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Tuesday, August 15, 2023

The WGA talks with the AMPTP, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation begins criminal probe of raid at The Marion County Record, Donald Trump's fourth indictment leads to monster night for MSNBC, Elon Musk's X throttles some media outlets, Mike Lindell gets a Smartmatic trial date, linear TV viewership hits a new low, and more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

The Climate Connection

CNN Photo Illustration/Matthew Thayer/The Maui News/AP

Thousands of heat records broken. Oceans at hot tub levels. Mass coral bleaching. Extraordinary wildfires. Earth's hottest month on record.

It has been a summer of unprecedented heat across the globe, the alarming effect of a rapidly warming world kindled by fossil fuels. But despite decades of warnings from scientists who have long predicted that human-caused climate change would bring dire consequences, news organizations are still struggling to connect the dots in their daily coverage.

That is according to several climate experts who spoke to Reliable Sources and leveled criticism at how the crisis sweeping the planet is being covered by major media institutions.

"The media's climate reporting has improved recently, but most news organizations are still not giving the accelerating crisis anything like the amount and urgency of coverage the story deserves," said Mark Hertsgaard, the executive director of the global journalist consortium Covering Climate Now.

Hertsgaard isn't alone in the sentiment. Climate change coverage has progressed leaps and bounds in recent years. Newsrooms have become far more cognizant about tying extreme weather events, like flash flooding and heat waves, to the larger trend. But still, there is considerable room for improvement.

"Especially in the United States, most TV news reports on the ferocious heat and other weather extremes afflicting millions of people this summer have not even mentioned the words 'climate change,'" Hertsgaard said. "The science is unequivocal on that connection and leaving it out leaves audiences not just uninformed but misinformed."

The unprecedented wind-whipped wildfire that devastated the island of Maui last week, killing more than 100 people, has received high volumes of attention from major media outlets, which have gone to remarkable lengths to gather reporting from the scene. But, according to research from the progressive watchdog Media Matters, only 4% of television news segments about the disaster, during a two-day period starting on August 9, tied the catastrophe to climate change.

More alarmingly, perhaps, of the only eight segments that mentioned climate change during this particular window on television, all of them came from CNN and MSNBC. CNN mentioned climate change three times and MSNBC five times, according to Media Matters. ABC News, CBS News, and NBC News did not tie the fires to climate change in any of the 35 segments that aired. (Of course, it's worth noting that many of these outlets have been drawing this connection on their digital platforms.)

Michael Mann, the presidential distinguished professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania, told Reliable Sources that he fears news organizations do not cover the climate crisis enough, outside extreme weather events.

"Many media outlets still treat climate as a niche issue, giving it very little coverage except when an unprecedented bout of extreme weather takes place, or a major new report comes out," he said.

News organizations could take a page out of their playbook for covering politics, where singular events are often tied to broader trends. When covering the various indictments against Donald Trump, journalists are quick to point out that they are part of a broader campaign the disgraced former president and his allies waged against the U.S. democratic system.

Max Boykoff, a professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, agreed. Boykoff argued that wall-to-wall coverage of Trump-related developments "displaces stories that deserve attention about climate change and global warming." Broadcast news outlets, he suggested, should treat the issue as a far more grave threat, launching shows devoted to covering climate change and its far-reaching effects on everyday life.

"The best climate coverage pairs human stories with the stories in the data and science. It informs the audience, teaching them something new while taking them on a journey," said Peter Girard, director of communications at Climate Central.

And while there is still deep political polarization and misinformation around the causes of climate change, with polls showing Republicans far less likely to believe that human actions are the root cause, reporting on the extreme effects unfolding before our very eyes — and not in the distant future — can make clear the connection and inform audiences on the critical issue that requires urgent action to avert far worse consequences.

"People are realizing that climate change is driving many of the changes they are experiencing in their local community — from crazier weather and worsening air quality to more coastal floods and changing planting seasons — but they have questions," Girard said. "Why is this happening? What can be done to change things? The media has an opportunity to dive deeper into the story and answer their audience's questions."

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

High Stakes in Hollywood: Talks between the writers and studios are getting more serious. On Tuesday, the AMPTP, which represents the studios, met with both the WGA West and WGA East, a source told me, confirming reporting from THR's Katie Kilkenny and Lesley Goldberg. As the duo wrote in their story, "It's not unusual for leaders of the eastern branch to join their West Coast counterparts during a strike ... but it does suggest that the talks have gotten more serious in recent days." Variety's Gene Maddaus reported via sources after the meeting that the WGA "did bend slightly on a few items." But, Maddaus added, "The union negotiators did not offer the significant concessions that the studio side was looking for in response to its own offer." Details from Maddaus here.

HOLLYWOOD HELL

Lucas Shaw reports that Hollywood studios have offered writers increases to their salaries, as well as to residuals, more control over both the number of writers on set and their roles, protections against A.I., and increased pay and minimum hours for so-called mini rooms. (Bloomberg)
Distributors looking for new content at festivals this fall will have to stick to the new SAG-AFTRA contract terms. (Variety)
"Tron: Ares" has been indefinitely placed on hold. (TheWrap)
The standstill in Hollywood contributed to CAA's decision to lay off some 60 employees, a source told Wendy Lee. (LAT)
The Hollywood strikes "prove Netflix and other streamers have grown too powerful," argues Miles Mogulescu. (LAT)

THE INDUSTRY

THE FOURTH ESTATE

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation "has begun a criminal probe of the police raid of a newspaper office last week that has drawn outrage from journalists nationwide who see it as a violation of the First Amendment," Paul Farhi and Sofia Andrade report. (WaPo)
🚨 Google's A.I. product will soon be summarizing entire news articles for users, Jay Peters reports. (The Verge)
Vice Media appears to have backed away from news stories that might offend the Saudi Arabian government since being saved from bankruptcy by MBC Group, which is controlled by the Saudis, Jim Waterson reports. A Vice spokesperson notably declined to comment to Waterson on the matter. (The Guardian)
🤝 A helping hand: Members of The NYT's union briefed members of The WaPo's union "about best practices they learned from The Times' union's walkout last December," Sara Fischer reports. (Axios)
Michael Hill writes about how CNN has "continued dismantling" a Chris Licht-era overhaul of its on-screen banners. The network debuted new graphics on Monday, which Hill noted "essentially restore the basic layout" of how the banners looked before Licht revised them. (Newscast Studio)
In 2021, Wisconsin-based newspaper The Wausau Pilot & Review reported that a businessman used a homophobic slur during a county board meeting. Now the outlet is faced with the prospect of closure as legal bills from the man's lawsuit continue to mount, Jeremy Peters reports. (NYT)
Lida Khurami, a 24-year-old Afghan radio and broadcast journalist who provided for a family of eight — has watched her career and life vanish before her eyes since the Taliban's takeover of the nation in 2021, reports Mithil Aggarwal. (NBC News)
Correction: In the previous edition of this letter, I wrote that Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews was named co-president of CBS News. She is, in fact, simply president of CBS News. Wendy McMahon is chief executive and president of CBS News and Stations.

THE MARKET

Telegraph Media Group has reached 1 million subscriptions, with more than 70% of them being digital, Bron Maher reports. (Press Gazette)
Fox films investor TSG Entertainment sued Disney, alleging the House of Mouse cheated it out of millions of dollars through tricks. (WSJ)
The Metropolitan Opera Guild — which supports New York City's celebrated opera and publishes its magazine, Opera News — will lay off 20 staff members and slow operations this fall following financial woes. (NYT)

MEDIA MOVES

ABC News hired Selina Wang as senior White House reporter. (Variety)
NBC News promoted Gabe Gutierrez to senior White House correspondent. (X)
CNBC hired Angelica Peebles as a health and pharmaceutical reporter. (TV Newser)
The WaPo named Zachary Pincus-Roth as senior editor for its style desk. (WaPo)
The NYT named Jonathan Abrams as a reporter, Elena Bergeron as an assistant editor, and Benjamin Hoffman as senior editor, all for the culture desk. (NYT)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Brandon Bell/Getty Images/FILE

Ramped Up Rhetoric: This won't come as a surprise to readers of this newsletter, but it's important to continue to point out. In the wake of the latest indictment against Donald Trump, top right-wing media figures and outlets are again using extreme rhetoric to attack the U.S. judicial system and portray the disgraced former president as a victim of a political persecution intended to jail him so he cannot run for president. Fox News host Laura Ingraham even wondered aloud on Tuesday whether the U.S. could still claim to be better than the Soviet Union, given the indictments against Trump. Yes, really. This is the type of unhinged rhetoric being broadcast to millions of earnest viewers. And it would be naive to think it's not having consequences.

Indictment Intrigue: MSNBC was the ratings winner Monday night during Trump indictment coverage, posting monster numbers, with Rachel Maddow averaging 3.9 million total viewers and 538K in the key 25-54 demo. From 8pm to 11pm, MSNBC averaged 3.1 million viewers and 415K in the demo. In the same window, CNN averaged 1.2 million total viewers and 232K in the demo.

► On the right-wing talk channels, Fox News averaged 2.2 million total viewers and 254K in the demo. Newsmax averaged an anemic 362K in total viewers and 27K in the demo.

First in Reliable | Lindell's Lies On Trial: Mark your calendars. Smartmatic's defamation case against right-wing media star and notorious pro-Trump conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell is now scheduled to go to trial in April 2024, according to a court filing obtained by my colleague Marshall Cohen. If there isn't a settlement, Cohen noted, the trial would re-litigate the unhinged election lies that Lindell and others peddled on right-wing networks such as Fox News, Newsmax and OAN.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Reuters vindicated: "The Fulton County Georgia court clerk on Tuesday acknowledged the release on its website of a document about [Trump] being criminally charged, as Reuters reported on Monday after seeing the document on the court's public website." (Reuters)
ESPN anchor Sage Steele left the network after settling a lawsuit she brought against the company over its treatment of her comments about vaccine mandates, female sports reporters, among other topics. (CNN)
At actual news networks, you'd be disciplined for these types of comments: Fox News host Greg Gutfeld went on a sexist rant during a discussion about looting, suggesting such crimes would "disappear" if women were to vanish from the planet. (CNN)
Geraldo Rivera talked about his on-air clashes at Fox News with Gutfeld, in a conversation with Diana Falzone and Aidan McLaughlin: "They always took his side," Rivera said of the Fox News bosses. (Mediaite)
YouTube announced that it will remove cancer treatment misinformation from its pages. (CNN)
Russia has fined Reddit for not deleting "banned" content pertaining to Ukraine. (Reuters)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Nathan Laine/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Musk's Move on the Media: Supposed "free speech absolutist" Elon Musk appears to be muzzling certain news outlets and websites that he holds disdain for by imposing a five-second delay to links on X taking users to their websites. The delays appear to be negatively impacting The NYT, Reuters, Threads, and Bluesky. The NYT told me in a statement that it has not "received any explanation" from X over the move, adding it would "be concerned by targeted pressure applied to any news organization for unclear reasons." Reuters said it was "looking into the matter." Bluesky and Threads did not offer comment. And Joe Benarroch, head of X's business operations, did not respond to my multiple emails seeking comment. CNN's Clare Duffy and Sean Lyngaas have more here.

🔎 Zooming in: Outside the toothless statements The NYT and Reuters issued on Tuesday, it is unlikely either outlet will take any actual action against X. It's par for the course from media outlets, which allow Musk to regularly smear them and use his ownership of X to take retaliatory action against those he dislikes. Really, about a year into his stewardship of the once-indispensable platform, NPR is the only outlet to actually do something after Musk targeted that outlet. NPR hasn't posted to Musk's platform in months after Musk slapped a "state-affiliated media" label to its account.

TOO MANY TABS

Remember when Elon Musk vowed Monday to drive via Tesla to Mark Zuckerberg's home, challenge him to a fight, and live-stream the whole thing? Well, no surprise: Musk did not actually do that. Another example of him talking a big game and failing to actually deliver on his word.
RIP to a real one: Tweetdeck, or XPro as Musk has rebranded it, is officially becoming a subscriber-only feature. (The Verge)
X won't allow advertisers to pay for brand accounts to be promoted, Axios' Sara Fischer reports. (Axios)
YouTube Music is adding a new short-form video option, "Samples," yet another direct TikTok competitor. (TechCrunch)
Meta is facing criticism for its restrictions on reproductive health content, Jessie Gretener reports. (CNN)
Google will allow users to test new A.I. features as they surf the web in a bid to remain competitive amid continued competition. (Bloomberg)
Hackers demonstrate to Donie O'Sullivan how they managed to trick A.I. chat bots into offering instructions to "destroy humanity." (CNN)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/skynesher/E+/Getty Images

Traditional TV Tumbles: Alarm bells must have been going off in the offices of major media companies on Tuesday after Nielsen dropped a report that indicated linear television made up less than half of all television viewing in July. In other words, for the first time, the traditional television channels accounted for less than half of all watching, taking up only 49.6% of the pie as broadcast and cable recorded "record low shares" of viewership. Year over year, cable television viewing dropped 12.5% and broadcast fell 5.4%, per Nielsen. CNN's Jordan Valinsky has more.

OFF STAGE

Algeria banned "Barbie" for allegedly "corrupting morals" less than one month after the film's release in the North African nation. (BBC)
"I still miss them. I miss the characters." Mark Mylod, "Succession" director, talks to Jackie Strause about the ending of the series. (THR)
Beyoncé voiced her support for Lizzo during a concert in Atlanta amid allegations that the latter fostered a toxic work environment. (THR)
Madonna rescheduled her international tour after she was hospitalized for a serious bacterial infection. (Pitchfork)
All of "The View" cohosts are slated to return for season 27, Elizabeth Wagmeister reports. (Variety)
Lionel Richie failed to show up to his sold-out concert at New York's Madison Square Garden, notifying fans that severe weather had prevented him from arriving on time. (LAT)
The teaser trailer for Netflix's upcoming "Maestro" shows Bradley Cooper portraying the composer Leonard Bernstein. (YouTube)
The Academy of Motion Pictures' 2023 Academy Museum gala is set to honor Oprah, Meryl Streep, Michael B. Jordan, and others in October. (THR)
The Television Academy announced the winners of the 75th engineering, science, and technology Emmys. (The Wrap)
RIP: "Game of Thrones" actor Darren Kent died at 36. (THR)

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.