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Thursday, January 25, 2024

The news industry is under the knife as even more cuts are announced, Bob Bakish announces layoffs and asks staff to remain focused amid M&A speculation, The LAT names an interim executive editor, Taylor Swift becomes the victim of explicit A.I. deepfakes, Netflix gets candid about Apple Vision Pro snub, WWE boss Vince McMahon is accused of brutally sexually assaulting a staffer, and more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

The Bulwark's Boom

CNN Photo Illustration/Ruth & Orion

The Never Trump movement might be on life support, but one of the outlets that it gave birth to is flourishing.

The Bulwark, a clear-eyed conservative news publication that stands in firm opposition to Donald Trump, is not only thriving online, but is in the midst of a "growth spurt," publisher Sarah Longwell told me on Thursday.

The outlet, which features notable investors such as James and Kathryn Murdoch, aims to expand with new hires in the coming weeks. The first of them? George Conway, the conservative attorney whose sharp legal analysis and unsparing political commentary launched him from a well-known D.C. politico into a household name during the Trump administration.

Conway will join The Bulwark as the host of a new podcast, "George Conway Explains: Trump's 91 Problems (and Jail Is One)," breaking down the for president's legal cases in plain, easily digestible terms. The program, co-hosted by Longwell, will air once a week and the first episode will drop Thursday night.

"The legal questions surrounding Trump are going to be an enormous part of what happens in 2024," Longwell noted to me. "And I am not a lawyer. And I was constantly asking my friends who are lawyers to explain things to me. And I was like, George, how about we just do a podcast where you just explain stuff to me?"

The Bulwark, which now boasts nearly 30 staffers, is "very close to breaking even," Longwell said during our phone conversation. The outlet generates about $3.6 million alone on newsletter subscriptions, she said, and also draws on a separate dual revenue stream made up of advertisements and live events.

Since its founding in 2018, the outlet has swelled in size. It now houses 10 podcasts (including Charlie Sykes' hit show, which ranks in the top 25 news programs on Apple Podcasts), five newsletters, and has recently poured resources into a YouTube channel, which has amassed nearly 150,000 subscribers and more than 21 million video views.

Think of it like this: For the left, there is Pod Save America. For the reality-dwelling right, there is The Bulwark.

The success of the outlet might strike some as odd, given that the Never Trump camp has, at this juncture, lost the war for the soul of the Republican Party. It's a reality that Longwell acknowledged. She described the publication's audience as a group of Republican "expats," "high information" Democrats looking for honest commentary from a conservative perspective, and others "trying to make sense of this political moment."

"Part of what Never Trump was, was a way to separate Trump from the rest of the Republican Party," Longwell said. "As Trump has absorbed the Republican Party, there is less of a mission over how to save it. But that doesn't mean that there is not a desperate need for a voice in the center that is unapologetically pro-democracy."

The Bulwark's growth also comes at a time in which most news publishers are pulling back, with the start of 2024 bringing news of brutal layoffs from coast-to-coast. Longwell said the conservative publication has found success by "building a community" willing to pay for a subscription, even though most of the content is available outside its pay wall, for free.

A key part of what gives The Bulwark an advantage in this political moment, and inspires such loyalty, is that its writers intimately understand the conservative movement, given they all were a part of it at one point in time. Longwell described the outlet's personalities as "sherpas" helping those whom are perplexed by the GOP's radicalization under Trump make sense of the moment (to the greatest extent that is possible).

That also means that those at The Bulwark don't have a cloudy vision and are willing to call out lies and misdeeds for what they are. While some in the establishment press might worry about being perceived as out-of-touch liberals, those at The Bulwark have no such fears.

"A lot of people talk about the false equivalence the media supposedly has to do to tell 'both sides.' And it leads journalists to make these false equivalencies," Longwell said. "When you've been a part of the conservative movement and seen how much it has changed, you have no temptation to say these things are equivalent. You're like, 'These guys have lost their minds! They have abandoned their principles!' I think we have been more unrestrained in our coverage because we've seen it from the right."

When asked whether the mainstream press is failing to call balls and strikes properly, Longwell said she believes everyone is doing their best to "navigate this particular unprecedented moment in their own way." But she did contend that she believes "we are under-reacting as a country to this political moment."

"And part of that is because a bunch of institutions, in an attempt to behave, in their minds responsibly — they don't know how to say how dangerous this moment is and still feel like they are maintaining their institutional objectivity," Longwell said.

"We," Longwell added, speaking of The Bulwark, "are quite certain about how to handle this moment. This is really black and white. Just say the things that are true, that are right and wrong."

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AP

Peril at Paramount: There have been better days to be an employee of Paramount. On Thursday, boss Bob Bakish told his staff that the media company will undergo layoffs, saying it must "operate as a leaner" machine "and spend less." The number of cuts was not immediately clear, but Bakish said the priority is to "drive earnings growth" and that will necessitate "closely managing costs." As he detailed the difficult landscape media companies are trying to push through, Bakish addressed speculation that the company will be acquired in the near future. "Amid all this change, it's no surprise that Paramount remains a topic of speculation. We're a storied public company in a closely followed industry," Bakish wrote. "But I have always believed the best thing we can do is concentrate on what we can control — execution. Leaning into what's working, while continually adjusting to current realities." CNBC's Sara Salinas has details here.

THE INDUSTRY

CNN Photo Illustration/Richard Vogel/AP

Newsrooms Under the Knife: The news industry is enduring a brutal start to the new year, with outlets large and small across the country hemorrhaging reporting staff as legacy business models that kept much of the industry afloat for decades collapse in plain sight. The rapid contraction, coming even as the presidential election cycle heats up and public attention and revenues historically mount, has been on full display this month, with the first few weeks of 2024 ushering in a spate of painful layoffs at news organizations from coast-to-coast. Jon Passantino and I have insights from Jay Rosen, Jeff Jarvis, and Dan Kennedy in our story about this tough moment in news.

► Jeff Jarvis: "I am sorry to say that I do not see turning around most legacy outlets. Their proprietors, with few exceptions, did not adapt to the internet. They held onto their old business models — advertising, subscription, and the attention economy. ... The death of newspapers — and magazines and linear TV — has been oft-foretold and has not yet occurred. The fall might be coming now."

► Jay Rosen: "To say that trust in the news media has declined is correct, but too vague," Rosen said. "The reality is that destroying confidence in the practice and products of journalism is a potent and successful political strategy, as with Steve Bannon's 'flood the zone.'"

► Dan Kennedy: "There are reasons to be optimistic given the hundreds of independent local news organizations that have sprouted up in recent years. The challenge is that coverage at the hyperlocal level is hit or miss, as some communities are well-served and others — especially in rural areas and in urban communities of color — tend to be overlooked."

THE FOURTH ESTATE

✂️ Cuts, cuts, cuts: Business Insider laid off 8% of its staff. The outlet declined to say how many jobs specifically were affected. (CNN)
The New York Daily News staged a one-day strike, its first walkout since 1991, to protest cuts ordered by Alden Global Capital. (NYT)
Unionized Forbes employees began a three-day work stoppage after the publisher announced it would lay off 3% of staff. (Bloomberg)
The Arena Group boss Ross Levinsohn has resigned over frustration with the company's board amid the Sports Illustrated disaster: "In my more than 30 years inside of public and private companies, I've never witnessed more negligence," Levinsohn wrote in a blistering resignation letter. (Bloomberg Law)
For sale: Refinery29 and Tasty, per a report from Alexandra Bruell and Jessica Toonkel. (WSJ)
Alex Weprin: "The media is melting down." (THR)
Strange! A Perry Bacon Jr. column in The WaPo critical of billionaire ownership of news outlets — which called into question the outlet's willingness to criticize Jeff Bezos' businesses — vanished from the outlet's website after being published on Wednesday. The URL redirected to a page that said the "file was inadvertently published." A spokesperson for the paper reiterated that to me on Thursday, saying the piece is still in the editing process. Will it be published? We'll keep an eye out for it.
Some good news! The Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY will become the first journalism graduate school to go tuition-free after its namesake, Craig Newmark, committed $10 million to the school's endowment. (Axios)
Jake Tapper spoke with Pavel Butorin, the husband of journalist Alsu Kurmasheva who has now been imprisoned in Russia for 100 days: "This is an incredibly difficult time." (CNN)
"Israel needs to let journalists freely report the news in Gaza," Clarissa Ward writes. (WaPo)
A "colossal heist": A husband and wife are accused of stealing $34 million from publisher Win McCormack, editor-in-chief of Tin House magazine and Tin House Books, Maxine Bernstein reports. (Oregon Live)
"A citizen journalist in Texas cannot sue officials over her arrest for asking a police source questions, a divided federal appeals court has held in a ruling that dissenting judges warned posed a threat to free speech and news gathering," Nate Raymond reports. (Reuters)

IN THE MARKET

The Directors Guild improved on the deal it inked with the AMPTP last year, securing the same streaming success bonus the WGA won. (THR)
Kim Masters examined Scott Stuber's exit from Netflix: "Despite the lack of drama and despite co-CEO Ted Sarandos' assurance in a Jan. 23 earnings call that the streamer's original-film strategy won't change, some Hollywood executives and agents say it may reveal a major shift in Netflix strategy." (THR)
Pirates that illicitly poach films and television series from streaming services are the new scourge of Hollywood, bringing in $2 billion a year, Thomas Buckley reports. (Bloomberg)
Prime Video acquired LightWorkers Media's "The Baxters," furthering its foray into the faith-based content arena. (The Wrap)

MEDIA MOVES

The LAT named Terry Tang, the paper's editorial page editor, its new interim executive editor. It goes without saying that Tang will inherit a newsroom depleted of morale after brutal cuts to the newsroom and the departure of senior editorial leaders. (TheWrap)
Outkick tapped Tyrus as a host for an interview series. (THR)
POLITICO named Victoria Guida an economics columnist. (TBN)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Targeting Taylor: "Pornographic, A.I.-generated images of the world's most famous star spread across social media this week, underscoring the damaging potential posed by mainstream artificial intelligence technology: its ability to create convincingly real and damaging images," CNN's Samantha Murphy Kelly reported Thursday. "The fake images of Taylor Swift were predominantly circulating on social media site X. The photos – which show the singer in sexually suggestive and explicit positions – were viewed tens of millions of times before being removed from social platforms. But nothing on the internet is truly gone forever, and they will undoubtedly continue to be shared on other, less regulated channels." Read the full story here.

► Swift's spokesperson did not provide CNN with a comment. But a source close to the singer told The Daily Mail's James Vituscka and Jen Smith that her camp is "furious" over them and mulling legal action.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

As Elon Musk continues to spread election misinformation on X, the absence of the platform's erstwhile fact-checkers is acutely felt, Jim Rutenberg and Kate Conger report. (NYT)
Courier bills itself as a "network of pro-democracy newsrooms across the country" that prioritize fact-based reporting. But Aidan McLaughlin reports that "journalists who have worked at the outlet say the ideals it publicly professes are a far cry from reality." (Spectator)
"In response to a recent Supreme Court ruling allowing Border Patrol agents to cut razor wire Texas laid along the border with Mexico, right-wing pundits are claiming the Biden administration has sparked a second American Civil War," John Knefel writes. (MMFA)
Say what?! Sean Hannity claimed on his radio show, "Nobody's taking away anybody's right to an abortion." 🤔 (MMFA)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Jeff Chiu/AP

Nicked By Netflix: Why isn't Netflix launching an app on Apple Vision Pro? Co-chief executive Greg Peters said in an interview with Stratechery published Thursday that the streamer must be "careful" about "making sure that we're not investing in places that are not really yielding a return" and that at the moment, Apple's pricey headset "is so subscale that it's not really particularly relevant to most of our members." Peters left room for that to change, and said Apple could "always" do something to change its calculus. "We've worked together for a long time, we've always had active discussions to how we could help each other out," Peters said. "Sometimes we find a great space of overlap. We can move very, very quickly. Sometimes it takes a little bit longer." Read the full interview.

TOO MANY TABS

The walled garden opens: Apple will allow users in the E.U. to download alternative app stores for iPhone as the company looks to comply with the bloc's Digital Markets Act. (BBC)
"TikTok's efforts to make inroads with Hollywood include bringing a dozen top movie-focused creators to the Sundance Film Festival," Sahil Patel reports, adding, "If that sounds familiar to you, that's because YouTube did this at Sundance for several years." (The Info)
✂️ Cuts, cuts, cuts: Microsoft laid off 1,900 employees across Activision Blizzard and Xbox this week. (The Verge)
Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft must provide the FTC with info regarding their investments and partnerships with Anthropic and OpenAI. (Bloomberg)
Meta is constructing an $800 million data center in Indiana focused on A.I. (Bloomberg)
Meta is blocking DMs to teenagers on Facebook and Instagram unless they're from friends. (Engadget)
In Florida, the state's House has passed a bill that is looking to ban social media accounts for kids under the age of 16. (AP)
Stuart A. Thompson tasked an A.I. image generator to create the Joker: It created an image that was almost identical — and copyrighted. (NYT)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Ethan Miller/Getty Images

McMahon Accused: A former WWE employee on Thursday accused Vince McMahon of brutal sexually assault and trafficking on a multitude of occasions. In a graphic and explosive lawsuit, Janel Grant alleged McMahon mercilessly — and repeatedly — assaulted her during sexual acts, leaving her physically wounded afterward. On one occasion, Grant accused McMahon of having defecated on her, then forced her to perform for a friend with feces in her hair. On another occasion, Grant alleged she rejected McMahon's advances at the office, but he responded with "no means yes" and proceeded to sexually assault her. The lawsuit is filled with explicit, detailed, and disturbing allegations of similar behavior. Grant also alleged McMahon shared pornographic images of her to other men at WWE without her consent. The WSJ's Khadeeja Safdar has more here.

► A spokesperson for McMahon said the lawsuit is "replete with lies, obscene made-up instances that never occurred, and a vindictive distortion of the truth." And TKO Group, the Ari Emanuel-led company that now owns WWE, said in a statement, "While this matter pre-dates our TKO executive team's tenure at the company, we take Ms. Grant's horrific allegations very seriously and are addressing this matter internally." There will, of course, be great pressure on Emanuel to take actual action against McMahon, particularly given his outspokenness on such issues.

OFF STAGE

Christopher Nolan's blockbuster "Tenet" will return to IMAX for a week and include exclusive "Dune 2" content. (TheWrap)
Lacey Rose has the inside story soon how Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios boss Chris McCarthy lured Jon Stewart back to "The Daily Show." (THR)
SAG-AFTRA has come to the defense of Alec Baldwin after he was hit with charges of involuntary manslaughter, saying "an actor's job is not to be a firearms or weapons expert." (TheWrap)
"Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One" is now available for streaming on Paramount+. (THR)
Ben Affleck will direct Matt Damon in "Animals." (Variety)
Benedict Cumberbatch dropped out of the James Mangold-directed Bob Dylan biopic starring Timothée Chalamet. Cumberbatch will be replaced with Edward Norton, who will play Pete Seeger. (TheWrap)
Lionsgate announced that Colman Domingo will play Michael Jackson's father, Joe Jackson, in the studio's upcoming biopic. (THR)
Justin Timberlake teased his first album since 2018 and shared the video to "Selfish." (YouTube)
Madonna will "vigorously defend" herself against a lawsuit brought by two fans who say they wouldn't have bought tickets to the singer's Brooklyn concert had they known it was going to start two hours late. (BBC)
Miloš Biković, the Serbian actor cast in the third season of HBO's "White Lotus," is coming under fire for receiving a medal of honor from Vladimir Putin. (Vanity Fair)
Prime Video released the trailer to "Road House," which stars Jake Gyllenhaal. (YouTube)
"The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live" dropped its final trailer. (YouTube)
RIP: Bill Hayes, who starred in over 2,000 episodes of "Days of Our Lives," has died at 98. (NYT)

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.

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