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Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Elon Musk is (again) boosting Pizzagate, The WaPo's interim boss warns of possible layoffs, Jeff Shell talks to RedBird Capital Partners about joining the firm, Smartmatic deposes Rupert Murdoch, Liz Cheney rips Fox News, Reddit reportedly explores an IPO, Sean "Diddy" Combs steps aside at Revolt, Robert De Niro says his Gotham Awards speech was edited without his knowledge, and so much more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

Bob the Builder

CNN Photo Illustration/Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Bob Iger, neatly dressed in a gray suit and pressed white shirt, sans tie, strutted onstage Tuesday afternoon at the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York City, greeting an anxious crowd of Disney employees assembled for his highly anticipated appearance.

The chief executive, now a year into his second act at the media conglomerate, was scheduled to address his troops at the annual company town hall — and Tuesday's rendezvous was of particular interest to the Magic Kingdom denizens, given the number of candid comments Iger has made about the state of the company's affairs.

Iger was accompanied by "World News" anchor David Muir, who joked toward the outset of the event, according to video I obtained of key portions of the discussion, that he thought it was a "pretty good sign" for the news division's future he was asked to fill the role of event moderator. The joke, and nervous laugher that ensued, was a not-so-subtle nod to the uncertainty that has gripped ABC News and the company at large over the last several months after Iger publicly floated selling off some of Disney's linear assets.

It's, of course, not just ABC's future that has been up in the air. Iger has had nothing short of a full plate since retaking the throne of the Magic Kingdom last year. He's been tasked with repositioning ESPN in a direct-to-consumer future, reversing the company's faltering creative engine (e.g. Marvel Studios' public stumbling), navigating a tough advertising climate, bringing streaming service Hulu totally under the Disney umbrella, and slashing billions of dollars in costs.

Traversing such arduous terrain is difficult enough on its own. But it's far more challenging while also being confronted with two historic work stoppages, of which industry-defining issues such as artificial intelligence were on the table during painstaking and marathon negotiations with Hollywood screenwriters and actors.

In short, it's been a demanding 12 months for the legendary Disney chief — something Iger was not shy about. As Iger put it while acknowledging 2023 has been more difficult than he predicted, it has just been "one of those years."

"I knew that there were myriad challenges that I would face coming back," Iger said. "I won't say that it was easy, but I've never second guessed the decision to come back, and being back still feels great."

Iger told the Disney employees that over the past year, he has spent a great deal of time "fixing things." But now, Iger said, he wants to spend the next year building a modern version of the Walt Disney Company: One that can endure into the future. He noted, "Building is a lot more fun than fixing."

That is, without a doubt, true. But it is still unclear what Iger would like to do with some of the company's declining television assets, namely ABC. Is selling off such assets still in the cards? Iger downplayed the possibility, but isn't ruling it out, which suggests that if the right offer comes along, he might be willing to part ways with parts of the portfolio on the downward trend.

But after stunning staffers at the Disney-owned networks earlier this year by saying aloud that the outlet "may not be core" to the company moving forward, it is notable that Iger's public comments have shifted a bit. Lately, he's been talking up the importance of one particular linear asset, ABC, perhaps signaling that he wants to keep the terrestrial giant in the Disney fold. And that trend of talking up ABC continued on Tuesday.

Iger, however, was not shy about saying that Disney is "trying to migrate these [linear] businesses onto the new business model." And he acknowledged that Disney leadership is looking "at the future" of its entire portfolio, examining whether various assets can grow. "Will they stay the same or will they possibly decrease in value?" Iger asked. "And if so, what should we do about it?"

Iger, however, spoke very positively about ABC News in his discussion with Muir. He noted it has been "in one way or another" part of his "executive life since 1993." He stressed that he is a "believer in the future of news." And he praised ABC News for its coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.

When Iger later handed over the floor to Dana Walden, the co-chair of Disney Entertainment that oversees the network's business, she spoke more broadly about the benefits of having a network like ABC within the Disney portfolio.

"What we've discovered is that our linear channels are very deeply embedded in our streaming strategy," Walden said. "They want to watch live shows, sports, live events — they want to watch them in time period, and the place you can do that, for the most part is on linear channels … The notion of a communal event still exists largely on linear."

On the ESPN front, network boss Jimmy Pitaro laid out a carefully planned transition the sports mammoth is preparing to make to streaming. He said ESPN, which prints mountains of cash for Mickey Mouse, is continuing to conduct research into its offering, "looking at things like timing" and "price point." Pitaro maintained that customers will still be able to access ESPN by way of a traditional cable or satellite packages.

Pitaro said that ESPN is "talking to potential partners," though he didn't specify which ones. But he said that they are looking at partnerships "through lenses like technology, marketing, and then also content," explaining that on launch day he wants "maximum distribution" and "the best portfolio of content we possibly can."

The onstage discussion amongst Iger and his executive team covered considerable ground, oscillating between a number of topics, including Disney's recent challenges at the box office and the company's streaming plans, which include housing content from Hulu and Disney+ under one roof.

But through it all, Iger did his best to strike an optimistic tone and breathe hope into a workforce that has probably seen morale in a better place than where it sits today.

"I've been through some difficult times and faced a lot of adversity as a company," Iger told Disney employees, "and I know that each time we get through it."

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Musk Promotes Pizzagate: How can X assure advertisers that it is a safe platform for their brands when owner Elon Musk is personally responsible for stoking hate and conspiracy theories? Doing so would actually require the platform to guarantee advertisements won't show up next to Musk's own posts. Here's the latest example: On Tuesday, the mercurial billionaire yet again boosted the dangerous Pizzagate conspiracy theory to his 164 million followers. X did not respond to a request for comment, but Musk later deleted the post, perhaps because he knows he needs to at least pretend to be on good behavior or risk losing more advertisers. To that point, a slew of major advertisers do continue to stand by Musk, despite his disgraceful actions. Those companies include the NFL, Walmart, State Farm, Wendy's, Office Depot, The New York Times, The Economist, Formula 1, and Mondeléz International — none of which responded Tuesday to requests for comment about the billionaire's fascination with Pizzagate.

X MARKS THE HATE

The WaPo has — finally — had enough with Elon Musk's antics. A spokesperson for newspaper, which had repeatedly declined to answer questions on the matter, said that the outlet has paused advertising on X. The spokesperson said the decision, first reported by Drew Harwell, was made before Musk's recent promotion of Pizzagate. (WaPo)
Nikki McCann Ramirez writes that Musk is diving "even deeper into the internet's most vile fever swamps." (Rolling Stone)
"So long as Musk swims in a sea of transgressive reactionism, his attempts to take on the mantle of serious statesman will forever be regarded as unserious at best and dangerous at worst," Brian Fung argues. (CNN)
The White House views X as "an increasingly hostile place" that is saturated by "a lot of hate" and "disinformation." But, as Eugene Daniels points out, "They just can't quite leave the mess alone." (POLITICO)
Ian Millhiser reports that Musk's lawsuit against the progressive watchdog Media Matters has been reassigned to Judge Reed O'Connor, who he describes as a "notoriously partisan former Republican Senate staffer, known for handing down poorly reasoned opinions giving major policy victories to right-wing litigants." (Vox)

THE INDUSTRY

CNN Photo Illustration/Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

Winter at WaPo: Staffers at The WaPo were confronted Tuesday with an uncomfortable reality: Only half of the 240 employees the paper needs to accept buyout packages have done so, with just two weeks remaining until a deadline. If 240 buyouts are not accepted, then The WaPo will resort to forcibly cutting staff, interim chief executive Patty Stonesifer said in a memo, which I obtained. "We want everyone to understand that we need 240 acceptances to help restore The Post's financial health," Stonesifer candidly said. "We have made the decision, if we fall short of this goal, to implement involuntary layoffs in those areas where we have already identified that positions do not need to be replaced, where work can be reassigned more efficiently or where we can otherwise achieve cost savings." Stonesifer urged employees to take the buyouts, warning layoffs "would offer significantly less generous benefits than the voluntary package." A spokesperson for The WaPo declined to comment further. The Washingtonian's Andrew Beaujon has more here.

THE FOURTH ESTATE

✂️ Cuts, cuts, cuts: Popular Science is saying goodbye to its iconic physical magazine as it works to slash costs. (The Verge)
The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned a decision by Russia to extend Evan Gershkovich's pre-trial detention by two months, calling it "outrageous." (CPJ)
Members of the Archival Producers Alliance, which represents documentary filmmakers, published an open letter seeking additional guardrails for generative A.I., contending generated material that "is in danger of forever muddying the historical record." (THR)
Chris Cillizza offered reflections one year after he was laid off by CNN: "What the last year has taught me is that being laid off by CNN is a part of my story. It's not my whole story." (So What)
First in Reliable | Vox Media on Wednesday will unveil its second annual "Future Perfect 50" list, spotlighting visionaries working to improve the future. The list, notably, includes a number of figures from the tech sector, including Signal boss Meredith Whittaker and OpenAI researcher Jan Leike. The list will go live here at 6am.
Forbes released its annual "30 Under 30" list, which included several people who work in the media industry, such as Annie Grayer, Haley Kluge, Anamaria Sayre, Paula Ngon, Morgan Lavoie, Aiyana Ishmael, Dominic-Madori Davis, Devon Blackwell, and Evan Bretos. (Forbes)
The BBC's podcast subscription service, "BBC Podcasts Premium," is launching in 166 countries by way of an exclusive deal with Apple Podcasts. (THR)
Speaking of pods: The second season of CNN Audio's "All There Is with Anderson Cooper" is slated to return on Nov. 29. (Radio Ink)

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

Margaret Sullivan writes about the steep death toll among journalists covering the Israel-Hamas war: "There's also the reality that the loss of journalists translates into less information. And that lies and propaganda love a void." (The Guardian)
Deepfakes of dead babies have increased fears about the role A.I. can play in misleading viewers, David Klepper reports. (AP)

IN THE MARKET

Jeff Shell, the former NBCU boss who was abruptly ousted this year by Comcast after the company corroborated allegations of sexual harassment, is in talks with RedBird Capital Partners to lead the firm's sports and entertainment business, Joe Flint reports. (WSJ)
AMC Networks chief financial officer Patrick O'Connell said the now resolved Hollywood strikes will have "no material impact" on his company's bottomline: "I wouldn't go so far as to call it a nothing burger, but it's as close to that as it can be financially." (TheWrap)

MEDIA MOVES

The BBC promoted Kevin Ponniah to head of digital news for North America. (Press Gazette)
CNN promoted Kyle Blaine to managing editor for politics.
CNN hired Barak Ravid as a politics and foreign policy analyst. (CNN)
POLITICO named Sally Goldenberg its senior New York editor. (POLITICO)
The NYT hired Debra Kamin as a reporter. (NYT)
The LAT hired Lorraine Ali as a news and culture critic. (LAT)
Trending tapped Mina Lefevre as its chief content officer of television. (Variety)
Google hired Vanessa Kingori, formerly Condé Nast Britain's chief business officer, to help its U.K. businesses drive growth using A.I. (Press Gazette)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Victoria Jones/PA Images/Getty Images

A Meeting With Murdoch: Rupert Murdoch was deposed on Tuesday in voting technology company Smartmatic's mammoth $2.7 billion election defamation lawsuit against Fox News, a person familiar with the matter told me. The deposition of the right-wing media mogul — first reported by Reuters' Helen Coster and Jack Queen — took place in Los Angeles and is scheduled to continue on Wednesday. Smartmatic filed its lawsuit in New York state court against Fox Corporation in 2021 after it was swept up in baseless conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. A spokesperson for Fox Corporation declined to comment on Murdoch's deposition, but the company has consistently said it plans to vigorously fight the lawsuit. A spokesperson for Smartmatic did not respond to a request for comment. Here's my full story.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Liz Cheney rips right-wing media in her book for pushing disinformation about the 2020 election, revealing that she urged Fox Corporation board member Paul Ryan to push for a show debunking the lies. Jamie Gangel, Jeremy Herb, and Elizabeth Stuart have exclusive details. (CNN)
Families of Sandy Hook victims are offering Alex Jones a deal to settle his $1.5 billion debt. But attorneys for Jones claimed that the deal, which seeks $85 million over 10 years, is still too much for Jones to pay. (CNN)
Adam Nagourney writes about Gavin Newsom's decision to appear for a debate on Sean Hannity's Fox News show with Ron DeSantis. (NYT)
Hannity previewed the debate with Brian Steinberg: "It's not going to be PBS. I don't want it to be PBS. PBS bores me." (Variety)
The Daily Wire is releasing a comedy movie targeting trans women in sports. The film, titled "Lady Ballers," features Ted Cruz and Riley Gaines. (Daily Mail)
"Manufacturing fear": John Knefel chronicles how Fox News "invented a terrorist attack and used it to demonize Muslims." (MMFA)
Vittoria Elliott reports on Telegram's supposed bans on extremist channels, saying they "aren't really bans." Per Elliot, "More than 100 restricted channels shows these communities remain active." (WIRED)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Mateusz Slodkowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

Reddit to IPO?: Reddit is "again holding talks with potential investors for an initial public offering for the social media company," Amy Or, Ryan Gould, Katie Roof, and Gillian Tan reported Tuesday. The four reporters, who cited sources familiar with the matter, reported that an IPO could come as soon as Q1 2024. Previously, Reddit had mulled a valuation of as much as $15 billion, Bloomberg reported. The report comes after chief executive Steve Huffman pushed through controversial API changes — with the aim of making the company more profitable — that prompted a weeks-long blackout. Read the Bloomberg story here.

TOO MANY TABS

"A federal judge will not block the U.S. government from expanding a landmark $5 billion privacy settlement with Instagram-parent Meta, paving the way for the Federal Trade Commission to propose tough new rules on how the social media giant can monetize user data," Brian Fung reports. Meta said it will appeal the decision. (CNN)
So, uh, this is quite the name for an A.I. chatbot! Amazon unveiled Q, an A.I. chatbot it will offer to companies. (NYT)
Eric Schmidt, Google's former chief executive, said A.I. guardrails against causing harm just "aren't enough." (Axios)
Michelle Toh reports on how ByteDance "is pulling back from video gaming." (CNN)
Dan DeFrancesco writes about how Instagram's "crisis highlights the bigger issues the entire ad industry is facing." (Business Insider)
Tumblr is nixing its Post Plus feature, which allowed creators to charge subscribers a fee to access their content. (The Verge)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/zz/ESBP/STAR MAX/IPx/AP

Diddy's Devolution: Facing a trio of sexual assault lawsuits, Sean "Diddy" Combs on Tuesday stepped down from his position as chairman of Revolt, a music-focused television network that he co-founded. "While Mr. Combs has previously had no operational or day-to-day role in the business, this decision helps to ensure that Revolt remains steadfastly focused on our mission to create meaningful content for the culture and amplify the voices of all Black people throughout this country and the African diaspora," Revolt said in a statement. Combs has denied the allegations in the recently filed lawsuits, and settled one of them last week, with singer Cassie. Variety's Ethan Shanfeld has more.

OFF STAGE

"How dare they do that." Robert De Niro said the speech he read on stage at the Gotham Awards in New York had been edited without his knowledge, with passages critical of Donald Trump removed. (Variety)
Kayla Cobb spoke with six contestants on Netflix's "Squid Game: The Challenge" who alleged they were starved, left to freeze, and asked to stand immobile for periods of 45 minutes at a time. (TheWrap)
If you're trying to get your hands on a 4K disc of "Oppenheimer," you're out of luck. Universal has sold out. (The Wrap)
Marvel has enlisted the help of Michael Waldron to work on "Avengers: The Kang Dynasty." (THR)
Mark Cuban said he will depart the hit show "Shark Tank" after the 16th season. (CNN)
Taylor Swift's "Eras Tour" concert film crossed the $250-million mark at the global box office. (THR)
At 12 minutes and 20 seconds, the opening song off André 3000's new album, "New Blue Song," is the longest song to ever grace Billboard's Hot 100 list. (Vulture)
Hemal Jhaveri sat down with Zack Snyder to discuss his upcoming film, "Rebel Moon," and his quest to turn it into a franchise. (WIRED)
"Looney Tunes" is not leaving Max after all. (Deadline)
The trailer for "Memory," starring Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard, 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. You can follow us on Instagram, Threads, and LinkedIn. We will see you back in your inbox tomorrow.