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Monday, July 08, 2024

Hello there! It is wonderful to be back in your inbox after spending a terrific eight nights visiting Namibia (you can see photos from our Safari-themed trip here). We hope you also got some R&R during the July Fourth holiday. A lot has transpired since we last communicated. So let's hit the ground running.

In this edition: Joe Biden calls into "Morning Joe," David Ellison and Jeff Shell talk "New Paramount," ABC News names a new D.C. bureau chief, Reid Hoffman invests in Smartmatic to help the company battle Fox News in court, Elon Musk's Cannes Lions appearance reportedly fails to win over advertisers, Alec Baldwin scores a legal victory as his "Rust" trial is set to get underway, and so much more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

The Halftime Report

The second half of 2024 is upon us.

With the first six months of the year having melted away, scores of questions loom over how the pivotal year will come to a close. Suffice to say, how these issues resolve themselves will carry enormous consequences for the media and technology sectors, as well as American democracy.

So, before we dive into the day's news, let's take a step back and take a look at all the unsettled matters before us. Here are some questions that are top of mind:

► Will Joe Biden remain the Democratic Party nominee after his disastrous performance at the CNN debate? If not, who will take his place?

► Will Donald Trump manage to win back the nation's highest office? If so, what will that mean for the Fourth Estate and future of the democratic order?

► Who will be the next head of ABC News? And how will that leader usher the Disney-owned news network into the future?

► How will CNN boss Mark Thompson position the iconic network for the future? What will his much-anticipated digital revitalization plan call for? Will he make any programming changes to lift the network's sagging ratings?

► Will Will Lewis survive as The WaPo's publisher and chief executive? If he does manage to cling to his job by the summer's end, will he find a way to not only regain the newsroom's trust, but also lead it forward into a prosperous future?

► Will Fox News and Newsmax settle the high-stakes lawsuits they are facing from Smartmatic? Will Newsmax settle its case with Dominion Voting Systems? Or will all these cases proceed to trial, with two of them scheduled for the fall, just before the 2024 election?

► Which media companies will win the coveted NBA rights? Will David Zaslav find a way to keep Warner Bros. Discovery on the court? Or will Turner be shut out, potentially spelling the end for "Inside the NBA"?

► When will Venu Sports actually launch, how much will it cost, and most importantly, how will the streaming service be received by the market?

► Will we see any more partnerships and bundling from media companies as they do their best to compete against Netflix?

► What will become of Paramount Global?

► Will TikTok find a path to survive in the U.S. as the clock continues to count down following the passage of the divest-or-ban law?

► Will Elon Musk and Linda Yaccarino have any luck convincing advertisers to return to their beleaguered X? Will Mark Zuckerberg and Adam Mosseri find ways to lure creatives over to their rival Threads?

► What will become of The NYT's seismic lawsuit against OpenAI, which is making its way through the courts? When will Sam Altman and other executives be compelled to sit for depositions?

► How many more news organizations will opt to sign pacts with OpenAI and other A.I. companies?

► Will governments end the year without having put any meaningful policies into place to regulate A.I.?

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Will Lanzoni

Morning Joe: Will Joe Biden be able to rescue his endangered bid for a second term as president? It's anyone's guess at this juncture. But Biden is certainly trying, appearing for national news interviews after largely dodging the mainstream press for some time. Following his sit-down with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, Biden phoned in on Monday to MSNBC's "Morning Joe." The president tried — yet again — to reassure the public he is up for the task of both campaigning and fulfilling the duties of the office. Asked about prominent figures in media and politics calling for him to step down from the campaign in the wake of his poor performance at the CNN presidential debate, Biden told Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, "They're big names, but I don't care what those big names think. They were wrong in 2020. They were wrong in 2022 about the red wave. They were wrong in 2024." Biden added that he is "so frustrated by the elites."

🔎 Zooming in: While Biden's horrendous performance at the CNN debate was obviously a major story worth discussing at length, it has been a bit puzzling to see some of the press use it to strongly imply that the president is a mentally incapacitated man. Biden has a long and well known history of making gaffes and struggling to clearly articulate his thoughts and/or put sentences together. He is unquestionably older and slower than he was a decade ago, which compounds the issue further. But in recent days, a flurry of reports has put a spotlight on every minor misstep by Biden and typical White House activities, fanning the flames of an age-related narrative the MAGA Media machine has relentlessly peddled for years. It is one thing to suggest that Biden is not energetic enough to effectively run for office in such a crucial moment, or that he has lost his fast ball and should step aside for a new generation of leadership. But some of the coverage has started to resemble Fox News-levels of hysteria, portraying Biden as a senile figure with debilitating dementia while largely letting his opponent off the hook for the bizarre and sleepy behavior he has recently exhibited.

🦊 On Fox: While Biden is trying to steady the Democratic ship, Donald Trump appeared Monday night on Fox News, which has been having a field day over the last two weeks battering Biden with attacks. Trump gave Sean Hannity — who has been characterizing Biden as a frail, senile man for years — his usual song and dance, calling Biden a bad president and mocking his performance at the CNN debate. Trump added that he believes he will likely be running against Kamala Harris in November.

THE INDUSTRY

CNN Photo Illustration/Getty Images

Climbing the Mountain: What a rollercoaster ride Shari Redstone has treated David Ellison and Paramount Global to over the past several months as she mulled the future of her media empire. But the unpredictable ride appears to be nearing its end. After a sudden and rather astonishing turn of events, Redstone has agreed to turn over her media conglomerate to Ellison after all. The complex transaction will first see Ellison's Skydance — powered in part by RedBird Capital — acquire National Amusements for $2.4 billion, then pay out other shareholders and merge Skydance with Paramount. The deal values Skydance at $4.75 billion.

The new company will be helmed by Ellison as chief executive and former NBCU boss Jeff Shell as president. Calling the company "New Paramount," the duo held a call with investors Monday morning, disclosing they've already identified $2 billion in cost cuts and vowing to become the "technological leader" in streaming. "We love the creative engine of this company, but obviously a big chunk of the company is in the linear world — and we know that linear is challenged and declining," Shell acknowledged. "I think a lot of us in the business know we've got to run these businesses in a different way as they decline." CNN's Jon Passantino and Liam Reilly have details.

THE PLAY FOR PARAMOUNT

"The Ellisons will invest around $6 billion, while private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners will contribute the remaining $2 billion," Sara Fischer and Dan Primack report. (Axios)
Executives at CBS Sports "are optimistic about the new Ellison-Redbird deal for Paramount," given Jeff Shell's history with sports, John Ourand reports. (Puck)
Meanwhile, movie theater owners will "look closely" at the deal with the hopes it will mean more films are made for the silver screen. (THR)
🎙️ David Ellison and Gerry Cardinale joined Matt Belloni on "The Town" to talk about the deal. (The Ringer)
The deal "signals the rise of a new power player" in Ellison, Wyatte Grantham-Philips writes. (AP)

IN THE BIZ

Media and tech bigwigs are headed to Idaho's Sun Valley Lodge for Allen & Co.'s annual conference where sports and streaming will be front and center. (CNBC)

THE FOURTH ESTATE

The NYT, one of the few major news organizations to have sued OpenAI instead of licensing its content as ChatGPT fodder, experimented with the Sam Altman-controlled A.I. to pen headlines and copy edit, Nikita Mazurov reports. (The Intercept)
Speaking of The Intercept: Jeremy Scahill announced he's leaving the outlet to start Drop Site News with Ryan Grim. (Drop Site News)
Jake Tapper announced a joint project with Dave Matthews helped raise $100,000 for Homes for Our Troops. (HFOT)

MEDIA MOVES

ABC News tapped Rick Klein as Washington bureau chief. (The Wrap)
The WaPo announced Krissah Thompson will build Will Lewis' nebulous third newsroom. (WaPo)
Nielsen hired former HuffPost boss and Spotify/Snap executive Jared Grusd to head its content solutions division. (Variety)
BBC promoted Jonathan Munro to global director. (Press Gazette)
The NYT hired Andrew Duehren as a correspondent. (NYT)
TechCrunch hired Max Zeff as a senior writer. (TBN)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Reid to the Rescue: Billionaire and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman is standing with Smartmatic as it pursues litigation against Fox News and Newsmax over lies the networks aired in the aftermath of the 2020 election. The mogul made a major eight-figure investment in the election technology company (though the exact dollar figure is not known), saying he is "thrilled" to support the firm after it "became a target of the defamatory campaign" in 2020. Smartmatic boss Antonio Mugica welcomed Hoffman's support, saying the lies told about the company have "directly attacked the integrity of the nonpartisan civic work we have supported over more than two decades." CNN's Matt Egan and Marshall Cohen have more here.

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Marc Piasecki/Getty Images

Musk's Failed Mission: It turns out it is not so easy to win back advertisers after telling them to "go fuck" themselves. Elon Musk and Linda Yaccarino certainly put on the charm offensive last month at the Cannes Lions advertising festival, trying desperately to convince big brands and agency buyers that they should spend there marketing dollars on the beleaguered social platform. But their efforts have not borne much fruit, AdWeek's Trishla Ostwal reported Monday, writing that Musk's efforts had fallen "flat." Ostwal said that six sources had indicated Musk needs to do far more to win back their business. "There's still a long way to go to get buyers back on X," one agency executive told Ostwal. Read the full story.

TOO MANY TABS

One year after its launch, Shriya Bhattacharya argues Threads is facing "an identity crisis." (Business Insider)
On the other hand, in only 12 months the platform has amassed 175 million monthly active users. (Android Central)
Google "has ended its mass purchase of cheap carbon offsets and thus stopped claiming that its operations are carbon neutral," Akshat Rathi reports. (Bloomberg)
Google is struggling to address nonconsensual explicit images, Paresh Dave reports, writing that "intimate images and video posted online without consent are growing, and deepfakes add a horrifying new dimension to the problem." (WIRED)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office/AFP/Getty Images

Baldwin's Court Battle: Three years after the fatal "Rust" shooting, Alec Baldwin will stand trial. Jury selection in the involuntary manslaughter case will commence on Tuesday in New Mexico. On the eve of the trial getting underway, Baldwin's defense team notched a victory, with the judge overseeing the case ruling that his role as a producer will not be considered at trial. The prosecution had attempted to use his larger role in the production to argue that Baldwin had added responsibility to keep the set safe. CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister, Cheri Mossburg, and Eric Levenson have more here.

OFF STAGE

Universal's "Despicable Me 4" pulled in $230 million at the global box office during its opening weekend while Pixar's "Inside Out 2" reached $1.2 billion. (Deadline)
Taylor Swift's "Tortured Poets" album maintained the top spot on the Billboard 200, marking the 11th consecutive week at No. 1. (Billboard)
John Cena announced his retirement from wrestling. (CNN)
A 'Devil Wears Prada' sequel is in the works, with Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt set to return, Lauren Sherman reports. (Puck)
Nicolas Cage told Susan Orlean he is "terrified" about how A.I. might impact the movie industry: "They're just going to steal my body and do whatever they want with it via digital A.I." (New Yorker)
Paramount Pictures released news photos of Ridley Scott's "Gladiator II." (Deadline)
Bryan Cranston's "Your Honor" jumped to No. 1 on the streaming charts. (THR)
Halle Berry and Glenn Close are joining Ryan Murphy's forthcoming legal drama, which already featured Kim Kardashian. (The Wrap)
Tom Cruise stopped by the premiere of "Twisters" to promote the film, starring fellow "Top Gun: Maverick" actor Glenn Powell. (Deadline)
Marvel dropped the teaser trailer for "Agatha All Along." (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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