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Thursday, March 9, 2023

The end of the week is near. Lachlan Murdoch addresses the Fox News scandal, Dominion challenges redactions, Dafna Linzer announces POLITICO departure, TikTok's CEO meets with lawmakers, Ron DeSantis tops The NYT bestseller list, and the Academy's execs preview Sunday's Oscars show. But first, the A1.

THE A1

In the Eye of Iger

CNN Photo Illustration/Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Bob Iger's vision for Disney is coming into greater focus.

In his appearance at Morgan Stanley's annual Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, Iger spoke at length about the future of the entertainment Goliath he once again finds himself leading, providing a glimpse into his plans for the media powerhouse.

The CEO touched on a broad range of subjects, including Disney+, Marvel, "Star Wars," and Hulu, among others. Here are some of the key takeaways:

► Quality over quantity: Iger said that as Disney looks to cut back on costs associated with producing television and films, the company will focus on quality over quantity. Iger said he is "pleased" with the support he is getting from "content creators of the company" and that they agree a key part of reducing costs is "understanding how much volume" is actually needed.

► Disney+ pricing was "off": Iger said that he remains "generally bullish on streaming as a great consumer proposition," but that he believes in Disney's "zeal to grow global subs," the company was "off in terms of ... pricing strategy." Iger said Disney is "now starting to learn more about it" and will "adjust accordingly."

► Too many Marvel sequels: Iger noted that there are plenty of characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that Disney can draw upon to tell new stories, and suggested that perhaps the company had been relying too much on sequels based on existing franchises. "Do you need a third or a fourth, or is it time to turn to other characters?" Iger asked, adding that audiences should expect "a lot of newness" going forward. "We're going to turn back to the Avengers franchise, but with a whole set of different Avengers," Iger said.

► Imperative to be "very careful" with "Star Wars": Iger said that the company is also being "very careful" in its approach to the "Star Wars" franchise. Iger cited the "disappointing" box office performance of "Solo" and said it had given the company some "pause."

► Studying Hulu "very carefully": Iger said that Disney is "studying the business" of Hulu, which it owns two-thirds of, "very, very carefully." He said that "the environment is very, very tricky right now" and that "before we make any big decisions about our level of investment and our commitment to that business, we want to understand where it could go."

► "Bullish" about ESPN's future: Iger praised ESPN's ratings and push into streaming, saying that its 25 million subs is "nothing to sneeze at." Iger added, "When you combine the strength of live sports and the brand and the value of advertising, you can create a business that's not just subscriber dependent, but dependent on advertising and subscriber revenue. I think there's a reason to be bullish." But he added, "It doesn't mean that we're not going to be open-minded about its future, but right now, we're bullish about it."

► Third-party licensing: Iger said Disney could once again create content for its rivals. "As we look to reduce the content that we're creating for our own platforms, there probably are opportunities to license to third parties," Iger said. "For a while, that was something we couldn't possibly do because we were so favoring our own streaming platforms. But if we get to a point where we need less content for these platforms, and we still have the capacity of producing that content, why not use it to grow revenue?"

► Theme park pricing "too aggressive": Iger conceded that Disney erred on its theme park pricing. "In our zeal to grow profits, we may have been a little bit too aggressive about some of our pricing," Iger said. "I think there's a way to continue to grow that business, but be smarter about how we price so that we maintain that brand value of accessibility."

► On Iger's own future: What's at the very top of Iger's to-do list? Working on his ultimate exit. "Succession is pretty much at the top of the list," Iger said, adding, "My goal is essentially to leave here in two years with a trajectory… that is very optimistic and positive."

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Stephanie Keith/Getty Images

Lachlan's Lie: In his first public comments since recent revelations in the Dominion lawsuit enveloped Fox in scandal, Lachlan Murdoch dismissed what he described as "noise" around the monster defamation suit and threw his support behind the company's right-wing talk channel. "I think a lot of the noise that you hear about this case, is actually not about the law and it's not about journalism," Murdoch said at Morgan Stanley's TMT conference. "It's really about politics." Then, Murdoch lied. The Fox Corporation boss said that Fox News reports the news "without fear or favor" — despite a mountain of evidence from the Dominion case that has indicated the opposite. Text messages, emails, and deposition transcripts show that Fox's coverage after the 2020 election was, in fact, shaped by fear of the audience and most definitely was in favor of Republicans. To claim otherwise is an affront to the truth.

THE SIDEBAR

In his comments Thursday, Murdoch also voiced support for embattled Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott, saying that he believes she has done a "tremendous job" in the role. His show of public support comes amid questions about her future in the Murdoch empire, given the scandal that has shrouded the network under her watch. (CNN)
Dominion on Thursday filed a legal motion challenging the numerous redactions Fox has made in court filings and exhibits released in the case, the latest filing in the lawsuit. Fox countered that the redactions "are consistent with the law and court rulings." (CNN)
Erik Wemple points out that the redactions are "wonky but critical" and that if a court unseals the underlying information, "there'll be yet another round of potentially embarrassing texts, emails and other stuff coming out of this litigation." (Twitter)
Fox Corporation on Thursday responded in a letter to recently filed FEC complaints from two progressive groups that allege the company violated campaign finance laws when Murdoch shared a campaign ad with Jared Kushner. Fox says in its response that the ad in question was already airing publicly. "Mr. Murdoch's email, therefore, had no ascertainable commercial value and cannot be an in-kind contribution," Fox's legal counsel wrote in its letter.
Brian Steinberg points out that the Fox-Dominion trial will come at an inopportune time for the media company, with upfronts and carriage negotiations also occurring around the same time. (Variety)
Jeremy Peters writes about how Rupert Murdoch runs his media empire, "in his own (often terse) words." (NYT)
Stephen Battaglio notes that Maria Bartiromo is "front and center" in the defamation lawsuit. (LAT)
"Escaping scandal is easy for Rupert Murdoch," Andrew Wallenstein writes, asking, "Will Lachlan be as lucky?" (Variety)
Fox mulled acquiring the rights to "The Apprentice" after the 2020 election, Joe Flint reports. (WSJ)
Joe Pompeo reports that the Fox-Dominion case "may star in Lachlan Murdoch's defamation case" against the small Australian outlet Crikey, which is scheduled for trial in October. (Vanity Fair)

THE BUSINESS

CNN Photo Illustration/Piaras Ó Mídheach/Getty Images

Linzer Leaves: A year after accepting the job as executive editor of POLITICO, award-winning journalist Dafna Linzer announced Thursday that she will exit the company at the end of the month. The move had been in the works for some time, with conversations ongoing since December, people familiar with the matter told me. The main issue: Linzer clashed with Editor-In-Chief Matt Kaminski. Linzer and Kaminski, according to the people I spoke to, simply did not see eye to eye on a future vision for the scoopy politics-focused news outlet. The WaPo's Sarah Ellison has more here.

🔎 Zooming in: In a memo to staff, CEO Goli Sheikholeslami thanked Linzer for "her many contributions" to the outlet and said that in the near term "continuity" is the goal. But Sheikholeslami said, "Since I arrived a year ago, I have often pondered POLITICO's org chart, and wondered if it is the right one for a fast-growing organization." To that end, Sheikholeslami said she had asked Kaminski to partner with her "on a deeper and more comprehensive look at our newsroom structure (in the U.S.), to answer whether we are best positioned to succeed." John Harris, global editorial chair, will "join this discussion," Sheikholeslami added.

Inside Iran: In an unprecedented interview conducted by phone from inside a notorious Iran prison, Christiane Amanpour spoke to Iran's longest-held American prisoner, Siamak Namazi. In the interview, Namazi pleaded for help from the White House and said "the very fact that I've chosen to take this risk and appear on CNN from Evin prison should tell you how dire my situation has become by this point." Watch the full interview here.

🔎 Zooming in: "I have covered Iran since the early 1990's, and I believe this was a hugely important interview to show Americans the truly heart wrenching condition of some of their own citizens, innocents and political pawns, behind bars in Iran," Amanpour told me. "As Siamak told me, the authorities have tried to deny his humanity. With this interview he seized that back."

IN THE INDUSTRY

Coming up: SXSW is set to return to Austin for its 37th go around on Friday. (Austin American-Statesman)
Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall remembers his slain colleague, Pierre Zakrzewski, in an excerpt from his new book: "I speak to Pierre's family and I understand that I lost a lot — I lost limbs and I'm badly injured — but they lost everything," Hall told Kyler Alvord. (People)
A federal jury convicted ex-21st Century Fox exec Hernan Lopez and sports marketing firm Full Play in the 2nd FIFA trial. (Reuters)
✂️ Cuts, cuts, cuts: Morning Brew is laying off 40 staffers in a second round of layoffs after it slashed 14% of its staff in November. (Axios)
Dawn Olmstead and Heather McCauley have abruptly exited their roles as CEO and COO at Anonymous Content. "No reason was given for the exits," Brent Lang reports. (Variety)

MEDIA MOVES

Dean Baquet announced the inaugural class of the local investigations fellowship. (NYT)
NPR named Michel Martin as the fourth host of "Morning Edition." (NPR)
Sam Stejskal said he is departing The Athletic and leaving journalism. (Twitter)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Bryan van der Beek/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The TikTok Tour: TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has been making the rounds on Capitol Hill ahead of his first testimony before Congress later this month and as lawmakers get serious about passing legislation that could lead to the app's ban. That's according to Forbes' Alexandra Levine who reported Thursday that Chew "has sought closed-door meetings with at least half a dozen members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee" and "met with several." One representative who met with him, Rep. Lori Trahan, told Forbes, "He's operating from a place where no one has trust in them, and he fully recognizes that." Here's the full story.

► Related: POLITICO's Daniel Lippman reports that TikTok "has hired top Biden-connected consulting firm SKDK as it faces increasing scrutiny in Washington."

► Related: THR's Winston Cho reports on how TikTok is "facing a slew of class action lawsuits alleging it tracks and harvests troves of personal information on users through its in-app browser."

TOO MANY TABS

Analysts are bullish on Meta's plan to cut spending and infuse AI into its products, Angela Palumbo reports. (Barron's)
Discord has started to test a ChatGPT-powered chatbot. (The Verge)
Ron Amadeo writes that Google has "dusted off the failed Google+ playbook to fight ChatGPT." (ArsTechnica)
Will Knight reports that white-collar workers might indeed "soon face the AI disruption everyone's been panicking about." But, Knight adds, "The news may be better thank you think." (WIRED)
Reddit is shuttering its Clubhouse clone. (TechCrunch)
Apple is launching its long-awaited standalone classical music app on March 28. (The Verge)

THE INFO WARS

DeSantis Dominates: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' book, "Courage To Be Free," debuted atop The NYT nonfiction bestseller list. The memoir sold approximately 94K copies in its first week, according to Bookscan numbers I obtained. That makes DeSantis' book the most successful campaign book from a presidential hopeful in recent memory, notably besting Donald Trump's 2015 "Crippled America," which sold 28K copies in its first week, per Bookscan. DeSantis also bested Barack Obama's "Audacity of Hope" debut, which sold 67K copies in its first week, according to Bookscan. Insider's Kimberley Leonard has a story here.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Former Trump attorney and right-wing media fixture Jenna Ellis has admitted statements she made about the 2020 election were false. Ellis has been censured by a judge over the matter. (CNN)
Tucker Carlson's airing of January 6 security footage has now spilled over into criminal court cases. (CNN)
Alex Jones wants a $520,000 annual salary as he moves through bankruptcy. (AP)
Daily Wire host Matt Walsh goes on a rant about the pride flag, claiming it is a "hate symbol" and "deserves our contempt and mockery." (MMFA)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Off to the Oscars: Ahead of the Oscars on Sunday, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences CEO Bill Kramer and President Janet Yang are previewing the show and underscoring its importance. Kramer told Deadline's Pete Hammond that this year they are "really leaning" into offering unique content, such as "behind-the-scenes footage," in the show. Kramer said he expects it to be a "beautiful, entertaining, fun show that really celebrates moviemaking." Kramer also told FT's Christopher Grimes that, after last year's slap, the Academy has "spent a lot of time running through scenarios, and I think we're in very good shape." Meanwhile, Yang addressed to The NYT's Brooks Barnes how important ratings are, given it will impact its next distribution contract. "This is so important to the livelihood and future of the organization that we better confront it," Yang said.

OFF STAGE

Actor Robert Blake, who starred in the crime series "Baretta," and was later acquitted in the death of his wife, dies at 89. (CNN)
Showtime has dropped the highly anticipated trailer for "Yellowjackets" season two. (YouTube)
Sony Pictures has released the trailer for "No Hard Feelings," a raunchy comedy starring Jennifer Lawrence. (YouTube)
Amazon to the rescue! "Batman: Caped Crusader" is heading to Prime after the J.J. Abrams-Matt Reeves project was scrapped by HBO Max. (THR)
Apple TV+ has renewed "Shrinking" for a second season. (TV Line)
"John Wick: Chapter 4" will debut at SXSW. (Deadline)
Vinyl outsold CDs in the United States last year for the first time since 1987, according to the RIAA. (Spin)

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 next week.