Good morning from 31,000 feet! The Eagles fight song is still humming in my ears. Here's the latest on Tom Brady, Fox Corp, Taylor Swift, Jen Psaki, Steve Bannon, OpenAI, and more...
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Last night's game gave everyone a lot to argue about. While Eagles fans are sleeping off last night's celebrations right now (I'm on a plane surrounded by them) Chiefs fans are debating what went wrong. The Chiefs "were dissected, dismantled and otherwise humiliated by the Philadelphia Eagles 40-22," Kansas City Star columnist Vahe Gregorian writes, asking, "is it a blip or fall?"
That's one of many conversation-starters this morning. One click-seeking site says the internet was "divided" over Kendrick Lamar's halftime show. Another site says viewers were "extremely divided" over Tom Brady's Fox commentary. This one says viewers were even "divided at what happened when the camera panned to Donald Trump" during the National Anthem.
Yeah, yeah, but here's the thing – for one night, almost everyone watched the same thing. We were all united for just long enough to find some new areas of disagreement 😊
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The Philadelphia Inquirer's Super Bowl coverage has been exceptional. The banner homepage headline right now says "SUPER BIRDS." What a perfect lead: "This week is going to be about as green as it ever gets around here in February."
>> One of the reporters quoted Taryn Wood, 25, a fan who stood outside City Hall with an Eagles flag and said "finally we have a place in this whole country that is united."
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The guy next to me on this flight just asked if Super Bowl ratings are out yet. Alas, no, we won't get any solid numbers until this afternoon. But any hope for an all-time ratings record was abandoned sometime between the Eagles' third and fourth unanswered touchdown. I bet Fox execs could feel the ratings dropping. But as my diehard Eagles fan Jamie pointed out: The network's Philly station Fox29 probably set a record! |
What does it feel like inside a Super Bowl stadium? Mostly it just feels deafening, especially during third downs. President Trump was shown on the Jumbotrons just once, during the anthem, and the cheers definitely overpowered the boos. The same was true at first when Taylor Swift was shown – but then the boos got loud, which Swift looked amused by. Trump later claimed on Truth Social that "she got BOOED out of the stadium," which is a wild exaggeration.
Truth be told, the people sitting around me in section 314 didn't give a wit about Trump or Swift being in the crowd. They were there for the game! But because I had a direct line of sight into Trump's box, I wound up sending observations to the White House pool reporter (since the pool was stuck in a basement holding area most of the time).
Trump watched the entire first half, except when senators and other VIPs in his box bent his ear and posed for photos. He stood for the start of Kendrick Lamar's performance, then ducked out about two minutes before it ended and left the Superdome early in the third quarter (thus making it much easier for everyone else to leave at the end). |
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A rave review for Kendrick |
"In its framing, narrative approach, and density, Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl was unlike any that have come before it," Andrew R. Chow writes for TIME. "To some, it mystified; to others, it kicked open the door for what this format could be."
Lamar closed with "TV Off," a clever statement from the Super Bowl stage: "By instructing viewers to turn their TVs off at the end of his set, Lamar implored listeners to not just be passive consumers, but to play an active role in shaping the future of culture, politics, and beyond."
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>> Kyle Feldscher's morning-after lead: "To be the man, you have to beat the man, and the Philadelphia Eagles just announced their arrival as the NFL’s best team by snuffing out the league's latest dynasty." (CNN)
>> Patrick Mahomes "had a worse night relative to expectations than anybody has ever had in, um, all of North American professional sports? Maybe!" (Slate)
>> Tom Brady didn't exactly live up to expectations either, Andrew Marchand argues: "He just didn’t say much and still needs to fully grasp the concepts of being a successful broadcaster." (The Athletic)
>> But Fox Sports deserves huge props for its middle-in-the-night pretape with Lady Gaga on Bourbon Street paying tribute to the victims of last month's terror attack. (Variety)
>> Here are Richard Deitsch's six takeaways about the broadcast. (The Athletic)
>> "Seals, donkeys and donuts:" CNN's team featured some of the standout ads here. (CNN)
>> "Advertisers seemed eager to evoke a smile or recognition, and then get off the stage," Brian Steinberg writes. (Variety)
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Fox Corp acquires buzzy startup |
Digital media pioneers Chris and Kevin Balfe have done it again. This morning Fox Corp announced that it is acquiring the pair's digital media firm, Red Seat Ventures, "a growing digital media company that has become a go-to partner for old-media stars like Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson and Piers Morgan as they create their own independent online programming." The NYT's Michael Grynbaum broke the news just now.
The Balfes (who were at the game last night) "will continue to operate independently within Fox's Tubi Media Group." But yes, this means Kelly and Carlson (and Bill O'Reilly) are sort of back in the Fox Corp fold. "Because Red Seat is only a service provider, none of the three will be paid by Fox or report to its executives."
Basically this is Fox's "creator economy" investment. The company "declined to elaborate on specific plans," but there are lots of obvious synergies. Plus, Grynbaum adds, The New York Post recently "retained Red Seat to develop a new daily podcast and audio division for the newspaper..." |
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AI Action Summit in Paris |
Today and tomorrow France is hosting the AI Action Summit, "where world leaders, executives and experts will hammer out pledges on guiding the development of the rapidly advancing technology," The AP reports. The summit will be JD Vance's first official trip abroad as vice president.
"Leaders and company bosses are expected to give speeches at Tuesday's closing session," per The AP. Axios's Mike Allen reports that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman "will warn world leaders they need to widen their A.I. mindset from risk — the typical focus of European gatherings on A.I. — to also include growth and opportunity..."
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Today: The rest of Bret Baier's interview with Trump airs on "Special Report."
Tuesday: New nonfiction releases include "Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious" by Ross Douthat.
Wednesday: Reddit reports earnings after the bell.
Thursday: Roku releases earnings after the bell.
Friday: Valentine's Day!
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Yesterday I wrote about how President Trump "is making himself inescapable." Some people love his ubiquity, others don't, but I want to call attention to the point that history professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat made. Ben-Ghiat, the author of "Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present," says Trump has a "personality cult" that views him as both a man of the people and a demigod, and his visibility is a key component of that. "The strongman," she said, "must appear not just omnipotent but also omnipresent, he is everywhere."
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Speaking of the attention war... |
NBC's Allan Smith pointed out that the Big Tech execs who showed up for Trump's inauguration "hold the keys to algorithmic and policy tweaks that could depress or further enhance his political — and financial — standing. In turn, Trump could influence policy in emerging technologies in ways favorable or unfavorable to the executives and their companies." Mark Zuckerberg was back at the White House last week...
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"Everything is media. Media is the message, and Trump understands that," Steve Bannon told Semafor's Ben Smith. "That's why the Cabinet is all TV guys. What's on MSNBC right now is more real than what’s happening in real life, in the analog world. He knows that."
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The requests keep coming in: Trump's press shop "has received over 11,000 applications for a 'new media' seat," the WSJ's Isabella Simonetti and Natalie Andrews report in this story about podcasters and influencers gaining "new standing in Trump's White House." Of note: Karoline Leavitt is holding briefings occasionally, not daily, thereby limiting the number of requests she can fulfill. There is no briefing scheduled today...
>> Related: "Why Trump's in-your-face campaign will never end" (Axios)
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>> Trump's lawyers are expanding his (legally dubious) suit against CBS by adding Paramount Global as a defendant and "adding Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, as a plaintiff." (Fox News)
>> The WSJ editorial board is heaping skepticism on the FCC's probe of CBS. (WSJ)
>> MSNBC's Jen Psaki is launching a weekly podcast, "The Blueprint," about the Democratic party's path forward. Her first guests: Gov. Wes Moore and Jack Schlossberg. (MSNBC)
>> Newspapers owned by Lee Enterprises are reeling from a cyberattack that left the papers unable to go to print nationwide. (NYT)
>> "Kanye West deactivated his Twitter account after days of posting antisemitic, misogynist and racist content which even forced so-called free speech advocate Elon Musk to take action." (Beast)
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>> At a recent conference Musk "said he isn't interested in buying TikTok." (Bloomberg)
>> Streaming TV companies like Samsung, LG, Vizio, Amazon, Google and Apple "have removed TikTok from their smart TV systems and app stores, complying with the ban law that went into effect Jan. 19." (Axios)
>> "The hottest new idea in AI? Chatbots that look like they think." Nitasha Tiku explains it all here. (Wash Post)
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>> At the box office "this Super Bowl weekend was even slower than expected," Anthony D’Alessandro writes. (Deadline)
>> "Box office history has been made in China, as the animated sequel 'Ne Zha 2' has become the first film ever to gross $1 billion in a single country," Jeremy Fuster reports. (TheWrap)
>> "The Weeknd lands his fifth No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with the debut of ‘Hurry Up Tomorrow’ atop the tally," Keith Caulfield reports. (Billboard)
>> Robbie Whelan's feature from over the weekend: "Even Disney is worried about the high cost of a Disney vacation." (WSJ)
>> Jalen Hurts is going to Disney World! Per tradition, Hurts will be leading the parade down Main Street, U.S.A. this afternoon. (WESH)
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