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Tuesday, February 2o, 2024

The FBI informant arrested for alleged Burisma lies says Russian intelligence agents "were involved" in the story, FuboTV sues over the forthcoming sports super-streamer, Walmart buys Vizio as it competes with Amazon in the media space, CPAC celebrates far-right media, Laura Ingraham lobs softballs at Donald Trump, Jon Stewart smashes viewership records, and so much more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

The Kiev to Victory

CNN Photo Illustration/Narciso Contreras/Anadolu/Getty Images

Vladimir Putin's information war in U.S. media paid off this weekend with a key victory halfway around the world.

Some 5,000 miles away from a paralyzed Washington, Ukraine was forced to surrender the city of Avdiivka to Russian forces, handing Putin one of his most monumental triumphs in months. As The NYT's Julian E. Barnes, Thomas Gibbons-Neff, and Eric Schmitt noted , it is a "sign of the battlefield impact of the failure of the U.S. Congress, so far, to approve more military assistance as dwindling supplies of artillery shells make it even harder to hold the line." CNN's Nick Paton Walsh added , "It is a pivotal moment, where both Russian advances and Western atrophy threaten to transform the biggest land war in Europe since the 1940s."

That atrophy has taken form in Congress where U.S. funding to continue aid for Ukraine has stalled, threatening even more devastating defeats for the Eastern European nation as it struggles to defend its borders from the brutal Russian invasion launched by Putin two years ago this week.

But it's not clear whether an aid package with real teeth will be approved by Congress, with the House under GOP control. House Speaker Mike Johnson has already indicated that the $60 billion in funding passed by the Senate can't clear the lower chamber. And he has privately told Republicans there is "no rush" to tackle the issue.

As a Republican, Johnson is in a tough spot, politically speaking. While the Republican Party was once vehemently hawkish toward Russia, viewing the post-Soviet country as its chief adversary on the international stage, it has softened considerably in recent years and much of the party actively opposes sending additional dollars to Ukraine to continue fighting Russia.

It was little more than a decade ago when Mitt Romney , then the party's standard-bearer, famously declared Russia to be "our number one geopolitical foe." In the years since, the party has dramatically changed its tune on Russia. A CNN poll conducted last summer found that a staggering 71% of Republicans do not support additional aid to thwart Putin's war on Ukraine.

Much of the GOP's softening toward Russia is owed to a near-total reversal in rhetoric from right-wing media personalities and outlets, prompted in large part by Donald Trump's ascension to power in GOP politics. While the biggest players in right-wing media once fervently championed the foreign policy doctrines of the neo-conservatives, they now follow in the footsteps of Trump and vehemently reject the views once held by the George W. Bush administration.

This transition is perhaps best exemplified by Tucker Carlson. The former Fox News host was once sharply critical of Putin , characterizing him in no uncertain terms as a cruel "dictator." But in recent years, Carlson has reversed his stance, flooding the right-wing information space — which he once reigned as king over — with pro-Putin rhetoric that effectively amounts to Russian propaganda. Carlson's stance was put on display in stark fashion recently when he traveled to Moscow to conduct a widely denounced softball chat with Putin and then proceeded to record a series of propaganda videos touting Russia's supposed greatness.

While figures like Carlson have promoted Russia and Putin, they have simultaneously trashed Ukraine and its leader Volodymyr Zelensky, promoting conspiracy theories that the country interfered in the 2016 election and was hiding biological weapons labs. Carlson, for example, has likened Zelensky to vermin and vigorously spoken out against U.S. support for Ukraine. Right-wing commentators like Carlson have questioned why taxpayer dollars are being spent to help Ukraine defend its borders when the U.S. struggles to secure its own southern border (though a recent bipartisan bill intended to tackle both issues was rejected by hardline Republicans.)

The rhetoric has had a considerable impact on the views of the party, which is now being reflected by its elected leaders. A straight line can effectively be drawn between the commentary and the failure of the House GOP to pass funding providing Kyiv with critical funding and weaponry to counter Putin's aggression.

"The GOP's shift away from support for Ukraine shows how in the Republican Party, everything flows downstream from the obsessions and priorities of right-wing propagandists," Matt Gertz, a senior fellow at the progressive watchdog Media Matters, told me Tuesday. "Tucker Carlson and his ilk wanted to back Putin's invasion, their relentless lies won over the party's base, and ultimately its elected officials have adopted their position."

"We've seen this same pattern time and again: Fox News and the like take basic concepts like 'it's a good idea to get vaccinated against the coronavirus' and 'the January 6 insurrection was bad' and turn them on their heads — and Republican elites inevitably follow," Gertz added. "Governing based on what gets ratings for B.S. artists is no way to run a country."

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Fox News

The Burisma Beginnings: The Burisma bribery narrative pushed by right-wing media against President Joe Biden took an alarming twist on Tuesday after it imploded in spectacular fashion last week. The informant at the center of the narrative, who was charged last week for allegedly lying to the FBI, admitted during an interview with law enforcement that "officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved in passing" along dirt about Hunter Biden. That's according to documents Special Counsel David Weiss filed in court Tuesday. As Todd Zwillich put it on X: "Just so everyone's clear: This would mean that Russia successfully used [Chuck] Grassley, [James] Comer, Fox News and others to damage the President of the United States and make fake info about him an article of faith on the right." In the court filing, Weiss also underscored the weight of Alexander Smirnov's alleged lies: "The false information he provided was not trivial. It targeted the presumptive nominee of one of the two major political parties in the United States," Weiss wrote. "The effects of Smirnov's false statements and fabricated information continue to be felt to this day." CNN's Hannah Rabinowitz has more here.

🔎 Zooming in: While the allegations — which primarily found a home on Sean Hannity's prime time Fox News program — collapse in plain sight, the dishonest MAGA Media personalities who pushed them are either underplaying them or stoking more conspiracy. Matt Gertz has a summary of how the arrest of Smirnov is playing in right-wing media.

🔭 Zooming out: If it is eventually proven Russia did use Smirnov to push this story in the U.S., it represents another big propaganda win for Vladimir Putin. It would also mean that two of right-wing media's biggest stars, Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity, have been effectively wielded by Putin to push his dishonest talking points to an American audience.

THE INDUSTRY

CNN Photo Illustration/Carlo Allegri/Reuters

Fubo Throws a Flag: The plan by Disney, Fox Corp., and Warner Bros. Discovery to launch a joint sports super-streamer is facing more headwinds. FuboTV on Tuesday filed a $1 billion antitrust lawsuit in New York, seeking to block the service before it even gets off the ground. Fubo's contention is that it has been "forced" by the companies over the years to "carry dozens of expensive non-sports channels that Fubo's customers do not want as a condition of licensing the Defendants' sports channels." Meanwhile, Fubo argued, these companies are independently launching their own sports venture. "By joining together to exclusively reserve the rights to distribute a specialized live sports package, we believe these corporations are erecting insurmountable barriers that will effectively block any new competitors from entering the market," Fubo boss David Gandler said. None of the companies involved in the deal released a comment in response to the lawsuit. THR's Winston Cho has details here.

🔎 Zooming in: Fubo's lawsuit is only one barrier that the triumvirate of media companies will have to overcome to launch their new venture. Bloomberg reported last week that the Justice Department will probe the deal when its terms are finalized.

IN THE MARKET

Walmart is buying Vizio — yes, the TV maker — for $2.3 billion as the company looks to enter the "innovative television and in-home entertainment and media experiences," foreshadowing Walmart's plans to take on Amazon by diving deeper into media. (CNBC)
"The Real Housewives of Peacock": Julia Alexander writes, "NBCU's once forlorn streamer is having a real moment, thanks to the NFL and a couple new hits. But if the service truly wants to survive the streaming wars, it should drop its pretensions of prestige and embrace full Bravo-ization." (Puck)
Disney will outsource the manufacturing, distribution, and marketing of its DVDs and Blu-rays (people still use those?), as well as all other physical media, to Sony. (Variety)

THE FOURTH ESTATE

The WSJ condemned Russia after a court once again upheld the detention of imprisoned reporter Evan Gershkovich : "It's been nearly one year since Evan's unjust arrest for doing nothing more than his job, and every day he remains in prison is an unconscionable attack on a free press. Evan is a journalist, and any suggestion or portrayal otherwise is fiction." (WSJ)
It's the interview everyone is talking about: Eduardo Suárez sat down with A.G. Sulzberger to discuss his career, The NYT's business, and the Gray Lady's editorial values. (Reuters Institute)
The NYT will debut an ad-targeting tool powered by generative A.I. in the second quarter, Sara Fischer reported. (Axios)
Jack Shafer spoke with Margot Susca, whose new book "Hedged" explores how the investment firms buying up local papers are squeezing the outlets for profit at the expense of serving communities. (POLITICO)
The U.K. will add safeguards that seek to curb intelligence agencies' access to journalists' confidential material. (Press Gazette)
A man broke into the Sacramento Bee's newsroom over the weekend and stole the paper's Pulitzer Prize medals. He was later arrested. ( Sac Bee)

MEDIA MOVES

The WaPo named Phoebe Connelly its senior editor for A.I. strategy and innovation and Matt Zapotosky deputy metro editor. (WaPo/WaPo)
Fox News named Chanley Painter its overnight anchor. (AdWeek)
Bloomberg News hired Alibhe Rea as an associate editor. (TBN)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg/Getty Images

CPAC's Capitulation: The annual Conservative Political Action Conference is set to begin just outside Washington, D.C., on Wednesday — and it will be overrun this year with far-right media personalities. As Mediaite's Alex Griffing noted, "Instead of being joined by a cross-section of the Republican Party, the conference will primarily feature MAGA loyalists – including hard-right figures and known conspiracy theorists." The event will commence with an event hosted by Steve Bannon and his "War Room" podcast. From there, events will feature figures such as conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec and election denier Mike Lindell . Other right-wing media personalities include Mark Levin, Megyn Kelly, Sara Carter, Matt Boyle, John Solomon, and Michael Knowles. More from Griffing here.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Mark Jacob wonders: "Does The New York Times care if democracy survives?" (Stop the Presses)
Laura Ingraham hosted on Tuesday another softball town hall with Donald Trump, in which she asked him a number of absurd questions, including, "Are you a potential political prisoner, sir?"
Trump started to push his election denialism claims, but stopped himself, saying, "We won't get into it because of Fox."
Elon Musk's X reinstated the account of Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The platform said its defense mechanism briefly suspended her, having "mistakenly flagged" her account for breaking its rules. (CNBC)
Russia labeled RFE/RL a so-called undesirable organization. (RFE/RL)
"Your letter's tone of alarm is unfounded": Jack Sweeney's attorney sent a dismissive reply to Taylor Swift's attorney, Katie Wright Morrone , after the pop star issued a cease-and-desist letter via Morrone demanding Sweeney stop sharing her private jet's travel itineraries. (Daily Beast)

THE VALLEY

TOO MANY TABS

The profits of the top 7 Big Tech companies — Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla — now exceed those of almost every nation in the world, leaving Elliot Smith to rightly ask: "Should we be worried?" (CNBC)
A spam attack on Mastodon, X's open-source rival, shows just how vulnerable the so-called Fediverse is, Sarah Perez argues. (TechCrunch)
Reddit signed a $60 million deal with an unnamed A.I. company ahead of its IPO. (Bloomberg)
Republican lawmakers want Joe Biden to delete his TikTok account: "How can the federal government warn Americans about the risks of this app if the Commander in Chief uses it, too?" (Reuters)
The E.U. is investigating TikTok, citing child safety concerns. (Reuters)
Pinterest is preparing for its first streaming show, "Deliciously Entertainment," a 10-episode cooking and lifestyle series hosted by Danni Rose that premieres on Feb. 23. (Variety)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Comedy Central

Stewart's Ratings Soar: Jon Stewart is not fading into obscurity. The second episode of "The Daily Show" featuring the revered comedian back at the desk averaged 1.3 million viewers on Comedy Central Monday night, the program's highest viewership since Stewart's last sign-off episode in 2015. That's particularly notable, given that one might expect to see a ratings dip after a highly-anticipated premiere episode. Coupled with the fact that Stewart's return has also helped boost ratings for "The Daily Show" on days in which he is not hosting, it adds up to a big win for Paramount Global, Comedy Central's parent. Variety's Selome Hailu has more.

► First in Reliable | Stewart's success is not just limited to linear television, either. The YouTube clip (you can see it here) of his segment calling out Tucker Carlson's interview with Vladimir Putin amassed nearly 5 million views on YouTube in its first 24 hours, which I'm told is a record for "The Daily Show." In total, I'm told, clips of the segment have raked in more than 10 million views across different social media platforms.

OFF STAGE

HBO will delay posting clips of John Oliver's "Last Week Tonight" to YouTube as it looks to direct viewers to watch the show on Max. (THR)
"Madame Web" bombed at the box office, with domestic sales for its first six days at an anemic $26.2 million. Pamela McClintock and James Hibberd report that the "flop" is "wiping out an entire plan for a new movie series." (THR)
Beyoncé made history, debuting at No. 1 on Billboard's hot country songs chart. (Billboard)
Sam Mendes is teaming up with Sony for a four-part biopic series about The Beatles, with each movie telling a story from a different band member's perspective. (Deadline )
Martin Scorsese says cinema is "transforming," not "dying." (Variety)
Emma Stone is in talks to star in the remake of "Save the Green Planet" from director Yorgos Lanthimos — with whom she collaborated on "Poor Things." (Variety)
Universal Music Group paid $250 million to acquire a 25% minority stake in Chord, which includes over 60,000 songs and the catalogs of The Weeknd and John Legend. (TheWrap)
"Masters of the Air" has become Apple TV+'s most-watched series launch ever. (Variety)
A24 released the second official trailer for "Civil War." (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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