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Wednesday, September 13, 2023

Silicon Valley's top executives meet for A.I. summit, Charter talks Disney deal, watchdogs speak out about hate content on X, CNN stresses "no evidence" facing Joe Biden, Google undergoes more layoffs, Drew Barrymore faces more backlash, Bill Maher announces return of "Real Time," VMAs see ratings spike, and more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

Welker's Inaugural Interview

CNN Photo Illustration/NBC News

Kristen Welker's first big test as moderator of "Meet the Press" will be on her debut episode this Sunday.

Welker is set to begin her time in the storied anchor chair by broadcasting a sit-down interview with Donald Trump, as my colleague Kristen Holmes and I first reported Wednesday afternoon. The interview, people familiar with the matter told us, is scheduled to be taped Thursday at Trump's Bedminster club in New Jersey.

The appearance by Trump on the acclaimed Sunday public affairs program will mark his first since 2019, back when the show was hosted by Chuck Todd, whom he often attacked. And it is the first interview with a broadcast news network that he has granted after exiting the White House in disgrace. Since leaving 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Trump has been indicted four times, including twice in relation to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

But most of the risk associated with the one-on-one interview is not shouldered by Trump, who continues to maintain a firm grip on the GOP and its voters, regardless of how reprehensible his behavior is. Welker, instead, will take on the lion's share of risk, interviewing a professional lie machine on one of the biggest stages in news media.

The interview won't air live, which will allow NBC News to retain greater control of the sit-down, giving the news network additional tools to ensure Trump's lies do not go unchecked. NBC, for instance, said it would immediately publish a fact-check piece on its website after the interview airs. And a pre-tape, sans an audience, gives the network several other options, should things go south during the interview with her unpredictable and combative subject.

But those post-interview tools only go so far. It will be left up to Welker to confront the president in real-time during the interview and to dispel his many lies and conspiracy theories, a task that has proven difficult for even the most seasoned and prepared television journalists.

NBC News has arguably even raised the stakes a smidgen by promoting Welker as a tough-as-nails, no-holds-barred journalist in the marketing campaign ahead of her debut show. To Welker's credit, she has a long history of asking the powerful tough questions and pushing them for answers, including during the final 2020 election debate, which she moderated.

Now her experience will be put to the ultimate test. If she can excel, her tenure as "Meet the Press" moderator will begin on a high note. But if Trump manages to overwhelm her with his rapid-fire lies and trademark bravado, she will find herself in a hole, defined in the public consciousness for at least a while by her performance.

The interview also raises the larger question: Aren't there more interesting ways to launch a news show/product, outside interviewing Trump? I don't mean to pick on NBC News here, because the network is not the first to turn to Trump to create buzz around a launch. The tactic just strikes me, sitting here in the latter half of 2023, as tired.

As one network news executive, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, told me Wednesday: "2015 called and they want their idea back."

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Meeting on the Machines: Some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley traveled to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday for a three-hour Senate hearing on A.I. — and there was universal agreement on one key issue. All of the attendees — which included Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, and top execs — indicated that the federal government should oversee the rapidly developing technology, Chuck Schumer said. Altman said everyone shares "the same incentives of getting this right." Pichai called the meeting "very productive." And Musk said that the meeting "may go down in history as being very important for the future of civilization." But Musk also warned, "There's some chance – above zero – that A.I. will kill us all. I think it's low but there's some chance. The consequences of getting AI wrong are severe." CNN's Brian Fung has more here.

THE INDUSTRY

THE MARKET

Charter's CFO said that the loss of subscribers it experienced following its squabble with Disney was "much less" than it anticipated. (TheWrap)
The cable carrier's CFO added that it needed Disney "to be a first mover to get us into this transformational model." (Yahoo! Finance)
The Disney-Charter feud "portends carnage in cable TV," Robbie Whelan and Isabella Simonetti write. (WSJ)
"This is the moment that everyone has long predicted," an unnamed media executive commented to Dylan Byers, "the beginning of a wildfire that burns through the pay TV ecosystem and takes down all the weak, sick, niche networks and only leaves those still with enough corporate leverage to survive." (Puck)

THE FOURTH ESTATE

A cocktail party was held Wednesday evening to celebrate Christiane Amanpour's 40 years at CNN. In attendance: David Zaslav, Amy Entelis, Virginia Moseley, Eric Sherling, David Leavy, Mike McCarthy, Erin Burnett, Kaitlan Collins, Poppy Harlow, Bianna Golodryga, Carl Bernstein, Billie Jean King, Carole Radziwill, Cynthia McFadden, Neal Shapiro, John Avlon, Sara Sidner, John Berman, Alisyn Camerota, Phil Mattingly, and many more.
During the party, Amanpour was presented a framed letter from Ted Turner congratulating her on 40 years. It included a copy of one of his favorite photos of the two of them.
An investigation found that Pegasus surveillance software had infected the iPhone of Galina Timchenko, who heads the Latvia-based independent Russian news outlet Meduza. (Access Now)
The Committee to Protect Journalists said that it is "deeply disturbed by the disclosures," adding that it "underscores that governments must implement an immediate moratorium on the development, sale, and use of spyware technologies." (CPJ)
"The A.V. Club's A.I.-generated articles are copying directly from IMDb," Frank Landymore and Jon Christian report. (Futurism)
Artifact is beefing up its platform with a new "Links" feature that will allow news readers to find and share all kinds of new content with the help of A.I. (The Verge)
Morning Makeover: "CNN This Morning" has returned to the network's former "New Day" set, marking a return of the familiar red brick. (TheWrap)
HuffPost recently saw its highest traffic week since it was acquired by BuzzFeed two years ago. (X)
Anderson Cooper is on the cover of People magazine, opening up about his personal life and raising sons Wyatt and Sebastian. (People)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Nathan Laine/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Twitter's Tesla Tangle: Remember all those concerns about how Elon Musk would govern over Twitter, now known as X, given his business interests with Tesla in China? Well, it turns out they were well founded. In Walter Isaacson's new biography on Musk, he reports on a conversation the erratic billionaire had with Bari Weiss. "At one point during their two-hour conversation, she asked how Tesla's business interests in China might affect the way he managed Twitter. Musk got annoyed. That was not what the conversation was supposed to be about. Weiss persisted," Isaacson wrote. "Musk said that Twitter would indeed have to be careful about the words it used regarding China, because Tesla's business could be threatened. China's repression of the Uyghurs, he said, had two sides. Weiss was disturbed." Mediaite's Isaac Schorr has more here.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway both said they respect Isaacson, but have not been impressed with his Musk bio. (Mediaite)
The Center for Countering Digital Hate, which Musk is suing, said in a fresh report that X is failing to take down an overwhelming majority of flagged posts described as "extreme hate speech." (Axios)
X accused the CCDH of "misleading the public and making unsubstantiated assertions." (Gizmodo)
But it's not just the CCDH! "X's internal reporting system repeatedly responded that posts claiming 'Hitler was right' and that there needs to be a 'final solution' regarding Jewish people don't violate the platform's 'safety policies,'" Eric Hananoki reports. "This isn't an isolated example." (MMFA)
Switching gears, these are the type of comments saturating right-wing media: "As we move forward as a late stage republic, we are going to have to impeach every Democrat president when we have the House, Jesse Kelly declared. (MMFA)
LOL, what? Fox News host Emily Compagno said that the White House ought to thank the GOP for making the impeachment inquiry into Biden a "transparent process." (Mediaite)
Other outlets are being more clear-eyed. The chyron on CNN's 9pm show, for instance, blared: "NO EVIDENCE BIDEN PROFITED OFF SON'S BUSINESS." Anchor Kaitlan Collins repeatedly noted there is "no evidence" incriminating Biden of a crime.
Collins wasn't alone. CNN has repeatedly stressed to viewers there is "no evidence" against Biden. (Mediaite)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto/AP

Gloomy Day at Google: Major cuts are happening yet again at Google. The internet titan, long considered one of the most stable companies to work for in Silicon Valley, announced Wednesday that it is laying off hundreds of employees. The cuts, which come after the search giant laid off about 12,000 staffers at the start of the year, are hitting the company's recruiting organization. "It's not something that was an easy decision to make, and it definitely isn't a conversation any of us wanted to have again this year," VP Brian Ong told staffers, according to a report from CNBC's Jennifer Elias. "Given the base of hiring that we've received the next several quarters, it's the right thing to do overall." CNN's Clare Duffy has more.

TOO MANY TABS

TikTok "has quietly been inserting Wikipedia snippets into search results," Mia Sato reports. (The Verge)
Bluesky has surpassed 1 million users. (TechRadar)
Business at Starlink is booming, with its satellite-internet arm raking in revenue — though it still isn't meeting Elon Musk's ambitions, Micah Maidenberg and Rolfe Winkler report. (WSJ)
WhatsApp will expand the service of its Channels feature to over 150 nations over the coming weeks. (TechCrunch)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Andrew Kelly/Reuters

Barring Barrymore: The backlash continues to grow against Drew Barrymore for resuming production on her show. The National Book Awards, which Barrymore had been slated to host in November, dropped her in light of the decision. "The National Book Awards is an evening dedicated to celebrating the power of literature, and the incomparable contributions of writers to our culture," the National Book Foundation, which presents the award, said in a statement. "In light of the announcement that 'The Drew Barrymore Show' will resume production, the National Book Foundation has rescinded Ms. Barrymore's invitation to host the 74th National Book Awards Ceremony." A/V Club's William Hughes has more.

► "'The Drew Barrymore Show' is in chaos," Rolling Stone's Kalia Richardson reports.

HOLLYWOOD HELL

Meanwhile, another talk show host is returning to air. The latest program to announce plans to do so is HBO's "Real Time With Bill Maher." Maher said the show will be "sans writers or writing," adding, "It has been five months, and it is time to bring people back to work. The writers have important issues that I sympathize with, and hope they are addressed to their satisfaction, but they are not the only people with issues, problems, and concerns." (THR)
Three members of "Strike Force Five" — Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Kimmel — will host a live show in Las Vegas later this month. (The Wrap)
Fox executive Allison Wallach described to Rick Porter the network as "kind of bullish" heading into the fall as Hollywood remains paralyzed by the strikes. For the unscripted-heavy Fox, Wallach said, the company is still "able to launch the shows that we always planned on doing." (THR)
"We need to get back to work. That's what we are focused on … We are very committed to get back as quickly as possible, in the meantime, we are managing through," said Netflix exec Spencer Neumann. (Deadline)
Workers at Marvel Studios' visual effects voted to unionize with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. (TheWrap)

OFF STAGE

The 2023 VMAs netted MTV its highest ratings for the award show in three years. (Deadline)
Taylor Swift dominated the awards show, winning music video of the year for the second year in a row. (CNN)
Olivia Rodrigo is set to have the next must-have concert tickets. The pop star announced dates for her "Guts" world tour. (Billboard)
The SEC filed charges against the creators of "Stoner Cats" — which features several A-listers, including Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, Chris Rock, Jane Fonda, and Seth MacFarlane — an NFT cartoon series, over its use of unregistered NFT offerings. (THR)
Stephen Rodrick profiled Sean Penn in a piece that spans his work in Ukraine and his stance on Hollywood studios' A.I. proposals. (Variety)
To say I'm excited for this would be an understatement: The teaser for the fourth season of AppleTV+'s "For All Mankind" is out. (YouTube)
Paramount released the trailer for Martin Scorsese's upcoming "Killers of the Flower Moon." (YouTube)
"Bachelorette" star Hannah Brown has signed a deal to write two romance novels. (Variety)
Fox renewed "Lego Masters" for a fifth season two weeks before its fourth season even premiered. (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. You can follow us on Instagram and Threads. We will see you back in your inbox tomorrow.