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Monday, January 29, 2024

Follow us on Instagram! Ads enter the Amazon, the SI Union files a labor complaint, SiriusXM strikes a big deal with "SmartLess," Smartmatic says OAN execs "may have engaged in criminal activities," Fox News fearmongers on immigration, OpenAI moves into the education space, Fidelity boosts its X valuation (a little), Godzilla roars at the box office, and so much more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

You Need to Calm Down

CNN Photo Illustration/Ed Zurga/AP

Right-wing media is burning red at Taylor Swift.

With the Kansas City Chiefs headed to Super Bowl LVIII, influential MAGA Media personalities have started circulating conspiracy theories about the pop superstar, promoting the deranged notion that she is part of a sprawling psychological operations plot staged by the NFL and Democratic Party to deliver the 2024 presidential election to President Joe Biden. Andrew Kaczynski and I took a hard look at the conspiracy — and we can report that it is just as absurd as it sounds.

The attacks on Swift have been steadily building for weeks (see Fox News host Jesse Watters asking on his prime time program earlier this month if Swift is a "Pentagon asset," for example), but it reached a fever pitch on Monday. The bad blood is related to Swift's 2020 endorsement of President Joe Biden and the fact that Travis Kelce, the Chiefs tight end whom she is dating, participated in an advertising campaign for the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. A Monday story published by The New York Times, which noted Biden would like Swift's endorsement again this year, added fuel to the fire.

"I wonder who's going to win the Super Bowl next month," Vivek Ramaswamy, the unsuccessful 2024 presidential candidate who has spread conspiracy theories about the January 6 insurrection and the legitimacy of the 2020 election, posted Monday on X. "And I wonder if there's a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple this fall. Just some wild speculation over here, let's see how it ages over the next 8 months."

Ramaswamy was responding to a post from Jack Posobiec, the far-right conspiracy theorist, who shared a version of the theory during an interview with Roseanne Barr, the famous actress who in recent years has descended into the far-right online fever swamp. Posobiec said he believes the Democratic Party and other powers are "gearing up for an operation to use Taylor Swift in the election against" Donald Trump. Barr agreed, saying that Swift is "definitely somebody who has consented to speak the way the establishment wants to be spoken of" and that using her influence will be how they "try to get on top of the next election."

Of course, it would not be surprising for Swift to endorse Biden as she did in 2020. After all, celebrity endorsements are run-of-the-mill in presidential campaigns and Swift has over the years waded more deeply into political waters, encouraging her fans to turn out and vote.

But suggesting that Swift, one of the most powerful entertainment figures on Earth, is quietly being manipulated by sinister forces in a grand conspiracy staged by the establishment is ridiculous. And yet, that is precisely the type of rhetoric that has permeated the country's ever-more polluted information environment.

"Taylor Swift is an op," Benny Johnson, a right-wing media personality who boasts millions of followers across different social media platforms, wrote on X. "It's all fake. You're being played."

"The Democrats' Taylor Swift election interference psyop is happening in the open," added Laura Loomer, a self-described Islamophobe who has been embraced and promoted by Trump. "It's not a coincidence that current and former Biden admin officials are propping up Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. They are going to use Taylor Swift as the poster child for their pro-abortion GOTV Campaign."

"The NFL is totally RIGGED for the Kansas City Chiefs, Taylor Swift, Mr. Pfizer (Travis Kelce)," agreed Mike Crispi, a Salem Media host. "All to spread DEMOCRAT PROPAGANDA. Calling it now: KC wins, goes to Super Bowl, Swift comes out at the halftime show and 'endorses' Joe Biden with Kelce at midfield."

"It's all been an op since day one," Crispi concluded.

On and on the anti-intellectual drivel goes, parroted by scores more of MAGA Media personalities who spend their days peddling junk to their audiences.

It can be easy to dismiss some of this loony thinking as bearing little resemblance to reality. And, to be sure, in the larger scheme of things, this troubled train of thought is not predominant. But it would also be wrong to dismiss the rhetoric altogether as well. The figures promoting it wield significant influence inside the Republican Party and possess millions of followers who turn to them for their news and information.

"The individuals and outlets spreading conspiracy theories about Taylor Swift sound ridiculous because they are exactly that," said Jared Holt, who studies extremism and disinformation for Strategic Dialogue, a non-profit think tank. "But they are also among the leading sources of information for modern conservatives, and they have the financial backing of Republican elites to spread exactly this kind of nonsense."

"To me," Holt added, "it's a sign of just how far gone and unconcerned with reality conservative media is today, and it makes you wonder what they're actually trying to accomplish here."

It wasn't just Holt who was bewildered by the attempts to demonize Swift. Mike Shields, the former chief of staff at the Republican National Committee, offered this piece of advice to Republicans "who want to win" their elections: "Don't pick fights with really popular musicians who have millions of fans."

After all, a fight with Swift and her legion of die-hard fans is not something that you can just shake off.

THE SWIFT BOWL

Right-wing "snowflakes" are "terrified" of Taylor Swift, Matt Lewis writes: "It is obvious that many on the new right view Swift as a serious threat to Donald Trump's electoral chances." (Daily Beast)
"Not all the hate is directed at just Swift," notes Tori Otten. "Republicans also dislike [Travis] Kelce because he has promoted vaccines, Bud Light beer, and Colin Kaepernick's kneeling protest." (New Republic)
American Airlines added flights from Kansas City to the Super Bowl host city with the number 1989, a nod to Swift's birth year and best-selling album. (CNN)
TMZ — so yes, take it with a grain of salt — reported via "sources with direct knowledge" that Swift will not be performing "in any capacity" at this year's Apple Music Halftime Show. What a missed opportunity! (TMZ)
Still, Swift will unquestionably inflate the big game's ratings. How big will they be this year? I'm guessing north of 120 million? What about you? Email us with your prediction!
NFL ratings just seem to be going up and up. The NFC Championship between the Detroit Lions and San Fransisco 49ers (sorry, Lions fans) delivered Fox its highest title game since 2012, with preliminary ratings indicating an average of 57 million viewers. (THR)

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Thomas Trutschel/Photothek/Getty Images

Ads in the Amazon: Have you ponied up your $2.99 to the Amazon gods yet? On Monday, the company turned on ads for all of its Prime Video customers in the U.S., introducing the new fee to skip commercials. The experience, however, promises to be different on Prime, given Amazon's dominance in the e-commerce business. "Beside generating new revenue for its $50 billion-plus advertising business, the e-commerce giant is betting it can persuade viewers to shop from their televisions," Bloomberg's Spencer Soper reported. Soper added, "Amazon has the potential to upend the status quo because it's the world's largest online retailer, with detailed shopping profiles on Prime Video viewers." Read Soper's story here.

THE INDUSTRY

THE FOURTH ESTATE

Sports Illustrated's union slapped the magazine's publisher with an unfair labor practice charge, claiming the company undertook illegal union-busting strategies in issuing layoff notices to union staff. (WaPo)
The Onion Union is set to go on strike Wednesday, unless a last-minute deal with management is struck. (TheWrap)
TechCrunch laid off "less than a dozen roles" as the publisher pivots to focus on original reporting and content. The Yahoo-owned publication also said it will shut down its TechCrunch+ subscription service as well.
Ben Smith sat down with Will Lewis to discuss the state of the industry. Lewis teased, "I think you'll find that acquisitions will be part of how we're going to grow." ( Semafor)
Lachlan Cartwright reported on how Lewis "infuriated his old News Corp staff during the phone hacking crisis." ( Daily Beast)
404 Media said it now requires readers to trade their email addresses for free access to its articles: "We are realizing that in order to combat the fracturing of social media platforms, a Google discoverability crisis fueled by A.I. generated spam and A.I.-fueled SEO, and a media business environment that is in utter freefall, we need to be able to reach our readers directly using a platform that we own and control." (404)
Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings donated $1.1 billion worth of stock to the California-based Silicon Valley Community Foundation. (WSJ)
ICYMI: Ryan Mac, Benjamin Mullin, and Katie Robertson reported on an incident in which former The LAT editor Kevin Merdia clashed with owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong "over reporting about a wealthy doctor and his dog." (NYT)
The WaPo has republished a conspicuously deleted column by Perry Bacon Jr. about the crisis facing the journalism industry. But the piece notably differed from the original, which the Jeff Bezos-owned paper told us last week inadvertently went online before it was edited. Jeff Jarvis, who posted both versions of the column, noted that the final version removed references to Soon-Shiong. It also removed a sentence in which Bacon said it was "hard to imagine" The WaPo "running an editorial calling for an antitrust case to break up Amazon, which Bezos founded." 🤔
"Can Don Lemon, Megyn Kelly, and Tucker Carlson really steal viewers from TV news?" asks Brian Steinberg. (Variety)
Timothy Bella examined how "Dateline" reclaimed its true-crime hegemony: "When the 32-year-old TV newsmagazine moved into podcasting, a few key assets helped it catapult beyond the tough competition." (WaPo)
A.G. Sulzberger said Tom Bodkin will retire as The NYT's chief creative officer at the end of March. (NYT)
CNN Philippines will shut down nine years after its launch. ( Variety)
The U.K.'s Channel 4 will slash its workforce by 18%, some 200 employees, as it looks to "accelerate its transformation into an agile, genuinely digital-first public service streamer by 2030." ( THR)
ARD, Germany's state broadcaster, asked Israel to allow two of its long-term Palestinian employees to leave Gaza. ( Reuters)
Correction: We stated in the last edition of this newsletter that the Forbes three-day strike was a protest over planned cuts to the outlet's workforce. It was, in fact, a protest related to the union's frustrations over a lack of progress for a contract. We regret the error.

IN THE MARKET

SiriusXM struck a $100+ million three-year deal for the "SmartLess" podcast, Lucas Shaw and Ashley Carman reported. The deal for the program, which is hosted by Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, and Sean Hayes, also includes some live-event programming. (Bloomberg)
As everyone knows by now, Vince McMahon resigned from TKO Media, following an explosive lawsuit that accused of him of brutal sexual assault, among other things. But as Kyle Feldscher and David Goldman noted, "The WWE knew [he] was a liability. So why did it bring him back after his scandalous departure?" ( CNN)
Reed Hastings donated $1.1 billion in Netflix stock to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. ( Variety)
Wells Fargo analyst Steve Cahall downgraded Warner Bros. Discovery stock, citing a number of factors, including his pessimism an M&A deal will be struck in 2024. "While we've pushed the prospect of Comcast for WBD, Comcast has talked it down of late, and even if it makes sense, we don't see any urgency in an election year," Cahill wrote. (THR)
Shares in WBD, however, ultimately only closed down Monday a little more than 1%.
Jennifer Maas reports on WBD's push into video games: "There's a unique and important role games have in keeping our franchises relevant, resonant and exciting, because there's plenty of fans and plenty of people consuming content where games are their starting point." (Variety)
Miramax is considering Jonathan Glickman as its next chief executive, Kim Masters and Aaron Couch report, citing sources. (THR)
Westbrook, Will and Jada Smith's media company, is cutting staff — including its chief operating officer and president — as the company restructures to focus on TV, film, and entertainment marketing projects for its studio division, Max Tani reports. (Semafor)

MEDIA MOVES

CNN promoted Lisa Respers France to reporter covering entertainment. Congrats, Lisa! ( CNN)
CNN added Jane Coaston, Lulu Garcia-Navarro, and Reihan Salam as contributors. ( CNN)
Axios announced Holly Moore has officially started as executive editor of Axios Local, joined by eight new team members. ( Axios)
The WaPo hired Patrick Svitek as a breaking news reporter. ( WaPo)
Paramount Advertising hired Emily Huo and Luke Peng to oversee the launch of Paramount Ad Manager. ( TheWrap)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Gaelen Morse/Reuters

Oh No, OAN: The Smartmatic- One America News lawsuit just got a lot more interesting. CNN's Marshall Cohen reported Monday about a potentially explosive email the far-right network's president, Charles Herring, sent former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell. The email, Cohen reported, included a spreadsheet that was made up of purported passwords belonging to Smartmatic employees. That's according to recent court filings Cohen reviewed in which Smartmatic lawyers told a federal judge that OAN executives "may have engaged in criminal activities" because they "appear to have violated state and federal laws regarding data privacy." In a statement, OAN's lawyer denied the company's executives broke the law, adding, "This vague accusation is a clumsy attempt to smear OAN and to divert attention from Smartmatic's own misconduct." Read Cohen's full story.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Fox News and the rest of right-wing media are in full fear-mongering mode as Congress looks to pass immigration reform with Joe Biden. Anti-immigrant rhetoric is saturating the space, with personalities framing migrants as potential terrorists, among other things.
The handsomely paid Fox News host Pete Hegseth, from a Manhattan studio, claimed on Sunday that the issue at the southern border significantly impacts his day-to-day life, comparing the atmosphere to after the country's worst terror attack: "Sometimes I walk through public areas, I walk through differently now. It's kind of like after 9/11."
Jack Winstanley noted that some right-wing media figures "have begun to fearmonger about an impending civil war" over immigration. (MMFA)
Switching gears: Want to work for Alex Jones? The Infowars parent company is recruiting a chief operating officer, according to a job posting we reviewed. The posting, which is being sent by recruiters to potential applicants, reports the position comes with a "competitive annual salary of up to $300K" and "a monthly share in company profits." The COO role, it says, will "collaborate with the leadership to come up with strategies for improved efficiency and growth" while also "weighing the pros and cons of different business relationships."
"Newsmax staffers received a memo on Monday morning alerting them to a mandatory and company-wide sexual harassment training, just months after a sexual harassment scandal involving a top executive rocked the conservative cable news outlet," Diana Falzone reported. ( Mediaite)
Steve Bannon and Matt Schlapp said the verdict of E. Jean Carroll's defamation trial against Trump signals the "end of the Republic." ( MMFA)
Penguin Random House's battle against book bans risks the company "alienating a large chunk of customers on an issue at the crux of the culture wars," Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg reported. ( WSJ)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Robots in the Classroom: Sam Altman is working on infusing ChatGPT into the education sector. OpenAI announced Monday that it will partner with Common Sense Media to "collaborate on AI guidelines and education materials for parents, educators and young people, as well as a curation of family-friendly GPTs in the GPT Store." Altman, speaking at a Common Sense event, said he envisions a world in which "every teen or every adult is going to have a personalized AI." Of course, the development of artificial intelligence has raised serious concerns over the its ability to spread misleading and false information, particularly to young and impressionable users. "We want to figure out how to make this tool safely and responsibly and broadly available to teens and people who are going to use it as part of their educational experience," he added. CNBC's Jonathan Vanian has more here.

TOO MANY TABS

"A little over a year after the public launch of ChatGPT, we're starting to see one prediction come true of how it could affect the internet: A.I. spam is flooding the web," Katie Notopoulos writes. (Business Insider)
An Italian watchdog said ChatGPT violates E.U. privacy rules. (Reuters)
Elon Musk announced Monday that the "first human received an implant" from his Neuralink. He said the patient is "recovering well" and that "initial results show promising neuron spike detection." (Bloomberg)
Fidelity boosted its valuation of X by 11% in December, Dan Primack reports. But, as Primack notes, "Fidelity still holds X at around a 68% discount to its per share purchase price in the fall of 2022." (Axios)
After slashing the company's content moderation teams, X now wants to hire 100 full-time content moderators and build a "Trust and Safety center of excellence" in Texas, Kurt Wagner reports. (Bloomberg)
What will Reddit IPO at? $5 billion "seems eminently reasonable," contends Alex Willhelm. (TechCrunch)
How many videos exist on YouTube? Ryan McGrady writes that the number is about 14 billion, a figure he and a University of Massachusetts team calculated over a year. (The Atlantic)
TikTok is testing a feature that could make all posts on the short-form video platform stoppable, Alex Barinka reports. (Bloomberg)
Meanwhile, as the app becomes more of a search engine, the places it directs users is falling under scrutiny. Marta Biino, Dan Whateley, and Shriya Bhattacharya report on how TikTok is "pushing sensational narratives" via search. (Business Insider)
Zoom said it will launch an Apple Vision Pro app Friday. ( The Verge)
Despite layoffs bleeding into the new year, the industry is all right, argues Scott Rosenberg, who writes that "regular job cuts are also part of the [tech] landscape." ( Axios)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Toho International/Everett Collection

Godzilla Roars: The giant lizard is smashing box office records. "Godzilla Minus One," the kaiju film boasting a 98% score from critics and fans alike on Rotten Tomatoes, passed "Parasite" over the weekend to become the No. 3 highest-grossing non-English film in U.S. box office history. With an estimated $55 million in receipts, the movie is in striking distance of the No. 2 film of all-time, "Life Is Beautiful." But it will have to cross that threshold quick, as the Oscar-nominated movie is set to exit theaters on Feb. 1. TheWrap's Jeremy Fester has more here.

OFF STAGE

"When it comes to getting Oscar's attention right now, one South Korean entertainment giant is playing the game as well as anyone." Gregg Kilday looks at "how CJ ENM became Hollywood's daring awards darling." (Ankler)
"Suits" led the top 10 most streamed shows of 2023 with a jaw-dropping 57.7 billion minutes viewed, according to Nielsen's "Streaming Unwrapped" report. (TheWrap)
Meanwhile, Apple TV+'s "Ted Lasso" was the most-watched streaming original in 2023, despite Apple TV+ having the fewest subscribers among the big streamers. (Deadline)
Meanwhile, the Apple TV+ hit show "Severance" has resumed filming its second season. ( TheWrap)
Britney Spears seemingly apologized to Justin Timberlake over allegations she made in her memoir, promoting the singer's new song, "Selfish." ( Rolling Stone)
At 80, Joni Mitchell will make her Grammy Awards performance debut. ( BBC)
The trailer for "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire," starring Bill Murray and Paul Rudd, has dropped. ( 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.

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