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Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Right-wing sites see their traffic tank, CCDH moves to recover legal fees from Elon Musk, Wall Street upvotes Reddit's stock, Nickelodeon directors apologize amid fallout from "Quiet on Set" docuseries, and so much more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

Running From Ronna

CNN Photo Illustration/Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Only 80 hours elapsed between NBC News announcing Ronna McDaniel as a paid contributor and the network ousting her from that very role. But for the leadership at NBC Universal News Group, those were 80 painful hours.

On Tuesday evening, following another full day in which the media rumor mill churned at warp speed, NBCU News Group boss Cesar Conde sent staff a memo, notifying his troops that he had reversed his decision to welcome the former Republican National Committee chair to "the team."

"After listening to the legitimate concerns of many of you, I have decided that Ronna McDaniel will not be an NBC News contributor," Conde said, adding that he wanted to "personally apologize to our team members who felt we let them down."

Conde had no real choice. The embattled NBCU boss, who I'm told dealt with the crisis from an unknown location outside of 30 Rock, was facing an unprecedented rebellion from his most high-profile stars, who one by one went on the air and excoriated leadership's decision to hire McDaniel. The only aspect of Conde's note that was surprising was the fact that it came 48 hours late, allowing what started off as a crisis to fester and balloon into one of the worst corporate public relations calamities in recent memory.

"What a shit show!" a media executive exclaimed to me Tuesday shortly after Conde relieved McDaniel of her NBC News credentials.

In his note, Conde said he took "full responsibility" for McDaniel's hire. But, he also did point the finger, telling staffers that hiring her was "a collective recommendation by some members of our leadership team." Indeed, multiple people familiar with the matter have told me that the infighting among NBC executives over who was at fault for the disaster has reached a fever pitch, with various factions of the NBCU News Group assigning blame to others.

Regardless of who is to blame, the entire affair made clear who is actually in control of the company — and it's not Conde & Co. Despite the NBCU C-suite digging their heels in the sand as they resisted dumping McDaniel for days, they were ultimately forced to succumb to pressure from their talent. As a second media executive commented to me, it is now "very clear who is in charge" after the "weak leadership was put on full display."

"Has Cesar lost the room?" wondered a third media executive.

While the Peacock family argues over who was really at fault, the company is facing a fresh public relations mess. Led by Donald Trump, right-wing personalities are already assailing the network as being overrun with intolerant woke leftists.

"These Radical Left Lunatics are CRAZY and the top people at NBC ARE WEAK," Trump raged on his Truth Social platform.

Ari Fleischer, who served as press secretary under President George W. Bush, wrote on X: "What NBC is saying is if you're for Trump, you don't belong. Good. Let NBC be for Democrats only."

Of course, that narrative is intellectually dishonest. The objection to McDaniel from both within and outside of NBCU was not that she is a Republican. It wasn't even that she was a Trump-supporting Republican. No, the objection stemmed from the fact that McDaniel was an active participant in the plot to subvert the 2020 vote. And, in addition to that disgraceful history, she had a lengthy track record smearing NBC News and MSNBC.

Nevertheless, NBCU will now have to contend with such dishonest attacks being leveled by the right, which will follow them in the days, months, and even years to come. As unfair as it may be, they will certainly damage the network's brand in Republican circles — a place it had gone through great pains to appeal to.

NBCU will also have to grapple with McDaniel, who spent the last 24 hours or so interviewing lawyers as she gears up for a possible legal fight with the network, according to a person familiar with the matter. The rift between McDaniel and NBCU had grown to such an extent by Tuesday that she was not informed by network brass that she had been dismissed, I'm told. Instead, McDaniel learned of her ouster in press reports.

While NBCU is being beaten up on the right, the company's leadership was quickly praised by its journalists and top stars. Shortly after Conde sent out his memo, Rachel Maddow appeared on Joy Reid's show, where the two lauded Conde for reversing course.

"I think it is a show of strength and a show of respect for the people who work at this company and make us who we are," Maddow said. "That leadership was willing to change on this, I'm grateful to them."

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

THE MCDANIEL MESS

"In 35 years of covering the media, I've never seen a newsroom revolt like the one at NBC," David Zurawik observed. (CNN)
Margaret Sullivan: NBC News "has badly damaged its reputation and credibility." (The Guardian)
Lauren Stiller Rikleen called McDaniel's hiring "another in a long line of disturbing examples of how political misinformation is being normalized." (Bulwark)
"What was NBC thinking?" asked John Nichols. (The Nation)
Josh Dawsey: "If NBC News pays McDaniel's contract as they promised, it will figure out to her earning tens of thousands of dollars per minute that she was on 'Meet the Press.'"
"The fallout is the latest example of the power that on-air talent can have over their employers," Joe Flint and Isabella Simonetti noted. "It also shone a light on the complex decision-making structure inside NBC News." (WSJ)
Michael Grynbaum and John Koblin pointed out that the "firestorm" has been " a major test" for Conde. (NYT)
Ari Melber announced the news to MSNBC viewers by reading Conde's statement live on air. (Threads)
Maddow wasn't the only MSNBC star to express gratitude for NBCU leadership ousting McDaniel: "I really appreciate working at a place that was able to say we got this one wrong and then made the right decision," Chris Hayes said on his program.

THE INDUSTRY

CNN Photo Illustration/Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

First in Reliable | Tuesday's harrowing New York Times piece about a former Israeli hostage speaking out for the first time about the sexual and physical abuse she faced at the hands of her captors in Gaza, had to be re-reported after the Times cut ties with an Israeli freelancer over her "likes" on social media, CNN's Hadas Gold reports.

The survivor, Amit Soussana, had already spoken to freelancer Anat Schwartz about her experience, a senior editor at The NYT told Gold. But when the Times cut ties with her, they also cut ties with all of her reporting and "anybody who had read the notes from our earlier interview, who had worked on that team, including editors who were reassigned." That meant Pulitzer-prize winning reporter Jeffrey Gettleman as well, the senior editor said. It also meant Soussana needed to be re-interviewed, something the senior editor said they approached delicately.

Though the Times has published new reporting raising doubts about an Israeli paramedic's claims of sexual assault during the October 7 attack, the senior editor said they "continue to stand by their reporting" and have a dozen staffers working on a "larger ongoing body of work into sexual violence that took place in this conflict." CNN and other outlets told Reliable they are also reviewing their reporting on the medic's claims.

THE FOURTH ESTATE

Just ahead of the one-year mark of Evan Gershkovich's imprisonment, a Russian court extended The WSJ reporter's detention until June. (WSJ)
Ross Levinsohn, the former chief executive of The Arena Group, the company that previously owned the publishing rights to Sports Illustrated, is suing Manoj Bhargava, the creator of 5-Hour Energy who owns a majority stake in the company. (The Wrap)
Splinter, the political news publisher that was acquired by Paste Magazine from G/O Media, relaunched on Tuesday. (Adweek)
Meanwhile, G/O Media is looking to offload The Onion after telling staffers The A.V. Club and The Takeout had been sold. (Daily Beast)
Tim Davie, the BBC's director-general, called for the broadcaster to reform its license fee as part of the company's plan to adapt as an increasingly commercial operation. (FT)
Jacqui Heinrich chatted with Cuneyt Dil about her wake up routine. (Axios)

IN THE MARKET

Peacock has secured the exclusive rights for another NFL game, a Week 1 Eagles game in Brazil — the league's first in South America. (Deadline)
Nelson Peltz says Trian Group's proxy fight with Disney isn't about Bob Iger; it's about the company's board. (The Wrap)
Richard Rushfield: "After years of build up, positioning, circling, denying and taking measure, the star charts suggest we are heading for the endgame of this round of the Great Entertainment Semi-Finals. This isn't the end of Hollywood, but it will mark the final fallout of the inevitable consequences of the Streaming Wars and all the dislocation it's wrought." (The Ankler)

MEDIA MOVES

Bloomberg News is moving MacKenzie Hawkins to the technology team to cover semiconductors and industrial policy. (TBN)

THE INFO WARS

First in Reliable | Traffic Tanks: Many right-wing websites saw their traffic tank last month when compared to the last presidential election cycle, according to data analyzed by Howard Polskin at The Righting and first shared with Reliable. Twitchy experienced the biggest drop, losing 93% of its audience, followed by The Federalist (-91%), The Washington Times (-89%), and Western Journal, (-84%). Other major sites took a hit too, including The Drudge Report (-81%) and Breitbart (-76%)."The traffic declines are deeper than I anticipated," Polskin said. Mainstream news outlets, by comparison, saw much smaller declines, including CNN (-19%), The NYT (-22%) and WaPo (-43%). "Right wing websites appear more susceptible to steeper election year audience erosion than mainstream or left-leaning outlets," he said. Polskin has more here.

Musk's Legal Misfortune: After seeing a judge toss out his lawsuit in court on Monday, Elon Musk will be on the hook for the Center for Countering Digital Hate's legal fees. The non-profit told Reliable on Tuesday that "the specific amount of fees will need to be hashed out in court and CCDH plans to initiate that process as soon as practicable." The group added, "This case was nothing more than a transparent attempt by Musk and X to silence honest criticism and to deter others from researching social media. If there were no costs associated with launching meritless and intimidatory legal action, it would pose a significant threat to free speech itself."

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Right-wing media outlets are blaming the collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge on Biden's infrastructure plan, the "wide open border," and Covid lockdowns, Justin Baragona reports. (Daily Beast)
Baragona also notes that Raymond Arroyo "has vanished" from Fox News after igniting controversy over a comment about Black voters supporting Donald Trump because "they love sneakers." (Daily Beast)
Truth Social started trading on the stock market with an astonishing valuation of $11 billion, throwing a potential financial lifeline to Trump. "That a fledging, unprofitable social media platform can make the former president billions of dollars on paper is a marvel of the stock market," Zachary Wolf notes. (CNN)
Sheikh Sultan bin Jassim Al Thani — a member of the Qatari royal family and a former government official — invested about $50 million in Newsmax. Afterward, "senior newsroom leaders urged Newsmax staff to soften coverage of Qatar," David Kenner, Sarah Ellison, and Jonathan O'Connell reported. (WaPo)
"That is an incredibly offensive question to ask": Karine Jean-Pierre ended a talk radio interview after the host asked if Biden had dementia. (Mediaite)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

The Street Upvotes: Reddit's stock is heading to the moon. Since the social media platform IPO'd on Friday, the company's share price has nearly doubled, rocketing 42%. That means investors, including Condé Nast parent Advance Publications, have made even more $$$. Still no word, however, from Advance on if the company will allow Condé to proceed with layoffs as it sees a massive windfall from its investment. I asked spokespeople for the company again on Tuesday, but my emails were met with radio silence.

TOO MANY TABS

Major investment firms — including General Atlantic, Susquehanna, and Sequoia Capital — are "caught in the scrum over TikTok," Lauren Hirsch reports. (NYT)
Unsealed documents show Mark Zuckerberg told Facebook executives to "figure out" how to track how people were using Snap and YouTube, Kali Hays and Jack Newsham report. (Business Insider)
Senators also accused Zuckerberg of failing to seriously address their follow-up questions amid investigations into how Meta's platforms potentially exacerbate increases in online child abuse material. (WaPo)
Meta's oversight board said the company should end its ban on the word "shaheed," or "martyr," in English following a year-long review. (Reuters)
Artifact — the A.I.-powered news app from Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, Instagram's co-founders — may not be shutting down after announcing in January that it would wind down operations. (TechCrunch)
Snap inked a deal with Integral Ad Science to create more brand safety tools, Kerry Flynn and Sara Fischer report. (Axios)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/OGUT/Star Max/GC Images/Getty Images

So Sorry!: Nickelodeon directors Beth and Rich Correll issued an apology after the "Quiet on Set" docuseries revealed they had sided in letters with Brian Peck against Drake Bell, who had accused the acting coach of sexual abuse. "We extend our deepest apologies to Drake Bell and his family, and we deeply regret our decision many years ago to request leniency for someone who we later learned had committed a horrible crime and caused so much pain and trauma to Drake and others. If we had known the truth at the time the letters were written, we never would have written them," the directors told Variety's Emily Longeretta in a statement. Peck later served time in prison and had to register as a sex offender. Longeretta has more.

► The apology comes ahead of a new episode of "Quiet on Set" airing on Max, which is set to feature interviews with Bell and there child actors.

OFF STAGE

Sean "Diddy" Combs' lawyer raged against the federal search warrants executed on his properties, calling it in a statement "a gross overuse of military-level force." (CNN)
Timothée Chalamet inked a first-look deal with Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group. (THR)
Stephen Colbert expressed remorse for jokes he made about Kate Middleton prior to her revealing she was battling cancer, though the late-night host didn't apologize. (Deadline)
After The Slap chased away donations, Will and Jada Pinkett Smith will close their charity. (Variety)
Disney updated its Disney+ logo, nodding to its looming merger with Hulu. (The Verge)
Steven Spielberg accepted the USC Medallion, the university's highest honor, in recognition of the Shoah Foundation's 30 years. (THR)
Roman Polanski's film "The Palace" was acquired by Swashbuckler Films, a French distribution company, despite legal troubles. (Variety)
Elisabeth Moss and Kerry Washington will executive produce and star in "Imperfect Women" for Apple TV+. (The Wrap)
Julia Roberts is set to start in a thriller for Amazon MGM. (THR)
A new Beach Boys documentary, "The Beach Boys," will hit Disney+ on May 24. (Pitchfork)
Sony Pictures Entertainment released the official trailer for "Bad Boys: Ride or Die." (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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