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Thursday, October 2, 2025 |
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Good morning. Gallup has released a new "trust in mass media" poll, PEN America has published a book banning report, and Kamala Harris has reached No. 1 on the NYT best seller list. Plus, the latest on Netflix, Mario Guevara, Brendan Carr, Taylor Swift, and much more... |
The Root, a groundbreaking website for and about Black America, is returning to Black ownership for the first time in a decade. Ashley Allison, a Democratic political strategist and CNN commentator, says she is acquiring The Root from G/O Media, the private equity-controlled media company that has been selling off its assets.
Allison tells me she plans to invest in video content, strike new partnerships with experts, and launch in-person experiences for The Root’s readers. "This isn't about making more content but rather about making meaning of this moment," she said, describing a precarious political time "when journalism is under attack and audiences are seeking independent sources for news." Here's my full story...
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Second/third/fourth life for websites |
It's encouraging to see G/O Media's titles find new owners with new ambitions after Great Hill Partners abandoned the business. The reality is that groundbreaking sites like The Root, The Onion and Kotaku couldn't post the kind of rapid growth that Great Hill's investors expected. (G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller admitted this in an essay over the summer.) So the titles are better off with other owners. Look at what Ben Collins and co. are doing with The Onion — it's a model for breathing new life into a longtime brand.
>> In a statement about her plans, Allison said "owning the power to tell our own stories is a rich tradition The Root is committed to upholding."
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Gallup just released its annual measurement of trust in media. Here's the topline: "Americans' confidence in the mass media has edged down to a new low, with just 28% expressing a 'great deal' or 'fair amount' of trust in newspapers, television and radio to report the news fully, accurately and fairly," down from 31% last year and 40% five years ago. Republicans' confidence "has dropped to single digits (8%) for the first time in the trend."
When this topic comes up, I always try to point out that everyone has a different definition of "media" nowadays; that skepticism of "media" is a healthy thing; and that these low numbers reflect not just the real flaws of journalists, but also a decades-long political campaign to label real news "fake" and destroy trust in reliable news coverage.
All that said, this stat is really worrisome: "Generational divides further underscore the erosion" in trust, "with older adults holding significantly more faith than younger Americans in the media." Read on...
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Treating the shutdown like a joke |
"Evidently, 'The Late Show' has outlasted the United States federal government, because we’re still open, and they done shut down," Stephen Colbert said last night.
The threat of firings hangs over DC as the government "will remain shut down through at least Friday," CNN's team reports. The NYT's Tony Romm writes that President Trump is using the standoff "to maximize pain and punish political foes."
The Bulwark says the GOP's shutdown argument is "a giant lie," while Breitbart claims the left is lying. Meanwhile, the WH is running that "racist, vulgar AI video of Jeffries and Schumer" on a loop, CNN's Kit Maher notes. VP JD Vance says the video is just a joke. I guess someone is having fun amid all of this...
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📱 WaPo text poll, shutdown edition |
I'm a fan of The Washington Post's "We texted 1,000 Americans..." polls. The latest one, with a "nationally representative sample" of 1,010 people, found that "significantly more Americans" blame Trump and Republicans for the shutdown than Democrats, "though many say they are not sure."
>> The right-wing media machine effect: Some of the Post's poll respondents who blamed Dems "echoed false claims by Trump and Republicans that Democratic lawmakers are trying to force the government to offer full health care benefits to people who are in the country illegally."
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Latest on journo in ICE detention |
A US appeals court has "rejected journalist Mario Guevara's motion for a stay of removal, setting up his potentially imminent deportation to El Salvador," Reporters Without Borders said yesterday. Guevara "would be the first journalist arrested in the course of his work and deported by the current Trump administration."
To Trump admin officials, this is simple: Guevara overstayed his visa and should return home. But groups like CPJ and Free Press have expressed deep concern about the circumstances of his arrest and expected removal. Nora Benavidez, senior counsel at Free Press, says "his case is emblematic of this administration's repeated acts of retaliation against dissent..."
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Far-right figures flog Netflix |
I guess it is Netflix's turn in the barrel. "Libs Of TikTok" and Elon Musk are crusading against the streaming service, voicing complaints about an old kids' show with a transgender character and, more broadly, the company's perceived liberal slant. "Cancel Netflix for the health of your kids," Musk wrote on X, seemingly reacting to stray bits of outdated info he was picking up from his feed. Forbes tried to explain the online eruption here...
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The Committee for the First Amendment is back |
Elizabeth Wagmeister reports: Eight decades after Hollywood legends like Henry Fonda, Lucille Ball, Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland launched the Committee for the First Amendment to stand up to McCarthyism, Jane Fonda is bringing back the organization at a time she calls "the most frightening moment of my life."
Hundreds of Hollywood figures have already joined. "People are signing up the minute they hear about it," Fonda told Dana Bash...
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'The Normalization of Book Banning' |
"In 2025, book censorship in the United States is rampant and common. Never before in the life of any living American have so many books been systematically removed from school libraries across the country," PEN America says in its latest annual study of the matter.
The study found that more than 3,750 individual titles were banned in 87 school districts nationwide during the 2024-2025 school year. Here are the takeaways...
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Protesting against ICE impeding reporters |
Demonstrators holding signs reading "JOURNALISM IS NOT A CRIME" and "DICTATORS FEAR A FREE PRESS" gathered outside the Federal Plaza Immigration Court in Manhattan yesterday, CNN's Celina Tebor reports. The protest followed the shoving incident that put a journalist in the hospital.
Numerous press freedom groups have condemned the ICE officers' actions against journalists. "ICE must be held accountable for violating its own policy and for trampling on the First Amendment rights of these photographers," Mickey H. Osterreicher of the National Press Photographers Association said.
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Post Millennial reporter struck in Portland |
Katie Daviscourt of the conservative website The Post Millennial "appeared on Fox News with a black eye on Wednesday after she was assaulted by a masked 'Antifa-affiliated protester' in Portland," Mediaite's Charlie Nash reports.
Daviscourt, who has been covering anti-ICE protests in Portland for months, says local police initially declined to help track down the person who hit her. She used the Fox appearance to argue that "the Trump administration needs to start treating Antifa like ISIS, the terrorists that they are, and put an end to them here for good."
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A defeat for Dinesh D'Souza |
Marshall Cohen reports: Right-wing activist Dinesh D'Souza suffered a major court loss Wednesday over his film "2,000 Mules," which promoted baseless claims of massive fraud in the 2020 election. A federal judge cleared the way for trial in a defamation case brought by one of the people falsely accused of rigging the results. There is enough evidence for a jury to conclude that D'Souza was "advancing a knowingly false narrative" about voter fraud, the judge said. D’Souza denies wrongdoing but has already admitted that some of the film's key claims were flawed.
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>> "FCC chair Brendan Carr has agreed to testify before the Senate Commerce Committee," chaired by Sen. Ted Cruz, Burgess Everett scooped. The hearing will likely take place in November. (Semafor)
>> "Pete Hegseth's war on leaks has reached a new level of absurdity," Tom Jones writes. (Poynter)
>> WaPo Opinion editor Adam O'Neal has hired Dominic Pino from National Review, Kate Andrews from The Spectator, and Carine Hajjar from The Boston Globe. (X)
>> People Inc. (the new name of Dotdash Meredith) has acquired Feedfeed, "a 12-year-old food publisher and creator network." (Axios)
>> "107 Days" by Kamala Harris has debuted at #1 on the NYT best seller list. (NYT)
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Meta using AI data for ad targeting |
Clare Duffy writes: Meta says users' chats and interactions with Meta AI will soon be used to target them with even more personalized ads. Users will start seeing notices of the change next week, but it won't kick in until December 16. The company will also use data from Meta AI to help determine what kinds of content users see on its site. Details here...
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More of today's tech talk |
>> Universal Music and Warner Music "are nearing landmark AI licensing deals" as "record labels try to set the terms for how tech groups pay for music," Anna Nicolaou reports. (FT)
>> "Inside TikTok, executives say there's a very obvious candidate" to run the new US joint venture: "Adam Presser, the longtime No. 2 to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, and one of the top Americans at the company." (The Information)
>> Newsweek is out with an excerpt from Jacob Silverman's forthcoming book, "Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley." (Newsweek)
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Counting down to 'Showgirl' launch |
T-minus one day til "The Life of a Showgirl." Taylor Swift's newest album "may be her most consequential one yet," CNN's Lisa Respers France writes here.
Swift's "Official Release Party of a Showgirl," with its one-weekend-only appearance in theaters, is going to be #1 this week. Variety's Rebecca Rubin describes all the ways it's unprecedented.
>> And if you haven't taken CNN's "two truths and a lie" Taylor Swift quiz, check it out here. I scored 8 out of 10...
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>> "Yahoo is in advanced talks to sell AOL to Italian technology company Bending Spoons for about $1.4 billion." (Reuters)
>> "The 'Peanuts' gang is staying put at Apple TV+, with the streamer inking a five-year deal extension to keep Charlie Brown and friends on the service until 2030." (Variety)
>> A federal judge has again tossed a lawsuit by a man who accused Nirvana "of distributing child pornography by using a photograph of him as a naked, swimming baby on the cover of its breakthrough 1991 album 'Nevermind.'" (Reuters)
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