The network now spans more than 250 national and local shows. Flagship franchises include American Nightmares and Professor of Rock. Gamut also runs local sports networks SKOR North and 312 Sports.”

Simon Owens’s Media Newsletter, Simon Owens — Owens looks at Semafor’s video monetization model, noting that legacy media organizations should tear down the wall between editorial and commercial teams to directly sell sponsorships against viral video clips rather than relying on minimal platform revenue shares. QUOTE 📣 “As I’ve written repeatedly in my newsletter, legacy publishers have been far too hesitant to maximize the revenue potential of their video operations, instead relying heavily on the relatively meager revenue shares offered by platforms like YouTube. Just imagine if CBS, for instance, had sold sponsorships directly against Stephen Colbert’s viral video clips, which often reached far larger audiences than the original broadcasts. It would have given the network another meaningful revenue stream — and made it even harder to justify canceling his show.”

CNN’s Reliable Sources, Brian Stelter — Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch is leaving after seven years to become the new chief executive of Mattel, with lead independent director Mike Perlis taking over as interim CEO while the board conducts a search. Lynch is staying on the board and plans to remain involved. QUOTE 📣 “In a memo to staffers, Lynch called the move ‘bittersweet,’ writing that ‘there is no doubt that we transformed Condé Nast for a new era.’”

Awful Announcing’s The A Block, Tyler Lauletta — The unbundling of live sports across competing streaming platforms (NBC, Peacock, Prime Video, ESPN, to name a few) has created severe fragmentation for fans trying to follow concurrent MLB, WNBA, and NHL postseason broadcasts. This is something the leagues and networks need to pay attention to for the future. QUOTE 📣 “The proliferation of apps and streaming services with live sports means that you either have to employ a second (or third) screen to keep up or make a pick to stick with one platform and risk missing out on a truly great game because you made the wrong choice.”

Status, Oliver Darcy — Host Guy Raz acquired full ownership of his flagship business podcast How I Built This from NPR. Now, a partnership with Vox Media is designed to expand the franchise into video production and live events.

OTHER COOL STUFF

Morning Brew — Singer Phoebe Bridgers is the latest artist banning tech from shows, requiring concertgoers to seal their smartphones, smartwatches, and AirPods in locked magnetic pouches during her tour. On the one hand, people are incentivized to buy tickets and live in the moment. On the other, there’s no Apple Pay for concessions or video for fans who didn’t get to go.

The Daily OutKick — Love that for us! On September 30, 1659—a mere 367 years ago today—New Netherland Governor Peter Stuyvesant officially banned playing tennis during religious services, creating the earliest known record of tennis in America.

👀 WHAT GOT MISSED? 👀

POLITICO Playbook, Megan Messerly, Adam Wren, Dasha Burns, and Will Steakin — Rahm Emanuel may be becoming “Republicans’ favorite potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate,” Playbook reported. Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) also told Playbook, “Rahm and I don’t agree on everything, but we agree every kid deserves a first-rate education and every kid counts. I’m glad he’s coming down to see what Louisiana is doing right.”

🏆 NEWSLETTER OF THE DAY 🏆

CNN’s Reliable Sources, Brian Stelter — Stelter covered it all today: what’s next at Paramount/WBD (obviously of particular importance to his audience, since the future of CNN is very much part of those conversations), how Casey Bloys (who will presumably take over for Cindy Holland) could shake things up, California’s big debate between Governor candidates Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton, and the exit of Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch after seven years. He also took a look at the literal cost of the “propaganda ads” Trump ran this past weekend, which is around $2.5 million for airtime and $20 million for the campaign. Lots to dig into, and Stelter was strong in distilling each point.

This newsletter was produced by Lindsey Ellefson.