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Monday, August 05, 2024

Bloomberg News takes disciplinary action against staffers, Alsu Kurmasheva speaks out about the "nightmare" she endured in Russia, CBS News restructures, Crooked Media staffers walk out, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. confesses to a bear-ly believable story to get ahead of a New Yorker feature, the "Magnificent Seven" tumbles on Wall Street, Elon Musk files another lawsuit against OpenAI, X tells staffers it will vacate its once-iconic S.F. offices, "House of the Dragon" showrunner reveals the "Game of Thrones" prequel will end with season four, Taylor Swift reclaims the top spot on the Billboard 200 list, "Deadpool & Wolverine" inches toward $1 billion, and more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

Google's Crown Cracks

CNN Photo Illustration/Annegret Hilse/Reuters

"Google is a monopolist."

Those were the plain words used by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in a ruling Monday that delivered a brutal blow to the Silicon Valley titan and could have far-reaching implications over how information is organized and distributed across the internet.

The consequential decision from Mehta was years in the making. The Department of Justice had first sued in October 2020. The case went to trial last year, with closing arguments concluding earlier this year.

At the heart of the case was whether Google acted as a monopoly and abused its market position to stymie competition. Google, through exclusive deals with major tech companies such as Apple, has paid large sums of money to ensure it is the default search engine on devices.

Mehta on Monday, after weighing all the evidence presented in the historic case, agreed that the search engine giant had, in fact, abused its market power. The judge offered an example to illustrate how Google can use its dominance to inflate the costs of digital advertisements, stating that the company "simply could not take" such an approach "in a competitive market."

In such a market, Mehta wrote in his opinion, Google "still could earn a profit from the sale of an ad, but it could not achieve the monopoly profits that it does presently in the absence of rivals."

The decision was hailed by the News/Media Alliance, which represents more than 2,200 publishers across the country, many of which have seen their business models collapse as Google and Meta have increased their market share over the years. The organization said in a statement that it was "incredibly pleased" to see the Justice Department "holding this dominant monopoly accountable for anticompetitive behavior in the digital advertising market, which has harmed countless businesses, including publishers of quality journalism."

"For years, Google has exerted its dominance, profiting off of the hard work and tremendous investments of publishers, while journalism struggles to survive – all during a time when people need reliable news and information more than ever," the News/Media Alliance said. "This landmark decision finally recognizes that this is unacceptable and unlawful, that Google must be held accountable, and competition must be restored to the marketplace."

How the court rectifies the matter, though, is anyone's guess — and it could take years to hash out in the judicial system. A separate proceeding is expected in which a court will weigh its options and then Google is likely to appeal the decision, meaning there will be no immediate resolution.

"Designing a remedy for the Department of Justice's case will be more difficult," Platformer's Casey Newton wrote Monday evening. "Can it change the default search engine on Apple's devices, when Apple was not a party to the case? Or what about the Firefox browser? Mozilla isn't a party to the case, either."

Rebecca Allensworth, a Vanderbilt University law professor, told CNN's Brian Fung and Clare Duffy that the court could direct Google to showcase a so-called "choice screen" to show users other search engine options. Google will also likely face a fine, though Allensworth stressed such monetary punishments are "not the primary way in which the American antitrust system enforces the law."

Regardless, the decision is certain to have a major ripple effect across the entire industry. And, if the Justice Department ultimately prevails in Google's likely appeal, it could deal a big blow to the company's dominance.

"This is definitely a landmark," Diana Moss, vice president and director of competition policy at the Progressive Policy Institute, told CNN. "It's very clear in signaling that the use of exclusive contracts in the hands of a monopolist violates the law."

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

Blowup at Bloomberg: Bloomberg News dismissed star reporter Jennifer Jacobs and took disciplinary action against other staffers Monday after the outlet broke a news embargo last week on Russia-U.S. prisoner swap, which included Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. In a memo, Bloomberg Editor-In-Chief John Micklethwait told staff that the initial story, published by the outlet at 7:41 a.m. ET Thursday, reporting that Gershkovich had been released was posted "prematurely." Bloomberg's reporting "could have endangered the negotiated swap," Micklethwait wrote. Micklethwait added that after a probe conducted by the outlet's standards editor, he had taken disciplinary action against a number of those involved" and will be reviewing their process to make sure such "failures like this don't happen again." Hadas Gold, Liam Reilly, and I have the full story here.

► Jacobs said in a statement: "In reporting the story about Evan's release, I worked hand in hand with my editors to adhere to editorial standards and guidelines. At no time did I do anything that was knowingly inconsistent with the administration's embargo or that would put anyone involved at risk." Bloomberg did not comment on her departure.

THE INDUSTRY

CNN Photo Illustration

End of a 'Nightmare': Alsu Kurmasheva, the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist who was imprisoned in Russia for 10 months and released during last week's prisoner exchange, said Monday she is "finally being treated as a human being." Kurmasheva made the comments in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, the first she has granted since her release from the Vladimir Putin-led state. "I've been waking up from that nightmare," Kurmasheva told Tapper. Kurmasheva explained that she didn't quite believe she was actually being set free until "the very end." CNN's Piper Hudspeth Blackburn and Liam Reilly have more here.

THE FOURTH ESTATE

Count CBS News as the latest news organization without a single leader. The Tiffany Network said Monday that Adrienne Roark and Jennifer Mitchell will be elevated, with both overseeing parts of the national newsroom. Meanwhile, their boss, Wendy McMahon, said Monday she will oversee the outlet's network broadcasts. What a hard-to-understand structure! (Variety)
Of note: The decision to avoid tapping a strong singular leader to put atop CBS News leaves somewhat of a blank slate for the future Skydance-RedBird leadership team to mold into the image they desire.
On the CBS News front, the network's PR chief, Christa Robinson, will depart the network. Robinson, who has led communications at CBS News for nearly a decade and developed an outstanding reputation across the industry, is the latest high-profile executive to exit ahead of the forthcoming Paramount acquisition. (AdWeek)
Unionized Crooked Media staffers walked out Monday to protest the state of contract negotiations. (THR)
The BBC is reportedly working to purge Huw Edwards' image and voice from its archive footage. (Guardian)
The NYT and at least 13 other news organizations blocked OpenAI's SearchGPT, Darius Rafieyan reports. (Business Insider)
MSNBC continues to build hype for its live-event slated for September. The network said it will debut Rachel Maddow's first feature documentary, "From Russia With Lev," at the Brooklyn event. (Variety)

IN THE BIZ

Andrew Marchand has a must-read story on the NBA's negotiations with media partners: "The implications of what has transpired over the last four months of haggling are magnified by the murky shape of media with cable in decline, streaming emerging, free broadcast networks, like NBC, born again as the top sports destinations, and uncertainty constant." (The Athletic)
WME is "bolstering its Literary Media Department," Erik Hayden reports. (THR)

MEDIA MOVES

Fox Weather hired Mike Seidel as a meteorologist. (AdWeek)
CNBC tapped Salvador Rodriguez as deputy editor of tech. (TBN)
The WaPo named Lynh Bui deputy health and science editor. (WaPo)
The Information hired Josh Koehn to cover powerful people in technology. (TBN)
AdWeek launched a coverage unit focused on retail media, naming Lauren Johnson its deputy editor. (AdWeek)
The NYT hired Aritz Parra as a senior producer, McKinnon de Kuyper and Theodore Tae as video journalists, and named Aaron Krolik as a data and technical correspondent. (NYT/NYT)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Liam Kennedy/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The Bearfaced Truth: If this isn't proof that we are living in a simulation, I'm not sure what is! Robert F. Kennedy Jr. revealed over the weekend that he was the person who, 10 years ago, dropped off the carcass of a dead bear in Central Park — an act that had spurred a local mystery. The presidential candidate disclosed the extremely bizarre story in an apparent attempt to get ahead of a then-forthcoming New Yorker story by Clare Malone. In a video posted online, Kennedy told fellow conspiracy theorist Roseanne Barr that he had found the carcass on the side of the road and put it in his vehicle with the intent to skin it. But, he never ultimately got around to doing so and needed to ditch the bear somewhere before a flight. Kennedy then decided to do so at Central Park. CNN's Aaron Pellish has more here.

► The New Yorker published its feature story Monday, complete with a photo of Kennedy posing with the dead bear cub. CNN's John Berman, whose prescient foresight allowed him to accurately predict part of the story 10 years ago, revisited the matter Monday. "John Berman is always right," Sara Sidner joked.

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Another day, another right-wing extremist embraced by Donald Trump. The GOP candidate hosted a far-right streamer, even dancing with him for a video posted on X. (Mediaite)
Meanwhile, right-wing influencers are continuing to say wild things about Kamala Harris. Charlie Kirk said Monday that she "wants to see the elimination of the United States of America." (MMFA)
And Daily Wire host Andrew Klavan said Harris "has the womanish traits of being a cackling, irrational, and venomous serpent without the womanly traits of, grace, generosity, and tenderness." (MMFA)
Who could have guessed this would happen? Joe Rogan's latest Netflix special, "Burn the Boats," is coming under fire after the podcaster targeted the Covid vaccines and mocked transgender people. (Variety)
With right-wing media offering audience deceptive coverage, Parker Malloy breaks down how "a 46-second boxing match" at the Olympics "sparked a global controversy about gender in sports." (The Present Age)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Big Tech Tumbles: It was an ugly day on Wall Street — particularly for major tech stocks. The so-called "Magnificent Seven" — made up of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Tesla — fell more than 6% on Monday amid recession fears and broader worries that the robust investment into A.I will not pay off for investors as fast as once expected. Per Yahoo Finance's Ines Ferré, the seven stocks have lost a staggering $1.3 trillion in value over the course of the last three trading sessions. Ferré has more here.

TOO MANY TABS

Here we go again! Elon Musk filed a new lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI, this one in federal court. (CNN)
Speaking of OpenAI, president and cofounder Greg Brockman is taking an extended leave of absence, cofounder John Shulman is headed to rival Anthropic, and product lead Peter Deng is out, The Information's Stephanie Palazzolo and Jon Victor reported. (The Info)
X'd out: X will shut down its once-iconic San Francisco offices "over the next few weeks," per a memo obtained by scoop machines Kate Conger and Ryan Mac. (NYT)
Five secretaries of state will send a letter to Musk requesting that the X owner amend the platform's Grok AI chatbot, which promoted election misinformation. (The Guardian)
A New York minor slapped Meta with a lawsuit, alleging the company attempted to keep teenagers addicted to Instagram. Meta responded by saying "these are complex issues" and that the company works with experts on its products. (WaPo)
Meanwhile, TikTok will scrap an "addictive" tool in Europe. (POLITICO)
Meta is offering Hollywood A-listers hefty paychecks to use their voices for A.I. projects, Lucas Shaw reported. (Bloomberg)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/HBO

The Dragon's Final Dance: HBO's current tentpole show, "House of the Dragon," will conclude with season four, showrunner Ryan Condal revealed Monday. Condal said season three of the "Game of Thrones" prequel will go into production in early 2025, but that he did not have any detail on precisely how many episodes it will be. Variety's Jennifer Maas has more here.

► The news comes one day after the acclaimed series' second season wrapped. The finale drew 8.9 million viewers, a strong showing, though slightly down from season 1's finale. Deadline's Katie Campione has more here.

PARIS 2024

"The middle Sunday of the 2024 Olympics drew in the second largest daily audience the Paris Games have seen to date," Loree Seitz reports, noting the coverage brought in 35.4 million viewers. (The Wrap)
After getting a staph infection, ear infection, and cutting his foot on a reef, Colin Jost exited his stint as Olympics surfing correspondent. (Deadline)
The Vatican has now weighed in, responding to the controversial Opening Ceremony performance by saying the drag performance demonstrated a lack of "respect for others." (Deadline)

OFF STAGE

Marvel's "Deadpool & Wolverine" clawed its way to $824.1 million at the global box office while Pixar's "Inside Out" passed the $3 billion mark. (Deadline)
Vince Vaughn said R-rated comedies aren't made anymore because the "people in charge don't want to get fired." (Variety)
Taylor Swift's "Tortured Poets Department" is back at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. It's the 13th nonconsecutive week the album has sat atop the chart. (Variety)
Get better soon, Jon! Michael Kosta will step in for Jon Stewart for this week's "Daily Show" after the host tested positive for Covid-19. (THR)
Zac Efron said he is "happy and healthy" days after reports the actor had been hospitalized. (CNN)
Aerosmith has officially retired from touring, having ended its farewell tour after Steven Tyler suffered damaged vocal cords and a fractured larynx that will never fully recover. (CNN)
Jeff Daniels, Jared Harris, and J.K. Simmons will star in a historical Cold War drama, "Reykjavik." Assuming it is shot on site, I would very much recommend to the actors and crew the Edition hotel in the Icelandic city. It's quite nice! (Deadline)
The second season of "Shrinking" will hit Apple TV+ on Oct. 16. (TV Line)
Lionsgate is working on a new "John Wick" series, "Under The High Table," executive produced by Keanu Reeves. (Deadline)
Jenna Ortega is in talks to join J.J. Abrams' untitled Warner Bros. film opposite Glen Powell. (Deadline)

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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