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Wednesday, March 29, 2023

You're past the hump! Rupert Murdoch said Donald Trump's election lies were "pretty much a crime," the public rescues the Texas Observer from closure, CNN announces premiere dates for "CNN News Central," Tucker Carlson goes on an anti-trans tirade, The NYT Guild stages a protest inside the newsroom, tech leaders warn about A.I., Disney axes Marvel Entertainment's chair, and so much more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

Elon's Empty Promises

CNN Photo Illutration/Susan Walsh/AP

Elon Musk's record on delivering on the deluge of pledges he has made as "chief Twit" is less than ideal. In fact, it's downright abysmal.

It was just about a year ago that it was revealed the capricious billionaire had become Twitter's largest shareholder. Weeks after that disclosure, Musk said that he would take the company private with a $44 billion purchase.

Since then, Musk has made a number of wild changes and promises pertaining to Twitter. Some of those promises have pertained to shiny new features that would supposedly roll out on the website. Others have pertained to how he will govern the platform. And still other promises have been to his employees.

Under Musk's erratic ownership, the platform has seen its fortunes rapidly melt away. Advertisers have fled en masse, the site has suffered significant outages, hate speech has thrived, and thousands of employees have been forced to leave the company.

In typical Musk fashion, he has made so many commitments that it can be difficult to keep track of them. And that's worked in his favor, given that he has failed to fulfill the mountain of pledges he has made. As we approach the one-year mark of Musk's foray into Twitter, here are some of the significant vows he has made and failed to live up to:

► Decisions by poll: After Musk drew backlash for banning links to other social media platforms, he vowed, "Going forward, there will be a vote for major policy changes. My apologies. Won't happen again." Since then, he has implemented a host of policy changes without soliciting feedback from users.

► Stepping down: Musk asked users in December whether he should step down as head of Twitter, vowing to "abide by the results" of the poll. Users voted Musk out, but he has declined to step down for now, saying that he doesn't believe anyone else can adequately run the company.

► Maximal free speech: Musk repeatedly talked about Twitter being a home for free speech. But on a number of occasions, he has brazenly censored posts on his platform. Musk banned several prominent journalists late last year (he later restored their accounts, but forced them to delete the tweets that he didn't like) and removed content from the BBC after India's government demanded it. Musk has also kept a ban on Alex Jones and exiled Kanye West from the platform for rule violations, which really doesn't appear in the spirit of the maximal free speech he purports to support.

► Digital town square: When Musk purchased Twitter he declared the platform a "digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated." But this week he announced that non-paying users won't even be able to vote on the site and will have their voices minimized. Musk also said that he will only promote the tweets of users who pay him.

► Verification: Musk said that as Twitter owner he would work on "authenticating all humans" on the platform. But Musk has moved to do the opposite by stripping notable public figures who refuse to pay him of their verification badges, while also simultaneously verifying users who are impersonating others.

► Open-sourced algorithm: Musk has repeatedly promised that he would open source Twitter's algorithm. He did so when he announced his acquisition of the company. And on February 21, he said it would happen "next week." It has still yet to occur. Musk now claims it will happen on March 31.

► Moderation council: When Musk took over as Twitter owner, he said that he would appoint a content moderation council that would advise on all such decisions. The council was never appointed and Musk later indicated he would not actually create such a body.

► Shadow ban feature: Musk promised in December that he would release a feature showing users whether they have been "shadowbanned." Months have gone by with no such feature available.

► Severance: Musk boasted about offering laid off employees three months of severance, which he said was more than what was legally required of the company. Months after being let go, many employees were only offered one month of pay in exchange for agreeing to various terms and conditions.

When I reached out to Musk on Wednesday morning with questions about his failed promises, he didn't respond. But I did receive an auto-reply poop emoji from the press@twitter.com email address, a feature Musk recently said he would implement.

It's perhaps one of the only pledges he has actually delivered on.

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Mark Lennihan/AP

Fox in Focus: Another day, another batch of private communications from top Fox executives delivered to the world via Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit against the company. Here are four highlights:

► Rupert Murdoch said that Donald Trump "convincing 25% of Americans" the election was stolen "was a huge disservice to the country." Murdoch added, "Pretty much a crime. Inevitable it blew up on Jan 6th." A spokesperson for Murdoch declined to comment on the message.

► An email from Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott showed her express frustration after correspondent Eric Shawn appeared on Martha MacCallum's show and fact-checked Trump and a Sean Hannity guest. "This is bad for business ... The audience is furious and we are just feeding them material," she wrote. "Bad for business." A Fox News spokesperson told me that Scott was not taking issue with the fact-checking of election lies, but said the mails were about "one host calling out another."

► In another email written by Scott, the Fox News chief revealed that after the presidential contest, the right-wing talk channel had "lost 25k subs from FOX NATION," its streaming service. That loss in subscriptions occurred as viewers rebelled against Fox News for calling the election for Joe Biden.

► Other emails showed network producers discussing how putting Trump lawyers and election deniers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell on the air inflated ratings. "Any day with Rudy and Sidney is guaranteed gold!" a Dobbs producer wrote. In another email, another Dobbs producer wrote, "To keep this alive, we really need Rudy or Sidney."

IN THE FOXHOLE

Coming soon: Fired Fox News producer Abby Grossberg, who sued the network alleging its lawyers coerced her into providing misleading Dominion testimony, has granted her first television interview to Cynthia McFadden. It will air on "NBC Nightly News," with a clip being teased on Wednesday's edition of the "Today" show.
The Society of Professional Journalists said Wednesday that it finds the allegations against Fox News in the Dominion case "deeply troubling." The SPJ added, "If a news organization knowingly spreads lies ... it has clearly breached this most sacred of principles. No responsible journalist can ... excuse this behavior." (SPJ)
An excellent piece from Steve Contorno who notes that Ron DeSantis is "trying to gut the free speech protections" that may ultimately save Fox News in the Dominion case. (CNN)

THE BUSINESS

CNN Photo Illustration/From Texas Observer

Triumph in Texas: Who says there is no good news in the world? The nonprofit publisher of the Texas Observer said on Wednesday that, after a public outpouring and show of support, it would reverse its decision to shutter the publication. The move came after the Observer raised more than $300,000 from the public to help keep it alive. "Today, upon receiving significant financial pledges over the past few days, the Texas Observer board gathered to vote to reconsider previous board actions," the president of the publisher said. "The vote to rescind layoffs was unanimous, and the board is eager to move the publication to its next phase." The Observer's current homepage carries a headline that reads, "WE DID IT, Y'ALL!" The Texas Tribune's Sewell Chan has more here.

IN THE INDUSTRY

Disney layoffs "are expected to affect its ABC News division this week," Claire Atkinson and Lucia Moses report, citing two sources. One of their sources said the cuts would impact around 50 people from a division that includes about 1,500. (Insider)
Lawyers for Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers "argued to a High Court judge that Prince Harry and six other well-known people have run out of time to bring privacy claims against the Mail titles," Tom Symonds reports. (BBC)
Members of The NYT Guild staged a protest inside the paper's newsroom on Wednesday, as they continue to push for a contract. (Mediaite)
CNN announced the premiere dates for its new dayside show, "CNN News Central." The 9am-12pm ET block, which will be live from New York, debuts Monday. The 1pm-4pm afternoon block, which will be live out of DC, will debut April 17. Ted Johnson reports the show is "intended to replicate the feel of election night, with heavy use of graphics." (Deadline)
Elizabeth Lopatto asks, "How much money do we think Substack lost last year?" (The Verge)
Variety published its list celebrating the most influential women in New York media. (Variety)
The American Society of Magazine Editors announced the winners of the 2023 National Magazine Awards. The highest honor went to four publications: The Atlantic, The Marshall Project, and two first-time winners, Cook's Illustrated and Grist. (ASME)
The value of Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav's 2022 compensation package topped $39 million, per an SEC filing. (Variety)
Warner Music will lay off 270 positions, or 4% of the company's global staff, in a bid to reorganize and adapt to better "evolve." (LAT)

MEDIA MOVES

The NYT announced Paul Volpe will return to the politics desk. (NYT)
The BBC brought on Carl Nasman as a senior journalist. (Twitter)
The FT hired William Louch to cover private capital. (Twitter)
Fox named Diana Ruiz EVP of experiences and design. (Variety)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Adobe Stock

Alarm Over A.I.: Some of the biggest names and heaviest hitters in tech and science published an open-letter on Wednesday warning that A.I. "can pose profound risks to society and humanity." The candid letter called on all A.I. labs "to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4," arguing that the use of the technology "should be planned for and managed with commensurate care and resources." The letter has thus far been signed by more than 1,300 industry leaders, including Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, Evan Sharp, and others. CNN's Samantha Murphy Kelly has more here.

TOO MANY TABS

Apple announced its Worldwide Developers Conference will take place on June 5, where it could unveil its first mixed-reality headset. (CNBC)
Rand Paul is in TikTok's corner. On Wednesday he blocked a move to fast-track a bill from fellow Republican Josh Hawley that would ban the app. (The Hill)
Donald Trump Jr., who said he is "no TikTok fan," also questioned on Wednesday what he described as "govt. overreach" on the issue. (Twitter)
While TikTok's CEO was caught in the Beltway spotlight, ByteDance, was coaxing users onto its new Instagram-like platform, Sapna Maheshwari and Madison Malone Kircher report. (NYT)
With digital advertising on the wane, social media companies are increasingly aware of Meta's shadow, especially as TikTok's fate hangs in the balance. (Variety)
Google's new ad transparency center allows users to see which companies are behind the advertisements they're seeing. (The Verge)
In addition to introducing a TikTok-esque discovery feed, Spotify may be adding a new profile design that more closely resembles that of a social media app than its music streaming ilk. (TechCrunch)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/From Fox News

Tucker's Trans Tirade: Right-wing media on Wednesday continued to demonize the trans community after the tragic Nashville shooting. Unsurprisingly, the extremist Tucker Carlson was arguably the most pronounced in his attacks. From his prime time perch on Fox News, Carlson claimed to his millions of loyal viewers that trans people "hate Christians" because they refuse to "join every other liar in our society and proclaim the transgenderists are Gods." Carlson's rant came as his show's chyron blared, "THE TRANS MOVEMENT IS TARGETING CHRISTIANS."

🔎 Zooming in: As the Human Rights Campaign said earlier this week, "We do know that every study available shows that transgender and non-binary people are much more likely to be the victims of violence, rather than the perpetrator of it." Carlson, I'm sure, knows that — just as he knew Donald Trump's election lies were delusional. But Carlson also knows what his audience wants, and attacks on the trans community are sadly in vogue in right-wing media. The narrative enables talkers like him to deflect from real questions about America's gun violence epidemic.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Li Zhou broke down how right-wing commentators "are using the tragedy in Nashville to push their anti-trans agenda." (Vox)
"Anti-trans hate is proliferating and escalating all over Fox News, Twitter, 4Chan, Telegram, and Kiwi Farms as more news trickles out of Nashville," Anya Zoledziowski and Mack Lamoureux report. (Vice)
A Twitter Blue paid verified account pushed a fake local news tweet that contained a fabricated quote attributed to a father of a Nashville school shooting victim that called for "the end of the trans evil." (Daily Dot)
Meanwhile, Twitter said it has removed thousands of tweets promoting a "trans day of vengeance" protest. (AP)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illutration/Susan Walsh/AP

Disney's Marvel Move: Last year, Marvel Entertainment Chairman Isaac Perlmutter backed an activist campaign that aimed to shake up Disney's board. On Wednesday, he was laid off, as the entertainment giant cuts 7,000-some jobs and works to restructure its business under Bob Iger. The NYT's Brooks Barnes reported that Perlmutter "was told by phone on Wednesday that Marvel Entertainment, a small division centered on consumer products and run separately from Marvel Studios, was redundant and would be folded into larger Disney business units." Barnes has more details here.

OFF STAGE

Disney "quietly took power from Ron DeSantis' new board before the state takeover," Steve Contorno reports. (CNN)
Emily Ratajkowski's estranged husband, Sebastian Bear-McClard, has been accused of sexual misconduct, Tatiana Siegel reports. He declined to comment to Siegel. (Variety)
Guy Pearce has apologized over a tweet about trans actors. (The Wrap)
Netflix has been sued over allegations its fictional film "No Limit," based on the story of Francisco Ferreras, implied a free-diver murdered his wife. (Variety)
"Hollywood was once filled with dream jobs. But as town turmoil sends careers sideways, so go employees' expectations," Elaine Low writes. (Ankler)
"Dungeons & Dragons" is looking at a potential $65 million opening, with a 90% Rotten Tomatoes score. (Deadline)
Season two of HBO's "House of the Dragon" will be shorter than the first, a choice that comes as the company ponders Season three. (Deadline)
CBS renewed "Blue Bloods" for a 14th season, though the cast and producers will take a 25% cut. (THR)
The upcoming sixth season of "Grown-ish" will be the last. (Variety)
The finale of "The Bachelor" drew 3.4 million viewers. (The Wrap)
Sony will release a short film, titled "The Spider Within," as part of the company's new mentorship program. The short will be released ahead of "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse." (Variety)

Thank you for reading! This newsletter was edited by Jon Passantino and produced with the assistance of Liam Reilly. Have feedback? Send us an email here. We will see you back in your inbox tomorrow.