Welcome to Wednesday. Here's the latest on John Kelly, Hallie Jackson, Elon Musk, "Slow Burn," Joe Rogan, Netflix and the Menendez brothers... |
CNN team held captive in Darfur |
Earlier this month, CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward, producer Brent Swails and cameraman Scott McWhinnie were held by a militia in North Darfur. This morning, Ward published an extraordinary first-person account of the experience.
"We had come to Darfur to report on the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, never intending to become part of the story," she wrote. "But months of planning came apart in moments when we were detained by a militia led by the man everyone called the general."
For about 48 hours, the team was detained, and Ward felt a "clawing sense of panic at not knowing when I would be able to see my children again." Eventually the armed men said they had concluded the CNN journalists were not spies and would be freed.
"Our experience is instructive in understanding the complexities of the conflict in Darfur," Ward explained, "and the challenges of getting food and aid to those who need it most and getting the story out to the world." Read the rest here...
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We're in a political media environment that rewards transparency and punishes the appearance of secrecy. Consider the following data points from the past 24 hours:
>> When NBC's Hallie Jackson interviewed VP Kamala Harris in DC yesterday, NBC News Now immediately aired the entire sit-down and NBCNews.com published the unedited transcript of the interview.
>> When New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt persuaded former Trump White House chief of staff John Kelly to go on the record about Trump meeting the definition of "fascist," the Times didn't just print the quotes, it published audio clips of Kelly in his own words.
>> When The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg filed a newsmaking story about Trump's "disdain for the American military," Goldberg wrote in the first person about why he has been drawn to the subject for years.
>> When CNN published a walk-up story about tonight's televised town hall with Harris, the story included specifics about who will be in the audience and how they were chosen.
>> When Elon Musk incredulously shared a made-up piece of information about The Atlantic on X last night, a community note warned users that he was either fooled or trying to fool others.
It's not enough to tell. In an era of low trust in media and every other institution, news outlets also have to show as much as possible as often as possible. Depending on the story, this might mean linking to primary sources, providing the raw material, or explaining why the story was assigned.
Conversely, CBS is being pummeled by Donald Trump and his allies for its editing of Harris on "60 Minutes." The network continues to maintain that nothing scandalous took place, but Trump has succeeded in turning it into a scandal anyway. He threatened CBS licenses again yesterday.
Of course, Trump isn't playing by the same rules he is trying to enforce on others. Several of his recent Fox interviews have been edited, even as he demands to see the unedited transcript of Harris on "60."
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The stage is set, as you can see above! CNN's town hall with Kamala Harris begins at 9pm ET. The audience of Pennsylvania voters "were chosen from a pool of people identified by a nonpartisan research organization and CNN editorial producers working with local and state business groups, civic organizations, religious groups and universities," the network says. While moderator Anderson Cooper "will ask Harris some of the questions, the focus will be on questions from the voters. CNN did not edit nor offer any help in drafting the questions from audience members during the town hall."
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Here's the podcast polling I teased yesterday: A new USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll finds that "nearly 72% of respondents said that they had not seen Harris on a podcast and 77.5% said that they had not seen a Trump podcast appearance." But that means at least 1 in 4 American adults have heard Harris on a podcast and 1 in 5 have heard Trump – impressively high totals if you ask me.
>> Up next: Trump "is expected to record an interview with podcasting behemoth Joe Rogan on Friday,” Alex Isenstadt scooped yesterday.
>> Recall that Rogan praised Harris over her debate performance last month. She's "nailing it," he said.
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Deepfake it until you make it |
How easy is it to manipulate online content and confuse voters on election day? Hadas Gold writes: "On last night's 'Erin Burnett OutFront,' I showed just how simple it can be to generate 'deepfakes' about polling locations using AI tools. In less than a minute, I was able to take a real photo of a 2020 polling location and add a fake car crash using Photoshop AI tools. Experts worry bad actors will use such tactics and spread bogus photos online to suggest polling locations have closed or have changed hours – with the end goal of keeping people from voting."
>> A new ad from the anticorruption group Represent.US is using the power of deepfaked celebrities to make that point. Check out the ad here – is that really Chris Rock, Amy Schumer and Rosario Dawson? Or are they all deepfakes?
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Political media notes and quotes |
>> Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong "has blocked the paper from endorsing a candidate for president this year," even though the editorial board was preparing to endorse Harris, Semafor's Max Tani reports.
>> Such a smart and timely move: Bloomberg is launching a new limited series podcast, "Citizen Elon," about the alliance between Trump and Musk.
>> CNN and the The Times are out with new looks at how the election is playing out on TikTok.
>> "What’s it like to be bombarded with hundreds of millions of dollars of political ads?" CNN's Danny Freeman shows you in this report from Pennsylvania.
>> A bullet fragment struck TV reporter Ryan Gamboa "at a shooting range during a campaign event on Tuesday for U.S. Senate candidate Lucas Kunce, who provided first aid to the journalist." Gamboa thankfully only suffered minor injuries.
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The "Slow Burn" season finale is here |
This season of Slate's "Slow Burn" has been about "the rise of Fox News" – that pivotal period between 2000 and 2004 when Fox became the top-rated cable news network in America. The final episode came out this morning, exploring the lead-up to the 2004 election, the aftermath and Bill O'Reilly's backstage behavior. Full disclosure: My experiences blogging about Fox 20 years ago are featured in the episode...
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>> "Disney is now telling would-be customers to pay for subscriptions on Disney's own site, instead of on Apple'sApp Store,"
Peter Kafka writes. (Business Insider)
>> Yahoo Sports has launched a new combat sports franchise called Uncrowned as it tries to "expand its presence in growing sectors of the sports ecosystem," Mark Stenberg reports. (Adweek)
>> "A key Saudi suspect in the murder of US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 had his account reinstated" on Elon Musk's X, Stephanie Kirchgaessner reported. But "hours after the Guardian reported on the account being reinstated, it was suspended again."
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>> "OpenAI and its minority owner Microsoft are funding a $10 million AI collaborative and fellowship program operated by the Lenfest Institute, a non-profit that supports local journalism," Sara Fischer reports. (Axios)
>> This morning's WSJ features a profile of "Hollywood's AI Doomsayer," actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt. (WSJ)
>> And he's not the only one: "ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus, the actor Julianne Moore, [and] the Radiohead singer
Thom Yorke are among 10,500 signatories of a statement from the creative industries warning artificial intelligence companies that unlicensed use of their work is a 'major, unjust threat' to artists' livelihoods,"
Dan Milmo reports. (The Guardian)
>> "Meta has suspended several Threads and Instagram accounts that track the private jets of celebrities such as Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Kim Kardashian," and Trump, Jess Weatherbed reports. (The Verge)
>> "A federal rule banning fake online reviews is now in effect..." (AP)
>> Speaking of... Yelp has temporarily disabled comments for the Pennsylvania McDonald's where Trump visited, due to an influx of bogus reviews... (CNN)
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Menendez fate to be decided |
CNN's Melissa Gray writes: L.A. County district attorney George Gascon "says he plans to make a decision in the next few days on whether to seek resentencing in the case of Erik and Lyle Menendez, who were convicted of murdering their parents more than three decades ago." Gascon is considering a resentencing or the possible release of the brothers. He told Jake Tapper on Tuesday that "I plan to have a decision by the end of this week." As Lisa Respers France previously wrote, "public interest in the Menendez case was reignited recently by Ryan Murphy's Netflix dramatization" titled "Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story..."
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Netflix not playing games |
Netflix "is giving up on making the videogame equivalent of a Hollywood blockbuster and will instead focus on producing casual games," the WSJ's Sarah Needleman and Jessica Toonkel report. "The streaming giant earlier this month pulled the plug on developing its own high-end game" and laid off a team of about 30 people...
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>> Sony's Marvel title "Venom: The Last Dance" is "bound to see its lowest opening in the trilogy" this weekend with a $65 million domestic open... (Deadline)
>> "The Predator is returning to theaters, with 'Predator: Badlands' arriving on Nov. 7, 2025," Aaron Couch reports. "Until now, it was unclear if the film would be for streaming for theatrical..." (THR)
>> "From Adele to The Weeknd, music's biggest stars are playing to their largest crowds yet — and bringing considerable benefits to the concert business..." (WSJ)
>> More than two years after the finale of "Severance" season one, Apple is teasing a staff "meeting" today at 9 a.m. ET, "in what's almost certainly a countdown to the first official trailer for season 2 dropping..." (Tom's Guide)
>> Hans Zimmer's score for "Dune 2" failed to meet eligibility requirements for the Oscars "due to surpassing the Academy’s limit on pre-existing music." (Variety)
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