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Wednesday, October 11, 2023

The BBC defends not using the term "terrorists" in Israel-Hamas coverage, The WaPo's interim CEO reveals the outlet's digital traffic has sharply fallen, Threads boss Adam Mosseri tries to thread the needle on news, the actors and major studios meet yet again, and so much more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

On the Ground in Gaza

CNN Photo Illustration/Yahya Hassouna/AFP/Getty Images

Helmets. Flak jackets. Press identification.

Those are some of the tools that journalists covering the Israel-Hamas war are using to shield themselves from the unforgiving dangers of an active battlefield. But the gear only goes so far.

Inside the Gaza Strip, a narrow sliver of the world that even in ordinary times poses logistical challenges for journalists, security conditions have quickly deteriorated. Israel is carrying out a sustained campaign of retaliatory airstrikes with the aim of decimating Hamas, and the terror group continues to launch a barrage of attacks on the Jewish state. In the days ahead, the situation is only slated to get worse, with Israel amassing troops near the border, signaling a possible ground incursion.

Chronicling it all from ground zero are the few journalists located inside Gaza, providing the world with a critical first-hand account of the deteriorating humanitarian reality. Only a handful of news organizations have personnel deployed to the sealed off Palestinian territory, given the perilous conditions that define the roughly 150 square miles of narrow land. And for them, the risk is at all-time highs. Already, at least seven journalists have been killed since the onset of the war.

The French international wire service, Agence France-Presse, is one of the few news organizations to operate a full-fledged bureau inside Gaza. And the reporting it has been pushing out in recent days has been invaluable, providing the world a real-time window into the small plot of land some 2 million Palestinians call home.

The AFP's camera, perched high above the skyline and offering one of the only live feeds inside the war-torn strip that is continuously providing real-time images of Gaza City, has been broadcasting stunning video of the Israeli airstrikes that have been shown across U.S. news channels, including CNN.

In an interview on Wednesday, Jo Biddle, the AFP's editor-in-chief of the Middle East and North Africa region, told me that getting such images out to the world is not without great risk.

"This morning, when we had the camera live, there was an airstrike right opposite of the camera. We could see it. It was right next to the camera," Biddle said, adding that the outlet's camera is located on the terrace of its bureau. "And some windows shattered in our office. So the situation is pretty scary."

Biddle described the challenges her staff of nine Palestinian journalists inside Gaza are facing. The territory's sole power station went offline Wednesday after running out of fuel, forcing the bureau to operate on its own generator. Biddle estimated that they have about ten days worth of fuel to keep the lights on. After that, the agency will need to find an alternative solution for electricity. Meanwhile, food and water are in short supply in Gaza, but the bureau has stockpiled supplies for the time being. Communication lines can be "quite difficult" though. And, most importantly, safety is paramount while reporting from an area now defined by bombings and gunfire.

"The difficulty, of course, for our reporters and correspondents on the ground is how to work safely in those conditions," Biddle said. "How do they get the images to show the world what is happening? How do they all then manage their own stress, their own families? They all have families ... there is nowhere to hide. There is nowhere to go. So it's continued stress for our reporters on the ground. They're worried about their families. They're not getting any sleep either, which adds to the emotional stress and fatigue and exhaustion."

Biddle said that the AFP has informed the Israeli military of the specific coordinates of the Gaza bureau so commanders can be certain it is "not a target." But there are no guarantees in war. And in 2021, in an incident seared into the memories of journalists working in the region, Israel carried out an airstrike on the building housing the Associated Press's Gaza bureau.

Given the tremendous uncertainties, Biddle said the AFP is working on devising a backup plan, should things "go south in our office."

"We are trying to work for a plan if the building does come under intense bombardment," Biddle said. "We are getting a room in a hotel somewhere — it's unusual for them to bomb this deep. So we have tried to book a hotel room where we can put people and some of the families."

All the while, AFP reporters are venturing out into the field to do their job: report the news. Every time a journalist exits the bureau, Biddle said, they're "given orders to look after themselves and not put themselves in danger." But gathering reporting and capturing images of the airstrikes requires journalists to go toward much of the danger.

"They want to get as close to the action as they can get," Biddle acknowledged, adding that the AFP lets them "rely on their local knowledge" to navigate the hazardous cityscape.

In the days ahead, the tasks these journalists perform will certainly become more dangerous, but also increasingly vital. The Israeli military is not expected to allow reporters to embed with its units. With most of the news media currently based in Israel, these Gaza-based journalists will instead be the eyes and ears of the world for Israel's anticipated push into Gaza.

Despite the danger, the AFP's journalists recognize the gravity of the moment and the significance of their jobs. Biddle said that the AFP has tried to put together an emergency plan to evacuate its journalists and their families if necessary. But, she said, her journalists have indicated they want to stay.

"They are very invested in showing what is going on," she said. "They are very invested in this."

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Hollie Adams/Reuters

The 'Terror' Tussle: A spirited debate has opened up in media circles over the language used to describe members of Hamas who carried out the horrific weekend attack on Israel: "terrorists" or "militants"? The BBC, which has come under scrutiny for not using the term "terrorist," defended its stance on Wednesday. Its world affairs editor, John Simpson, said in an essay that it's a "loaded word" and that the BBC's job is to "present our audiences with the facts, and let them make up their own minds." A BBC spokesperson told me it is an approach "that has been used for decades." The BBC's explanation, however, has a hole in it: namely, that it has repeatedly described those who have carried out other terrorist plots as "terrorists." When I pointed this out to the BBC press office with a handful of specific examples, asking how it could now claim that it hasn't used the term, my repeated emails went unreturned.

🔎 Zooming in: It's worth noting that, contrary to what some dishonest right-wing media figures are claiming, the entire press corps is not refraining from calling the Hamas terrorists, well, "terrorists." A CNN spokesperson noted to me that the network is calling the perpetrators of the attacks "terrorists," which has been on full display all week. The CNN spokesperson noted the term "militants" is also being used, given it too is accurate. And The New York Times has also used the term "terrorists" in its reporting.

ISRAEL AT WAR

CNN Photo Illustration/CNN

The major news websites on Wednesday evening led their homepages with banner headlines about Israel's pledge to destroy Hamas.
Joe Pompeo wrote about the journalists in Gaza: "They're working at great personal risk to report, for those of us in America and the rest of the English-speaking world, on what is happening inside Gaza, which shares with Israel a devastating loss of civilian life." (Vanity Fair)
Ayelet Arnin, a news editor for Kan, Israel's main broadcaster, was killed during the Hamas attack on a rave Saturday, the outlet said. (TheWrap)
A video with doctored audio aiming to portray CNN's Clarissa Ward as an actor was widely circulated on X Wednesday, with Elon Musk even engaging with it. A CNN spokesperson said in a statement, "The audio in the video posted and shared on X is fabricated, inaccurate and irresponsibly distorts the reality of the moment that was covered live on CNN, which people should watch in full for themselves on a trusted platform."
More trouble with X: A video shared by Donald Trump Jr. that depicted Israeli citizens being murdered by Hamas fighters was flagged by Musk's platform as an old video after being shared four million times. Turns out, it was actually authentic, David Gilbert reported. (WIRED)
The E.U. gave Mark Zuckerberg 24 hours to scrub his Meta platforms of disinformation and certain content outlawed under the new Digital Services Act. Meta said that amid the war, it is working to "monitor and respond to this rapidly evolving situation." (CNBC)
It's not just social media: A.I. chatbots from Google and Microsoft are falsely spreading news of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Shirin Ghaffary reported. (Bloomberg)
And Hamas is using social media platforms to plant misinformation and sow fear, wrote Steven Overly. (POLITICO)
Ben Schreckinger called the poststructuralist doubt underlying the Israel-Hamas war an "information blender." (POLITICO)
Justin Bieber sparked backlash after sharing a "praying for Israel" post that featured a photo of Gaza destruction. (Daily Beast)
Zooming out on the online discourse: "People on the internet are debating what online activism and solidarity look like," Kat Tenbarge and Uwa Ede-Osifo report. "They're having trouble agreeing." (NBC News)

THE INDUSTRY

CNN Photo Illustration/Eric Baradat/AFP/Getty Images

WaPo's Woes: The Washington Post is struggling. The newspaper, which saw audience growth during the tumultuous presidency of Donald Trump, has seen its readership plummet in the years since he exited the White House, interim chief executive, Patty Stonesifer, revealed to staff Wednesday. In an all-hands meeting, Stonesifer said that the outlet's digital audience had sunk 28% since 2021, while digital subscriptions fell 15%, currently sitting at 2.5 million. That brutal reality has led to the organization's financial distress (the paper is on track to lose $100 million this year), forcing executives to reduce the company's workforce by 10% through voluntary buyouts, which were formally offered to hundreds of employees Wednesday. The WaPo's Elahe Izadi and Will Sommer have more on their own shop here.

🔎 Zooming in: "This is a really good business that we overshot on expense," Stonesifer told staffers. "And so we're trying to right-size that to make sure we can plant the seeds and make the investments in the things that we need." Executive Editor Sally Buzbee, meanwhile, vowed to her troops that leadership would "not be asking the staff to do more with fewer people" — though such expectations have, frankly, become a reality at most news organizations amid industry upheaval.

THE FOURTH ESTATE

Dylan Byers has additional details about the business turmoil at The WaPo: "When Stonesifer first took the helm some four months ago, she was stunned by the lack of responsible financial management," Byers reports, citing sources. (Puck)
The WSJ's Washington chief, Paul Beckett, was reassigned into a new role where he will focus full time on securing Evan Gershkovich's release from Russian detention. (The Hill)
Alexandra Poolos, a former producer for CBS's "60 Minutes," has sued the network, alleging gender discrimination, retaliation, and breach of contract. CBS has not yet commented on the litigation. (THR)
Stewart Maclean, the BBC's "Newsnight" editor, exited his role as the broadcaster was considering making "dramatic cuts" to the program, Jake Kanter reports. (Deadline)
Salman Rushdie is releasing a memoir about his on-stage stabbing a year after the attack. The Penguin Random House project will be published in April. (AP)
China released Australian journalist Cheng Lei after she was detained in Beijing for three years on suspicion of sharing national secrets. (NYT)
Jim Acosta spoke to Tricia Escobedo about "how he stays grounded." Hint: it has to do with his 🐶. (Inside CNN)

IN THE MARKET

Disney raised some ticket prices at both Disneyland and Disney World ahead of a $60 billion investment in the parks. (THR)
The end of junk fees? The White House is cracking down on those pesky fees that get added by event ticketing companies, among others. (CNN)

MEDIA MOVES

Paramount named Miguel Fernandez vice president and news director at CBS TV stations' Miami properties. (Paramount)
The NYT tapped Terri Ann Glynn as the newsroom operations director at The Athletic. (NYT)
Blue Ridge Public Radio hired Felicia Sonmez as a growth and development reporter. (Talking Biz News)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Threading the Needle: It seems like Threads boss Adam Mosseri is trying to find harmony between competing interests. On one hand, he must know that news is crucial to any real-time text-based platform. On the other hand, embracing news with open arms might invite some of the toxicity of Twitter/X to the Threads platform — something he and Mark Zuckerberg have adamantly tried to avoid. The result? Statements like this: "We're not anti-news. News is clearly already on Threads. People can share news; people can follow accounts that share news. We're not going to get in the way of any either. But, we're also not going go to amplify news on the platform."

🔎 Zooming in: Mosseri's sporadic comments about news raise more questions than they answer. What does it really mean when he says that Threads won't "amplify" news? And, more broadly speaking, is there a world in which the platform would prohibit news if legislation is passed requiring publishers to be paid for the content, like in Canada where Meta has totally exited the news business? It would be nice if Mosseri sat for a proper interview to address such questions. Journalists who are pouring energy and time into establishing themselves on his platform deserve an answer. I asked Mosseri's spokesperson on Wednesday if he'd chat with us, but have not heard back.

TOO MANY TABS

"Real-time news and information are the lifeblood of X, and it's a hard formula to reproduce," Sarah Perez points out. "Threads was lucky to even have a shot at that, and it seems it's a shot it doesn't want to take." (TechCrunch)
Should news orgs remain on X? NPR left six months ago after Elon Musk attacked and misled about the outlet. Gabe Bullard reports that "the effects have been negligible." (Nieman Reports)
"New York State officials on Wednesday unveiled a bill to protect young people from potential mental health risks by prohibiting minors from accessing algorithm-based social media feeds unless they have permission from their parents," Luis Ferré-Sadurní reports. (NYT)
OpenAI is planning to roll out major updates in a bid to entice developers with lower costs to adopt their platform, Krystal Hu and Anna Tong report. (Reuters)
DeepMind, Alphabet's A.I. unit, cut employee costs by 39% in 2022 and saw an over 40% drop in profits during the same period, Hayden Field reports citing a recent filing. (CNBC)
A virtual reality fitness app sued Meta. (Reuters)

THE INFO WARS

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Brian Kilmeade will air a pre-taped interview of Donald Trump on his radio show Thursday.
After a grilling from CNN's John Berman, Ron DeSantis finally said he would not personally dine with Holocaust denier and far-right media personality Nick Fuentes. (CNN)
New York Post reporter Steve Nelson vigorously objected to not getting called on for a second consecutive briefing by Karine Jean-Pierre: "It's blacklisting one of the nation's largest and most-read newspapers, Karine! That shows contempt for a free and independent press!" (Mediaite)
Salem Media host Charlie Kirk continues to showcase how radical he has become. The right-wing radio personality invited white nationalist Steve Sailer on his program. (MMFA)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Apu Gomes/Getty Images

Staging a Deal?: The actors met again Wednesday with the big four studio chiefs — Bob Iger, David Zaslav, Ted Sarandos, and Donna Langley — for yet another negotiating session. Whether they are making real progress toward an agreement, however, is an open question. Despite the continued talks, there's been no public sign of significant progress to emerge from the discussions. And while the negotiations are continuing for a second straight week, its still unclear how many more sessions it will take for SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP to strike a deal. We'll see.

HOLLYWOOD HELL

SAG-AFTRA launched its interim agreements program that allows some productions not tied to the major studios to continue filming. (Deadline)
The THR team outlines "the five crises confronting a post-strike Hollywood." (THR)
Late night's return has spelled the end of "Strike Force Five" for the time being. But, if the podcast did anything, it laid bare the hierarchy of hosts, writes Sean L. McCarthy. (Daily Beast)

OFF STAGE

Are you ready for it? The Taylor Swift "Eras Tour" concert film is about to hit theaters, with Swift attending the premiere in Los Angeles. (CNN)
Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas have come to an agreement to share custody of their two children, ending the legal dispute that followed their divorce. (CNN)
Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling are slated to reunite on the silver screen in an "Oceans 11" prequel. (CNN)
Rebooting the Reboot: Marvel has released the head writers and directors for the reboot of its "Daredevil" series and is now looking for new project leads. (THR)
ABC's premiere of "The Golden Bachelor" raked in a staggering 11.1 million viewers between September 28 and October 3. (TheWrap)
Netflix acquired the rights to "Star Trek: Prodigy" after the animated series was canceled and removed from Paramount+. (TheWrap)
Dan Harmon discussed the future of "Rick and Morty," including a possible film with Zack Snyder. (THR)
A24 dropped a trailer for "Iron Claw," the wrestling pic starring Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White. (YouTube)
Over the last decade, A24 has changed its approach to include both auteur films and an increasingly large roster of commercial films, write Umberto Gonzalez and Drew Taylor. (TheWrap)

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.