Hello there! First, a housekeeping note: I am headed to Africa for our annual summer vacation, returning along with the newsletter on July 8. Now, I know what you're thinking! What about CNN's presidential debate on Thursday? Well, perhaps to your surprise, neither CNN, the White House, nor the Trump campaign coordinated with us on a date that accommodated our schedule. That said, while I will be a world away in Cape Town, we will pop in your inbox with a special edition ahead of the debate. Now, onward to the news: Paramount's triumvirate of leaders outline their plan, Will Lewis faces more questions about his past, Jack Shafer explains why he is departing POLITICO, Newsmax acknowledges the 2020 election results while interviewing Donald Trump, OpenAI delays its voice feature, WIRED readies to launch a travel vertical, "A Quiet Place" gets ready to take on "Inside Out 2," and more. But first, the A1. | |
| CNN Photo Illustration/Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters | In just a few hours, at 2 a.m. ET, imprisoned Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is scheduled to stand trial before a Russian court on bogus espionage charges.
Covering the judicial charade will present an unprecedented challenge for The Journal and other news outlets, given that the trial will take place in secret, behind closed doors. Some images of Gershkovich are expected to be distributed, but the flow of information will be tightly controlled by the Vladimir Putin-led government, which will certainly work to splice together a narrative that supports its propaganda goals.
Regardless of what information is made available by the court, there is one aspect of coverage that The Journal will be unmistakably clear about: Gershkovich is innocent, and the court proceedings amount to nothing but political theater.
"To even call it a trial ... is unfair to Evan and a continuation of this travesty of justice that already has gone on for far too long," Emma Tucker, The Journal editor in chief, bluntly stated Tuesday in a letter to readers.
Elena Cherney, who oversees the broadsheet's standards and ethics teams, stressed to me that it is imperative for The Journal — and other news organizations — to make it abundantly clear that Gershkovich has been unjustly detained and that the proceedings are a "violation of human rights."
"This isn't a trial as we normally think of trials," Cherney said by phone Tuesday. "This is a process that is completely lacking in due process. It is obviously a bogus allegation. And we need to make it clear in our coverage that we are not leaning into the process... because we know these are empty charges and these are political charges."
Indeed, The Journal has been clear-eyed about the matter since Gershkovich was detained by Russian authorities 15 months ago while gathering reporting in the city of Yekaterinburg. When Gershkovich was indicted earlier this month, the outlet ran a strong headline that refused to entertain the notion that Gershkovich was working as a clandestine spy for the U.S. government. "WSJ Reporter Evan Gershkovich, Falsely Accused of Espionage, Is Indicted in Russia," the headline read.
Other news outlets, however, have at times been less direct about the matter. Cherney, who told me that she has been in touch with various newsrooms ahead of the trial to offer The Journal's point of view, said she believes news organizations should be clear with audiences about the circumstances. Buying into the judicial show put on by Russia, after all, is what Russia desires — and it would deliver the Kremlin a propaganda victory.
"This coverage should not read or sound as if this is a legitimate process," Cherney said, imploring other newsrooms not to legitimize the proceedings or get trapped in bothsidesism while covering the story.
And while the court hearings will be held behind closed doors, Cherney said she believes that news organizations should lean into that aspect of the case when covering it, calling it a "critical piece of the story."
"It is a secret trial, if you can call it a trial, and that is symptomatic of a complete lack of due process," Cherney said. "This is not how people are charged with crimes in the United States or other Western countries. And we need to take pains to explain everything we know about the lack of legal protection that Evan has — the lack of information that we have about the process."
No verdict is expected to be rendered on Wednesday. And it's unclear precisely how long it will take for a final decision to be made. It could take weeks or even months for a verdict to be handed down by the Russian court. But Cherney and her colleagues at The Journal are hoping that the U.S. government will succeed in freeing Gershkovich. In the meantime, she said, they're all living through a nightmare.
"It is the most difficult, terrible situation that we have ever dealt with and ever hope to deal with," Cherney said, "and we just hope to get him out." | |
| CNN Photo Illustration/BauerGriffin/MediaPunch/IPX/AP | The Plan for Paramount: In the wake of Shari Redstone's decision to kill the Skydance deal, questions have swirled around the mountain's fate. The triumvirate of leaders at Paramount Global (Brian Robbins, Chris McCarthy, and George Cheeks), who make up what is known as the Office of the CEO, held their anticipated company town hall on Tuesday, charting a course for the entertainment conglomerate's future. Robbins opened the widely-attended town hall by acknowledging "the challenges of all the M&A speculation" swirling around Paramount, telling employees he understands it has been a "difficult and disruptive period." The three leaders — aiming to be as transparent as possible — then spelled out the cold, hard reality to employees, saying that while revenue has grown, adjusted operating income declined 61% between 2018 and 2023. "Let me be clear... a 61% decline in profits is simply unacceptable," McCarthy said, adding that the company must "act now to reverse this trend." So what are they going to do? The leaders outlined their plan, which was effectively an updated version of what we heard a few weeks ago at the annual shareholder meeting. Cheeks said the process is underway to sell some Paramount assets, adding that the company has "already hired bankers to assist" in the process. McCarthy said Paramount is working to transform its streaming efforts and is "advancing talks with potential partners that will significantly transform the scale and economics" of its service. And there was more talk about finding $500 million in synergies, which will surely lead to cuts across the company. Variety's Todd Spangler has more here. | |
| - Drip, drip, drip: A police officer who questioned embattled WaPo publisher Will Lewis during the U.K. phone hacking scandal told Harry Lambert that the authorities didn't buy the then-Rupert Murdoch lieutenant's explanation for why millions of emails were deleted. "It was a poppycock story about why they had deleted millions of emails," the officer told Lambert. "We challenged it and asked for evidence for weeks afterwards. It never came. They'd made it up." Lewis has denied wrongdoing related to the matter, but he has avoided publicly discussing it and lashed out at journalists who have reported on the story. (Daily Beast)
- Lewis suspended the newsletter he was writing for his former firm, WJL Partners, after sponsor AlixPartners asked to "pause" it, given all the backlash The WaPo publisher is facing, Daniel Thomas reports. (FT)
- The WaPo media critic Erik Wemple said in a Q&A published on The WaPo's website that Lewis should apologize to NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik, whom he bashed as "an activist, not a journalist." Folkenflik told me he has not received an apology from Lewis. (WaPo)
- Meanwhile, amid the crisis playing out at his newspaper, Jeff Bezos has remained silent. A spokesperson for Bezos, who has been spotted on his yacht in the Mediterranean, did not respond to a request for comment when asked about the turmoil rocking the storied newspaper.
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| - Jack Shafer, Alex Ward, and Lara Seligman are exiting POLITICO over the next few weeks, Max Tani reports, painting a picture of a newsroom bleeding formidable talent. (Semafor)
- Shafer to Tani: "I had a really good run with a long leash at Politico and appreciate all the great people I worked with. But the job has changed in recent months and I think it's best for me to hit the ground dancing someplace else where media criticism is important to the mix."
- The Associated Press "is launching an independent sister organization to raise at least $100 million to expand state and local news," Sara Fischer reports. (Axios)
- CNN boss Mark Thompson hinted that the cable news network will have digital subscription offerings by 2024's close. (Axios)
- First in Reliable | WIRED is set to launch a travel vertical, presented by airline Lufthansa. The section, which global editorial director Katie Drummond will announce Wednesday morning, will help readers discover the best apps for travel and helpful gear they should consider packing. It will also cover companies embracing technology to move beyond fossil fuels.
- Former CNN anchor and analyst John Avlon won the Democratic congressional primary in New York's 1st district. (CNN)
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| - ⏰ When is the NBA going to announce its new media partners? The NBA Finals came and went — and yet, there has yet to be an announcement on the closely watched matter
- "Rather than treating social media companies as an enemy poisoning the value of traditional telecasts, NBC is trying something it never has around the Olympics, partnering with the platforms to make social media superstars such as gymnast Olivia Dunne and streamerKai Cenat part of its coverage," Les Carpenter reports. (WaPo)
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| - CNN made it official, naming Jeremy Diamond as its Jerusalem correspondent. (THR)
- First in Reliable | The 74, a nonprofit education news site, named Nicole Ridgway, a former managing editor at CNN Business, as its editor in chief.
- Semafor tapped Amna Nawaz, Jon Hilsenrath, Marcus Brauchl, and Nayeema Raza as contributors while promoting Meera Pattni to oversee its global live journalism business. (Semafor)
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| CNN Photo Illustration/Newsmax
| Newsmax's Election Disclaimer: On Tuesday, as MAGA personality Corey Lewandowski interviewed Donald Trump on Newsmax, the right-wing channel put a notable disclaimer on-screen. "NEWSMAX ACCEPTS THE 2020 ELECTION RESULTS AS LEGAL AND FINAL," a banner read as the two chatted on the phone. Of course, Newsmax has faced a downpour of litigation stemming from its promotion of 2020 election lies. Earlier this year, a judge scheduled a defamation lawsuit filed by voting technology company Smartmatic to go to trial in late September. Newsmax is also facing another mammoth lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems. Suffice to say, it cannot afford for any more litigation on the matter. Mediaite's Michael Luciano has more. 🔎 Zooming in: The Newsmax banner is yet more evidence showing that the legal system has, to some degree, forced dishonest media outlets into acknowledging basic truths. Without the lawsuits filed by companies such as Smartmatic and Dominion, it is hard to see an outlet like Newsmax openly acknowledging the reality of the 2020 contest. | |
| - Tucker Carlson keeps embracing VDARE. The right-wing extremist on Tuesday uploaded to Elon Musk's X a nearly two-hour sit-down chat he conducted with Steve Sailer, the racist columnist for the overtly White nationalist website. Carlson, who has interviewed other VDARE personnel since being ousted from Fox News, claimed Sailer is "not crazy" and "not a bigot." Carlson told his audience that "everybody" he knows has read his material for years — which says everything you need to know about who Carlson associates with.
- As we reported in the previous edition of this newsletter, right-wing media figures keep pushing the conspiracy theory that President Joe Biden will be hyped up on drugs at the CNN presidential debate. Sean Hannity played into a watered down version, saying Biden will be getting a "proper dosage of caffeine" via "Red Bull or caffeine pills or whatever." (MMFA)
- Meanwhile, the absurd attacks on CNN's integrity keep coming from Fox News, with primetime star Jesse Watters claiming the network "is probably giving Biden the questions." 🙄 (MMFA)
- Uri Berliner, the former NPR editor who assailed his one-time employer for alleged bias, has completed his journey and officially joined Bari Weiss' The Free Press. (The Wrap)
- Charlie Kirk is increasingly facing scrutiny from Republican Party politicians who don't believe his Turning Point Action organization has delivered at the ballot box, Ed Pilkington reports. (The Guardian)
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| CNN Photo Illustration/Nathan Congleton/NBC/Getty Images | Scarlett's Lasting Sting: More than a month after Scarlett Johansson demanded answers about the ChatGPT voice that sounded awfully similar to her own, OpenAI is still dealing with the fallout. The A.I. giant on Tuesday released its Mac desktop application, but it delayed its much-hyped voice mode. The company said it will "need one more month" to launch the feature, which became engulfed in controversy after Johansson disclosed OpenAI boss Sam Altman had repeatedly tried to convince her to license her voice for it, before releasing a voice derived from another person that struck a similar sound. The Verge's Richard Lawler has more here. | |
| TikTok is doubling down on its TikTok Shop in the U.S. despite the looming divest-or-ban law, Alexandra Levine reports. ( Forbes) - Threads said it will allow its users to more deeply interact with the Fediverse. (The Verge)
- Peter Kafka attempted to clear the air on whether or not Apple and Meta, years-long foes, are collaborating on A.I. (Business Insider)
- Snapchat introduced new safety features to make it harder for strangers to contact other users on the platform. (TechCrunch)
- Pinterest said it will allow its users to make TikTok/Reels videos out of their boards. (TechCrunch)
- Emanuel Maiberg detailed how easy it is to set up an A.I.-powered news website capable of serving as a publishing powerhouse by ripping off other publications' content at a low price. (404 Media)
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| CNN Photo Illustration/Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images | Max'imizing the HBO Brand: The old ground rules are out the window! HBO/Max boss Casey Bloys said Tuesday that the company is rethinking how it distinguishes between how to brand content that appears on the streaming service. Previously, HBO originals would get the HBO branding, while projects that relied on Warner Bros. IP would be affixed with the Max branding. But Bloys said that, in practice, it simply didn't work as the teams had expected. "The idea of the delineation kind of started to feel unnecessary. Like, why are we doing this? Let's just call them what they are: HBO shows," Bloys told Variety's Michael Schneider. Moving forward, shows that feel more like a traditional broadcast television series (think serialized, episodic shows) will fall under the Max umbrella, while big splashy projects will live in the HBO camp. Such shows include the forthcoming "Harry Potter" series and the just-announced "Green Lantern" show "Lanterns." Unfortunately, while Bloys believed "The Penguin" would have been a fit for HBO, the series has already been sold as a Max original. Schneider has more here. | |
| - Box office preview: "Inside Out 2" is looking to have a $55 million to $65 million third weekend, while "A Quiet Place: Day One" is tracking to debut with $40 million to $50 million. (Variety)
- Meanwhile, Kevin Costner's "Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1," which has been greeted with awful reviews, is eyeing an underwhelming $10 to $12 million opening. (THR)
- Jeremy Renner told "Smartless" he doesn't "have the energy" to tackle demanding roles following his near-fatal snowplow accident. (Variety)
- Scarlett Johansson, who will star in "Jurassic World 4," hyped the script as "incredible" and said she is thrilled to be in the film. (Deadline)
- Ryan Gosling and Amazon MGM are teaming up for a zombie comedy package, "I Used to Eat Brains, Now I Eat Kale." (THR)
- Amazon MGM dropped the trailer for the action comedy "Red One," starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Chris Evans. (YouTube)
- A24 dropped the trailer for horror "Heretic," starring Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, and Chloe East. (YouTube)
- Netflix is optioning Emily Henry's "Happy Place" for Jennifer Lopez's Nuyorican Productions. (Deadline)
- Gena Rowlands, the actress who portrayed a woman with dementia for "The Notebook," has Alzheimer's disease. (EW)
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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 Thursday. | |
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