TGIF! Brian Stelter here at 11:28pm ET on Thursday, July 28. Let's get to the latest on Amazon, Beyoncé, the WSJ, Instagram, Jon Stewart, TV Rain, "Keep Breathing," and so much more... This week's takeaways |
A sampling of what we have learned from recent earnings reports across the tech and media industries: -- "Uncertainty" is the word of the moment: It shows up in this week's news stories about Alphabet, Meta, Vox Media, and Roblox, just to name a few. -- The ad slowdown is pronounced: Mark Zuckerberg said we seem to be in "an economic downturn that will have a broad impact on the digital ad business." -- The slowdown is hitting some companies much more than others: Roku "warned investors about a 'significant slowdown in TV advertising spend' as it reported its second-quarter earnings Thursday," Protocol's Janko Roettgers wrote. Conversely, advertising businesses at Spotify and Amazon posted strong growth in Q2. -- It's complicated: "We are in an economic environment defined by recessionary fears, inflationary pressures, rising interest rates, and ongoing supply chain disruptions," Roku said in a shareholder letter that likened the ad market pullback to "the start of the pandemic in 2020, when marketers prepared for macro uncertainties by quickly reducing ad spend across all platforms." -- The "oddball pandemic economy" is distorting peoples' impressions now: "It's unclear now," the NYT's Shira Ovide wrote, "how much of the digital surge of those years was a blip and how much was an acceleration of lasting tech transformations." -- "Could have been worse:" That sentiment is "starting to become a familiar thought bubble during this bleak earnings season," The Information's Jessica Lessin commented. "Apple's results on Thursday were no exception." Apple shares were up more than 4% in after-hours trading despite some worrisome data points. -- There ARE positive signs to see: "Amazon says consumer spending remains strong, bucking broader retail gloom," Annie Palmer reported for CNBC. -- Amazon is also signaling optimism about the current quarter: The company said it expects net sales between $125 billion and $130 billion, i.e. "potential growth of as much as 17% from last year," CNN's Rishi Iyengar wrote. Amazon shares were up more than 13% after hours. -- No matter what, people want to stream: After all the hype about Netflix's second quarter, it turns out that the vast majority of subscribers still want access to on-demand bundles of shows and movies. Comcast reported "Peacock paid subscribers stayed flat at 13 million," per CNBC's Alex Sherman, but projected growth later this year. "Are we in a recession? Yes. No. Maybe." That headline from Allison Morrow pretty much sums it up perfectly. Read her latest for CNN Business here... |
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-- "The reality of this economy is that high inflation is making people feel poorer, and rising interest rates are discouraging some investment, and it's all happening in the context of incredibly low unemployment," Derek Thompson writes... (The Atlantic) -- View from the right: National Review says the media is parroting "White House talking points on economy..." (NRO) -- Meta has started to officially notify its US news partners "that the company no longer plans to pay publishers for their content to run on Facebook's News Tab," Sara Fischer reports. "The deals were worth roughly $105 million in the US..." (Axios) |
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| Beyoncé's big launch "Beyoncé's 'Renaissance,' out Friday — her seventh solo studio album and her first since 2016 — will be a blockbuster for the singer and Columbia Records," Billboard's Glenn Peoples writes. But its metrics of success depend largely "on whether fans still want to buy Beyoncé's albums or will just stream the songs." >> The NYT's Joe Coscarelli and Ben Sisario also explored the album rollout in this story. She is relying on a "more transparent, more conventional" release this time around. Read on... |
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Charter reports earnings before the bell... LIV Golf Bedminster begins... "DC League of Super-Pets" hits theaters... Scroll down for Brian Lowry's review... |
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All eyes on Capitol Hill If you feel like it's hard to keep track of the hour-by-hour news from Capitol Hill right now, you're not alone. CNN's Edward-Isaac Dovere wrote Thursday: "The current state of DC is Biden and Dems touting a bill they say would reduce inflation, expand health care and protect the climate and Republicans responding by voting against a burn pit bill they previously voted for & a microchip bill they say is critical to national security." That's why Jon Stewart cursed at the burn pill bill's newfound opponents on Thursday. His comments went viral on social media. Speaking on "The Lead with Jake Tapper," Stewart said he was used to lies, hypocrisy and cowardice from lawmakers, but "I'm not used to the cruelty, the casual cruelty." Read/watch here... |
-- The WaPo website's lead story right now: "With a long-elusive spending deal newly in hand, Senate Democrats set about finalizing their economic package Thursday, hoping they might be able to deliver on a central piece of President Biden's agenda as soon as next week..." -- "Republicans are uniformly opposed, and certain Democrats in both the Senate and House have yet sign on, making the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 anything but a done deal," CNN's team writes. But the spending agreement "injected new life into ambitions that many Democrats had mostly put aside. Paired with Thursday's passage of a bill boosting US computer chip production, the President's legislative prospects are looking up..." |
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-- "When LIV Golf and Trump converge, sports and politics are inextricable," Alan Bastable writes from the tournament site in Bedminster... (Golf) -- When an ESPN reporter asked Trump what he would say to the 9/11 families protesting the tournament, Trump said, "Well, nobody's gotten to the bottom of 9/11, unfortunately, and they should have." He called the terrorists "maniacs," then pivoted: "I can tell you that there are a lot of really great people that are out here today, and we're going to have a lot of fun, and we're going to celebrate, and money's going to charity..." (ESPN) |
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FIRST IN RELIABLE WSJ defends editor amid Musk attacks The Wall Street Journal is standing by its story about Elon Musk having a brief affair with Sergey Brin's wife Nicole Shanahan. And now it is defending a WSJ editor who is being singled out by Musk on Twitter – even though he didn't help edit the story. Musk has repeatedly assailed and tagged investigations editor Michael Siconolfi in tweets. He said on Wednesday, "@michaelsiconolf has done so many fake hit pieces." On Thursday night the Journal said in a statement: "Recent attacks on Michael Siconolfi are unwarranted and unfounded. Mike is a celebrated and widely respected editor and reporter in our industry. He has overseen a wide array of impactful stories with integrity and high standards for The Wall Street Journal over many decades. For the record, Mike was not part of the editing team for this story." |
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Instagram edits itself Just two days after defending some of Instagram's recent feature changes, Adam Mosseri walked it back on Thursday and said "we definitely need to take a big step back and regroup." He broke the news to Platformer's Casey Newton, who blasted out the breaking news on Thursday afternoon. "A test version of the app that opened to full-screen photos and videos will be phased out over the next one to two weeks," Newton wrote, "and Instagram will also reduce the number of recommended posts in the app as it works to improve its algorithms." In other words: The complaints that Instagram is becoming too much like TikTok are being addressed. >> "While we believe that Instagram needs to evolve as the world changes, we want to take the time to make sure we get this right," the company says... Changing how people share BY JON SARLIN: On this week's Nightcap web series for CNN Business, I spoke with Taylor Lorenz about the Instagram "instarrection" and why Meta sees TikTok as such a big threat. She said that some of the backlash comes from a nostalgia for a bygone Internet — one that users have already moved on from. Users "have this nostalgic view of Instagram — of this amazing place you go to connect to friends and family," but that's "actually not the way people share anymore," Lorenz said. "Overwhelmingly people want to share [with] close friends and in DMs..." TikTok talk on this week's "Reliable" podcast Emily Baker-White, who has published multiple scoops for BuzzFeed News about TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance, is my guest on this week's "RS" podcast. Baker-White's latest story, based on interviews with many ex-employees, relays claims that the company used a news app "to push pro-China messages." The company denies it, but the reporting feeds into concerns about China's potential soft-power uses of TikTok. On the pod, Baker-White rejects the portrayal of TikTok as a purely entertainment oriented product. "I don't think TikTok is all cat videos and dance videos anymore. We know it isn't," she says. Millions of people engage with political content through the app, she adds, as well as other types of information. The #1 point: "They're distributing information at a scale where it's incredibly hard to get it right." Tune in via Apple Podcasts or your preferred podcasting app... |
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FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE |
-- "The antitrust showdown to determine Simon & Schuster's fate is about to begin:" Joe Pompeo is out with a preview of the trial that begins Monday... (VF) -- On the heels of his NewsNation announcement, Chris Cuomo is appearing on another TV talk program: He'll be on "Real Time" with Bill Maher Friday... (Deadline) -- "Cuomo will not be NewsNation's savior," Tony Maglio predicts, highlighting the channel's "paltry" ratings to date... (IndieWire) |
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Whoopi: "My bad"
BY OLIVER DARCY: Whoopi Goldberg on Thursday offered an apology to TPUSA for linking the MAGA-friendly group to neo-Nazi protesters outside a recent event it held -- the second apology to come from "The View" to the group this week. "I don't like it when people make assumptions about me and it's not any better when I make assumptions about other people, which I did," Goldberg said. "So my bad. I'm sorry." On Wednesday, co-host Sara Haines read an apology on the show, but conservatives had criticized Goldberg for failing to take responsibility for her words. >> Without question, there were dishonest media personalities who spoke at the recent TPUSA conference. But linking the attendees to the neo-Nazis demonstrators outside the event was irresponsible. Media figures with influential platforms should not casually cast such serious aspersions on others... |
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THE ALEX JONES TRIAL InfoWars lawyer apologizes BY OLIVER DARCY: Alex Jones' attorney F. Andino Reynal apologized Thursday for an outburst that occurred the day before. After court concluded on Wednesday, Reynal got into a heated discussion with the attorney representing the Sandy Hook families, Mark Bankston -- a discussion that included Reynal giving Bankston the middle finger. When court commenced on Thursday, Reynal apologized and said he had sent Bankston an apology as well via email, according to HuffPost's Sebastian Murdock... |
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TV Rain is back "News outlets forced to close since Russia invaded Ukraine are soldiering on in exile," Evan Gershkovich reports for the WSJ. His lead example is about TV Rain, which we featured on "Reliable Sources" last spring. The independent Russian TV channel has officially relaunched operations in Latvia... >> Russia's media watchdog has filed a lawsuit to revoke Novaya Gazeta's registration, "less than a year after its editor in chief, Dmitry Muratov, won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize…" >> Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who protested the war on TV, has been "found guilty of discrediting the country's armed forces in social media posts condemning Russia's actions in Ukraine," Reuters reports... |
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FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR |
-- "Secretary of State Antony Blinken made no promises when asked by family members to open an independent investigation" into the death of Shireen Abu Akleh, her relatives said Thursday... (Politico) -- Elahe Izadi's latest story is on the WaPo's most-read chart right now: "How local journalists proved a 10-year-old's abortion wasn't a hoax..." (WaPo) -- Last night I recommended this read by The Miami Herald's Emily Blaskey, but for some reason the link didn't attach. D'oh! Here is her story about how Florida Power & Light "secretly took over a Florida news site and used it to bash critics..." (Herald) |
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Congrats to the News Emmy noms! CNN Worldwide and ABC News led the nominations for the 43rd Annual News and Documentary Emmys with 39 noms apiece. The complete list of nominees is posted here. "NATAS also revealed that Judy Woodruff, anchor and managing editor of 'PBS NewsHour,' and Sir David Attenborough will receive honorary awards at this year's ceremonies," TheWrap's Sharon Knolle wrote... |
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TV writers call for "safety protocols" for productions in anti-abortion states BY BRIAN LOWRY: Variety's Kate Aurthur has the scoop on hundreds of TV creators and writers lobbying Hollywood buyers like Netflix and Disney to demand specific safety protocols when filming in states enacting strict abortion restrictions and bans. The writers' letter says it is "unacceptable to ask any person to choose between their human rights and their employment." Less clear is what action the group's members might take if the studios don't respond in what's deemed a satisfactory manner, but this won't be the end of the issue regarding states such as Georgia, which has become a busy production hub... |
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Alan Horn consulting for Warner Bros. "It's official: Film studio veteran Alan Horn is helping out the new team at Warner Bros. Discovery," THR's Pamela McClintock and Alex Weprin report. CEO David Zaslav "has brought aboard Horn as a consultant during the transition period," forging "a reunion of sorts for Horn, who did a long stint as co-chairman of Warner Bros. prior to joining Disney." Zaslav said in an internal memo, "I could not be more excited to be able to continue to tap into his thinking, expertise and stellar instincts as we transition our film business and hone our motion picture strategy for the future..." |
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FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE |
-- Zaslav's other announcement on Thursday: "Asif Sadiq has been appointed chief global diversity, equity and inclusion officer at Warner Bros. Discovery..." (Variety) -- SXSW's film festival is "rebranding as the South by Southwest Film & TV Festival, owing to the growing number of episodics in the screening program..." (Deadline) -- This year's Toronto International Film Festival lineup is out. Anthony D'Alessandro says "distributors require a TIFF launch now more than ever in order to generate buzz and stoke older moviegoers who are still slow to return during the pandemic…" (Deadline) | |
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Going to the dogs BY BRIAN LOWRY: DC came up with super-pets in the '50s during a relatively arid period for the comic-book industry, which is useful back story in considering "DC League of Super-Pets," an animated movie that re-teams Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart among the voice cast but which has more hits than misses in its Lego-movie-like rat-a-tat barrage of gags. (Also, kudos to the WSJ headline writer who came up with "Absolutely Paw-ful...") |
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-- Luke Bryan, Katy Perry, Lioniel Richie, and Ryan Seacrest will return for "American Idol" season 21... (Deadline) -- Filming on season three of "The Witcher" has been halted due to Covid... (THR)
-- HBO Max is losing the "Harry Potter" movie series in August... (Variety)
-- "Orphan Black: Echoes" has added Krysten Ritter to the cast... (TV Line)
-- AMC has renewed "Moonhaven" for a second season... (The Wrap) |
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"Keep Breathing" runs out of oxygen BY BRIAN LOWRY: If Netflix wants to make good on its pledge to put a bit more emphasis on quality over quantity, skipping forgettable fare like "Keep Breathing" -- a survival thriller, starring Melissa Barrera as a lawyer stranded in the Canadian wilderness -- would be a good place to start. Here's why... |
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FOR THE RECORD, PART SEVEN |
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LAST BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST... Pets of the day! Reader Marge Wellek emails: "Here are newly adopted kittens Daryl, named for Daryl Hall, and Rosie resting up to enjoy the latest Reliable Sources newsletter!"
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Thank you for reading! Email us your feedback. We'll be back tomorrow... |
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