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Wednesday, July 31, 2024

Will Lewis faces more scrutiny over his role as a one-time Rupert Murdoch lieutenant, two more Al Jazeera journalists are killed in Gaza, cuts hit Disney Entertainment Television, Joe Rogan predicts Kamala Harris will defeat Donald Trump, Meta shares surge on another strong earnings report, Google tackles deepfakes in search, HBO is confronted with another "House of the Dragon" leak, and so much more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

The Donald Dumpster Fire

CNN Photo Illustration/Scott Olson/Getty Images

Donald Trump on Wednesday took the stage before a divided National Association of Black Journalists conference. And, within moments of the event getting underway, it was clear where the event was headed.

Trump unleashed a barrage of vicious attacks on Kamala Harris, absurdly questioning her Black identity (she is indeed Black). He once again expressed sympathy for the January 6 insurrectionists, implying their innocence (despite numerous convictions). He boasted that he had been "the best president for the Black population" since Abraham Lincoln (seriously?). And he repeatedly targeted one of the moderators, ABC News' Rachel Scott, calling her "nasty" for her no-holds-barred line of questioning (a refrain he reserves for women).

But while some of Trump's comments were new, their deeper significance is questionable. Trump making a racist remark is hardly surprising; his history is littered with such instances, including fanning the flames of the birther movement and hosting a known white nationalist and Holocaust denier at Mar-a-Lago in 2022. His desire to pardon the January 6 insurrectionists is well known, as is his tendency to compare himself to Lincoln. And his hostility toward Black journalists asking tough questions is also nothing new.

So, what exactly did the American public gain from watching Trump spew a relentless stream of lies and insults onstage as the NABJ audience jeered and gasped at the reprehensible behavior of the former president? Was there anything it did not already know?

To be clear, there is value in exposing Trump's offensive behavior to the public. But there are also more effective ways to do so that allow interviewers to maintain control of the platform, which is largely why Trump's invitation to appear on a panel at the event sparked division inside the NABJ the moment it was announced.

That was not the case on Wednesday at the NABJ conference. Despite the sharp questions from Scott and Semafor's Kadia Goba, Trump was able to overwhelm them with his trademark bluster, plus a helpful assist from sympathetic Fox News host Harris Faulkner. Had Trump instead been confined to a one-on-one interview with Scott, he would have had far more difficulty dodging her tough — but fair — questions.

Trump thrives on insults, lies, shocking rhetoric, and conflict. This is how he has previously dominated news cycles. However, after the 2016 election, many in the press realized that treating his shock-jock antics as news was not the best approach. If it were, then every television outlet would be broadcasting his rallies live and letting him phone into news programs at will.

But news executives have largely concluded — and rightly so — that handing a known liar a megaphone is not the best way to cover him. Yet, that is effectively what the NABJ chose to do on Wednesday. And while the headlines it elicited will command attention for the next several days, it's worth thinking hard about whether anything new of real value was extracted from the off-the-rails event.

Harris summarized it succinctly at a campaign event a few hours after Trump's appearance when she said, "It was the same old show." The question before news organizations is whether they should be airing it.

THE TRUMP SHOW

HuffPost's banner headline: "TRUMP TRAINWRECK AT BLACK JOURNO CONVENTION." (HuffPost)
Meanwhile, over at Mother Jones, the headline read: "White Man Tells Black Journalists His Black Opponent Is Not Black." (Mother Jones)
Prior to the event starting, Donald Trump "pushed back on NABJ staffers who wanted to live fact check the event," Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Mark Walker reported. (NYT)
David Bauder noted that ABC's Rachel Scott, who has a history asking tough questions to people in power, had a moment on stage as she went toe-to-toe with Trump. (AP)
Ben Smith praised Kadia Goba in a memo staff: "She wasn't trying to score points, or show how smart we are, or produce a tweetable moment, but to channel what people want to know, and find an opportunity to report the facts. Lots of newsrooms say this is what they want to do; Kadia showed how to do it."
April Ryan and Karen Attiah, both of whom were critical of NABJ's decision to invite Trump to speak at the conference, both voiced dismay at the event as it transpired. "Why would the NABJ ALLOW HIM TO BE ON THE STAGE?" Ryan asked. (Guardian)
Others, however, disagreed. CNN anchor Abby Phillip argued on X, "NABJ leadership made a decision grounded in journalism to have Trump come answer questions. And it produced one of the newsiest interviews with him this year."
The WaPo's Erik Wemple: "The NABJ journos did an excellent job of pressing former President Trump with straightforward and important questions. An excellent session. Interviewing a presidential candidate -- Trump or whoever it may be -- is precisely what journalists should do at their conventions."

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Carlotta Cardana/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The Brown-Lewis Showdown: Will Lewis is facing a fresh allegation of wrongdoing — this time from former U.K. PM Gordon Brown, who wrote a piece in The Guardian alleging the former Rupert Murdoch lieutenant turned WaPo publisher tried to falsely implicate him in a crime. "Blazoned across the top of every edition of the Washington Post is the statement, 'Democracy dies in darkness,'" Brown wrote. "But what if the publisher himself is a master of the dark arts?" In his piece, Brown pushed back against a claim advanced years ago by Lewis that asserted Murdoch's U.K. publishing arm needed to delete millions of emails to prevent the then-MP from orchestrating a plot to steal some of them. "None of this was anything other than a complete fabrication," Brown wrote.

Brown added that he had recently communicated his side of the story to the Metropolitan Police and that officials had indicated they would look into it. The Guardian's Dan Sabbagh reviewed a letter police sent Brown in early May, which said the issues raised were "complex and will take time to consider against investigations that have already taken place." On Wednesday, the authorities stressed that a criminal probe had not yet been opened. "There is no criminal investigation at this time," a Metropolitan Police representative told my colleague Hadas Gold. "We have responded to Mr Brown to acknowledge receipt of his letter. Its contents continues to be assessed and we will be writing again to update him on the likely timescales involved in that work." Lewis, of course, has denied all wronging in relation to the phone-hacking affair. But the questions surrounding it, having been resurfaced by Prince Harry's lawsuit, continue to plague him.

THE INDUSTRY

THE FOURTH ESTATE

Two more Al Jazeera journalists were killed in Gaza, with the Qatari-owned network accusing Israel of deliberately targeting them. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the attack, calling on Israel to "explain why two more Al Jazeera journalists have been killed in what appears to be a direct strike." (CNN/CPJ)
Huw Edwards, the former BBC anchor, pleaded guilty to having indecent images of children. (CNN)
This is strange: Some of the most-recognized alt-weekly newspapers — including the Village Voice and LA Weekly — have "started publishing what appears to be A.I.-generated clickbait about OnlyFans," Kate Knibbs reports. (WIRED)

IN THE BIZ

Alex Weprin examines "how the NBA's slam-dunk deals will reshape TV," writing that they should "send shivers down the spines of almost everyone in Hollywood." Weprin quoted one media executive who said the NBA's move is another example of a "transfer of wealth from Hollywood to the sports leagues." (THR)
Jay Willis writes that "the looming legal fight" between Warner Bros. Discovery and the NBA "will be a fascinating glimpse at the future of media rights to live sports, as traditional networks clinging to these valuable assets try to stave off the deep-pocketed streamers who understand that without them, networks are going to be in even more trouble than they're in already." (Fast Company)
✂️ Cuts, cuts, cuts: Disney Entertainment Television axed 140 staffers, or 2% of the workforce, with NatGeo hit the hardest. (Deadline)
The D.C. attorney general sued Stubhub, accusing the company of misleading customers on prices. (PitchFork)
What happened here?! Reuters and Bloomberg retracted reports Wednesday about a supposed new bid to acquire Paramount. (Deadline)
Shari Redstone, meanwhile, is setting her sights on Broadway, where she will co-produce "Job," a workplace drama. (THR)
Spotify granted free subscribers access to song lyrics, though they will only be able to view lyrics to three songs per month. (Billboard)
On the topic of audio: Podcasts are enjoying an ad spending boom, with a 22% on-year bump in ad spending during Q2. (Radio Ink)

MEDIA MOVES

CNN promoted Jessica Dean to weekend anchor and Donie O'Sullivan to senior correspondent. (CNN/CNN)
Politico hired Lindsey Holden as a politics reporter. (Politico)
CNBC named Michele Luhn deputy editor for business and company news. (TBN)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu/Getty Images

Going After Google: The right-wing war on Big Tech has not abated, despite Elon Musk controlling X and Mark Zuckerberg gushing over "badass" Donald Trump. In recent days, MAGA Media personalities have started targeting Google, claiming that the search giant's results are biased against Trump. The Associated Press published a thorough fact-check pouring cold water on the claims, which were mostly focused on the fact that its autocomplete feature would not generate predictions related to the Trump assassination. Google explained that its search engine does not autocomplete results related to political violence, but of course that did not quell the attacks, given they're being lobbed by dishonest actors. On Wednesday, Musk fanned the flames of Google bias, complaining that a search result for "Trump rally" delivered a live-updates page from NBC News covering both Kamala Harris and Trump's activities. It goes without saying that Musk's bias complaint is absurd and ironic given how he has operated his own platform.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Joe Rogan predicted Kamala Harris will win in November. (Mediaite)
John Whitehouse reported on how MAGA figures "are suddenly afraid that Trump will lose and pointing fingers at each other over who is to blame." (MMFA)
Irony alert: "Many right-wing influencers with big followings on Rumble, Truth Social, X, and YouTube are wedded to the idea that left-wing elites are the ones who are out of touch with real America," Helen Lewis writes, adding that the "the online right has its own fair share of shibboleths and unexamined beliefs." (The Atlantic)
To that point, Philip Shulman spoke to Annie Karni about how GOP officials are spreading conspiracy theories about the Trump assassination attempt: "While the rest of us live in reality, these Republicans' disloyalty to the truth could lead to further political violence as they abuse their authority by spreading conspiracy theories in office and on right-wing media." (NYT)
Switching gears: Elisabeth Murdoch views the politics of some of Rupert Murdoch's media properties as "obscene," Sarah Ellison and Jeremy Barr report, citing a source close to her. (WaPo)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/David Zalubowski/AP

More Meta Magic: Mark Zuckerberg's stellar year continues to get better. Meta shares jumped more than 5% in after-hours trading Wednesday after the company beat analyst expectations on both revenue and profit in its Q2 earnings report. Meta also provided better-than-expected Q3 guidance, telling investors it is expecting revenue between $38.5 to $41 billion, versus the $39.1 billion expected. Meta's stock has surged more than 37% year to date. CNBC's Jonathan Vanian has more here.

TOO MANY TABS

📈 NVIDIA shares rebounded, closing Wednesday up nearly 13% after Microsoft increased its A.I. spending. (FT)
In an interview with Alex Heath, Reddit boss Steve Huffman called out Microsoft and Perplexity for scraping the platform without permission: "It has been a real pain in the ass to block these companies." (The Verge)
Uh oh! Instagram and Facebook have run hundreds of ads that violate the company's policies, Salvador Rodriguez reports. (WSJ)
"Don't feel sorry for Linda Yaccarino," Peter Kafka writes, noting she should have known when she took the job that Elon Musk would undermine her. (Business Insider)
Scott Galloway equated Yaccarino to a "circus clown following around an elephant scooping up its shit." (Mediaite)
Google demoted explicit deepfakes in its search rankings. The company also announced measures to help victims of sexually explicit deepfakes. (The Verge/NBC News)
Threads added another feature pointing out when a post is related to a trending topic. (TechCrunch)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Theo Whiteman/HBO

House of the Leaks: For the second year in a row, unreleased footage from HBO's "House of the Dragon" has leaked online. In a statement, HBO confirmed that clips from the acclaimed series had been posted on the internet, blaming the "unintentional release" on an "international third-party distributor." Indeed, the clips posted appeared to have been recorded with a secondary device. HBO said that it is "aggressively monitoring and removing clips from the internet," encouraging fans to properly watch the episode Sunday. Left unsaid was whether it was probing how this leak occurred for the second consecutive season. But one can safely assume that the company is most certainly looking into the matter. THR's James Hibberd has more.

OFF STAGE

It's going to be a quick march to the $1 billion club: "Deadpool & Wolverine" has surpassed the $550 million mark in five days. (Variety)
Jonathan Majors told TMZ that he is "heartbroken" after Marvel abandoned the supervillain he portrayed, Kang the Conqueror, and pivoted to Dr. Doom, which will star Robert Downey Jr. (TMZ)
Olympics ratings continue to soar, with Tuesday's programming averaging 45 million viewers. (The Wrap)
Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson spoke to Mesfin Fekadu about his beef with Sean "Diddy" Combs and watching the tape of the music mogul assaulting singer Cassie: "When someone watches that, if they have a daughter and they can imagine her being under those circumstances, that shit is crazy. Like, they let him get away with it." (THR)
As Taylor Swift's "Eras Tour" nears $2 billion, Chris Willman looked at how it "took over the entire world." (Variety)
After being pulled from the U.S., Kevin Costner's "Horizon 2" film will debut at the Venice Film Festival in September. (Variety)
"Joker: Folie à deux" and "Wolfs," starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney, will also premiere at the festival. (The Wrap)
Maya Rudolph will reprise her role as Vice President Kamala Harris on "SNL" in the run-up to November's election. (CNN)
Colin Jost will host a "Jeopardy!" spinoff on pop culture. (The Wrap)
Universal Orlando Resort revealed its third Wizarding World land, "Ministry of Magic," which will be part of the upcoming Epic Universe park slated to open in 2025. (The Wrap)
Billy Crystal's Apple TV+ limited series "Before" will premiere on October 25. (Deadline)
Demi Lovato has lined up major former child actors — including Drew Barrymore, Kenan Thompson, Christina Ricci, and Raven-Symoné — for her Hulu documentary, "Child Star." (THR)
Prime nabbed the series adaptation of "Every Summer After." (THR)
Netflix released the trailer for its animated "Terminator Zero" series. (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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