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Wednesday, July 12, 2023

Follow us on Instagram! And then, scroll down for the latest on Bob Iger, Huw Edwards, Evan Gershkovich, Tucker Carlson, Geraldo Rivera, Elon Musk, Christopher Nolan, and more. Plus, the latest on SAG-AFTRA's down-to-the-wire negotiations with the Hollywood studios and highlights from the Emmy nominations. But first, the A1.

THE A1

Regrets About Rupert

CNN Photo Illustration/Victoria Jones/PA/AP

Three former high-ranking Fox executives are blasting Rupert Murdoch for Fox News' role spreading disinformation in the public discourse.

In a joint statement published Wednesday, the executives — Preston Padden, Ken Solomon, and Bill Reyner — expressed profound regret for their roles helping Murdoch build Fox in its early days. Padden was Fox's chief Washington lobbyist; Solomon was the vice president of network distribution; and Reyner was the lead outside counsel.

While none of the executives worked on Fox News, the work they did on behalf of Murdoch decades ago established Fox as a national television force and helped pave the way for the birth of the right-wing channel.

"At the time of our work in the 1990's, we all greatly admired Rupert Murdoch and his vision and bold efforts," the trio said in their statement. "We genuinely believed that the creation of a fourth competitive force in broadcast television was in the public interest."

"We never envisioned, and would not knowingly have enabled, the disinformation machine that, in our opinion, Fox has become," they added.

Padden, who has recently expressed support for the Federal Communications Commission examining Murdoch's broadcasting licenses, told me by phone on Wednesday that the group had been privately communicating to each other about Fox News, lamenting what they had indirectly helped create.

"We had all talked individually about how we wished there was a way we could say something about how we feel," Padden said. "So I drafted something."

The blistering assessment of Murdoch's Fox News came on the same day that the right-wing network was sued — yet again — for defamation. Ray Epps, the Arizona man that conspiracy theorists have falsely claimed led an FBI plot to orchestrate the January 6 insurrection, alleged the network and former host Tucker Carlson ran a "years-long campaign spreading falsehoods" about him that "destroyed" his life.

It's only the latest lawsuit Fox News has faced for advancing false election conspiracy theories after Donald Trump was defeated at the ballot box in 2020.

The network in April agreed to a historic $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems after its high-profile hosts and guests spread lies on the air about the election technology company. In that same month, Fox News also settled an election-related lawsuit with a Venezuelan businessman who had sued the network.

More recently, Fox News settled a lawsuit with one of its former producers, Abby Grossberg, who accused her former employer of sexism and pressuring her into giving false testimony in the Dominion case. The network paid $12 million to Grossberg to settle the lawsuit, her lawyer said.

Fox News is also facing another major defamation lawsuit from voting technology company Smartmatic, which is suing the network for $2.7 billion.

Padden told me that he believes there is an "obvious connection between January 6 and Fox News," arguing it has been "vividly illustrated by the fact" that the network has been blamed in court, with one defendant even claiming he suffered "Foxitus."

"Apparently it is a disease you get from watching false news on Fox," Padden quipped on the phone.

In fact, Epps all but said that he too had a case of "Foxitus." In his lawsuit, Epps alleged that he was at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 because he was "persuaded by the lies broadcast by Fox asserting the election had been stolen."

"I think that something has to be done about a news organization that earns the moniker 'Foxitus,'" Padden told me.

Padden said that the reception to their statement Wednesday had been overwhelmingly positive, with the trio receiving applause from many others who worked for Murdoch in the early years of Fox.

"Everybody shares the same frustration," Padden said.

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/SAG-AFTRA

Hollywood's Horror: Hollywood is on the verge of coming to a complete standstill. SAG-AFTRA and the major studios have yet to come to an agreement on a contract ahead of a looming 11:59pm PT deadline. The union, which is the largest in Hollywood, has been demanding higher compensation and safeguards around the use of A.I., among other things. While it seemed earlier on in the negotiating process that a deal might be hammered out, the two sides have not been able to reach an agreement, even going as far as to call in an emergency mediator to try to get a deal ironed out in the 11th hour. If the deadline passes and SAG-AFTRA goes on strike Thursday, it will mark the first time that Hollywood has seen both actors and writers on strike at the same time in 63 years. A two-front strike will mean that all film and television production will freeze. Reuters' Lisa Richwine has more here.

► Deadline's Dominic Patten reported Wednesday, citing a source, that the studios' "endgame is to let writers go broke before resuming talks in the fall." The AMPTP, the association representing the studios, pushed back against the assertion.

THE BUSINESS

CNN Photo Illustration/Charley Gallay/Getty Images

Extending Iger's Reign: The Magic Kingdom will be ruled by Bob Iger through the end of 2026. Disney's board on Wednesday unanimously voted to extend the beloved chief executive's contract two years. When Iger returned to Disney last year, he had said he was only planning on staying for two years. In a Wednesday statement, Iger said he wants to "ensure Disney is strongly positioned when my successor takes the helm" and that he remains "intensely focused on a successful transition." CNN's Samantha Delouya has more.

► Programming note: Iger will be on CNBC's "Squawk Box" Thursday.

Huw in the Hospital: The ever-deepening BBC scandal took another turn on Wednesday, when the wife of anchor Huw Edwards identified her husband as the person at the center of the misconduct allegations roiling the news organization. Edwards' wife, Vicky Flind, said he had been admitted to the hospital with "serious mental health issues" and described the past several days as "extremely difficult." The controversy, she said, had "greatly worsened" the host's previously diagnosed depression and disclosed that Edwards had "suffered another serious episode" that will keep him in the hospital "for the foreseeable future." CNN's Max Foster and Sharon Braithwaite have more here.

► Meanwhile, authorities in the U.K. said they had completed their probe and will not take any legal action against Edwards. Which means that the BBC has resumed its investigation into the matter, which had been paused while police were conducting their probe.

► The Sun, which first reported the story, said it has no plans to publish additional reporting on Edwards. A spokesperson for the outlet said it will cooperate with the BBC's investigation and "provide the BBC team with a confidential and redacted dossier containing serious and wide-ranging allegations which we have received, including some from BBC personnel." The Sun insisted it never accused Edwards of a crime, though it had initially reported the anchor had solicited explicit photos of a 17-year-old, which would be a crime.

IN THE INDUSTRY

Vice News chief Subrata De defended her hefty salary, which was revealed in bankruptcy court filings, during the outlet's morning call. De told staff they were "entitled to their anger," but that her pay matched her experience and job role, Claire Atkinson reports. (The Media Mix)
Evan Gershkovich's parents said President Biden has said he will do "whatever it takes" to get their son home. (NYT)
The WSJ installed a new "I Stand With Evan" display in its New York headquarters. (Twitter)
The White House issued a formal warning to Simon Ateba after he repeatedly disrupted daily press briefings, saying that he risks losing his entry pass if his behavior continues. (WaPo)
CNN apologized on-air after misgendering Dylan Mulvaney. (Mediaite)
Salman Rushdie said he still has "crazy dreams" about the knife attack that took place almost one year ago that saw him blinded in one eye, adding that he's "more or less OK." (BBC)
Among recent McClatchy cuts were three Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonists. (WaEx)
Never underestimate student journalism! Laura Wagner reports on how the Daily Northwestern uncovered years of hazing allegations against now-fired football coach Pat Fitzgerald. (WaPo)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Fox News

'Wray Day': Right-wing media was largely fueled on Wednesday by Christopher Wray's testimony before Congress, with outlets and online entities sending clips of the FBI director being scolded by GOP lawmakers viral. The hearing created a wealth of content for outlets like Fox News, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, the Daily Wire, and others. Jesse Watters dubbed it "Wray Day" on his show. Of course, attacking the FBI director is nothing new. It is all part of a broader theme being pushed in right-wing media to undermine the FBI and America's justice system.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Even some conservatives condemned Tucker Carlson's disgraceful chat with Andrew Tate. Ben Domenech summarized it like this: "Tucker devotes his first lengthy interview to a sex trafficking woman abusing fraud." Yikes! (Mediaite)
Also coming from the right: Steve Deace said that a chunk of the Republican primary electorate is "in a cult." (MMFA)
Geraldo Rivera will be doing the rounds on Thursday after exiting Fox News amid a feud with Greg Gutfeld, first appearing on "The View" and then later on Chris Cuomo's NewsNation show.
The conservative Young America's Foundation withdrew its lawsuit against "Know Your Enemy," a left-leaning podcast. (NYT)
Switching gears overseas: Russian state media is at odds with how to deal with Yevgeny Prigozhin following his attempted coup d'état, with some revering him as a hero and others vilifying him as a traitor, Julia Davis reports. (Daily Beast)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Romuald Meigneux/SIPA/AP

Suing Over Severance: The problems just keep piling up for Elon Musk. Twitter on Wednesday was slapped with yet another lawsuit related to how it has handled employee severance after laying off thousands of staffers. The latest lawsuit accuses the now-embattled social media company of "refusing to pay at least $500 million in promised severance," Reuters' Daniel Wiessner reported. Read Wiessner's full story here.

TOO MANY TABS

What else is new? Twitter experienced "unexplained technical problems Wednesday, as key features of the Elon Musk-owned social network appeared to be not working correctly," Todd Spangler reports. (Variety)
"Advertisers are eagerly watching how Meta's new Threads messaging app develops over the next few months as they look for a new social channel to reach consumers while Twitter continues to struggle," Jonathan Vanian reports. (CNBC)
Even Twitter employees are on Threads, with at least one employee admitting to Noah Kirsch and Emily Shugerman that the Meta app is "just better." (Daily Beast)
Linette Lopez argues that Musk hasn't quite "killed Twitter," he has simply made it "irrelevant." (Insider)
Microsoft is eyeing changes to its deal with game maker Activision Blizzard in a bid to appease antitrust authorities in the U.K. (FT)
The FTC said it will appeal to block the Microsoft-Activision deal. (CNBC)
Meta appears to be rearing for a fight with the E.U. after authorities accused the Zuckerberg-run company of curbing advertising competition by hitching Facebook Marketplace to the social platform. (Bloomberg)
Not 100%? Med-PaLM, Google's healthcare A.I., was found to be in line with the scientific consensus 92.6% of the time. (Bloomberg)
Tumblr appears to be hemorrhaging cash, losing about $30 million each year. (TechCrunch)
Redbox has struck a deal with TikTok to feature the short-form video app's content on its kiosks around the country. (TechCrunch)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/HBO

'Succession's' Solid Showing: The 2023 Emmy nominations were announced Wednesday morning, with "Succession" snagging 27 nods for its fourth and final season — more than any other television series. The more than two-dozen nominations for the hit-show contributed to HBO's total 127 nominations (which were also boosted by "The White Lotus" and "Last of Us"), more than any other network. Netflix, fueled in part by "Beef," came in second with 103 nominations. CNN's Lisa Respers France has more.

Some other highlights from the nominations:

► "Succession" also made Emmy history when three of its male leads — Jeremy Strong, Kieran Culkin, and Brian Cox — were all nominated for the best actor category, the most any show has ever raked in.

► Pedro Pascal and Jenna Ortega were nominated for the Emmy's best lead actor and best lead actress categories, respectively, making them the first Latinx actors to be nominated for the category since 2008.

► Trevor Noah was nominated for an Emmy for his final episodes of "The Daily Show."

► Barack Obama was nominated for his second Emmy for his Netflix docuseries, "Working: What We Do All Day." Meanwhile, Michelle Obama was nominated for her first Emmy for her work on "The Light We Carry: Michelle Obama & Oprah Winfrey."

► Ray Liotta received a posthumous nomination for his work on Apple TV+'s "Black Bird."

► "Beef" became the first show created by an Asian person nominated for the Outstanding or Anthology Series category.

OFF STAGE

The prosecution in the U.K. case against Kevin Spacey has rested after four men testified against the actor over the last two weeks, saying Spacey preyed on them. (AP)
"Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, Part One" has already raked in $7 million at the box office in previews alone. (Deadline)
"A spectacular achievement": The premiere of Christopher Nolan's much-anticipated "Oppenheimer" is generating laudatory reactions from audience members. (Variety)
The premiere of "Special Ops: Lioness" earned "rave" reactions from the audience, per Vanity Fair. The MTV Entertainment Studios thriller series — created by Taylor Sheridan and starring Nicole Kidman, Zoe Saldaña, and Morgan Freeman — is set to premiere July 23 on Paramount+. (Vanity Fair)
The trailer for "The Retirement Plan," starring Nicolas Cage, has dropped. (YouTube)
Emily Blunt said she will take a break from acting in an interview with iHeart Radio's "Table for Two" podcast. (Daily Beast)

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.