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Thursday, March 2, 2023

The week is just about done! A.G. Sulzberger delivers the "State of the Times," Rashida Jones defends perspective programming, DirecTV brutally fact-checks Newsmax, lawmakers ask Mark Zuckerberg not to move forward with a reported VR plan, HBO releases the trailer for the final season of "Succession," and more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

Murdoch's Mask Slips

CNN Photo Illustration/Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

"We report. You decide."

That was the longtime slogan of Fox News. But a deposition and private messages made public in recent weeks has exposed that even Rupert Murdoch doesn't treat Fox News like an actual news organization.

The revelation is part of several legal filings from Dominion Voting Systems' $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against the right-wing talk channel, uncovering numerous instances in which the Fox Corporation chairman brazenly directed the network's leadership to help the Republican Party.

Taken as a whole, the statements show that Murdoch apparently views Fox News more like an extension of the GOP than a credible news organization with a mission of informing viewers and allowing them to arrive at their own decisions.

The legal filings are littered with examples of Murdoch tipping the scales:

► Murdoch gave Jared Kushner "confidential information" about then-candidate Joe Biden's ads "along with debate strategy" in 2020, a filing said, offering Donald Trump's son-in-law "a preview of Biden's ads before they were public."

► Murdoch asked Fox News chief executive Suzanne Scott to have Sean Hannity say "something supportive" about Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham ahead of the 2020 election. Murdoch explained, "We cannot lose the Senate if at all possible."

► Following Trump's loss, Murdoch told Scott to "concentrate on Georgia" when the state was holding a high-stakes special election that would decide the balance of power in the US Senate, instructing her to be "helping any way we can."

► When Trump appealed for help defeating Republican West Virginia Senate candidate Don Blankenship, Murdoch told Scott and Fox News president Jay Wallace, "Anything during day helpful but Sean [Hannity] and Laura [Ingraham] dumping on him hard might save the day."

► When then-New York Post editor Col Allan told Murdoch that Biden's only hope for winning the election was "to stay in his basement and not face serious questions," Murdoch responded, "Just made sure Fox banging on about these issues. If the audience talks the theme will spread."

Taken in isolation, any one of these actions would be considered a major scandal at an actual news organization. There would be investigations and likely disciplinary measures would ensue. But at Fox News, that's not the case. That's almost certainly because the leadership does not view the channel in the same way that it is marketed to viewers and advertisers.

And Murdoch isn't the only person in leadership who seemingly doesn't view Fox News as a straight-shooting news organization (which, to be clear, it most definitely is not). In the Dominion filings, former House Speaker turned Fox Corporation board member Paul Ryan wrote the Murdochs, "[T]he sooner we can put down the echoes of falsehoods from our side, the faster we can get onto principled loyal opposition."

Notice the words Ryan used there: "Loyal opposition." That's what Ryan thinks Fox News should apparently be, in its best form.

Critics have long accused Fox News of being the "opposition" to Democratic officeholders and candidates. Honest observers have known for quite some time that that is the case. It's just striking to hear Fox leadership like Ryan talk openly behind the scenes about what the company is at its core.

Fox News has accused Dominion of having "cherry picked" statements to unfairly malign the network. But it's hard to see how, under any circumstances, these instructions to a supposed network news chief would be appropriate.

THE SIDEBAR

David Zurawik: "Fox News was never a real news network." (CNN)
"It's becoming clear that interacting with Fox News as a news outlet in any sense is no longer an option for Democrats," Greg Sargent writes. (WaPo)
Chuck Schumer told John Berman that he leaves it up to individual Democrats on whether to appear on the right-wing talk network, though he notes it has pumped "propaganda" into the public conversation. (CNN)
Fired Fox News politics editor Chris Stirewalt: "It feels really good to be vindicated in this way. We knew that we were isolated inside the company at that time, but we did not know how isolated we were, and we didn't know the pressure that was being applied internally against us." (Reason)
The White House trolled Fox News on Thursday by responding to a request for comment with references to the Dominion case. Fox News, which has ignored the damning case filings and ordered its media team not to cover the story, did not run the comment in its article. (Semafor)
Donald Trump continued to rage against Rupert Murdoch. Now he is demanding Murdoch "fire" those at Fox News who didn't push his election lies: "It's time to get rid of Fake News, and call it like it is!" (Deadline)
Susan Glasser wonders: "What will happen if [Trump] runs and wins the Republican nomination without Fox's imprimatur? Will the network once again fall in line, as it did in 2016, cheerleading for a G.O.P. victory even after it nominated a candidate Murdoch did not want? Or will the divorce proceed?" (New Yorker)
Mona Charen has an excellent piece on how conservative criticism about the press gave birth to a propaganda machine: "The channel that debuted with the tagline 'fair and balanced' has become completely untethered to any standard of integrity. Its own bias bears no comparison to that of the 'mainstream media.'" (Bulwark)
Coming next week: Lachlan Murdoch will participate on Thursday in the Morgan Stanley 2023 TMTC conference. (PR Newswire)

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

The Silent Shareholders: More than 60% of Fox Corporation is not owned by the Murdochs. The rest of the pie belongs to other shareholders, much of which are investment firms. And these firms boast to their clients that they invest their money in companies which have high standards of corporate governance. Vanguard, a large Fox shareholder, for instance, has an entire page on its website that boasts it advocates "for the highest standards of corporate governance" and "care[s] deeply about governance."

But experts, such as the renowned Yale Management School professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, have said good corporate governance is absent at Fox. So what responsibility do these firms have to their clients? "As managers of others people's money, with promises made in their marketing materials and charters, they have an obligation to act on this now public, sworn, proven documentation of failed governance," Sonnenfeld told me Thursday. "The corporate governance case is clear. Fox failed and their investors need to speak up." ValueEdge Advisors Vice Chair Nell Minow said she would not expect investors to go public with their reactions. "But I would expect that at least some of them are discussing options from asking for meetings with independent directors to shareholder proposals to litigation," Minnow told me.

► Julie Tulbert of the progressive watchdog Media Matters points out, "Since October 2022, at least eight law firms have begun seeking plaintiffs for suits against Fox's board of directors for breach of their fiduciary duties, with several of the notices for plaintiffs noting the revelations from the Dominion lawsuit as well as the ongoing $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit by Smartmatic, another election technology company attacked by Fox."

THE BUSINESS

CNN Photo Illustration/Ramin Talaie/Getty Images

A.G.'s Address: The annual State of the Times, an all-day event in which staffers pause from the normal flow of work to discuss the paper, took place on Thursday. Publisher A.G. Sulzberger delivered the opening remarks, with a few notable highlights:

► Sulzberger defended The NYT's coverage of trans issues: "We always take criticism seriously, never more so than when our coverage is accused of misrepresenting a marginalized group. In this case, our editors have listened to concerns with open minds and looked hard at whether our coverage missed the mark. Again and again, those reviews found that the work was rigorously reported and edited, and that our reporters went to great lengths to ensure each piece was written with sensitivity, nuance and care."

► Sulzberger said he wants a union agreement soon: "It's impossible to talk about our journalism without first acknowledging that many of the people behind it are currently negotiating a contract. I want to say directly how eager all of us are to get to a contract that recognizes and rewards the hard work of our amazing reporters and editors."

► Sulzberger on the information environment: "The information ecosystem has been overtaken by misinformation, propaganda, punditry and clickbait, making it harder than ever to sort fact from fiction. And in this increasingly polarized era, fewer institutions are engaged in the difficult work of searching for the truth with an open mind and a first order commitment to independence, fairness and accuracy."

► Sulzberger on NYT's 2022 benchmarks: "Last year, The New York Times published 220,920 photographs; 44,288 articles; 24,243 newsletters; 5,400 videos; 4,727 puzzles; 3,234 Wirecutter reviews; 1,400 podcast episodes; 807 recipes; 36 books; four major documentary projects; and a Hollywood feature film celebrating the type of great work that happens inside this building every day."

In Defense of Perspective Programming: MSNBC boss Rashida Jones on Thursday evening accepted the Radio Television Digital News Foundation's prestigious Leonard Zeidenberg First Amendment Award. During her acceptance speech, Jones made an argument in favor of commentary. "Commentary in 2023 has gotten a dirty name," Jones said. "There is a perception that many of our social ills – partisanship and polarization – have been caused by political and social commentary."

"Tonight, I want to offer a different take," Jones continued. "We are of course a deeply divided society as we have been at many other moments in our history. But it is thanks to the First Amendment we are a better society. It's the First Amendment that provides the legal foundation for robust commentary. Historians will note we as a nation have had a rich and colorful legacy of vivid, provocative and sometimes irresponsible commentary since the First Amendment was ratified. But with the bad has also come so much more good. The First Amendment has enabled our history's most powerful and effective commentary to flourish."

IN THE INDUSTRY

CNET has laid off about a dozen people, or 10% of its staff, Mia Sato reports. (The Verge)
But the layoffs are unrelated to the platform using "emerging technologies" such as AI, a CNET spokesperson told Todd Spangler. (Variety)
ESPN has "held conversations with major sports leagues and media partners about launching a feature on ESPN.com and its free ESPN app that will link users directly to where a live sporting event is streaming," Alex Sherman reports. (CNBC)
Chartbeat has acquired Tubular Labs and Lineup Systems that will give it "access to tools and services that help publishers expand their reach and revenue," Sara Fischer reports. (Axios)

MEDIA MOVES

The NYT hired John Carreyrou for its investigations team. (Twitter)
The WaPo hired Lindsey Underwood as its first breaking news editor on the features vertical. (WaPo)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Federico Parra/AFP/Getty Images

Nailing Newsmax: The war between DirecTV and Newsmax continues to be waged — and it is getting ugly. In a brutal letter to four GOP senators on Thursday, DirecTV dressed down Newsmax point-by-point, saying that the "current business negotiation impasse has nothing to do with 'censoring' or 'deplatforming' Newsmax because of its political content," but is actually "about two companies operating in a free market who are unable to agree on economic terms." The satellite carrier also noted that Newsmax actually paid DirecTV to be included in its lineup years ago. "We are very troubled that Newsmax has engaged in this campaign to make an economic dispute into a false censoring and political deplatforming issue," DirecTV said. "It degrades both our politics and our markets." Read the full letter here.

► A spokesperson for Newsmax told me in response to the letter, "While we strongly disagree with DirecTV's characterizations about Newsmax, we are pleased that they are open to bringing Newsmax back on, and we hope both parties can come to a mutually agreeable solution to have that happen."

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Michael Grynbaum writes about how Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis "usually avoids the press." But for Rupert Murdoch, Grynbaum writes, "He'll make an exception." (NYT)
"After hours of conversations with nearly a dozen Project Veritas-world insiders, the explanation for the ousting of [James] O'Keefe seems far simpler than any of the conspiracies. O'Keefe and the Project Veritas board ... couldn't coexist anymore," Amber Athey writes. (Spectator)
Top Fox News and Fox Nation talk hosts are not scheduled to be at CPAC this year as the annual gathering loses its pull. (POLITICO)
Caleb Ecarma writes about how Republican Party influencer and right-wing media star Matt Schlapp is sidestepping the allegation of sexual misconduct against him at CPAC. (Vanity Fair)
Newsmax host Benny Johnson claims Attorney General Merrick Garland "loves baby murder" and that the "gestapo" Joe Biden-led federal government believes in "child sacrifice." (MMFA)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Zapping Zuck: A pair of Democratic senators are asking Meta to not move forward with a reported plan to offer its virtual reality app Horizon Worlds to users under 18. Sens. Ed Markey and Richard Blumenthal told Mark Zuckerberg in a letter that the company's plan was "unacceptable," citing a "record of failure to protect children and teens." The senators said that the Metaverse is "under-researched" and argued that "any strategy to invite young users into a digital space rife with potential harms should not be driven by a goal to maximize profit." CNN's Brian Fung has more here.

🔭 Zooming Out: "The calls for caution come as social media platforms have faced years of scrutiny over their impact on young users, including their potential to lead teens down harmful rabbit holes," Fung noted. "TikTok announced Wednesday that every user under 18 will soon have their accounts default to a one-hour daily screen time limit, in one of the most aggressive moves yet ... to prevent teens from endlessly scrolling."

TOO MANY TABS

Elon Musk and Bill Gates are at odds, once again, this time over whether AI is a "dangerous technology." (Fortune)
Jess Weatherbed and Mia Sato with a good question: "Why won't TikTok confirm the Bold Glamour filter is AI?" (The Verge)
More ChatGPT competitors are emerging. A South Korean telecoms giant says it plans to release its "super app" bot this year. (CNBC)
Twitter-rival Bluesky, which is backed by Jack Dorsey, is now live on the App Store. (Yahoo!)
Gerrit De Vynck, Caroline O'Donovan, and Naomi Nix write about how Big Tech is retreating: "Cost-cutting and layoffs are another nail in the coffin for the industry's most ambitious and costly projects." (WaPo)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Claudette Barius/HBO

The End: HBO on Thursday released the official trailer for season four of "Succession," which will be the award-winning series' final chapter. The trailer promises high drama, coupled with the show's signature comedy when it returns March 26. Check it out here.

OFF STAGE

Jussie Smollett has appealed his conviction. (Rolling Stone)
Leonard Cohen's former manager has been accused by the legendary musician's children of forging a false version of his trust. (The Wrap)
"The (other) man behind the 'Yellowstone' kingdom": Josef Adalian writes about "how Paramount's Chris McCarthy turned Taylor Sheridan's cable hit into streaming's biggest franchise." (Vulture)
Tom Cruise is being Tom Cruise, using a U.S. aircraft carrier off the Italian coast to shoot flight scenes for "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part Two." (Variety)
Peter Dinklage and Juliette Lewis are set to star in a western thriller for Tubi. (Deadline)
Oprah Winfrey buys 870 more acres of land in Maui. (Maui Now)
Glenn Close is set to star in a film based off the novel "The Summer Book." (Deadline)
"Tamron Hall" has been renewed for a fifth season. (The Wrap)
The CW has released the trailer for the final season of "Riverdale." (YouTube)
Apple TV+'s "Prehistoric Planet" has been renewed for a second season. (Collider)

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.