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Monday, March 18, 2024

Al Jazeera says its correspondent has been released, Sports Illustrated gets a fresh start under a new publisher, C.J. rice is exonerated after Jake Tapper's cover story for The Atlantic, Candace Owens traffics in more conspiracies, Donald Trump and right-wing media lash out at the press for reporting on "bloodbath" comments, Apple and Alphabet reportedly chat about infusing iPhones with Gemini, "Dune" crosses the $500 milestone, and so much more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

Elon's Reality Escape

CNN Photo Illustration/Don Lemon/YouTube

Elon Musk is showing the world how radicalized he has become.

The billionaire, one of the most consequential figures to walk the Earth, spent another weekend swimming in the right-wing fever swamps of X — a bad habit that was apparent when his interview with Don Lemon was released Monday morning.

In the contentious interview, Musk equated moderating dangerous and appalling hate speech to "censorship," bashed the press for legitimate reporting, assailed DEI programs without supporting evidence, skewered advertisers who fled the X platform last year, and yet again gave credence to the racist Great Replacement theory, among other things. To those not fluent in the intricacies of right-wing media, some of what Musk said may have sounded bizarre or even foreign. But in the right-wing fever swamps, where Musk is now deeply entrenched, these are the issues that animate the masses.

Musk's comments on the premiere episode of Lemon's new online show added to an unhinged 72-hour posting spree on X, in which the erratic businessman raged against the "woke mind virus" and said its "goal" is "the destruction of America," agreed with a user who wrote "Fake News is the Enemy of the People," said the press is "basically the [Joe] Biden cheering squad," accused the news media of "lying" about Donald Trump's "blood bath" comments, called NPR a "nice version of Pravda," alleged Google "manipulate[s] their search results with left wing bias," said the January 6 insurrection was "not a 'bloodbath' by any definition," and argued that if there is not a "red wave" in November, "America is doomed."

At this juncture, calling Musk a right-wing shitposter is no longer provocative. It's simply accurate. And his ugly behavior is even more troubling because of the fact that Musk is enormously influential, casting a large shadow across multiple industries and doing billions of dollars' worth of national security business with the U.S. government.

In his ownership of X alone, Musk controls one of the world's most important communications platforms, spitting corrosive venom into the public discourse at a faster speed than his SpaceX rockets hurtle into orbit. In fact, as users of the platform once called Twitter know all too well, Musk's posts often find themselves to the very top of the home feed. That is because, according to reporting from Zoë Schiffer and Casey Newton, engineers were forced to build "a system designed to ensure" his posts do well on the platform he owns.

To make matters worse, Musk appears to be growing more intolerant of other viewpoints. While elevating right-wing extremists, he simultaneously seeks to destroy trust in credible news sources. Once upon a time, Musk welcomed having a media personality like Lemon on the X platform. Not so much anymore. On Monday, after his interview with Lemon was posted online, Musk trashed the former CNN anchor, calling him in various posts a "stupid asshole" and saying he is "just a bad guy, plain and simple."

"He's not used to having to answer to anyone," Lemon said in a Q&A with People's Jason Sheeler, "especially someone like me who doesn't share his worldview, who doesn't look like him."

In effect, Musk has become self-radicalized on the very website that he was forced to purchase for $44 billion, sliding deeper into the darkest and most unsavory corners of the platform that has served to only reinforce his own worldview with an echo chamber of conspiracy theorists and ego-stoking sycophants that regularly fawn at his every move no matter how outrageous or preposterously false. All of it dished up by an algorithm designed to regurgitate it right back to him. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, Musk is hell bent on taking everyone else down there with him.

Elon's Xtremism

Kara Swisher on the 🍋 interview: "My takeaway is that he has devolved into very ill informed thinker on a number of complex topics." (Threads)
"The uproar over an antisemitic conspiracy Musk amplified last year has done little to change his mind," Ryan Grenoble noted. (HuffPost)
Lemon accused X of suppressing his interview on the platform: "It would seem to defy credulity that if 21 million people engaged with my post on X announcing my new show, that only a few hundred thousand would be interested in the interview on X as of this afternoon," Lemon told Emily Smith. "It just doesn't make sense." (The Wrap)
"Like a lot of other people, I don't use my X account much anymore. I prefer to post on Threads, because X (formerly Twitter) has become such a cesspool of hate speech and conspiracy-mongering. ... What galls me is that, as a taxpayer, I wind up subsidizing X's megalomaniacal and capricious owner, Elon Musk," Max Boot wrote. (WaPo)
Matt Taibbi, the journalist Musk handpicked to report on the "Twitter Files," blasted the billionaire, saying he has proven "to be very disappointing on the free speech issue." (Mediaite)

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera Journalist Freed: After 12 hours of detention, Al Jazeera said Monday that correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul has been released. The Qatari-funded network — along with press advocates such as the Committee to Protect Journalists — had sharply criticized Israel earlier in the day for having detained al-Ghoul. Al Jazeera said the correspondent was in Gaza City's Al-Shifa Hospital when he was "dragged away by Israeli forces" and detained with other journalists. In a blistering statement, the network accused Israeli forces of beating al-Ghoul. When the reporter was released, he accused Israeli forces of destroying media equipment and subjecting other members of the press to appalling conditions. "He said the journalists were stripped of their clothes and forced to lie on their stomachs as they were blindfolded and their hands tied," Al Jazeera reported. "Israeli soldiers would open fire to scare them if there was any movement, al-Ghoul said."

► Notably, the IDF did not provide a comment on the incident. I personally checked in multiple times throughout the day but mum was the word. "Still looking into it," a spokesperson told me when I last checked in the evening.

THE INDUSTRY

CNN Photo Illustration/Diane Bondareff/AP

SI Avoids Shuttering: Sports Illustrated isn't shutting down, after all. The iconic sports magazine is set to get new life under a publishing deal announced Monday by Authentic Brands Group, which owns the magazine's intellectual property rights. The news, first reported by The NYT's Ben Mullin, caps a tumultuous several months for Sports Illustrated that resulted in widespread layoffs, an artificial intelligence scandal and the departure of senior executives. Here's my full story with Liam Reilly.

🔎 Zooming in: The new publisher is Minute Media, a sports-focused content company that is home to several other notable brands, such as The Players' Tribune and FanSided. Minute Media said that while it will continue the print edition of the magazine, it hopes to also usher Sports Illustrated into a lucrative digital future. Chief executive Asaf Peled said the focus will be taking its legacy "into new, emerging channels enhancing visibility, commercial viability and sustainable impact, all while ensuring that the SI team is inspired to flourish in this new era of media."

THE FOURTH ESTATE

The power of journalism: C.J. Rice was was exonerated after Jake Tapper's cover story for The Atlantic. "Two years ago, I wrote an Atlantic cover story about the case of C. J. Rice, a Philadelphia teenager convicted of attempted homicide," Tapper wrote in a story published Monday. "Today, he was exonerated. C. J. Rice is now a free man." (The Atlantic)
Tapper also interviewed his own father, who helped Rice prove his case, for a piece that aired on CNN. (CNN)
NBC News' Keir Simmons confronted Vladimir Putin on the jailing of Evan Gershkovich: "Is this what you call democracy?" (Mediaite)
But that type of truth-to-power journalism is become rare, Max Tani argues in a piece about how the press has "lost its nerve." (Semafor)
Oops! Five GB News programs broke Ofcom's rules on due impartiality. (Press Gazette)

ELSEWHERE IN THE BIZ

Elaine Low published the third part of her series, examining the job market at the major studios and streamers. This time, Low focused on Netflix and NBCU. (Ankler)
Lucas Shaw: "No one is ever ready to be the next CEO of Disney." (Bloomberg)
An interesting trend identified by Just Lunning: Hollywood actors are working more and more with the video game industry. (NYT)
DirecTV said it will allow customers to opt out of purchasing local TV stations for a lower monthly rate. (NextTV)

MEDIA MOVES

Adweek named Ryan Joe as its new editor in chief. (TBN)
Newsweek hired Jennifer H. Cunningham as executive editor. (TBN)
The WaPo named Nick Baumann deputy politics editor. (WaPo)
The FT hired Monica Mark to be its South Africa bureau chief. (TBN)
TechCrunch hired Marina Temkin as a reporter. (TBN)
Barron's hires Rebecca Ungarino as a reporter. (TBN)
Paramount Global named Beverley McGarvey its head of streaming and regional lead for Australia and New Zealand. (Deadline)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Francis Chung/POLITICO/AP

Candace and the Conspiracies: Right-wing extremist Candace Owens continues to engage in appalling behavior. Mediaite's Isaac Schorr reported Monday that Owens recently liked a pair of anti-Semitic posts on X. The first post accused a Jewish rabbi of being "drunk on Christian blood" after he revealed on X that he had received death threats from Owens' supporters. The second read, "You're making it too easy for people to hate Jews." Schorr reported that the Ben Shapiro-founded Daily Wire did not respond to his request for comment (can you imagine how they'd react if a reporter in the mainstream press were engaging in this behavior?). That aside, as Schorr wrote, the big picture is that the relationship between Owens and the Daily Wire has "grown increasingly untenable." More from Schorr here.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Donald Trump and his allies are aggressively attacking the news media for reporting on his "bloodbath" comments. (The Hill)
Joe Scarborough: "He knew what he was doing. We're not stupid. Americans aren't stupid. He was talking about a bloodbath. Sometimes a bloodbath means a bloodbath." (RealClear)
Ben Smith, meanwhile, dissented with that view. (Threads)
Fox News, of course, also ran to Trump's defense. (Mediaite)
The larger MAGA Media universe did as well, with Brian Stelter noting that Trump's propaganda machine claimed the entire controversy was a "hoax." (Threads)
Steve Doocy has "become the unexpected voice of dissent" on Fox News, "sparring with colleagues and challenging GOP orthodoxy," Jeremy Barr reports. (WaPo)
Meanwhile, Howard Kurtz, who fashions himself as a hard-nosed truth teller, let Trump get away with effectively threatening news networks over coverage he doesn't like. (Mediaite)
Jonathan Chait goes after National Review editor Rich Lowry: Lowry's anti-anti-Trump arguments are "consumed with considering the bluntest possible ways Trump could attack democracy." (NY Mag)
Pro-Trump election deniers have disrupted one of Dominion Voting Systems' massive defamation lawsuits by leaking the company's internal emails to a sympathetic Michigan sheriff, Marshall Cohen reports. (CNN)
The Supreme Court seemed skeptical of a free speech challenge to how the Biden administration encouraged social media companies to take down content deemed misinformation by the federal government, Brian Fung and John Fritze report. (CNN)
Right-wing social influencer Isabella Deluca was charged in the Jan. 6 insurrection. (NBC News)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

An Apple-Alphabet Agreement?: Apple and Alphabet are "in talks to build Google's Gemini artificial intelligence engine into the iPhone," Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported Monday. Per Gurman, "The two companies are in active negotiations to let Apple license Gemini, Google's set of generative AI models, to power some new features coming to the iPhone software this year." That said, it's not entirely clear whether the iPhone-maker will ultimately go with Gemini. Gurman reported the company has also held talks with OpenAI. Gurman has more here.

TOO MANY TABS

Reddit's IPO " is currently between four and five times oversubscribed," Echo Wang reports, citing sources. (Reuters)
The platform's IPO will drop the forum giant at the heart of a tense battle between A.I. companies and creators, Scott Rosenberg writes. (Axios)
Hannah Miao and Sarah E. Needleman: "They're Reddit die-hards. Do they want to be shareholders, too?" (WSJ)
Peter Cohan argues that "you should resist the Reddit IPO's first-day price pop." (Forbes)
Paresh Dave takes a hard look at edits Reddit has made to its IPO paperwork. (WIRED)
Switching gears: TikTok is offering financial incentives to creators who match their content to what users are searching for on the platform. Mia Sato notes that it's another sign the app is "leaning in even more to its app being used like a search engine." (The Verge)
Meanwhile, Todd Spangler asks, "Would banning TikTok be a boon or a bummer for Hollywood?" (Variety)
YouTube now requires creators operating on the platform to label realistic-looking videos made with A.I., Clare Duffy reports. (CNN)
"Can A.I. be sued for defamation?" wonders Joel Simon. (CJR)
Apple emphasized that it is adhering to the E.U.'s Digital Markets Act, seeking to stave off criticism. (Reuters)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Warner Bros. Pictures

First in Reliable | The Spice Flows: After another impressive weekend at the box office, "Dune: Part Two" has passed a major milestone. The Denis Villeneuve sci-fi epic passed the $500 million milestone at the global box office on Monday, I'm told. That's a rare feat in the post-pandemic world and puts the Legendary/Warner Bros. Pictures sequel far ahead of the first installment, which was released during those strange Covid times.

OFF STAGE

That said, "Kung Fu Panda 4" retained the top spot at the domestic box office for a second week in a row, earning $30 million in ticket sales. (AP)
MrBeast struck a deal with Amazon MGM Studios, the YouTube star's first traditional TV series, that's described as "the biggest reality competition series in television history." (THR)
LeBron James and JJ Redick will team up for a new podcast about basketball. (The Athletic)
Dua Lipa announced a new album, "Radical Optimism," due out on May 3. (Pitchfork)
Olivia Rodrigo will apparently no longer hand out contraceptives at her "GUTS" tour. (THR)
Jimmy Kimmel is producing a new series for Hulu, titled "High Hopes," about cannabis that's out April 20. (Deadline)
James Mangold's Timothée Chalamet-led pseudo biopic of Bob Dylan released a first look. (Pitchfork)
Bill Hader will star in Warner Bros. Pictures' new "Cat in the Hat" animated film. (The Wrap)
DC Studios has green lit a "Teen Titans" live-action feature. (THR)
The filmmakers who put out "Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey" unveiled their next slasher project. (Variety)
Disney+ announced that "Star Wars: The Acolyte" will be released on June 4. (Deadline)
Disney announced "Wish" — the studio's 100th musical feature film — will premiere on Disney+ in April. (The Wrap)
Netflix dropped the trailer for "Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver." (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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