The media world gathers to remember Richard Leibner, the AP raises ethical questions about Cesar Conde sitting on the boards of Walmart and PepsiCo while serving as NCBU News Group boss, Jim VandeHei gets candid about how A.I. will "eviscerate the weak," A24's "Civil War" offers a political extremism warning, Donald Trump reportedly expresses interest in getting closer with Lachlan Murdoch, Taylor Swift puts her music back on TikTok, Paramount announces it will re-release "Interstellar" in IMAX 70MM, and so much more. But first, the A1.
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CNN Photo Illustration/NewsBase/AP |
O.J. Simpson gripped the nation's attention for a final time Thursday.
As breaking news banners and push alerts crashed onto screens from coast to coast, stunning millions with news of the former National Football League star's death, the moment produced one last Simpson-centric collective event for the national consciousness.
But the impact the former Heisman Trophy-winning running back, who spellbound the nation as he was tried and ultimately acquitted for the gruesome murder of his ex-wife, left imprinted on America's media environment will endure long beyond his death.
In fact, it is not out of the question to wonder: Would Donald Trump have ever risen to political power and become president without Simpson?
On its surface, that might seem far-fetched. But the impression that Simpson's all-consuming trial had on shaping the modern media environment cannot be overstated. From the moment Simpson led police on a low-speed chase down a Los Angeles freeway after being charged with the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman, the media landscape was never the same.
Simpson's ensuing trial in 1995 drew astonishing audience interest, with an unprecedented 150 million people tuning in on October 3 to watch the stunning verdict delivered live on television. The extraordinary attention the case generated helped launch the careers of a generation of household media stars, including Jeffrey Toobin, Nancy Grace, Greta Van Susteren, Dan Abrams, Harvey Levin, Gregg Jarrett, and scores of others. The trial was also a milestone for the use of live TV cameras in the courtroom, transforming a typically closed-to-the-public process of justice into a cultural and entertainment spectacle that is still widely known as the Trial of the Century. Judge Lance Ito's decision still resonates to this day, with judges often criticizing the "circus" atmosphere created by the trial as they weigh whether to allow the public to view such proceedings.
But the most consequential effects the trial had on American life were far broader. Simpson's trial gave way to a media landscape dominated by salacious reality television and talking head-driven cable news.
Not only did Simpson's trial catapult Robert Kardashian (and thus the entire Kardashian family) to fame, it also served as the first major reality television show to hypnotize the nation, giving way in later years to a number of programs aimed at capitalizing off unscripted high-drama.
Meanwhile, the wall-to-wall coverage of Simpson's legal showdown, having entranced the nation, delivered a hefty viewership boost to outlets such as CNN and Court TV, helping to cement cable's role as a destination for live news. Prior to the legal drama, Americans generally relied on the nightly newscasts for their daily dose of headlines. But the Simpson trial produced endless hours of courtroom theater, prompting viewers to tune in before the likes of Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw made their way to air. In fact, according to a 1995 report in The New York Times, the surge in cable television viewership was so significant that it actually reduced the audience for the three broadcast nightly news programs. Andy Lack, then president of NBC News, said the impact was so pronounced that he worried about the Peacock network taking a "significant economic hit."
The Simpson trial's footprint on cable news did not stop there. According to media historian and University of Maine Communications and Journalism professor Michael Socolow, the trial helped persuade Rupert Murdoch into launching Fox News. Socolow said the Australian media mogul "grew enraged" watching CNN founder Ted Turner "rake in" an estimated $200 million from the live coverage of Simpson's trial. And, to that end, Socolow said Murdoch was energized to launch his right-wing alternative in 1996 to grab his own slice of the lucrative pie. It's difficult to imagine Trump being elected to the White House without the three-legged stool that Simpson's trial played a crucial role in building. Is there a Trump presidency without reality television? Or cable news? Or, especially, Fox News? Trump exploited each of those branches of the post-Simpson media environment to gain fame. And then he ultimately used them to cease — and hold onto — political power. "Simpson proved enormous profits could be generated from high ratings from programming that did not require actors and writers and sets. Reality TV had started earlier, but after Simpson there was a massive profusion of 'Reality TV,'" Socolow said in an email. "That's how 'The Apprentice' gave Donald Trump a comeback in American culture, and he rode his reality TV stardom to the White House." |
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- Jeff Zucker to Brian Stelter: "First the murders, then the actual car chase (especially coming, as it did, during one of the prime time games of the NBA playoff games) and then the trial was a real turning point for American media." (Rolling Stone)
- "The Simpson trial, it turns out, was a preview of the media that would follow," Alex Weprin writes, with cable news ballooning and "leaning into strong opinions and bluster to outrage viewers in the same way the trials did for Court TV." (THR)
- James Poniewozik: "The trial was all TV. It was every kind of TV. It was a soap opera. It was a legal thriller. It was an interactive whodunit before the age of murder podcasts. It was a social drama that exposed racial chasms and the flaws of the legal system. It was a dark comedy with buffoons, villains and comic-relief figures." (NYT)
- "Back in the early 1990s, the internet was still a curiosity ... And TV was truly a mass medium," Peter Kafka points out. "Not just because it reached so many people, but because it showed so many of them the same thing." (Business Insider)
- "Network news traditionalists were reluctant to give the Simpson story major coverage at first. But viewer interest in the case made it impossible to ignore," Stephen Battaglio writes. (LAT)
- Kayleigh Donaldson notes that the Simpson trial "birthed the TV industry's true crime obsession," writing that "nobody was ready for how celebrity and the law clashed." (The Wrap)
- Josh Fiallo has a list of "all the people" Simpson's trial "made absurdly famous." (Daily Beast)
- How did some news organizations get their coverage of Simpson's death so wrong? The NYT edited its obituary after having written that Simpson's "world was ruined after he was charged with killing his former wife and her friend." (Mediaite)
- Meanwhile, NPR posted its obit on Threads by writing, "The football great Orenthal James Simpson, known as O.J., has died." As Garrett Graff commented, the post was "inexcusable." (Threads)
- Lifetime is putting together a Nicole Brown Simpson docuseries with the family's participation, Elizabeth Wagmeister reports. (CNN)
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CNN Photo Illustration/Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images |
What was it like covering The Chase and the Simpson trial? We asked three key journalists to recall their experiences. Below are their thoughts, slightly edited for clarity: ► Allen Schaben, the photojournalist who snapped the iconic photo (above) of Simpson on an L.A. freeway: "As I traveled east on the 91, I saw a TV news truck parked next to the center divider and I figured O.J. must be headed my direction. I jumped out of the car and put a fresh roll of film in my camera while I ran to the TV truck, where the videojournalist allowed me to stand on top his truck as long as i didn't move and shake the truck. Within seconds I see A.J. Cowlings driving the white Ford Bronco with O.J. Simpson laying down in the back seat, driving right toward me. This was the back in the day where you had to manual focus the camera and was super stressed to make sure I had him in focus. I only got about 20 frames from the chase as he passed by. I proceeded to the back yard of O.J.'s Brentwood house, where he turned himself in to LAPD. I proceeded back to the Los Angeles Times to process my film and to my surprise, I was the only staff photographer to get the chase photo. The photo was syndicated around the world and was used in many major publications in addition to the Los Angeles Times." ► Jeffrey Toobin: "I had recently stepped down as a federal prosecutor and joined the New Yorker when the murders took place. It was already a sensation and I wondered how I could find my own angle. Tina brown, my editor, wasn't interested in my excuses. "There's no story in New York. Just go to LA." So I did. And I found the defense plan to accuse detective Mark Fuhrman of planting evidence because of his purported racial bias. That scoop launched my career. I spent the next two plus years on the story, covering the ultimate high and low story. It was full of Hollywood gossip but also profound lessons about race in America. I helped create the job of legal analyst with my appearances on 'The Today Show' and 'Larry King Live.' The news business, and my life, have never been the same." ► Bill Carter: "My career crossed over with OJ Simpson over a period of years, never more memorably than when he called me 2 days after the verdict in his trial and offered his views on the most-talked about courtroom event of at least the decade.... I watched the car chase and verdict in The NYT's newsroom. My reactions differed. The car chase made me queasy — was this guy I had spoken to going to shoot himself? — the verdict made me angry. His guilt in a heinous crime seemed definitive to me. That he called me a couple of days later shocked me, but he was going, I believed, partly on the presumption that I knew him a bit and so remembered the charm side of his personality. He also believed I was a fair reporter. The conversation was strange and strained. He sounded different, raw of course and much less concerned with image as he had been before. In the end, I concluded he was a deeply conflicted human being, who learned well how his athletic talent could serve as a facade for whoever —whatever — he really was inside. Who/what that was remained out of my comprehension, though I concluded what he surely was not: the gracious charming guy I had once encountered." |
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- The Drudge Report: "CANCER MURDERS OJ."
- How did some news organizations get their coverage of Simpson's death so wrong? The NYT edited its obituary after having written that Simpson's "world was ruined after he was charged with killing his former wife and her friend." (Mediaite)
- Meanwhile, NPR posted its obit on Threads by writing, "The football great Orenthal James Simpson, known as O.J., has died." As Garrett Graff commented, the post was "inexcusable." (Threads)
- Lifetime is putting together a Nicole Brown Simpson docuseries with the family's participation, Elizabeth Wagmeister reports. (CNN)
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- Scores of journalists and top media executives gathered Thursday for the funeral of Richard Leibner, the UTA power agent who died earlier this week at 85 after a battle with cancer. Bill Whitaker and Chuck Scarborough delivered eulogies to the overflow audience, which included the likes of Anderson Cooper, Norah O'Donnell, Steve Kroft, Bill Hemmer, Jeff Zucker, Allison Gollust, Suzanne Scott, Amy Entelis, Don Lemon, Brian Stelter, Gary Tuchman, and many more.
- Cesar Conde continues to be haunted by the Ronna McDaniel scandal, which has now given way to serious ethical questions about whether it is appropriate that he sits on the boards of Walmart and PepsiCo while serving as the NBCU News Group boss. "It seemed to me that this was an additional instance of NBC management not understanding the rules by which news leaders are supposed to play," former NBC News executive Bill Wheatley told David Bauder. (Associated Press)
- On the topic of Conde, Dylan Byers reported that Comcast chief Brian Roberts and president Mike Cavanaugh were "miffed" about the McDaniel disaster (I would imagine that would be putting it generously). But, Byers added, Conde's Comcast overlords did not want to "exacerbate" the situation by "continuing to mete out punishments." (Puck)
- Moving to the other newsroom grappling with political controversy: NPR. Benjamin Mullin and Katie Robertson report the radio broadcaster is facing "internal tumult" after Uri Berliner's scathing essay in Bari Weiss' The Free Press. Berliner, however, told the duo that he has not been disciplined by management. Meanwhile, Mullin and Robertson reported that new chief executive Katherine Maher told some staffers she didn't want to make Berliner a "martyr." (NYT)
- The rise of A.I. will "eviscerate the weak, the ordinary, the unprepared in media," Jim VandeHei tells Katie Robertson for a piece about how Axios is shifting its strategy and hardening itself for the battle ahead. VandeHei told Robertson that "the premium for people who can tell you things you do not know will only grow in importance" in such a world, given "no machine will do that." To that end, Axios is launching a $1,000 annual membership program around some of its journalists, including Sara Fischer, Eleanor Hawkins, and Dan Primack. (NYT)
- Knopf announced that it will publish "Patriot," a memoir Aleksei Navalny wrote before his death. It will be released October 22. (NYT)
- Catherine Herridge called for the passage of the PRESS Act during a congressional hearing: "If there's anything I can accomplish in my career as a journalist it's going to be getting this over the finish line." (FPF)
- Substack announced it is adding a Spotify integration tool that allows Substack podcasters to sync and distribute free and paid content across Spotify. (TechCrunch)
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- "Will Paramount Global end up looking for a new dance partner, or will David Ellison's Skydance Media get to clinch a deal and celebrate with a victory dance? Hollywood and Wall Street insiders alike are wondering about questions like these as the future of Shari Redstone's media and entertainment empire hangs in the balance," Georg Szalai writes. (THR)
- Skydance will meet with Paramount management to begin due diligence next week, David Faber reports. (CNBC)
- Paramount confirmed that four board members will step down during the company's annual meeting. (THR)
- Megan Graham reports on how "made for advertising" websites are "the marketing industry's latest messy situation." (WSJ)
- Fanatics "wants to create a Comic-Con for sports fans," Alex Weprin reports, noting that Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Derek Jeter, and Kevin Durant are signed up to participate. (THR)
- Showtime's streaming app will be shut down on April 30 after its programming was integrated into Paramount+. (Variety)
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- Axios named Aja Whitaker-Moore its editor-in-chief. (Axios)
- The BBC poached Alex Kay-Jelski from The Athletic, announcing he'll run its sports coverage. (Deadline)
- The LAT promoted Mariel Garza to editorials editor and promoted Susan Brenneman to op-ed editor. (LAT)
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CNN Photo Illustration/Courtesy of A24 |
The 'Civil War' Warning: Where might the spread of dangerous conspiracy theories and political extremism ultimately lead? Alex Garland paints a disturbing picture in "Civil War." The A24 film, which follows a pair of journalists as America is ensnared in a violent — you guessed it — civil war, serves as a giant warning for the country. "Filled with bullets, consuming fires and terrific actors like Kirsten Dunst running for cover, the movie is a what-if nightmare stoked by memories of Jan. 6," The NYT's Manohla Dargis wrote in her review. "As in what if the visions of some rioters had been realized, what if the nation was again broken by Civil War, what if the democratic experiment called America had come undone?" Dargis added, "Rarely have I seen a movie that made me so acutely uncomfortable or watched an actor's face that, like Dunst's, expressed a nation's soul-sickness so vividly that it felt like an X-ray." The Daily Beast's Nick Schager added in his review, "The film resounds as a warning about our vulnerability to autocrats, to fanatics, to violence, and to complacent confidence in the idea that our systems, values and compassionate ideals will carry the day." ► Donie O'Sullivan's take: "The movie is supposed to be a warning, but I think what was most chilling is, I know a lot of folks who might watch it and view it as inspiration." |
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- Donald Trump "is keen to establish more of a relationship" with Lachlan Murdoch, Lachlan Cartwright reports, citing sources: "The leadership baton has passed, and there's recognition that [Trump] does not have the history or depth of relationship with Lachlan that he's always been able to count on with Rupert," one source told Cartwright. (THR)
- The annual Talkers Heavy 100 list is out: Topping the list is Sean Hannity, followed by Dave Ramsey, Brian Kilmeade, Clay Travis & Buck Sexton, Dana Loesch, and Mark Levin. Lower on the list is Glenn Beck, Dan Bongino, and Ben Shapiro. (Talkers)
- Fox News rather not talk about the Arizona abortion ban. The network devoted the "same amount of coverage to Trump's Chick-fil-A visit and Arizona's near-total abortion ban ruling," Lis Power reports. (MMFA)
- And when the right-wing channel has covered it, it has not been so honest. Brianna Keilar called out Hannity on Thursday for his "disingenuous" commentary on the issue. (Mediaite)
- Jake Tapper spoke to Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer David Hume Kennerly about resigning from the Gerald Ford Presidential Foundation board over its refusal to bestow a top honor on Liz Cheney: "It was an act of unfortunate non-bravery." (CNN)
- She really will never stop, will she? J.K. Rowling — who is an executive producer on the forthcoming "Harry Potter" series from Warner Bros. Discovery — ripped Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson for having dared to support transgender rights. (Daily Beast)
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CNN Photo Illustration/Michael Tran/AFP/Getty Images |
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together: After a brief break-up, Taylor Swift and TikTok have made mends. The pop superstar's music is back on the short-form video platform after it was pulled in January as a result of an ongoing dispute her distributor, Universal Music Group, is engaged in with the social media company. How Swift's music found its way back to TikTok isn't entirely clear and spokespeople for all the respective parties have not explained. But, it's possible that Swift, who now owns her own masters, struck a deal with TikTok separate from UMG. No word, though, on when UMG and TikTok might shake off their feud and get back together. CNN's Samantha Murphy Kelly has more here. 🔍 Zooming in: The pact between Swift and TikTok is mutually beneficial. TikTok gets the music library of the world's biggest artist. Meanwhile, Swift will see her music get a big boost from TikTok, just in time for the release next week of her new album, "The Tortured Poets Department." |
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- Spotify is working on tools that will allow users to speed up, mash up, and edit songs as the company takes on TikTok, Anne Steele reports. (WSJ)
- Elon Musk said X has received an inquiry from Congress concerning the actions it has taken after allegedly violating Brazilian law. (Forbes)
- Oopsies! X "botched an attempt" to replace Twitter.com URLs with X.com URLs, Jon Brodkin reports. (ArsTechnica)
- Musk's X.AI Corp "is looking to raise $3 billion to $4 billion in a deal that would value the company at $18 billion" as he attempts to take on Sam Altman's OpenAI, Sarah McBride reports. (Bloomberg)
- 🤫 OpenAI fired two researchers for allegedly leaking information, Erin Woo and Stephanie Palazzolo report, citing a source. (The Info)
- Duh! Amazon boss Andy Jassy told shareholders that generative A.I. could be the most transformative item since the internet. (WSJ)
- A.I. has buoyed Google's value to $2 trillion, Vinamrata Chaturvedi points out. (Quartz)
- Instagram is testing blurring nudity in chats as a means of protecting teenagers from sexual extortion. (AP)
- Meta executive Adam Mosseri is using his Threads account to defend Instagram's algorithm, which has come under fire from users who contend followers are not seeing their content. (Threads/Threads)
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CNN Photo Illustration/Paramount Pictures |
'Interstellar' in IMAX: October cannot come soon enough! Paramount Pictures announced some stellar news at CinemaCon Thursday, revealing plans to re-release Christopher Nolan's sci-fi masterpiece "Interstellar" in theaters this fall to mark the film's 10-year anniversary. And, it should go without saying that the re-release will, of course, include IMAX 70MM screens, which Nolan shot the 2014 movie specifically for. While Nolan won his first Oscar for "Oppenheimer" this year, there are those who are of the opinion (including, perhaps, yours truly), that he was robbed for not nabbing Best Picture for his work on the space drama. Anyway, I digress! Variety's Brent Lang has all the details here. |
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- The 77th Cannes Film Festival revealed its lineup, including titles from directors such as Francis Ford Coppola, Yorgos Lanthimos, Paul Schrader, Jacques Audiard, and David Cronenberg. (Variety)
- Conan O'Brien sat down with Mikey O'Connell for a wide-ranging interview and addressed how the fragmented media environment has impacted late-night TV: "Everyone is siloed in their political beliefs and in their entertainment." (THR)
- O'Brien also spoke to Jake Tapper about his new Max show. (CNN)
- Speaking of O'Brien: His return to "The Tonight Show" this week was a "melancholy, powerful" TV moment, Daniel D'Addario writes. (Variety)
- Kendrick Lamar is teaming up with Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of "South Park," for a movie musical by Paramount due out in 2025. (The Wrap)
- Drake has been dropped from the civil lawsuits filed against him, among others, following the 2021 Astroworld tragedy. (Pitchfork)
- Paramount officially announced a new "Star Trek" film, which will take place before the 2009 film. (The Wrap)
- Plus, get ready for a new live-action "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" movie that targets adults, not kids. (Variety)
- And the entertainment conglomerate unveiled a first look of Ridley Scott's "Gladiator II." (Deadline)
- "Bob Marley: One Love" will hit Paramount+ Friday. (Paramount)
- Students from Columbia University headed to the Union Theological Seminary Thursday to hear MTV's current and former presidents – Chris McCarthy, CEO & president of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Stephen Friedman, adjunct professor at Columbia SIPA – kick off the inaugural Ignite Social Impact Summit. The crowd was given a peek at how shows like "The Daily Show" and "Yellowstone" have become drivers of social change.
- CBS' "SWAT" has been un-canceled yet again, with the network ordering up an eighth season of the crime drama. (THR)
- Apple TV+ renewed "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" for a second season. (The Verge)
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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 next week. |
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