Received this email from a friend? Subscribe here.

Tuesday, September 19, 2023

YouTube temporarily demonetizes Russell Brand, Ray Epps charges undercut Jan. 6 conspiracy theories, Warner Bros. Discovery announces live sports tier for Max, Republican states support Montana in its war on TikTok, writers and studios set to meet, Vanna White extends her "Wheel" contract, and so much more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

Wolff in the Foxhouse

CNN Photo Illustration/Tristar Media/Getty Images

On Wednesday evening, at a swanky party in a townhouse in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, Michael Wolff will celebrate his forthcoming book about Fox News, titled "The Fall: The End of Fox News and the Murdoch Dynasty." The anticipated 320-page work, which will hit shelves next week, is poised to generate voluminous chatter and headlines — and leave newsrooms with a predicament.

In the forthcoming book, a copy of which I obtained in advance of its release, Wolff makes a number of shocking and explosive claims. Wolff reports that Rupert Murdoch holds immense disdain for Sean Hannity, calling the primetime host an offensive slur, and even pondered firing him. Murdoch, he writes, initially thought he could settle the massive Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit for a mere $50 million (he settled, ultimately, for $787.5 million). Suzanne Scott feared she would lose her job as chief executive of Fox News amid the Dominion lawsuit, he reports. And so much more.

But, when reading and reporting on the book, journalists and the public at large would be smart not to mistake Wolff's word for the word of God. More simply put: Wolff may not be the most reliable narrator.

Wolff has a long history of printing claims that end up being strongly disputed by the subjects themselves. Critics have chided him in the past for sloppy or unethical reporting practices. And his bestselling "Fire & Fury" even contained outright factual errors.

That's not to say that everything Wolff prints is mistaken. There is no question that a number of the anecdotes and claims printed in "The Fall" will hold water. In fact, most of them may very well prove to be entirely accurate. But the allegations, particularly the most explosive ones, should be viewed with a skeptical eye, especially until other news outlets attempt to re-report them.

Most books are not subject to the same vigorous fact-checking process that stories published by established news organizations are. Often, the author simply works with an editor before submitting the manuscript to a publisher for printing. That lack of an extra layer of scrutiny sometimes gives way to errors finding their way into print.

Even the acclaimed author Walter Isaacson had to walk back a major claim he made in his recently released biography on Elon Musk. Isaacson reported that Musk abruptly turned off Ukraine's access to his Starlink satellite internet system last year as the country was launching a drone attack on a Russian fleet in Crimea, depriving the Eastern European country's forces of communications for the assault and rendering the offensive a failure.

But that claim, from an author with a sterling reputation, was quickly disputed by Musk and Isaacson ultimately moved to issue a correction. That meant CNN and The Washington Post (the former which ran a story based on an excerpt and the latter which published an actual excerpt) had to amend what they printed and append editor's notes to their articles.

A quick glance at the version of "The Fall" I obtained reveals that Wolff made sloppy mistakes, struggling to even spell the names of top Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Jesse Watters. And Fox sources tell me that Wolff made no attempt to fact check his book with either Fox News or its parent company, Fox Corporation.

Reached for comment Tuesday night, Wolff conceded to me that he did not reach out to Fox's public relations team for a fact check, suggesting he did not believe they would be honest in their responses to him. But Wolff said that "every principal character in the book," including Murdoch, "was contacted for comment." Wolff said Murdoch's own reply was, "No thank you."

When it comes to reporting on any subject, however, taking basic fact-checking measures is important. With Fox News, where an author might be basing major claims using less-than-reliable sources, the risks are more pronounced, making such reporting efforts even more paramount. Some sources could harbor an agenda — and it takes little effort or risk to provide information as an unnamed source.

Fox News, for its part, is choosing not to respond to the specific claims Wolff makes in the book. In a short statement, a network spokesperson only said, "The fact that this author's books are spoofed by 'Saturday Night Live' is really all we need to know."

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/James Manning/PA/AP

Brand in a Box: Tuesday brought even more repercussions for actor turned right-wing contrarian hero Russell Brand. Brand — who four women allege sexually assaulted them in separate incidents years ago, which he strongly denies — had his content removed from the BBC's iPlayer and BBC Sounds service. Paramount+ scrubbed a comedy special from Brand. And YouTube made the decision to suspend Brand from monetizing his channel. "If a creator's off-platform behavior harms our users, employees or ecosystem, we take action to protect the community," YouTube said.

THE INDUSTRY

THE MARKET

Warner Bros. Discovery will launch a live sports tier on its Max streaming service on October 5 that will give subscribers access to more than 300 live games a year. (CNN)
Disney announced it will spend some $60 billion to expand its theme parks and grow the Disney Cruise Line over the next decade. "But how much boom is left?" wonders Brooks Barnes. (NYT)
"Disney's access to Charter subs comes at the cost of Charter acting as the gatekeeper of that new audience," Julia Alexander notes. (Puck)
ESPN's chief financial officer, Bryan Castellani, will leave the company for the same role at Warner Music. (Bloomberg)

THE FOURTH ESTATE

Mark Thompson, CNN's incoming chief executive, has held preliminary discussions with Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav and network leadership about strategic ideas and priorities, Alex Sherman reports. Sherman also reports that Thompson "has made no decisions about CNN's operations and won't until he has had a chance to meet with staffers and learn the business." (CNBC)
A Russian court declined Evan Gershkovich's latest pre-trial detention appeal. (Reuters)
NPR has introduced a new pop-up that recommends readers donate to the outlet — but it's not a paywall, writes Sarah Scire. (Nieman)
The WSJ added a correction to an article it published in 1963 that misquoted John Lewis in the speech he delivered during the March on Washington. (TheWrap)
Nilay Patel profiled Matthew Panzarino, TechCrunch's former chief editor. (The Verge)
David Muir will be awarded the 40th Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism. (ASU)
RIP: "Michael Freedman, a broadcast journalist who, as a top executive at the CBS radio network, produced some of Walter Cronkite's final broadcasts and later was a university administrator and lecturer, died Sept. 18 at his home in Alexandria, Va. He was 71." (WaPo)

MEDIA MOVES

CNN promoted Matthew Chance to chief global affairs correspondent. (Adweek)
NewsNation renewed Dan Abrams' contract. (THR)
NPR named Whitney Maddox its vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion. (NPR)
The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication appointed Jody Brannon as program manager for the new Murrow News Fellowship at Washington State University. (Murrow)
The WaPo hired Nicolás Rivero as a climate reporter. (WaPo)
The LAT announced that Sonaiya Kelley, Todd Martens, Paula Mejia, Ada Tseng, Deborah Vankin, and Steven Vargas will move to the features team in the coming months. (LAT)
The NYT promoted Hanna Ingber to special projects editor. (NYT)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

Charging Ray Epps: Someone page Tucker Carlson! Federal prosecutors on Tuesday filed a charge against Ray Epps, the man swept up in baseless conspiracy theories about the January 6 attack. For years, conspiracy theorists have asserted that Epps, caught on camera on U.S. Capitol grounds, had avoided prosecution because he was, in fact, working with the federal government. But Epps, who is suing Fox News over that "fanciful notion" which Carlson repeatedly advanced on his former show, has now been slapped with a disorderly conduct charge, further undercutting such claims. CNN's Hannah Rabinowitz has more here.

► As Mediaite Editor-In-Chief Aidan McLaughlin commented, "This should bring an end (it will not) to the long-running conspiracy theory that Ray Epps was an FBI provocateur because he wasn't charged for Jan. 6."

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Right-wing conspiracy theorist — and congresswoman — Marjorie Taylor Greene announced she will publish her first book. (Raw Story)
Fox News finally began covering the story of GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert and her partner's on-camera groping session. (Mediaite)
Fox News and Fox Business spent a combined 70-plus minutes discussing the death of the dress code on the Senate floor, using the story to take aim at Democratic Sen. John Fetterman. (MMFA)
Speaking of Fetterman: A bonkers body double conspiracy theory about Fetterman is going viral. (Rolling Stone)
"The same forces pushing book bans around the country are also pushing for more digital parental control legislation," Ashley Gold and Sara Fischer report. (Axios)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Dado Ruvic/Reuters

Republicans vs TikTok: 18 Republican-led states have filed a legal brief asking a judge to rule against TikTok in a highly watched case the short-form video app brought against Montana. TikTok filed a lawsuit against the state in May, alleging that a restrictive law forbidding it from operating in Montana violated its First Amendment rights. The state law, the most restrictive in the nation, barred app stores from even allowing people to download the app. But Republicans, who have broadly taken a tough stance on the app over fears about China and what might happen to U.S. user data, have come to Montana's defense. "The States' police power has always included the power to protect their citizens from deceptive and harmful business practices," the 18 states said in their legal brief. The Hill's Tara Suter has more here.

TOO MANY TABS

TikTok will launch a tool that helps creators mark A.I.-generated content they produce, the company's latest attempt to diminish misinformation across the platform. (AP)
X/Twitter users are in revolt following Elon Musk's announcement that he may charge for access to the platform, with many threatening to leave should he implement the change. (TheWrap)
Meanwhile, according to Walter Isaacson, Larry David once confronted Musk during a wedding about casting his ballot in favor of Republicans: "Do you just want to murder kids in schools?" (Insider)
Instagram power users "are fuming over its $12-a-month subscription," Kaya Yurieff reports. The users, Yurieff reports, are upset about bad support. (The Info)
Alexa, boost spirits: Morale at Amazon's devices division is low amid company cuts to the unit, Greg Bensinger reports. (Reuters)
Google's A.I. chatbot, Bard, is now capable of double-checking its own answers and can integrate with other Google apps and services. (CNN)
Google said in court that it's losing ad revenue to "new entrants," such as TikTok and Amazon. (Bloomberg)
Google asked the Court of Justice of the European Union to overturn a 2.42-billion-euro market abuse-related antitrust fine, arguing that regulators were unable to demonstrate how the company's practices amounted to anti-competitive behavior. (Reuters)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/David Livingston/Getty Images

Light, Camera, Action: Here we go again. The writers and studios are set to meet on Wednesday as they continue to seek an elusive deal that would bring the historic work stoppage paralyzing Hollywood to an end. Such an agreement would, however, have to be inked soon if there is any hope of salvaging the winter portion of the television season. If a deal is not hammered out within the next two to three weeks, the possibility of returning in January with a shortened season goes out the window.

HOLLYWOOD HELL

"Just two days before a restart to stalled negotiations, Writers Guild leaders had an emotional meeting with diverse group of Hollywood showrunners, which included Courtney Kemp and Yvette Lee Bowser, seeking progress toward ending the crippling strike now in its fifth month," Sharon Waxman reports. (The Wrap)
"It's f***ing dark out there," writes an anonymous author regarding their situation amid the drawn our Hollywood strikes. (THR)
The impact of the dual Hollywood strikes has resounded well beyond Los Angeles, reports Eshe Nelson, who looks into the strikes' repercussions in British film. (NYT)
Andy Cohen said he has "no faith" in "any side" of the negotiations. (The Wrap)

OFF STAGE

Vanna White has extended her "Wheel of Fortune" contract by two years, remaining on the game show through the 2025-2026 season. (CNN)
The box office success of Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" marks an important moment for the industry and theaters alike, writes Lindsey Bahr. (AP)
The initial outlook for Pixar's "Elemental" following its Cannes premiere was less-than-ideal. But a review rebound and near-$500 million box office haul show that early predictions can be off, Fletcher Peters notes in an interview with director Peter Sohn. (Daily Beast)
Keanu Reeves asked the team behind the "John Wick" franchise to kill off the titular character at the end of the fourth installment — but rumors of a fifth movie continue to circulate. (Variety)
Zach Baron profiled Chris Evans. (GQ)
Taylor Swift reminded her legion of fans to register to vote. (Variety)
AMC renewed "Dark Winds" for a third season. (THR)
The official teaser for Disney+'s "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" 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. You can follow us on Instagram and Threads. We will see you back in your inbox tomorrow.