Monday, December 19, 2022

Happy Hanukkah! Right-wing media is counter-programming the 1/6 referrals, Harvey Weinstein is guilty in LA, the NewsGuild is mulling The NYT's mediator proposal, CNN is grieving the loss of Drew Griffin, Epic Games is being fined an FTC-record $520M, and there is angst about "Avatar." But first, the A1.

THE A1

A Muted Musk

CNN Photo Illustration/Yui Mok/PA Images/Getty Images

Is Elon Musk resigning as "chief Twit" or not?

That's the question remaining to be answered this Monday evening, more than 12 hours after an unscientific poll posted by the Twitter CEO resulted in 57.5% of participants voting that he should step down as head of the beleaguered social media company.

The move came after mounting criticism of his chaotic leadership at Twitter, including recent decisions to suspend journalists and introduce (and then delete) a controversial policy banning the practice of linking out to rival platforms; laying off half of the company's staff; firing others who disagreed with him; and welcoming back onto the platform previously banned figures who trafficked in misinformation, conspiracy theories, and hate speech.

Given Musk's propensity for tweeting, and his rapid decisions after previous polls, many expected he would have addressed the elephant in the room by now. But he has not. In fact, Musk spent most of Monday conspicuously quiet, refraining from tweeting for a remarkable 18-hour period.

While Musk fired off some tweets Monday evening, posting statistics on Twitter usage during the epic World Cup final and retweeting posts from his Tesla and SpaceX companies, it remains unclear if he will actually step down from his post at Twitter after vowing to "abide" by the results of the poll. By his own admission, there isn't someone readily available to run the perilous platform. In one Sunday night tweet, Musk wrote, "No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor."

Some Tesla investors, who have grown increasingly vocal, are hoping there is someone else who can take the reins at the social network. Musk last month said he would "find somebody else to run Twitter" and that he expected to "reduce" his time there. And while there are a host of names being floated, CNBC reported last week that Tesla shares have slid 28% since Musk took over Twitter.

The electric automaker bore the brunt of more bad news related to Musk's Twitter obsession on Monday. Oppenheimer & Co. downgraded Tesla's rating, with analyst Colin Rusch writing, "We believe Mr. Musk is increasingly isolated as the steward of Twitter's finances with his user management on the platform. We see potential for a negative feedback loop from departure of Twitter advertisers and users."

Rusch added that Musk's behavior over the past few months as "chief Twit" has created "brand public backlash" that could tarnish Tesla's brand image — particularly with key consumer groups.

"We believe banning journalists without consistent defensible standards or clear communication in an environment where many people believe free speech is at risk is too much for a majority of consumers to continue supporting Mr. Musk/TSLA, particularly people ideologically aligned with climate change mitigation," Rusch wrote.

And while Musk now finds himself in the uncomfortable position of having to hand over daily control of the company he just purchased to the tune of $44 billion, it could please some of his supporters who wish he would get back to work at Tesla and knock off the distractions.

As the saying goes, Vox populi, Vox dei.

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

Doesn't Ad Up: Typically, it would not be expected for a news organization to hand over money to a company actively engaged in censoring the press. That's why Puck told me last week that it was pausing its advertising campaigns on Twitter, saying the platform's values no longer appear to align with its own. But The Wall Street Journal and Semafor apparently see no issue in continuing to do business with Twitter. I asked The WSJ how it could continue sending advertising dollars to the company as owner Elon Musk arbitrarily banishes reporters he doesn't like, but a spokesperson ignored several requests for comment. And a spokesperson for Semafor would only say the company is "evaluating the situation." It's unclear exactly what Semafor is evaluating or how long this evaluation will take. I checked in multiple times on Monday with the spokesperson and didn't hear back.

► It's worth noting that Insider's Linette Lopez and Fox Business' Susan Li, who were suspended last week, remained banned from Twitter on Monday evening. It's also notable that Fox — which for years has billed itself as an anti-censorship network — has remained totally silent as its reporter is banished from Twitter, apparently for committing an act of reporting. Spokespeople for the network have not commented.

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool/AP

Out Of Sight On the Right: The biggest story in the country on Monday was without a doubt the January 6 committee's referral of Donald Trump to the Department of Justice on criminal charges — except in right-wing media. Outlets in that alternate media universe, which serves as a safe space for Trump supporters, used the latest installment of the so-called "Twitter Files" to counter-program against the bad news for the former president.

As news networks led their 7pm and 8pm hours with coverage of the historic referrals, Fox News did not. In fact, Jesse Watters, the 7pm host on the right-wing network, ignored the story altogether. He instead led his program hyping the "crime wave" before Christmas. And Tucker Carlson kicked off the 8pm hour focusing on immigration. "MULTIPLE STATES OVERUN WITH ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS," the banner blared, next to an apocalyptic "TOTAL BREAKDOWN" graphic.

Earlier in the day, I noticed that the homepages for Fox News, Newsmax, the Gateway Pundit, and the New York Post all played up the Twitter Files as a supposedly bigger story. Of course, the reality is that the seventh Twitter Files drop wasn't the explosive story that was claimed in right-wing media. The documents mostly confirmed previous reporting and, if anything, showed that Twitter was not blindly taking orders from the FBI, but actually pushed back against some of the requests the law-enforcement agency had made.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

"The Five" will be the most watched show on Fox News in 2022. (LAT)
The progressive watchdog Media Matters declares Tucker Carlson the "misinformer of the year." (MMFA)
An alarming story from David Folkenflik, Mario Ariza, and Miranda Green: "In the Southeast, power company money flows to news sites that attack their critics." (NPR/Floodlight)
"Stop the Steal" leader Ali Alexander says he spoke to Kanye West and suggests the reason the disgraced music icon was in Texas prior to his Infowars meltdown was to meet with him. (MMFA)

THE BUSINESS

CNN Photo Illustration/Jeremy Freeman/CNN

CNN Grieves: CNN was in mourning on Monday after learning that senior investigative correspondent Drew Griffin died over the weekend from cancer at 60. The somber mood at the network was on full display when Don Lemon broke down in tears while announcing Griffin's death on air. "Drew's death is a devastating loss to CNN and our entire profession," CEO Chris Licht said in a note to staff. "A highly acclaimed investigative journalist, Drew's work had incredible impact and embodied the mission of this organization in every way." Read CNN's Matt Lait and Samira Jafari's full obit of Griffin here.

Returning SBF's Money: Vox Media says it intends to return most of a $200,000 grant it received from a foundation run by disgraced crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried and his brother, Gabe. The money, a spokesperson said, was awarded via a grant to Future Perfect, a project focused "on technological and innovation bottlenecks that hamper human progress." The spokesperson said $14,000 of the funds was suspended before news about SBF's alleged fraud broke and the project was put on hold. But, the spokesperson added, "If and when a restitution fund is created, Future Perfect intends to turn over the balance to that fund."

Mulling a Mediator: The NewsGuild is still considering whether to agree to a proposal from The NYT's management to bring in a federal mediator to assist with contract negotiations, I'm told. The proposal for a mediator was made Friday morning, per an email that went out from deputy managing editor Cliff Levy. In its newsletter, the NewsGuild said it is "open to all reasonable remedies," including "carefully considering" the option of a mediator. But the NewsGuild said it was "unclear how a mediator would assist without a willing, good-faith participant across the table." We'll keep tabs on this.

IN THE INDUSTRY

Bad news at Vice Media: The company is expected to miss its 2022 revenue goal by more than $100 million, Alexandra Bruell and Jessica Toonkel report. (WSJ)
Erik Wemple weighs in on WaPo publisher Fred Ryan's town hall that ended with an unexpected layoff announcement: "Never bury the lead in a crowd of journalists." (WaPo)
Don't miss James B. Stewart's profile of CNN boss Chris Licht. The lede recounts how Stephen Colbert tried to talk Licht out of taking the job: "You're my friend and I'm telling you not to go." (NYT)
12 anonymous media executives make predictions on the future of media to Alex Sherman. (CNBC)
There are five bylines on this big weekend piece that goes "inside the Disney coup." (WSJ)
"AMC Networks is the walking dead," analyst Rich Greenfield says in this piece by Benjamin Mullin about how the channel defines industry-wide problems. (NYT)

MEDIA MOVES

After 30 years as a TV reporter in Los Angeles, 27 of which were with KNBC, Kim Baldonado says she'll leave for a "new chapter." (Twitter)
Grid News has hired Sophie Tatum as a politics reporter. (Twitter)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Reuters

A Fortune For 'Fortnite': The creator of the popular "Fortnite" video game, Epic Games, will have to fork over $520 million over allegations that it misled players into making unintended purchases. That's a settlement record for the Federal Trade Commission, which said in a statement it continues to be on the lookout for "dark patterns." CNN's Brian Fung has details.

TOO MANY TABS

Meta could face a whopping $11.8 billion fine over allegations by the European Union that it violated antitrust law. (CNBC)
Meta says "about half" of the operating expenses for its Reality Labs are being spent on augmented (not virtual) reality initiatives. (The Verge)
Meta "is facing the test of its lifetime," Shirin Ghaffary writes. (Vox)
An interesting read from Delia Cai, who argues that "as TikTok and its cunningly customized rabbit holes subsume culture, the rest of the internet will splinter further into algorithmic isolation." (Vanity Fair)
Amy Kaufman and Jessica Gelt ask: "Who's protecting social media's child stars?" (LAT)
Google is harnessing AI to translate bad handwriting. (The Verge)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/20th Century Studios

Angst About 'Avatar': Disney and the movie theater industry have been banking on James Cameron's "Avatar: The Way of Water" to be a major blockbuster this holiday season — but there is certainly some angst now. The film stumbled at the box office, missing analyst expectations in its opening weekend with $134M at the domestic box office and $300.5M internationally. Cameron has said that the film will need to make a staggering $2 billion to break even.

In other words, "The film would have to 'pull another James Cameron run' so to speak and significantly deviate from the play patterns of most sequels to get there off this opening," Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at Boxoffice Pro, told me. We'll see what happens, but I have my doubts. A so-so reception by critics, growing problems with Covid in China, and the lack of excitement for 3D make me question its ability to perform at that level.

OFF STAGE

Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty of rape and sexual assault in his LA trial, following his 23-year prison sentence in New York. (CNN)
Amber Heard will pay Johnny Depp $1 million to settle her legal battle with him. (Variety)
The biggest stunt in cinema history? Paramount says this Tom Cruise sequence for "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning" takes the trophy — and after watching Cruise risk death for it, I might agree. Definitely watch this behind-the-scenes video released Monday. (YouTube)
Meanwhile: Jerry Bruckheimer addresses the potential for another "Top Gun" movie: Cruise is "shooting 'Mission: Impossible 8' ... once he finishes, we can have a conversation. But then he goes up in space [for another film] and something else. So I have no idea." (THR)
DC Studios co-boss James Gunn addresses criticism he's received: "No one loves to be harassed or called names – but, to be frank, we've been through significantly worse." (Twitter)
Chris Harrison is launching "The Most Dramatic Podcast Ever" with iHeartRadio, more than a year after "stepping aside" from "The Bachelor." He'll discuss his exit on the new pod. (CNN)
The trailer for Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" has dropped — and it looks quite good. (YouTube)
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's next Netflix project has been unveiled. It's a seven-part series called "Live to Lead" which will feature various interviews. (Deadline)

Thank you for reading! This newsletter was edited by Jon Passantino. Have feedback? Send us an email here. We will be back in your inbox tomorrow.