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Thursday, December 14, 2023

Clarissa Ward independently reports from Gaza, James Bennet comes out swinging against The NYT, Reporters Without Borders rebukes X, news orgs express alarm at Google's A.I. search tool, Pope Francis calls for a global A.I. treaty, HBO announces "Curb Your Enthusiasm" will end after 12 seasons, and more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

The Fox News Impeachment

CNN Photo Illustration/Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Fox News viewers have received an early Christmas gift — an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.

Republicans, under considerable pressure from — and encouraged by — the right-wing channel and larger hyper-partisan universe in which their constituents reside, unanimously moved this week to open a formal impeachment inquiry into the president, despite no credible evidence that he has committed any criminal wrongdoing.

The decision to approve the impeachment inquiry should come as little-to-no surprise to observers of the polluted media landscape in which Republicans get their news. An impeachment of Biden has been a right-wing media fever dream for years, with calls to bring an inquiry against him dating back to even before Biden was inaugurated into the White House.

While Fox News and the other organs in the MAGA Media space have worked overtime throughout 2023 to defend Donald Trump and absolve him of any wrongdoing, they have also simultaneously worked to portray Biden as a key player in what they characterize as a sprawling criminal enterprise headed by him and his son, Hunter.

"The right wing media system is voracious and they have been extremely hungry for this kind of outrage fuel," Charlie Sykes, editor of the conservative anti-Trump publication The Bulwark, told me. "Plus, it gives them the counter programming to Trump trials that they desperately want."

While more credible news outlets have devoted extensive time to covering the high-stakes criminal trials facing the former president and his allies' attempts to undermine democracy, viewers of right-wing media have been treated to an entirely different storyline, with purported "bombshell" developments on a near daily basis.

In The Upside Down, Biden has been portrayed as an outright criminal who engaged in illicit foreign dealing that could pose a national security threat to the country he leads. The dark and sinister rhetoric has saturated programming and mainstreamed the notion that the president is a criminal evading justice. "The Bidens are like 'The Sopranos' without any humor," Laura Ingraham proclaimed to her audience Thursday night. Meanwhile, Sean Hannity has for months argued they "reek of corruption."

While rarely covered by mainstream news organizations (you're not going to see a segment on this during the evening news), the endless talk radio monologues and television segments attacking Biden carries with it actual consequences in society and government.

The charged rhetoric — despite being void of actual evidence of wrongdoing — has incited the GOP base. An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll released this week showed an astonishing 78% of Republicans said they approved of the impeachment hearings against Biden. Just 24% of Democrats and 45% of independents agreed with the impeachment process.

As a result of the relentless impeachment boosting, constituents have demanded their representatives take action. And the lawmakers who have leaned into the Biden impeachment efforts have been handsomely rewarded on Fox News and elsewhere as heroic leaders fighting dark forces of corruption.

The demands are also growing more pronounced. Now that the impeachment inquiry has been given the green light, the right-wing media will pivot to applying considerable pressure to outright impeach the president. Trump has promised to go on a revenge tour — and his propaganda machine is already gearing up to help him.

"The lack of hard evidence is beside the point. The pressure was going to be intense and relentless from the GOP's entertainment wing," Sykes told me. "Literally, no way this happens without Trump's demand, and the amplification by his right wing megaphones in the media."

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/CNN

Ward in the Warzone: Since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted in October, Western news organizations have struggled to gain access inside Gaza. More recently, some outlets have entered the Palestinian territory, but only under chaperone by the Israeli military. Outlets have appealed to Israel to allow them to enter the narrow war-torn strip on their own, but to no avail. That's what makes Clarissa Ward's reporting from Gaza stand out this week. Ward became the first Western news correspondent to independently report from Gaza, gaining the unprecedented access by accompanying aid workers to a local field hospital set up by the United Arab Emirates.

"We have been trying for weeks and weeks to get into Gaza as many international journalists have," Ward explained Thursday to Erin Burnett, noting that up until now the world has "been relying on the courageous reporting of journalists in Gaza, who have been dying in record numbers trying to tell this story." Ward told Burnett that "what was so striking" about her time in Gaza was that despite the "short window of time" spent on the ground, she saw immense amounts of "suffering" and "bloodshed." Ward added, "I don't think anything really prepares you, honestly, for seeing that in person... it's a punch in the gut. It's not something that I think even after covering conflict for all these years that you can ever really get used to or feel unmoved by."

THE INDUSTRY

CNN Photo Illustration/Larry Neumeister/AP

Bennet v. Sulzberger: James Bennet came out swinging against his former employer Thursday morning, publishing a scathing — and oh so lengthy — piece in The Economist, accusing The NYT of having "lost its way." The former NYT Opinion boss, who was ousted in 2020 amid enormous backlash after publishing a Tom Cotton op-ed, painted an unflattering image of The Gray Lady, saying in the 16,000-word piece that she had morphed from having a "liberal bias" to harboring an "illiberal bias." Bennet went on to argue that "the reality is that the Times is becoming the publication through which America's progressive elite talks to itself about an America that does not really exist." Publisher A.G. Sulzberger fired back Thursday evening, saying in a statement that he agreed with Bennet on some of the challenges facing journalism, but "could not disagree more strongly with the false narrative he has constructed about The Times." Sulzberger said The NYT's "commitment to independence is evident in our report every day." But Sulzberger dropped the hammer at the end his statement: "James was a valued partner, but where I parted ways with him is on how to deliver on these values. Principles alone are not enough. Execution matters. Leadership matters."

THE FOURTH ESTATE

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he'd like "to reach an agreement" to return Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan. (WSJ)
Mother Jones will merge with the Center for Investigative Reporting, creating a newsroom boasting more than 70 people. (NYT)
Punchbowl News is acquiring Electo Analytics, a start-up that provides data that helps decipher and analyze legislation, in a deal that values the Capitol Hill-focused publication at $100 million, Benjamin Mullin reports. (NYT)
The NewsGuild is "warming to the [Journalism Competition and Preservation Act] now that it may include more specificity about supporting newsroom jobs," Brier Dudley reports. (Seattle Times)
Masha Gessen was supposed to be given the Hannah Arendt Prize at a ceremony in Germany on Friday, but two foundations withdrew support after Gessen's piece last week titled, "In the Shadow of the Holocaust." Gessen spoke to Laura Wagner about the situation. (WaPo)
Janice Min to Aidan McLaughlin and Diana Falzone on the Hollywood trades: "When Jay Penske took ownership of the major trades ... I think that was tough. I think it obviously reduces competition, but I also think it's a dilution of voice." (Mediaite)
The Hill and Decision Desk HQ will launch a "2024 Election Center." (The Hill)
The Columbia Journalism Review announced that it is hiring a new executive editor. (Columbia)

IN THE MARKET

"We can no longer sit idly by": The Disney proxy battle is heating up. Nelson Peltz will nominate himself and former Disney executive Jay Rasulo to the Magic Kingdom's board. (CNN)
Ben Sherwood sold his MOJO Sports platform to youth sports company TeamSnap for an undisclosed amount. The deal means that Sherwood, who will join the TeamSnap board as part of the acquisition, has much more free time pursue other endeavors. What will he do next? (CNBC)
Amazon is on the hunt for an advertising sales leader "to take its growing video ads business to the next level," Lucia Moses and Lara O'Reilly report. (Business Insider)

MEDIA MOVES

Triad tapped Jay Sures as the new chair of its board. (LANL)
The NYT promoted Meeta Agrawl to editorial director for Opinion; promoted Brian Zittel to managing editor for Opinion; and re-hired David Firestone as deputy editor of the Opinion editorial board. (NYT)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

Bashed By His Own Bot: It's hard for Elon Musk to find allies these days. Even his own A.I. bot, Grok, is skewering him. In a conversation with The LAT's Brian Contreras, Musk's X chatbot said the billionaire's endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy theory "contributed to a rise in antisemitism and created an environment where hate speech is normalized." Grok, which added that Musk promoted "a harmful and false narrative that targets a marginalized group," went on to declare, "The incident has also made X a less welcoming and inclusive platform for many users." Yikes. Read the full story here.

X MARKS THE HATE

Netflix, which The NYT reported last month had paused $3 million in advertisements after Elon Musk's antisemitic endorsement, has quietly returned to marketing its products on X, Lucas Manfredi reported. A Netflix spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on the matter. So much for the principled stand! (TheWrap)
In contrast, Disney and Comcast have moved to beef up their advertisement buys on Instagram after suspending marketing on Musk's imperiled social media platform, Jaspreet Singh reported. (Reuters)
Ouch! Reporters Without Borders rebuked X as a "haven for disinformation" and said it is "in no way an ally" to the platform after the @Safety account claimed to "proudly support" the press freedom group. "What a shameless, audacious assertion! Linda Yaccarino and her team are deluding themselves," RSF boss Christophe Deloire told Bill Chappell. (NPR)
Will Oremus reported on how "verified" users on X are posting Nazi memes on the platform. (WaPo)

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

👀 Max Zahn reports that Meta's decision to allow 2020 election denialism in ads came after "some employees warned internally of potential harm to Meta's standing with Republican elected officials." (ABC News)
Parker Malloy examines "two open letters about Substack and extremism," writing that "both are worth reading, and both make valid arguments." (The Present Age)
Dylan Byers takes a look at Tucker Carlson's vlog-based subscription service, noting it will "become the latest in a string of digital media startups founded by Fox alumni such as Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, and Megyn Kelly after leaving the Murdoch kingdom." (Puck)
Ken Bensinger details the day-to-day operations of Donald Trump's online campaign and the veritable army of trolls that fuels its quotidian. (NYT)
Pizza-minded conspiracy theorists are looking for yet another slice of the pie, spreading notions that pedophiles are using Etsy to circulate child pornography that masquerades as ludicrously expensive digital photos of pizza, Tim Dickinson reports. (Rolling Stone)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/Sipa USA

Google the Goliath: Publishers are alarmed and expressing concern about the potential ramifications of Google's plans to integrate A.I. into its search engine. "A.I. and large language models have the potential to destroy journalism and media brands as we know them," Axel Springer boss Mathias Dopfner told The WSJ's Keach Hagey, Miles Kruppa, and Alexandra Bruell for a story published Thursday. The trio's report contained disturbing data that indicated publishers could lose enormous volumes of traffic once Google's A.I. tool is rolled out, as the bot will summarize information users are looking for and, thus, eliminate the need to click on links to sources. Read the full story here.

🔎 Zooming in: The WSJ reported that The Atlantic ran a test and found that 75% of the time, the A.I.-powered search generated a complete answer on its own. Google pushed back on that data, though. "Any attempts to estimate the traffic impact of our SGE experiment are entirely speculative at this stage as we continue to rapidly evolve the user experience and design, including how links are displayed, and we closely monitor internal data from our tests," Liz Reid, who works on Google Search, told The WSJ.

TOO MANY TABS

Jon Victor reports on "how Google got back on its feet in the A.I. race" after having fallen far behind to OpenAI. (The Info)
Pope Francis is calling for a global A.I. treaty. (AP)
The U.S. is leading the "A.I. for good" drive at the U.N. (Axios)
Spotify confirmed that it's testing A.I. playlists that can be created via prompts. (TechCrunch)
It's official: Threads has launched in Europe. (WSJ)
Mastodon founder Eugen Rochko praised Threads for working to integrate into the federation, saying it makes the platform "far more attractive" than X. (TechCrunch)
The death of cookies is near! Google will start restricting third-party cookies in Chrome on January 4. (Reuters)
The U.K. might curtail social media use for people under 16, Thomas Seal, Kitty Donaldson, and Jilian Deutsch report. (Bloomberg)
Twitch is adopting a more lax position when it comes to sexual content on the live-stream platform. (The Verge)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/John P. Johnson/HBO

Curbed After 12 Seasons: It was a pretty, pretty good run. The venerable HBO comedy "Curb Your Enthusiasm" is coming to an end in April after its upcoming 12th season debuts in February, the show's streaming service Max announced Thursday. The series, created by and starring Larry David, has won critical praise and two Emmys over the course of its 24-year run. Season 12 will star David as an "over-the-top version of himself" and "offer a tongue-in-cheek depiction of the writer/producer/comedian's fictionalized life," Max said. CNN's Alli Rosenbloom has more here.

🔎 Zooming in: In a message to fans, David cracked that he "will now have the opportunity to finally shed this 'Larry David' persona and become the person God intended me to be... And for those of you who would like to get in touch with me, you can reach me at Doctors Without Borders." In a statement of his own, HBO and Max chief Casey Bloys said, "It's hard to say farewell to such a ground-breaking, brilliantly funny and iconic series like Curb Your Enthusiasm, which has left its mark across television and the comedy genre."

OFF STAGE

The jury in the Jonathan Majors trial has started deliberations. (CNN)
Meghan McCain said she is "consulting" her lawyers after Ana Navarro named her on "The View" as someone who had "influence-peddle[d]" on her last name. (Mediaite)
Greta Gerwig will chair the 2024 Cannes Film Festival's jury. (NYT)
Stanley Tucci's gastronomic adventures across Italy will continue at Nat Geo as "Tucci — The Heart of Italy." (Deadline)
"Best of Enemies," an upcoming spy thriller starring Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale, has landed at Amazon MGM Studios. (Deadline)
Pete Davidson will star alongside Eddie Murphy in Tim Story's "The Pickup" for MGM. (Deadline)
Olivia Wilde's next film, "Naughty," has been acquired by Universal. (TheWrap)
Zack Snyder said he'd like to shoot additional scenes for the director's cut of his 2011 film "Sucker Punch." (TheWrap)
Apple TV+ renewed Seth Rogen's "Platonic" for a second season. (TheWrap)
Apple TV+ is working on an adaptation of "Murderbot" with Alexander Skarsgård. (The Wrap)
Patti Smith has canceled her shows in Italy after being hospitalized. (Pitchfork)
Mickey at 100: The earliest versions of Mickey Mouse are set to become public domain as they turn 100. (AP)

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.