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Monday, August 21, 2023

Donald Trump works to disrupt Fox News' GOP debate, the police force that raided the Marion County Record stands by its actions, Justin Trudeau blasts Meta, Newsmax denies a major claim, Forbes obtains a key TikTok-related document, and Scooter Braun gets dropped by top talent. But first, the A1.

THE A1

The Right's Rhythm

CNN Photo Illustration/Kendall Warner/The Virginian-Pilot/AP

The right-wing media universe is maturing — and finding great success — beyond typical news commentary.

The latest example: Oliver Anthony Music's smash hit "Rich Men North of Richmond." The anti-Washington anthem, a screed against politicians depicted as depraved and out of touch bureaucrats who want "total control" over the lives of the working class, debuted Monday at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart.

That's quite a feat, considering singer Christopher Anthony Lunsford was virtually unknown just weeks ago. It's an even more miraculous achievement given that Lunsford faced stiff competition on the charts from Taylor Swift, Morgan Wallen, Olivia Rodrigo, Miley Cyrus, and other A-list performers. Billboard said that its the first time an artist has ever launched "atop the list with no prior chart history in any form."

But it's representative of a growing trend in which performers like Lunsford are tapping into an environment in which millions of Americans, primed to loathe mainstream pop culture and media, are willing to open their pocket books to champion their politics. It's also illustrative of the power amassed by right-wing media forces, taking unknown quantities and churning them out into overnight blockbuster hits, a weaponized cudgel against perceived enemies in mainstream institutions.

Already this summer, there have been two other notable examples. The "Sound of Freedom," a crowdfunded film embraced by Donald Trump and outlets such as Fox News about the horrors of child sex trafficking, managed to best "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One" at the domestic box office, despite the latter being a highly anticipated Tom Cruise action flick that exploded into theaters with enormous hype. And, while he is a well known country singer, Jason Aldean's widely criticized "Try That In a Small Town" was not much of a commercial success until it was boosted by right-wing media to the top of the Billboard charts.

As conservatives increasingly see legacy media companies and performers as not only disagreeable, but outright evil, it makes sense that they would look toward outsiders to fill their entertainment needs. Why watch a Hollywood elitist like Cruise perform when a Trump-approved, Fox News-boosted movie is also playing at the local theater?

Prominent right-wing media companies have in recent years started to create content and products designed to tailor fit their audience's political and social views, exploiting the very hole in the market they created for additional profit. Fox News, The Daily Wire, and TheBlaze have all made pushes in this direction. These outlets program their audiences to abhor companies like Disney and then show up with paid content designed to replace the Magic Kingdom in their households.

In an interview with Fox News that aired Monday, Lunsford himself blasted "corporate media and education" for "making everyone identify each other's differences and not as similarities."

Ultimately, if successful, the strategy could spell the end of a shared popular culture, similar to how the advent of right-wing talk-radio and Fox News ultimately spelled the end of a shared understanding of current events.

It won't happen overnight, of course. It took decades for Fox News and the rest of the right-wing machine to undermine the traditional news media and deceive their audiences into actually thinking that journalists report "fake news." But, with enough repetition over time, it worked. And the trend now suggests the winds are blowing in a similar direction in pop culture.

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images

Don's Debate Disruption: Donald Trump is doing his best to hurt Fox News' Republican Party primary debate, deploying a duo of counter-programming moves that will steal attention from the spectacle. The disgraced former president is not only refusing to participate in Rupert Murdoch's GOP hunger games on Wednesday, but is actively attempting to sabotage its ratings by sitting down with Tucker Carlson for an interview that is slated to be posted online on the same evening. And on Monday, Trump announced that he will surrender to authorities in Georgia on Thursday for his fourth indictment. Doing so deprives the Fox debate of oxygen, ensuring the news cycle will be all-focused on Trump the day after it takes place — and less about what transpired on the debate stage.

🔎 Zooming in: One of the great ironies about Trump rebuking Murdoch is that he owes much of his political fortune to the right-wing media boss. Murdoch enabled Trump and his worst behaviors by allowing Fox News to push endless propaganda on his behalf. And Murdoch has continued to run cover for Trump, with Fox News airing dishonest coverage about the indictments. But to Trump, it's still not sufficient, and the unhinged former president has repeatedly trashed Murdoch and Fox News over the last year for supposedly not being loyal to him.

THE INDUSTRY

THE FOURTH ESTATE

The police force that raided the Marion County Record is maintaining its actions were in accordance with the law, John Hanna reports. (AP)
Meanwhile, the Record released video showing the police raid on the home of 98-year-old newspaper co-owner Joan Meyer, showing her stand up to the officers. She died of cardiac arrest the next day. (Kansas Reflector)
"Facebook is putting corporate profits ahead of people's safety": Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau laced into Meta for banishing news from its platforms in the country, calling the tech giant's actions "inconceivable." (Reuters)
Other Canadian officials joined in the chorus, skewering Mark Zuckerberg's platform for its "unacceptable" move, Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff and Naomi Nix report. (WaPo)
Meanwhile, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution president and publisher Andrew Morse writes about how the local newspaper's coverage during this "historic week" shows its commitment to the community: "Local news outlets continue to show up every day, ensuring we the people have access to truth, to facts and to the first draft of history." (AJC)
Several news organizations have asked a judge to release more court filings linked to Jack Smith's search warrant for Donald Trump's X/Twitter account. (CNN)
First in Reliable | After a special "GMA" broadcast last week, more than $7 million has been donated to the charities featured by the network for Maui wildfire relief, an ABC spokesperson tells me.
The Hollywood Reporter has released its annual list of the "40(ish) most important people in podcasting," with newcomers including Audie Cornish and Ben Shapiro. (THR)
Steven Kurutz looks at Standard Industries, which may appear to be a simple roofing company, but is investing in outlets like Air Mail. (NYT)
Jezebel boss Laura Bassett resigned last week "as staffers say CEO Jim Spanfeller has become unhinged and impossible to work for," Lachlan Cartwright reports. (Daily Beast)
Anya Grundmann, NPR's programming chief, is departing. (NPR)

MEDIA MOVES

Bloomberg LP named Vlad Kliatchko its new chief executive and Jean-Paul Zammitt its new president. (NYT)
CNN hired Arit John as a reporter covering national politics. (CNN)
The WaPo hired Eva Dou to cover tech policy; promoted Cat Zakrzewski to White House tech policy lead; and promoted Cristiano Lima to focus on privacy and kids' online safety. (WaPo)
FT named Henry Foy its Brussels bureau chief. (FT)
The Ankler hired London Sanders as head of sales. (The Ankler)
The NYT announced Megan Thielking joined its Well desk as a senior staff editor for news; promoted Emily Weinstein to editor in chief of NYT Cooking and Food; hired Dianna Russini as senior NFL insider for The Athletic; promoted Arran Bardige to executive director of audience, Opinion, and sub brands; re-hired Liriel Higa as director of audience for the Opinion team; and promoted Lauren Reddy to senior director of audience and editorial strategy within the Projects and Initiatives group. (NYT/NYT/NYT/NYT/NYT/NYT)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Scott Olson/Getty Images

Pushback from Newsmax: Newsmax is furiously denying an allegation that it asked Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to advertise on its channel to secure better on-air coverage. Network spokespersonBill Daddi said the notion "that Newsmax is asking candidates to advertise in order to ensure coverage as some quid pro quo … is categorically untrue and incorrect." Daddi went on to add, "Newsmax would take an assertion such as that very seriously. There is no correlation between advertising and editorial visibility for any candidate on Newsmax." The statement from the right-wing outlet came after Semafor's Max Tani and Shelby Talcott reported Newsmax chief Chris Ruddy told Ramaswamy during a call that he should consider purchasing ads to better improve his standing on the network. Read Tani and Talcott's full report.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Alex Jones likes Vivek Ramaswamy: "He's Alex Jones 2.0." (MMFA)
Alfred Sikes, a former Republican FCC chairman, joined several other notable names in supporting a petition to oppose the renewal of FOX 29 Philadelphia's broadcast license renewal application on grounds that Rupert Murdoch's media empire pushes disinformation. (Next TV)
The Daily Wire's Michael Knowles floated a conspiracy theory that "radical environmentalists" are responsible for the Maui fires. (MMFA)
Other right-wing media figures have placed the blame on wokeness and DEI programs, Edith Olmsted reports. Anything but climate change. (TNR)
Kari Paul writes about how the spread of Maui conspiracy theories "reveals tech firms' failings." (Guardian)
Fox News and Outkick are "teaming up ... for a prime time special this weekend," Jamie Frevele reports. (Mediaite)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

TikTok's Draft Treaty: If TikTok's potential deal with the U.S. government looks anything like it did last summer, the ByteDance-owned company would have to cede unprecedented oversight to the federal government. Forbes' Emily Baker-White, who obtained a nearly 100-page 2022 draft agreement, put it like this: "Were it to be finalized, the agreement would provide the government near unfettered access to internal TikTok information and unprecedented control over essential functions that it does not have over any other major free speech platform." Baker-White reported the government would, for instance, have the authority to "examine TikTok's U.S. facilities, records, equipment and servers with minimal or no notice" and even "block changes to the app's U.S. terms of service, moderation policies and privacy policy." Read Baker-White's full story here.

► A TikTok spokesperson responded to Baker-White's request for comment, saying, "It is inappropriate and completely unfair to be asked to comment on a document that we cannot validate." Baker-White said Forbes didn't offer a copy of the agreement to the company "in order to protect sources."

TOO MANY TABS

Austin Knudsen, Montana's attorney general, pressed a judge to uphold the state's ban on TikTok after the social media giant sued to block the move. (Reuters)
Elon Musk told others that he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin personally when considering whether to pull Ukraine's connection to Starlink, Ronan Farrow reports. (New Yorker)
After declaring he would do away with the block feature on X/Twitter, Musk gloated about using it himself: "Pretty fun blocking people who complain that blocking is going away." (AV Club)
Threads is close to launching its web version. Now if we can only get search and a ThreadsDeck, too... (WSJ)
Apple Podcasts introduced a suite of new creator tools that grant access to subscription analytics and Linkfire integration. (TechCrunch)
"Key members of Google's old guard have been shifting roles or leaving the company as it searches for its new identity," Jennifer Elias reports. (CNBC)
YouTube has set its A.I. "music principles." (WSJ)
Despite the very real hype surrounding A.I. and the ways in which it can streamline quotidian practices, many companies are struggling to actually introduce the platforms, Ryan Heath reports. (Axios)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

Braun in a Bind: What's going on with Scooter Braun? That's the question buzzing across media circles. News broke via Billboard's Lyndsey Havens on Monday that Demi Lovato was parting ways with the larger than life music executive — a strange time for the move to be announced, given Lovato's forthcoming album is only weeks way. Then, later in the day, Puck's Matthew Belloni reported that Ariana Grande had also parted ways with Braun. The seismic news came on the heels of Belloni reporting last week that Justin Bieber and Braun "haven't spoken in months" and that Bieber was "poking around for a new agency or manager," which unnamed folks from his camp denied to the press. So what's going on here? I don't know (feel free to email if you have a tip). But alone, each of these reports would raise questions. Together, they add up to a much bigger story.

HOLLYWOOD HELL

The WGA and SAG-AFTRA canceled strike pickets Monday due to Tropical Storm Hilary battering Southern California. (TheWrap)
Ken Jennings will host the upcoming season of "Celebrity Jeopardy!" after Jennings' co-host, Mayim Bialik, announced she would stand in solidarity with the WGA strikes. (Deadline)
Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, the credited writer for the new DCEU film "Blue Beetle," spent the movie's opening day striking: "I'm proud and I'm sad." (THR)

OFF STAGE

"Blue Beetle" took the No. 1 spot at the domestic box office, dethroning "Barbie," and bringing in a modest $25.4 million. (CNN)
Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" has raked in a total of $717.8 worldwide, bringing in more for Universal than "Fast X." (TheWrap)
Lionsgate has reintroduced an office mask mandate as the EG.5 coronavirus strain spreads. (THR)
Attorney Bryan Freedman has written another letter to NBCU, accusing the company of hiding "unlawful" conduct on reality TV sets via NDAs. (TheWrap)
Mojgan Ilanlou, a documentarian, was briefly arrested in Tehran on Sunday as Iran cracks down on civil dissent. (Deadline)
Actor Ron Cephas Jones, best known for his performance in "This Is Us," has died at 66. (CNN)
It's-a-me, Mario! Charles Martinet, known for voicing Nintendo's Mario for the past 27 years, will step down from the role. (BBC)
The Anti-Defamation League said Bradley Cooper's prosthetic nose in the Leonard Bernstein biopic "Maestro" isn't antisemitic. (Variety)
Conan O'Brien joined the 2023 lineup for the New York Comedy Festival. (Deadline)
Lana Del Rey is going on a limited, 10-date tour. (Variety)
"WandaVision," "The Mandalorian," and "Loki" are being released by Disney on Blu-Ray later this year. (Deadline)
The trailer for Netflix's "Reptile," starring Alicia Silverstone, Justin Timberlake, and Benicio Del Toro, has dropped. (YouTube)

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.