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Thursday, April 13, 2023

Who is ready to head to Wilmington? Evan Gershkovich's parents record sit-down with The WSJ, Bob Iger comments on if he'd meet with Ron DeSantis, Montana's legislature moves to impose far-reaching ban on TikTok, San Francisco's D.A. rips Elon Musk, and Universal Music warns streamers about A.I. But first, the A1.

THE A1

The Spin Stops Here

CNN Photo Illustration/Delaware Superior Court

This is it.

The media defamation trial of the century is on the precipice of kicking off in Wilmington, Delaware, in just days.

Jury selection in Dominion Voting Systems' monster $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit took place all of Thursday, with 300 potential jurors being summoned to court. Good progress was made and the presiding judge noted that there were "more than enough jurors" to start the trial as scheduled on Monday.

Which is to say, the next time you receive this newsletter in your inbox, I will be writing to you from Wilmington after the actual trial proceedings have commenced. It is there, in Courtroom 7E, where the biggest figures in Murdoch Media, accompanied by a throng of high-powered lawyers, will attempt to mount their defense after repeatedly failing to convince a judge to toss the now-historic case.

It's, frankly, extraordinary to write those words. When I watched Fox News broadcast election lies in the aftermath of the 2020 election, never did I expect the network to be held accountable in a meaningful way.

I've covered Fox News for a while now. I've watched thousands and thousands of hours of the right-wing channel's programming. I've seen its hosts over the years undermine public health, make gross anti-immigrant remarks, peddle lies and propaganda, and push deranged conspiracy theories that were once reserved for the right-wing's furthest fringes.

The network has always seemed to find a way to sail through the controversy, even the most hellish storms it has faced. Sometimes it has emerged even stronger and more emboldened than before.

But this time is different. This time, the normal tricks the network turns to during times of crisis will not free it from trouble. This time, in a court of law, the network will need to put forward an honest, fact-driven argument.

Fox News is about to enter the true No Spin Zone, where deception is strictly prohibited. Where it is not in charge. And where its top executives like Rupert Murdoch and Suzanne Scott and hosts like Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity cannot simply ignore a request for comment and resort to, instead, attacking "the media" on-air.

In this setting, where lies cannot be casually told and truth cannot be distorted beyond reality to fit a dishonest narrative, it will be fascinating to see how the network fares. If the pre-trial hearings are any indicator, it won't be pretty. The case hasn't even started and the presiding judge has already lost his patience with Fox's legal team and put them on notice.

Perhaps the winds will shift for Fox News when the judge gavels in the trial on Monday. But if they play out like the last few weeks of court have, Fox News is in for a brutal ride.

And I'll be in Wilmington to cover it. See you there.

IN THE FOX HOLE

Bill O'Reilly: "I think Dominion" is going to be able to show reckless disregard for the truth and the trial is already a "catastrophe for the Fox News Channel, no doubt." (Mediaite)
The pretrial hearings in the case "foreshadow a brutal ride for Fox News," Erik Wemple writes, noting that "the legal and PR disasters are compounding for Fox News." (WaPo)
On the topic of added legal woes: Ex-producer Abby Grossberg escalated her lawsuit, adding Suzanne Scott as a defendant and accusing Fox lawyers of deleting messages from her phone, Marshall Cohen reports. (CNN)
Philip Bump on the tapes that have emerged: "What's interesting about the recorded conversations ... [is] it reinforces how one specific Fox employee — Maria Bartiromo — was eager to elevate any claim of fraud that she could." (WaPo)
"The presiding judge faces a high-profile test of his abilities in the middle of a media spectacle," Katie Robertson reports, noting that "every decision is already being scrutinized." (NYT)
"For a particular subset of the legal and media communities, the trial is also shaping up as something else: the libel law equivalent of the Super Bowl," Michael Grynbaum reports. (NYT)
"Fox has already pursued settlement talks on multiple occasions," Brian Stelter reports, citing a source. "Dominion, knowing it has tremendous leverage, has held firm." (Vanity Fair)
Speaking of Stelter: He will release a sequel to "Hoax." The new project, "Network of Lies: The Epic Saga of Fox News, Donald Trump, and the Battle for American Democracy" examines what happened at the network after Biden's election victory, Brian Steinberg reports. (Variety)

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Brian Troy for The Wall Street Journal

First in Reliable | Elevating Evan: Detailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich's parents are ready to speak out. On Friday morning, the outlet will publish an interview with Mikhail Gershkovich and Ella Milman, which was taped on Thursday. Amanda Wills, The WSJ's chief content officer of video, told me, "It was a privilege to speak with Evan's family to learn about the life of this incredible journalist, who was detained by Russia for simply doing his job. Evan's parents remain optimistic, which they told us is the American way." It's now been more than two weeks since Russia arrested Gershkovich.

► Russia will not consider a prisoner swap for Gershkovich until after his trial, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Thursday. Ryabkov told the state-controlled TASS that "the issue of exchanging anyone can be considered after the court issues its verdict specifically on a particular charge." The WSJ's Ann M. Simmons has more here.

THE BUSINESS

CNN Photo Illustration/TIME

The Time 100: TIME magazine on Thursday published its annual TIME 100, a list of the 100 most influential people in the world. The issue has four covers, which feature Bob Iger, Jennifer Coolidge, Michael B. Jordan, and Doja Cat. You can see the full list here.

Iger also participated in a wide-ranging Q&A for the issue. Some highlights:

► On how surprised he is to be Disney CEO again: "Very, very surprised. It's not something I anticipated doing. But I'm certainly happy to be here."

► On his prime responsibility: "I was brought back for a reason. The company had gone through a very difficult period, exacerbated by a global pandemic. And more than anything, the company needed stability, needed to establish a set of priorities and focus on them."

► On giving more power to creators: "There's nothing I'm more sure about than the decision that we made and the need to tie accountability—and to some extent, a degree of control—over the business side of our business with the creative side of our business."'

► On the future of Hulu: "We own about two thirds of Hulu, and Comcast owns the other piece, and they actually have the right to put their piece to us, in other words, force us to buy them out. If they decide to do that, then we have no choice but to buy them out."

► On whether he'd sit down with Ron DeSantis: "I do not view this as a going-to-mattresses situation for us. If the governor of Florida wants to meet with me to discuss all of this, of course, I would be glad to do that. You know, I'm one that typically has respected our elected officials and the responsibility that they have, and there would be no reason why I wouldn't do that."

IN THE INDUSTRY

Axel Springer boss Mathias Döpfner "tried to use his flagship tabloid, Bild, to influence the outcome of Germany's last election and fed the newspaper his personal views attacking climate change activism," Philip Oltermann reports, citing leaked messages. (Guardian)
Barry Diller tells Lydia Moynihan that publishers are "engaged" and taking the "right steps" to protect the industry from A.I. "This has gotten the entire publishing world to recognize this issue," Diller said. "The forces will gather to set rules that allow businesses to survive." (NY Post)
Insider Editor-In-Chief Nicholas Carlson emails the newsroom about A.I.: "My takeaway after a fair amount of experimentation with ChatGPT is that generative AI can make all of you better editors, reporters, and producers, too." (Insider)

MEDIA MOVES

Reuters named Timour Azhari as its Iraq bureau chief. (TBN)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Dado Ruvic/Reuters

Montana's Moratorium: It sure seems like Montana could be the first state in the country to prohibit TikTok from operating within its borders. Lawmakers in the GOP-led state House overwhelmingly passed a bill Thursday that would do just that. The bill, which will almost certainly face legal challenges, could head to the governor soon, after it is expected to be passed via a final vote on Friday. The AP's Amy Beth Hanson and Haleluya Hadero have more here.

► TikTok's response: "The bill's champions have admitted that they have no feasible plan for operationalizing this attempt to censor American voices and that the bill's constitutionality will be decided by the courts. We will continue to fight for TikTok users and creators in Montana whose livelihoods and First Amendment rights are threatened by this egregious government overreach."

TOO MANY TABS

"The hacking of ChatGPT is just getting started," Matt Burgess warns, following research that showed the tech can be jailbroken to bypass safety rules: "Things could get much worse." (WIRED)
"What kind of mind does ChatGPT have?" wonders Cal Newport, writing, "We send messages into the electronic void, and receive surprising replies. But what, exactly, is writing back?" (New Yorker)
Bloomberg announced it will integrate a ChatGPT-like A.I. into the Terminal. (CNBC)
Amazon has entered the A.I. race, targeting corporate clients: "There's going to be a lot of invention by a lot of different companies." (WSJ)
Google faced sharp questions in court on Thursday as it defends itself from DOJ allegations it violated antitrust law. (Reuters)
🚨 Alert, Google Chat users: The messenger is getting another redesigned look. (The Verge)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustation/Benjamin Fanjoy/AP

Misinfo Musk: San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins laced into Elon Musk on Thursday for having promoted the narrative that unchecked street crime led to the murder of Cash App founder Bob Lee. In fact, an IT entrepreneur who knew Lee was arrested in the case on Thursday. Jenkins said that Musk's comments were "reckless and irresponsible" and spread "misinformation" at a time when authorities were working to "solve a very difficult case." San Francisco Chronicle's Annie Vainshtein has more.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Emily Shugerman and Noah Kirsch's headline: "SF fearmongers go suspiciously silent after arrest in Bob Lee murder." (Daily Beast)
Dan Froomkin on the Pentagon intel breach: "Stop calling it a leak." (Press Watch)
This divorce is getting ugly! Matt Taibbi says he will upload his Twitter Files work to Truth Social because he doesn't want to live the work "to the whims" of Elon Musk on Twitter. (Mediaite)
Remember when Glenn Beck preached about decency in politics? His Blaze TV colleague called Vice President Kamala Harris "one of Montel Williams' hoes" this week. (MMFA)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/iStock Editorial/Getty Images

UMG Warns of A.I. Upheaval: The country's largest music company is taking action to protect its business from A.I. Universal Music Group "has told streaming platforms, including Spotify and Apple, to block artificial intelligence services from scraping melodies and lyrics from their copyrighted songs," FT's Anna Nicolaou reported, citing emails viewed by the outlet. "We will not hesitate to take steps to protect our rights and those of our artists," UMG wrote to the streamers. Apple and Spotify have yet to respond. Read Nicolaou's full story here.

► UMG spox: "We have a moral and commercial responsibility to our artists to work to prevent the unauthorised use of their music and to stop platforms from ingesting content that violates the rights of artists and other creators."

OFF STAGE

Biden is set to appoint Lady Gaga and Bruce Cohen as co-chairs of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. (Deadline)
Drake Bell, best known for his role as Drake in the Nickelodeon sitcom "Drake & Josh," was reported safe by police after law enforcement expressed concern he'd gone missing. (CNN)
Mo'Nique sued CBS, Paramount, and Big Ticket Productions, saying they owe her royalties for her late-'90s sitcom, "The Parkers." Paramount Global is not commenting. (LAT)
Jamie Foxx has been taken to the hospital and is under observation following an unknown "medical complication." (CNN)
The final installment of Disney's "Guardians of the Galaxy" franchise, set for a May 5 release, is eyeing a $130-million domestic start. (Deadline)
Pete Davidson is set to host "SNL" on May 6. (Rolling Stone)
The entire list of nominations for the 83rd annual Peabody Awards has been released. (Deadline)
CinemaCon has upped security this year after last year's Olivia Wilde debacle. (Variety)
"This story just isn't true": No, a One Direction reunion isn't planned for the final episode of James Corden's "Late Late Show." (Variety)
Bad Bunny, Blackpink, and Frank Ocean will headline Coachella 2023. (Vulture)
Kevin Hart's comedy series "Die Hart" has been renewed by Roku for a season three. (Collider)
Samuel L. Jackson and John David Washington will star in Netflix's adaptation of August Wilson's play, "The Piano Lesson." (The Wrap)

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 next week.