Hello from Milwaukee, where within minutes of driving into the city center, I spotted billboards for Fox News, the Epoch Times, the Media Research Center, and Donald Trump. In this edition: MAGA Media figures take the RNC by storm, President Biden sits down with Lester Holt, Disney probes a Slack hack, Dominion is set to depose Sebastian Gorka, Taylor Swift remains atop the Billboard 200, and more. But first, the A1. |
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| CNN Photo Illustration/Will Lanzoni |
News organizations are being confronted this week with a thorny challenge.
In the wake of former President Donald Trump narrowly surviving a horrific assassination attempt, executives are more cognizant than ever about the fraught political environment in which they are operating. But news outlets also understand that they must offer audiences clear and direct coverage of the Republican National Convention.
That means not being afraid to call out Trump and the GOP for any promotion of misinformation and/or conspiracy theories. It means not legitimizing and normalizing the radical nature of the party. And it means being blunt about how some of Trump's avowed plans would upend American democracy and warp the foundational principles embedded within the fabric of the country.
Threading that needle will surely prove to be no easy task, especially as Trump's allies work the refs in the news media and attempt to place any discussion about the threats posed to democracy outside the Overton Window. Already, on Monday, that strategy was on display on opening night at the RNC, with Donald Trump Jr. berating an NBC News reporter for having the nerve to ask tough — but fair — questions about the Republican Party's immigration proposals.
"Even 48 hours later, you couldn't wait," Trump Jr. exclaimed, scolding the reporter. "You couldn't wait with your lies and with your nonsense. So just get out of here." Broadcast television outlets will have, perhaps, the most difficult balancing act this week, given the eyes of the nation will quite literally be on their programming. Will they cede their platforms to bad-faith actors? Will they carry the speeches from politicians and others who they know to be lying to their audiences? And if they do air brazen lies to millions, how aggressively will they fact check in the immediate moments afterward? Over the course of this campaign cycle, too many news organizations have inexplicably declined to showcase clear-eyed judgment and recognize that the GOP has been disfigured from its former self, becoming far more extreme in nature over the years. This isn't the Republican Party of the 1990s. But some news executives seem hellbent on covering the party as if it were. That said, there were promising signs on Monday night, with regard to RNC coverage. Television news outlets, by and large, exercised caution about who they beamed into living rooms and offered viewers important context on the speakers and what they were saying. The coverage was not without flaws, but showed that news organizations were doing their best to meet the difficult moment in the challenging live setting. Given the stakes for the country, hopefully responsible coverage will win the week, instead of the type that turns a blind eye to anti-democratic and extreme behavior. |
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- The visual seen around the world: A bandaged Donald Trump emerged on stage on night one of the Republican National Convention, as the audience chanted "Fight!" (CNN)
- By selecting J.D. Vance as his running mate, Donald Trump also snubbed Rupert Murdoch, who had reportedly lobbied the former president and waged an intense "anyone but J.D." campaign, Alex Griffing wrote. (Mediaite)
- Kamala Harris formally accepted CBS News' offer to host a VP debate, after Trump announced Vance as his selection. (NYT)
- So much for promoting civility? Charlie Kirk, who has publicly floated the notion that President Joe Biden deserves the death penalty and advanced antisemitic narratives, got a prime time slot at the RNC. (NYT)
- Tucker Carlson will also be all over the RNC. The right-wing extremist and former Fox News host on Monday delivered a speech at the Heritage Policy Fest in Milwaukee, and was then seen standing next to Trump on night one of the convention. (CNN)
- Sean Hannity was also spotted in the convention hall, tossing swag to attendees.
- "Television networks are raising their security levels in Milwaukee," Max Tani reported. (Semafor)
- "While GOP delegates gather in Wisconsin, social media platforms are stoking false narratives amid the most divisive presidential campaign in recent history," Drew Harwell, Naomi Nix, andCat Zakrzewski reported. (WaPo)
- Donie O'Sullivan, Brian Fung, and Marshall Cohen reported on how conspiracy theories have "spread wildly after the first assassination attempt on a U.S. president in the social media age." (CNN)
- Newsmax boss Christopher Ruddy used the Trump assassination attempt to help raise money for the channel. (Mediaite)
- Missing from MSNBC: "Morning Joe" did not air Monday, a decision I'm told was made to avoid a scenario in which one of the show's guests might have made an inappropriate comment on live television that could have been used to assail the program and network as a whole. The decision was made by NBCU News Group boss Cesar Conde, in conjunction with MSNBC president Rashida Jones and hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. The program will resume airing Tuesday. (CNN)
- "The Daily Show" abandoned plans to film shows from the RNC. (THR)
- In the hours after the assignation attempt, "a combined 16.07 million people watched coverage of the shooting on ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC," Rick Porter reported. (THR)
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CNN Photo Illustration/NBC News |
Biden Tries to Turn the Tables: President Joe Biden on Monday sat down with Lester Holt for his second prime time television interview in the wake of his disastrous debate performance. During the sit-down, which aired on "NBC Nightly News," Holt questioned Biden aggressively, telling the president that he "appeared to be confused" while onstage with Donald Trump. Biden conceded that he "screwed up," but then sought to turn the tables on Holt, peppering him with questions about how the news media had reported on his face-off with Trump. "Lester, look: Why don't you guys ever talk about the 18– the 28 lies he told?" Biden asked. "Where are you on this? Why don't the press ever talk about that? 28 times it's confirmed he lied in that debate." When Holt pointed out that the press has reported on Trump's debate lies, Biden disputed it. Of course, Holt is correct. The news media did fact check the nonsense Trump promoted at the CNN debate. But Biden's point seemed to be that the fact checking of Trump was certainly not the focus of the news media in the aftermath of the debate. Instead, it was overwhelmingly on Biden's age and mental acuity. And it is true too that news outlets have room for improvement on how they cover Trump's unhinged behavior. 📖 Want to read? NBC News published the full transcript of the interview. |
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- Yikes! "Data from Disney's internal Slack workplace collaboration system have been leaked online, including discussions about ad campaigns, studio technology and interview candidates," Sarah Krouse and Robert McMillian report. (WSJ)
- "A collection of major record labels have sued Verizon for turning a blind eye to users who illegally download content, a significant effort to curb piracy against one of the leading gatekeepers of the internet," Winston Cho reports. (THR)
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- Netflix named Natalie Bjelajac vice president of domestic publicity. (Deadline)
- Eugene Daniels, POLITICO's White House correspondent and Playbook co-author, was inducted as President of the White House Correspondents' Association. (POLITICO)
- Southern California Public Radio named Alejandra Santamaria president and chief executive. (THR)
- USA Today named Romina Ruiz-Goiriena and Holly Rosenkrantz as politics managing editors.
- Reuters hired Kenrick Cai as a technology correspondent. (TBN)
- The NYT named Alissa Rubin its senior Middle East correspondent, promoted Joanna Pearlstein, and upped Paige Cowett to editor of "The Daily." (NYT/NYT/NYT)
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Deposing Gorka: "Sebastian Gorka, the controversial right-wing figure who briefly served in the Trump White House, is set to be deposed next week in Dominion Voting Systems' defamation lawsuit against Newsmax," CNN's Marshall Cohen reported Monday. "Court filings indicate that Gorka, now a Newsmax personality, will answer questions under oath in Dominion's defamation case, which revolves around the lie that its software rigged the 2020 election."
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CNN Photo Illustration/CFOTO/Future Publishing/Getty Images |
Project Strawberry: Researchers at ChatGPT maker OpenAI are developing new technology with enhanced reasoning capabilities, Reuters' Anna Tong and Katie Paul reported Monday. The project, called Strawberry, is a "tightly kept secret even with OpenAI," the duo reported. Tong and Paul obtained documentation that indicated the project is looking at models "with the aim of enabling the company's AI to not just generate answers to queries but to plan ahead enough to navigate the internet autonomously." Read the full report here. |
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- "A TikTok glitch seems to be allowing some teens access to the TikTok Shop tab, despite the e-commerce offering supposedly being restricted to users who are 18 and older," Sarah Perez reports. (TechCrunch)
- Apple's stock continues to rise, hitting an all-time high Monday. (Reuters)
- YouTube Music is tinkering with an A.I.-powered conversational radio tool and will add a Shazam-like feature to assist users in discovering songs' names by singing, humming, or playing parts. (TechCrunch)
- Google is close to acquiring cybersecurity start-up Wiz for $23 billion, though regulators may still look to block the deal. (CNN)
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| CNN Photo Illustration/Vittorio Zunino Celotto/TAS24/Getty Images |
Can't Shake Her Off: Taylor Swift just bested herself. "The Tortured Poets Department" stayed atop the Billboard 200 for its 12th consecutive week, representing her career best performance on the list. Billboard said that the feat means Swift is now the only woman to have an album spend 12 weeks at No. 1, passing Whitney Houston's 1987 "Whitney." Billboad's Keith Caulfield has more here. ► The question now: How long can Swift reign over the list? Vulture's Justin Curto predicted that her time at No. 1 "might finally be ending." |
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- "Despicable Me 4" continued to dominate the box office, pulling in $44.7 million in its second weekend. (THR)
- Neon's "Longlegs" took in $22.6 million at the domestic box office during the movie's opening weekend, a best for an original horror film. (Deadline)
- Kevin Feige participated in a Q&A with Anthony D'Alessandro, calling "Deadpool & Wolverine" an "incredibly emotional" film. (Deadline)
- Netflix teased the fifth season of "Stranger Things" and its animated "Terminator Zero." (Variety/Deadline)
- Heh? Halle Berry has exited Ryan Murphy's upcoming legal drama for Hulu, one week being announced as a star. (Variety)
- Armie Hammer said he is "broke" after going "through hell." (Deadline)
- Timothée Chalamet is set to star and direct in a film from A24, "Marty Supreme." (Variety)
- Katy Perry responded to the criticism of her "Women's World" with a behind-the-scenes clip from the shoot where she explains the video's controversial moments. (Rolling Stones)
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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 tomorrow. |
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