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Thursday, June 8, 2023

A key Fox executive exits, CNN consoles staffers, NBC celebrates 75th anniversary of "Nightly News," Mark Zuckerberg talks about integrating A.I. into Meta, YouTube demonetizes Candace Owens videos, Google says it will start paying local publishers, "Indiana Jones" looks to command the July 4 box office, and more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

Defending Donald

CNN Photo Illustration/Brandon Bell/Getty Images

The attacks on the rule of law have begun.

Moments after news broke on Thursday that disgraced former President Donald Trump had been indicted on federal charges, Fox News and the rest of the MAGA Media universe revved up into attack mode, denigrating the U.S. justice system and characterizing it as prejudiced against conservatives.

The assault on the American justice system was swift and savage. On Fox, the historic legal action was portrayed as President Joe Biden weaponizing the Justice Department to target his political opponent. "BIDEN ADMIN INDICTS A PRESIDENTIAL RIVAL," one on-screen banner read.

"Yes, it is a dark day in America," Sean Hannity declared. "We have said it often. There is no equal justice, there is no equal application of our laws. There is one set of rules for Democrats and another set of rules for Donald Trump and conservatives and anybody especially in his orbit."

Despite the indictment not being made public, Hannity went on to tell his audience that the "system of justice" in the U.S. has "been weaponized beyond belief" and that the country is "in serious trouble."

Throughout the night, Fox welcomed guests who echoed the Trump talking points and disparaged the justice system. In effect, Fox News is once again platforming those who are leading vicious and irresponsible attacks on the country's criminal justice system.

The defense of Trump, of course, was not just limited to Fox News. Across the right-wing media ecosystem, the narrative that a sinister deep-state was unfairly targeting Trump to knock him out of the 2024 presidential contest was pervasive.

"PEAK WITCH HUNT," the homepage banner on the right-wing Breitbart blared, adding "POLITICAL PERSECUTION INTENSIFIES." Elsewhere, on the far-right Gateway Pundit blog, more than a half-dozen stories were published Thursday night defending Trump.

The coverage harkened back to the years after the 2016 election, when Trump aimed to discredit and destroy institutions such as the FBI for investigating him. News organizations covered the story by delivering fact-based reporting and analysis, while propaganda outfits such as Fox News disseminated hyperbolic commentary to their audiences.

Thursday night's coverage did serve as a good reminder that outlets like Fox News can quickly fall under Trump's hypnosis and snap into MAGA mouthpiece mode. While Rupert Murdoch might personally hold great contempt for Trump, documents revealed as part of the Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit showed that he is terrified that airing critical coverage of Trump will result in his supporters abandoning the channel.

And at the end of the day, that is what motivates such outlets. Their business models are not designed to provide fact-based news to audiences. And that means giving voice to dangerous, dishonest commentary — despite knowing, after the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the real-world violence that it has the potential to incite.

THE SIDEBAR

CNN.com's banner headline: "Trump faces Espionage Act charge as part of 7-count indictment" (CNN)
Matt Drudge wonders: "DOWNFALL OF THE DON?" (DRUDGE)
The WaPo's historic lede: "Former president Donald Trump said Thursday night that he's been charged by the Justice Department in connection with the discovery that hundreds of classified documents were taken to his Mar-a-Lago home after he left the White House — a seismic event in the nation's political and legal history." (WaPo)
"I can't stress enough that it doesn't matter how Trump *feels* about this indictment, and yet that's how every news org leads these stories," contended The New Yorker's Ian Crouch. (Twitter)
"Tonight has a bit of the feeling of Election Night. Trump comes out, jumps the gun, tries to set narrative," Bill Carter observed. "But there are still TONS of votes (in this case, evidence) out there, and then reality starts to sink in." (Twitter)
"History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes: After Jeff Zucker's ouster, Russia invaded Ukraine and rudderless CNN found purpose (& audience). One day after Chris Licht's ouster, Trump is indicted by DOJ—another big story where CNN can, perhaps, thrive," Dylan Byers pointed out. (Twitter)

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Gabriele Holtermann/Sipa USA/AP

First in Reliable | Raj Shah, a key Fox Corporation executive whose messages were exposed in Dominion Voting Systems' defamation lawsuit, has left the company. "Raj brought talent and creativity to his role at Fox," Fox spokesperson Brian Nick confirmed to me on Thursday. "We appreciate his service and wish him the best on his next endeavor." Shah, who had previously served in Trump's administration as a senior communications official, left the company in May. The reason for Shah's departure was not known and he could not be immediately reached for comment. But documents brought to light by Dominion's lawsuit revealed that Shah pushed Fox News in a pro-Trump direction after the 2020 election. Most famously, perhaps, he branded Fox News host Neil Cavuto's decision to cut away from a lie-filled Kayleigh McEnany press conference as a "brand threat."

THE BUSINESS

CNN Photo Illustration/Mike Stewart/AP

Consoling CNNers: One day after the dismissal of embattled network chief Chris Licht, the interim leadership team at CNN on Thursday moved to calm staffers, writing in a memo that they recognize it has not been easy to work "during a time of significant change" at the network. "We understand how disorienting and unsettling it can be when we become the news and these recent changes can be difficult to navigate, both personally and professionally," the group of executives wrote. "So, we want to take a moment to thank you for the talent and dedication you have continued to bring to work every day." The interim leadership team — Amy Entelis, Virginia Moseley, Eric Sherling, and David Leavy — said that they are "humbled by the task" before them and "committed to making this period as smooth as possible." Deadline's Ted Johnson has more.

CNN ON SCENE

Benjamin Mullin and John Koblin report on how CNN's interim leadership team is "trying to move on from the stormy tenure of CNN's former leader Chris Licht." (NYT)
Licht said Thursday that he plans on "just laying low" after his ouster. (Daily Mail)
Later in the evening, however, Licht surfaced at The Polo Bar, posting a photo on Instagram with Nancy Pelosi and his former chief of staff, Devan Cayea. Dylan Byers has the screen shot here. (Twitter)
Brian Steinberg reports that many of the programming decisions Licht implemented "are likely to stay." (Variety)
Eleanor Hawkins dives into Licht's comms "catastrophe." (Axios)
Jim Rutenberg writes that Licht's rocky time as CNN chief "illuminated how increasingly hard it can be to find success on the divided cable news dial." (NYT)
"CNN needs more than a new CEO," Alex Sherman argues. "It needs a business strategy." (CNBC)
🎙️ Tim Alberta speaks on The Atlantic's podcast about the "rise and fall" of Licht. (The Atlantic)

CNN Photo Illustration/NBC News

Nightly's Night: NBC News on Thursday evening celebrated the 75th anniversary of "NBC Nightly News," with a party hosted by anchor Lester Holt and NBCU News Group boss Cesar Conde at the Peacock Lounge at 30 Rock. Holt said that the show is a "labor of love" and that the "North Star of this broadcast" is to honor the "tradition of integrity and excellence." Conde added that the program "sets a standard for everyone in the news industry" and had allowed NBC over the years to "launch all of these new brands and networks like CNBC, like MSNBC, like NBC News Now, and all of the different shows and all the different platforms with which we distribute our journalistic content today."

👀 The celebration was attended by about 150 people, including Brian Roberts, Mike Cavanagh, Steven Spielberg, John Leguizamo, Hoda Kotb, Jen Psaki, Jose Diaz-Balart, Andrew Ross Sorkin, Kristen Welker, and Amb. Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

IN THE INDUSTRY

Google is going to start paying local news outlets. (The Verge)
Matthew Ingram writes about how Meta is ramping up "threats to block the news." (CJR)
The 2023 Sun Valley guest list includes Mark Zuckerberg, David Zaslav, Shari Redstone, Rupert Murdoch, Tim Cook, Sundar Pichai, Bob Iger, and so many more. (Variety)
The Insider Union has written the parent of Insider, Axel Springer, about resolving its contract and putting an end to the strike. (Twitter)
Charlotte Klein writes about why The NYT, The WaPo, and POLITICO "didn't publish a seemingly bombshell report about UFOs." (Vanity Fair)
NewsNation, which taped an explosive interview with UFO whistleblower David Grusch, will now air a prime time special, "We Are Not Alone: The UFO Whistleblower Speaks," on Sunday at 9pm. (YouTube)

MEDIA MOVES

NBC Sports boss Pete Bevacqua is exiting NBCU. (Variety)
NBC News hired Peter Klein as executive editor of investigations. (TV Newer)
Sundance Institute named Carrie Lozano CEO of ITVS. (Deadline)

THE INFO WARS

What is 'Woke'?: Over on Fox News, pretty much everything can be characterized as "woke" these days — outside the cable channel itself. The progressive watchdog Media Matters on Thursday published a report that documented more than 200 things that Fox News has slapped a "woke" label on. "Few entities have escaped the network's demonization, from the military to M&M's, New York prep schools to NASCAR, social media to mall Santas," MMFA accurately noted. Check out the report here.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

YouTube has demonetized several of Candace Owens' videos for deliberate misgendering, Khadijah Khogeer reports. (NBC News)
Ryan Bort breaks down how right-wing media is dismissing wildfire smoke choking U.S. cities and working to "convince Americans the hazardous air quality has nothing to do with climate change." (Rolling Stone)
Tucker Carlson "dropped the second episode of his 'Tucker on Twitter' show in defiance of his former employer, Fox News, which threatened him with legal action," Jennifer Bowers Bahney writes. (Mediaite)
Sean Hannity will tape an interview with Gavin Newsom that will air next week. (The Hill)
A.I.-infused politics: The Ron DeSantis campaign posted fake images of Trump hugging Dr. Anthony Fauci. (CNN)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Paul Chinn/San Francisco Chronicle/AP

Meta and the Machines: Get ready to see A.I. integrated into Meta's products. Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday told employees in an all-hands meeting that generative A.I. will be used to create text, images, and videos on Facebook and Instagram, Axios' Ina Fried reported. Zuckerberg, per Fried, said he wanted to build the technology "into every single one" of the company's products. Fried has more here.

🔎 Zooming in: As Fried noted, Meta "has been at the forefront of generative AI research, but has been somewhat slow to put those technologies into its products." Meanwhile, the company's competitors in Silicon Valley have moved fast to do so, setting the stage for an A.I. arms race that could redefine the future of Big Tech.

TOO MANY TABS

A nationally syndicated talk show host "sued artificial-intelligence company OpenAI for defamation, alleging its A.I.-powered chatbot fabricated legal claims against him," Todd Spangler reports. (Variety)
"I did not comprehend that ChatGPT could fabricate cases": The lawyer who used ChatGPT to write a legal complaint says he wishes he researched the A.I. tool more before using it. (NYT)
Alex Heath got his hands on a screenshot showing what Meta's forthcoming Twitter competitor looks like. (The Verge)
Heath also reports that Zuckerberg "doesn't seem fazed by Apple's introduction of the Vision Pro." (The Verge)
"There is now some public evidence that China viewed TikTok data," Brian Fung writes. (CNN)
The E.U. could take action against Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter over a crypto advertising complaint. (Reuters)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Lucasfilm Ltd.

Indiana Jones' Destiny: The box office will get a boost around the Fourth of July holiday. "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" is tracking to open between $60 million and $70 million over the weekend of June 30. The film, starring the one and only Harrison Ford, is the fifth and final in the iconic series. THR's Pamela McClintock has more here.

OFF STAGE

The late Tupac Shakur received a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame days ahead of what would have been his 52nd birthday. (AP)
Another day, another show suspended: Netflix has halted production on "Zero Day" starring Robert De Niro amid the writers strike. (Deadline)
Lisa Vanderpump will create a 10-episode series for Hulu. (THR)
Mark Ruffalo will star in an HBO series from "Mare of Easttown" creator Brad Ingelsby. (Deadline)
Demand for AppleTV+'s "Silo" was 24.4 times higher than that of the average series during the May 27 to June 2 period, marking a big win for the streamer. (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.