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Tuesday, January 23, 2024

The L.A. Times slashes 20% of the newsroom in a "bloodbath," Condé Nast workers stage a 24-hour strike to protest planned cuts, TIME trims its workforce, Netflix shares soar as the streamer beats on earnings, Floyd Abrams rebuts Fox Corporation's arguments in its FCC license battle, Ari Emanuel's TKO appoints Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson to its board, and so much more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

It's a Ken World

CNN Photo Illustration/Tristan Fewings/Getty Images

It read like a scene out of "Barbie" itself.

When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominations Tuesday morning for the 96th annual Oscars, both Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie were dealt a shocking snub in the best director and best actress categories, respectively. Meanwhile, as if to pour salt on the wound, Ryan Gosling secured a thumbs up in the best supporting actor category for his role as Ken, the patriarchy-obsessed and vapid sidekick in the year's biggest blockbuster.

The move by the Academy, which is no stranger to controversy and has faced a torrent of criticism in recent years over issues related to diversity, left a fair share of observers astonished and shaking their heads. It was widely expected that Gerwig, in particular, would get a nod for best director, given that she was the creative force behind the critically-acclaimed billion-dollar sensation, which the academy itself recognized by nominating it for best picture.

To many, the snubbing of the pair further validated the film's message about how difficult it can be for women to succeed in — and be recognized for — their contributions in a society saturated by sexism. While Gerwig did receive a nomination for best adapted screenplay and Robbie was given the nod as a producer, they won't compete for the year's most prestigious prizes.

"It's still so easy for Hollywood to overlook and discount artistic contributions of women - EVEN WHEN ITS THE POINT OF THE YEAR'S BIGGEST MOVIE!" lamented prominent political strategist Jennifer Palmieri, who served as director of communications in the Obama White House and for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. "My God. It was nominated for best picture. Didn't direct itself, friends!"

It goes without saying that Palmieri was far from alone in sharing such thoughts. The Academy's snubbing of Gerwig and Robbie immediately lit up social media, giving way to a flood of news stories and criticism, and sparked broader discussion about sexism on programs such as "The View."

In fact, it was not just limited to outside observers skewering the Academy. The controversy prompted two of the film's stars, Gosling and America Ferrera, to speak out and convey their dismay at the cold shoulder from the Academy.

In a statement, Gosling said he was "extremely honored" to have been nominated for the best actor award "alongside such remarkable artists." He added that he is also "proud that it's for portraying a plastic doll named Ken."

"But there is no Ken without Barbie, and there is no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, the two people most responsible for this history-making, globally celebrated film," Gosling said. "No recognition would be possible for anyone on the film without their talent, grit and genius. To say that I'm disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement."

"Against all odds with nothing but a couple of soulless, scantily clad, and thankfully crotchless dolls, they made us laugh, they broke our hearts, they pushed the culture and they made history," the actor added. "Their work should be recognized along with the other very deserving nominees."

Ferrera who was given the green light for best supporting actress, told Deadline's Matt Grobar that she was "a little bit in shock" after the nominations were announced — in both good and bad ways.

"They're my girls, and I want to see their incredible, amazing work celebrated. They made history, they set a new bar," Ferrera told Grobar. "They not only broke box office records, but made something that resonated around the globe, and the impact of what they made is, and will continue to be felt in our culture. I think I join a lot of people in wanting to see them acknowledged for that."

In an interview with Variety's Angelique Jackson and Clayton Davis, Ferrera was more blunt: "I was incredibly disappointed that they weren't nominated."

The Academy in recent years has made efforts to be more representative of society. But racial diversity and sexism still linger as problems that it is trying to address. At last year's awards ceremony, host Jimmy Kimmel even joked, "How does the Academy not nominate the guy who directed 'Avatar'? What do they think he is, a woman?"

There is empirical evidence that supports the notion women are overlooked by the Academy. A sweeping 2020 study from Emerson College, titled "Oscar is a Man: Sexism and the Academy Awards," found that the winners of the best picture category are nearly twice as likely to feature male lead actors. The paper's authors, Kenneth Grout and Owen Eagan, wrote that "one thing is historically certain" in Hollywood: "Women have had to work harder than men to achieve the same acclaim."

Suffice to say, those words are ringing true across the industry today.

OSCARS OVERLOAD

See the full list of nominees here. (CNN)
By the numbers: "Oppenheimer" dominated with 13 nominations; "Poor Things" nabbed 11; "Killers of the Flower Moon" 10; "Barbie" eight; and "Maestro" seven. (Variety)
The chilling and ever-so-important international film "Zone of Interest," secured five nominations. (Deadline)
Lily Gladstone made history, becoming the first Native American actress to snag a nomination for best actress. (TheWrap)
But Leonardo DiCaprio was shockingly snubbed. (Variety)
Speaking of other snubs, "Saltburn," "Air," and "Asteroid City" received zero nominations. (Daily Beast)
The Associated Press received its first nomination ever for the documentary "20 Days in Mariupol." (AP)

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Mario Tama/Getty Images

The Loss in LA: The "big one" hit The Los Angeles Times on Tuesday. The newspaper, owned by billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong and facing what senior leadership described this week as a "financial crisis," commenced a round of painful layoffs across the newsroom, a workforce reduction set to be one of the most severe in the newspaper's 142-year history. The cuts will impact at least 115 journalists or slightly more than 20% of the newsroom. Some 94 of those cuts will be among unionized employees, guild chief Matt Pearce said. Pearce described the total number of employees being laid off as a "devastating" figure, but said it was "nonetheless far lower than the total number" expected last week. Among those laid off was Kimbriell Kelly, the newspaper's Washington bureau chief, along with significant cuts to its business and sports desks. "The LA Times Washington bureau was decimated," said Sarah Wire, a Washington-based reporter for The LAT. Brian Merchant, a tech columnist who said he had also been notified that he was being laid off, described the cuts as "a bloodbath." Here's my full story.

🔎 Zooming in: Strangely, The LAT did not provide a comment on the cuts. But Soon-Shiong, who was not made available to us, granted an interview to The LAT's Meg James in which he called the cuts "painful for all," but necessary as the newspaper loses $30 to $40 million each year. During the interview, Soon-Shiong also expressed disappointment with the employees union and said the one-day walkout it staged last week "did not help" the situation. The Guild countered that its decision to go on strike "saved scores of newsroom jobs," and laid the blame for the outlet's dire state of affairs at Soon-Shiong's feet: "This staffing cut is the fruit of years of middling strategy, the absence of a publisher, and no clear direction." Soon-Shiong told James he had lost the confidence of Kevin Merida, the former top editor who departed earlier this month, as well as some high-ranking editors he had appointed. The owner also pushed back against the characterization that the newspaper is in trouble, telling James, "We are not in turmoil. We have a real plan." What that plan is remains to be seen.

THE INDUSTRY

CNN Photo Illustration/Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images

Chaos at Condé: More than 400 staffers at Condé Nast walked off the job on Tuesday, staging a historic 24-hour strike to protest planned cuts to the prestige publisher's workforce. The Condé Nast Union's demonstration was intentionally timed to coincide with the Academy Award nominations being announced and featured a red carpet outside the company's World Trade Center-headquartered offices. Workers for various publications — including Vanity Fair, Vogue, and GQ — chanted, "Bosses wear Prada, workers get nada!" A spokesperson for Condé Nast declined to comment. CNN's Liam Reilly has all the details here.

► The Condé Nast Union also got a show of support from Anne Hathaway who walked out of a photoshoot to show solidarity with the protesting staffers. "Once Anne was made aware of what was going on, she just got up from hair and makeup and left," a source explained to Variety's Marc Malkin.

THE FOURTH ESTATE

✂️ Cuts, cuts, cuts: TIME magazine slashed its workforce on Tuesday as well, Semafor's Maxwell Tani reported, citing a memo from chief executive Jessica Sibley. Sibley said the decision "was not made lightly" and that the company had "worked to manage expenses in other areas of our business aggressively to minimize the impact." We're told the layoffs impacted roughly 30 people. (Threads)
NewsNation is getting into audio, launching the NewsNation Audio Network that will offer audio-clips sourced from its TV news programs for radio and audio platforms that opt-in. (InsideRadio)
RIP: Charles Osgood, the renowned newsman and former longtime anchor of "CBS Sunday Morning," died at 91. (CBS News)

CNN Photo Illustration/Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images

The Netflix Numbers: Netflix's share price boarded a rocket ship after the bell when the streamer beat analyst expectations on its Q4 earnings report. Netflix said it added 13.1 million subscribers, nearly 5 million more than expected, as the company continues to squeeze out new customers by cracking down on password sharing. The company now boasts an all-time high of 260.8 million subscribers, towering above all its streaming competition (if you can even call some of the services that). CNN's Samantha Delouya has more.

► Netflix said in its letter to investors that it is "not interested in acquiring linear assets." The company further said that it does not believe "further M&A among traditional entertainment companies will materially change the competitive environment given all the consolidation that has already happened over the last decade."

► Netflix co-chief Greg Peters voiced optimism for Netflix to do well as more ad dollars are poured into streamers: "We know ad dollars follow engagement. We've got the most engaged audience so we believe we're well positioned to capture some of that ad spend that shifts from linear to streaming."

► Netflix co-chief Ted Sarandos boasted about its new deal with WWE (scroll down for more on that). Sarandos said it does not change Netflix's aversion to becoming a live-sports player, instead characterizing the deal as feedings its "desire to expand our event programming" and stands "right in the sweet spot of our sports business, which is the drama of sport."

► Netflix said it plans to retire its basic ad-free plan that costs $11.99 in the US, starting with Canada and the UK.

IN THE MARKET

While Netflix is adding customers, linear television continues to show signs of decline. Verizon said Tuesday that it had lost 62,000 traditional television subscribers. (THR)
But the NFL continues to be the bright spot. CBS said Tuesday that the Chiefs-Bills game averaged a record 50 million viewers, the largest audience ever recorded for a divisional playoff game. (The Wrap)
The TV streaming war enters its messy era": Bill Bradley writes that "the lines between streaming and linear continue to blur." (Adweek)
Amazon is looking to dominate the streaming ad sector, reports Patrick Coffee, noting it "faces some challenges along the way." (WSJ)

MEDIA MOVES

Bloomberg News named Silvia Killingsworth news director for the Americas. (TBN)
MSNBC hired Ryan Teague Beckwith as a newsletter editor. (TBN)
The NYT hired Keith Bedfords as a photo editor. (NYT)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Brendan Hoffman/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Floyd Rebuts Fox: Famed First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams has jumped into the fight aimed at denying Fox Corporation its FCC license for its WTXF affiliate in Philadelphia. A group of activists, most prominently former Fox executive Preston Padden, have sought to block the license renewal over the lies that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch allowed to air about the 2020 election on Fox News. This week, Abrams submitted comments to the FCC and pushed back against Fox's argument that denying the license would violate the First Amendment, describing it as "fanciful."

"As for Fox's claim that the First Amendment itself would be violated if it were denied license renewal, its own willful decision to repeatedly broadcast false information about the election ... provides ample basis to do just that," Abrams wrote. "Broadcasters do have considerable First Amendment rights — a good deal of my career has been devoted to seeking to establish just that — but knowing and repeated distortion of information that is broadcast about a forthcoming election is precisely what a broadcaster may not do and that the Commission may consider in determining whether license renewal is appropriate." Abrams said that he believes "the application of WTXF for license renewal may well turn out to be one of the most significant ones that the Commission has ever issued and that it will inevitably have a significant First Amendment impact."

► Fox said in a statement that the petition to deny its license "is frivolous" and "completely without merit." The company added, "WTXF-TV / FOX 29 News Philadelphia is one of the finest local news stations in the country, broadcasting over 60 hours of local news and locally produced programming every week, and has tremendous broad political and community support."

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

🔌 I appeared on Audie Cornish's "The Assignment" podcast and we had a candid discussion about how the news media is covering the MAGA-controlled GOP. (Apple Podcasts)
Smart observation from Matt Gertz: "In what may be the final days of the 2024 GOP presidential primary, the candidates are also united in a curious way: All three attacked Fox News, the right-wing media megaphone that plays an outsized role in Republican politics." (MMFA)
Nikki Haley on Tuesday got combative with the "Fox & Friends" hosts, bluntly saying she didn't know if they would "tell the truth" about her campaign. (Daily Beast)
And Donald Trump resumed his complaints, claiming the network is in the tank for his opponents. (Newsweek)
Friendly fire: Trump die-hard Kari Lake went after Newsmax host Rob Finnerty for calling Trump an "old man," saying the comment was "derogatory." (Daily Beast)
Remember Tucker Carlson? Well, one of his former writers panned his new show in comment he stated "had to be said." (Mediaite)
The red state versus blue state lines keep getting starker. Oklahoma has enlisted the "Libs of TikTok" creator to advise the state on its school libraries. (Daily Beast)
Dave Portnoy's Barstool Sports is partnering with Rumble, the video-based social media site popular with the right. (Bloomberg)

THE VALLEY

TOO MANY TABS

Ryan Browne writes about how tech execs "say a type of A.I. that can outdo humans is coming, but have no idea what it looks like." (CNBC)
Apple "is learning that money can't buy you everything," writes Alex Hern about companies like Netflix and YouTube snubbing its Vision Pro. (Guardian)
The Silicon Valley titan is asking a London court to toss out a mass, $1-billion lawsuit regarding the company's App Store fees. (Reuters)
MrBeast said that his making of $263,000 on a video using X's revenue sharing option was a "facade" and likely not to be the experience of other users. (Fortune)
The SEC confirmed that the hacking of its X account in was done via a SIM swapping attack. (Engadget)
Meta's stock "should benefit from Reels ad revenue" being on the rise, Eric Savitz reports. (Barrons)
France hit Amazon with a $35 million fine over "intrusive" surveillance of employees. (WSJ)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Michelle Farsi/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images

A Knockout Deal: Ari Emanuel's TKO Group Holdings and Netflix announced Tuesday that they had struck a massive deal that will make the streaming giant the exclusive home of "Raw" and other WWE programming. Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw, citing sources, reported that the deal is worth $5 billion over 10 years. The agreement pushes Netflix further into live sports, an arena it has been inching toward for some time. Meanwhile, TKO — which owns WWE and UFC — announced that it had appointed Dwayne Johnson to its board in a deal that gave him full ownership of "The Rock" trademark. "Being on the TKO Board of Directors, and taking full ownership of my name, 'The Rock,' is not only unprecedented, but incredibly inspiring as my crazy life is coming full circle," Johnson said in a statement. "At my core, I'm a builder who builds for and serves the people, and Ari is building something truly game-changing." CNN's Jordan Valinsky has more on that deal here.

📈 Wall Street loved the news: Shares in TKO soared nearly 16% Tuesday.

OFF STAGE

Apple Music is looking to woo artists with up to 10% higher royalties for artists who make their music available in Spatial Audio. (9to5)
✂️ Cuts, cuts, cuts: Riot Games, which developed the widely popular "League of Legends" video game, laid off 11% of its staff. (NBC News)
A new documentary about actor Christopher Reeve, titled "Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story," premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and left the audience in tears, Jada Yuan reports. (WaPo)
Rachel Syme profiled Sofia Coppola. (New Yorker)
A new "Jurassic World" movie is being developed at Universal and David Koepp is behind the script. (THR)
Netflix release the official trailer for its live-action adaptation of "Avatar: The Last Airbender." (YouTube)
RIP: Gary Graham, known for his playing Ambassador Soval in "Star Trek: Enterprise," has died at 73. (The Wrap)

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.