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Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Major news outlets strangely show little interest in reporting on Donald Trump's courtroom naps, NPR suspends Uri Berliner, Democratic congressmen demand answers over sports super-streamer, OAN settles Smartmatic suit, News/Media Alliance asks feds to probe Google for blocking news in California, Bill Weir names the one thing he'd change about climate coverage, "Sesame Street" workers authorize a strike if deal isn't hammered out this week, "Dune: Part Two" becomes available to purchase on digital platforms, and so much more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

'Banned in the USA'

CNN Photo Illustration/Kevin Richardson/Baltimore Sun/TNS/Getty Images

America's right-wing forces would have you believe that they are the courageous entities standing up for free speech.

But, as they try to claim that mantle, many of those same forces in media and politics are behind a disturbing wave of book bans sweeping the nation.

PEN America, a non-profit organization committed to protecting free expression, published an alarming report Tuesday indicating that the "book ban crisis" is only getting worse. The bans are "speeding up," the organization warned in its report, a troublesome trend that is impacting public school systems from coast-to-coast.

"There were over 4,000 instances of book bans in the first half of this school year—more than all of last school year as a whole. This is a marked increase in comparison to the last spring semester, in which PEN America recorded 1,841 book bans," the group said in the report, aptly titled "Banned in the USA."

The bans started in haste in early 2021, birthed in the backlash to Nikole Hannah-Jones's 1619 Project at The New York Times. At the time, the concern among conservatives was that schools were using books to supposedly indoctrinate young students with critical race theory, an academic concept that became a culture war flashpoint and sparked hysteria in right-wing circles. Over time, the bans have grown to encompass other topics, notably gender ideology.

The censorship has been fueled by the right-wing media machine (which again, purports to be pro-free speech), with entities such as "Libs of TikTok" targeting specific school systems and effectively waging pressure campaigns against administrators to take certain works off the library shelves.

Some of the books removed from schools across the country include Margaret Atwood's acclaimed dystopian-turned-Hulu adaption "The Handmaid's Tale," Amy Reed's novel "The Nowhere Girls," Rupi Kaur's NYT bestseller "Milk and Honey," Ta-Nehisi Coates's memoir "Between the World and Me," and others.

"Those who want to ban books are attempting to use obscenity law and hyperbolic rhetoric about 'porn in schools' to justify banning books about sexual violence and LGBTQ+ topics (and in particular, trans identities). In doing so, they have also disproportionately targeted books by women and nonbinary authors," PEN America said. "The movement to ban books also continues to focus on themes of race and racism by advancing rhetoric disparaging 'critical race theory,' 'woke ideology,' and efforts to ensure library collections are diverse and inclusive."

CNN Photo Illustration/PEN America

Such brazen book bans — unprecedented in modern American history — is at its worst in the red states of Florida and Texas. In Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law last year that led to the removal of books from public school shelves, more than 5,100 books were banned between July 2021 and December 2023, according to PEN America. In Texas, the number was more than 1,500, the group said.

The bans have also led to harassment against the authors who suddenly find themselves hurled into the information wars. Abdi Nazemian, a gay Iranian-American author, said during a press call organized by PEN America on Tuesday that "nothing could have prepared" him for "the experience of having my book banned."

"First and foremost, a heartbreak over the message it sends to young queer kids who deserve love and support. But also just the fear over all the online threats I've received," Nazemian said. "I've been called a pedophile and a groomer. I've been called filthy, indecent, profane, shady, slimy."

PEN America said Tuesday that there is one glimmer of hope: growing resistance to the bans. Every major publisher is now actively supporting a legal case to halt book banning in Iowa. And, across the country, ordinary people are getting involved to put an end to the trend.

"We see students at the forefront, leading protests, read-ins, marching to oppose censorship and educational censorship in particular happening and plaguing their schools and school libraries," Kasey Meehan, the program director of PEN America's Freedom to Read, said Tuesday. "And, of course, we're joined by incredible voices of authors and parents and other advocates that are leading efforts to be as coordinated, as well resourced, and as organized as those efforts to remove books in the first place."

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Jeenah Moon/Pool/AFP/Getty Images

Sleepy Joe Trump: Imagine, for a moment, if President Joe Biden were to be caught openly sleeping at an important hearing. Then imagine it were to occur at another important hearing the next day. Not only would right-wing media outlets like Fox News run wild with coverage questioning his fitness for office, mainstream news organizations would no doubt also treat the snooze fest as a serious news story. But, for some unknown reason, Donald Trump falling asleep at his historic criminal trial in New York (as he apparently did, again, on Tuesday) has been met with a rather muted response.

ABC News and NBC News didn't even bother mentioning it on their evening newscasts and many major outlets haven't even filed straight stories on it. To be frank, if not for The NYT's Maggie Haberman reporting on the matter Tuesday, it's unclear whether the public — which is relying on news organizations to be its eyes and ears in the courtroom, given cameras are barred — would know about it. It's all the more bizarre given that Trump has made attacking "sleepy Joe" a central tenet of his campaign, framing the president as lacking the stamina to serve in the nation's highest office. Which is to say, the fact that Trump is the one apparently unable to stay awake in his own criminal trial isn't a trivial story. It's important. So why has much of the press fallen asleep at the wheel?

THE TRUMP TRIALS

The Drudge Report

While much of the mainstream press turns a blind eye to Trump's courtroom naps, the Drudge Report is playing it as the top story: "HE FALLS ASLEEP AGAIN!" blared the conservative site's top banner headline.
Cable ratings are in for the first day of the historic Trump trial: MSNBC led CNN, averaging 2.2 million total viewers in prime time, compared to CNN's 711,000. In the advertiser-coveted 25-54 demo, MSNBC averaged 223,000 viewers in prime and CNN averaged 148,000 viewers. Over in right-wing talk television, Fox News averaged 2.4 million total viewers in prime and 272,000 in the demo.
First in Reliable | Comedy Central's Jordan Klepper headed down to the Manhattan court where Trump is on trial to speak to MAGA supporters. The segment, which will air on "The Daily Show," is both comical and revealing. (YouTube)
Seven people have been seated on the Manhattan jury. Juror number one said they watch both Fox News and MSNBC. "If I'm Trump and I got anyone who watches any Fox News, I want a chance that that person is going to go on the jury," CNN legal analyst Elie Honig commented. But Honig cautioned, "I picked juries in New York, people sometimes confuse Fox News with the local Fox 5." (Mediaite)
Correction: In the previous edition of this newsletter, we got our wires crossed and incorrectly linked federal rules barring cameras in courtrooms with the situation in New York. Cameras are not permitted in the hush money trial due to a state rule. We regret the error.

THE INDUSTRY

THE FOURTH ESTATE

NPR suspended senior editor Uri Berliner for five days, without pay, over his column sharply criticizing the radio broadcaster and suggesting it had embraced a "progressive worldview" that had distorted coverage on a number of key stories, David Folkenflik reported. (NPR)
An NPR spokesperson did not dispute the suspension, only telling me that the outlet "does not comment on individual personnel matters, including discipline." Berliner did not respond to a request for comment. (CNN)
Steve Inskeep wrote about the drama: "If Uri wanted to start a discussion about journalism at NPR, he succeeded, though maybe not in the way he intended. His colleagues have had a rich dialogue about his mistakes." (Differ We Must)
Alicia Montgomery, Slate's vice president of audio and a former NPR'er, also penned a piece: "It did take a kind of courage for Uri to publicly criticize the organization. But it also took a lot of the wrong type of nerve. His argument is a demonstration of contemporary journalism at its worst, in which inconvenient facts and obvious questions were ignored, and the facts that could be shaped to serve the preferred argument were inflated in importance." (Slate)
Switching gears: Semafor is gearing up to host its two-day World Economy Summit, which it describes as "the largest and most consequential gathering on the state of the global economy." The event kicks off Wednesday and features a long list of notable speakers. (Semafor)
This is a legitimate job posting: The Daily Beast's new content chief, Joanna Coles, said her "first move" will be the hiring of a "senior Lauren Sanchez correspondent." The job posting has already yielded a deluge of applicants, I'm told. (Instagram)
Might such a strategy make its way into the U.S. broadcast media as linear declines? The BBC plans to stop handing out automatic raises to its top earners, Jake Kanter reports. (Deadline)

TINSELTOWN TALK

Democratic Reps. Jerry Nadler and Joaquin Castro wrote a letter demanding Bob Iger, David Zaslav, and Lachlan Murdoch provide answers on the trio's super-streamer. Nadler and Castro requested a response by April 30. (Deadline)
UTA is trying to steady the MediaLink ship after Micahel Kassan's exit. The talent agency named its executive team responsible for running day-to-day operations. (THR)
Prime Video posted job listings recently for more than 250 new employees as Amazon works to bolster the streaming platform. (Business Insider)
Bill Schultz, a former PBS producer, filed a lawsuit against Al Roker and his entertainment company, alleging they "callously disregarded" a DEI policy. Roker has yet to comment on it. (THR)

IN THE MARKET

Yikes! Shares in Trump Media & Technology Group plummeted another 14% on Tuesday after Truth Social announced it would expand into streaming. (CNN)
Shares in Warner Bros. Discovery fell nearly 3% on Tuesday, ending the trading day at $8.14 — just 12 cents shy of its all-time low of $8.02.

MEDIA MOVES

Warner Bros. Discovery hired David Porter as head of ad sales research, data, and insights. (Variety)
Paramount Advertising named Ryan Briganti as its head of sports. (THR)
WIRED named Natasha Bernal senior business editor. (LinkedIn)
The NYT promoted Joe Ward to senior staff editor on Graphics. (NYT)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Smartmatic's OAN Settlement: Another day and another MAGA Media outlet is paying for having peddled Donald Trump's lies about the 2020 election. Voting technology company Smartmatic and the far-right network One America News said Tuesday that they had settled a defamation lawsuit stemming from the outlet's conspiracy peddling in the wake of the 2020 contest. "The case has been resolved pursuant to a confidential agreement," OAN attorney Chip Babcock said. Neither party disclosed the terms of the deal. The case was still in the discovery phase, but depositors were set to get underway, including for owner Robert Herring and his son, Charles. Now, those will never happen. Here's my story with Marshall Cohen.

🔎 Zooming in: Smartmatic's case against OAN was one of a spate of lawsuits filed against right-wing outlets in the aftermath of the election. Several of those lawsuits continue to make their way through the court system, including Smartmatic's cases against Fox News and Newsmax.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

"Elon Musk's X is a thriving hub for Nazi support and propaganda, with paid subscribers sharing speeches by Adolf Hitler or content praising his genocidal regime," David Ingram reports, noting that such content is "not confined to the fringes" of the platform. (NBC News)
So much for free speech! In an abrupt about-face, Musk's X is reversing course in Brazil, telling the nation's supreme court it will comply with all rulings mere days after Musk last week challenged a decision directing the platform to block several accounts in the country. (Reuters)
And in India, X withheld several political posts following an election commission order. (Reuters)
Tucker Carlson continues to face criticism from the right, with Eli Lake penning a column excoriating the former Fox News host for embracing dictators like Russia's Vladimir Putin: "What was most appalling was Tucker's descent into moral relativism, his muddying of the line between good and evil. For Tucker, America is not exceptional; it is no better than its enemies. And this is particularly corrosive, because he is persuading a large segment of the American right to abandon its rightful contempt for foreign tyrants, terrorists, and cranks." (The Free Press)
MAGA Media personality Charlie Kirk (remember when NBC News linked arms with his employer, Salem Radio Network, for a GOP debate late last year?) said that the Civil Rights Act "created a beast and that beast has now turned into an anti-white weapon." (MMFA)
Want another dose of the rhetoric coursing through right-wing media? BlazeTV's Steve Deace descended into an anti-Islam tirade, saying Islam "would gut Christian and Jew alike if it could, and has." (MMFA)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu/Getty Images

Gutting News From Google: News organizations are ratcheting up the pressure on Google after the Silicon Valley titan started blocking some California news outlets over a proposed state law that would require tech companies to pay for publishers' content. The News/Media Alliance, which represents more than 2,000 publishers, sent letters on Tuesday to multiple federal agencies imploring them to launch a probe into Google over the move. "There are many ways Google's unilateral decision to turn off access to news websites for Californians could violate [various] laws," the letters stated. News/Media Alliance chief Danielle Coffey added "no one company should be permitted to control information so singularly that it can make decisions to the detriment of society, as Google has done in California." Google, for its part, has declined to comment. CNN's Hadas Gold has more here.

TOO MANY TABS

More smiles for Zuck! A judge granted Mark Zuckerberg's request to dismiss him from addiction suits against Meta. (Bloomberg Law)
Google DeepMind boss Demis Hassabis said the tech giant will invest more than $100 billion in A.I. development "over time." (Bloomberg)
Helen Toner, the former OpenAI director, said A.I. leaders ought to be required to disclose their findings and allow for outside audits. (Axios)
Amazon Music launched an A.I. playlist generator tool, named Maestro. (TechCrunch)
Spotify told Ashley Carman that 25% of its subscribers across the U.S., U.K., and Australia try audiobooks. (Bloomberg)
YouTube has started testing a new design that moves video titles and descriptions to the side, making way for related content directly below the video. (Android Authority)
The Google-owned video platform is also "strengthening [its] enforcement on third-party apps" that block ads. (9to5Google)

THE CLIMATE CRISIS

CNN Photo Illustration/Chronicle Books

Covering the Climate: CNN's chief climate correspondent, Bill Weir, is out with a new book Tuesday, "Life As We Know It (Can Be)." The nonfiction work is about the perils facing Earth, but it is also about so much more, touching on the human spirit and condition. Weir told me that when he became a father at 52, he "was really worried about the planet my new son had just joined" and so he started writing him Earth Day letters. "They were dark and angry at first, but as he grew, I went on a deliberate hunt for solutions and found a whole new way to think about the problem," Weir explained. "Along the way, I collected dozens of new ideas and practical ways to build stronger, healthier and more resilient communities and met so many inspirational role models for my kids."

I asked Weir to identify one thing he would change about the media's climate coverage, if he had such power. "Too often, I'm the guy yelling 'SAY IT! Say the word 'climate!'' at the screen when a reporter is standing in technicolor proof of unnatural disaster and never connects that day's record-shattering events to the larger trends of planetary change. During Covid, every member of every newsroom was suddenly forced to become a health reporter and I argue we're all destined to be climate reporters as Earth overheats and humanity adapts — or doesn't. It's the one beat that connects all the others, and the sooner we help audiences understand climate's connection to their health, wealth and happiness, the better."

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Sesame Workshop

Strike on Sesame Street?: The writers of "Sesame Street" are one step closer to staging a strike. Unionized workers at Sesame Workshop voted unanimously on Tuesday to authorize a strike if a deal for a new contract is not reached by Friday, when the current deal expires. Both the union and management issued statements saying they are committed to negotiating before a potential work stoppage. "Our writers are integral members of our creative team, and we are engaged in good faith negotiations with the WGA," Sesame Workshop said. "We're still hopeful that we'll come to an agreement in advance of the expiration." We'll see if that happens. Variety's William Earl has more here.

OFF STAGE

Sylvester Stallone has started promoting the second season of "Tulsa King," though he has thus far failed to directly address allegations of toxic on-set behavior. (THR)
Participant, the studio behind "Spotlight," will close its doors. (Variety)
PSA: "Dune: Part Two" is now available to purchase on digital platforms!
HBO released the trailer for "Hacks" season three. (YouTube)
Travis Kelce will host Amazon's "Are You Smarter Than A Celebrity?" (Deadline)
Pamela Anderson will star in Paramount Pictures' yet untitled "Naked Gun" reboot apposite Liam Neeson. (Deadline)
Steve Buscemi joined the cast of Netflix's "Wednesday." (Variety)
Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson will star in Apple TV+'s "Down Cemetery Road." (THR)

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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