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Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Jon Stewart finds ratings success, Paramount axes 800 staffers (including prominent names at CBS News), Jimmy Finkelstein mulls severance pay for The Messenger's former staffers, right-wing media celebrates the impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas, National Review's Charles C.W. Cooke shreds Tucker Carlson, a judge largely dismisses Sarah Silverman's OpenAI lawsuit, critics savage "Madame Web," Russell Simmons denies a rape allegation, Katy Perry announces "Idol" exit, and more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

But Hur Report

CNN Photo Illustration/Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The White House is making its frustration over recent press coverage known.

In a letter Tuesday to the White House Correspondents' Association, Ian Sams, spokesperson for the White House Counsel's Office, expressed concern over how the news media has covered Special Counsel Robert Hur's report on President Joe Biden's handling of classified material.

In the letter, which Reliable Sources is first to report, Sams conceded that "covering the report is challenging," given that it is "nearly 400 pages long" and "not straightforward." Hur's references to Biden's mental acuity, he acknowledged, have stolen attention from the crux of the matter, writing that Hur's "wrong and inappropriate personal comments have distracted from due attention to the substance."

"But those facts stress the importance of careful, patient coverage," Sams wrote. "Instead, many outlets have reported striking inaccuracies that misrepresent the report's conclusion about the President, and reporters in the White House Briefing Room have asked questions that include false content or are based on false premises."

The White House, specifically, is frustrated that the press has portrayed Hur's report as conclusively finding that Biden "willfully" mishandled classified material. The actual report in its entirety is not so clear.

In his executive summary, Hur did state the investigation "uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen." But, importantly, Hur then went on to write, "We conclude that the evidence does not establish Mr. Biden's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt."

A number of news outlets, however, downplayed the broader conclusion. Sams' letter included several examples from prominent news organizations in which their headlines could have been more comprehensive.

Sams further argued that the evidence referenced by Hur in the executive summary introducing the report were later cast into question by Hur himself. For instance, regarding the Afghanistan documents, Hur wrote, "While it is natural to assume that Mr. Biden put the Afghanistan documents in the box on purpose and that he knew they were there, there is in fact a shortage of evidence on these points." Regarding his personal diaries, Hur wrote, "The evidence does not show that when Mr. Biden shared the specific passages with his ghostwriter, Mr. Biden knew the passages were classified and intended to share classified information."

Indeed, the lengthy report is littered with Hur sharing plausible explanations for Biden's behavior that rebut the notion he intentionally broke the law.

Sams' letter is yet another step White House officials have taken to push back against press narratives about the report. On Friday, Sams appeared in the briefing room, taking questions from journalists about Hur's report. And I'm told that over the last several days, officials with the White House and the president's personal counsel have been sparring behind the scenes with reporters about their coverage, with limited success.

It's not just the White House making such arguments though. Some legal experts have also skewered press coverage of Hur's report. Andrew Weissmann, a former assistant U.S. attorney who worked on Robert Mueller's special counsel probe into Donald Trump, and Ryan Goodman, co-editor-in-chief of Just Security and a professor of law at New York University, wrote a blistering critique of the press coverage over the weekend.

"The Special Counsel Robert Hur report has been grossly mischaracterized by the press," Weissmann and Goodman wrote, adding that the news media "incorrectly and repeatedly blast out that the Hur report found Biden willfully retained classified documents, in other words, that Biden committed a felony."

The aggressive defense mounted by the White House reflects the growing realization inside Biden-world about the damage that Hur's report has caused. Not only has Biden's age and mental acuity become a hotly discussed topic because of Hur's remarks, but the notion Biden willfully mishandled national secrets has seeped into the public consciousness. Reversing that will be tough.

The White House, of course, knows that it will not be successful in getting news organizations to walk back previous coverage. But it hopes that it can at least persuade outlets to be more cautious and nuanced while covering the story moving forward. As Sams wrote in his letter, "I am compelled to help illustrate the facts in this matter and urge caution in the future with reporting that either is inattentive to detail or misconstrues the facts and evidence."

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Comedy Central

'Daily Show' Delight: Jon Stewart was warmly greeted back as host of "The Daily Show," drawing an impressive audience of 1.9 million viewers Monday night. Some 930,000 of those viewers tuned in to Comedy Central to see the comedian return to the late night program, while others watched on simulcasts across Paramount's cable portfolio. The audience made it the most-watched episode of "The Daily Show" since 2018. For context, THR's Rick Porter noted, "The final 10 weeks of [Trevor] Noah's term as host — after he announced he would depart — averaged about 416,000 nightly viewers. Prior to the writers strike in May, a series of guest hosts averaged 369,000 viewers per show." Read Porter's full piece here.

► On CNN, Jim Sciutto asked Bill Carter about whether the shift in the information landscape "changes the way the audience reacts" to Stewart's "equal opportunity poking fun at both parties." Carter answered, "I think you're right about the whole partisan thing, and people may not be comfortable as they were in the past with comedy like this, but I think it is very effective. I always thought comedy is a very effective way to make political commentary. It's always been that way. People used to do in cartoons. Well, now they do it on late night shows."

THE INDUSTRY

CNN Photo Illustration/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AP

The Paramount Purge: As speculation swirls over whether Paramount Global will be acquired, the company is leaning itself out. Bob Bakish announced Tuesday that the media giant will lay off roughly 800 employees — an announcement that notably came a day after the company touted record Super Bowl ratings and saw record-breaking advertising sales for the game. "These adjustments will help enable us to build on our momentum and execute our strategic vision for the year ahead — and I firmly believe we have much to be excited about," Bakish wrote staff. Liam Reilly and I have more details.

► Among those impacted by the layoffs were some of the highest-profile journalists at CBS News. Senior investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge and chief national affairs and justice correspondent Jeff Pegues were notified Tuesday that they were being laid off, the New York Post's Alexandra Steigrad first reported, and which we have since confirmed. About 20 staffers were cut from the network's D.C. bureau, I'm told. The move to axe Herridge, however, comes as she has been entangled in a First Amendment lawsuit over her refusal to disclose her source(s) for a series of stories she reported on during her time at Fox News.

IN THE MARKET

Meghan Markle struck a new podcast deal with Lemonada Media after having parted ways with Spotify. How much is it worth? Elizabeth Wagmeister noted such financial terms are not being disclosed. (CNN)
Amazon has restricted access to Dolby Vision and Atmos behind its new $2.99 premium paywall. (The Verge)

THE FOURTH ESTATE

Jimmy Finkelstein is having second thoughts! The Messenger chief told Sara Fischer that he is now considering severance options and mulling whether to restore the outlet's shuttered site. (Axios)
The WSJ will hold a read-a-thon to mark one year of Evan Gershkovich's detainment in late March. (Dow Jones)
The Committee to Protect Journalists said it was "deeply alarmed by an Israeli drone strike in Gaza that seriously injured two Al-Jazeera journalists" and called for "an independent investigation into whether the reporters were targeted." (CPJ)
Sara Guaglione looked at "why New York Magazine's the Cut is expanding at a time when many media companies are cutting costs." (Digiday)
The NYT said its Communities Fund raised over $7.5 million. (NYT)

MEDIA MOVES

CNN promoted Natasha Bertrand to correspondent covering national security and Paul P. Murphy to reporter. (CNN/CNN)
Axel Springer announced its U.S. leadership team: Gabriel Brotman will be chief operating officer; Chelsea Pollack, vice president of people and culture; Eliot Stempf, vice present of information security; Amelia Binder, vice president of government affairs; Marshall Monda, head of U.S. compliance and privacy; Nick Pacilio, vice president of comms; Maggie Milnamow, senior vice president of group sales; and Kelly Althoff, vice president of portfolio management and investments. (Axel)
Bloomberg News hired Lauren Tara LaCapra as a markets editor, Shona Ghosh as a senior tech editor in London, and Lauren Tara LaCapra as a markets editor. (TBN/TBN/TBN)
Reuters named Josh Smith its Korea bureau chief. (TBN)
The Economist named Emma Hogan its Asia editor. (TBN)
Variety promoted Katcy Stephan to film reporter. (Variety)
The FT hired Ahmed Al Omran as a Saudi Arabia correspondent. (TBN)
POLITICO Europe hired Jordyn Dahl as a mobility reporter. (TBN)
ESPN hired Garrett Cowan as a communications manager. (LinkedIn)
The NYT promoted Vivek Shankar to regional assigning editor in Seoul, named Michelle Shin a project manager for Visuals, and re-hired Ben Schneider to manage key operations and initiatives for the newsroom team. (NYT/NYT/NYT)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Fox News

Mayorkas Madness: Right-wing media was in a celebratory mood on Tuesday, after House Republicans impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on a party-line 214-213 vote. "It's a great day for America," The Washington Times' Charlie Hurt told Fox News host Laura Ingraham shortly after the vote. The impeachment, the first of its kind against a cabinet secretary in nearly 150 years, came after pressure built in right-wing media, where Mayorkas has been vilified for his handling of migration at the U.S.-Mexico border. Ironically, the move to impeach Mayorkas for failing to lock down the border came just a week after the House also failed to do just that, having killed a bipartisan bill last week that would have addressed long-running immigration. Makes you think! 🤔

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Speaking of immigration: Note how the talking points used by Republican lawmakers in their media safe spaces about Alejandro Mayorkas don't hold up to scrutiny during this interview by Brianna Keilar. (Mediaite)
National Review's Charles C. W. Cooke shredded Tucker Carlson for his pro-Russia rhetoric: His "fulsome praise of Russia's capital city is so far off the mark, it's embarrassing." (NRO)
Carlson's chat with Vladimir Putin is still being used by Russian state media for the authoritarian's propaganda purposes. (Newsweek)
In fact, in one city, the mayor has "commandeered a local theater to air the interview for those who haven't seen it yet," Allison Quinn reported. (Daily Beast)
Kudos to Axios' Dan Primack for pressing Jared Kushner over taking Saudi Arabian money after the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. "Are we still doing this, Dan?" Kushner asked as he was questioned, to which Primack responded, "Yeah absolutely." (Mediaite)
A taste of the right-wing media universe discourse: Hugh Hewitt, who excused much of Donald Trump's unhinged behavior, called on President Biden in a Fox News op-ed to resign "now." (The Hill)
Both right-wing and some in the mainstream press incorrectly identified the Texas megachurch shooting suspect as transgender. As it turns out, the suspect instead has forged "both male and female names" and "has been identified this entire time as female," Ari Drennen writes. (MMFA)
Laura Ingraham will host a pre-taped town hall with Donald Trump in South Carolina, which will air next Tuesday. (TheWrap)
Just another day on the right's favorite video platform: Rumble featured an anti-trans conspiracy theory about Michelle Obama in its editor picks section, Alex Kaplan noted. (MMFA)
A PR firm based out of Beijing created dozens of websites that masquerade as local news outlets, but actually circulate pro-China propaganda, Diego Mendoza reports, citing a new report from Citizen Lab. (Semafor)
Triggered? Marjorie Taylor Greene isn't thrilled over how HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" depicts Trump supporters. (The Hill)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Christopher Polk/Getty Images

Silverman Suit Squashed: The closely watched lawsuit filed by Sarah Silverman and other authors against OpenAI has been largely dismissed. Silverman and the other plaintiffs had alleged that the ChatGPT-creator violated copyright by training its models on their material without consent. But Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín was not convinced, tossing out five of the six claims, including copyright infringement. "Plaintiffs' allegation that 'every output of the OpenAI Language Models is an infringing derivative work' is insufficient," the judge wrote. THR's Winston Cho has details here.

🔎 Zooming in: "The litigation could decide whether AI firms are forced to license the material they use to train their chatbots, as well as the fate of their tech," Cho wrote, noting that the judge's decision in the OpenAI case was consistent with other recent rulings on the matter.

TOO MANY TABS

Sam Altman cautioned that "very subtle societal misalignments" in A.I. could make things "go horribly wrong." (The Hill)
Meanwhile, OpenAI is giving ChatGPT a "memory" so the A.I. can remember facts from your chats, such as who you are, and what you look like. (Bloomberg)
Both Apple and Microsoft won exemptions for iMessage and Bing, respectively, after E.U. regulators were persuaded that they "did not qualify as gatekeeper services." (Reuters)
Despite the stunning number of Bluesky subscriptions last week after the social platform opened its doors to everyone, Alex Hern is skeptical that anything can replace the Twitter of yesteryear. (The Guardian)
TikTok's A.I.-powered Creative Assistant is now available on Adobe Express. (TechCrunch)
Speaking of which, Austin Carr and Brody Ford write about Adobe's attempt to place A.I. everywhere. (Bloomberg)
Scott Rosenberg writes that Microsoft's Super Bowl A.I. ad is reframing people's perception of the technology. (Axios)
But Tom Dotan reports that "early adopters" of Microsoft's Copilot A.I. bot "wonder if it's worth the money." That report caused Microsoft's stock to slip slightly on Tuesday, with shares ending down 2%. (WSJ)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Columbia Pictures

'Madame Web' Misses: Ouch. "Madame Web," the Sony Pictures-distributed film based on the Marvel comic, is getting absolutely ripped to shreds by critics. With 68 reviews published by Tuesday evening, the superhero flick — which stars Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney — only boasts a 15% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Rolling Stone's David Fear wrote that the bad word of mouth doesn't even do the film justice, arguing it is "so much worse" than people realize. "It is, in fact, way worse. A genuine Chernobyl-level disaster that seems to get exponentially more radioactive as it goes along, this detour to one of the dustier corners of Marvel's content farm is a dead end from start to finish," Fear wrote in a blistering review. "It is the Cats: The Movie of superhero movies. Not a single decision seems of sound mind. Not a single performance feels in sync with the material. Not a single line reading feels as if it hasn't somehow been magically Auto-Tuned to subtract emotion and/or inflection. The sole amazing factor of this Spider spinoff is that someone, somewhere signed off on actually releasing it."

OFF STAGE

Russell Simmons was sued by an anonymous former Def Jam Recordings executive who alleged the label's cofounder raped her in the '90s. Simmons denied the allegation, saying, "I have never engaged in nonconsensual sex. I would not, did not, and never will." (LAT)
Katy Perry announced she will leave "American Idol" after the conclusion of the show's 22nd season. (CNN)
Steven Spielberg praised "a great and eclectic year for films — one of the best years in terms of high quality, in my opinion, of the past decade" during the Academy's annual nominee luncheon Monday. (AFP)
Jimmy Kimmel teamed up with Helen Mirren, Kate McKinnon, America Ferrera, and Ryan Gosling for a "Barbie"-Oscars promotion that takes aim at Greta Gerwig's omission from the best director nominees. (Deadline)
Michael Cera said he's up for a "Barbie" spinoff about Allan. (THR)
The trailer for "Deadpool and Wolverine" raked in a dizzying 365 million views across all platforms in its first 24 hours, shattering the previous record. (Deadline)
"True Detective: Night Country" has become the series' most-watched season, bringing in an average of 12.7 million viewers ahead of the show's finale. (TheWrap)
Ewan McGregor will star in David Robert Mitchell's untitled film for Warner Bros. Pictures alongside Anne Hathaway. (Deadline)
Lisa, a member of the K-pop girl group Blackpink, has joined the cast of the third season of HBO's "White Lotus." (Rolling Stone)
Apple TV+ renewed "Invasion" for a third season. (THR)
Netflix renewed "Survival of the Thickest" for a second season. (Variety)

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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