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Wednesday, April 17, 2024

Uri Berliner resigns from NPR, CNN boss Mark Thompson talks to the FT, CNBC celebrates 35 years, Rupert Murdoch's outlets voice support for Mike Johnson while ripping Marjorie Taylor Greene, the divest-or-ban TikTok legislation is set to be fast-tracked through Congress, Google lays off more employees, Sundance considers moving out of Utah, AppleTV+ renews "For All Mankind," and more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

Who Run the World

CNN Photo Illustration/Mariel Tyler/NBAE/Getty Images

It's a woman's world.

The most defining musicians of the era are Taylor Swift and Beyoncé. The highest-grossing film in recent memory is Greta Gerwig's "Barbie." And the most-watched basketball star is Caitlin Clark.

Female-created and focused entertainment is not just having a moment. It is proving that it is here to stay, with once-in-a-generation talents across various media facets redefining dated narratives that once relegated female-focused entertainment to second-class status.

Look no further than the music business. Swift and Beyoncé, having already dominated 2023, are set to own 2024. Beyoncé's first country album, "Cowboy Carter," topped Billboard's charts with nearly half a million copies sold in its debut week. The success made her the first Black woman ever to have claimed the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Top Country Albums list.

Meanwhile, Swift is set to release her highly anticipated album, "The Tortured Poets Department," on Friday. The buzz around that work, her 11th album, could not be higher. iHeartRadio boss Tom Poleman went as far to tell CNN's Alli Rosenbloom, "This is probably the most anticipated album ever that I've seen in my career."

"It's not just a music event, it's a pop culture event that I think that everybody in America will be talking about and celebrating together," Poleman said.

And, of course, it is not just the music arena in which women are leading the way.

Over the last couple of weeks, Clark drew enormous attention to the women's NCAA Tournament, which posted staggering viewership numbers, breaking records in the lead up to the championship game. That game, in which Clark's Hawkeyes faced off against the undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks, drew an average of 18.9 million viewers — not only out-rating the men's championship for the first time ever, but becoming the most-watched basketball game of any league, including the NBA, since 2019. Then, this week, the WNBA draft shattered ratings records, drawing an average of 2.5 million viewers.

It goes without saying that the incredible talent each artist, performer and athlete brings to the table is responsible for drawing enormous audience interest. But the various feats also underscore a notable shift in culture. Female-led entertainment is no longer thought of by parts of the public as niche. It is now, in many respects, more in vogue than the entertainment from male counterparts.

That strong gravitational pull toward women-focused entertainment reflects a new normal. While men have long controlled Hollywood and sports, society has pushed far beyond those days, with women reaching ever-greater stardom and acclaim. The public now expects that its entertainers reflect the diversity that exists in communities across the country and world.

There is also a cross-pollination effect at play. The impact of a once-in-a-generation star like Swift will surely inspire interest in other female-led performers, spawning even greater appetite and opportunities. Those economic and viewership successes should also lead media executives to invest more heavily in the space.

Unfortunately, not all aspects of society have yet to catch up with the changing cultural dynamics. Yes, both Swift and Beyoncé are cashing in on their music. But the same cannot be said about other wings of entertainment.

Women's sports are often difficult to find or rarely given the massive exposure and pomp of men's athletics on major media outlets. The Wall Street Journal noted that while the NCAA women's tournament outshined the men's, the latter was far more lucrative, raking in $873 million for the television rights compared to $6.5 million for the women's. Much of that gap is due to the significantly lower cost outlets have paid for the broadcast rights.

Meanwhile, as "Barbie" was widely celebrated for its cultural commentary (and massively successful at the box office), Gerwig was snubbed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which didn't even nominate her for best director.

And Clark, the WNBA's No. 1 overall draft pick, signed a four-year contract with the Indiana Fever for just $338,000. Compare that to the NBA's top pick Victor Wembanyama, who signed a $55 million contract with the San Antonio Spurs.

"There's just something about this that's so disturbing," "Today" co-host Hoda Kotb said on the show Tuesday.

"I mean, I picture all the little girls with signs that say, 'Caitlin!' but this is what her contract is worth?" she added.

Society is making progress. But there is a long way to go.

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Berliner Bows Out: It wasn't too difficult to see this coming. Uri Berliner, the NPR senior editor who wrote a scathing essay for Bari Weiss' The Free Press last week accusing the radio broadcaster of harboring a liberal bias, said Wednesday he had resigned from the outlet. "I am resigning from NPR, a great American institution where I have worked for 25 years," Berliner wrote in a letter to NPR chief executive Katherine Maher. In his resignation letter, Berliner stated he did not support calls to defend NPR, but he blasted Maher, saying that he could not "work in a newsroom where I am disparaged by a new CEO whose divisive views confirm the very problems at NPR I cite in my Free Press essay." Berliner was seemingly referencing a number of old tweets uncovered in recent days by right-wing activists in which Maher posted disparagingly about Donald Trump, calling the former president a "racist," among other things. Here's my full story.

► The turmoil inside NPR, however, isn't over yet: The NYT's Benjamin Mullin reported that dozens of NPR employees have signed a letter to Maher and Editor-In-Chief Edith Chapin, calling on them to "publicly and directly call out" Berliner's piece for "factual inaccuracies and elisions." The letter from NPR'ers said that they wanted leadership to voice "stronger support for staff who have had their journalistic expertise called into question by one of their own in a public forum."

THE INDUSTRY

THE FOURTH ESTATE

Alexandra Bruell: "From NPR to NBC, newsrooms test management's tolerance for dissent." (WSJ)
CNN boss Mark Thompson spoke to Daniel Thomas and Anna Nicolaou, telling the duo that there "are plenty of things we have to fix" and that "the idea that there might be a digital subscription" to the network "is a serious possibility." (Financial Times)
CNBC marked its 35th anniversary, with network boss KC Sullivan and network leadership ringing the closing bell on Wall Street. (YouTube)
The business-focused channel also released a highlight video looking back on its 35 years. (YouTube)
💰 Hugh Grant reached a settlement with Rupert Murdoch's News Group Newspapers, which he alleged had tapped his phone. (BBC)
TIME released its annual list of the 100 most influential people. (TIME)
Rusty Foster, author of "Today in Tabs," received the profile treatment, with Steven Kurutz calling his newsletter "an enduring obsession of the city's media class." (NYT)
"CBS Mornings" touted that it has beat "GMA" in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 demo nine times this season. (Threads)
RIP: Kim Christensen, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter "focused entirely on righting wrongs and exposing truth," died at 71. (LAT)

TINSELTOWN TALK

Don't miss Daniel Bessner's cover piece for Harper's Magazine: "The life and death of Hollywood." (Harper's)
Nielsen's latest Gauge report: Streaming accounts for 38.5% of TV consumption, cable 28.3%, and broadcast 22.5%. In the streaming bucket, YouTube leads the way with 9.7% of consumption, Netflix 8.1%, Hulu 3%, Prime Video 2.8%, and Disney+ 1.7%. (NextTV)
A group of approximately 1,700 Disneyland performers have filed a petition to form a union. (CNN)
The "final, certified voting results" from Disney's boardroom fight have been filed with the SEC — and they show a "blowout win for Bob Iger," Alex Weprin reports. (THR)
Now it's Nelson Peltz in the hot seat! Cara Lombardo and Lauren Thomas wonder aloud if the Trian Partners boss can "recover" after being "crushed by Disney." (WSJ)

MEDIA MOVES

The Society of Professional Journalists hired Caroline Hendrie as executive director. (SPJ)
Reuters hired Kavya Balaraman as an editor on the commodities and energy team. (TBN)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Mike Segar/Reuters

Murdoch Likes Mike: Embattled House Speaker Mike Johnson appears to have a powerful ally in his court: Rupert Murdoch. The right-wing media mogul's outlets were not shy on Wednesday in assailing Johnson's GOP critics. The New York Post editorial board ran a piece headlined, "Back Mike Johnson on Ukraine aid because it's good retail politics — whatever the loudmouths claim." The Post separately published an opinion piece saying "anti-Ukraine Republicans like J.D. Vance and Marjorie Taylor Greene don't speak for most voters." And, over at Fox News, a remarkably scathing piece was published by Liz Peek, headlined, "Marjorie Taylor Greene is an idiot. She is trying to wreck the GOP." That editorial, notably, was programmed high on the Fox News website.

► Meanwhile, at Murdoch's broadsheet, The WSJ, President Joe Biden published an opinion piece imploring Congress to pass funding aid for Ukraine and Israel.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

MAGA Media figures are spinning Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial in a number of ways, Justin Horowitz reports. (MMFA)
Right-wing media figures in town for the Trump trial are learning that "the Big Apple isn't exactly the post-apocalyptic wasteland they've been led to believe," Justin Baragona reports. In one case, RSBN host Brian Glenn confessed, "I gotta say, I thought I would see more [of a] homeless situation here. I thought I would see a little more chaos on the streets than, um, from what I've been told. And I didn't see as much as I thought." (Daily Beast)
That hasn't stopped right-wing media from continuing to portray America as a nation infested with crime. In fact, prominent personalities are telling their audiences that an FBI report showing crime is down is false, baselessly accusing President Joe Biden of "cooking the books." (MMFA)
Friendly fire: Ben Shapiro went off on "con artist" Andrew Tate, who stands accused of sex trafficking, which he denies: He spreads "evil" rhetoric to young men, Shapiro said. (Mediaite)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Ringo Chiu/AP

Time Ticks on TikTok: It looks like TikTok is in serious hot water. The House intends to include legislation forcing the ByteDance-owned company to either divest or face a U.S. ban in another bill providing aid to Ukraine and Israel, Steven T. Dennis and Sana Pashankar reported Wednesday. That legislation would then make its way to the Senate where it could become law. "The bill would give ByteDance up to a year to divest itself of the social media platform — longer than the six-month time frame in previously passed House measure," Dennis and Pashankar reported. Read their full story here.

► 📈 As TikTok faces federal pressure, its competitors are looking to be rewarded. Snap shares ended the day up nearly 5% on the TikTok news.

TOO MANY TABS

TikTok was given 24 hours to provide the E.U. with a risk assessment regarding TikTok Lite, a new app it launched this month in France and Spain, that addresses its possible impact on children and users' mental health. (Reuters)
Meanwhile, TikTok's Instagram rival TikTok Notes is starting to roll out for testing in Australia and Canada. (The Verge)
The E.U. wants online platforms to offer users the ability to use their services — for free — without targeted advertising. (Reuters)
✂️ Cuts, cuts, cuts: Google is laying off even more employees as its teams continue to undergo restructuring, Hugh Langley reports. (Business Insider)
Reddit is taking over Google, observes Langley. (Business Insider)
Wait, what? Meta's A.I. chatbot told users that it has a disabled child. (404 Media)
Amazon Prime memberships in the U.S. grew 8% YoY. (Bloomberg)
Snap said it will add watermarks to any images generated using its array of A.I.-powered tools. (TechCrunch)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

So Long, Sundance?: Will the Sundance Film Festival be leaving its longtime home of Park City, Utah? Maybe. Sundance said that it will hear pitches from other cities to host the annual event in 2027, with a selection being announced within the next year or so. "We look forward to reviewing each proposal and working together with all of our potential collaborators to determine how we can collectively meet the needs of the independent film ecosystem and broader creative community," said Sundance Institute Board chair Ebs Burnough. Variety's Matt Donnelly has more here.

OFF STAGE

Olivia Munn spoke candidly about being diagnosed with cancer: "You realize cancer doesn't care who you are; it doesn't care if you have a baby or if you don't have time. It comes at you, and you have no choice but to face it head-on." (THR)
🚀 Exciting news! Apple TV+ has renewed "For All Mankind" for a fifth season — and the streamer has also announced a new spin-off series, "Star City." (The Wrap)
Martin Scorsese is eyeing a Frank Sinatra biopic that will, to no one's surprise, involve Leonardo DiCaprio, Tatiana Siegel reports. (Variety)
Denis Villeneuve sat down with Amy Nicolson to discuss some of the director's choices and hidden symbolism in "Dune: Part 2." He also said he is "at peace" with the AMC collectors popcorn bucket. (NYT)
Jon M. Chu will direct the musical stage adaptation of "Crazy Rich Asians." (THR)
Barbra Streisand recorded a new song, "Love Will Survive," for Peacock's "The Tattooist of Auschwitz." (Billboard)
"Yellowstone" will head to Stagecoach 2024, taking the Dutton Ranch to the festival. (Instagram)
Netflix released the teaser for "One Hundred Years of Solitude." (YouTube)
Netflix released the trailer for the third and final season of "Sweet Tooth." (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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