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Monday, June 12, 2023

Welcome to a new week! Pat Sajak plans to retire, Fred Ryan steps down at The WaPo, cuts hit The Athletic, Fox News demands Tucker Carlson cease and desist, Redditors revolt en masse, the Golden Globe Awards have a new owner, and more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

Welcome to Miami

CNN Photo Illustration/Win McNamee/Getty Images

The cameras are once again trained on Donald Trump.

The disgraced former president will be the subject of another cascade of historic headlines Tuesday as he is arraigned in Florida on 37 federal counts related to his alleged mishandling of classified information after he left office.

The high-stakes indictment puts news organizations, and the nation as a whole, in uncharted territory. News outlets have been preparing in haste for this moment since last week, when the charges were formally unveiled against Trump. Anchors, correspondents, reporters, and photographers from every major national — and international — outlet have descended on Florida to cover the historic proceeding.

Television news outlets were already in special coverage on Monday, offering live rolling images as Trump made his way from New Jersey to Florida, complete with overhead helicopter shots showing his motorcade navigating to the airport and his plane touching down in Miami.

CNN offered special programming throughout the day. Led by its top anchors and featuring insights from its most prominent analysts, the network previewed the unprecedented events that are set to unfold over the next 24 hours in the Sunshine State. Other outlets set the stage in their own ways.

The extraordinary deployment resembled preparations ahead of a major hurricane bearing down on millions in South Florida. Only this time, outlets were making preparations for a political storm.

While highly choreographed, the indictment will present some challenging unknowns to newsrooms. Authorities in Miami are currently preparing for protests around the federal courthouse and such demonstrations could add another potential layer to the coverage.

But, most notably, newsrooms will have to determine how to cover Trump when he takes the podium and likely unleashes a monsoon of lies, distortions, and brutish attacks against his perceived political enemies.

In a repeat of his strategy following his New York arraignment earlier this year, Trump is expected to deliver remarks after his appearance in court. The former president, and leading Republican presidential candidate, is slated to speak from his Bedminster golf club shortly after 8pm and hold a fundraiser.

The move — once again — puts newsrooms in a not unfamiliar position: to take Trump live or not?

More broadly speaking, the whole affair will certainly raise evergreen and thorny new questions about best practices in covering the now twice-indicted president. Nearly eight years since Trump crashed onto the political scene, there remains no agreed upon playbook, which will surely be evident in coverage decisions on display in the next 24 hours.

THE SIDEBAR

On the eve of the arraignment, CNN hosted a town hall with Chris Christie in which the former governor spoke out harshly about Trump's conduct. (CNN)
Matt Drudge's banner headline: "WHITE HOUSE OR JAIL?" (DRUDGE)
A coalition of media groups, including CNN, are asking a federal court to allow photo and video access in the courtroom for the hearing. (CNN)
The scene outside the courthouse on Monday: "News trucks and police cars lined the streets around the building, as journalists set up their equipment under canopy tents for protection from the afternoon downpours that come with little warning in South Florida." (Al Jazeera)
A key part of the story is how right-wing media luminaires, including hosts and guests on Fox News, have been trafficking in dangerous rhetoric related to Trump's indictment. In MAGA Media, Trump is being portrayed as the victim of a weaponized judicial system that Joe Biden is supposedly wielding against him to boot him from the 2024 race.
To that point: "Calls to action and threats have been amplified on right-wing media sites and have been met by supportive responses from social media users and cheers from crowds," Michael Schmidt, Alan Feuer, Maggie Haberman, and Adam Goldman report. (NYT)
The big picture: "There is no voice who could convince Trump's most energetic supporters of the idea that he willfully violated the law. There never has been," Philip Bump writes. "Anyone who tries to present the reality of the situation to his base, however close they were to Trump at the outset, is immediately exiled. The truth has no place in Trumpism." (WaPo)

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Ricky Middlesworth/ABC/Getty Images

Sajak's Final Spin: One of the most iconic game show hosts in history is set to retire. Pat Sajak, who for four decades has hosted "Wheel of Fortune," announced Monday that he will hang up his hat. "Well, the time has come," Sajak said in a statement. "I've decided that our 41st season, which begins in September, will be my last. It's been a wonderful ride, and I'll have more to say in the coming months. Many thanks to you all." Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw has more here.

THE BUSINESS

CNN Photo Illustration/Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Ryan Resigns: The tectonic plates of the journalism world shifted on Monday when The WaPo's publisher and chief executive, Fred Ryan, announced he will step down from the position he has helmed for nearly a decade. His exit comes as owner Jeff Bezos takes a more hands on approach at the outlet, as Vanity Fair's Charlotte Klein reported. Ryan, who once worked for former President Ronald Reagan, said he will depart to head the nonpartisan Center on Public Civility, which is being launched by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. He described his tenure at the newspaper as "an incredible experience and enormously gratifying." Ryan said that he will continue in his position as publisher of the newspaper until August 1 to help with the transition. Patty Stonesifer, the founding chief executive of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and an Amazon board member, will serve as interim chief executive of The Post. Here's my full story.

🔎 Zooming in: Under Ryan, The WaPo has been a journalistic tour de force, winning 13 Pulitzer Prizes and countless other awards. The newspaper has also grown as a business, significantly increasing digital subscriptions during the chaotic presidency of Trump. But The WaPo has not been immune to recent challenges facing the news industry. The paper, which ended 2022 in the red, has laid off staff and made other cuts. Ryan also alienated much of the newsroom when he abruptly told staffers in December that the outlet would undergo layoffs in early 2023. Employees were aghast at the manner in which Ryan delivered the news and then refused to take questions from staff.

Down and Out: Cuts are hitting The Athletic, the premium sports-focused outlet owned by The NYT. The subscription-based news organization said on Monday that it will lay off 20 reporters, which amounts to about 4% of its staff. Some reporters spared by the job cuts will see their beats reassigned, publisher David Perpich and executive editor Steven Ginsberg said. As The WaPo's Ben Strauss pointed out, the strategy "marks a departure from the one-time mission of the outlet, which was to cover every team from every major league across the country with a dedicated reporter." Read Strauss' full story here.

IN THE INDUSTRY

"For the second time in just over 15 months, David Zaslav is on the hunt for someone to take on one of the biggest jobs in media: the head of CNN," Jeremy Barr writes. "This search might be harder than the first." (WaPo)
NewsNation has expanded its morning news programming to four hours. The outlet also added Markie Martin as a morning co-anchor. (Variety)
Dana Bash officially took over as anchor of CNN's "Inside Politics." Former anchor Judy Woodruff joined Bash to help usher in a new era of the show on Monday. (Twitter)
"Advertisers are pressing for rollbacks, or declines in the rates they pay for reaching TV viewers, in early 'upfront' talks with TV networks," Brian Steinberg reports, citing sources. (Variety)
Netflix has seen a surge in new subscribers following the introduction of its password-sharing program. (WSJ)
Amazon's Freevee is set to add 23 new channels after reaching deals with Warner Bros. Discovery and MGM. (TechCrunch)
Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian leader and billionaire media mogul, dies at 86. (WaPo)

MEDIA MOVES

The WSJ named Charles Forelle as deputy editor in chief; Sarah Ball as editor-in-chief of The WSJ Magazine; Sarah Krouse as Los Angeles bureau chief; Amol Sharma as media and entertainment editor; and Phil Izzo as associate managing editor.
Time hired Mark Howard as its new chief operating officer. (Adweek)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Meg McLaughlin/The Register/USA Today Network

Tussling With Tucker: Fox News has sent Tucker Carlson a cease-and-desist letter over the fired host's recent Twitter videos. Axios' Mike Allen broke the news on Monday, reporting that the letter sent to Carlson's camp had the words "NOT FOR PUBLICATION" bolded at the top. "Doubling down on the most catastrophic programming decision in the history of the cable news industry, Fox is now demanding that Tucker Carlson be silent until after the 2024 election," Harmeet Dhillon, the conservative attorney who is representing Carlson along with Bryan Freedman, said in a statement. Don't expect Carlson to stop his Twitter videos at the behest of Fox. Dhillon said in her statement that he will "not be silenced by anyone" and Justin Wells, Carlson's producer, teased a new video set to be published on Tuesday. Fox News did not respond to requests for comment.

► Related: Mediaite's Aidan McLaughlin pours cold water on the silly notion that Carlson's Twitter videos have garnered more eyeballs than what he averaged in Fox News prime time.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

After an explosive story by The NYT's Jane Bradley, The Guardian has apologized to staffers who alleged that one of its top columnists groped them or made unwanted sexual advances. The company also said it will modify how it investigates such complaints in the future. (NYT)
Elaina Plott profiles Lara Logan: "In recent years, many Americans have embraced conspiracy theories as a way to give order and meaning to the world's chance cruelties. Lara Logan seems to have done the same, rewriting her story as a martyrdom epic in the war of narratives." (Atlantic)
Progressive watchdog Media Matters said a three year study it conducted found that conservative pages on Facebook received more interactions than liberal pages: "These findings contradict right-wing claims that the platform is censoring conservative accounts and viewpoints." (MMFA)
Artists Equity, the production company run by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, said it did not consent to a Trump presidential video campaign using narration from the studio's latest film featuring Affleck, "Air." (LAT)
Jack Dorsey spoke to Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti about why he supports Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for president. Dorsey says he has listened to almost all of RFK's podcasts. (Breaking Points)
Rachel Maddow's new podcast, "Rachel Maddow Presents: Deja News," has debuted at No. 1 on Apple Podcasts. (Apple)
"WOKE Up In America": Rob Schneider is set to do a stand up special for Fox Nation. (Deadline)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Dado Ruvic/Reuters

Revolt at Reddit: Thousands of Reddit forums restricted public access to their communities on Monday, an unprecedented level of demonstration aimed at protesting the company's new policy that seeks to charge third-party developers for using the platform. Reddit's move to charge for API access comes after Twitter introduced similar such terms earlier this year. The Monday protest was so large that it actually crashed the website at one point. Reddit boss Steve Huffman has argued that the controversial changes are needed to ensure the company is a "self-sustaining business." CNN's Brian Fung has more here.

TOO MANY TABS

New Twitter chief executive Linda Yaccarino said in a thread that she accepted the position to transform the global town square and "drive civilization forward through the unfiltered exchange of information and open dialogue about the things that matter most to us." (Twitter)
Meanwhile: Twitter is refusing to pick up its Google Cloud tab. (Reuters)
Google, OpenAI, and Microsoft have increasingly restricted access to their A.I. chatbots in Hong Kong. (WSJ)
Meta released MusicGen, an open-sourced, A.I. music generator that can transform a text description into a 12-second banger. (TechCrunch)
Activision Blizzard has been OK'ed to intervene on behalf of Microsoft in the company's legal battle with Britain's Competition and Markets Authority to purchase the game maker for $69 billion. (Reuters)
Meanwhile, in the U.S., the FTC plans to sue Microsoft on Monday to block the deal from coming together. (CNBC)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Fred Prouser/Reuters

A Golden Get: The Golden Globe Awards is under new ownership. Dick Clark Productions and Eldridge announced Monday that they had completed their acquisition of the show from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which will dissolve after years of controversy. The acquisition means that Penske Media, owner of the major Hollywood trade outlets, now is a part owner the annual show, the next of which is scheduled to air January 7, 2024. "As stewards of the Golden Globe Awards, our mission is to continue creating the most dynamic awards ceremony on live television viewed across the world," said Jay Penske. "We have a great team in place to grow this iconic brand and captivate new and existing audiences to celebrate the very best in television and motion pictures." THR's Scott Feinberg has more.

OFF STAGE

Viewership for the Tony Awards rose 2% on-year, to 4.3 million viewers — and with a record number of viewers streaming the event. (Variety)
"Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" raked in $61 million during its domestic box office opening to snag the number one spot. "Spider-Man: Across the Spider Verse" earned $55 million. (THR)
Production for Marvel Studios' "Daredevil: Born Again" has shut down for the day amid writers strikes. (Deadline)
Tenoch Huerta, who portrayed Namor in "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," has denied accusations of sexual assault made by María Elena Ríos. (LAT)
Amber Heard will appear at the 69th Taormina Film Festival to promote her upcoming film, "In the Fire." (Deadline)
Joni Mitchell, 79, took to the stage in Washington on Saturday night, the music icon's first headline show in over 20 years. (Pitchfork)
Elizabeth Gilbert, best known as the author of "Eat, Pray, Love," is pulling her upcoming novel, titled "The Snow Forest," after the work was seared by Ukrainian readers over its Russian setting. (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 tomorrow.