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Thursday, December 07, 2023

GOP debate ratings sink again, Reuters investigates the death of its photojournalist, Vice Media's co-CEO steps down, Liz Cheney responds to Bret Baier, Elon Musk demands Bob Iger be fired, Tucker Carlson teams up with Alex Jones, Threads makes a move for NBA fans, 50 Cent announces a documentary on the sexual assault allegations against Sean "Diddy" Combs, "Oppenheimer" set to play in Japan theaters, and more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

Picketing the Post

CNN Photo Illustration/Mark Schiefelbein/AP

"By Washington Post Staff."

That was the byline affixed to the vast majority of The WaPo's stories Thursday as the newspaper's unionized employees staged a full-day strike against the Jeff Bezos-owned outlet — an act of protest not deployed against the company since the 1970s.

As the public got a glimpse of a world without The WaPo's army of journalists, inside the newspaper's offices editors published stories under the incognito byline, aiming to keep some news flowing to the outlet's millions of paying subscribers. It wasn't easy. The protest left The WaPo depleted of large swaths of its staff on several major desks. Suffice to say, the walkout was an inconvenience to management, a move that underscored to the powers at be the important role its journalists fulfill each day.

With the work stoppage, which will expire at 12:01am ET Friday, staffers sought to apply additional pressure on management as they seek a new contract after 18 long months of negotiations. Demonstrators were also protesting the recently announced 10% workforce reduction.

Instead of filing stories, members of The Washington Post Guild spent the day picketing in the December cold. Outside the newspaper's Washington, D.C., headquarters, demonstrators chanted slogans, sung pro-union songs, and carried signs that demanded a "FAIR CONTRACT NOW." The union estimated that more than 700 staffers participated in the act of rebellion and that roughly 400 staffers came out for the physical demonstration, which included a rally from 12 to 2pm.

The Guild, which asked readers not to engage with The WaPo's content to show solidarity, saw some support from President Joe Biden. I'm told that the White House, Biden campaign, and Democratic National Committee all refrained from engaging with the outlet and elevating any of its content.

While the union has been negotiating with executives for a year and a half on a new contract, it has yet to get close to arriving at an agreement. Wages, in particular, remain a major sticking point between the two sides. Executives have proposed a 2.25% pay increase, but union members have countered that it's far too low after recent inflation pressures. The drawn out pace of negotiations has also not helped, causing dismay and frustration among members with management over the process.

Unfortunately for members of The Guild, the labor dispute comes as The WaPo struggles financially, with the paper on track to lose $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 through voluntary buyouts. Staffers at The WaPo have balked at the need for cuts, often pointing out that the newspaper is owned by Bezos, one of the richest men in the world. For his part, Bezos has stressed that he wants The WaPo to be financially solvent.

Patty Stonesifer, The WaPo's interim chief executive, disclosed to employees when announcing the buyouts that the company had "overshot on expenses" under previous boss Fred Ryan and that management needed to "right size" the business. Last week, Stonesifer warned employees that if 240 people do not volunteer for the buyout offer, layoffs would ensue. Stonesifer said in a meeting this week that 175 employees had so far taken the buyout offers ahead of next week's deadline.

It's not clear when such cuts would be made, if ultimately necessary. It's hard to see The WaPo laying off employees just days before the Christmas holiday. But if the outlet does not reach the 240 buyout threshold, management has been clear that cuts will take place. Would they be carried out in the new year?

If so, that would mean that newly announced publisher and chief executive, William Lewis, who is set to start on January 2, would be forced to oversee cuts in his very first days. It would be a terrible way to start his tenure at The WaPo. But if cuts are ultimately required, and they don't happen in the days preceding the holiday break, he may not have a choice.

WaPo Walkout

"What is driving a lot of us to participate in this is a feeling that we want to have a say in the future of The Washington Post because we care about this place, and we think it can be better," reporter Sarah Kaplan told Katie Robertson. (NYT)
"I think this indicates how seriously we all are taking this, how deeply felt a lot of these concerns are in the Washington Post newsroom and in the company at large," reporter Marissa Lang told David Folkenflik. (NPR)
Guild co-chair Katie Mettler at the afternoon rally: "Fact: Jeff Bezos bought our newspaper a decade ago. Fact: He bought us hoping that we would break even or become profitable. Fact: We became profitable. We did our jobs. We met our goals. And then our former publisher Fred Ryan squandered our profits, and now we are here, being asked to take accountability for the company's mistakes." (Vanity Fair)
In pictures: Andrew Beaujon has a look at the picket line here. (Washingtonian)

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Gerald Herbert/AP

Debates In Decline: NewsNation scored its largest audience in its short two-and-a-half-year history Wednesday — but it was still the smallest audience for a Republican presidential debate this cycle. NewsNation averaged 1.6 million viewers for the debate, while sister network The CW averaged 2.6 million viewers. Between the two, an average of 4.2 million viewers tuned in to the Nexstar GOP melee. 7.5 million tuned in to the last debate, which aired on NBC News. The obvious trend is that the debates have been on a downward ratings trajectory, with viewer interest declining as the candidates have failed to mount a serious challenge to frontrunner Donald Trump. That said, there is still some interest. After the NewsNation debate ended on Wednesday, CNN for instance saw a spike in its ratings for a two-hour post-debate special, which led its competitors in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 demo.

► There are more debates coming! CNN announced Thursday that it will host two debates next month, one in Iowa and the other in New Hampshire. The debates are not sanctioned by the Republican National Committee, which means that the network will not be forced to partner with right-wing media companies, as NBC News and NewsNation did. Meanwhile, ABC News announced that it will also host a debate next month, partnering with local WMUR-TV. Neither CNN nor ABC News disclosed which of their anchors will moderate the upcoming face-offs.

THE INDUSTRY

CNN Photo Illustration/Reuters

Investigating Issam's Death: More information emerged Thursday about the strike that killed a Reuters journalist in October while reporting from Lebanon. Investigations conducted by Reuters, AFP, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch indicated that Issam Abdallah was killed by Israeli tank shells. "Reuters spoke to more than 30 government and security officials, military experts, forensic investigators, lawyers, medics and witnesses to piece together a detailed account of the incident," the outlet said. "The news agency reviewed hours of video footage from eight media outlets in the area at the time and hundreds of photos from before and after the attack, including high-resolution satellite images." AFP and HRW alleged in their reports that the strike was a targeted attack by Israel on the journalists. In a statement to Reuters, IDF spokesperson Richard Hecht said, "We don't target journalists." CNN's Mia Alberti has more.

THE FOURTH ESTATE

Hozefa Lokhandwala, Vice Media Group's co-chief executive, has stepped down from the troubled company — making Bruce Dixon the group's only boss. (THR)
Charles Barkley thanked the "King Charles" team for their hard work on the new weekly CNN program, co-anchored by Gayle King. But Barkley raged against Nielsen Research, the firm widely considered to be the gold standard for measuring television audiences, baselessly suggesting the company's audience metrics were bogus. "F**k those Nielsen people," he said during a discussion on "The Steam Room." (Awful Announcing)
Barkley is probably not happy because Nielsen data showed his CNN program is struggling in the ratings. The program's second episode was one of the lowest-rated hours on CNN Wednesday, garnering only 466K total viewers, with 115K in the 25-54 advertiser coveted demo. To be fair, the show was up against the GOP debate on NewsNation, but that debate started at 8pm, during "AC360." The Barkley and King-hosted show bled nearly 150K viewers from its "AC360" lead in and lost 30% of the demo.
Forward announced that it has removed its paywall for all coverage. "That means that for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is now free and available to everyone, everywhere." (Forward)
BBC anchor Maryam Moshiri apologized after she gave the middle finger to the camera, an incident that she said was supposed to be a private joke with her team and accidentally caught on camera. (Guardian)
ABC News and ESPN struck a partnership with Brittney Griner to tell her Russia detention story, Brian Steinberg reported. (Variety)
Podtrac released its list of the top 25 podcasts, five of which were produced by NBCU News Group. (AdWeek)

IN THE MARKET

Will Shari Redstone part ways with Paramount Global? Matthew Belloni reports that David Ellison's Skydance Media is "kicking the tires on the Redstone assets." Per Belloni, Ellison and Gerry Cardinale — whose RedBird is a major investor in Skydance — are "taking the lead" in an unofficial process that has included the signing of NDAs. (Puck)
👀 Spotify's chief financial officer, Paul Vogel, sold 7.2 million pounds in shares after the company's value surged following a decision to cut almost one-fifth of its workforce, Mark Sweney reports. (The Guardian)
After the report came out, Spotify said Vogel will leave the company. Chief executive Daniel Ek said he and Vogel had "come to the conclusion that Spotify is entering a new phase and needs a CFO with a different mix of experiences." (Variety)

MEDIA MOVES

The Committee to Protect Journalists announced Lydia Polgreen as its new vice chair and the addition of Roula Khalaf, Alan Murray, Maria Ressa, and Jacqueline Simmons to its board. (CPJ)
The NYT hired Victoria Campbell as a new operations manager on the photo desk. (NYT)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/CNN

Cheney Respond to Baier: In an interview with Jake Tapper on Thursday, former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney responded to Bret Baier, who has downplayed the notion that Donald Trump might refuse to leave office in a second term, saying he hadn't seen the necessary evidence. "Well, I would say, first, in response to Bret, he already tried to seize power once," Cheney noted. "So it shouldn't be hard for anybody to imagine that he will do it again." Cheney also hit Fox News as a whole, noting during the interview that "there's no question that they have played a damaging and dangerous role" in spreading election disinformation and lies about the January 6 insurrection. Cheney pointed out that she once "worked for Fox" as a paid contributor. "I remember my time at Fox was a time when Charles Krauthammer was alive, was with us, was one of the leading voices, maybe the conscience of Fox News," she said. "Of course, sadly, we have lost him. But the extent to which time and time again they have spread lies, clearly, our media has a hugely important role to play here." Watch the full interview here.

► Of note: Will Cheney appear on Fox News during her book tour? As she noted, she was once a paid contributor at the network. But now she is, effectively, persona non grata.

Musk's "Eiger" Meltdown: Elon Musk wants Bob Iger fired. The X owner and erratic billionaire conspiracy theorist went on a rampage Thursday against the Disney chief executive, assailing Iger — whose name he spelled "Eiger" — over the Magic Kingdom's decision to pull advertisements from his imperiled social media platform. "He should be fired immediately," Musk, who often uses his influential perch to bully critics and others, wrote about Iger on the platform formerly known as Twitter. "Walt Disney is turning in his grave over what Bob has done to his company." Representatives for Disney did not respond to a request for comment. But it goes without saying that Iger is widely credited for boosting Disney into an entertainment juggernaut through a series of well-executed acquisitions — Star Wars, Marvel, and Pixar — during his first stint as chief executive. Read my full story here.

Tucker Goes Full Infowars: He's not hiding it now. While Tucker Carlson's friendship with Alex Jones was often whispered about, the secret has burst out into the open. The pair of right-wing extremists gathered together for an episode of Carlson's X-hosted show that published Thursday. As you might expect, they railed against the typical targets, including saving some choice words for yours truly. None of it is worth linking to, of course. But it is worth setting down a marker on this moment.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Speaking of Tucker Carlson, he and Steve Bannon are being floated for positions in the White House should Donald Trump manage to win in 2024. Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei reported that Melania Trump is pushing Carlson to be the VP candidate and that Carlson is pushing Bannon for chief of staff. (Axios)
Carlson also grossly mischaracterized what Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said during a meeting with House members earlier this week. Carlson claimed Austin threatened House members that if the Ukraine war isn't funded, their kids would be sent to war and die. As Fox News correspondent Jennifer Griffin pointed out, "This characterization of Austin's remarks is 100 percent not true, acc to two sources who were in the briefings. Austin warned that it is not hyperbole to say Putin won't stop at Ukraine. If he enters NATO territory US troops could be called to fight; cheaper to fund Ukraine now." (Mediaite)
But, as you can guess, Carlson's post attracted the attention of Elon Musk, who asked Carlson if Austin "really said this." Carlson replied, "He really did. Confirmed."
Switching gears, ever so slightly: The authoritarian trend in right-wing circles is all over the place. Daily Wire personality Matt Walsh declared that "the most effective way to undermine our democracy is to let people -- is to let too many people participate in it." (MMFA)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Stefani Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

Topics on Threads: As Elon Musk's X continues to implode, Threads continues to build. The company on Thursday announced its answer to hashtags: topics. The feature is similar to how a hashtag would work on X, but only one topic can be tagged per post, and phrases can be used as well. Engadget's Karissa Bell has details here.

► More interestingly, perhaps, Threads is making a play for Sports Twitter. The company has been encouraging users to live-post about the NBA and it is promoting accounts posting about the sport from its own flagship account. Threads boss Adam Mosseri even said Thursday that NBA Threads is "one of the communities I'm most exited [sic] about on this app." People have talked about how sports has kept them glued to Musk's imperiled platform. If Threads can move into that territory in a serious way, it will present another problem for X.

TOO MANY TABS

Despite the fanfare around Google's release of its new A.I., Gemini, lackluster reviews leave something to be desired. (TechCrunch)
Yikes! Google has also "already admitted at least one demo" video hyping Gemini was not real, Emilia David reported. (The Verge)
Sen. Maria Cantwell told David Shepardson that Congress will not take up TikTok legislation this year. (Reuters)
Conflicted Interests: Tech giants are funding the very people who are meant to keep them in check, Joseph Menn and Naomi Nix report. (WaPo)
Meta rolled out its fully encrypted Messenger. (AP)
Meta released additional security guidelines outlining cybersecurity practices for A.I. (Axios)
Amazon shoppers can no longer use Venmo at checkout. (Bloomberg)
X will start hiring engineers in Japan as the company looks to tackle the Japanese advertising scene after chasing away those in the U.S. (Reuters)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Henry McGee/IMAGO/Reuters

50's 'Diddy' Documentary: The sexual assault allegations against Sean "Diddy" Combs are not going away. 50 Cent announced Thursday that his production company, G-Unit Film, will be releasing a documentary focused on the mounting accusations, all of which Diddy has denied. In a teaser clip posted online, former rapper Mark Curry leveled more charges against Combs, alleging that he used to spike bottles of champagne for women to drink from at clubs. 50 Cent said proceeds of his documentary will go to victims of sexual assault. Variety's Thania Garcia has more here.

OFF STAGE

Disney's "Loki" saw a surge in viewers for its finale, but the second season still lagged behind the first in viewing time. (THR)
"Oppenheimer" will hit theaters in Japan for the first time in 2024 following months of controversy sparked over the film's limited discussion of the impact that the atomic bomb had on the nation. (WaPo)
Danny Masterson is being moved to a state prison after his missing guns were found by law enforcement officials. (TheWrap)
Actor Alan Ruck, best known for his roles on "Succession" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," has been sued after he allegedly caused a multi-vehicle crash in Hollywood. Ruck has not commented. (NBC News)
Russell Crowe, Rami Malek, and Michael Shannon are set to star in James Vanderbilt's upcoming historical drama, "Nuremberg." (TheWrap)
Ray Romano will star in Liz Feldman's upcoming Netflix comedy series, "No Good Deed." (Deadline)
Prime Video released the trailer to its TV remake of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," starring Donald Glover and Maya Erskine. (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 next week.