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Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Follow us on Instagram! TikTok faces House vote, news outlets struggle to properly characterize Andrew Tate, Google restricts its A.I. bot Gemini from talking 2024 election, the RNC hires an election denying OAN personality, Steve Bannon pushes more Taylor Swift conspiracy theories, a judge sets a Roman Polanski civil trial for 2025, "The Batman" gets delayed until 2026, and so much more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

A Hur'd Mentality

CNN Photo Illustration/Francis Chung/Politico/AP

Oops?

After spending weeks breathlessly questioning President Joe Biden's mental faculties in the wake of Special Counsel Robert Hur's explosive report, some of America's top news organizations on Tuesday effectively stated that Hur's characterization of the commander-in-chief was off base.

The Wall Street Journal declared that the transcripts of Biden's deposition with Hur released on Tuesday painted "a more nuanced picture" than the report indicated. The New York Times found that Biden appeared "clearheaded," despite having fumbled some dates. And The Washington Post concluded Biden "doesn't come across as being as absent-minded as Hur has made him out to be."

In other words, the Hur report offered a misleading view of the president's mental state. That's a significant problem for news organizations, given that much of their recent coverage about Biden's age was derived from that very report where Hur offered a wince-inducing depiction of the president as a "sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory."

The acknowledgement from some, but not all, news outlets on Tuesday about the true nature of Biden's deposition marked another embarrassing moment for the national press, which has floundered at pivotal moments in the lead up to the crucial 2024 presidential election.

The deposition transcripts not only indicated that Biden appeared fairly sharp during his testimony, joking with investigators and retelling stories with granular detail, but that Hur was misleading in how he presented some of the information included in his report.

As The NYT's Charlie Savage noted on X, in one instance, "Based on a garbled moment, Hur claimed Biden forgot that the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan was an ally who shared his opposition to the surge. Hur omitted that a few minutes later, Biden brought up the ambassador again in a way that made clear he knew that."

Particularly jarring, was that at another point during the depositions, Hur actually went out of his way to praise Biden's memory. "You have — appear to have a photographic understanding and, and recall of the house," Hur told Biden, referencing the president's Wilmington home.

Strangely, that characterization of Biden didn't find its way into his report — and, thus, the crush of ensuing news stories. Instead, Hur chose to portray the president as a mentally diminished elderly man who struggled to recall basic information during his deposition, raising alarm bells about whether he had the fitness to serve in the nation's highest office.

Hur's characterization of Biden played directly into a years-long campaign waged by Biden's political opponents and the powerful right-wing media machine to depict the president as a senile, aloof man.

The special counsel's report was something of a gift to outlets like Fox News, which used the special counsel's characterization to validate its years of ugly attacks on Biden. Such outlets then pointed to the fact that Biden's mental fitness was being covered by prominent news organizations, contending that the issue had grown so serious the supposed "liberal media" could no longer ignore it.

To be fair to news organizations, they were faced with a thorny, difficult decision after the Hur report dropped. If they chose to dial back coverage, it could have looked like they were covering for Biden. On the other hand, leaning hard into the report, producing scores of stories and television segments about Hur's characterization of Biden's age, proved ultimately to be unwise as well.

What news organizations can do now, however, is forcefully acknowledge that the deposition transcript poured cold water on Hur's over-the-top characterization of Biden's mental fitness. Given the extensive coverage in the prior weeks, which seeped into the national consciousness, it is not sufficient to only tacitly acknowledge the reality of the situation.

But don't hold your breath that the news media will shout its findings from the mountain tops at the same volume and with the same vigor as it did after Hur's report was released. While The NYT, The WaPo, The WSJ, and a few others commendably acknowledged that the deposition transcripts rendered a more nuanced picture of Biden than Hur offered in his report, other outlets did not.

As Bill Grueskin, a renowned professor of professional practice at the Columbia Journalism School noted to me, "It's very hard for someone who was involved in the coverage to critique their own methods. Because these things don't always lend themselves to straightforward corrections, like misspelling a name. It has to do more with how a news story is framed so readers understand the incompleteness of it."

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

TikTok Got It Twisted: It's a political miscalculation that may prove fatal. The WSJ's Stu Woo, Georgia Wells, and Raffaele Huang reported Tuesday that TikTok was so "blindsided" by a House bill which could lead to a ban in the U.S. that its top executives flew to China just two weeks ago and assured their bosses that the app was not in danger from lawmakers. That lack of awareness about the bill was reflected in a statement the company provided to The WSJ. "This process was intentionally conducted in secret because the bill authors knew it was the only way they could move it forward," a TikTok spokesperson told the newspaper. Read the full piece here.

► Situational awareness: The House is set for its high-stakes vote Wednesday on the bill, which could pose an existential threat to TikTok's future in the U.S. In the run-up, TikTok is encouraging users to call their representatives with a full-screen notification about the legislation. The company's CEO, Shou Chew, has attempted to schedule 11th-hour meetings with members of Congress, CNN's Brian Fung reported. Meanwhile, U.S. intel chief Avril Haines told lawmakers on Tuesday that she couldn't rule out the possibility that China will use TikTok to influence 2024 U.S. elections.

THE INDUSTRY

THE FOURTH ESTATE

Back and forth we go! In a new legal filing, The NYT accused OpenAI of "grandstanding" and said the A.I. company's accusation that the newspaper "hacked" its ChatGPT bot was "irrelevant as it is false." (Reuters)
The Associated Press and Taboola will launch an e-commerce website called AP Buyline, Sara Fischer reports. (Axios)
Katie Robertson and Benjamin Mullin looked at the "sprouts of hope" in the "gloomy media landscape." The reporting duo pointed out that "a handful of digital start-ups" such as Puck, Punchbowl, Semafor, and The Ankler are finding success. (NYT)
But a good point to keep in mind from Jay Rosen: "No one is worried that affluent people won't be able to find expensive newsletters with the reliable information they need to succeed in life — and at work. The question is whether reliable information will reach publics, and factor into opinion and decision-making." (Threads)

IN THE MARKET

Apollo Global Management and Paramount Global are in talks about a "possible takeover or asset purchase," Sara Fischer reports. (Axios)
Fox Nation "will soon be available to bundle with Sling TV and DISH satellite subscription plans," David Satin reports. (Streamable)
YouTube TV is thriving as people cut the cord, Kayla Cobb and Lucas Manfredi write. (The Wrap)
AdWeek released its annual "hot list," lauding various streamers, creators, and more. (AdWeek)

MEDIA MOVES

Dan Wakeford, most recently the editor-in-chief of The Messenger, was named editor-in-chief of US Weekly. (Daily Beast)
The BBC named Jonathan Aspinwall as the new executive editor of Newsnight. (BBC)
The Associated Press named Courtney Bonnell its new national security and foreign policy editor. (AP)
The NYT promoted Laura Reston to deputy op-ed editor. (NYT)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Andreea Alexandru/AP

Tongue Tied on Tate: Major news organizations keep flashing signs that they are ill equipped — or simply unwilling — to properly cover the sinister forces radicalizing large sects of the public. The latest example came on Tuesday when Andrew Tate was detained in the U.K. on sex charges. Tate was inadequately described by a number of prominent news organizations (including the Associated Press, NPR, CNN, and others) as an online or controversial "influencer."

But, as we've pointed out before, he is much more than that. Tate gained infamy pushing misogynistic extremism to his young male audience. He is someone who openly admits he is a sexist and has made more reprehensible comments than can be accounted for. And he currently stands accused of human trafficking and rape in Romania (which he denies). In other words, he's not just a "controversial influencer." As we have repeatedly said, and will continue saying as long as necessary, it should not be hard to characterize dangerous figures like Tate in plain terms for the public, which relies on news outlets for such information. In fact, newsrooms are abdicating their duties by failing to do so.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Donald Trump asked Elon Musk if he wanted to purchase his social media site Truth Social, Josh Dawsey, Drew Harwell, and Jonathan O'Connell report. (WaPo)
Speaking of Musk, Don Lemon announced he will interview the X owner on the first episode of his new social media series next week. (The Wrap)
The Republican National Committee hired election denier and OAN personality Christina Bobb as an attorney supposedly focused on "election integrity." (Mediaite)
Right-wing extremist Nick Fuentes, who Donald Trump dined with in November 2022, continued his Holocaust denialism, saying he doesn't "buy" that the Nazis used gas chambers to kill millions of Jews. (MMFA)
Wait what? Candace Owens apparently believes that France's first lady is a man and is "calling on other journalists to look into this explosive story and report accordingly." (Mediaite)
Steve Bannon continued to push more Taylor Swift conspiracy theories, suggesting she is part of some vast left-wing plot. (MMFA)
Gross. Dave Portnoy celebrated the fact that all of Deadspin's staffers were laid off, recording himself popping a bottle of champagne. (Mediaite)
HBO released the trailer for "The Truth vs. Alex Jones," which will be released on March 26. (YouTube)
"A former Trump aide becomes a liberal favorite": Jacob Bernstein profiled Alyssa Farah Griffin. (NYT)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Google Gags Gemini: Don't expect Gemini to be able to help you answer any questions on the 2024 elections. Google on Tuesday said that it had prohibited its embattled A.I. chatbot from answering questions on the November vote "out of an abundance of caution on such an important topic." Indeed, when I asked Gemini various questions about the election on Tuesday, it flatly refused to provide an answer. The Guardian's Nick Robinson-Early has more details here.

🔎 Zooming in: The move to restrict the bot from weighing in on the 2024 election comes after some of its responses on other issues were framed by right-wing media, which aggressively targeted the company, as "woke." While the issue was more complicated than outlets like Fox News made it out to be, it still presented a big PR headache for Google and raised legitimate questions. By barring Gemini from answering hot-button political issues, Google is pretty clearly hoping to avoid fumbling on another issue and finding itself as a topic in the raging information wars.

TOO MANY TABS

Anissa Gardizy and Aaron Holmes report that representatives for Amazon and Google have worked behind the scenes to "quietly tamp down" expectations for generative A.I. (The Info)
Speaking of which, Casey Newton writes about the "rise of mediocre A.I.," which he notes is "everywhere" but "only kind of works." (Platformer)
OpenAI hired attorneys from a firm previously sued by Elon Musk to represent the company in the billionaire's lawsuit against it. (Reuters)
Meanwhile, OpenAI called Musk's lawsuit "incoherent" in a filing made public this week. (Business Insider)
Beatrice Nolan argues that Mark Zuckerberg "is becoming Meta's ultimate influencer." (Business Insider)
Alex Wilhelm contends Reddit's IPO success "may hinge on [an] A.I. boom." (TechCrunch)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Prosecuting Polanski: Roman Polanski will face a Los Angeles civil trial in August 2025 for allegedly raping an underage woman in 1973, a judge determined Tuesday. Polanski, who has been a fugitive for decades after fleeing to France while being accused of raping a 13-year-old, will not be required to be present during the proceedings, given the trial is civil in nature. Gloria Allred, who is representing the anonymous plaintiff, said Tuesday that her client has "demonstrated enormous courage" in pressing the case forward in court, and that they "look forward to our fight for justice." The LAT's Christi Carras, Stacy Perman, and James Queally have more.

OFF STAGE

Sharon Stone, speaking on Louis Theroux's podcast, alleged the late director Robert Evans pressured her to sleep with Billy Baldwin in 1993 to boost their on-screen chemistry for "Sliver." (The Wrap)
Matt Reeves' second installment of "The Batman" has been delayed a year, now premiering in October 2026. (Deadline)
Christopher Nolan's final paycheck for "Oppenheimer" is close to $100 million, Tatiana Siegel reports, citing sources. (Variety)
Beau DeMayo, the creator of "X-Men '97," has been fired mere weeks before the Disney+ series' premiere, Borys Kit and Aaron Couch report. The duo added that "no reason for the firing was given." (THR)
Kristen Stewart, appearing on "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert," defended her Rolling Stone cover, saying it offered a side of female sexuality different than the mainstream. (Rolling Stone)
Beyoncé revealed the title of her March 29 country album: "Cowboy Carter." (The Wrap)
Arnold Schwarzenegger will star alongside Alan Ritchson in Amazon MGM Studios' "The Man With The Bag." (Deadline)
Stephen King's "Salem's Lot" will head straight to Max, skipping a theatrical release. (THR)
Hayao Miyazaki's "The Boy and the Heron" will hit Max. (Deadline)
CBS renewed "Ghosts" and "Fire Country" for 2024-25. (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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