Courtesy The New York Times |
The US military's stunning raid in Venezuela. The swift transfer of Nicolás Maduro to New York. The celebrations in the streets and the concerns about what it means to "run" a foreign country. The State Department's declaration that "THIS IS OUR HEMISPHERE." President Trump's renewed talk about Greenland. Large anti-government protests in Iran.
And amid all of that... A sudden influx of federal agents into Minnesota, partly in response to a right-wing YouTuber's viral video. And then a fatal shooting. A nationwide debate over ICE tactics. Another shooting in Oregon. Another vow from the Trump administration to step up its operations.
It's normal to feel overwhelmed and on edge amid all this news.
Hours after the ICE shooting in Minneapolis, sportscaster Jon Alba wrote on X, "It is impossible to get excited about anything or focus on work. A constant, lingering sense of dread. Take care of yourselves, everyone."
Author Garrett Graff explored those feelings in more detail in this new column titled "The physical weight of Trumpism." Graff wrote, "That heaviness you feel, that drag on your mental health, that drain on your emotional energy and lethargy in the face of world events," is real. "We are all carrying a lot of new weight in the era of Trumpism."
Trump devotees like Sean Hannity would disagree. As Trump boasted about (and exaggerated) his accomplishments on Hannity's Fox show last night, Hannity could barely conceal his enthusiasm about Trump's assertion of power around the world.
I'd say The New York Times, not Hannity, had the more revealing interview with Trump this week, though. When the NYT team asked Trump if there are any limits on his global power, he said, "Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me." The quote is featured on Page One (seen above) of today's Times.
It's all exhilarating to some. It's exhausting to others.
"It's the sense that you are being overwhelmed by a tidal wave," Prof. Dannagal Young told Scientific American last year. "How do you push back against a tidal wave? You can't." The full SciAm piece about coping with news overload is worth reading if this topic is on your mind today.
"News consumption is not an end in itself," Young told the publication. "From a democratic theory standpoint, news consumption is a means to become informed to act."
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Iran tries to stop protests (and videos) from spreading, but... |
On Hannity last night, Trump repeated his vow to hit Iran "very hard" if it starts murdering protestors.
Iranian authorities have cut internet access and telephone lines, apparently to stop word of the widespread protests from getting out. NBC's headline: "Iran shut off from the world as regime struggles to contain escalating unrest."
But some videos are emerging nevertheless. In social media footage verified by CNN earlier today, crowds can be seen "protesting during the daytime in the southeastern Iranian city of Zahedan." Check out CNN's live updates here...
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Unanswered Q's in Minnesota |
Back to Minnesota now. Reporters are asking simple, straightforward questions about the lack of evidence for the Trump admin's incendiary claims about shooting victim Renee Nicole Good. CNN's Dakin Andone and John Miller identified three unanswered Q's here.
>> Related: NiemanLab's Laura Hazard Owen looked at how The New York Times, Bellingcat and The Washington Post "used visual forensics tools to challenge President Trump’s claim that the ICE agent who shot Good was acting in self-defense."
>> A much-needed new CNN examination: "With aggressive arrests, a non-stop social media blitz and crackdowns on protesters," the admin's "turbocharged immigration offensive is changing what we see on the streets — and online."
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Star Trib responds to false claims |
The Minnesota Star Tribune continues to play a key role in the shooting coverage, including with an early (and controversial) story naming the ICE agent who wielded the weapon. Separately on Thursday, the paper felt compelled to issue a statement saying that "the ICE agent has no known affiliation with the Star Tribune."
The statement was necessary due to "
a coordinated online disinformation campaign that is incorrectly identifying the shooter," a source told CNN. WIRED’s David Gilbert has more on this here…
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Concerning House vote to subpoena author over X post |
A House Oversight Committee vote to subpoena Seth Harp, author of the best-selling book "The Fort Bragg Cartel," over an X post about the military operation in Venezuela "has raised concerns among press freedom watchers, who say the action disregards First Amendment guarantees," WaPo's Scott Nover and Kadia Gova report. The House vote in and of itself is complicated, as the pair explain here...
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Big WBD investors are split |
Big Warner Bros. Discovery investors are split on whether to side with Paramount or Netflix, according to these new reports from Reuters and Semafor.
Paramount is urging shareholders to tender their shares, but Alex Fitch, a partner and portfolio manager at Harris Oakmark, told Reuters that "the value still isn't clearly superior to what has already been agreed to with Netflix. A tie goes to the incumbent." Harris Oakmark is open to changing its tune, however. And others, like
Mario Gabelli, say "Paramount has a superior bid."
Speaking of Paramount...
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Paramount looking for MTV partner |
Paramount "has spoken with several major companies and leading music industry figures about acquiring a stake" in MTV as David Ellison's company looks to revive the once-iconic business, Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw scoops.
It sounds akin to ESPN's deal with the NFL: Paramount wants a "strategic partner that would invest money in MTV and offer additional assets, like music rights or connections to top artists..."
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'60 Minutes' status report |
"60 Minutes" is preempted this weekend since CBS is airing the Golden Globes, so January 18 is the next opportunity for Sharyn Alfonsi's shelved "Inside CECOT" report to air. But "it could just as easily remain in limbo longer," Oliver Darcy wrote in Status last night.
Bari Weiss "has not met with the '60 Minutes' staff... nor has she met with Alfonsi herself," Darcy reported. Furthermore, "an Anderson Cooper piece is also caught in a prolonged editorial review process, frustrating the veteran producer attached to the story." Cooper's piece is "examining the Trump administration's decision to accept refugees from South Africa" and is "all but guaranteed to provoke Trump and inflame his MAGA base," Darcy added.
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CBS fills the Saturday chairs |
In much less scandalous CBS news, the network named the new hosts of "CBS Saturday Morning" today. Adriana Diaz and Kelly O'Grady will take over the show starting tomorrow. The pair will also "alternate daily co-hosting duties on CBS News 24/7 Mornings," and continue in their weekday reporting roles. The Saturday show was hollowed out in a round of budget cuts last fall...
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New path for PBS funding? |
Retiring GOP congressman Don Bacon is pushing fellow Republicans to restore some funding to PBS. Bacon voted to pass the rescission bill last year, but he told PBS correspondent Lisa Desjardins that his "yes" vote hinged on a promise from Speaker Mike Johnson "that PBS funding would be in annual appropriations."
"Bacon had a meeting with appropriators about this yesterday and said they all either agreed – or did not disagree with adding some funding," Desjardins tweeted. "He is in discussions over whether it goes in the bill or, as was raised in the meeting, he gets an amendment on the House floor."
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>> BBC execs "have warned of mounting problems as the corporation waits for the UK government to allocate money to the World Service with less than three months before the new budget needs to start," Daniel Thomas reports. (FT)
>> Beehiiv "plans to double the size of its advertising product and operations team" in the first half of this year, Mark Stenberg writes. (Adweek)
>> "Video clips of World Cup games will be broadcast live on TikTok this summer," Jessica Hopkins reports. (NYT)
>> "The nine MLB teams televised by FanDuel Sports Network have terminated their contracts with FanDuel SN and its struggling parent company," Evan Drellich writes. (NYT)
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X puts Grok behind a paywall |
Elon Musk's X "has moved image editing features in its Grok AI chatbot behind a paywall following widespread condemnation over the tool's use in creating non-consensual sexual deepfakes," Variety's Naman Ramachandran reports.
Even so, "free users can still access Grok's image editing functionality through the AI tool’s separate application and website," which is being used to generate some content that's even worse than what's directly circulating on X.
The change comes as elected officials in numerous countries speak out against Grok's undressing functionality. British PM Keir Starmer has given his support for "regulator Ofcom to use all its powers — up to and including an effective ban — against X over concerns about unlawful AI images created on the site," Faisal Islam reports for the BBC.
>> Sickening: "I just saw someone request Grok on X put the image of the woman shot by ICE in Minnesota, slumped over in her car, in a bikini. It complied. This is where we're at," CNN's Hadas Gold wrote yesterday.
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>> Michael Calderone says "editorial missteps, staff resistance and public skepticism haven’t slowed experimentation as news outlets wrestle with how to embrace AI without eroding trust." (TheWrap)
>> Julia Black meets with the guys behind TBPN, the "irresistibly insidery podcast with a billionaire fanbase." (Vanity Fair)
>> Nicholas Quah argues that "everything (including Netflix) will become YouTube this year." (NY Mag)
>> Ivan L. Nagy has a useful autopsy on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's dissolution. (CJR)
>> And Laura Sharman asks and answers this Q: "Why are people still playing with Tamagotchis?" (CNN)
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As mentioned up top, the 83rd Golden Globes are taking place on Sunday, live on CBS and Paramount+. Here's the full list of nominees. Deadline previewed the parties and other Globes weekend festivities here.
>> The Globes pulled in 9.3 million viewers last year, down 2% from the prior year...
>> VF has this good piece explaining why, as Rebecca Ford puts it, a Golden Globe win "matters more than ever..."
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This weekend's box office |
"Avatar: Fire and Ash" will "continue to dominate the domestic box office this weekend, easily dispensing with a cadre of new releases," Brent Lang reports. It's "expected to pull in another $20 million in ticket sales." |
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