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Tuesday, November 14, 2023

NPR team gets confronted by Israeli authorities, Henry Blodget exits role as chief executive of Business Insider, new books by Brian Stelter and Jon Karl detail Fox News' enormous influence, YouTube announces new A.I. rules, ESPN launches its betting app, Netflix enters the live sports foray, and more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

Rosen's 2024 Rule

CNN Photo Illustration/Joshua Roberts/Reuters

"Not the odds, but the stakes."

Those are the six words that make up a mantra New York University journalism professor Jay Rosen has evangelized across the news industry over the last several months. With less than a year until the 2024 elections, Rosen has been imploring newsrooms to organize their campaign coverage around the enormous stakes of the presidential contest — not the horse race.

"The stakes, of course, mean the stakes for American democracy," Rosen told me by phone Tuesday. "The stakes are what might happen as a result of the election."

It is not uncommon for critics of the news media to skewer political coverage for focusing too much on who is up and who is down, instead of placing an emphasis on policy and the effect a victor might have on the world. Such criticism is even more pronounced and pointed during the heat of a contested election cycle.

But, heading into 2024, the state of affairs is far more dire than usual. After all, these are not normal times. With an insurrection-inciting, twice-impeached, and four-time indicted candidate on the ballot, democracy is very much on the line. As Rosen told me, "There is an urgency to it now." Homing in on what the U.S. could look like during — and after — a second Donald Trump presidency is crucial, especially as the Republican frontrunner echoes the language of authoritarian leaders to reveal his plans for a second term.

Needless to say, sounding the alarm on Trump's disturbing conduct is more difficult than engaging in horse race coverage. Focusing on the polls can help news organizations dodge thorny issues, such as Trump's use of vile rhetoric. That allows them, perhaps, to avoid the perception among some in the public that they're unfairly biased.

"And [horse race coverage] is an easy way to make a complicated subject come alive for audiences," Rosen added. "It creates excitement of a kind. Suspense. These things make it a formidable adversary."

That's not to say all coverage of polling and political strategy is misguided, Rosen stressed. Simply, it should not be the primary focus for news organizations, given what is on the line come next November.

"I don't mean to say that news of the horse race is some sort of sin or poison that has dot be driven from the news," Rosen told me. "Rather, that the horse race should not be the model for how you design your coverage. It should not be the organizing principle of your campaign coverage."

There are some signs that news organizations are following such a blueprint as they cover the 2024 race, with major outlets starting to report on Trump's alarming plans, should he be re-elected. The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Associated Press have all published detailed stories in recent weeks on his twisted fantasies. On cable news, CNN and MSNBC have run segments on the topic as well.

"We are getting more and more stakes journalism from our national media," Rosen said. "And that's an encouraging sign. And I think it is absolutely essential to keep going."

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Ayman Oghanna/NPR

NPR's Harrowing Report: "There are days when you head out to report a story, and you think you know where it's going. And then it spins in an entirely different direction." That's the lede on an NPR story that ended with the subject of one of the outlet's stories being inexplicably detained by Israeli authorities in front of the journalists. The story — by Mary Louise Kelly, Erika Ryan, and Kat Lonsdorf — started with the journalists visiting a farmer in the West Bank who has been unable to visit his grove of olive trees since the 10/7 terror attack due to precautions implemented by the Israeli military. The NPR journalists said that for the story they accompanied the farmer to a nearby hill where they could get a "glimpse" of the farm.

The team, donning "PRESS" flak jackets, heard a "buzzing sound" on their walk. "When we look up, we spot a drone hovering about 60 feet above us," the team wrote. "A camera flashes green and red – it's clear someone's watching." The journalists said that soon after armed Israeli forces arrived on the scene and detained the farmer while ordering them to leave the area. "We say we don't want to leave without him. ... The soldiers refuse, and a gun is raised. It points straight at us – and we begin to back away," the reporters wrote. The journalists obeyed before frantically getting in touch with Israeli government and military contacts to determine where the farmer had been taken. Ultimately, the farmer was released several hours later. "He tells us that after he was led away, blindfolded and handcuffed, he was driven to a military office in a nearby settlement where he was mocked and questioned for hours." Read the full story here.

IN THE WAR-ZONE

The war between Israel and Hamas has been marked by a tidal wave of disinformation driven by weaponized content, and newsrooms have had to wrestle with which images to publish, Michael Grynbaum and Katie Robertson report. (NYT)
Hate groups and far-right trolls have also seized on tensions surrounding the war, leveraging advances in A.I. to further stoke antisemitism, Donie O'Sullivan, Curt Devine and Allison Gordon report. (CNN)
CBS News President Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews at the Global Women's Summit: "It is vital to have eyes on the ground, to have journalists on the ground … everybody with a camera is not a journalist … you need people who are disciplined, trained, who have that sensibility as journalists, can ask the questions and bring back the story."
Lester Holt devoted a large chunk of the "NBC Nightly News" on Tuesday — a notable seven minutes, a lot for an evening news broadcast — to talking with a group of families of American citizens kidnapped by Hamas. (NBC News)
Ben Shapiro ripped Candace Owens, who hosts a show at his Daily Wire, for "disgraceful" commentary on the war: "I think that her faux sophistication on these particular issues has been ridiculous." (Mediaite)
Owens later posted a cryptic message on social media: "You cannot serve both God and money." (Mediaite)
TikTok is fiercely denying claims it harbors an anti-Israel bias: "Our recommendation algorithm doesn't 'take sides' and has rigorous measures in place to prevent manipulation." (TechCrunch)
Elon Musk's X failed to remove 98% of a sample of posts attempting to circulate hate speech concerning the Israel-Hamas war, a study from the Center for Countering Digital Hate found. (TheWrap)
But X said in a blog post it has "actioned over 325,000 pieces of content that violate our Terms of Service." (Twitter/X)

THE INDUSTRY

CNN Photo Illustration/Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

Business Insider Is Back: What is old is new again. Business Insider said Tuesday that it had made the decision to revert back to its previous name, with Editor-In-Chief Nicholas Carlson acknowledging in a note that the "Insider" name never really took hold among the public. But, of far greater significance, the outlet said that co-founder and longtime boss Henry Blodget would exit his role as chief executive, ending an era at the business-focused digital outlet. Blodget will be succeeded by Barbara Peng, who has been president of BI since 2021. CNN's Jordan Valinsky has more here.

🔎 Zooming in: The moves come as owner Axel Springer oversees changes to the structures of its U.S.-based news outlets. POLITICO, another Axel Springer publication, has made a number of organizational and leadership shakeups over the past year.

THE FOURTH ESTATE

Eric Tucker and Alanna Durkin Richer report on the legal case that has ensnared Catherine Herridge, noting it could have "far-reaching press freedom implications." (AP)
The BBC said that it has received five complaints about Russell Brand's behavior during his time as a radio host between 2006 and 2008. (BBC)
The Associated Press is now asking readers for donations. "Your one-time donation helps us produce independent, nonpartisan journalism seen by 4 billion people every day," the company says. (AP)
The Guardian, an outlet which also solicits donations, "expects to make $33 million in digital reader revenue in the U.S. for its fiscal 2023/2024 year — a new record," Sara Fischer reports. (Axios)
The Giants of Broadcasting & Electronic Arts honored Wolf Blitzer, Caroline Beasley, Juju Chang, Tony Danza, David Kennedy, Eric Shanks, Valari Dobson Staab, and Nina Totenberg. (NextTV)
The ratings race: "NBC News Daily" has surpassed "GMA3" in the key demo for four straight weeks. (TheWrap)

IN THE MARKET

ESPN officially launched its ESPN Bet service in 17 states. (AP)
Amazon cut 180 jobs from its gaming arm. (BBC)

MEDIA MOVES

The Knight Foundation hired Maribel Perez, formerly the president of Gannett Media, as its chief executive. (Poynter)
The NYT promoted Andy Rossback to senior editor and Aimee Ortiz takes on a new role as a breaking news reporter. (NYT/NYT)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Lynne Sladky/AP

First in Reliable | The Tucker and Trump Talks: Phone calls between Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson increased in frequency after Russia invaded Ukraine, the extremist right-wing media personality told Jon Karl for his new book, "Tired of Winning," which is out Tuesday. Karl said he had heard the two had started talking more regularly, with a source telling him that Trump started calling Carlson "because he was increasingly lonely." Karl phoned up Carlson, who confirmed the two had started speaking more frequently in February 2022. Carlson told Karl that Trump is "more radical" on Ukraine than he admits in public: "The real reason he calls me is because he knows that I'm sympathetic to his basic program," Carlson told Karl. "I hate the war in Ukraine more than anything, and I think it's f**king insane. And he's like the only person who agrees with me on that."

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

"When you write a book about Donald Trump and Fox News, you think a lot about lies," Brian Stelter writes in an essay. "Big lies about an election. Little lies about every topic under the sun. All manner of dishonesty and distortion. It can be uncomfortable." (TIME)
Speaking of Stelter: Dwight Garner published glowing praise of his new book, "Network of Lies," on sale now. Garner writes that he "delivers a straightforward, grinding, momentum-building account, from an inside-Fox-News perspective, of the conspiracy to steal the 2020 presidential election, the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, the Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit and Tucker Carlson's defenestration." (NYT)
And Stelter joined Kara Swisher at 92Y on Tuesday for a conversation about Fox News and democracy. (92Y)
Michael Scherer and Josh Dawsey report on how Univision has shifted its stance on Trump and now appears more friendly to him: "The reversal has shocked Democrats," the duo reports. (WaPo)
A Russian oligarch secretly funded journalist Hubert Seipel's book, Elahe Izadi, Timo Schober, Bastian Obermayer, Frederik Obermaier, and Kate Brady report: "The revelations suggest that Russia has continued to rely on an old-fashioned tactic — cultivating opinion-makers with an eye to generating positive news coverage — to promote its worldview overseas. (WaPo)
Yikes! Truth Social has lost $73 million since launching in February 2022, Alex Werpin reports. (THR)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/iStock/Getty Images

Artificial Contents Ahead: YouTube on Tuesday announced a set of new rules governing A.I.-based content on the platform. The most notable: Creators will be required to disclose when they've used the technology to make realistic looking videos. "This is especially important in cases where the content discusses sensitive topics, such as elections, ongoing conflicts and public health crises, or public officials," YouTube said in a blog post announcing the new rules. "Creators who consistently choose not to disclose this information may be subject to content removal, suspension from the YouTube Partner Program, or other penalties." CNN's Clare Duffy has more here.

🔎 Zooming in: "There are also some areas where a label alone may not be enough to mitigate the risk of harm, and some synthetic media, regardless of whether it's labeled, will be removed from our platform if it violates our Community Guidelines," YouTube added. "For example, a synthetically created video that shows realistic violence may still be removed if its goal is to shock or disgust viewers."

TOO MANY TABS

Adam Mosseri is no longer ruling out a DM inbox inside Threads. It could "possibly" happen, he said in a reply to Casey Newton. (Threads)
What's strange is that Mosseri doesn't seem to understand that many people on Threads are using the app for a totally different purpose than Instagram. Some people, for instance, use Instagram as a private space for friends and family, while using Threads as a more public-facing profile. If two people follow each other on Threads, but not Instagram, how are they supposed to privately message through Instagram? cc: @mosseri
A.I. could run out of high-quality textual data for training purposes by 2026 and low-quality content anytime between 2030 and 2060, Maggie Harrison reports. (Futurism)
Jimmy Wales, who co-founded Wikipedia, said at Web Summit that he believes humanity is still 20 to 30 years ahead of A.I. (Axios)
A group of 500 A.I.-generated chatbots discussed the news across three artificial platforms for a simulated July 2020 day that never actually happened. (Business Insider)
TikTok will now allow users to add songs to Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music. (Variety)
Instagram will let you sort your feed by "close friends." (TechCrunch)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Netflix

Netflix's Sports Swing: Netflix on Tuesday officially made its first foray into live sports, airing the Netflix Cup for subscribers in the evening. It was a relatively low-stakes entry into sports (which Netflix executives have continued to deny is an arena they want to fully enter), but an entry nevertheless. The event featured several PGA Tour players competing against each other. When I tuned in, the event seemed to be running smoothly. Front Office Sports' David Rumsey has more here.

HOLLYWOOD HEALING

The deal to end SAG-AFTRA's strike on the studios wasn't finalized until just hours before its approval, Jeremy Fuster reports. (TheWrap)
Ryan Faughnder outlines what the tentative deal "does and doesn't accomplish." (LAT)
Conor Murray reports on why some actors are raising alarm about the A.I. provisions in the tentative deal. (Forbes)

OFF STAGE

Marvel Studios is "taking stock of its strategy" after "The Marvels" became the latest film it has released since "Endgame" to miss expectations, Pamela McClintock reports. (THR)
A.A. Dowd argues that "The Marvels" meltdown "proves tying the MCU's future to its TV shows was a huge mistake." (Daily Beast)
Correction: In the previous edition of this newsletter, we linked to a Vanity Fair story about Britney Spears' manager, Cade Hudson, supposedly being upset over an "SNL" skit about the singer. Hudson has since poured cold water on the inaccurate reports. (Vanity Fair)
Matt LeBlanc and Courtney Cox paid tribute to Matthew Perry: "Spread your wings and fly brother you're finally free." (Guardian)
Taylor Swift added two more dates to her "Eras" tour, both at London's Wembley Stadium, on August 19 and 20. (BBC)
Andre 3000 is set to drop a solo album Friday, 17 years after Outkast's last album. (Variety)
Steve Carell will make his Broadway debut in Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya," which will open on April 24 at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater. (THR)
Michael Imperioli is also headed to Broadway for the first time, joining Jeremy Strong on the cast of Ibsen's "An Enemy of the People," which will open on February 27. (THR)
Speaking of Broadway: Shows last week grossed $29.2 million. (Deadline)
Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney's "Welcome to Wrexham" was renewed by FX for a third season. (TheWrap)
Warner Music is working on an Édith Piaf biopic that will use A.I. to bring the French icon's singing voice back to life. (Variety)

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.