Received this email from a friend? Subscribe here.

Wednesday, December 06, 2023

It's been a busy media news day! TIME names Taylor Swift Person of the Year, WaPo staffers prepare to walkout, NewsNation finds the spotlight, Google launches Gemini, Neil Young encourages people to use Threads, Sean "Diddy" Combs gets hit with another sexual assault lawsuit, broadcast networks remember Norman Lear, SAG-AFTRA ratifies its contract, and so much more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

Donald the Dictator

CNN Photo Illustration/Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images

The American press is facing, arguably, the gravest potential threat to its freedom in a generation.

The four-time indicted, twice-impeached disgraced former president, Donald Trump, who admitted Tuesday that he will govern as a "dictator" on "day one" should he win office again, is overtly vowing to weaponize government and seek retribution against the news media, showing no regard for the First Amendment protections afforded to the Fourth Estate.

The alarming rhetoric against the nation's journalists, whom Trump has consistently and insidiously referred to as the "enemy of the people," has also been echoed by his top allies, indicating the promises of revenge are not the rantings of a madman, but the actual intended course of action should the Republican presidential frontrunner manage to seize power again.

In a particularly disturbing conversation this week, Trump's former top political strategist, Steve Bannon, and former National Security Council adviser, Kash Patel, openly discussed plans to target the press. Bannon, who underscored that such promises are "not just rhetoric" and that they are "absolutely dead serious" about seeking revenge against journalists, asked Patel, who would likely serve in a second Trump administration, whether he could "deliver the goods." Patel responded affirmatively, vowing that a re-empowered Trump would indeed "come after" the press.

Bannon did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday and a spokesperson for Patel claimed he was only referring to targeting journalists "who break the law." Regardless, Trump has himself said he will target news organizations, including most recently lashing out at Comcast over NBCU News Group's coverage of him, saying the company should be "investigated."

"I say up front, openly, and proudly, that when I WIN the Presidency of the United States, they and others of the LameStream Media will be thoroughly scrutinized for their knowingly dishonest and corrupt coverage of people, things, and events," Trump declared in September, adding that he believes the press "should pay a big price" for supposedly hurting the country.

President Joe Biden's campaign on Wednesday denounced the anti-press venom being injected into the public discourse by Trump and his allies.

"Donald Trump and his cabal of snowflake henchmen are telling us what they will do if they get power. The plan apparently includes stomping on the bedrock principles of the First Amendment speech by locking up and punishing journalists for simply doing their jobs," Ammar Moussa, a spokesperson for the Biden campaign, told me in a statement. "The 2020 election and last year's midterms made clear the American people will not accept these kinds of overt and existential attacks on our democracy."

But the reality is that Trump could be elected again. And his appalling rhetoric adds even more evidence to the already mountain of examples that signal he aims to behave like an authoritarian, should he manage to secure the White House in 2024, said Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a history professor at New York University who focuses on authoritarianism and democratic backsliding.

"All autocrats consider the free press their enemy, and use legal harassment, imprisonment, and other methods to silence journalists," Ben-Ghiat told me. "Trump, Patel, and others have already sued CNN and many other media outlets for defamation, and in doing so they are in line with authoritarians who use lawsuits to financially and psychologically exhaust journalists and media outlets."

Ben-Ghiat added that such public threats "are also attempts to get media outlets to self-censor." She stressed "autocratic media environments depend not only on the dissemination of talking points friendly to the leader, but also on silence about anything the autocrat does not want the public to know."

Floyd Abrams, the famed First Amendment attorney, told me that he believes "a second Trump term would gravely threaten freedom of the press" and outlined a number of potential actions that could be taken to retaliate against the news media. Abrams said a second Trump administration could bring potential Espionage Act cases against outlets over the publication of internal deliberations regarding government actions; repeal Department of Justice guidelines barring subpoenas to hunt leakers; and take anti-press positions in the U.S. Supreme Court, among other things.

Ted Boutrous, another First Amendment attorney, said the comments from Patel were "disgusting," "fundamentally un-American," and described actions "that seek to stick a dagger in the heart of the First Amendment." But Boutrous stressed that the rhetoric on display for the public "should be taken seriously, given Mr. Trump's and his staff's egregious actions when Trump was in office."

Press freedom groups also spoke out on Wednesday against the anti-press fervor coursing through the MAGA-dominating wing of the Republican Party.

"This kind of inflammatory rhetoric has no place in U.S. democracy," Katherine Jacobsen, who heads U.S. affairs for the Committee to Protect Journalists, told me. "Thuggish threats to 'come after' members of the media in retaliation for their work covering elections is incredibly concerning, and creates a permission structure for violence against journalists."

DEMOCRACY DIES IN SILENCE

PEN America on the remarks from Steve Bannon and Kash Patel: "Patel's threats of retaliation against the media in the event of a second Trump administration are anathema to the First Amendment and to its protections for a free press and free expression." (PEN)
Joe Scarborough on the applause from the crowd after Trump told Sean Hannity that he would in fact behave like a dictator on "day one": "There's a sickness. There's a sickness among, unfortunately, some of our fellow Americans regarding authoritarianism and totalitarianism." (Mediaite)
Marty Baron: "[Trump is] the only politician I've heard talk about suspending the Constitution ... He talks openly about weaponizing the government against his political enemies. … He's talked about bringing treason charges against the then outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff … [and] treason charges against Comcast for its ownership of NBC and MSNBC. ... He continues to talk about crushing an independent press. Those are the definition of authoritarianism." (National Press)
"Trump's threats to use the presidency as a vindictive weapon to punish his enemies have grown so naked that his allies now find it inconvenient. They are irritated — not with Trump, but with the news media for reporting on his undisguised plans," Jonathan Chait writes. (NY Mag)
Need more evidence of how a second Trump administration could target the press? Republican Sen. J.D. Vance has asked Attorney General Merrick Garland if his department will "open an investigation" into The WaPo columnist Robert Kagan for authoring a piece waring that a "Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable." (Raw Story)

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

TIME

Taylor Talks Taylor: Her wildest dreams have come true. TIME named Taylor Swift as its Person of the Year on Wednesday, with cover story author Sam Lansky declaring that in 2023, the generational icon "became the main character of the world." As Lansky put it, Swift has always been a mega-star, but "this year, something shifted. To discuss her movements felt like discussing politics or the weather—a language spoken so widely it needed no context." Swift is the first entertainer to ever be selected for the POY honors. For the cover story, Swift spoke extensively to Lansky, her first interview in years (yes, for someone who so saturates public discussion, Swift rarely talks to the press). Here are some highlights:

► Swift described how she trained six months before the "Eras Tour" started: "Every day I would run on the treadmill, singing the entire set list out loud," she said. "Fast for fast songs, and a jog or a fast walk for slow songs." Swift added, "Then I had three months of dance training, because I wanted to get it in my bones. I wanted to be so over-rehearsed that I could be silly with the fans, and not lose my train of thought."

► Swift said after playing, she would go into strict recovery mode: "I do not leave my bed except to get food and take it back to my bed and eat it there. ... I can barely speak because I've been singing for three shows straight. Every time I take a step my feet go crunch, crunch, crunch from dancing in heels."

► Swift on the impact of Kim Kardashian releasing an edited phone call of a conversation with Kanye West: "You have a fully manufactured frame job, in an illegally recorded phone call, which Kim Kardashian edited and then put out to say to everyone that I was a liar. That took me down psychologically to a place I've never been before. I moved to a foreign country. I didn't leave a rental house for a year. I was afraid to get on phone calls. I pushed away most people in my life because I didn't trust anyone anymore."

► Swift skewered Scooter Braun: "My masters were being sold to someone who actively wanted them for nefarious reasons, in my opinion."

► Swift said she didn't want a "middleman" releasing her hit concert film: "We met with all the studios and we met with all the streamers, and we sized up how it was perceived and valued, and if they had high hopes and dreams for it. Ultimately I did what I tend to do more and more often these days, which is to bet on myself."

► Swift detailed how her relationship with Travis Kelce started: "This all started when Travis very adorably put me on blast on his podcast, which I thought was metal as hell. We started hanging out right after that. So we actually had a significant amount of time that no one knew, which I'm grateful for, because we got to get to know each other. By the time I went to that first game, we were a couple."

► Swift on the success of women in 2023: Swift said she was part of a "a three-part summer of feminine extravaganza" this year, alongside Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" ("a fun, entertaining blast of a movie, with that commentary") and Beyoncé's "Renaissance Tour" ("there were so many stadium tours this summer, but the only ones that were compared were me and Beyoncé").

► Swift said the success of all three is noteworthy: "What fuels a patriarchal society? Money, flow of revenue, the economy. So actually, if we're going to look at this in the most cynical way possible, feminine ideas becoming lucrative means that more female art will get made. It's extremely heartening."

THE INDUSTRY

CNN Photo Illustration/Gary Cameron/Reuters

Walkout at WaPo: The Washington Post is bracing for a 24-hour strike that will commence at 12:01am Thursday. Members of The WaPo Guild — which represents approximately 1,000 staffers — are set to stage the work stoppage as they seek to pressure management on a new contract and protest recently announced cuts to the Jeff Bezos-owned paper. The walkout is historic, with such a strike not having taken place since the 1970s, signaling how frustrated staffers are with the paper's state of affairs. "Taking this historic action is not a decision we came to lightly," the Guild said. "We take seriously the impact it will have on the people, issues and communities we cover." Instead of filing stories, union members will picket in front of The WaPo on Thursday and hold a rally at noon featuring speakers. A spokesperson for The WaPo said the paper "will make sure our readers and customers are as unaffected as possible." Here's my full story.

🔎 Zooming in: The union has been negotiating a new contract with executives for 18 months, but it has yet to arrive at an agreement, much to the dismay of members who have expressed frustration with management over the process. The labor dispute comes as The WaPo struggles financially, with the paper on track to lose approximately $100 million this year. To that end, The WaPo's management team has moved to cut costs, announcing in October that it aims to slash its workforce by 10% through voluntary buyouts. Interim boss Patty Stonesifer warned employees that if 240 people do not volunteer for the buyout offer, layoffs will ensue. Stonesifer said in a meeting this week that 175 employees had so far taken the buyout offers ahead of next week's deadline. If layoffs are forced, it's not clear when precisely they would happen. It's hard to see them happening the week before the Christmas holiday. But if the cuts don't take place before 2023 wraps, it would mean incoming boss William Lewis would have to oversee them — an awful way to kick off his tenure.

THE FOURTH ESTATE

The U.K. government has selected Samir Shah as the next chair of the BBC. The appointment, which was welcomed by the outlet, will be subject to an approval process. (BBC)
Speaking of the BBC: The outlet relaunched its website in North America as it seeks to cast a larger shadow on the continent, Sara Fischer reported, citing an interview with one of the outlet's executives. (Axios)
William Cohan reported on Jeff Zucker's attempt to bag The Telegraph and Spectator: "Not surprisingly, many of Zucker's auction competitors have been griping about the dangers of Gulf money, or murmuring that Zucker is overpaying. Typical stuff from those who still buy ink by the barrel and would have loved to have done the clever deal that Zucker did." (Puck)
Reuters said it temporarily removed an article titled "How an Indian startup hacked the world" to comply with a preliminary order from a New Delhi district court — though the publication stands by its reporting and will appeal the decision. (Reuters)
Sports Illustrated owner The Arena Group fired two senior executives, COO Andrew Kraft and President Rob Barrett, Michael McCarthy and A.J. Perez reported. It comes after the publication suffered embarrassing A.I. allegations. (FOS)
Allbritton Journalism Institute will launch NOTUS (News of the United States), a D.C.-focused newsroom in January centered around deep reporting and training young reporters, Max Tani reported. (Semafor)
Hanaa' Tameez highlighted 13 news outlets using LinkedIn's newsletter feature. (NiemanLab)
Andy Borowitz made it official and announced he had been impacted by layoffs at The New Yorker. (Variety)
Henry Blodget wrote about a formative experience he had as a production assistant at CNN over 35 years ago while working with then-anchor Lou Dobbs' show. (Business Insider)
Anderson Cooper wrote about his interview focused on grief with President Joe Biden: "The interview took place at the White House on November 7. When I got there, two chairs had been placed in the library for me and the President to sit in. ... It was a standard setup for an interview with the President, but it seemed too formal to me. I asked if they would bring a table we could sit at, something we could lean forward on and, if the President was so inclined, talk more intimately, face to face." (CNN)

IN THE MARKET

The Magic Kingdom opened the beta for its joint Disney+, Hulu streaming platform. (TheWrap)
Dr. Phil is teaming up with Trinity Broadcasting Network ahead of the launch of a new television network. (Variety)
Since signing a three-year extension with the Milwaukee Bucks, NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo has also cofounded a media company, Improbably Media, reports Lucia Moses. (Business Insider)

MEDIA MOVES

Hearst named Claire Sanderson editor of Women's Health U.K. and Men's Health U.K. (Press Gazette)
The NYT named Andrés R. Martínez as a deputy editor. (NYT)
Sean O'Kane joined TechCrunch as a senior reporter. (Threads)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Brian Snyder/Reuters

NewsNation in the Spotlight: NewsNation is finding some spotlight, hosting the fourth Republican presidential primary debate Wednesday evening. The GOP melee, the final of 2023, was significantly slimmed down, featuring only four candidates, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Chris Christie. Moderated by Elizabeth Vargas, Megyn Kelly, and Eliana Johnson, it is likely to also see slimmed down ratings as well. Viewer interest in the Republican face-offs has dwindled since Fox News hosted the first debate earlier this year. (I'm curious whether this debate will surpass the DeSantis-Gavin Newsom showdown that took place on Fox News last week.) That said, for NewsNation, a self-described "unbiased" channel that most of the country is likely not familiar with, it's a big moment. On that point, it's notable that the Republican National Committee opted to host a GOP debate on NewsNation, given it has far less reach than networks such as ABC and CBS. One can only guess why. 🤔

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Despite facing backlash from its audience and internal anxiety from its staffers following the outlet's sit down with Donald Trump, Univision is doubling down on its so-called non-partisan shift, Adrian Carrasquillo reports. (The Messenger)
Steve Bannon is not happy with Sean Hannity: "We don't have time for idiots, bro. This is a war, OK? This is a war. We don't have time for sunshine patriots in this nonsense, and don't carry the water for the Murdochs and don't carry the water for the left." (Mediaite)
Meanwhile, an Infowars host acknowledged Fox News' move to the fringes: "When you turn on Fox News now, it sounds a lot more like Infowars than it did 10 years ago. They're talking about a lot more stuff that they would have never really touched with a 10-foot pole." (MMFA)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Google Launches Gemini: It's here. Google on Wednesday officially launched Gemini, its answer to OpenAI's powerful — and popular — ChatGPT. Google hyped the A.I. bot as its "largest and most capable A.I. model" yet, having the ability to reason "seamlessly across text, images, video, audio, and code." It said the A.I. bot "represents a significant leap forward in how A.I. can help improve our daily lives," welcoming people to "the Gemini era." CNN's Brian Fung and Catherine Thorbecke have more here.

🔎 Zooming in: Gemini "is the first model to outperform human experts on MMLU (Massive Multitask Language Understanding), one of the most popular methods to test the knowledge and problem solving abilities of A.I. models," Google boasted. Chief executive Sundar Pichai said that building Gemini represented "one of the biggest science and engineering efforts we've undertaken as a company." Gemini will come in three different models and Google said the most advanced of the three, Gemini Ultra, will roll out gradually next year. But Bard has already been upgraded with Gemini and the technology will soon be infused into products like Google Search.

TOO MANY TABS

Elon Musk wants to raise $1 billion for his A.I. company xAI. (CNN)
Is that related to X's troubles? "It's unclear if X.ai sits under the same corporate umbrella" as X, Dan Primack writes, adding that an X spokesperson declined to "share anything" in that regard. (Axios)
Speaking of X's troubles: Neil Young said he "will now be using Threads as a replacement" for X: "I encourage my friends to do the same." (Neil Young)
Senator Ron Wyden cautioned that governments could be using data harvested from push notifications to spy on smartphone owners. (WIRED)
Al Gore said social media platforms are "dominated by algorithms" that are the "digital equivalent of AR-15s." (The Hill)
New Mexico's attorney general accused Meta in a civil lawsuit of guiding predators to children. Meta said child safety is important to it. (WSJ)
TIME named Sam Altman its CEO of the year. (TIME)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Raymond Hall/GC Images/Getty Images

Diddy's Alleged Misdeeds: For the fourth time in weeks, Sean "Diddy" Combs has been accused of sexual assault — this time by a woman who alleged Wednesday that the hip-hop mogul and others gang-raped her in 2003 in his New York recording studio when she was 17 years old. The woman made the explosive claim, among many others, in a lawsuit filed in federal court. Diddy, who did settle a separate sexual assault lawsuit with the singer Cassie last month, issued a statement on social media in which he denied all the allegations he has faced: "Enough is enough. For the last couple of weeks, I have sat silently and watched people try to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy. Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday. Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth." CNN's Alli Rosenbloom has more here.

OFF STAGE

RIP: Norman Lear, the father of the American sitcom who produced "All in the Family" and "The Jeffersons," died at 101. CBS, ABC, NBC, and Fox simulcasted an on-air in memoriam card Wednesday evening. (CNN)
SAG-AFTRA voted to ratify its new contract with major studios, with 78% of voting members casting their ballots in favor of the agreement. (CNN)
"Members didn't monolithically embrace the deal reached by its negotiators on Nov. 8," Katie Kilkenny noted. "In fact, SAG-AFTRA's ratification period was far more tense than it was for the Writers Guild of America after the latter union ended its 148-day work stoppage." (THR)
Elaine Low took a look at "what's selling" and "who's buying in TV" after the strikes. (The Ankler)
A24 movies will exclusively stream on Max, per a new deal. (Variety)
Ryan Reynolds asked the internet to not run any photos of "Deadpool 3" that contain spoilers, saying "surprises are part of the magic." (Variety)
Prime Video renewed "Harlem" for a third season. (THR)
Mads Mikkelsen is still down to make blockbusters like those of the "Fantastic Beasts" franchise, but he would rather make more Danish movies. (The Wrap)
Katey Rich sat down with James Cameron to discuss what viewers still get wrong about "Titanic." (Vanity Fair)
The cast of "M*A*S*H" will appear in new interviews for a two-hour Fox special. (The Wrap)
Apple TV+ released its trailer for "Masters of the Air," which stars Austin Butler and Callum Turner — and is executive produced by Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, and Gary Goetzman. (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.