The state of New York wants to make PR people register with the state as lobbyists if they want to try to get a journalist to write an editorial in favor of a client.
The latest version of a new rule out of Albany’s ethics commission stipulates that “a public relations consultant who contacts a media outlet in an attempt to get it to advance the client’s message in an editorial would also be delivering a message”—meaning that said PR people would be considered lobbyists under the law and would have to register with the state as such.
The PR industry (on both sides of the political spectrum) is predictably up in arms about this requirement. The state branch of the ACLU is also opposed to the new rule.
Far be it from us to do or say anything favorable to the PR industry, but: requiring people to register with the government in exchange for the right to talk to the free press about government activities is a very bad idea.
University of Missouri professor Melissa Click—who was formally charged this week with assault after she was filmed pushing a student reporter and calling for “muscle” —has been suspended from her teaching position.
Click was participating in a student demonstration on a public campus yard in November when the student reporter attempted to enter the enclave. Her response—to push the student and request “muscle” to get him out of the area—was virulent and, according to the Columbia District Attorney’s office, criminal.
Still, Click, a professor of mass media, remained in the classroom for almost three months after the incident made national news—even as the university’s president, Tim Wolfe, was forced out of his position.
“The Board of Curators directs the General Counsel, or outside counsel selected by General Counsel, to immediately conduct an investigation and collaborate with the city attorney and promptly report back to the Board so it may determine whether additional discipline is appropriate,” board chair Pam Henrickson said in a statement.
Mark Schierbecker, who was holding a camera which Click grabbed, tells the Washington Post the vote was “vindicating” but too little, too late. Via the Post:
Schierbecker’s video of Click, for example, has taken a toll on both sides of the camera. Since the clip went viral, Schierbecker has been accused of deliberately undermining the protests or of being racist. And while 117 state legislators signed a petition calling for Click to be fired, an equal number of MU faculty signed a petition supporting her. Among them was the head of Schierbecker’s own department, he said, leaving him with an awkward final 18 months at the school.
“The university seems to care more about protecting their own despotic faculty than looking after the welfare of its students,” he said.
Prosecutors this week announced a felony indictment against Melodie Gliniewicz, the widow of an Illinois police officer who staged his own suicide to make it seem like he’d been killed in the line of duty. Gliniewicz is accused of assisting her husband’s alleged theft of funds from a charity.
The bizarre death of Joe Gliniewicz, a U.S. Army veteran and Fox Lake police officer, triggered a weeks-long manhunt last year before investigators determined he’d shot himself. Gliniewicz radioed that he was pursuing three men on foot before his death, giving the impression that one of those men had gunned him down.
Melodie Gliniewicz, who held a fiduciary role in the youth organization, was charged with money laundering and using the organization’s funds to pay personal expenses, CNN reports. The Gliniewiczes allegedly used the cash over a period of years, paying for a vacation to Hawaii and over 400 restaurant bills, among other things.
Gliniewicz’s attorney maintain her innocence. “Considering Melodie’s cooperation with law enforcement, she is devastated by the decision to bring charges against her. Melodie is a victim of her husband’s secret actions and looks forward to her day in court to show the world her innocence,” they said in a statement.
The corroded lead water pipes ferrying tap water to the city of Flint, MI will stay as is for now, officials said this week.
In a press conference Wednesday, Michican gov. Rick Snyder said that replacing the pipes is not in the city’s short-term plans. Instead, officials say they are focused on supplying bottled water and filters to the city’s affected residents—many of whom are below the poverty line—who have no clean water for activities like drinking, bathing, and cooking.
“In terms of short-term, it’s a lot of work to take out pipes, to redo all of the infrastructure, that’s a whole planning process,” Snyder told reporters.
The Flint water crisis began, experts say, when the city switched its water source from Detroit to the Flint River, a more corrosive source that stripped the lead from the city’s aging pipes and deposited it in the homes of the city’s residents. And it might not be limited to Flint—a new study reportedly found higher-than-normal lead levels in several Michigan cities including Grand Rapids, Detroit, Saginaw, Muskegon and Holland.
To that end, the ACLU filed a lawsuit Wednesday demanding the prompt replacement of the pipes, which Snyder says won’t be happening any time soon. Instead, the city will reportedly focus on recoating the interior of the pipes with phosphates in the water.
One of the roadblocks to outright replacing the pipes, Snyder said, is that the city isn’t quite sure where all of them are.
“Where they are, we’re still mapping all that,” he said. “A lot of work is being done to even understand where the lead services lines fully are... The short-term issue is about recoating the pipes and that will be based on third-party experts saying the water is safe.”
The cost of replacing the pipes is also potentially astronomical—Flint mayor Karen Weaver tells the New YorkTimes the estimate could be as high as $1.5 billion.
Donald Trump’s last-minute, “wounded warrior”-benefiting rally is finally (?) here, featuring special guests Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, and of course—Donald Trump’s beloved veterans. It’s going to be a beautiful mess.
What’s Trump going to say? How long is it going to last? Who else is going to be there? What the hell is happening? Nobody knows, and we can’t wait to find out.
Tonight’s Fox News Republican debate is co-sponsored by Google, and the moderators have repeatedly instructed viewers to “go to Google and search Fox News Debate,” in order to vote for the candidate you thought won. If you do that, you see this sponsored result.
Right now, Fox News is airing the last GOP debate before the Iowa caucuses on February 1. And for the first time in our roughly 78 GOP primary debates, Donald Trump is nowhere to be seen, meaning that tonight’s theme is tear apart Ted Cruz. And we’re liveblogging every last gory detail.
On Thursday, a former New York City police officer, Arthur Lomando, pleaded not guilty in the stabbing death of his ex-girlfriend, Suzanne Bardzell. Authorities say that just a few hours after the murder, Lomando threw himself in front of a train.
According to the Bergen Record, Lomando didn’t speak during the 10-minute hearing. His attorney, Anthony LaPinta, entered the not-guilty plea on his behalf.
On October 22nd, police said, Lomando broke the window of Bardzell’s car and killed her with a large knife. She died at the scene, outside her home in Midland Park, New Jersey. “The murder weapon was left inside the vehicle,” Bergen County prosecutor, John Molinelli, said at a news conference at the time.
“While there is evidence of a history of domestic violence between Ms. Bardzell and the assailant,” he continued, “it appears that she did not notify police and come in and file complaints with the Police Department until just recently,” on Oct. 5.
At around 4:30 the same day, authorities said, Lomando threw himself in front of the A train at the 168th Street station, sustaining severe leg and head trauma. Both of his feet were amputated.
At the hearing on Thursday, Judge Susan Steele of New Jersey Superior Court set Lomando’s bail at $5 million. In addition to the murder charge, he also faces charges of violating—just two weeks before her death—a restraining order Bardzell had taken out against him and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.
Lomando was appointed an officer with the NYPD in early 1994 and was fired for misconduct a decade later. The intervening years are detailed in a lawsuit he filed against the department, alleging that he was fired to avoid having to pay his mental health disability claim. From the Record:
The NYPD filed internal disciplinary charges against Lomando in December 2000 for violations, including refusing a sergeant’s order, insubordination, making false statements to a sergeant that he was on scheduled vacation for an overtime detail and taking a 15 minute unapproved leave from an assignment, according to Ling-Cohan’s ruling.
In November 2001, Lomando was put on “restricted duty” after complaints that he was suffering from depression, the ruling stated.
An NYPD disciplinary trial found Lomando guilty of three administrative charges and recommended his termination, it stated.
Further charges were leveled, and further investigations into Lomando’s behavior conducted. In 2004, the police pension fund’s medical board found that Lomando, who had been at that point been diagnosed with major depressive disorder and panic attacks, “could not perform the duties of a police officer.”
A few months later, then-NYPD commissioner Raymond Kelly approved Lomando’s firing, and a judge dismissed his lawsuit against the department in 2005.
At the hearing on Thursday, another of Lomando’s attorneys, Brendan Ahern, told the judge that the ex-cop had not been provided with a wheelchair, was not receiving proper medical care, and did not have access to a handicap-accessible shower or toilet. But, the Record reports:
Special Deputy Attorney General Acting Senior Assistant Prosecutor Danielle Grootenboer objected, saying she had only received a letter raising these concerns that morning. She said she doubted anyone at the jail had yet read the letter, and that it would be “premature and inappropriate and unfair” to accept as true the attorneys’ claims.
Steele directed Lomando’s attorneys to send their letter to the jail warden. After they do so, she can address the issue.
Reportedly, Bardzell was on a phone with a friend at the time of the attack. The friend called 911, and told the state police dispatcher that she’d heard a male voice say something like “I’m sorry to have to do this to you.”
At the end of tonight’s Trump-less GOP debate, the candidates played the customary “wander around the stage and pretend you actually like each other” game. But apparently, even when they’re just pretending, the candidates still can’t bring themselves to stomach Ted Cruz.
In the profoundly bleak clip, Ted steps down from the podium and takes a little peek around before making a beeline for Jeb—Jeb’s the polite one, surely he’ll make nice for the cameras, Ted presumably lies to himself. Cruz taps Jeb’s shoulder, and Jeb, after undoubtedly feeling a part of the beautiful light inside of him die forever, pretends never to have felt a thing. Even Chris Christie instinctually turns away at the mere sight of Cruz on the prowl. Chris Christie!
All of which proves that the only thing worse than actually being Ted Cruz, is having to talk to Ted Cruz.
Late Thursday, after a report in Politico New York, the New York City Council announced that it will vote on a proposal to give all elected city officials significant raises for the first time in a decade. Council members will get a 32 percent raise ($36,000), to $148,500.
A 48-year-old U.S. Navy commander named Michael Misiewicz has plead guilty to an array of corruption charges stemming from several expensive kickbacks he received from Glenn Defense Marine Asia, a Singaporean defense contractor. According to The Washington Post, Glenn Defense repeatedly rewarded Misiewicz for rerouting certain naval aircraft carriers to overseas ports under their control (allowing them to bill the Department of Defense for millions of dollars) and for divulging information about the carriers’ whereabouts, which are considered classified military secrets:
Glenn Defense Marine Asia executives catered to Misiewicz’s weakness for sex, travel and luxury goods, the indictment states. The firm paid for Misiewicz to spend time with prostitutes on multiple occasions, including at a luxury hotel in Manila in February 2011, an evening in Japan in April 2012, and two nights at a Singapore hotel in September 2012, according to the affidavit and indictment.
On another occasion, Francis made a reservation with an escort service to provide four prostitutes to spend at least three days with Misiewicz and another unnamed Navy commander in Singapore in March 2011, according to the affidavit. That encounter, however, fell through at the last minute when the officers were assigned to help with the Navy’s emergency response to a massive tsunami that struck Japan.
The contractor also enticed Misiewicz with tickets to attend a 2012 Lady Gaga concert in Thailand with four other (unnamed) Navy sailors. The formal indictment against Misiewicz, filed in the Southern District of California on January 6, even included a chart of the gifts he’d received over the years:
The chief executive of Glenn Defense, Leonard Glenn Francis, has previously plead guilty to bribery charges. According to naval investigators, his company has targeted other Navy sailors, including other officers, using similar tactics.
Ronald Reagan action figure collector Peggy Noonan has, shall we say, a checkered record of political predictions. Today, she tars one Bernard Sanders with her dastardly Wand of Bad Luck.
If you are a fan or close friend of Peggy Noonan—like Cesar, her Dominican deli counter compatriot—you may recall that Peggy, a well-paid professional political pundit and analyst, sincerely believed that Mitt Romney would win the 2012 presidential election, despite polling to the contrary, because she saw some of his yard signs. Now, four years later, she has not only been allowed to keep her job as a well-paid professional political pundit and analyst, but also to continue to make political predictions. It’s true: Peggy Noonan has been in no way restrained, barred, embargoed, or disallowed from writing down and publishing political predictions, in the Wall Street Journal.
Based upon past experience, we can confidently say that it is very bad luck to be the subject of a positive prediction from Peggy Noonan.
Today, this well-paid professional political pundit and analyst tells her readers, “I was watching Bernie Sanders speak last week at a town hall in Bedford when an early intuition became a conviction: Take Mr. Sanders seriously.” This is the sort of “inside dope” that one can only get from a true political mastermind who knows how it all works in the secret corridors of power: The candidate who is seriously competing for victory in the Democratic primaries should be taken seriously. Take out your punditry scoring sheets and turn to the section labeled “Brilliant insight.” Now place a check mark in the box next to that section. Mission accomplished.
There is more, though. It is not just that Peggy Noonan has discovered the Democratic candidate who is polling at 37% support of the party’s electorate—she is also... oh god... don’t let it be true...
“It is my guess that Mr. Sanders will win in Iowa and New Hampshire.” -Peggy Noonan
San Francisco residents refuse to stop tearing the city apart with their highly corrosive, free-flowing urine, and the city has apparently decided to beat them at their own game, sort of: San Francisco just installed its first “open-air urinal,” a microcosm of the much larger open-air urinal that is the Fog City itself.
The concrete pee circle was installed in Dolores Park, which has long attracted public urinators and just underwent $20 million worth of renovations (money that, presumably, did not go entirely to this slab of soon-to-be urine-soaked concrete). As one resident told a local NBC affiliate, “Honestly, we were ready to go pee anywhere. So any facility is better than none.” And as local news anchor Jessica Aguirre asked a reporter on the scene, “I understand that the urinal is very close to the children’s part of the park?”
Solar-powered toilets roll through city streets several afternoons a week. And city crews have inspected 10,000 light posts to make sure they won’t fall over from erosion. That comes after a three-story-tall light post corroded by a likely mix of human and dog urine, and weighed down by a large banner, toppled.
Which might sound horrifying—but! It is also a testament to the fact that, when mankind works together, our urine truly can accomplish anything.
Today, Chris Christie got on television at 6:45 a.m. local time in Iowa to do an interview with Morning Joe, in which he talked about “pounding the meat.”
He was referring to the way in which the fictional boxer Rocky punches slabs of meat to get himself ready for a fight, but it’s more fun to think about it the other way. Or maybe it’s not?
A few weeks ago, officials at New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Authority announced preliminary plans to repair and fortify the Canarsie subway tunnel beneath the East River, a job that would require temporarily shutting down L train service between Williamsburg and Manhattan (either completely for an entire year, or just on weekends for three years). The announcement was initially greeted as a joke aimed at the neighborhood’s creative residents—the L train? Shut down? Hahaha!—but now those residents have begun to register actual alarm. Gothamist has the details from a recent town hall meeting (bolding ours):
“There will be no businesses if they shut the L train down,” said Thomas Dodd, who operates Brooklyn Fire Proof’s creative spaces in Bushwick. “You will devastate the entire community...I will have to shut down all of my businesses, relieve all of my employees, and move, quite frankly, from Brooklyn. There’s just no way around this. Zero.” [...]
David Hubschman, a real estate agent who lives in Williamsburg, told Gothamist that if businesses start leaving the area, no one will want to live there once the train gets up and running again.
Eater New York captured another attendee’s sense of gloom at the same gathering, held at Williamsburg’s Brooklyn Bowl:
A large emphasis of the meeting, which was co-hosted by a slew of elected officials and local bar and restaurant owners, was the impact a potential shutdown would have on the economy. “The businesses, quite honestly, will shut down,” says Carlo Scissura, president of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. “The people will move out of this vibrant neighborhood.”
Should you be worried? Besides the L train, Williamsburg is serviced by the G, J/Z, and M trains (and the 24, 32, 39, 43, 44, 57, 59, 60, 62, and 67 bus lines), so the predictions of Williamsburg becoming a transportation desert are likely overblown. People will, in fact, still want to live in Williamsburg. The closure’s effect on the neighborhood’s character will be harder to predict, though, since the people most affected by the closure—and thus most likely to move—would seem to be those with the strongest ties to Manhattan. Broad City aptly captured this demographic in a short scene from Season 2:
To Williamsburg residents reading this: What do you plan to do about the L train closure?
Per Reuters’ sources, the mechanic received the bomb via his cousin who is a member of ISIS:
“After learning that one of its members had a relative that worked at the airport, Islamic State delivered a bomb in a handbag to that person,” said one of the sources, adding the suspect’s cousin joined Islamic State in Syria a year and a half ago.
“He was told to not ask any questions and get the bomb on the plane.”
The Reuters report further states that “two airport policemen and a baggage handler” have also been arrested, which would seem to imply that the bomb went through several hands before ending up on the doomed plane. Nonetheless, one of Reuters’ sources says that authorities are still unclear as to the extent to which the other suspects were aware of the plot:
Another source said of the other suspects: “Two policemen are suspected of playing a role by turning a blind eye to the operation at a security checkpoint. But there is a possibility that they were just not doing their jobs properly.”
Though Egypt maintains that they have not yet found anything linking terrorism to the crash, MetroJet says the plane suffered “external impact.” ISIS has also already claimed responsibility for the attack. The November issue of ISIS’ propoganda magazine Dabiq contained a photo of what the terror organization said is the exact bomb, contained in a can of pineapple soda, that exploded onboard.
In one short month, Vice Media’s new cable network “Viceland” will launch. It has a business model that could revolutionize television advertising.
That business model, as best I can understand: “Sell ads for really expensive prices even though you don’t have any viewers.” Ad Age has the scoop on this plan that all media outlets, quite frankly, should have thought of:
Viceland is being priced at a premium, according to buyers and people familiar with the network. The cost to reach a thousand viewers, or CPMs, is more expensive than some fully distributed, top 10 cable networks, according to the buyer...
And Vice is setting low guarantees, with buyers saying the sales team is estimating a 0.1 rating.
Advertisers on Viceland will be able to pay ESPN prices for Azteca Network ratings. Truly a bold new way of looking at supply and demand. The alleged rationale here is that Vice will “bring in younger viewers who are not currently watching TV.” Okay?
We sincerely hope that this new scam succeeds because we would love to copy it!
[Are you a media buyer dealing with Viceland? Email me. Anonymity guaranteed.]
Earlier this week, Kotaku was approached by a marketing firm working for the publisher Perfect World. They wanted us to help sell two of their games. And in the process, they inadvertently gave us a behind-the-scenes peek at what it looks like when YouTubers shill for game companies.
The marketing firm in question, Reelio, sent us this e-mail on Thursday:
Hi Kotaku,
Hope you’re doing well! I’m reaching out again in regards to the opportunity I have with Perfect World, and specifically their games Neverwinter and Star Trek. I think you would be perfect for this campaign.
They’re looking for influencers like yourself to play a game (or both!) and show off some of the awesome gameplay and mechanics. This would be a 45 sec to 1 minute integration at the beginning of your video demonstrating the awesome features of the games. We will pay you a flat fee of $120.00 and for every sign-up to their site you’ll receive an additional compensation! We’re looking to have the videos live as soon as possible.
“Influencers,” as you may be aware, has become a corporate buzzword referring to internet personalities who make videos, host podcasts, or reach a significant audience in some other way. Over the past few years, as more and more gamers have turned to YouTube for video game footage, analysis, and commentary, the game marketers have followed, chasing after these “influencers” in hopes of selling more games. Many big publishers have paid YouTubers to make videos about their games, to the point where the FTC has had to get involved and start slamming groups like Machinima for not disclosing sponsored content.
As tempting as $120 sounds—that’s enough for two whole video games!—we aren’t really interested in helping market Star Trek Online. But we are interested in understanding what these programs are really like, and sharing that understanding with our readers. So I asked for more details, and received a packet full of information about the marketing plan.
It starts off by explaining A) that the participant cannot talk about competing games in this video; and B) that Perfect World will get to review each video before it goes live. Standard stuff, I guess?
Welcome to the Perfect World campaign! We’re excited that you’re going to take part in this campaign and are looking forward to seeing your video.
The primary objective of this campaign is to encourage viewers to download and play Neverwinter and Star Trek Online. Remember, this campaign is CPC based so the more creators that sign up using your link, the bigger the payoff for you!
No competing brands/games may be mentioned in the video.
Perfect World will require 3-4 days to review videos prior to going live. Plan your posting schedule accordingly.
(CPC stands for “cost per click”—what this means is that the YouTuber in question will get paid extra based on how many people click on the referral links they provide.)
After that intro message, things start getting really interesting. There’s a list of “talking points” that the marketing firm says should be mentioned in each video. It’s full of gems, which Reelio specifies should not be recited verbatim but should instead serve as a “guide of the ideas Perfect World would like to convey.”
Check these out:
Neverwinter:
Neverwinter is a large scale PvP.
There is an all-new challenging guild-based PvE mode: Greed of the Dragonflight
This is great to play with your friends.
Neverwinter is available for free on Xbox One (with a Gold subscription)
FREE to play and download on PC
The game is based on the acclaimed Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game
Neverwinter is an action MMORPG that features fast-paced combat and epic dungeons.
FREE to play and download on PC
Star Trek:
In Star Trek Online, the Star Trek universe appears for the first time on a truly massive scale.
Free-to-play MMO where players can pioneer their own destiny as Captain of a Federation starship, become a Klingon Warrior and champion the Empire through the far reaches of the galaxy, or rebuild the Romulan legacy as the commander of a Romulan Republic Warbird.
Season 11 brings along new lore, story progression, as well as new gameplay options in the form of the Admiralty System.
(Yes, “FREE to play and download on PC” really does appear twice.)
After listing out these informative bullet-points, Reelio goes on to give their marketing partners some helpful tips for what should and shouldn’t be done in these sponsored videos:
DO:
Find something in the game to gently poke fun at
Incorporate trailers / gameplay footage in the video.
DON’T:
Curse or use foul language in your video
No poking too much fun! You have to be gentle.
Finally, Reelio lays out how their new video-making buddy can get viewers signing up for Neverwinter or Star Trek Online by listing out some outro options:
Outro/Call to Action Options: Creators can say something along the lines of:
● “You should really check out Neverwinter and play with me. It’s completely free and you can download the game using my link below”
● “Looking to beam up and enjoy some sci-fi action? Star Trek Online is your answer. Play for free today.”
● “Ready for some sci-fi action? Check out Star Trek Online, a free-to-play MMORPG. Explore the final frontier today.”
● “Take a digital voyage through the Star Trek universe in Star Trek Online, a free-to-play MMORPG. Join the action today.”
To their credit, the marketing materials also specify that anyone who participates in this program must clearly disclose (in the blurb under the video) that the video has been sponsored by Perfect World. They’re not trying to hide the fact that this is an advertising campaign. Otherwise the FTC might come knocking.
You can reach the author of this post at jason@kotaku.com or on Twitter at @jasonschreier.
“The best perk of the White House is not Air Force One or Camp David or anything else, it’s the wonderful movie theater I get here,” President Bill Clinton told Roger Ebert in 1999.
According to newly released documents obtained by Gizmodo through a Freedom of Information Act request, President Clinton did indeed love watching movies at the White House. He blew through 171 films while he was in office, not including duplicates (Clinton watched The Patriot, Braveheart, and Music of the Heart twice).
But there are some curious gaps in the record.
Based on the heavily-redacted documents provided by the Clinton Presidential Library and the National Archives, I’ve compiled a list of all the movies Clinton watched from 1993 until 2001. The most curious part may be that, according to the documents, the president watched just three movies in 1996, and only seven in 1997. This seems... unlikely.
One of the first questions people have about Clinton’s movie-viewing habits is whether he ever watched a movie with Monica Lewinsky. The short answer is that we don’t know. Most attendee names are redacted, but given that Lewinsky’s nine sexual encounters with President Clinton spanned from November of 1995 to March of 1997 (a period of time for which there are very few movies listed) there will no doubt be further speculation.
A few days after the Lewinsky scandal broke in the mainstream press on January 21, 1998, the Clintons hosted a screening of the Robert Duvall movie The Apostle. Attendees were said to be keeping a close eye on Bill and Hillary’s interactions.
According to the list, Clinton watched new movies almost exclusively. As someone who has become obsessed with the viewing habits of US presidents, I can say that this is a big departure from the Nixon, Carter, and Reagan administrations—presidents who watched new releases, but also plenty of classics.
And despite Clinton’s claims to have seen the movie High Noon roughly 20 to 30 times, the classic Western doesn’t appear once in the list provided by the Clinton Library. Clinton has also repeatedly claimed that another of his favorite movies is Casablanca. Again, that movie doesn’t show up in the documents provided to Gizmodo.
What does show up? Mostly mainstream movies of the 1990s, like Forrest Gump, Enemy of the State, Jerry Maguire, Saving Private Ryan, The Patriot, Apollo 13, You’ve Got Mail, Philadelphia, and Mrs. Doubtfire. There are a few interesting films that might be considered cult classics, such as The Big Lebowski and Fight Club. For what it’s worth, Clinton told Roger Ebert that Fight Club was good but a bit too nihilistic for his tastes. Clinton also watched Star Wars: Episode I, though I have yet to confirm what he thought of Jar-Jar.
There are a few possible explanations to account for the absence of classic films. Clinton may have exaggerated his taste for older movies in interviews. But it might also have to do with the evolving role of the White House theater. Since 1915, when President Woodrow Wilson screened the first film at the White House, movies have been a way to connect with foreign leaders, filmmakers, and members of the press. But schmoozing over a movie seems to have intensified in the 1990s.
Journalist Maureen Dowd, for example, watched Field of Dreams at the White House with the first President Bush. And Jimmy Carter watched the first Star Wars movie in a secret meeting with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in the lead up to the Camp David Peace Accords. Reagan even hosted director Stephen Spielberg, who brought a print of E.T. for a special screening at the White House that included Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and Neil Armstrong. But Clinton’s choice of new movies probably speaks to his use of the theater for entertaining outside visitors more than a reflection of his personal taste.
(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
Clinton often showed up as himself in the movies he watched. Films like The Siege and Crimson Tide, both on the list, utilize clips of the real Clinton. The president was reportedly angry about one scene in the 1997 alien drama Contact, but that movie isn’t on the list—yet more evidence that the documents we were given may be incomplete. Another movie missing from 1997 that Clinton told Ebert he adored? L.A. Confidential.
Sure, part of the fun of examining Presidential movie-watching habits is simple voyeurism. But if we accept that media influences the way we see the world, then there are also very real public and foreign policy implications to these lists.
The 1998 movie The Siegeis fascinating to watch with the benefit of hindsight. The movie depicts cells of Middle Eastern terrorists setting off bombs in New York. The CIA is implicated in training some of the terrorists and the FBI is frustrated with the lack of communication between the agencies. There’s also fierce debate when martial law is declared and all New Yorkers of Middle Eastern descent are rounded up in camps. The film shows real clips of Clinton talking about a real terrorist attack that predates 1998, but he may as well have been talking about the attacks that would occur just three years later on September 11, 2001.
Practically all modern presidents watched dramatizations of war, government conspiracies, and the political process more generally. President Nixon watched The Chairman, On the Beach, and Executive Action, a 1973 movie about a conspiracy to kill President Kennedy. The first movie President Carter watched in office was All the President’s Men, and he watched films like The President’s Lady about Andrew Jackson. And when President Reagan wasn’t watching his own movies (yes, he watched Bedtime for Bonzowhile in office) he found time for feel-good Cold War comedies like Robin Williams’ Moscow on the Hudson.
But Clinton seemed to watch more movies featuring presidents (both fictional and real) than your average US leader—with the exception of Lyndon B. Johnson, whose favorite movie was a propaganda film of himself that he would watch on repeat. From Dave, a movie about an imposter president, to Independence Day, a movie about an alien species defeated single-handedly by an inspiring presidential speech, Clinton watched them all. He even watched Deep Impact, a movie about an Earth-cleansing asteroid that makes President Morgan Freeman sad.
Clinton’s movie tally pales in comparison to Jimmy Carter’s total of well over 400 movies. And Carter only served for four years, as opposed to Clinton’s eight. But I can’t stress enough that this list is probably incomplete, even if it’s the most comprehensive account we have to date.
This list will be updated as new information becomes available.
Correction: This post originally missed the fact that Clinton watched Braveheart twice. Gizmodo regrets the error and apologizes profusely to the star of the 2011 classic, The Beaver.