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Thursday, April 27, 2023

Good evening from Washington, D.C., where White House Correspondents' Dinner festivities are now underway! In this edition of Reliable: "Vice News Tonight" has been canceled, Dana Bash will take over as the new anchor of "Inside Politics" as John King takes on a new CNN role, Fox's ratings continue to fade, Snap shares sink, James Corden says goodbye to late night, and more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

The DeSantis-Trump Division

CNN Photo Illustration/Maya Alleruzzo/Pool/AP

"Hold off on the [Ron] DeSantis thing."

That was the order from top Breitbart editor Matt Boyle in the company's internal Slack channel last week, instructing staffers at the far-right outlet to pause stories on the Florida governor ahead of an expected 2024 run. Boyle, who described DeSantis as "inept," signaled that stories related to the governor needed "sign off" from him, Editor-In-Chief Alex Marlow, and chief executive Larry Solov, according to screenshots of the conversation that I obtained.

The instruction from Boyle, the site's notably pro-Trump editor, came after staffers had flagged a DeSantis commercial spoofing Dylan Mulvaney's Bud Light video, which had generated a storm of anti-transgender backlash in conservative circles. The terse command led to suspicion inside Breitbart that Boyle, who had already confessed he viewed DeSantis negatively, was trying to wield his power at the outlet to tilt the scales against the Sunshine State governor and in favor of Trump in the lead up to the 2024 contest.

Boyle's order, however, was met with fierce pushback.

Dylan Gwinn, a sports writer at Breitbart, told Boyle that he believed the DeSantis commercial was a sports story and questioned why he would need his authoritzation to post an article. "I need your permission to do a story on a hilarious ad?" Gwinn asked.

"To do a story on a political and likely candidate for president yes you do," Boyle shot back. "It's not a sports story, it's a politics story."

"Is this a new policy regarding all stories on all presidential candidates?" asked John Nolte, a senior Breitbart writer.

"You are to run anything on this by me," Boyle sternly replied. "It's not a new policy, it's longstanding policy."

The conversation grew even more heated.

"I'm unaware of this policy," Nolte quipped. "I've literally written hundreds of stories on presidential candidates."

"You are unhinged," Gwinn added.

The tense back and forth inside Breitbart reflects a growing tension inside the right-wing media universe writ large — one that could have consequences for national politics. Ahead of the 2024 Republican primary contest, battle lines are starting to be drawn. On one side, supporters of Trump. On the other, supporters of DeSantis.

It's reminicent of what took place in right-wing media during the 2016 GOP primary season. Back then, one camp of conservatives supported Trump, while others supported Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. This time, the early fault lines have been drawn between DeSantis and Trump.

Toward the end of the discussion, Boyle walked back some of his instruction, saying that the policy pertained specifically to stories about DeSantis and the Bud Light controversy— not everything under the sun about the Florida governor. In a statement, a Breitbart spokesperson told me, "Another day, another robust debate in the Breitbart virtual newsroom. Once again, Breitbart is the best place for GOP primary coverage, as CNN has always known."

DeSantis's campaign declined to comment.

But the manner in which the biggest mouthpieces in right-wing media cover the looming primary is highly consequential, and could ultimately decide who gets the party's blessing. Republican primary voters primarily get their news from partisan outlets, such as Breitbart and Fox News, while shunning news from mainstream outlets.

Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul and Republican kingmaker who controls some of the most powerful organs in conservative media, appeared to make clear in the wake of the midterm elections that he would prefer to cast aside Trump in favor of DeSantis as the leader of the Republican party. That's not to say that Fox News hosts like Sean Hannity will suddenly become anti-Trump, but the network has already worked to shower DeSantis in positive coverage, casting him as a crusader against radical "woke" ideology infecting the nation, and helping to boost his chances at taking on Trump.

But Murdoch's power has limits, as was demonstrated in the 2016 Republican primaries. And a litany of anti-establishment, populist-leaning outlets and commentators — who continue to only grow in power — will likely remain in Trump's corner. While the battles will be fought in headlines and hyperbolic critiques, the winner of this public struggle for the soul of the party could ultimately decide the direction of the nation.

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Drudge Report

RIP Jerry Springer: The famed talk show host whose outrageous programs became a cultural phenomenon is dead at the age of 79. The former Cincinnati mayor and tabloid television star "was known for outrageous arguments, thrown chairs and physical confrontations between sparring couples and homewreckers," CNN's Lisa Respers France and Marianne Garvey wrote. Springer, they noted, once told CNN he didn't mind being referred to as the "grandfather of trash TV." Read the full CNN obit.

Weekend in Washington: It's White House Correspondents' Dinner weekend in D.C. — which means that the denizens of the provincial hinterlands will be hopping from party to party over the next 72 hours. Parties this year will be hosted by CNN, Comcast-NBCU, CBS News, Axios, CAA, UTA, Semafor, POLITICO, ABC News, and others. At the actual dinner, Arnold Schwarzenegger is set to kick things off with a cold open, before comedian Roy Wood Jr. roasts President Biden. POLITICO has a guide to the 2023 events here.

THE BUSINESS

In a Vice: Vice Media said Thursday it is canceling "Vice News Tonight" as part of a broad restructuring that resulted in painful cuts across the company. "In response to the current market conditions and business realities facing [Vice Media Group] and the broader news and media industry, we are moving forward on some painful but necessary reductions, primarily across our News business," co-chief CEOs Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala said. Here's my full story.

🔎 Zooming in: The cuts, which we first reported, resulted in dozens of staffers losing their jobs, sources told me, with the company's D.C. bureau being hit particularly hard. The exact number of jobs impacted by the changes, however, was not clear. The restructuring will have major implications on news teams at Vice Media. The company said it will sunset the Vice World News brand and fold its operations under the Vice News umbrella, giving the company a singular news brand. It will also slash its dedicated audio unit, as well as the Vice World News short form video team.

The King Steps Down: John King will take on a new role at CNN and step down as the anchor of "Inside Politics," handing the torch to Dana Bash, who will take over as anchor of the esteemed program later this year, the network announced Thursday. King, who also serves as CNN's chief national correspondent, will take on a new role focused on voters in battleground states during the 2024 presidential election. King, who requested the new assignment, will continue to play a key role in CNN's special coverage.

► Bash said that she is "thrilled" to be taking over as the anchor of "Inside Politics," which airs at 12pm. "After nearly 30 years at CNN covering campaigns, Capitol Hill and the White House, I am excited to helm a program devoted to the politics that impact Americans' lives," Bash said. "John built an extraordinary show that has attracted a loyal audience of political junkies, and I am looking forward to leading its next chapter." More in my story here.

IN THE INDUSTRY

Imprisoned WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich released a new statement: "I am humbled and deeply touched by all the letters I received. I've read each one carefully, with gratitude." (Dow Jones)
Benjamin Mullin and John Koblin write about the questions swirling in the aftermath of Jeff Shell's firing and report Mike Cavanagh is starting to meet with NBCU talent. (NYT)
BuzzFeed plans to significantly ramp up its content output with independent internet creators, Jonah Peretti tells Sara Fischer. (Axios)
Christiane Amanpour was honored Thursday night with the President's Award at the Overseas Press Club annual dinner. (OPC)
The 2023 Washington Women in Journalism Award recipients include Gloria Borger, Asma Khalid, Kelly O'Donnell, and Jacqueline Alemany. (Washingtonian)

IN THE MARKET

Comcast conquers: The company's shares ended up more than 10% on Thursday after a smashing earnings report. Peacock subscribers grew to 22 million, though it had $704 million in losses, up from $456 million during the same period last year. (CNBC)
✂️ Cuts, cuts, cuts: Amazon Studios and Prime Video laid off 100 staffers. (Variety)
Roku boss Charlie Collier made $53.3 million last year. (Variety)

MEDIA MOVES

Kristina O'Neill announced she is resigning as editor of Wall Street Journal Magazine. (WaPo)
The NYT hired Alexis Soloski as a reporter. (NYT)
The WaPo hired Meryl Kornfield as a politics reporter. (WaPo)

THE INFO WARS

CNN/Matt Stiles

Fox's Ratings Fade: It's safe to say that the Fox News audience is rebelling against the right-wing network after it fired extremist Tucker Carlson, the channel's most popular personality. The network's ratings Wednesday at 8pm sunk to 1.3 million total viewers, with 124,000 in the 25-54 demo. Not only do those figures show that the 8pm hour shed viewers from the 7pm hour on Fox, but they are also the worst weekday ratings in the key demo since the pre-9/11 era. Fox News also delivered its lowest 25-54 non-holiday Wednesday audience in prime time (8p-11p) since pre-9/11. And it's unclear how long this pattern — mirroring the one that led the network to make regrettable editorial decisions in the wake of the 2020 election — will last. Meanwhile, over at Newsmax, the surge continues to hold. On Wednesday, Eric Bolling's 8pm hour boasted 510,000 viewers. That number represents more than 3x his audience last week.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

"Starting on Monday, Newsmax programming has aggressively pushed a narrative that Mr. Carlson's dismissal was a capitulation to the left by Fox News and the Murdoch family," Michael Grynbaum reports. (NYT)
David French argues that Carlson "was both more and less important than you think." (NYT)
David Dayen: "On Tuesday afternoon, the Prospect posted an article about Tucker Carlson on its home page. Focusing almost solely on Carlson's opposition to corporate globalism, it missed a very large forest for some very cherry-picked trees." (Prospect)
Jack Shafer writes about the reporting on Carlson's firing: "The failure of the press to get much in the way of overlapping versions from their unnamed sources to confirm a consistent story should reduce our faith, already low, in the veracity of anonymous accounts." (POLITICO)
Switching gears: The family of Steven Crowder's estranged wife told Yashar Ali that "she spent years hiding her husband's mental and emotional abuse from her family, that he lied about the circumstances around their divorce, and that he wasn't present for the birth of their children." Ali obtained video showing some of the verbal abuse. (Yashar)
"A photo of Biden holding a notecard during the presser may have inadvertently revealed one of the dirty little secrets of presidential news conferences: They're less spontaneous and freewheeling than they appear to be, with a fair amount of stage managing behind them," Paul Farhi writes. (WaPo)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Snap Shares Sink: Shares in Snap have fallen off a cliff, plunging nearly 20% in after-hours trading, after the company missed on Q1 earnings. The company reported revenue of $989 million, representing a 7% decline. Snap said demands for ads were "disrupted by the changes" it made to its ad platform. "We are working to accelerate our revenue growth and we are using this opportunity to make significant improvements to our advertising platform to help drive increased return on investment for our advertising partners," Snap boss Evan Spiegel added. Variety's Todd Spangler has more here.

TOO MANY TABS

Meanwhile, Amazon's stock shot up 11% after it beat expectations. (WSJ)
Clubhouse will lay off more than 50% of its staff. (THR)
Meta's stock ended the day up 14%, a 52-week high. (CNBC)
A federal appeals court ruled in favor of Meta and against New York and other sate attorneys in an antitrust case. (CNN)
Under Elon Musk, Twitter has "complied with hundreds more government orders for censorship or surveillance — especially in countries such as Turkey and India," Russell Brandom reports. (Rest of World)
Clare Duffy writes about how Musk "upended Twitter and his own reputation in 6 months as CEO." (CNN)
Google is adding end-to-end encryption in authenticator. (The Verge)
YouTube Music is rolling out podcasts. (TechCrunch)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Terence Patrick/CBS/Getty Images

Corden's Close: James Corden is ready to sign off. "The Late Late Show" on Thursday will bid farewell to Corden, who hosted the comedy program over the last eight years. As part of the final episode, Deadline's Peter White reports that other late-night comedy giants will participate. Per White, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, and Seth Meyers will make an appearance in a sketch. "The days of war between late-night hosts like David Letterman, Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien are long gone," White wrote. More from him here.

► "For critics like me, this feels less like a momentous departure and more like a footnote," NPR's Eric Deggans writes.

► "Did James Corden change late night for better or worse?" asks Vulture's Jen Chaney and Bethy Squires.

OFF STAGE

Marvel Studios architect David Maisel is releasing the Ekos Genesis Art Collection, 995 NFTs of comic book artist Michael Turner's work. (NFT Now)
At CinemaCon, Paramount Global showed off a heart-pounding 20-minute car chase with Tom Cruise from "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning." (Variety)
Meanwhile, Lionsgate unveiled its "Hunger Games" prequel trailer. (The Wrap)
And Rhianna made a cameo and said she's playing a Smurfette in "The Smurfs Movie." (Deadline)
Get ready for a "Dodgeball" sequel. Vince Vaughn is set to return for the movie from 20th Century Studios. (Deadline)
"Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania" is — finally — set for release on Disney+ on May 17. (IGN)
"The Kardashians" season three trailer dropped, showing Kim Kardashian in tears while going through her breakup with Pete Davidson and divorce with Kanye West. (People)
Donald Sutherland is joining the Taylor Sheridan universe. (THR)

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.