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Monday, September 18, 2023

Benjamin Netanyahu asks Elon Musk to "roll back" antisemitism on X, Russell Brand faces repercussions, DirecTV and Nexstar finally strike a deal, Kara Swisher presses Walter Isaacson, judge sets date for Dominion's trial against Newsmax, Bill Maher reverses decision to return to air amid Hollywood strikes, Katy Perry sells her music rights, and more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

Meet the Mess

CNN Photo Illustration/William B. Plowman/NBC/Getty Images

The Kristen Welker era of "Meet the Press" is off to a bleak start.

The high-stakes sit down with disgraced former president Donald Trump was all risk and little reward for Welker as she assumed the esteemed moderator chair of "Meet the Press" for the first time Sunday. Television executives I surveyed before and after the interview were baffled that NBC News and Welker willfully chose to take on such a fraught assignment, given Trump's notorious propensity to lie. As one television executive put it to me, "It was a crazy way to set the tone of what 'Meet the Press' would be under her."

But the Peacock network opted to do it — and NBC News spent the entire week hyping Welker as someone who "met the moment" as a White House correspondent when "power was held to account" during Trump's tumultuous presidency. Unfortunately, Welker failed spectacularly to meet the moment during her interview with Trump.

Welker allowed Trump to make a number of statements wholly untethered to reality on a range of critical issues without tenacious, resolute, or meaningful pushback. Trump, a rapid-fire lie machine, did his usual song and dance. He lied about the election. He lied about the insurrection that his lies had spawned. And he lied about pretty much every topic that Welker broached.

Throughout it all, Welker seemed ill-equipped to handle Trump's trademark bravado. Lacking any noticeable fire in her belly, she at times timidly tried to set the facts straight. But Welker lacked the necessary fervor and apparent grasp of the subject material the massive platform requires to effectively counter Trump, who as The New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker later told her, is like a "bulldozer shoveling falsehoods." Trump clearly smelled weakness in the air, taking control of the interview as he ignored Welker's hopeless — yet constant — pleas to "stay on track" and continued flooding the zone with outrageous lies.

"Mr. President, let me just ask this question, please—," she pleaded at one point.

It was a low moment in Welker's otherwise pristine career. And it's sure to have consequences for the storied Sunday public affairs show, given that Welker's debut was NBC News' chance to refresh the program, define what role it will serve in the 2024 election, and win over the hearts and minds of viewers.

While the episode will likely see better-than-usual ratings because of the debut of Welker and anticipated interview with Trump, it is a fair bet that the manner in which she executed the Trump sit-down will have alienated a not insignificant swath of the audience. CNN, for instance, saw a tsunami of criticism wash over the network in the wake of its (also disastrous) town hall with Trump this spring — and the network is still trying to win back viewers.

But the interview also speaks to a larger problem that — somehow in 2023 — continues to confound the news media and the well-compensated television anchors tasked with effectively holding power to account. Even after Trump subverted democracy during the 2020 election, inspiring an actual insurrection on the U.S. Capitol, newsrooms continue to struggle with how to cover him.

It's arguable that, at this juncture, there is really no need to interview Trump. After years and years of seeing how he dishonestly operates, what exactly is there to glean from a sit-down? The near-certain result is that the outlet will record a stream of lies rushing out of his mouth, mixed in with absurd grievances about how supposedly unfair the system treats him. Does any of that really serve the public?

Some news executives seem to believe that Trump can make "news" during interviews, but pressing him on policy issues rarely yields consequential results. The public is well familiar with Trump and already knows that he is a man estranged with the truth. Further, it's hard to believe that voters are deciding whether to support him based on his stance on specific issues.

As Trump once infamously bragged, he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and still maintain support from his loyal base of fans. Trump's supporters are choosing to stand behind him because of his blustering personality and style. They lock arms with him because they believe he is boldly standing up for them and taking the fight to the elites. Not because of his position on Taiwan.

If it is necessary to interview Trump, newsrooms need to approach the task differently than they would any other interview. While there is a temptation among the D.C. class to pretend that newsrooms still operate in a 1990s-like era in which Republicans and Democrats are treated as opposite sides of the same coin, doing so is a grave error. The Republican Party of 2023 is very different than the Republican Party of yesteryear. And its leader, the twice impeached and four-times indicted Trump, is no normal politician.

When interviewing Trump, the goal cannot be to make "news" like one might attempt with a typical politician. The purpose of the interview must be to hold power to account. It must be about asserting the facts in a meaningful way and forcing Trump to confront them. He will still, of course, lie — but at least the audience might be able to see through the showmanship if the interviewer displays a firm grip on the subject matter and exerts command.

Unfortunately, few in the press who have taken on the assignment have proven capable of executing the difficult task in a compelling way. That doesn't bode well for the news industry or, more importantly, democracy at large.

MEET THE CRITICS

Michael Hiltzik: Welker's interview "was a gross dereliction of journalistic duty." (LAT)
Jonathan Last: Welker "failed the Trump test." (The Bulwark)
Corbin Bolies: Welker's skills as an interviewer "were no match for a chaotic interview subject like Trump." (Daily Beast)
Dan Froomkin: "A pretaped sit-down interview is precisely the right format to debunk Trump to his face, but Welker barely even tried." (Press Watch)
Aaron Rupar: "Because Welker's approach was so feeble, footage of Trump lying was broken up with shots of her back in the studio trying to clean things up with fact-checks she was either unwilling or unable to provide in real time. But even these left a lot to be desired." (Public Notice)
Norman Ornstein: "Trump says the Capitol Police testified against Nancy Pelosi, and then burned all the evidence. Lie upon lie upon lie. Unchallenged by Welker. Every word out of his mouth is a lie, and he talks over any questioner. Just a colossal mistake to showcase this sociopath." (X)
Bill Carter: "Bottom line is she treated Trump like normal, legit candidate, not one who tried to blow up our democracy and faces 91 felony indictments. Not just irresponsible journalism. Downright dangerous journalism to legitimize this guy- in the name of having a 'talked about' premiere." (X)
Mark Jacob: "What if TV news interviewers told their upcoming political guests: 'Don't come on my show and lie. If you do, I'll end the interview immediately and inform you on camera that you'll never appear on my show again.' That won't happen, of course. But it should." (Courier)
Parting note: The silence from MSNBC has been deafening. While the progressive cable news channel is usually quite quick to skewer how the rest of the news media covers Trump, its rosters of anchors have been noticeably unwilling to speak truth to power when it comes to confronting their own sister network's failure.

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

Repercussions for Russell: The fallout stemming from a joint investigation that alleged Russell Brand sexually assaulted four women continued on Monday. The investigation, conducted by The Sunday Times, The Times, and Channel 4's "Dispatches," alleged the assaults took place between 2006 and 2013. Brand has flatly denied any illegal behavior. On Monday, London's Metro Police said it is investigating one of the alleged assaults, which took place in 2003; Brand canceled the remainder of his comedy tour; and the actor's publisher paused his book deal.

🔎 Zooming in: While Brand faces serious allegations, he has a vocal group of supporters backing him. Brand has become somewhat of a contrarian hero in right-wing media in recent years, aligning himself with the Tucker Carlsons of the world and ranting against the so-called establishment. Many on the right have been primed to believe that reporting on such figures is really about deplatforming them because of their political viewpoints. And, for that reason, they choose not to trust any of the reporting. Don't believe me? Take a look at the comments on this Fox News Instagram post. Or check out what Elon Musk is publicly saying.

THE INDUSTRY

First in Reliable | Boardroom's Boom: Boardroom — the Kevin Durant-Rich Kleiman founded media network that covers the business of sports, music, and culture — is launching an advisory arm. The company said that Boardroom Advisory will be a membership-based community that works with athletes and other entertainment figures to "create opportunity through venture and private equity investing, sports ownership opportunities, business strategy, and content creation." To that end, sports executive Lorenzo McCloud will join the company as director of talent relations.

► "We're launching this new vertical as part of Boardroom because it speaks to the ethos of the brand: That through our network, knowledge, and content flywheel, we can create more access and more opportunity," Kleiman said in a statement. Durant added that the advisory arm is a "natural extension of the brand" and "something we've wanted to do for a long time.'

THE MARKET

DirecTV and Nexstar announced they have largely resolved a carriage dispute that had left millions of the satellite provider's subscribers unable to watch Nexstar's stations, including NewsNation. (CNN)
ABC announced it will air 10 additional "Monday Night Football" games this season in a simulcast with ESPN. (Variety)

THE FOURTH ESTATE

Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner was taken off the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation's board — which he helped found — following the publication of a NYT interview where he made racist and sexist comments. (CNN)
Rolling Stone said that Wenner's statements "do not represent the values and practices of today's Rolling Stone." (X)
Sports staffers for The NYT and members of the outlet's union walked through its offices to protest its the closure of its sports desk in favor of The Athletic, Ben Strauss reports. (WaPo)
The season premiere of "60 Minutes" delivered the program's largest audience in nearly two years, averaging 11.4 million total viewers. (TV Newser)
Britain's media watchdog, Ofcom, announced that a GB News interview with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt breached impartiality rules. (BBC)
Time is doubling down on opinion content with its new "Time100 Voices" editorial platform, which will highlight the perspectives of leaders worldwide, Sara Fischer reports. (Axios)
George Soros's Open Society Foundation and philanthropist Hansjörg Wyss played instrumental roles in the purchase of some two dozen Maine-based publicationsl, Max Tani reports. (Semafor)
Robin Garfield, CNN's chief research officer and executive vice president of program and content strategy, announced that she will depart the company in October.
The FT launched an app version of its FT Digital Edition, a digital replica of the print newspaper. (FT)

MEDIA MOVES

Penguin Random House named Nihar Malaviya its permanent chief executive. (AP)
British Vogue named Chioma Nnadi its new head of editorial content. (BBC)
The NYT promoted Hilary Moss to deputy editor of visuals, for the home team; hired Monty Wolper as the head of product marketing; named Shauntel Lowe the editor in charge of the Metro desk's weekly Metropolitan section; promoted Emmanuel Morgan to general assignment reporter; and promoted Robb Todd to senior staff editor. (NYT/NYT/NYT/NYT/NYT)
The LAT re-hired Anabel Sosa as its inaugural California Local News fellow. (LAT)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

Netanyahu's Nudge: During a sit-down discussion on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Elon Musk to do more to curtail antisemitism on his X platform, which has become a haven for hate speech under the erratic billionaire's watch. "I know your commitment to free speech," Netanyahu told Musk. "But I also know your opposition to antisemitism. You've spoken about it, tweeted about it. And all I can say is, I hope you find, within the confines of the First Amendment, the ability to stop not only antisemitism, or roll it back as best you can, but any collective hatred of people…. I know you're committed to that and I hope you succeed. And it's not an easy task, but I encourage you and urge you to find a balance." Musk said, once again, that he is "against attacking any group" and it "doesn't matter who it is." But, of course, Musk has declared war on the Anti-Defamation League, in addition to having allowed extremists and racists back onto the platform. CNN's Brian Fung and Hadas Gold have more here.

TOO MANY TABS

Musk is apparently considering charging all X users, which he says might resolve the platform's bot problem. (TechCrunch)
Kara Swisher pressed Walter Isaacson over his Musk biography: "Do you worry this framing of Elon as a child absolves him of the accountability he deserves as a 52-year-old man?" (Mediaite)
Former Twitter trust and safety head Yoel Roth: "Trump attacked me. Then Musk did. It wasn't an accident." (NYT)
Tim Cook said Apple is "constantly" asking itself if it should be advertising on Musk's X. (CBS News)
X, under Musk, has handed ample user information to German authorities to aid hate-crime investigations. (WaPo)
Google "has tweaked its advertising auctions to ensure it meets revenue targets, sometimes increasing ad prices by as much as 5%, an executive for the company testified Monday at a federal antitrust trial," Leah Nylen reports. (Bloomberg)
ByteDance and the U.S. government have returned to the negotiating table to discuss TikTok's future, Drew Harwell reports. (WaPo)
Ireland's Data Protection Commission fined TikTok 345 million pounds for its violation of children's privacy. (BBC)
TikTok is "reshaping the American cookbook," writes Priya Krishna, noting how many influencers are making names for themselves with cooking recipes. (NYT)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Aaron M. Sprecher/AP

Date With Dominion: Mark your calendars for September 2024. That's when Dominion Voting Systems will face off in court with Newsmax over the right-wing channel's airing of 2020 election lies. "The decision by Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis means — barring an out-of-court settlement — Trump's lies about the 2020 election will be front and center at a four-week trial during the closing weeks of the 2024 election," CNN's Marshall Cohen, who broke the news, wrote. Read Cohen's full story.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Fox News effectively buried the story of Rep. Lauren Boebert and her partner's on-camera groping session during a "Beetlejuice" show in Denver. (Mediaite)
"Demonizing journalists to spread disinformation is dangerous and undemocratic": Las Vegas Review-Journal exec Glenn Cook writes about how "conspiracy theorists, agenda-driven ideologues and even Elon Musk decided to engage in an unfounded media criticism dogpile" against the paper. (Review Journal)
Tim Ballard, whose story inspired the summer hit "Sound of Freedom," was removed from Operation Underground Railroad after an investigation found he allegedly invited women to masquerade as his "wife" during undercover missions overseas only to use the ruse to coerce them into sharing a bed or showering together. Ballard did not comment to Vice. (Vice)
Candace Owens has, once again, been suspended from YouTube over hateful anti-LGBTQ comments she made in a Daily Wire post. (MMFA)
Toby Morton created a fake Moms for Liberty website to troll the far-right org — but the website has since turned into a fundraising campaign that seeks "to disrupt this hate group for as long as possible." (Daily Beast)
Sean Hannity hosted actor Sean Penn for a second time on Monday, as the actor promotes his documentary on Ukraine. (Fox News)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Greg Endries/HBO

The Talk Show Turnaround: Well, that was short lived. After several talk shows announced they would return to air amid the Hollywood strikes, most have walked back their decisions over the last 48 hours. Bill Maher announced Monday that he would pause the premiere of his show, just days after the "Real Time" host sparked backlash by outlining reasons why he was determined to return to air. In doing so, Maher joined Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Hudson, and "The Talk" in moving to abandon plans to launch fall seasons during the writers' work stoppage. All of the shows had generated fierce blowback for attempts to restart production, with the WGA even moving to picket outside their sets. CNN's Jordan Valinsky has more here.

► Sherri Shepherd, however, chose to return on Monday, saying that she is the primary writer, but that she stands "in solidarity with my union."

HOLLYWOOD HELL

The writers and studios will resume their contract negotiations on Wednesday as the strike stretches on more than four months. (THR)
Lucas Shaw breaks down "the biggest myths about the Hollywood strikes." (Bloomberg)
Julia Jacobs writes about how the strike is giving directors "their close-ups." (NYT)

OFF STAGE

Another musical artist has sold their rights for a large sum of money: Katy Perry sold her music rights to Litmus Music for $225 million, Jem Aswad reports. (Variety)
Ashton Kutcher resigned as the chairman of the board for Thorn — the anti-child sex abuse organization he co-founded with his wife, Mila Kunis — after the couple penned letters on behalf of their former "That '70s Show" colleague, Danny Masterson. (AP)
"Yellowstone" made "some noise with its broadcast debut on CBS," Katie Campione writes, noting the episode averaged 6.56 million viewers. (Deadline)
Say It IS So: Blink-182 announced a new album, "One More Time," the band's first as a full trio since 2011. (Pitchfork)
Drake pushed back the release date for his upcoming album, "For All the Dogs," over tour conflicts. (Pitchfork)
Olivia Rodrigo added 18 shows to her "Guts" world tour. (Pitchfork)
Richard Linklater's latest film, "Hit Man," which stars Glen Powell, was sold to Netflix for $20 million. (AP)
Netflix's animated feature, "The Twits," based on the Roald Dahl book, will hit the platform in 2025. (TheWrap)
RIP: Actor and producer Billy Miller, best known for playing Billy Abbott in the long-running soap opera "The Young and the Restless," has died at age 43. (CNN)

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. You can follow us on Instagram and Threads. We will see you back in your inbox tomorrow.