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Wednesday, September 6, 2023

It's been another day overflowing with media news. David Zaslav talks bundling, CNN celebrates 20 years of "AC360," ABC News announces Maui initiative, AMC shares plummet 37% to a record low, cameras capture first hearing in historic Georgia election case, Donald Trump is (again) found liable for defaming E. Jean Carroll, the E.U. identifies six Big Tech "gatekeepers," Roku lays off 10% of its staff, HBO says goodbye to "Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel," and so much more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

Musk The Menace

CNN Photo Illustration/Nathan Laine/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Elon Musk's crusade to demonize the Anti-Defamation League is showing no signs of ending.

The unhinged billionaire, burning white-hot anger at the Jewish non-profit because it had the audacity to point out how hate speech has flourished on his X/Twitter platform, continued on Wednesday smearing the ADL and unleashing a ferocious verbal assault on its chief executive, Jonathan Greenblatt.

The unrelenting stream of menacing posts targeting the ADL has not been without consequence. Greenblatt told me on Wednesday that the ADL has seen a surge in threats directed at the organization since Musk began waging his campaign of bullying against the renowned institution. As a result, Greenblatt said, the ADL has been forced to increase its security.

"We always receive threatening language," Greenblatt told me by phone. "I get it personally. It's directed at other staff. But it certainly has intensified in the last week."

Greenblatt noted that the vile attacks against the ADL coincide with incidents of antisemitism rising across the country. He said that acts of hate in the U.S. — such as harassment, vandalism, and violence — have reached an "all time high" since the ADL started tracking them more than four decades ago.

"What starts online, often ends up on the ground," Greenblatt warned, pointing to how the #BanTheADL hashtag amplified by Musk jumped from Twitter/X to actual protesters in recent days.

Nevertheless, despite the ominous climate, Greenblatt said that the ADL remains undeterred in its mission and insisted that it will not be intimidated.

"For over 100 years, the ADL has been the leading anti-hate organization in the country fighting raging anti-semites, wild bigots, hardened anti-Zionists. We've come under pressure from elected officials, religious leaders, and other hardened criminals," Greenblatt said. "So we have this situation now. At the end of the day, I'm not really phased."

Greenblatt said that while Musk is blaming the organization for its advertising woes, he has not been talking to advertisers. The ADL was part of a coalition of groups last year that called on companies to pause advertisements on the social media platform in the wake of the Musk acquisition. But Greenblatt said that in the months since, it has "not in any meaningful way been activating that."

While Musk has said advertising revenue at Twitter/X is down approximately 60% (he has not elaborated on the figure), major companies are still promoting their brands on the service — even as its owner escalates his ugly offensive against the ADL.

In the last 48 hours, I've spotted advertisements for Apple, McDonald's, Gatorade, Ritz Crackers, Samsung, Wendy's, Red Bull, NFL, MLB, Paramount, State Farm, IBM, and 20th Century Fox. News outlets such as The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg, CNBC, Puck, and Axios have also continued advertising on the platform, despite Musk's attacks on newsrooms.

In our conversation, Greenblatt declined to provide a direct answer when I asked whether the ADL believed companies should still be pausing, or abandoning altogether, their advertising campaigns on Twitter/X. But he did suggest that whatever their decision, it would reflect on how serious they are about upholding the values that they purport to stand for.

"These brands need to think about their values and the values they profess and how those values are reflected when their brands appear next to toxic content," Greenblatt said, adding that "advertisers will make their own decisions."

Greenblatt noted that companies often "spend so much time and with such great care constructing these brands and build value in them," only for their logos to end up on seedy corners of the internet adjacent to abhorrent content.

"How do you square that?" Greenblatt wondered.

Given the refusal of these companies to answer why they are still sending advertising dollars to Musk, he might be left wondering that question for quite some time.

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Leon Bennett/WireImage/Getty Images

Zas Sounds Off: Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav addressed the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference on Wednesday — and made news on a number of fronts. Here are a few highlights:

► On the strikes: Zaslav called for the industry to meet the moment and work to swiftly end the dual strikes that have frozen Hollywood. "We really have to focus as an industry, and we are, on trying to get this resolved in a way that's really fair," Zaslav said.

► Sports to the Max: Zaslav said WBD will reveal its plans to bring sports to Max in the coming weeks. Just before he took the stage, Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw reported via sources that the company plans "to offer live sports at no additional cost on its Max streaming service for a limited period of time later this year, betting basketball, baseball and hockey will lure new customers."

► Thompson's CNN mission: Zaslav praised incoming CNN chief Mark Thompson, calling him a "superb executive" and signaling that his mission will be to position the cable news outlet for the long term. "I can't wait to see what Mark and that team is going to do because it is it is an extraordinary asset for us," Zaslav said. "It's the leading news organization in the world and I think Mark is just the right guy at the right time."

► Rebuilding the bundle: Zaslav again spoke favorably about bundling content, saying that conversations are taking place behind the scenes and that they have accelerated in recent months. "Some of this disruption and some of these moments of what's going to happen may activate a quicker transition to things like some of us in the content business bundling together as a way to create more value and create a better consumer experience," he said.

► A carriage dispute for the ages: Zaslav addressed the Disney-Charter dispute, saying that it "feels like this is a moment" for the entire industry. "It's not clear if this is a moment that gets resolved quickly — and we are back to having an industry that is in secular decline … or whether this is a more meaningful moment," he said.

THE INDUSTRY

CNN Photo Illustration/CNN

Celebrating Cooper: CNN is celebrating a momentous anniversary this week: 20 years of Anderson Cooper anchoring "AC360." The official 20-year mark of the network's flagship prime time program will be Friday, but the show is commemorating the milestone all week, playing clips from its deep archive of material. And plenty of material do they have to pull from. During his incredible run, Cooper has reported from more than 30 countries and anchored more than 5,000 programs, which translates into more than 10.5 million minutes of programming. "It's amazing to me that it's been twenty years," Cooper told me through a spokesperson. "I get to work every day with many of the best people in journalism and I am beyond grateful. Some of the most extraordinary experiences of my life have occurred while reporting for CNN, and I hope to continue doing that for a long time to come."

First in Reliable | ABC's Commitment: National news outlets have, at times, earned a bad reputation for parachuting into a disaster zone, covering it for a few days, and then leaving — forgetting to follow up on the story. ABC News is refusing to do that with Maui. The outlet on Thursday will announce a new initiative called "Maui Strong 808." Every eighth of the month, marking the date the wildfires took place and a nod to Hawaii's 808 area code, ABC News will air special stories across its platforms aimed at keeping the focus on Maui and the ongoing relief effort.

► "Over the next year," an ABC rep told me, "the initiative will focus on different angles of this unfolding and historic story, using Hawaiian words as themes, an homage to the community's deep cultural roots, their care for one another and the island, and their strength and resilience in moving forward."

THE FOURTH ESTATE

Jake Kanter reported that the BBC "is actively weighing whether it should replace Huw Edwards as the anchor of its flagship election night show amid continued uncertainty over the presenter's future." (Deadline)
John Dickerson marked one year anchoring the CBS News streaming show "Prime Time With John Dickerson." Dickerson told viewers, "In addition to answering the who, what, where, when, and why of the day's news, we have tried to keep focused of the value you are giving us when you lend us you attention." (X)
Jeff Jarvis will leave the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY after 18 years. (Medium)
Burmese photojournalist Sai Zaw Thaike was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Wednesday, the longest sentence handed to a journalist since the military coup d'état in 2021. (Reuters)

THE MARKET

Shares in AMC Entertainment fell a staggering 37%, closing at a record low after announcing a plan to sell up to 40 million shares. (WSJ)
Disney "has seen a 60% jump in Hulu + Live TV subscriptions relative to internal expectations" since its dispute with Charter commenced, Dade Hayes reports. (Deadline)
On the topic of the streamer, Disney and Comcast moved up their formal talks over a sale of Hulu to Sept. 30. Brian Roberts said he believes the streamer is worth more than $30 billion. (Variety)
The 12,000-word piece has landed. Don't miss Alex Sherman's in-depth article chronicling the Disney succession drama between Bob Iger and Bob Chapek. (CNBC)
Paramount will raise the price of Paramount+ with Showtime again, Bob Bakish said. "Whether we do that in '25 or '24, we'll see." (THR)
Roku will axe about 10% of its staff, some 360 people, as well as curb new hires as it seeks to reduce costs in the wake of quarterly losses. The move sent its stock up, with it closing above 3%. (CNN)
Alex Werpin writes about how the NFL has navigated the media landscape — and continues to leverage its much-coveted product. (THR)
Universal Music said it's created a new royalties-based model that better compensate artists within the music-streaming models. (Bloomberg)

MEDIA MOVES

Disney named Louise Pentland chief counsel for parks, experiences, and products. (Disney)
CNN promoted Alex Marquardt to chief national security correspondent. (CNN)
The NYT upped Michael Gold to campaign correspondent. (NYT)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Pool

Cameras in the Court: Leave it to Georgia to show the federal courts how it is done. The Fulton County Court on Wednesday permitted cameras into the courtroom where the first hearing in the historic Georgia election case got underway. The live-feed, streamed on YouTube, was broadcast live on CNN and MSNBC, with the cable news networks going into special coverage mode to cover the hearing (Fox News showed some of the proceedings, but ultimately cut away and went back to its usual right-wing talk programming).

🔎 Zooming in: Allowing cameras inside the state courtroom provided the public with an incredible window into the proceedings, giving them the ability to watch the opening of the case unfold in real-time with their own eyes. And given that the hearing went smoothly, it showed yet again that high-profile cases can in fact be carried live without disrupting the court's business.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Donald Trump was found liable — again — for making defamatory statements about E. Jean Carroll. Damages will be awarded after a jury trial in January. (CNN)
An audit conducted for Project Veritas probing now-estranged founder James O'Keefe concluded that he wasted donor money on a number of inappropriate activities, Will Sommer reports. The activities, per Sommer, included deceitful trips to see "Selling the OC" star Alexandra Rose, who he was having a romantic relationship with. (WaPo)
Bobby Lewis reports that Newsmax "recently began running on-air fundraising appeals for the legal defense of disgraced Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani." Lewis adds, "Not only is the network urging viewers to help Giuliani — it appears to be also running his donation website directly and collecting the checks on his behalf." (MMFA)
The Washington Free Beacon said Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign cut off access to the candidate after it reported he made an appearance on an anti-semitic YouTuber's program. (Free Beacon)
"Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly's conspiracy theories show how unhinged right-wing media has become," Colby Hall writes. (Mediaite)
Need an example? Speaking on Newsmax, Kelly said that a "lot of people" are convinced that the Obamas are running a "shadow puppet" government, Justin Baragona reports. (Daily Beast)
Fox News "is dragging the GOP into an inane, inevitable impeachment of Joe Biden," Matt Gertz writes. (MMFA)
NewsNation will host a town hall with Republican presidential candidate Mike Pence on Wednesday, Sept. 13. (NewsNation)
OutKick announced it will launch a new daily show hosted by Charly Arnolt. (The Big Lead)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images

Gunning for the Gatekeepers: The E.U. on Wednesday identified six tech companies that it considers "gatekeepers" under its new sweeping Digital Markets Act. Those companies are Apple, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, ByteDance, and Alphabet. The decision means each company will have six months to comply with the expansive legislation, which levels new regulations on so-called "gatekeepers" as the E.U. moves to limit what it considers anticompetitive practices. The legislation will very likely upend how citizens of the bloc interact with the companies. CNBC's Ryan Browne has details.

TOO MANY TABS

"First monopoly trial of the modern internet era": A court on Tuesday will begin hearing arguments in a case the Justice Department has brought against Google. David McCabe and Cecilia Kang have write that "such a consequential case over tech power has not unfolded" since 1998. (NYT)
Phil Spencer, Microsoft Gaming's chief executive, said he is "confident" the acquisition of Activision Blizzard will be successful. (Bloomberg)
OpenAI will host its first developer conference on Nov. 6. (TechCrunch)
Hemant Taneja and Fareed Zakaria write about A.I. and "the new digital Cold War." The duo warns that "the technology ecosystem will be split largely into two spheres dictated by the world's two economic powerhouses, the United States and China." (HBR)
Mustafa Suleyman, the A.I. pioneer who co-founded DeepMind and now heads up Inflection AI, warned both Silicon Valley and Capitol Hill that A.I. needs "containment" lest it pose a threat to mankind. (Axios)
YouTube will remove some creator ad controls. (The Verge)
A Norwegian court ruled that Meta can continue to be fined for using harvested user data for targeted ad purposes after the Mark Zuckerberg-led company asked to halt the fines. (Reuters)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/HBO

Gumbel Says Goodbye: It's the end of an era. HBO announced on Wednesday that its longest-running show, "Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel," will come to an end this year after 29 seasons. Gumbel said in a statement that he has found almost three decades with HBO to be "very gratifying," and that he is "proud of the imprint" the show has made. "Although goodbyes are never easy, I've decided that now's the time to move on," Gumbel said. LAT's Stephen Battaglio has more here.

OFF STAGE

"1883," Paramount+'s "Yellowstone" prequel, has aired on cable throughout the summer, averaging 2.5 million viewers per episode — and making the show the most-watched series for both the summer and 2023 so far, Josef Adalian writes. (Vulture)
Scandal at the tomato patch: Lane Brown writes that the quality of Rotten Tomatoes' reviews is dying on the vine. (Vulture)
Over 200 filmmakers from around the globe — including Martin Scorsese, Paul Schrader, Joanna Hogg, and M. Night Shyamalan — signed an open letter to the Berlin International Film Festival supporting Carlo Chatrian. (TheWrap)
An A.I.-generated song that copies the voices of Drake and The Weeknd has been submitted to the Grammys. (Variety)
Netflix's live-action adaptation of "One Piece" opened on the streamer's most-watched TV list, raking in a whopping 18.5 million views in the short time since its premiere on Aug. 31. (TheWrap)
Paramount+'s "Mayor of Kingstown," which stars Jeremy Renner, was renewed for a third season. (TheWrap)
The Rolling Stones announced an Oct. 20 release date for their new 12-track album, "Hackney Diamonds," the band's first in 18 years. (CNN)
What's more, Sydney Sweeney takes center stage in the music video for "Angry" off the Stones' new album. (YouTube)
FX released the trailer for the new season of "American Horror Story," which stars Kim Kardashian. (YouTube)
The trailer for "Gen V," Prime Video's spinoff of its hit TV series "The Boys," has dropped. (YouTube)
Prime Video also released first-look images of the limited series "Expats" by Lulu Wang, which stars Nicole Kidman, Ji-young Yoo, Sarayu Blue, Brian Tee, and Jack Huston. (Deadline)
Netflix dropped the trailer for David Yates' "Pain Hustlers," which stars Emily Blunt and Chris Evans. (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. You can follow us on Instagram and Threads. We will see you back in your inbox tomorrow.