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Wednesday, March 18, 2026 |
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Hey there! Disney's new CEO is starting today. MS NOW is announcing a new daytime lineup. And Joe Kent is talking to Tucker Carlson. Let's get to it... |
In this daily digest, I often emphasize how news outlets are rejecting President Trump's attacks and anti-media actions. That's all well and good — but his actions still have consequences.
To wit: "The speed with which American democracy is currently dismantled is unprecedented in modern history," one of the world's top democracy researchers says this week in a new report.
The researchers say the US is "rapidly autocratizing," citing the "suppression and intimidation of media and dissenting voices" as a key bit of evidence.
The report comes from the Varieties of Democracies Institute, or V-Dem, a research group based in Sweden. V-Dem has been compiling detailed datasets and producing "liberal democracy index" scores for 202 countries and territories for more than a decade.
This year, they find, the US and 43 other countries are autocratizing while only 12 are becoming more democratic. The result, they say, is a "bleak reality" for many: "The 'center of gravity' for human experience and global governance has shifted heavily toward authoritarianism."
By V-Dem's assessment, four of the five most populous countries in the world are autocracies (India, China, Indonesia, and Pakistan). And the fifth, the US, is now an "electoral democracy," having lost its status as a liberal democracy due to changes during Trump's first year back in office.
"Our data on the USA goes back to 1789. What we're seeing now is the most severe magnitude of democratic backsliding ever in the country," Staffan Lindberg, the founder of the institute, told The Guardian's Martin Gelin.
Is he right? You can sift through the data and decide for yourself. Here's the report in full.
>> I value the report because it's so clinical and analytical. Words like "autocrat" are often thrown around in political contexts, but this is something different: a data-driven assessment of democratic backsliding.
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'The first domino to fall' |
As I wrote in this recap for CNN.com, much of V-Dem's research revolves around freedom of expression. The institute calls government censorship of the media the "preferred weapon of choice" for dictators and aspiring autocrats.
Free speech rights are "often the first 'domino' to fall when countries autocratize," this year's report says.
Now, to be sure, V-Dem's rankings for freedom of expression in the US remain far higher than in most countries. But Trump-era "attacks on the press, academia, civil liberties, and dissenting voices" are all having an impact, the institute asserts in a special section of this year's report focusing on the US.
Trump's first term was "laying a foundation," but his second term has been much more significant, the report says, with a "rapid and aggressive concentration of powers in the presidency."
Christopher Ingraham, writing for Slate, says "the data shows that he has cracked down on free speech more aggressively than any president in the modern era."
The researchers also cite rollbacks of civil rights protections; attempts to suppress left-leaning groups; and a steep drop in legislative constraints on Trump, owing to a Republican-controlled Congress.
They also point to media self-censorship as a growing issue in nearly 40 countries, including the US.
>> "If you live in the US and you feel like your head has been spinning, this is why," Tech Policy Press CEO Justin Hendrix wrote on Bluesky yesterday. "Typically, autocratizing countries take a decade to make the kind of decline we've seen here in the past year, according to V-Dem."
>> Trump loyalists often dispute these concerns by pointing out that Trump won reelection democratically. But the researchers are focusing on what Trump has done with his power since then.
>> Lemme share one more recommended link about this subject. "Don't discount American democracy's resilience," Nate Silver wrote last month: "The U.S. has a highly popular democratic tradition, even as it battles an authoritarian element."
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There are several well-respected democracy research outfits out there. Freedom House is one, and its annual report is coming out tomorrow. (The subtitle this year is "The Growing Shadow of Autocracy," so it's pointing in the same direction.)
V-Dem is another one of the groups. It is housed at the University of Gothenburg and is funded by several Swedish institutions, along with the European Commission, the World Bank, the National Science Foundation in the US, and other organizations.
Right-wing critics of V-Dem sometimes deride it as "Soros-funded" because the Open Society Foundation founded by George Soros is also a supporter. But as you can see here, it's just one of many funders.
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Judge orders VOA restored after Trump shutdown |
V-Dem's report says "the judicial system — and in the end, the Supreme Court — is likely to be vital in stopping Trump's administration autocratic advances."
There are headlines every day about courts pushing back on Trump's crusades. Yesterday one of them was about Voice of America: Judge Royce C. Lamberth said the administration must let more than 1,000 sidelined VOA employees return to work by next week.
VOA has been mostly silent since Trump's takedown order was implemented on March 15, 2025. Its website is frozen in time, with no updates since that date. But now, by court order, VOA's news reporting and programming must be restored — at a pivotal time for America’s foreign relations, given the ongoing war in Iran. Here's my full story.
>> The Trump admin will most likely appeal, but so far, Kari Lake has not responded to requests for comment. (She did retweet complaints about judges and the "deep state" this morning, though.)
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VOA director's call to 'come together' |
VOA director Mike Abramowitz, whom Lake tried to fire last summer, said in an overnight memo to staffers that "the lawyers are still digesting today's ruling, and I may have more to report in the coming days."
"While this is not likely the end of the litigation, lawmakers in both parties understand the urgent need for a strong VOA and have appropriated enough funds for the agency to do its job," he noted. "It is time for all parties to come together and work to rebuild and strengthen the agency."
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Speaking of Trump and the judicial branch... |
Trump "keeps losing in his quest to revive a defamation lawsuit against CNN for the network's use of the phrase 'Big Lie' regarding his claims about the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden," MS NOW's Jordan Rubin writes. "Trump's latest loss came Tuesday, when a full slate of judges on the Atlanta-based federal appeals court declined to consider his case. The president had petitioned the full court after a three-judge panel rejected him in November."
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GB News tees up Trump rant on BBC |
GB News, the upstart right-wing broadcaster in the UK, continues to use its White House press pool access to Trump to promote his lawsuit against its much, much bigger rival, the BBC. GB News reporter Bev Turner prompted Trump to talk about the BBC case yesterday — as if there's nothing more pressing to ask about during wartime.
Trump repeated his usual gripes (and also invoked his past lawsuit against CBS, noting it involved the former owners, because "the current owners, I think, are good, Ellison") and falsely claimed that the BBC's bad edit at issue was "AI-generated." It was not. The Independent has more here...
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One more story about the Trump admin and the courts: |
"Nearly 150 retired federal and state judges have filed an amicus brief on Tuesday supporting AI company Anthropic in its lawsuit against the Trump administration for designating it a 'supply chain risk,'" CNN's Hadas Gold scooped last night.
"The former judges, appointed by both Republicans and Democrats," wrote that "as a practical matter, no one is trying to force the [Pentagon] to contract with Anthropic. Instead, Anthropic is asking only that it not be punished on its way out the door." Read Gold's full story here...
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MS NOW revamps daytime schedule |
This morning, MS NOW announced sweeping changes to its lineup in an attempt to boost daytime ratings. (Oliver Darcy first reported some of those changes last night.)
CNN alum Ana Cabrera is leaving, and a new anchor for the 11 a.m. ET hour will be named later. As for the rest of the changes: "Morning Joe" will return to its original 9 a.m. end time; Stephanie Ruhle will anchor from 9 til 11 a.m.; and Alicia Menendez will move off the 7 p.m. "Weeknight" show and helm noon until 2 p.m.
>> Taking their places: Ali Velshi will replace Ruhle on "The 11th Hour,"
Jacob Soboroff will take over Velshi's current weekend time slot, and Luke Russert will join the 7 p.m. show. The changes will take effect in June.
>> Anchor Chris Jansing "will lean into her reporting roots as MS NOW's chief political reporter," per the press release.
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Josh D'Amaro becomes Disney CEO |
Disney theme parks boss Josh D'Amaro is officially taking over as CEO during today's shareholder meeting. He's in for a "wild ride," Reuters' Dawn Chmielewski writes, as he "inherits a television business in decline, box office fatigue for major entertainment brands like Marvel and Star Wars, and a fractured entertainment landscape where Disney must compete with YouTube and TikTok."
>> "Disney needs radical change," LightShed's Rich Greenfield argued this morning on CNBC. "The biggest thing Josh could do is think about splitting this company up. There is no reason Disney needs to be in the linear TV business. ESPN and ABC have a very different future than the streaming studio, consumer products and theme park business."
>> Variety's Todd Spangler looks back at Bob Iger's tenure as a "dynamic, transformative leader — with an asterisk or two."
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NBC partners with Joanna Stern |
As WSJ veteran Joanna Stern builds a new consumer-tech media company called New Things, she is also signing a new deal with NBC News, where she is already a contributor. Now she'll be "chief tech analyst and contributing correspondent," in a partnership that Rebecca Blumenstein called "a new model of working with leading independent journalists and creators who bring distinctive voices, loyal audiences, and the ability to expand engagement across our platforms."
>> Stern shared a lovely note on X about her relationship with Blumenstein over the years: "We all have Claudes, ChatGPTs and Geminis now. What every young journalist and professional really needs is a Rebecca."
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MAGA media divided over Joe Kent's resignation |
Trump admin counterterrorism lead Joe Kent's resignation cut "to the heart of the MAGA movement," as CNN's Stephen Collinson wrote overnight. CNN's Emily R. Condon wrote more about the MAGA media split here.
>> Coming up: Kent will talk live with his longtime friend Tucker Carlson tonight at 6 p.m. ET on Carlson's streaming network.
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>> Brian Steinberg says viewership for the "CBS Evening News" has "once again dropped below 4 million, a critical demarcation point that previously spurred alarm" at CBS News. (Variety)
>> The Los Angeles Times' billionaire owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, now seems to be hedging about his plans to "raise up to $500 million and pursue a public offering in 2027, Alexandra Bruell reports. (WSJ)
>> Axios "laid off 11 newsroom staffers" yesterday. (TheWrap)
>> The British government "will pay up to 12 million pounds to local media outlets over the next two years to support innovation and help fill 'news deserts,'" Charlotte Tobitt reports. (Press Gazette)
>> Correction: Yesterday, I misspelled Ian Buruma's name. His new book is titled "Stay Alive: Berlin, 1939-1945."
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Small publishers hit hardest in AI era |
New data from Chartbeat shows that "smaller web publishers, with 1,000–10,000 daily page views, are experiencing the most precipitous traffic declines in the AI era," Sara Fischer reports for Axios.
Overall, page views from Google Search and Google Discover "fell 34% and 15%, respectively, from December 2024 to December 2025." But "overall web traffic isn't plummeting," as the search declines are being partially offset by direct traffic, email referrals and other sources...
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More of today's tech talk |
>> "Arizona's attorney general has filed the first-ever criminal charges in the US against a major prediction market company, accusing Kalshi of running an illegal gambling operation in violation of state law," Marshall Cohen reports. (CNN)
>> The recent commotion about Benjamin Netanyahu – leading to his "proof of life" video – is "the latest demonstration of one of the dangers that A.I. technology has posed to global affairs," Stuart A. Thompson and Tiffany Hsu write. "Not only can A.I. fakery deceive millions online, but real videos can also be dismissed as A.I.-generated lies." (NYT)
>> "Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Peter Welch are calling for a halt to the new version of ByteDance's AI app, Seedance," Emily Wilkins reports. (CNBC)
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Nielsen data shows that "Sunday's 98th Academy Awards drew 17.86 million viewers on ABC and Hulu," down "about 9% from last year’s Oscars, which drew 19.69 million viewers for a post-pandemic high," THR's Rick Porter reports.
Still, it "maintained its usual spot as the most watched primetime entertainment telecast of the season." More here...
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>> Amazon's "Project Hail Mary" is "targeting a launch of $63 million to $65 million in North America" this weekend, "which would mark Amazon MGM’s biggest opening ever," Rebecca Rubin writes. (Variety)
>> Warner Bros. released the official teaser trailer for Denis Villeneuve's "Dune: Part Three." (YouTube)
>> Sony and Marvel dropped the official trailer for "Spider-Man: Brand New Day." (YouTube)
>> Last month, "The Daily Show" delivered its "strongest monthly ratings performance in years." (LateNighter)
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