Good morning! Here's the latest on Joy Reid, Rachel Maddow, Kathleen Kennedy, Kendrick Lamar, Michael Wolff, Oliver Darcy, The AP, and more...
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'Discombobulation' at MSNBC |
Some of MSNBC's biggest stars have – in extraordinary on-air fashion – rebuked management's decision to cancel Joy Reid and Alex Wagner's shows and lay off their production staffs.
Last night, during the network's most-watched hour, Rachel Maddow said it "feels indefensible" that "both of our non-white hosts in prime time are losing their shows, as is Katie Phang on the weekend."
Maddow also said the impending layoffs, are quite simply, "not the right way to treat people." Producers and other staffers are being put in limbo, she said, and "the anxiety and the discombobulation is off the charts at a time when this job already is extra stressful and difficult."
It must have been a startling moment for MSNBC fans. Stories started to circulate on Friday night about Reid and Wagner possibly being replaced, but none of the changes were confirmed until Monday, when new MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler rolled out a revamped schedule that reflects Comcast's upcoming spinoff of MSNBC and other cable assets.
Viewers mostly learned about it from the anchors themselves. Reid said she was hosting the final edition of "The ReidOut" but didn't say why. MSNBC didn't give any reason for her departure, either. Reid invited Maddow, Nicolle Wallace and Lawrence O'Donnell as her final guests, and they all sang her praises, leaving viewers to ask "why is this happening?"
Then Maddow used about five minutes of her airtime to address the internal news, and that was really the first time that viewers heard about the changes in detail. Maddow confirmed what I had heard over the weekend: That she was furious by the producer layoffs.
MSNBC says the impacted staffers are being encouraged to apply for new jobs, but the bottom line is that multiple show teams are being axed, with no guarantees that folks will be hired back. "The idea that those people are all now adrift somehow makes absolutely no sense," O'Donnell said on air, adding, "I hope something can be done about that."
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Take it from me: Everyone on TV gets cancelled sooner or later. Right now I'm staring at books in my office about the ups and downs of TV programs that nobody else even remembers.
But the political context of this MSNBC overhaul can't be ignored. On Fox News last night, Greg Gutfeld's very first "joke" was about Reid, a longtime punchline on the right, being pushed out. Gutfeld's studio audience cheered and hollered with approval. At the very same moment, on MSNBC, O'Donnell told Maddow, "I just need to second everything you had to say about our dear friend Joy Reid." He also ended his hour by praising the book Reid released last year.
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Some of these changes make a lot of sense:
– For example, Phang and MSNBC weekday morning anchor José Díaz-Balart broadcast from NBC studios in Miami. Once "SpinCo" takes effect, and MSNBC is part of a separate enterprise, utilizing NBC's space won't be an option. So those shows are no more. Díaz-Balart will stay with NBC as the weekend "Nightly News" anchor and Phang will remain with MSNBC as a legal correspondent. (Phang wrote on social media that she was "stunned" to hear her show was cancelled.)
– Maddow will return to a once-a-week schedule and Jen Psaki will host the 9 p.m. hour Tuesday through Friday beginning in April. Insiders have expected a prime time promotion for Psaki for years. (Wagner will become a senior political analyst.)
– Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele, and Alicia Menendez will move from "The Weekend" to the 7 p.m. weekday time slot.
– MSNBC will formulate two new editions of "The Weekend," one in the mornings and one in the evenings.
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>> As Oliver Darcy explained here, Reid had been "vulnerable" for some time. Going forward, MSNBC is aiming "to present progressive views in a manner that doesn't invite as much external scrutiny."
>> Reid's message on her final show was about resisting fascism: "You don’t always win every battle, but the whole thing is about resisting."
>> Reid gave a shoutout to her Substack account as she signed off, and Ben Mullin reported that she is "in talks to launch a new venture on Substack."
> Mullin also wrote that Kutler briefed SpinCo CEO Mark Lazarus on the changes, but "he was not involved in the details of the programming overhaul."
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'Nightly News' changing of the guard |
Monday also saw NBC News announce that Lester Holt will step down from "NBC Nightly News" after ten years. The change will take effect this summer. Holt will continue to host "Dateline NBC." Here’s my full story about the transition... |
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Political media notes and quotes |
>> Last night I spoke with Laura Coates about Dan Bongino's new FBI role, observing that the incentives for a TV/radio host are very different than the incentives for government service. (X)
>> Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called a reporter's question "unqualified" when he was asked "about replacing former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff CQ Brown with an 'underqualified' replacement." (Mediaite)
>> Then a new Pentagon-run X account, @DODResponse, promoted the exchange. Washington Post reporter Dan Lamothe says "this account has launched a series of attacks on lawmakers and journalists from behind the cover of anonymity." (X)
>> "Lawyers for Paramount and President Trump have agreed to appoint a mediator in his $20 billion lawsuit against CBS," Lauren Hirsch and Ben Mullin report. (NYT)
>> Sanity prevails: A Mississippi city has dropped its lawsuit "against a newspaper that had its editorial criticizing local leaders removed by a judge in a case that sparked widespread outrage from First Amendment advocates." (AP)
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Here is The AP's headline about its own lawsuit: "Judge rejects immediately restoring AP's access to White House but urges government to reconsider."
Indeed, Judge Trevor McFadden turned down the wire service's request to temporarily lift Trump's ban, but during Monday's hearing he "appeared somewhat skeptical of the legality of the ban," CNN's Devan Cole and Hadas Gold wrote.
The Trump White House immediately declared "victory" over the "Gulf of America" issue, even though this is far from a settled issue. McFadden scheduled a hearing for March 20 to hear arguments over the AP’s request for a preliminary injunction. For the wire's reporters, it's a long wait.
"We look forward to our next hearing on March 20," The AP said, "where we will continue to stand for the right of the press and the public to speak freely without government retaliation. This is a fundamental American freedom."
>> Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité: Ahead of yesterday's joint presser with Trump and Emmanuel Macron, "the French press corps decided amongst themselves that a Paris-based AP reporter would ask their first question," per a WH pool report. (X)
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>> Reliable Sources alum Jon Passantino is joining Oliver Darcy over at Status. Congrats to both! Plus: Isabella Simonetti is out with a new story about Darcy's successful launch. (WSJ)
>> On the home front, CNN upped Harry Enten to chief data analyst. (CNN)
>> Neel Dhanesha checked in on the New York Editorial Board. (Nieman Lab)
>> The Daily Mail has rolled out DailyMail+, a paywall for its U.S. edition. (Adweek)
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Today's new nonfiction releases |
This week's earnings calendar |
Today: AMC Entertainment reports earnings after the market close.
Wednesday: Paramount reports earnings after the close.
Thursday: Warner Bros. Discovery reports earnings before the bell.
Friday: Fubo reports earnings before the bell.
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"NBCUniversal and Macy’s said they struck a new pact that will keep the retailer’s popular Thanksgiving Day Parade on the media conglomerate’s properties through 2034, a nod to the growing importance of live ‘tentpole’ events in the business of television," Variety's Brian Steinberg reports. |
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>> A new lawsuit alleges that Google's AI-generated overviews in search results are "eroding demand for original content and undermining publishers' ability to compete." (Reuters)
>> So is Trump for or against Big Tech? The answer is yes, Peter Kafka writes. (Business Insider)
>> Meta’s decision to get rid of fact-checkers and offer cash bonuses to viral posts is "potentially pouring accelerant on the kind of false posts the company once policed," Craig Silverman writes. (ProPublica)
>> Anthropic's newest model is "designed to 'think' about questions for as long as users want it to," Maxwell Zeff reports. (TechCrunch)
>> Another fascinating NYT Opinion focus group: "How 12 Americans See Life After Watching a Lot of TikTok." (NYT)
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Well, this is going to be awkward. But there's no avoiding it. "Emilia Pérez" star Karla Sofía Gascón "is planning to attend the Academy Awards on Sunday, in spite of the backlash she has faced after offensive comments she posted on social media resurfaced and effectively derailed her history-making Oscar campaign," CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister and Alli Rosenbloom report. "It is unclear whether Gascón will walk the red carpet or give interviews." More here...
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>> Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy will exit the company by the year’s end, Matthew Belloni scoops. (Puck)
>> Peter Safran and James Gunn provided several updates regarding DC Studios titles. (Variety)
>> The second episode of "The White Lotus" season three drew 3.4 million viewers via HBO and Max, up 40% (!) from the previous week. (TheWrap)
>> Kendrick Lamar and SZA's "Luther" has hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart. (Billboard)
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