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Monday, March 25, 2024

What a media news day! A federal judge tosses out Elon Musk's X lawsuit and blasts the billionaire's supposed commitment to free speech, Florida passes legislation banning minors under the age of 14 from using social media, federal authorities raid the homes belonging to Sean "Diddy" Combs, and so much more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

Cesar's Choice

CNN Photo Illustration/Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

Cesar Conde has a decision to make — and it's not an especially difficult one.

The NBCUniversal News Group chair is facing a torrent of backlash from his own staff after greenlighting the hire of former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel as a paid network contributor.

Over the last 24 hours, the most prominent and recognizable NBC News and MSNBC personalities have voiced strong displeasure with the company's decision to welcome McDaniel to "the team." And they're not doing it via anonymous comments to the press. They're doing it on the record on NBCU's own air. Chuck Todd broke the dam on Sunday's "Meet the Press" with a set of candid comments about the hiring, and Rachel Maddow capped the flood of backlash Monday night with a blistering 30-minute monologue eviscerating the network's leadership for the "inexplicable" move.

Suffice to say, NBCU News Group is in unprecedented territory. Never has a network's C-suite ever been so thoroughly flogged by its most high-profile stars in such no holds barred fashion. Saying that Conde simply has a crisis on his hands would be a contender for understatement of the year. It's a five-alarm fire at NBCU News Group, and one of Conde's own making.

While NBC News president Rebecca Blumenstein and senior vice president of politics Carrie Budoff Brown were most directly responsible for McDaniel's hiring, a decision that MSNBC boss Rashida Jones did not object to it at the time, the buck ultimately stops with Conde, who hold the real power at the Peacock Network. McDaniel's hiring could not have happened without Conde's blessing.

It does not take a brilliant political mind with prescient foresight to understand that hiring McDaniel would ignite a firestorm of outrage — from both within 30 Rock and outside it. Conde, someone who ostensibly supports American democracy, should have rejected McDaniel's hiring on the grounds that NBCU News Group could not put someone on its payroll who tried to subvert the 2020 vote.

As so many of NBCU's staffers have underscored, the objection to McDaniel is not that she is a Republican. It's not even that she is a Donald Trump-supporting Republican. It's that she was an active participant in the plot to overthrow the last presidential election. That is not to even mention McDaniel's years of demonizing the press, smearing the journalists who work at NBC News and MSNBC as she sought to destroy the credibility of the organization that she ran to after being chased out of the RNC.

The notion put forward by NBC that it needed to hire McDaniel to bring its viewers "an insider's perspective on national politics and the future of the Republican Party" is absurd. If that's the case, the network should move to hire free agents like Tucker Carlson or Candace Owens. They too have their hands on the pulse of the Republican Party. In fact, they represent much more of where the GOP stands today than McDaniel. So, using NBC's logic, why not hire them? (Spoiler: News organizations rightfully have established basic standards for paid contributors. Asking that your employees have a commitment to democracy, to the truth, and to basic decency is not a big ask.)

But even if Conde has no allegiance to basic democratic principles, which this hire calls into question, given that he is known to be a political player who cares deeply about his own image in the press, he should have been wise enough to foresee that hiring McDaniel would be an ill-conceived move. How this did not occur to Conde is unfathomable and shows a tremendous lack of judgment.

Even more bizarre is Conde's management, or lack thereof, since the controversy erupted. It was clear early on that his employees at NBC News and MSNBC did not support McDaniel's hiring. If that was not evident on Friday, it was clear as day on Sunday after "Meet the Press." The network's employees were not only flabbergasted and demoralized by the move, but absolutely enraged by it.

At that point, the writing should have been on the wall for Conde — as it was for every other media executive that I have spoken with over the last 24 hours. It is evident that McDaniel has no real future as an NBC analyst and the decision to bring her on as a contributor will have to be reversed. After all, which NBC or MSNBC program is going to invite her on after all of this?

The only real question for Conde after the Sunday morning scolding should have been how he chose to back out of the deal in the least painful way possible. To be fully honest, I very much expected a Sunday evening announcement from NBC, one that would have earned praise from the company's staff and quickly been swept away by the rush of Trump news Monday morning.

But no such announcement came.

Instead, Conde has allowed the mess to spiral absolutely out of control. MSNBC's top stars hammered the network's leadership throughout the day Monday over the hire. NBC News' Guild blasted Conde, saying in a statement that under him the company had quietly laid off employees over the last month and instead chosen to "prioritize an election deliver over its reporters." The already severe crisis was allowed to blossom into one of the worst corporate public relations catastrophes in recent memory.

All the while, Conde has remained silent. I asked his spokesperson, Stephen Labaton, on Monday whether the NBCU News Group boss had any comment on the situation. Does he have any regret? I didn't get an on-the-record response. Suffice to say, however, that what Conde does moving forward will say a lot about his character and commitment to democratic values. It will also say a lot about the NBCU News Group and what type of organization it is.

In her biting monologue on Monday night, however, Maddow did offer Conde a way out of this mess.

"Mistakes will be made," Maddow said. "But our resilience as a democracy is going to be recognizing when decisions are bad ones and reversing those bad decisions. Hearing legitimate criticism, responding to it, and correcting course. Not digging in. Not blaming others. Take a minute. Acknowledge that maybe it wasn't the right call."

"It is a sign of strength, not weakness, to acknowledge when you are wrong," Maddow added. "It is a sign of strength. And our country needs us to be strong now."

THE MCDANIEL MESS

What does Comcast boss Michael Cavanagh think about all of this? Given that it seems Cesar Conde's employees have lost faith in their company's leadership, does Cavanagh have confidence in Conde and other top brass? I asked Cavanagh's spokesperson, but didn't receive an answer.
Which leads me to my next question: Will anyone fall on the sword for this disaster?
Of note: As people point fingers at who is responsible for the mess, the tension between NBC News and MSNBC leadership seems to be getting awfully hot — and that includes a riff between their PR departments.
CAA represented McDaniel in her deal with NBC. The talent agency declined to comment when I asked if it had any qualms brokering a deal for someone who tried to subvert the 2020 vote.
There has been some reporting that CNN was seriously interested in hiring McDaniel, which led me to venture down to network boss Mark Thompson's office on Monday afternoon to directly ask him myself. Thompson told me in no uncertain terms that he would never have put McDaniel on the network's payroll.

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/MSNBC

IN THEIR OWN WORDS

Rachel Maddow: "This is a difficult time for us as a country and I think that means we need to be clear-eyed about the implications of it. ... We are contending with something we've never had to contend with before. In the news business, yes, we are covering an election which we do all the time. But we are also covering bad actors trying to use the rights and privileges of the democracy to end democracy. The chief threat among them now is not the rioters and the kooks, but the slick political professionals who are turning their considerable talents to laundering violently revolutionary claims that America's elections aren't real."
Lawrence O'Donnell: "There is an easy way to avoid the controversy that NBC News has stumbled into: Don't hire anyone close to the crimes."
Nicolle Wallace: "NBC News is – either wittingly or unwittingly — teaching election deniers that what they can do stretches well beyond appearing on our air and interviews to peddle lies about the sanctity and integrity of our elections."
Joy Reid: "We welcome Republican people. I want Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney to come talk to me. This isn't a difference of opinion. She literally backed an illegal scheme to steal an election in the state of Michigan. It's not about partisanship. We have to be pro-democracy and that's the goal here."
Joe Scarborough: "We weren't asked our opinion of the hiring, but if we were, we would have strongly objected to it for several reasons including but not limited to, as lawyers might, Ms. McDaniels' role in Donald Trump's fake elector scheme and her pressuring election officials to not certify election results while Donald Trump was on the phone."
Mika Brzezinski: "To be clear, we believe NBC News should seek out conservative Republican voices to provide balance in their election coverage, but it should be conservative Republicans, not a person who used her position of power to be an anti-democracy election denier. We hope NBC will reconsider its decision."
Chuck Todd: "The issue isn't about ideology, it's about basic truth. Those trying to make this a left-right issue are being intentionally dishonest. This is about whether honest journalists are supposed to lend their credibility to someone who intentionally tried to ruin ours."

THE INDUSTRY

CNN Photo Illustration/Philadelphia Inquirer

Praise in Philly: Jake Tapper's cover story for The Atlantic, which ultimately led to CJ Rice being freed from prison last week, earned some much-deserved attention from the local Philadelphia newspapers. Tapper was featured on the front page of The Philadelphia Inquirer for his 2022 piece that detailed his father's quest to free Rice and the injustice Rice faced. Tapper told me Monday that "covering CJ Rice and bringing attention to the injustice of his conviction has been among the most important events of my life and certainly of my journalistic career." Tapper's father will be on "CBS Mornings" Tuesday. "HUGE props to CBS News for covering this story starting with having me and my dad on to discuss my Atlanta cover in October 2022," Tapper added to me. "Not a lot of news organizations would do that!"

THE FOURTH ESTATE

Palestinian American TV reporter Ibrahim Samra sued CBS Detroit, alleging he was fired unjustly for Gaza coverage the network didn't like. The station told Laura Wanger it "strongly" disagrees with "the characterization of these events." (WaPo)
The FT is testing an A.I. bot that it trained using decades of its own content, allowing subscribers to pose questions about the news. (The Verge)
David Velasco, Artforum's former editor who was ousted over an open letter condemning Israel, sat down with Louis Cheslaw in his first sit-down since the October incident. (Airmail)

IN THE MARKET

Nelson Peltz's Trian Fund Management withheld votes from Bob Iger as part of the Disney proxy battle. (CNBC)
Meanwhile, Peltz criticized Disney's "woke' Marvel film strategy. (THR)
David Lidsky and Peter Kiefer explore the nearly 50 civil litigation cases that have emerged from Michael Kassan's numerous "idiosyncrasies," detailing cases from contract disputes to debt collection. (The Ankler)
UTA and Kassan continue to exchange legal blows. (Deadline/Variety)

MEDIA MOVES

Welcome back! Hadas Gold on Monday officially re-joined the CNN Media team as a correspondent based in New York. Send her tips and give her a very warm welcome! (Threads)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Jacquelyn Martin/AP

X'ing Out the Suit: A federal judge on Monday excoriated Elon Musk as an anti-free speech activist while tossing out a lawsuit filed by X against the Center for Countering Digital Hate. Judge Charles Breyer wrote in his decision that Musk's motivations for filing a lawsuit against the watchdog group were "unabashedly and vociferously about one thing." That one thing, according to Breyer, was "about punishing the Defendants for their speech." X had slapped CCDH with a lawsuit after the group published a report that found hate speech and surged on the platform since Musk's takeover. But Breyer wrote that the group's report "unquestionably constitutes" free speech. X said in a statement it "disagrees" with the court. CCDH, meanwhile, said that "the world's richest man tried to use his money to silence our research on X" and "it didn't work." CNN's Brian Fung has more.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen examine the media fracturing into "12 splintering realities" ahead of the November election. (Axios)
Donald Trump's right-wing social network Truth Social will start trading on the stock market Tuesday. (CNN)
The right-wing media machine continues to seed the idea that the only way Trump can lose is if the Democrats "steal" the election. Steve Bannon said Monday, "The only way they defeat Trump is they steal it. He is unstoppable." (MMFA)
Daily Wire boss Jeremy Boreing blasted Candace Owens as a "blasphemer and antisemite." (Mediaite)
Daily Wire host Andrew Klavan also put Owens on blast, saying she was "quoting Scripture like Satan does in the Bible." (Mediaite)
Joni Mitchell returned to Spotify after a two-year protest over the music streamer's choice to peddle Covid-19 vaccine "lies." (NYT)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters

Meta Remains Mute: Instagram and Threads have begun limiting "political" content in the feeds of its billions of users by default. But the platforms, led by Meta executive Adam Mosseri, have yet to define exactly what "political" content is. We asked Meta last month when it announced plans to tamp down on the topic how it defines "political," but the company left that question largely unanswered then — and weeks later, it is still unclear. While Meta has stated broadly that the label encompasses posts related to "governments, elections, and social topics," a lot of content can be categorized under that umbrella. For example, does climate change fall under the category? Women's rights issues? LGBTQ freedoms? If Meta is going to shadow-ban such content, shouldn't it at least inform users what qualifies under that banner?

TOO MANY TABS

The E.U. is investigating Meta, Apple, and Alphabet over whether they have adequately complied with the Digital Markets Act. (CNBC)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill banning minors under are 14 from having social media accounts. (The Verge)
Spain moved to reinstate Telegram after blocking it in the country over the weekend. (Reuters)
X is profiting from the sale of user data for government surveillance, Sam Biddle reports. (The Intercept)
Haleluya Madero and Anne D'Innocenzio report on how small businesses could be hurt if TikTok is banned in the U.S. (AP)
Apple Vision Pro will launch in China later this year. (9to5Mac)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

Diddy in the Dumps: The Department of Homeland Security, in conjunction with local police, raided homes belonging to music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs on Monday. DHS did not specify what the raids were about, but a law enforcement source told CNN it is related to an ongoing sex trafficking investigation. Last year, Combs settled a suit brought by his former girlfriend, singer Casandra "Cassie" Ventura, who alleged she was raped and subjected to years of repeated physical and other abuses by Combs. At least three other lawsuits have also been filed against Diddy alleging sexual assault. Diddy, who has denied the allegations, did not comment on the federal raids. CNN's Holmes Lybrand and Josh Campbell have more here.

The Golden Get: Don't change that dial! The Golden Globes on Monday announced that it had struck a deal for its annual awards show to air on CBS over the next five years. The deal, announced by CBS chief George Cheeks and Dick Clark Productions boss Jay Penske, also includes the American Music Awards being broadcast by CBS. It comes on the heels of CBS seeing a ratings surge for the 2024 Golden Globes. "CBS' collaboration with the Globes for this year's broadcast was a big win for both of us and established strong momentum for awards shows in 2024," Cheeks said in a statement. Deadline's Nellie Andreeva has more here.

OFF STAGE

"Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire" opened to $45 million, pushing the franchise past the $1-billion mark. (Deadline)
NBCU said it will extend live coverage of the Paris Olympics' opening ceremony to over 150 IMAX screens. (Adweek)
Netflix's adaptation of "3 Body Problem" shot to the streamer's No. 1 spot. (Variety)
The cast of "Euphoria" will be allowed to "pursue other opportunities" as filming for the acclaimed show is delayed — though HBO is still eyeing a 2025 return. (Deadline)
Rebel Wilson said Sacha Baron Cohen is trying to stop the release of her forthcoming memoir. Baron Cohen's lawyer said the book includes "demonstrably false claims." (CNN)
Scarlett Johansson is in talks to star in Gareth Edwards' reboot of "Jurassic World" for Universal. (Deadline)
While only initially slated to be a limited series, Apple TV+ renewed "The Last Thing He Told Me" for a second season. (The Wrap)

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 tomorrow.

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