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Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Charges dropped against NewsNation's reporter, Nikki Haley talks to Fox and NBC, first look at Wesley Lowery's book cover, Project Veritas addresses James O'Keefe drama, TikTok's CEO speaks to WaPo, and more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

'The Truth Isn't Pretty'

CNN Photo Illustration/Annice Lyn/Getty Images

America's Frankenstein-like information environment has shattered trust.

On Wednesday, Gallup and the Knight Foundation released their annual report surveying Americans for insights into how they view the press — and the results were grim.

Only 26% of Americans hold a favorable opinion of the news media, Gallup and the Knight Foundation found — the lowest level recorded by the organizations over the last five years.

Perhaps more startling: the report found that 72% of Americans believe national newsrooms are capable of serving the public, but that they do not believe they're well intentioned. Only 23% said that they believe national newsrooms care about the best interests of their audiences.

Meanwhile, Americans are having more difficulty than ever determining what to believe. 61% of respondents said the increase in information across the media landscape has made it harder to sort bad information from good.

None of this is particularly surprising, though it is, without question, alarming. The media landscape has fractured and it's not uncommon to now see the same story presented in entirely different ways to different audiences.

Our shared reality has given way to algorithmically rendered realities. Some of the most popular media and political figures in the country actively pollute the information landscape. Many profit from propaganda that affirms the worldviews of their audiences and attacks the press in dishonest ways.

The study on Wednesday underscored this polarization. "Media trust continues to vary along predictable lines. Democrats express significantly more trust in news organizations than Republicans. Among Republicans, trust in news continues to decline," Gallup and the Knight Foundation said.

It's unclear how — or if — any single news organization can solve for this. MSNBC boss Rashida Jones offered her perspective on trust in media Wednesday at a New York event where she championed delivering the truth to audiences as the best path forward.

"Rather than looking at a political culture or a political perspective, what we focus on is the truth," Jones said, outlining her editorial philosophy. "Are the angles that we're hitting representative of truth and democracy and the rights of humans across the board? We can get stuck into both sides for a fair amount or however you look at it."

"You can't sacrifice the truth," Jones continued. "Sometimes the truth isn't pretty. Sometimes the truth might be critical of this group or that group. Rather than trying to keep a scorecard of, well, we had X number of perspectives in this party, and X number of perspectives in this party — it's gotten a little bit more nuanced than that."

Jones is correct. The truth isn't pretty. And the truth can offend. What is also clear is that the truth will offend members of one political party far more than the other. That's because the sad reality is that one party — operating in an entirely different media ecosystem largely void of fact-based journalism — tells lies and promotes misinformation at a far higher rate than the other.

Which begs the natural question: Can delivering the truth be at the heart of a news organization's mission in 2023 if the aim is to not offend those on one end of the political spectrum at a far greater frequency than the other?

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Newsnation/TMX/AP

Charges Dropped: The charges filed against a NewsNation reporter who was arrested last week at a press conference held by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine have been dismissed. The state's attorney general, Dave Yost, said in a statement that he believed reporter Evan Lambert-McMichael "was lawfully present" at the event and that his conduct "was consistent with the purpose of the event and his role as a reporter." Yost added, "While journalists could conceivably be subject to criminal charges for trespassing in some situations, this incident is not one of them." CNN's Celina Tebor has details here.

► Lambert-McMichael released a statement: "I am doing alright. And I will be OK. I will also continue to do my job without fear or favor in service of the public. I also hope what happened to me shines further attention on the people of East Palestine, who rightly have questions about their safety in light of an environmental hazard."

Haley's Media Tour: Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley officially entered the presidential race on Wednesday, becoming the first GOP challenger to Donald Trump. Now she's heading on a media tour. Haley's first stop was on the right-wing talk channel Fox News where she chatted with Sean Hannity. And on Thursday morning, the "Today" show will air an interview she granted to Craig Melvin in which she called for "a new generation of leaders."

THE BUSINESS

CNN Photo Illustration/HarperCollins

First in Reliable | Wesley Lowery is set to release his new book this summer — and the project now has an official title and jacket art. In the book, titled "AMERICAN WHITELASH: A Changing Nation and the Cost of Progress," Lowery will "confronts the sickness at the heart of American society: the cyclical pattern of violence that has marred every moment of racial progress in this country," according to publisher HarperCollins. The book is set to publish June 27.

First in Reliable | The Nation on Thursday morning will publish the first excerpt from Sen. Bernie Sanders' new book, "It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism." The excerpt will be live at this link.

Roku Rockets: Roku shares jumped more than 10% in after-hours trading after the company beat on earnings. The company reported revenue of $867 million, which was technically flat from the year prior, but much better than analyst expectations. The company also forecasted higher than expected revenue for next quarter. And it said that its Roku Channel reached about 100 million people in Q4. Variety's Todd Spangler has more here.

IN THE INDUSTRY

"About 200 New York Times contributors have signed an open letter calling out the legacy newspaper for its coverage of transgender issues," Mary Yang reports. The paper says it is "proud" of its coverage. (NPR)
The executive producer of "The Lead" was ousted from CNN last week over misconduct that was brought to the attention of Jake Tapper, who reported it to human resources, Carlos Greer reports. (New York Post)
James B. Stewart and Rachel Abrams' book, "Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy," is No. 37 on Amazon's top 100 list. (Amazon)
Jill Goldsmith has a roundup of some of the juiciest nuggets from "Unscripted." (Deadline)
Sports Illustrated laid off 17 staffers and announced the pending retirement of co-editor-in-chief Ryan Hunt. (Front Office Sports)
White House Correspondents' Association President Tamara Keith says the organization's board is "working on a project to answer common questions about our organization and our profession" and "demystify what it means to be on this most high profile beat." (Twitter)
Coming Thursday: Paramount Global reports quarterly earnings.
Sinclair's regional sports network, Diamond Sports, is preparing for possible bankruptcy. (CNBC)
"The dumb money era is over." Reggie Ugwu reports on how podcast companies, "Once walking on air," are feeling "the strain of gravity." (NYT)
Boardwalk Pictures has struck a nine-figure deal to sell a minority stake to Shamrock Capital, Peter White reports. (Deadline)

MEDIA MOVES

AMC Networks tapped Kristin Dolan, spouse of owner James Dolan, as its chief executive. (WSJ)
Bloomberg promoted Shelly Banjo to regional managing editor. (Talking Biz News)
The Information hired Anissa Gardizy to cover Amazon Web Services and other cloud providers. (Twitter)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Veritas Gets Vocal: The right-wing media/activist group Project Veritas on Wednesday addressed the growing controversy surrounding the fate of its founder, James O'Keefe. After repeatedly declining to state O'Keefe's status at the non-profit, Project Veritas said Wednesday that he "has not been removed" from the organization. It also tried to tamp down controversy over O'Keefe's forced vacation, suggesting that he is so hardworking that he would simply not take time off "unless forced to." Needless to say, the statement didn't go over so well among O'Keefe's supporters. It also failed to explain what is happening at the beleaguered org. That said, you can read it in full here.

► Later in the day, Project Veritas retweeted a photo of O'Keefe on a hike with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. "Of course [O'Keefe] is alive and well," the group wrote. "Why wouldn't he be? We're sure many of you can agree, there is nothing better than enjoying a well deserved vacation." 🤔

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Erik Wemple says Ron DeSantis is "smarter, more informed, and more disciplined" when it come sot attacking the press. "Though no less wrong," Wemple adds. (WaPo)
A financial disclosure in Alex Jones' bankruptcy case show the right-wing conspiracy theorist has been "holding firearms" for 1/6 participants, James Nani reports. (Bloomberg)
A Russian court has sentenced journalist Maria Ponomarenko to six years in prison for a Telegram post about a Russian airstrike. (CNN)
Andrew Prokop writes about "the rise of the Trump-Russia revisionists" and how "the attempt to rewrite" history is "underway." (Vox)
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan has subpoenaed Big Tech executives for communications with the executive branch. (CNN)

THE VALLEY

The Next Chief Twit: Elon Musk again vowed on Wednesday to step aside — eventually — from running Twitter's day-to-day operations. The erratic billionaire told the World Government Summit by videoconference that he would like to "find someone else" to run the platform by the end of 2023. But, Musk said, first he must "stabilize" the company and ensure it's "financially in a healthy place." CNN's Becky Anderson has more here.

TOO MANY TABS

Elon Musk's "new Twitter superpower is dangerous," Chris Stokel-Walker writes, noting he has "given himself an even bigger bullhorn" to "spread disinformation on the platform." (WIRED)
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew talks to Drew Harwell: "There are more than 100 million voices in this country, and I think it'll be a real shame if our users around the world are not able to hear them anymore." (WaPo)
Tawnell Hobbs reports on how TikTok "is a venue for child sexual exploitation." (WSJ)
Google boss Sundar Pichai on the company's AI efforts: "Some of our most successful products were not first to market." (CNBC)
Users are "finding out that Bing's AI personality is not as poised or polished as you might expect," James Vincent writes. (The Verge)
The Department of Justice "has ramped up work in recent months on drafting a potential antitrust complaint against Apple," Aaron Tilley, Dave Michaels, and Keach Hagey report. (WSJ)
Apple is pushing back the introduction of its first mixed-reality headset from around April to June, Mark Gurman reports. (Bloomberg)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

Remembering Raquel: Iconic actress Raquel Welch died Wednesday morning after a "brief illness," her manager said. She was 82. "The actress, with more than 70 film and television credits, got her start as a spokesmodel on a variety show, 'Hollywood Palace,' and had a small role in the Elvis Presley film 'Roustabout' in 1964," Sandra Gonzalez and Alli Rosenbloom wrote for CNN's obituary. Her career took off soon after and she continued acting well into the new millennium. Read CNN's full obit here.

OFF STAGE

The Screen Actor Guild Awards has announced some of its presenters: Andrew Garfield, Jessica Chastain, Don Cheadle, and more. (THR)
Apple TV+ will not bring back Katie Nolan and Melanie Newman for MLB broadcasts, Andrew Marchand reports. (NY Post)
John Koblin and Alan Blinder write about how Netflix has shunned live sports, but invested in sports documentaries. (NYT)
Jeremy Fuster: "Quantumania" doesn't need to make a billion dollars, but "considering that it begins the Marvel Cinematic Universe's build to the next two 'Avengers' movies in 2025 it needs to do better than the two 'Ant-Man' films that preceded it." (The Wrap)
Jeremy Renner teases his upcoming Disney+ series "Rennervations." (Variety)
Netflix has renewed "The Mole" for a second season. (TV Line)
Netflix has also dropped the trailer for part two of the fourth season of "You." (YouTube)

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.