Received this email from a friend? Subscribe here.

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Happy Valentine's Day! Tucker Carlson proves Chris Hayes' point, Vice scores debt financing, YouTube yanks misinfo safeguards, the "father of the internet" sounds the alarm about AI, "Rust" announces it will resume production, and more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

Carriage Carnage

CNN Photo Illustration/Chris Rank/Bloomberg/Getty Images

All niceties have been thrown out the window as DirecTV finds itself ensnared in an ugly carriage dispute with Newsmax.

The satellite carrier, which refuses to buckle to pressure and pay millions of dollars to broadcast the network's low-rated programming, unleashed on the right-wing talk channel on Tuesday.

In a letter sent to prominent Jewish Newsmax supporters who had expressed concern about the matter, DirecTV effectively accused the network of waging a dishonest pressure campaign against the company that mischaracterized a run-of-the-mill carriage dispute as a nefarious act of anti-conservative censorship.

"Put simply, this is a typical business dispute that has nothing to do with ideology, politics or censorship – despite unfounded accusations to the contrary by Newsmax, its CEO, its commentators and others," DirecTV said.

At the center of the dispute: Newsmax has demanded DirecTV pay millions in carriage fees to continue including the channel in its lineup. DirecTV has refused, saying that it does not want to pass on added costs to its subscribers for a channel that a small percentage of viewers actually watch. DirecTV has also balked at paying for the same content that streams to users for free on other platforms, such as Roku.

But Newsmax — and Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill — have advanced a wholly different narrative, one unsupported by the facts in the case. They've accused DirecTV — which just added another right-wing talk channel to its lineup — of censoring conservative voices.

Newsmax, led by Chris Ruddy, who is well-connected in GOP circles, has in recent weeks used its platform and political power to pressure DirecTV into paying up.

DirecTV said that it found such behavior "troubling," calling out Newsmax for promoting "inaccurate and misleading information" about the dispute as it publishes an endless stream of content targeting the satellite carrier.

"In our view these efforts are obscuring facts in pursuit of Newsmax's own commercial interests," DirecTV said, "not elucidating the news."

Newsmax did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday evening.

However, the letter from DirecTV comes as Republicans on Capitol Hill continue to hint that they will hold a hearing about the matter. GOP Rep. Bryon Donalds, a House Oversight Committee member, told Newsmax this week that Republicans are "definitely looking into" holding a hearing.

"We obviously have an issue with a lot of media companies silencing conservative thought and conservative speech," Donalds said, "and the one thing we're committed to is doing everything we can to put an end to it."

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/mpi34/MediaPunch/IPX/AP

Off the Rails: The Ohio train disaster is finally getting a good dose of national media attention — as evidenced by both Fox News and MSNBC leading with the story in the 8pm hour. But the environmental hazard is being covered in dramatically different ways. Over on Fox News, Tucker Carlson spotlighted the issue, while also repeatedly mocking Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's sexuality. Carlson accused Buttigieg of being "flamboyantly incompetent," telling his audience that it is "almost to the point of evil." And Carlson, who advances white nationalist themes on his program, asserted to viewers that the reason the Ohio situation hadn't received more attention was because it was impacting a predominantly white community.

Carlson was effectively helping Chris Hayes make his point over on MSNBC. "Whenever there is a problem or crisis, folks on the right have got someone or some group that is out to get you — and maybe it's the openly gay secretary of transportation or fictional elites conspiring against white people," Hayes said. The MSNBC host contended that there should have "probably been better regulation" to prevent such a disaster. But he added that people like Carlson never offer "any real solutions" to such problems. Instead, Hayes argued, they choose to simply whip up their audiences into the latest culture war. He's not off the mark.

THE BUSINESS

CNN Photo Illustration/Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press/AP

Vice's Lifeline: Vice Media "has secured more than $30 million in debt financing from Fortress Investment Group," The WSJ's Alexandra Bruell, Alexander Saeedy, and Jessica Toonkel scooped Tuesday. The trio reported that the media company owes millions to venders and advisers, some who haven't been paid in months and have referred the debts to collection agencies. The news, of course, comes as Vice tries to sell itself to a suitor. Read the full story here.

IN THE INDUSTRY

An alarming situation: Indian authorities raided the BBC's offices weeks after the country's government lashed out at the broadcaster over its documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (CNN)
Smart piece by Bron Maher that uses New York and California public job listings data to chart how much major news organizations pay their journalists. (Press Gazette)
Paul Farhi writes about how NewsNation has been trying to "break out in a crowded market with a fraught future." Farhi's bottom line? It's not working. (WaPo)
"Get me Risa Heller!" Don't miss Shawn McCreesh's profile about the crisis comms pro the powerful call when they are in trouble. (NY Mag)
Rachel Abrams and James B. Stewart talk about "Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy," which hit shelves Tuesday: "It's a corporate story, it is a MeToo story, but it's much bigger than that," Stewart said. (Variety)
Abrams and Stewart also spoke to Brian Stelter about the book: "If any story exemplifies that money cannot buy you happiness, it's this one," Abrams commented. (Esquire)
Andrew Fedorov on Air Mail's Armie Hammer piece: "Relying primarily on Hammer, sources close to the star, and materials provided by Hammer's representatives, Air Mail presented a thinly reported, one-sided account of events." (The Fine Print)
First in Reliable | MTV is marking the one-year anniversary of Russia's Ukraine invasion by airing a documentary on teenage refugees. The film, "Don't Leave Me Behind: Stories of Young Ukrainian Survival," will air next Tuesday at 10pm. See the trailer here.
Bob Woodward posted a photo celebrating Carl Bernstein's 79th birthday and their 51 years of friendship. (Twitter)
Ari Melber talks to Aidan McLaughlin about the success of his show: "The short answer is: be honest, be consistent, and be different in interesting, authentic ways." (Mediaite)
Michael Cieply remember's Howard Bragman: "I will miss him–not because we were especially close, but because he had a gift for making every encounter kind of fun, and, often, more memorable than it was supposed to be." (Deadline)

MEDIA MOVES

The New Republic named Michael Caruso as its new chief executive and publisher. (AdWeek)
The NYT tapped Ron DePasquale as deputy editor of express. (NYT)
The Guardian hired Michael Sainato as labor reporter. (Twitter)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto/Getty Images

YouTube Yanks Safeguards: Misinformation is no longer a problem over at YouTube. At least, that's what one might think, given the Google-owned social media platform's recent move. The NYT's Steven Lee Myers and Nico Grant reported Tuesday that YouTube "quietly reduced its small team of policy experts in charge of handling misinformation" last month, as part of Google's mass layoffs. The cuts, the duo reported, have "left only one person in charge of misinformation policy worldwide." Read the full story here.

🔭 Zooming out: "The cuts reflect a trend across the industry that threatens to undo many of the safeguards that social media platforms put in place in recent years to ban or tamp down on disinformation," Myers and Grant write. "Faced with economic headwinds and political and legal pressure, the social media giants have shown signs that fighting false information online is no longer as high a priority."

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

A New York state appeals court has rejected Fox News' motion to dismiss Smartmatic's $2.7 billion lawsuit against the right-wing talk channel. The court, however, did throw out the suit against Fox Corp. (Reuters)
Ted Cruz is really upset Biden's FCC nominee referred to Fox News as propaganda. (Raw Story)
"Before Nikki Haley could even make her case to the American people, right-wing media have already dubbed her announcement a big mistake," Jack Winstanley and Gideon Taaffe write. (MMFA)
Piers Morgan takes on election denier Kari Lake, who in turn tells the host she doesn't "give a damn" what he thinks. (Mediaite)
Right-wing media personality Grant Stinchfield claims Rihanna's Super Bowl performance was effectively demonic. (Daily Beast)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/oam Galai/Getty Images

'Father's' Alarm Over AI: Internet trailblazer Vint Cerf, known as the "father of the internet," has a warning for Google and Microsoft about rushing to activate AI tech: "Don't." Speaking at a Silicon Valley conference, Cerf acknowledged AI is a "hot topic" these days, but said there are ethical issues to consider with the technology. Cerf encouraged the conference's attendees to "be thoughtful" about how they approach AI, given "we can't always predict what's going to happen with these technologies." CNBC's Jennifer Elias has details here.

TOO MANY TABS

Will Oremus writes about "ChatGPT's evil twin, DAN." (WaPo)
An astonishing report from Zoë Schiffer and Casey Newton, who continue to dominate the Twitter beat: "Yes, Elon Musk created a special system for showing you all his tweets first." (Platformer)
The Meta Oversight Board said it will begin reviewing more cases and expediting some decisions. (Reuters)
Instagram will shutter live shopping on March 16. (Engadget)
Twitter has "cut its contract for Salesforce's customer-management software by 75%, to $5 million a year from $20 million," Kevin McLaughlin and Erin Woo report. (The Info)
Newton's third law in action: Amelia Tait writes about TikTok "de-influencers" who tell their followers "what not to buy." (WIRED)
Kaya Yurieff reports on how TikTok is turning to new tactics "to spur growth as boom times end." (The Info)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Jae C. Hong/AP

'Rust' to Resume: Production on the set of "Rust" will resume this spring following the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, the producers announced Tuesday. In the wake of the deadly shooting, the film will no longer use working firearms and will include "safety officers" on the set, they said. Bianca Cline will take on the role of cinematographer to complete the film, and Hutchins' widower, Matthew Hutchins, will join the project as executive producer. He will also produce a documentary about his wife's work. CNBC's Rebecca Picciotto has details here.

OFF STAGE

The first reviews are in for "Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania" — and they're not good. With 95 reviews in, the film currently sports a 58% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Yikes! (Rotten Tomatoes)
CNN's Brian Lowry writes that Kang the Conqueror is a "truly formidable and worthy villain," but that the film "comes up short in almost every other way that matters." (CNN)
Apple TV+ has dropped the trailer for "Ted Lasso" season three. The show returns on March 15. (YouTube)
For Variety's cover story, "You" star Penn Badgley talks about sex scenes: "It's important to me in my real life to not have them." (Variety)
J.K. Rowling talks about her anti-trans comments in a new podcast: "I never set out to upset anyone." (Variety)
Curtis Jackson — aka 50 Cent — has signed a non-exclusive deal with Fox to develop potential projects. (Deadline)
Steven Spielberg to Tom Cruise: "You saved Hollywood's ass and you might have saved theatrical distribution." (Variety)
Bruce Springsteen has added new fall 2023 tour dates. (Pitchfork)

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