TGIT. Scroll down for the latest on Karine Jean-Pierre, Jake Tapper, Alex Thompson, Jamie Heller, Josh D'Amaro, AMC, the BBC, and many more. But first, a bit of a different lead... |
Ariana Drehsler/Bloomberg via Getty Images |
When viewing media through the prism of an all-consuming war for attention, today is one of the industry's biggest days of the year. That's because a new device is joining the screen time competition.
Nintendo launched the Switch 2 overnight, its first new gaming console in more than eight years. Fans lined up outside some Gamestop and Best Buy stores (see above) for midnight release parties. Target encouraged customers to show up early this morning. The console sold out online almost instantly, a testament to the pent-up demand for "Mario Kart World" and other new games.
This is a global launch, as Bloomberg noted here, reporting queues from "Tokyo to Manhattan." Some sites even live-blogged the line-waiting.
Gaming is everywhere because gamers are everywhere. "GTA" and "Fortnite" are lodged in the mainstream zeitgeist. "A Minecraft Movie" is the highest-grossing film of the year. Heck, Elon Musk's obsession with "Diablo IV" recently spurred a WaPo investigation! On the other end of the spectrum, casual games have breathed new life into the news organizations lucky enough or savvy enough to operate them. My mother-in-law texts me her Wordle score every morning. (Hi, Helen!)
But the gaming category still doesn't garner respect commensurate with the attention it has earned. This is big business; The Guardian points out that Nintendo successfully has "dodged Trump's tariffs" so far, but "the headache isn't over." It's also a lifestyle; this morning the NYT published a beautiful essay by Jamal Michel titled "Returning to Nintendo Games Helped Heal My Inner Child."
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Nintendo's 'strange energy' |
"Almost everything about the Switch 2 ahead of launch has been a little weird, from the confusing messaging and high pricing to the unfortunately timed connection with spiking tariffs," The Verge's Andrew Webster writes. "Intent to keep that strange energy going, Nintendo has decided to not send out early review units to The Verge or other outlets, citing the need for day-one software updates."
So tech and gamer websites are doing their reviews in real-time today, starting with unboxing features like this one over at Ars Technica. Some games journalists were given advance time with the new games, and Game File's Stephen Totilo shared his impressions afterward. Nintendo turned its virtual tour of the new Switch into a $10 game all its own, "Welcome Tour," and Totilo says it's actually so fun "that I stopped my 'Mario Kart World' session early to go back to it." Go figure.
>> As for "Kart," a/k/a the reason I'm buying a Switch 2 as soon as I can find one, Rolling Stone's Christopher Cruz interviewed producer Kosuke Yabuki about the "challenges of a free roam racer." The reviews are trickling in at Metacritic.
>> Bottom line about the new console: "Everything we've seen is an incremental upgrade — in performance and function" – over the previous Switch. "Still, all the new features are a very big deal," Inverse editor and CNN alum Shannon Liao writes.
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Three of five seats on the FCC are about to be vacant. "Democrat Geoffrey Starks, who announced in March he was stepping down at an unspecified date, plans to leave on Friday. Republican Nathan Simington will also depart at the end of the week," Bloomberg's Kelcee Griffis reports.
Trump appointee Olivia Trusty is awaiting Senate confirmation, and there is talk that "a Democratic nominee to replace Starks could be paired with a Republican choice to facilitate Senate confirmation..."
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Stations ask for public support |
Following up on our lead story yesterday: PBS and NPR stations from coast to coast are enlisting listeners for help stopping Trump's rescission proposal. "We need your support," WAMU in DC told fans. "These are funds that are not easily replaced," Nebraska Public Media told supporters. "People living in rural and remote areas would be especially hard hit," Oregon Public Broadcasting warned. "Even if you’ve already contacted your congressional representatives, we're asking you to reach out again," southern California's KCRW wrote.
>> Here's the key: "It's unclear if there are four Republican votes to block the package," NPR's own story notes.
>> Recommended reading: "Americans trust PBS because it's publicly funded, not in spite of it," according to a group of researchers who just published a new paper on the topic.
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Former Biden press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says she has left the Democratic party and written a book titled "Independent" — but people aren't buying it. The book, with its subtitle referencing a "Broken White House," was announced yesterday, and hasn't moved the needle on Amazon at all. It currently ranks #1,728,594 in books.
Typically publishers hope to see an immediate spike in preorders when an announcement gets lots of press, like this one has. But the press has been largely negative about "Independent" and Jean-Pierre. Bidenworld has gone "scorched earth" against her, as Axios notes this morning. Politico's Eli Stokols says her "attention-grabbing ploy" has "reignited frustrations that burned for years," particularly Jean-Pierre's "pursuit of celebrity and personal media exposure..."
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'Original Sin' still on top |
Whatever "Independent" is, Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson's "Original Sin" is the opposite. An unlikely combination of
Joe Biden devotees and conservative media-bashers have pushed some storylines on social media about "Original Sin" being a flop, but that may be wishful thinking; it is actually one of the best-selling political books in years. Check the best seller charts: Yesterday Tapper and Thompson ranked #1 on the NYT nonfiction best seller list for a second straight week despite stiff competition.
>> New to the list this week: Karen Hao's "Empire of AI."
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>> Longtime "SportsCenter" anchor Jay Harris "has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and will have surgery on June 10." Harris sat down with Michael Strahan on "GMA" this morning. (ESPN)
>> "BBC staff in London say their families are being 'targeted and punished' by the Iranian regime as it intensifies a campaign of intimidation against journalists and media outlets," Tom Levitt reports. (The Guardian)
>> The same story is repeating itself in country after country. This morning the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project is out with a feature titled "The Death of Journalism in Azerbaijan," charging that a "sweeping crackdown by Azerbaijan's authoritarian regime has decimated what little remained of independent journalism in the country." (OCCRP)
>> "UnitedHealthcare is suing The Guardian for defamation over a story the publication ran related to its billing for nursing home residents." The Guardian says its story "was backed up by documents and on-the-record lawsuits." (Semafor)
>> Warner Bros. Discovery (CNN's parent) laid off staffers across its cable channels yesterday. "The number of layoffs are described as being in the double digits, but well less than 100," per Tony Maglio. (TheWrap)
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"Against all odds — and headlines — ad spending is holding steadily," Digiday's Seb Joseph reports. "Despite a parade of problems, the market hasn’t blinked. Ad buyers are saying it, and the latest forecast from Madison & Wall backs them up." The firm's CEO Brian Wieser now expects ad spending to grow 6% this year in the U.S. His previous forecast "pegged growth for the year at just 3.6%."
>> The caveat: The ad market moves with the economy, and "tariffs and policy unpredictability are weighing down efficiency, raising cost and discouraging long-term investment."
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Backlash at Business Insider |
>> "Meta is courting Hollywood in search of exclusive content for a premium virtual-reality headset it plans to release next year," Ben Fritz and Jessica Toonkel report. (WSJ)
>> "Reddit is suing AI startup Anthropic for using the online discussion site's data without a licensing agreement." (WSJ)
>> Julia Alexander says media execs "should take a lesson from Netflix and YouTube and embrace generative A.I. with real urgency, or they'll find themselves once again late to the party, watching other companies eat the new revenue streams." (Puck)
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D'Amaro in 'pole position' for CEO? |
The Hollywood Reporter's new cover story about succession (the process, not the show) notes that the Bob Iger successor search "remains opaque even to high-level Disney insiders."
"Still, sources say that [Josh] D'Amaro — the parks and experiences chief — is now in pole position," Peter Kiefer writes.
Dana Walden remains on the shortlist, but her close friendship with Kamala Harris is now seen as an "impediment," he adds: "Given the vindictiveness of the Trump administration, it's hard not to see the relationship as a potential liability, unfair as that may be."
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'Hollywood Has Left L.A.' |
That's the title of Lane Brown's feature in NYMag's Hollywood issue about the profound production "exodus" out of La La Land. "Even movies set in L.A. are increasingly filmed elsewhere," Brown writes. There's a lot of rich detail here.
>> Earlier this week "a bill set to dramatically expand California’s incentives for film and TV production companies to shoot in-state" passed the State Assembly...
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Entertainment odds and ends |
>> Lionsgate's new "John Wick" flick, "Ballerina," is likely to take the top spot at the box office during its opening weekend. (Boxoffice Pro)
>> "AMC Networks is the latest entertainment entity — and the first cable player — to formally make a deal with emerging Hollywood AI player Runway." (THR)
>> Kendrick Lamar and SZA's collaboration "Luther" has hit "an unprecedented 23rd week at the top" of Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. (Billboard)
>> Russell Simmons "is suing HBO and the filmmakers behind the 'On the Record' documentary for $20 million, alleging they defamed him and ignored evidence that supported his version of events." (Variety)
>> AMC is going to add (even more) commercials before the flick starts. And the exhibitor says moviegoers don't mind! (Deadline)
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