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Tuesday, February 06, 2024

Elon Musk sponsors "Mandalorian" star's lawsuit against Disney, ESPN/Fox/WBD team up to launch sports super-streamer, another top leader at The LAT resigns, Taylor Swift threatens legal action against the student who tracks jets on social media, and the music industry remembers Toby Keith. All that, plus my review of Vision Pro! But first, the A1.

THE A1

From Russia With Love

CNN Photo Illustration/Jason Koerner/Getty Images

Tucker Carlson's interview with Vladimir Putin hasn't been posted online yet, but he is already doing the Russian authoritarian's bidding.

In a video posted to X announcing the sit-down Tuesday — the first interview Putin has granted with a Western media figure since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago — Carlson predictably and dishonestly villainized the press. The right-wing extremist, who has lauded autocrats in recent years, claimed English-speaking outlets are "corrupt" and "lie" to their audiences as they disseminate "propaganda of the ugliest kind." (Projection much?)

As a supposed example of manipulative media behavior, Carlson accused journalists of engaging in "fawning pep sessions" when interviewing Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, who the former Fox News host asserted he would like to earnestly sit down with, but once likened to a rat.

"At the same time our politicians and media outlets have been doing this, promoting a foreign leader like he's a new consumer brand," Carlson said, "not a single Western journalist has bothered to interview the president of the other country involved in this conflict: Vladimir Putin."

While technically true, Carlson is lying by omission, the very thing he accused the Western press of doing in the video he posted online. It is true that no Western journalist has interviewed Putin since the onset of the war, but it isn't for a lack of trying. The actual reason is quite simple: Putin has declined to grant access — a fact that should make it all the more obvious as to why Carlson, of all people, has been welcomed into the Kremlin palace, while others have been denied.

"Does Tucker really think we journalists haven't been trying to interview President Putin every day since his full scale invasion of Ukraine?" CNN's Christiane Amanpour rhetorically remarked upon seeing Carlson's claim. "It's absurd — we'll continue to ask for an interview, just as we have for years now."

Meanwhile, as Carlson implied that U.S. news organizations are not interested in telling the Russian story, The Wall Street Journal's Evan Gershkovich sits in a prison for doing precisely that.

Putin not only has declined to participate in interviews with the free press, but over the past two years he has waged a war against the media, locking up journalists, fining Big Tech companies for hosting "fake" information about the Ukraine invasion, and pushing through censorship laws that clamp down on news organizations.

"It is most striking to see Carlson justify his interview with Putin and trip to Russia as the work of a journalist — at a time when Western journalists are literally sitting in jail for having done nothing wrong other than seeking to report independently in Putin's Russia, not to mention the many Russian journalists who face imprisonment or exile in the effort to continue their work," Susan Glasser, the New Yorker writer who previously served as The Washington Post's Moscow bureau co-chief, told me.

"Real journalism, unfortunately, is a crime in Putin's Russia," Glasser added. "Will his report from there acknowledge this?"

I asked Carlson on Tuesday why he would smear the press by falsely asserting journalists are not interested in interviewing Putin or reporting on Russia. I also asked him if during the sit-down he questioned Putin about Gershkovich's imprisonment. My text message went unanswered.

Carlson claims to be in favor of journalism that is unafraid. And he claims to stand in opposition to those who cozy up to power. But the right-wing personality has a lengthy history of giving free passes to those who share his politics, while also prancing around with Donald Trump (someone he privately professed to hold deep contempt for).

In recent years, he has offered flattering interviews to Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orbán and Argentina's far-right president Javier Milei, giving the figures a massive stage to push their agenda, and using his platform to pull the American right further to the fringe.

Which is to say, don't hold your breath if you think Carlson will bring the heat to Putin. What is more likely to happen: Carlson will effectively humanize the ruthless Russian authoritarian (who is personally responsible for countless deaths) while serving as an empty vessel in which Putin can ship his dangerous propaganda to the American public.

Carlson's pilgrimage to Moscow is already a major victory for Putin, whose state media has breathlessly hyped the trip in recent days, chronicling Carlson's every move with images of him seated at a Moscow theater watching a ballet, having lunch at a swanky restaurant, and accessing "fast and free Wi-Fi internet."

Steven Pifer, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former longtime Foreign Service Officer who focused during his State Department career on relations with the former Soviet Union, said that Putin will use Carlson's visit and interview "to claim that Russia is not all that isolated politically."

"It is unfortunate that an American commentator, who likely will not pose challenging questions, is giving Putin an outlet for his propaganda points," Pifer told me. "Bear in mind that Putin wants to stir and widen divisions within the United States as much as possible."

That may just be a goal both Putin and Carlson share.

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Getty Images

Is This The Way?: It might not be the way, but it's a wild story with several layers. "The Mandalorian" actress Gina Carano, who was cut from the hit-series after posting a number of incendiary right-wing messages to X, has filed a lawsuit against Disney, alleging she was wrongfully terminated — and it's being paid for by Bob Iger nemesis Elon Musk. In fact, not only is the lawsuit sponsored by Musk, but X released a statement proudly saying as much: "As a sign of X Corp's commitment to free speech, we're proud to provide financial support for Gina Carano's lawsuit, empowering her to seek vindication of her free speech rights on X and the ability to work without bullying, harassment, or discrimination," Joe Benarroch, X's head of business operations, said in a statement. THR's Winston Cho has details.

🔎 Zooming in: Musk had previously vowed to financially back lawsuits filed by people who lost their jobs for things they posted to his social media platform. But the company is obviously being selective in which lawsuits they sponsor. And Musk has had bad blood with Iger since Disney was one of the high-profile advertisers to suspend its relationship with X after the billionaire endorsed an anti-semitic conspiracy theory late last year.

THE INDUSTRY

CNN Photo Illustration/Getty Images

Teaming Up: Three of the biggest sports broadcasters are uniting to create a super-platform that will house their sports assets under a single streaming roof, a seismic and once-unthinkable move as the industry rapidly transitions away from linear television to streaming services. Disney's ESPN, Fox Corporation, and Warner Bros. Discovery announced Tuesday that they will launch the new service in the fall. The service, which each company will own one-third of, will offer consumers access to a wide-range of sporting events. The companies did not specify how much a subscription to the forthcoming sports platform will cost or what it will be named. Additional information is expected to be announced closer to launch. Here's my story.

► The three media bosses involved celebrated the tentative deal as a major moment for the industry. Bob Iger called it an "important step forward for the media business." David Zaslav said the partnership "exemplifies our ability as an industry to drive innovation." And Lachlan Murdoch said he believed the streamer "will provide passionate fans outside of the traditional bundle an array of amazing sports content."

🔎 Zooming in: Discussions about the creation of the sports streaming service, which will have an independent management team, began among the executives involved roughly six months ago, I'm told. Perhaps ironically, making sports available via a direct-to-consumer product is likely to accelerate the decline of the cable subscription business, given that such live events have long been a pillar of consumer demand holding together the traditional bundle. But as the cost of sports rights has surged in recent years and the television business has deteriorated with cord-cutting, media executives have hunted for innovative ways to retain their highly valued rights while transitioning to the streaming future. And bundling assets has seemed as of late all but inevitable.

IN THE MARKET

YouTube TV said it now boasts more than 8 million subscribers. As Peter Kafka put it, that makes the Google-owned service "one of the biggest pay-TV services in the U.S." (Business Insider)
Spotify shares ended the day up nearly 4% after reporting Q4 earnings. The audio streamer beat analyst expectations, growing its subscriber base to 236 million. (Bloomberg)
Warner Bros. Discovery prevailed in a lawsuit that alleged the company and top executives made false statements about HBO Max's health ahead of the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger, Winston Cho reports. (THR)

THE FOURTH ESTATE

👀 Julia Turner, The LAT's top content executive, resigned, making her the fourth senior editor to depart the paper in recent weeks. ( TheWrap)
"How to burn cash and alienate people": Lachlan Cartwright has an autopsy on The Messenger's death, in which he reports execs Jimmy Finklestein and Richard Beckman paid themselves seven-figure salaries. (THR)
I haven't had a chance to listen, but Neetzan Zimmerman, formerly of The Messenger, joined Ben Smith and Darren Samuelsohn on a pod to talk about the poor state of the news industry. (Love Journalism)
Strange: The NYT has said "The Daily" doesn't accept fossil fuel sponsorships, but Emily Atkin and Arielle Samuelson report it ran a "greenwashing BP" ad recently. (HEATED)
Substack is piloting a program that assists creators in finding advertisers and coordinating ad buys, Sara Fischer reports. (Axios)
The Onion Union ratified its new contract. ( THR)
A majority of staffers at IGN declared they intend to unionize. (THR)
"The ever-growing news wasteland is largely the fault of the wave of plutocratic interests that have increasingly clawed their way into the executive suites at major media companies — hedge funds, private equity concerns, and other investment groups," Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling argues. ( TNR)
"You'll miss sports journalism when it's gone," Keith O'Brien writes, noting the "ranks of sports reporters are thinning, making it easier for athletes, owners, and leagues to conceal hard truths from the public." ( The Atlantic)

MEDIA MOVES

The NYT announced that Meaghan Tobin joined the business desk as its Asia technology correspondent and announced that Nancy Coleman joined the News Print Hub as a senior staff editor. (NYT/NYT)
The WaPo promoted Nadine Ajaka, Tom LeGro, and Lauren Saks to deputy directors for video. (WaPo)
Bloomberg Opinion named Richard Abbey as a reporter. (TBN)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/CNN

Blurry Vision: I have had the date circled on my calendar since navigating Apple's oft-crashing website and making the appointment last week. After being snubbed by Apple for an early look at the Vision Pro (sad!), I made my way on Tuesday afternoon across Manhattan to the iconic Apple Store on Fifth Avenue for a demo of the $3,500 headset. After an associate had me scan my face and borrowed my eyeglasses to insert them into a machine to determine my prescription (I offered my actual optical prescription to the associate, but they preferred this method instead), a Vision Pro was brought out from the back and set up for me to try out. Here's what I thought:

► The positive: Given that this is a newsletter item, and that we don't have room for me to get into extraordinary detail, I'll keep my review brief. The technology powering the Vision Pro is unquestionably incredible. Everything worked pretty well. If you're an Apple user, the interface and gestures are very familiar. Being able to sit by a lake and blow up a movie into a theater-sized screen was definitely cool, regardless of the "Black Mirror" vibes the three-dimensional videos exuded.

► The not-so-great: My primary issues with the device were threefold: 1.) While the videos, photos, and apps were sharp, reality was noticeably blurry. Yes, blurry! Since you're relying on cameras on the device to feed your eyes real-time info on the environment in front of you, it's not nearly as sharp as seeing things with your own eyes. The content recorded on high-res cameras and played back via the Vision Pro looks incredible. But real life is fuzzy — which felt a bit disappointing. 2.) The weight! I didn't try the dual loop band, but after my 30-min demo, I was definitely ready to take the pricey goggles off. While watching video clips in immersive mode was impressive, it's hard to imagine sitting through an entire two-hour movie with the headset strapped onto my face. 3.) Practicality! For the hefty price tag, I would like to have walked away from the demo with the feeling that it could be implemented in some way into my every day life. But, outside strapping it on during a lengthy plane ride (which one would need an extra $200 battery for, given the typical 2.5-hour life), it's hard to see what practical real-world use one would get out of it now.

► The bottom line? Using the Apple Vision Pro certainly felt like getting a glimpse of what the future will bring. When the technology advances, it will usher in an entirely new way of consuming entertainment and interacting with computers. But it just doesn't seem ready to practically use and implement into everyday life quite yet. If you have the ability to casually spend $3,500 on new technology, it's perhaps worth playing around with. But something tells me that after a few weeks of use, it might start to collect some dust. I certainly would reach for a MacBook over the Vision Pro to get real work done. And I bet the execs over at Apple would too.

TOO MANY TABS

Yikes. Snap's stock collapsed 33% in after-hours trading after the company missed on revenue while reporting Q4 earnings. ( CNBC)
Snap's layoffs hit the company's tech arm, trust and safety department, and internal analytics team that assists with DEI, Kali Hays reports. ( Business Insider)
Bluesky, the famously invite-only text-based social media platform, has finally opened its doors all users. ( Business Insider)
In an excerpt from her forthcoming book, Zoë Schiffer reports on how Elon Musk's Twitter ultimatum destroyed company morale and left staffers "emotionally a wreck." ( Vanity Fair)
Reddit's revenue is up 20% ahead of its IPO, though the company isn't yet profitable, Amy Or reports, citing sources. ( Bloomberg)
Meta will promote industry-wide standards that companies can deploy to recognize aspects of content generated or edited using A.I. ( NYT)
The company will champion the approach by labeling images generated by A.I. tools across Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. ( AP)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

Threatening the Taylor Jet Tracker: The college student who operates a web of social media accounts tracking the private jets of celebrities and other notable public figures had drawn the ire of yet another powerful person: Taylor Swift. The student, Jack Sweeney, said that lawyers representing the international pop singer have threatened to take legal action against him if he does not cease what they described as "stalking and harassing behavior," The WaPo's Drew Harwell was first to report. The lawyers argued that the accounts Sweeney operates has caused Swift, who has grappled with physical stalkers, "emotional and physical distress." As Harwell noted, Sweeney's accounts estimate the CO2 emissions of private jet trips and the accounts focused on Swift were cited in 2022 to declare the singer "the biggest celebrity polluter" of the year. (Swift's spokesperson, Tree Paine, said at the time Swift purchased carbon credits to offset her tour travel.)

Sweeney enlisted the Electronic Frontier Foundation for legal help and an attorney from the organization responded to Swift's team on his behalf, saying that they had identified no specific legal claim and that his client had "engaged in protected speech that does not violate any of Ms. Swift's legal rights." Sweeney's team has yet to hear back from Swift's lawyers, Harwell reported. And, as of now, the accounts monitoring Swift's jet remain online. Regardless, news of the dispute prompted Elon Musk, who railed against Sweeney in the past and briefly blocked him from using X, to lash out at him once again. The billionaire described the student as an "awful human being." Sweeney fired back, "Let's remember you offered me 5k to stop. Also threatened to sue me, and here we are a year later."

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

🤔 Fox News "largely ignored an appeals court ruling stating that Donald Trump doesn't have broad immunity from criminal prosecution," Tyler Monroe observed. (MMFA)
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene raged at reporters for accurately noting Trump incited an insurrection. ( RawStory)
Roger Goodell laughed at the conspiracy theory targeting the NFL, Travis Kelce, and Taylor Swift. ( Mediaite)
Right-wing media personalities are using A.I. to cover up photos of sex workers, Kat Tenbarge reports. ( NBC News)
Remember those New Hampshire A.I. robocalls in which a voice masqueraded as Joe Biden? They've been linked to two businesses in Texas. ( CNN)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Katherine Bomboy/NBC/Getty Images

Remembering Toby Keith: The music industry has lost a legend. Iconic country singer Toby Keith died far too early, at the age of 62, following a battle with stomach cancer. "Toby Keith passed peacefully last night on February 5th, surrounded by his family. He fought his fight with grace and courage. Please respect the privacy of his family at this time," a statement posted on the renowned artist's website said. Keith disclosed his cancer diagnosis in 2022, and in an interview this month with KWTV called the disease a "roller coaster." But, despite receiving treatment, he continued to perform. CNN's Sara Smart and Lauren Mascarenhas have more here.

► Throughout the day, tributes from around the music industry poured in. Jason Aldean said it was a "sad day for Country music and its fans," describing Keith as a "huge presence in our business." USA Today's Naledi Ushe has more here.

OFF STAGE

An accident on the set of Marvel's "Wonder Woman" resulted in the tragic death of a crew member. ( TheWrap)
Taylor Swift released the 16-song tracklist for her upcoming album, "The Tortured Poets Department." ( Variety)
Jonathan Majors' sentencing has been delayed to April 8. (THR)
Jussie Smollett asked Illinois' Supreme Court to hear his appeal after an appeals court upheld his convictions of disorderly conduct. (AP)
Killer Mike said his Grammys arrest arose from an altercation with "an over-zealous security guard." (AP)
HBO's "The White Lotus" has tapped Julian Kostov to replace Miloš Biković. ( TheWrap)
Emily Ratajkowski is in talks to join Lena Dunham's comedy series "Too Much" for Netflix. ( Variety)
Tom Holland will play Romeo in the West End's revival of Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet." ( THR)
Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve sat down with Lindsey Bahr as Nolan's "Tenet" returns to theaters and Villeneuve's "Dune: Part Two" is poised to make its silver screen debut. (AP)
Apple landed the Lily Gladstone-led "Fancy Dance." ( The Wrap)
David Leitch may direct the upcoming "Jurassic World" movie. ( THR)

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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