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Hysteria among the media and Trump opponents over the prospect of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin may have hit its crescendo this week. Thats right: The wailing from the media and their allies about Donald Trump Jr.s meeting with some Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer (whatever that means) may be the last gasp of this faux scandal. Good riddance.

Predictably, the New York Times started the ball rolling with front-page coverage, going as far as to argue, The accounts of the meeting represent the first public indication that at least some in the campaign were willing to accept Russian help. As if this were some breakthrough moment. The Times followed up with a headline that the meeting request and subject matter discussed in the prior story were transmitted to Trump Jr. via an email. Holy cow. The Times is so desperate to move the story that the meetings arrangement over email is being made into Page 1 news. You would have thought it had come through a dead drop under a bridge somewhere.

And, of course, CNN has been apoplectic in its breathless coverage, running one story after another about this development on the air and online. But Politico takes the prize for the most over-the-top, made-up news, claiming that Trump Jr.s meeting could amount to a crime.

There are always people hovering around campaigns trying to peddle information and traffic in supposed silver bullets. There should be nothing to report on when a private citizen who works at a campaign takes a meeting with a friend of a friend offering information about an opponent. And yet, the media wants to make it a smoking gun.

If taking meetings with such people is a crime, then I hope there is a statute of limitations because I would have been a repeat offender.

Dont get me wrong. Trump Jr. should not have taken the meeting. These offers of information on the down-low are greeted with eye-rolling, and red flags are almost always clearly visible. No senior campaign official, much less a family member of the candidate, should take such a meeting.

Having the meeting was a rookie, amateur mistake. Between human curiosity and a campaign professionals duty to get the dirt when you can, Trump Jr. likely felt that the person had to be heard.

After seeing Tuesdays email exchange dump from Trump Jr., I double down on the idea that this meeting was a rookie, amateur mistake. Even a lackey should not have taken this meeting. It was bad judgment, but not collaboration with the Russians.

Just imagine: Trump Jr. is sitting there when he gets an email from a music promoter screaming with red flags and some comical language (does Russia even have a Crown prosecutor?) and he takes the bait. Wince! Anybody should have known better.

Anyway, Trump Jr. took the one-off meeting, and nothing happened. Is that not proof of non-collusion in and of itself? If you choose to believe otherwise, your disdain for President Donald Trump is getting the best of you and you need help.

Regarding the delusion that a crime actually occurred in any of this, my favorite allegation is that by having this meeting and listening to what was said, Trump Jr. somehow could have violated the law. According to Politico, Trump Jr.s statements put him potentially in legal cross hairs for violating federal criminal statutes prohibiting solicitation or acceptance of anything of value from a foreign national, as well as a conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Im just barely a lawyer, but I know over-lawyering when I see it. I mean, by that standard, what if someone walked into a campaign and suggested an idea that led to that candidates victory? Would it have been a crime to accept a thing of value in the form of an idea? Of course not.

This whole thing is getting weird.

For many in the media and elsewhere, the collective grievances they have against Trump personally, the White House as a whole and Trumps policies somehow justify their zealous promotion of the collusion scandal. But not because the story is valid. Rather, the media know they are not getting to Trump with anything else. Today, much of the news coverage of Trump and Co. is about payback. The media thinks they arent getting the truth and so they dont have to deliver it either. It is a bad cycle that is not working for the White House or the media. With this much intensity, it is hard to see how this ends well.

Ed Rogers is a contributor to the PostPartisan blog, a political consultant and a veteran of the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush White Houses and several national campaigns. He is the chairman of the lobbying and communications firm BGR Group.

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Ed Rogers: Media's mass hysteria over 'collusion' out of control - LubbockOnline.com

Eleven years ago, Ted Owen had a dream: to persuade the Olympic planning committee in Beijing that video games belonged in the 2008 Games. The skepticism was overwhelming. And despite the best efforts of the founder of the Global Gaming League, the Olympics came and went without a game controller in sight.

Today, that dream doesnt seem so far-fetched. Several major networks, including ESPN, NBC and TBS, regularly air eSports programming. And the organizers of the Asian Games, a pan-continental multi-sport event held every four years, have confirmed eSports as a demonstration event in 2018. At the 2022 Games in Hangzhou, China, it will have full medal status.

The explosive rise of eSports in the past decade has caught many off-guard, perhaps none more than the traditional or offline sports world. Game Five of the 2017 NBA Finals the most-watched Game Five since 1998 was watched by 24.5 million people. But the 2015 world finals of online game League of Legends nabbed 36 million unique viewers, according to Riot Games.

Meanwhile, overall NFL ratings were down 9% in the 2016 regular season and fell 6% during the playoffs, according to MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson.

Thats leading networks to escalate their involvement in competitive gaming.

Its impossible to ignore the impressive growth eSports has had, both in the U.S. and globally, says Rob Simmelkjaer, senior VP of NBC Sports Ventures. We always want to be tapping into what people love and how theyre spending their time and what theyre choosing for their entertainment. For any sports media company, this is becoming an essential component of your strategy.

Ironically, while both the broadcast and gaming worlds are quick to talk about the growth of eSports, theyre still figuring out how best to capitalize on them. ESports is in its infancy and everybodys still figuring out how to crack the code, not only producing or distributing it, but creating the best value for ad sales, creating the best viewer experience, says Craig Barry, executive vice president and chief content officer for Turner Sports. This is part of the evolutionary process of setting up something brand new.

Theres certainly big money for players. The International (a tournament for the game Dota 2) has given out more than $55 million in prize money since its launch in 2011. League of Legends has awarded more than $36 million, says Ben Schachter, an analyst with Macquarie Capital.

But on the game-publishing side, its still mostly a marketing play. While publishers Activision and Electronic Arts have launched eSports divisions, neither has made a significant contribution to earnings so far. Take-Two Interactive Software has held two eSports tournaments, with little financial return.

The tournaments we did were test cases to see if consumers would like this, and they did, says Strauss Zelnick, CEO at Take-Two. Millions of matches were played and hundreds of thousands of teams were created but in terms of the revenue created if there was revenue created, and were not sure there was it came about through brand-building. So far, all weve done in eSports is in service to building the brand and delighting consumers, it has not, so far, been in service of creating revenue.

Take-Two hopes to change that with its recently announced partnership with the NBA to form an eSports organization. Based around the companys NBA2K franchise, teams in the league will be operated by NBA franchises and will follow a tournament format similar to that of the NBA a regular season, a bracketed playoff, then a championship match. Seventeen teams have signed up so far, which will formally tip off in 2018.

A media partner has not yet been announced, but is forthcoming, says Zelnick.

Networks are a little better off than publishers when it comes to monetizing eSports. Barry says the companys eLeague has brought 10 million new viewers to the TBS network and over 25% of the viewing audience for eLeague events has been in the coveted 18-34 demographic. Across digital platforms, the companys competitive gaming league formed in conjunction with WME has racked up viewership totals of more than 3 billion minutes.

Its a native digital platform and were not trying to convert people, so to speak, says Barry. What were doing is we are executing on the digital platform to be authentic to the games and then the TBS or broadcast extension is a portal to create awareness for a casual fan or someone who is interested in eSports but doesnt know how to deep dive on the digital platform.

While watching an eSports event might be initially confusing for some viewers, network sports executives are hoping the stories that emerge in these televised tournaments prove as compelling as those that do so in offline sports or the Olympics. If people can rally around curling, goes the thinking, they can certainly become engaged in watching players battle it out in Quake, even if those viewers arent gamers.

At NBC, the companys sports group has teamed with online competitive gaming platform FaceIt and developer Psyonix to launch a tournament centered around Rocket League this summer. It will feature more than 40 hours of coverage across the groups live-streaming, VOD and linear platforms.

The finals, to be held Aug. 26-27, will be televised live on NBCSN in the U.S. and on Syfy in parts of Europe.

Were hoping well uncover some diamonds in the rough, says Simmelkjaer. Maybe there will be someone playing in one of the [smaller] regional tournaments that could end up playing at the professional level. That would make a great narrative for the end of the tournament.

But some console manufacturers are still standing on the virtual sidelines.

Nintendo games such as Super Smash Bros. and Splatoon have been used in some tournaments, including 2015s Nintendo World Championship, which was broadcast on Disney XD. But the companys holding back on professional eSports for now.

Leagues, big paydays for winners, pro players thats where I think things get a bit complicated, says Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America. From a Nintendo perspective, those are elements that are bit less interesting to us.

The storys not much different at Sony.

We are, at this point, working hard to answer [the] question: What is the best way in which a hardware-based platform can contribute to the eSports ecosystem and profit from it?, says Andrew House, global chief executive of Sony Interactive Entertainment. I do tend to think its a category that will possibly not generate a huge amount of profit in the near term, but over time I do think it has potential and were watching it very carefully.

Despite that occasional reticence from different sectors in the gaming community, video-game tournaments are certainly ready to make a lasting impact in the sporting world.

I had so many people tell me I was crazy, Owen says. I see [this] as a complete and utter vindication that Global Gaming League, myself and a few others at the forefront were absolutely right.

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Traditional Media Grabs for the ESports Control | Variety - Variety

BEIJING

China is trying to contain the awesome influence of social media celebrities, some of whom have tens of millions of followers that dwarf more Western media icons like Oprah Winfrey. For example, the top 10 Chinese celebrities on Internet have between 67 million and 90 million online followers.

Recent weeks have seen the closure of social media accounts of several celebrities while the Beijing Cyber Administration (BCA) shut down the accounts of 60 celebrity gossip magazines. It also asked Internet portals hosting these accounts to adopt effective measures to keep in check the problems of the embellishment of private sex scandals of celebrities, the hyping of ostentatious celebrity spending and entertainment, and catering to the poor taste of the public.

Analysts said the Chinese Communist Party (CPP) has reason to worry about the massive influence of celebrities, according to Bill Bishop, who runs the widely read The Sinocism China Newsletter.

Money and values

"The Party is really pushing hard on Socialist Core Values and very few of the popular Internet celebrities are paragons of those values," he said. "Individual media creators are much harder to control, and one of the core pillars of the CCP is propaganda and ideological control," he said.

Celebrities are an important tool for marketing and advertising, and thousands of companies depend on them to disseminate product messages. The size of Internet marketing by Chinese celebrities was estimated at $58 billion in 2016 and is expected to reach $100 billion in 2018, according to Beijing-based research agency Analysus.

Many of the social media celebrities come from the world of cinema, television, and sports. But there have been a large number of upstarts who have emerged from nowhere.

Their claim to fame is their ability to raise sensitive social issues, such as the neglect suffered by some so-called "leftover women" who have not found husbands. One such celebrity is Teacher Xu, a popular internet celebrity, who runs a hugely popular account on the WeChat platform.

Almost all celebrities make sure they do not cross the government's policy line in their posts in texts and videos, said Mark Tanner, Managing Director of China Skinny, an internet based marketing company.

"Everyone in China knows that if you want to be a successful and effective voice in China, you need to toe the party line. So right to Pappi Chang to the little guys on the road, they know what to say and what not to say," he said.

Analysts say the immense popularity of these high profile individuals is itself seen as a challenge to the authorities even if they do not take up political issues. A lot of what they talk about is indirectly connected to governance issues like the environment, and this is what bothers top officials.

Censor troubles

"Celebrities happen to hold a powerful microphone to speak to society, and in CCP leaders' eyes, that alone is threatening no matter how non-political most of them may be, said Christopher Cairns, a Cornell scholar.

The government also has things to worry at the technological level, where the popularity and content production of celebrities seem to be running far ahead of the government's technical ability to control them.

"A lot of it has to do with lack of control. It is really hard for them to censure real time video. the software hardware for voice and video is just not there yet, said Jacob Cooke, CEO of Web Presence in China. And still, a lot of the system depends upon real-time monitoring. So, there are a lot of vague rules in terms of censorship including harming feelings of the Chinese people.

The censors are using other reasons to crack down on celebrities they don't like.The BCA reportedly told executives of Internet companies the new cybersecurity law required websites to not harm the reputation or privacy of individuals.

The government has said the new law is necessary for security reasons, but many analysts fear it can be used to surpress freedom of speech on the Internet.

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China Reducing Massive Influence of Social Media Celebrities - Voice of America

Welcome to the totalitarian state of WA.

Don't panic, the McGowan government isn't hoarding missiles in the bowels of Parliament House aimed at our eastcoast counterparts for greedily hogging too much GST.

It's just the new Labor government seems hell bent onconstricting the flow of information to journalists.

Labor has only been in power a couple of months, yet it is already squeezing the control of information tighter than a farmer tying an elastratorbandaroundthe neck of the lamb's scrotum.

Last month, when WAtoday asked questions about the trouble-plagued Perth Stadium, the response from the government read like a manual from a 1971 Datsun 1200 coupe.

Shortly after, a Labor minister told this reporter to "never" ring their ministerial number again.

And only last week, the ABC reported government departments were directed by the Premier's office not to respond to their questions.

But, the state government does have a method of disseminating information to Sandgropers.

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Itcomes via the art of the "drop" - stories handed to journalists by the government of the day on an exclusive basis. And they tend to go toSevenWest Media.

Drops happen. They'veexistedsince the first newspaper rolled off the printing press andno one canlayblame at the hands ofSevenWest for accepting information served upto them on a platter.

And I'm by no meanssuggesting that all the journalists at SevenWest are dining out on"drops" from the government, that would undermine the number of hardworking talented scribes who are tirelessly digging away in an attempt to "keep the bastards honest".

But with drops seemingly increasingand information from the government appearing to tighten up, most hacks in Perth have had enough.

Especially when the drops becomes farcical. Labor put out embargoed media alert on May 1 about WA joining the Our Watch program - a national organisation to prevent violence against women and children - 24 hours AFTER the story appeared in the Sunday Times.

A former senior Liberal minister joked a few weeks out from the March election, that the government of the day wouldn't "survive" if it didn't drop to The West or The Sunday Times.

And on Wednesday it all came to a head.

Labor went to such extraordinary levels to keep an "exclusive" interview with 7 News and acting Premier Roger Cook under wraps itread like a poorly scripted episode from the political TV satire The Thick of It.

Labor wanted to put the boots into the state's opposition's new whistleblower website, which it ironicallyfound out about after a tweet by an ABC journalist.

While that foul-mouthed and vociferous spin doctorMalcolm Tucker in The Thick of It manages to maintain some "control" despite the chaos that exists around him, Labor's attempt to keep the lid on its SevenWest lovefest was nothing short of what he'd call an"omnishambles".

The thing journalists embrace more than an open baris a leak.

So when word got out that Mr Cook and SevenNews were about to get cosy at Parliament House, journalists around Perth skedaddled there faster than Bob Hawkedowning a schooner.

When this reporter got on theblower to a government flak catcher about the "presser," the person made it abundantly clear this was a SevenWest event only and wanted to know who "leaked" the information about it.

Oh, the irony.

I ignored the non-invite and said I would be coming.

I would've had more respect forthe government's media minder if the person delivered a blistering tirade of abuse that wouldmake"potty mouthed maniac" Tucker wince.

But it's like what Terri, the bungling media advisor in the Thick of It said about journalists.

"The problem is that if you say to a journalist, "Can you avoid that topic?", that's when they really go for it. It's like saying to the school bully, "I'll wet myself if you tickle me."

So why should we give a stuff if the Labor government is seemingly getting cosy with one media organisation?

Well, when the Australian Competition and Consumer Commissionwas investigating the sale ofThe Sunday Timestorival Seven West Media, it warned it could "substantially lessen competition" inthe supply of news and information to readers in Western Australia.

In a submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance, which represents WA journalists, urged the watchdog to impose conditions on the sale that would allow the Sunday paper to maintain editorial independence from SWM.

MEAA regional WA director Tiffany Venning said merging journalists fromThe Sunday TimesandPerthNowwebsite into the rival newsroom ofThe West Australianwould createa litany of problems if they could not work independently of each other.

"There would be a threat to the diversity of news and opinion in WA if Seven West Media gained control ofThe Sunday Times," she told the ACCC.

"The two papers under different owners have ploughed their own furrow. The different approaches allow the news agenda of WA to have a variety of major influences and influencers."

If you think this is the ramblings of a hapless hack lamenting his own lack of investigative skills to penetrate the halls of power, you are probably half right.

But if you don't think diversity in media is important or "keeping the bastards honest" is critical, then we are all doomed.

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Labor in 'The Thick of It' trying to ban media from 'omnishambles' press conference - WAtoday

Gov. Jerry Browns newest appointees to the University of California Board of Regents offer media pizazz, policy expertise and political skills at a time when the university system is facing major challenges.

The 10-campus system is scrambling for more dollars to offset years of state budget reductions. Enrollment demands are surging with record numbers of applicants 210,000 last fall. And Sacramento lawmakers are moving to assert more control after two critical state audits of UC operations.

The four appointees, who bring the 26-member board back to full strength for the first time in two years, will make their first collective appearance at the regents meeting this week in San Francisco. They may serve for up to one year after their appointment pending state Senate confirmation.

RELATED | UC regents, with four new members, plan to debate budget, admissions

Heres a rundown:

Millions of basketball fans saw Howard Peter Guber rush to the court when the Golden State Warriors, which he co-owns, won the NBA championship last month. Guber, 75, is also chairman and chief executive of Mandalay Entertainment Group and formerly headed Sony Pictures Entertainment, Columbia Pictures and other film and record companies. The Boston native earned his law degree from New York University.

But the first thing Guber mentioned in a recent interview was his love of education and lifelong learning, expressed in part through more than 35 years of teaching business and media classes at UCLA. He said he hopes to be an imagineer to help dream up new ways to use innovation and technology to expand access to education and keep UC the preeminent public research university in the nation.

He stressed, however, that he had much to learn from other regents and would approach the job wide-eyed. Im an advocate of looking at everything as if for the first time, he said.

Ellen Tauscher is known as a skilled politician who managed as a Democrat to win a seat in what had long been a Republican district, the 10th Congressional District covering the northern San Joaquin Valley. A few years ago, she launched an effort to reform gerrymandering so as to elect more moderate candidates and reduce partisan polarization. Her political skills will come in handy as UC faces escalating tensions with state lawmakers.

Tauscher, 65, also will provide experience and expertise working with some of UCs biggest enterprises: two national laboratories and five medical centers. She is a board member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network of 29 major hospitals, including UC San Francisco. She also has served on boards of the companies that manage Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos labs and was undersecretary of state for arms control and international security affairs under President Obama. She has been a strategic advisor at Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell and Berkowitz since 2012.

Tauscher, a New Jersey native who majored in early childhood education at Seton Hall University, said she is eager to serve where she can.

My agenda is to get up to speed and add value as soon as Im able, she said. Im a little like a utility infielder: Tell me where you want me to go.

Maria Anguiano says her own life experiences have shaped a passion to expand access to a UC education and keep it affordable. Anguiano, 38, was raised by a single mother with a sixth-grade education who immigrated to the United States from Mexico. Her mothers emphasis on education as a path to success motivated Anguiano to excel in school, earning a full ride from Claremont McKenna College and an MBA from Stanford University.

A financial expert, Anguiano worked at Deloitte and Barclays Capital before joining the UC Office of the President as a top administrator. She moved to UC Riverside and developed a cost-analysis program as vice chancellor of planning and budget. This year, she became chief financial officer at Minerva Project Inc., a for-profit educational organization that has helped launch an undergraduate program that features digital learning in several countries. She said she wants to explore how to use technology more efficiently to expand access to UC.

I know technology is not a silver bullet, but UC has a real infrastructure issue it cant afford to build a lot more classrooms, she said.

Lark Park is known for her policy chops, with 15 years of work in Sacramento. She is Gov. Jerry Browns senior policy advisor and previously worked as his deputy legislative affairs secretary. She also was a consultant to the state Senates human services and health committees and worked for then-state Sen. Gloria Romero and State Assemblyman Joe Simitian.

Park, 47, is a Korean immigrant raised mostly in the San Fernando Valley who says her parents taught her the value of education and hard work. She earned an undergraduate degree at UC Berkeley and a Master of Arts degree in English and American literature from Georgetown University.

Park is the only Asian American regent, although students of Asian and Pacific Islander descent are the largest racial and ethnic group at UC. Park said she hopes to focus on access, affordability and quality for all students.

Many groups at UC face challenges, including API students, and the regents have been very attentive to issues of diversity, underrepresentation and inclusion," she wrote in an email. These are important conversations to have, both at UC and in our broader society, and the more we can focus on shared values and shared goals, the better.

teresa.watanabe@latimes.com

Twitter: @teresawatanabe

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UC Board of Regents adds experts in sports management, media, arms control, finance - Los Angeles Times