A top ABC News exec exits after Kim Godwin's ouster, Sophie Schmidt donates $15 million for Gaza relief, news networks announce they'll simulcast CNN's presidential debate, Murdoch Media inflames migrant crime, The WSJ probes Instagram's algorithm for kids, Hollywood remembers Donald Sutherland, and more. But first, the A1. |
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| CNN Photo Illustration/Dan Istitene/Formula 1/Getty Images |
When will Jeff Bezos actually address the upheaval roiling his newsroom?
The Washington Post owner and Amazon billionaire has yet to take any real action to quell concerns at his newspaper, which remains engulfed in disarray as explosive reports are published day after day throwing the ethical integrity of the outlet's new publisher, Will Lewis, into serious question.
Staffers at The Post are losing their patience with Bezos, whose only action thus far responding to the Lewis calamity has been to fire off a paltry, 138-word, single-paragraph memo from his Mediterranean yachting vacation to a handful of leaders at The Post, assuring them that he wants standards to remain "very high." In the eyes of staffers at The Post, that is the very issue. They too want standards to remain "very high" and fear that Lewis, and incoming editor Robert Winnett, pose an active danger to that shared goal.
Frustrations and concerns are so high at the outlet that two of the institution's Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists have chosen to speak out on the record, calling for a change in leadership, an unheard of step at the storied newspaper. David Maraniss, an associate editor who has worked at The Post for nearly five decades, said he doesn't "know a single person at the Post who thinks the current situation with the publisher and supposed new editor can stand." And Scott Higham, who has worked at The Post for more than two decades, agreed and called for Lewis' head.
"Will Lewis needs to step down for the good of The Post and the public," wrote Higham on Facebook. "He has lost the newsroom and will never win it back."
Suffice to say, Maraniss and Higham are just saying aloud what much of the newsroom is thinking. In my conversations with more than a dozen people inside and close to The Post this week, it's been made clear that Lewis, in his brief six months on the job, has totally alienated staff and now faces insurmountable odds to win back the employee base he seeks to lead. Whether he has good business ideas or not, is not the question. He's lost the respect of his staff. And any good leader will tell you, without a legitimacy to lead, it is unfeasible to get anything done, let alone stage a Herculean business transformation.
A spokesperson for Bezos did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday. But surely the billionaire understands the dire situation gripping The Post. And it taxes the imagination to believe that he really believes his brief memo to The Post's leadership was enough to extinguish the concerns that have spurred the unprecedented uproar at the newspaper. In fact, it's notable that Bezos has not explicitly voiced support for Lewis in recent days, giving him options as he evaluates the deteriorating situation and determines how to stem the bleeding.
Staffers at The Post are very much waiting for Bezos to take some meaningful form of action. Since anger at Lewis erupted earlier this month, I've been repeatedly told by those who work at the outlet that the ongoing drama has distracted the newsroom from its invaluable work. Suffice to say, with a high-stakes election only months away, it is anything but ideal to have the attention of one of the nation's preeminent news organizations diverted by internal turmoil whirling within its walls.
It's "a massive distraction," one Postie underscored to me Thursday, adding that The Guardian's eyebrow-raising story accusing Lewis of having once advised then-U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson to "clean up" his phone during the so-called "Partygate" scandals is "the talk of the newsroom." (Lewis and Johnson denied the story.)
"I don't think the mood will change until something else changes," the staffer added.
In the absence of Bezos, the stories raising questions about Lewis' ethical integrity keep coming. The Financial Times reported Thursday that Lewis still "retains links" to a public relations firm that advises high-powered corporate and political leaders how to navigate thorny situations. While the FT reported Lewis had sold his ownership stake in the business, the outlet noted the firm has "continued to distribute regular emails from Lewis," causing "confusion among people in contact with the agency."
While the FT's Thursday story certainly did not carry with it the same weight as the reports that have been published in recent days from other news outlets, it added yet additional questions about Lewis' history and entanglements. Meanwhile, it is likely that many more questions will be raised in the future as The Post and outlets such as The New York Times continue to take a hard look at Lewis' history. And as those questions keep coming, those at The Post will certainly have one in particular for Bezos: What are you planning to do to restore the respect and status of your storied newspaper? |
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CNN Photo Illustration/Mario Anzuoni/Reuters |
Go And Be With Godwin: More than a month after Kim Godwin was ousted from her role as ABC News president, the aftershocks are still rippling through the Disney-owned news organization. On Thursday, The WaPo's Jeremy Barr reported that Godwin's top lieutenant, executive vice president Stacia Deshishku, will exit the network. Barr, who obtained a draft of her announcement (which several ABC'ers told me they never received an actual copy of) reported that Deshishku's final day will be next Friday. ABC'ers I spoke to very much welcomed her exit. Additionally, I am told that Jose Andino, vice president of the office of the president and process management, is expected to depart the network later this summer. 🔎 Zooming In: The exits of Deshishku and Andino come as no surprise. As we reported last month, Disney boss Debra OConnell has for much of this year been conducting a thorough review of how the network was run under Godwin. That review not only included examining Godwin's performance, but also the rest of her senior leadership team. And when OConnell peeked under the hood, I'm told that she was struck by how poorly the organization had been run. |
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First in Reliable | Schmidt's Gaza Gift: Sophie Schmidt, the founder of the Rest of World news outlet and daughter of former Google boss Eric Schmidt, has committed to donate $15 million to Doctors Without Borders' Gaza Crisis Fund. The donation, which will support medical relief for Palestinians, was made in honor of her grandmother, Eleanor. "Doctors Without Borders is extremely grateful for Ms. Schmidt's generosity and compassion," a Doctors Without Borders spokesperson told me. "This gift will be an immense support to the critical medical care we're providing in Gaza, the West Bank, and southern Lebanon, and will help us plan for future medical needs in the region." |
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- CBS News and Fox News said they will simulcast the CNN debate next week. ABC News had already said it would do so. NBC News and MSNBC haven't officially announced their plans, but are expected to air it as well. (Deadline)
- Donald Trump won a coin flip which means he will get the final word at the political showdown. (CNN)
- The Knight Foundation announced it will provide news outlets with election resources via a new hub. (Poynter)
- CNN Washington bureau chief Sam Feist, who will take over as the next C-SPAN chief this summer, bid farewell to his current colleagues ahead of his final day at the network on Friday: "35 years ago, I walked into the CNN Washington bureau as an intern. 35 years later, I have seen CNN grow into the world's most important and most influential news organization."
- Over at The Daily Beast, the outlet's own Washington bureau chief, Martin Pengelly, "has quit just five weeks after being hired," Lachlan Cartwright reports, adding that the departure comes "as most unionized journalists at the publication are preparing to flee at the end of next week after taking generous buyouts." (Hot Source)
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- A web-based app that Venu Sports has been building — and apparently been leaving accessible on the open web — shows "a service very much in the making," Janko Roettgers reports, noting it appears to support recording live events and have a multi-view functionality. (Lowpass)
- Disney has angered rivals by lowering its advertising rates on its Disney+ streaming service, Brian Steinberg reports. (Variety)
- Scott Galloway joined Matt Belloni's podcast and unloaded on Hollywood, saying its unions "have their heads up their asses" and its leaders are "arrogant": "You're subject to the same economics as the rest of us, folks." (The Town)
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CNN Photo Illustration/Fox News |
Murdoch Media Vilifies Migrants: Rupert Murdoch's New York Post is working in overdrive to inflame migrant crime, repeatedly featuring stories on the theme on its front pages and programming articles into the top position on its website. For the last three consecutive days, the Keith Poole-led tabloid has featured stories about migrants on its front cover. "OPEN BORDER KILLER," read the giant bold letters on one front page. On the outlet's homepage Thursday, the top headline blared, "MIGRANTS HORROR." Some of the stories the Post is spotlighting aren't even local New York crime stories, indicating that the rag is simply scouring the country for examples of crimes involving migrants to amplify on its front page. Across Murdoch Media, there is a similar trend. Fox News has featured the stories on its air, dubbing the segments "MIGRANT CRIME CHAOS," and on Thursday promoted an article on the subject as its top story. 🔎 Zooming In: While sensationalizing migrant crime stories, Murdoch Media has notably failed to cover in a meaningful way that violent crime is actually down across the country. As MMFA's Gideon Taaffe reported, "Following yet another FBI report showing there has been a national drop in violent and property crime rates, Fox undercovered the news ... The network spent only 5 minutes on the FBI report in the week following its release." |
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- An appeals court rejected Steve Bannon's bid to delay the start of his prison sentence set to begin on July 1. (CNN)
- A man who was falsely identified as a neo-Nazi mass shooter by right-wing media outlets dropped his claims against Fox News, though the case will continue against remaining defendants — which include Newsmax, Univision, Stephen Crowder, and Owen Shroyer. (Daily Beast)
- Fox News "is helping Trump plan another Jan. 6-style assault on democracy," Matt Gertz warns. (MSNBC)
- But Trump can never be happy, raging at the network yet again on Thursday. (Daily Beast)
- Laura Jedeed chronicles the rise and implosion of James O'Keefe's Project Veritas. (Rolling Stone)
- WPP boss Mark Read defended interviewing Elon Musk onstage at Cannes Lions, telling Jameson Fleming that he viewed the conversation with the unhinged billionaire as "a good opportunity for us to hear directly from him." (AdWeek)
- A Trump supporter wearing a shirt showing the disgraced former president urinating on a CNN logo was asked by an interviewer why he dislikes the network. "I don't know, I don't watch it. I watch Fox News," the Trump supporter responded. While the video clip is somewhat comical, it is also representative of a larger phenomenon in the country. (Mediaite)
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CNN Photo Illustration/Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto/Getty Images |
Serving Sex to Kids: Instagram "regularly recommends sexual videos to accounts for teenagers that appear interested in racy content, and does so within minutes of when they first log in," The WSJ's Jeff Horwitz reported Thursday, citing a test the newspaper and an academic researcher conducted. Horwitz said the test took place over a seven month period and "show that the social-media service has continued pushing adult-oriented content to minors" after Meta said it would restrict such content from them. According to Horwitz, "adult sex-content creators began appearing in the feeds in as little as three minutes" and that after 20 minutes "the test acccounts' feeds were dominated by promotions for such creators." Northeastern University professor Laura Edelson, who conducted the separate testing, said "even the adult experience on TikTok appears to have much less explicit content than the teen experience on Reels." Read the full report here. ► Meta spokesperson Andy Stone: "This was an artificial experiment that doesn't match the reality of how teens use Instagram." |
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- In a filing ahead of oral arguments, TikTok said the divest-or-ban law "is a radical departure from this country's tradition of championing an open internet." (Reuters)
- TikTok also "released a trove of documents about numerous confidential meetings and other interactions with top federal officials, nearly all of which have been shrouded in secrecy," Sapna Maheshwari reports. (NYT)
- OpenAI rival Anthropic announced Claude 3.5 Sonnet, its most advanced ChatGPT competitor yet. (The Verge)
- Ted Cruz has introduced legislation that "would penalize platforms for hosting deepfakes," Samantha Cole reports. (404 Media)
- Instagram unlocked the ability for people to live-stream selectively to close friends. (The Verge)
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CNN Photo Illustration/Lauren Smith/Paramount+ |
Remembering Sutherland: Hollywood was in mourning on Thursday, remembering the life of Donald Sutherland, who died at age 88. The iconic actor — known best for roles in "The Hunger Games," "M*A*S*H," and other works — passed in Miami from a long illness, his agency CAA said. The veteran actor appeared in Oscar-winning films, earned an Emmy, and was given an honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement. "I personally think one of the most important actors in the history of film," his son Kiefer Sutherland wrote in a statement. "Never daunted by a role, good, bad or ugly." CNN's Brian Lowry and Elizabeth Wagmeister have more here.
► The Wrap's Lauren Cahoone has a roundup of tributes to Sutherland. |
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- Sony will acquire Queen's catalog for 1 billion pounds. (Variety)
- "The Daily Show" has firmed up its plans to cover this summer's two major political conventions, coverage that will include two live shows featuring Jon Stewart. (THR)
- Travis Scott was arrested and booked into Miami-Dade County jail for disorderly intoxication and trespassing. (CNN)
- Jonathan Majors will star in Martin Villeneuve's revenge thriller "Merciless," marking the actor's first role since his misdemeanor conviction. (THR)
- Paramount revealed the final episodes of "Yellowstone" season five will land Nov. 10. (CNN)
- Will Kevin Costner join? It seems unlikely. (THR)
- The season four premiere of Prime Video's "The Boys" saw a 21% increase in viewership compared to the prior season's debut. (Deadline)
- "Jimmy Kimmel Live" will be guest hosted by Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, and others this summer. (THR)
- Patrick Dempsey has joined the "Dexter" prequel. (The Wrap)
- AMC dropped the trailer for the final season of "Snowpiercer." (YouTube)
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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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