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Monday, March 6, 2023

It's the start of another week! Tyler Perry explores purchasing BET, Hoda Kotb returns to "Today," SiriusXM cuts 8% of its workforce, Fox News faces more fire, the White House shifts its strategy on TikTok, Twitter experiences more technical glitches, Netflix's Greg Peters reveals the streamer's "religion," and more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

Tucker and the Tapes

CNN Photo Illustration/Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images/File

The face of Fox News is doing everything in his power to sanitize the horrific violence the nation saw unfold in real-time at the U.S. Capitol in the aftermath of the 2020 election.

And on Monday night, he had a major assist from Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who granted him exclusive access to tens of thousands of hours of January 6 security camera footage.

After continuing to sow doubt about the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election ("it is clear the 2020 election was a grave betrayal of American democracy"), Carlson used the footage on Monday night to portray those who broke into the U.S. Capitol as mostly peaceful patriots who simply felt wronged by the system. Carlson, who falsely claimed the footage provided "conclusive" evidence proving Democrats "lied" about the events of January 6, aired footage showing some people taking selfies and meandering through the U.S. Capitol.

"Taken as a whole the video record does not support the claim that January 6th was an insurrection," Carlson claimed. "In fact, it demolishes that claim."

The whole episode said more about McCarthy than it did Carlson. In effect, McCarthy served as Tucker Carlson's reluctant, but obedient, accomplice, providing Carlson the ink in the Fox News conspiracy theorist's quest to rewrite the events of the day in which the country's citadel of democracy was assaulted. Those events were inspired by the very same election denying rhetoric the right-wing talk channel that pays Carlson's handsome multi-million salary gave platform to in the wake of the 2020 contest.

McCarthy, of course, knew precisely what he was doing when he handed over the footage to Carlson while denying it to actual news organizations. Carlson has been one of the loudest, most obnoxious media figures denying the reality of January 6. He routinely mocks the notion that an insurrection took place and has even given platform to the fringe idea the assault could have been a "false flag" attack staged by the federal government — something Carlson continued to fan the flames of on Monday.

Ideas like those were once considered to be extreme, confined to the outskirts of right-wing media where shameless charlatans like Alex Jones spin fantasies for their audiences. But now it's available every night at 8pm for millions to watch, courtesy of the highest-rated cable channel — and, more importantly, the Republican Party's de-facto kingmaker.

If McCarthy is good at one thing, it's reading the political tea leaves. His behavior offers crucial insight into the current power dynamics of the GOP. So when McCarthy bows and grovels at the feet of Carlson, it is worth paying close attention.

McCarthy, like the rest of his flock in Congress, knows that Carlson is the real boss inside the Republican Party. GOP lawmakers not only want to remain on Carlson's good side, but they certainly do not want to receive a prime time lashing on his program, which is appointment television for the party's base. And we've seen they'll do nearly anything to stay in his good graces. (See Sen. Ted Cruz pleading Carlson for forgiveness last year.)

Perhaps, McCarthy believes that playing ball with the Fox News extremist will curry favor with him and put an end to the brutal attacks Carlson has leveled at McCarthy over the last few years. And it appears to have worked for the moment, with Carlson on Monday night offering some praise for McCarthy.

But the result of the House speaker's actions will undoubtedly be a muddying of the waters on a key and defining moment in American history, reigniting the far-right's information war on the truth in hopes of cleansing its actions in the lead up to January 6.

THE SIDEBAR

It's not just Fox News. The New York Post, another arm of Rupert Murdoch's empire, is helping elevate Carlson's narrative about January 6. The headline on tabloid's Tuesday cover: "TOUR DE FARCE."
"Carlson says no one in Washington wanted to see the tapes that he accessed on Jan. 6 released including the news media. That's not true — lawyers for multiple news organizations requested access to the video," Katherine Faulders pointed out. (Twitter)
"I don't think there is a show where Tucker doesn't lie at this point," Brian Rosenwald said. "He's easily the most shameless guy in the top echelon of conservative media." (Twitter)
Reminder: Hundreds of people have been charged in connection with the attack on the U.S. Capitol. The reality of that day is not some made up fiction by the news media. Cases have been brought before courts. And unlike Trump's election lies, they've resulted in convictions.
Key point from Sahil Kapur: "Video that Carlson didn't air shows police and rioters engaged in hours of violent combat that resulted in the injury of hundreds of police officers." (NBC News)
Ryan J. Reilly fact-checks Carlson on a big claim he made about the QAnon Shaman: "Tucker is lying." (Twitter)
Meanwhile, from the Upside Down: "The January 6 tape given by Speaker McCarthy to Tucker Carlson shows the House committee on the riot misled the nation on violence against Capitol police and that the dishonest corporate media spread the distortion with enthusiasm," Bill O'reilly declared. "That's the headline." (Twitter)
Flashback: As lies swirl about the January 6 attack, it's helpful to revisit this piece from Daniel Dale and Marshall Cohen fact-checking "five enduring lies" about that day. (CNN)

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

Forbidden in Florida: A proposed bill in Florida that would require bloggers who write about elected government officials to register with the state is the subject of mounting criticism. "This is a clear violation of the First Amendment because it strongly discourages bloggers from speaking on politics – one of the most critical types of speech for maintaining a democracy," the ACLU told Insider's Cheryl Teh about the legislation proposed by Republican state Sen. Jason Brodeur. Even Newt Gingrich has decried the bill, describing it as "insane" and saying it was "an embarrassment" that a Republican introduced it. "[Brodeur] should withdraw it immediately," Gingrich tweeted. The AP's Anthony Izaguirre has more here.

🔭 Zooming out: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hasn't weighed in directly on the bill. His office has only said he's reviewing it — and it's hard to see how this legislation could be viable. But if DeSantis did ultimately end up supporting the legislation, it would be somewhat ironic, given that DeSantis has used bloggers and independent websites to bypass traditional news outlets down in Florida.

THE BUSINESS

CNN Photo Illustration/Derek White/Getty Images

Perry's Play With Paramount: Could Tyler Perry make a play to purchase BET from Paramount Global? The WSJ's Jessica Toonkel and Joe Flint reported Monday that the Hollywood force has expressed interest in acquiring a majority stake in the company. The talks, the duo reported, "come as the company is considering selling the majority stake in BET Media Group, which includes the cable channels BET and VH1." Later in the day, it was also reported that Byron Allen is also intrigued by the idea of purchasing BET. Read the full story here.

🔎 Zooming in: "A potential sale of part of the unit, which caters primarily to Black audiences, is part of the entertainment giant's effort to shore up resources to bolster its flagship Paramount+ streaming service and its advertiser-supported free streaming platform Pluto TV," Toonkel and Flint reported, citing sources.

IN THE MARKET

✂️ Cuts, cuts, cuts: SiriusXM will reduce its workforce by 8%. That translates to laying off 475 members of its staff in a move that will impact "nearly every department" at the company. (CNN)
"Warner Bros. Discovery, which is struggling with billions of dollars in debt, is willing to pay more money to executives who might be able to help reduce it," Brian Steinberg reports. (Variety)

IN THE INDUSTRY

Hota Kotb has returned to the "Today" show. The anchor took a few weeks off after her three-year-old daughter ended up in the ICU and hospital "for a little more than a week." Kotb said she is now home and expressed gratitude for the medical staff at Weill Cornell. (Today)
Vox Media is retiring its Recode branding, continuing its tech-focused reporting mission under the main Vox banner. (Vox)
Corbin Bolies reports that The NYT's "trans coverage debacle was years in the making." (Daily Beast)
NewsNation is set to launch a panel show with its sister company, The Hill, anchored by Leland Vittert, Alex Weprin reports. (THR)
Scott Adams, after being dropped by newspapers and his syndicator over his racist comments, says "Dilbert" will return on his paid site. (CNN)

MEDIA MOVES

Jewish Insider announced Josh Kraushaar as its new editor in chief. (Twitter)
POLITICO tapped James Romoser as legal editor; and Erica Orden as legal reporter. (POLITICO)
The NYT reassigned Thomas Gibbons-Neff to a new role as Ukraine correspondent. (NYT)
The NYT's local investigations fellowship added Adam Playford as editor; Alex Peck as associate operations manager; and Emily Strong as project manager. (NYT)
The NYT tapped Mia Leimkuhler to edit and lead strategy for three of its cooking newsletters. (NYT)
UTA hired Claudia Russo as senior vice president of corporate communications. (Variety)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Anthony Behar/Sipa USA/AP

Fox's Fantasy: In a Los Angeles Times piece published over the weekend, Fox News released a fresh statement on the flood of criticism it has received in recent weeks as explosive revelations have come to light in Dominion Voting Systems' $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit. The network's response? To effectively suggest everyone else is jealous of its ratings. "Criticism by competitors, individuals and organizations with partisan agendas is part of being No. 1 in the news business," a Fox News spokesperson said. Of course, this is silly. Fox News — despite its name — is no longer, at its core, a news channel. Fox News can claim all it wants that its business is centered on informing people, but we know that the network knowingly misinformed its audience about the results of the 2020 election. That's not what real news organizations do.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Of note: Sean Hannity on Monday night teased separate interviews with both Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis. The interview ends Trump's dry spell on the right-wing talk channel.
ICYMI: Peter Baker obtained a recording of a post-election meeting at Fox News where top hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum expressed frustration with the network's Arizona call. (NYT)
The Murdoch-owned WSJ's Joe Flint and Keach Hagey report how the "inner workings of Fox News" are "on display" in the Dominion case. Kudos to WSJ for this reporting on the person who signs their paycheck. (WSJ)
Jeremy Peters: When Fox News personnel started having their phones and emails sifted through by lawyers, it "really sent a chill through the entire organization." (Raw Story)
Erik Wemple on the reductions in legal filings in the Dominion lawsuit: "The black passages in the document raise the questions: What is Fox News hiding?" (WaPo)
David Folkenflik's latest: "Fox News stands in legal peril. It says defamation loss would harm all media. (NPR)
"The Dominion filings show that for Fox News' election lies, the buck stops with the Murdochs," Bushra Sultana writes. (MMFA)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Strategy Shift: The White House "is considering pushing Congress to give it more legal power to deal with TikTok and other technology that could expose sensitive data to China," The NYT's David McCabe reported Monday, citing five sources. The Biden administration, McCabe reported, is mulling whether to support legislation from Democratic Sen. Mark Warner that would give the government more authority to tackle such matters. "The administration has provided feedback on the draft bill, which would offer an alternative to legislation that outright bans the app," McCabe wrote. The move, McCabe noted, would represent "a significant shift in the White House's strategy to respond to concerns about TikTok." Read the full story here.

📈 Snap's shares spiked on Monday and closed up more than 9% as the possibility of a TikTok ban seemed to rise.

❓ But will a national ban actually happen? Axios' Ivan Saric details "the political realities that make a national TikTok ban tricky."

TOO MANY TABS

Twitter experienced more technical difficulties on Monday. Casey Newton and Zoë Schiffer report it was because a key migration was only staffed by one engineer who made a "bad configuration change" that "basically broke the Twitter API." (Platformer)
Faiz Sidddiqui says Twitter under Musk is now a "house of cards" and that on two recent occasions "minor changes to Twitter's code appeared to break the website." (WaPo)
Twitter sources tell Marianna Spring that "the company is no longer able to protect users from trolling, state-co-ordinated disinformation and child sexual exploitation, following lay-offs and changes" Spring also reports Elon Musk is "shadowed by bodyguards at all times." (BBC)
Utah "is poised to pass a law restricting children and teens under age 18 from using social media without their parent's consent," Kim Bojórquez and Erin Alberty report. The law would require companies to give parents a password allowing them access to their child's account. (Axios)
The European Union said that, moving forward, WhatsApp has agreed to be more forthcoming about its policy changes. (Reuters)
Microsoft integrated its AI tools into its developer Power Platform to allow users to develop more products with it. (Reuters)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Akio Kon/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Netflix's Religion: New Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters joined executive chairman Reed Hastings for a fireside chat on Monday in which he outlined the two key tenets of Netflix's guiding philosophy. "We are a culture of reinvention and constantly seeking excellence," Peters said. "And so I would say there are only two things that we hold as religion: member satisfaction and profit." Hastings later underscored the importance the company believes in taking chances. "Risk is like oxygen," Hastings said, "and you thrive on it." THR's Georg Szalai has more here.

OFF STAGE

The Netflix-Chris Rock comedy special "was a streaming and comedy high-wire act" with the comedian "testing a live technology that the platform was rolling out for the first time to its more than 231 million global subscribers," Ellen Gamerman writes. (WSJ)
Last week, the UK outlet The Times reported there had been "more than 100 edits" made to R.L. Stine's "Goosebumps" books, in an effort to make them more inclusive. Stine, however, tweeted Monday he had "never changed a word" and "any changes were never shown to me." (Deadline)
Morgan Wallen is breaking streaming records with the release of his new album, "One Thing at a Time." (Billboard)
Production on "Hacks" season three will soon resume after Jean Smart's heart procedure last month. (Variety)
Arnold Schwarzenegger warns antisemites: "You will end up broken." (THR)
Prime Video has released its first trailer for "Citadel," the Russo brother spy drama. (Deadline)
Drew Taylor writes about how "Turning Red" avoided "Chinatown cliches." Production designer Rona Liu said the film focused on "staying true to just what we see and what we find inspirational." (The Wrap)

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 tomorrow.