Good morning! Here's the latest on the Los Angeles Times, "Les Misérables," Terry Moran, MeidasTouch, Snap, Vanity Fair, Conan O'Brien, and much more... |
President Trump, who vowed in his inaugural address to "bring back free speech to America," keeps showing that he wants some forms of speech to carry a great cost.
Yesterday he threatened Americans who might try to protest in Washington, D.C., on his birthday this Saturday, when the Army is holding a 250th anniversary parade. "If there's any protester that wants to come out, they will be met with very big force," he said, repeating the warning twice for emphasis.
That right there is the "definition of a chilling effect," First Amendment expert Nico Perrino, host of "So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast," wrote last night.
These days, free versus restricted speech is not the relevant dividing line. Rather, it's favored versus disfavored speech. Trump is very explicit about which is which. "The point is to create a climate in which people are worried to speak out," Nora Benavidez of the group Free Press recently said.
The president contradicts himself all the time on the subject of free speech:
>> The other day Trump said Elon Musk would face "very serious consequences" if he funds Democratic challengers to Republican candidates.
>> In a podcast interview with Miranda Devine that the New York Post published this morning, Trump boasted about "getting rid of woke in our schools, our military, and just in our society," claiming, "You're not seeing woke anymore. It almost became illegal."
>> Trump's recent assertion that masks are not allowed at protests is also seen, by civil liberties groups, as an infringement on the right to free expression.
I could go on, but others already have. Popular Information's
Rebecca Crosby and Judd Legum compiled a list of 22 actions taken by the Trump administration that they said "undermine the principle of freedom of speech," from targeting The Associated Press to deleting websites to gutting
VOA to stripping books from shelves. Here's the list.
|
KTLA's Cameron Kiszla is out with an excellent story about alleged "violations of the First Amendment" amid the federal crackdown in L.A.
California governor Gavin Newsom raised the subject in his address to the state (and the country) last night. Trump, he said, is "delegitimizing news organizations and he's assaulting the First Amendment. And the threat of defunding them. At threat, he's dictating what universities themselves can teach. He's targeting law firms and the judicial branch." White House aides mocked Newsom for having technical difficulties with his livestream.
|
We're living through "The Tom Cotton Do-Over," as Reason's Matt Welch says, reminding everyone of the senator's 2020 "Send in the Troops" op-ed that roiled the NYT. Yesterday Cotton came out with a sequel, "Send In the Troops, for Real," over at the WSJ.
The lead headline in this morning's Los Angeles Times is "Troop arrival adds to local tension." Now Texas is deploying the National Guard in anticipation of further protests. And as I wrote yesterday, there will be widespread demonstrations against Trump all across this country on Saturday. Fox News is already framing the "No Kings" day as a threat with banners like "PROTESTERS PLANNING MAJOR UPRISING" and "THE LEFT WANTS COAST-TO-COAST CALAMITY."
As for the state of play in L.A., the Defense Department revealed that the deployments there will cost $134 million. Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins, who has studied how democracies backslide into authoritarianism, called it "$134 million for the creation of authoritarian propaganda."
|
They want clicks, clout and chaos |
Online, the fires and riots are still raging. Seeking clicks, clout and chaos, unvetted social media accounts are preying on fears about where the L.A. clashes will lead. I teamed up with Sean Lyngaas for this CNN story about rampant misinfo and competing realities. Plus: Don't miss Will Sommer's Bulwark column about "the vicious MAGA feedback loop feeding Trump's L.A. crackdown."
ESPN's Mina Kimes, who lives in L.A., nailed it with a Bluesky post yesterday: "The disparity between what’s actually happening in Los Angeles and the way it's being mischaracterized is one of the biggest stress tests of modern media in recent memory. Botted socials, AI, old clips, declining literacy — it's like seeing a broken emergency response system hit by a storm."
|
Presidential notes and quotes |
>> Trump is set to attend opening night of "Les Misérables" at the Kennedy Center tonight. I previewed the red carpet gala and fundraising opportunity on "CNN News Central." One big unknown: Exactly how many cast members will choose not to perform tonight? (CNN)
>> Related reading: Victor Hugo scholar Graham Robb penned a piece about "The Real Message Behind Les Mis." (The Atlantic)
>> Last week, "during a private lunch with the president," Fox's Mark Levin "told Trump that Iran was days away from building a nuclear weapon, an argument Trump’s own intelligence team has told the president is not accurate." (Politico)
>> Strange story: Fox anchor John Roberts hyped Trump "giving him a 'receipt' to hit back at Newsom" – but it actually supported Newsom's claim. Fox mostly sidestepped the fact that Trump was wrong. (Mediaite)
>> The House will vote Trump's rescissions package, including its zeroing out of PBS and NPR funding, as soon as Thursday. Two Republicans "separately told CNN they have concerns" with the public media defunding aspect of the bill. (CNN)
|
"I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far," Musk wrote at 3:01 in the morning Eastern time. He had already deleted some of those posts, and now he's apologizing outright. We could all spend the rest of the day speculating about the reasons why and/or watching Tesla's share price rise in reaction to his comedown. But let's move on: |
|
|
Extraordinary timing: Veteran ABC correspondent Terry Moran's contract was set to expire this Friday. The timing made it easier to ABC to take swift action over his "world-class hater" tweet. "We are at the end of our agreement with Terry Moran and based on his recent post – which was a clear violation of ABC News policies – we have made the decision to not renew," the network said yesterday.
White House comms director Steven Cheung saw my tweet about ABC's decision and remarked, "Talk shit, get hit." Moran has not commented.
|
...and MeidasTouch offers him a job |
Ben Meiselas wrote an open letter to Moran on Tuesday night. What ABC did was "appalling," he wrote, and "just the latest example of corporate media capitulating to the whims of a wannabe autocrat."
"Your comments were proof that you believe in telling the truth without fear or favor," Meiselas continued. "That’s exactly the kind of journalist we stand with." The progressive streaming outfit, which recently added Katie Phang to its roster after MSNBC cancelled her show, invited Moran to "join us."
|
Local TV rivalry gone really wrong? |
Liam Reilly writes: A former local news anchor in Shreveport, Louisiana, has sued a rival station for defamation, accusing it of engaging in "character assassination" after it ran a report he says portrayed him as a "child predator." The former anchor, Bill Lunn, alleges that this is a case of TV news competition gone very, very wrong. Details here...
|
Deep dive into media trust/distrust |
The Pew Research Center news media tracker we mentioned yesterday is now live, allowing folks to explore data about how Americans use and trust 30 media outlets. It's a reminder that, as this FAQ puts it, "Republican news consumers have a more compact media ecosystem" than Democrats. "They rely to a large degree on a small number of outlets and view many established brands as not trustworthy. Democrats, on the other hand, rely on a wider number of outlets."
|
While noting the "good news" about a judge dismissing Justin Baldoni's libel suit against The New York Times, lead newsroom lawyer David McCraw also made a pointed observation about the legal climate.
In a company-wide Slack message yesterday, McCraw wrote, "At a time when other news organizations are deciding to settle baseless claims rather than stand up for press freedom in court, the Baldoni decision is a good reminder that The Times has decided that just the opposite approach is needed at this moment in American history." Credit where it's due, indeed...
>> In other NYT legal news: Sarah Palin is once again appealing her loss.
|
On a more playful note... |
Speaking of The Times: Its games team is about to "start testing a Scrabble-like game it calls Crossplay, but instead of folding the game into the main NYT Games app, Crossplay will be a standalone app," The Verge's Jay Peters reports.
Why? Well, games boss Jonathan Knight says "we're very specifically wanting to reach all new audiences with this game..."
|
|
|
>> Vogue creative editorial director Mark Guiducci will be the next head of Vanity Fair. His title: Global editorial director. (NYT)
>> Aron Pilhofer is joining Chicago Public Media as chief product and membership officer. (WBEZ)
>> Venus and Serena Williams "are launching a new video podcast — and they're turning to X," Todd Spangler reports. (Variety)
>> "SmartLess" podcast hosts Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, and Sean Hayes are launching a SmartLess-branded wireless company. (Bloomberg)
>> Bob Iger told CNBC's David Faber that Disney will retain its linear assets as the company's rivals take off-ramps. "As many others exit that business, I think it gives us a stronger hand to stay in that business."
|
>> Meta is hoping for an "AI reset," as Casey Newton put it, by acquiring 49% of the AI startup Scale and bringing its founder on board as an executive "in an effort to build superhuman AI." (Platformer)
>> Snap is planning to launch "a new version of its augmented reality glasses, called Specs, in 2026." (Axios)
>> This is one of the most interesting and frightening reads of the week: Maggie Harrison Dupré chronicles how "people are becoming obsessed with ChatGPT and spiraling into severe delusions." (Futurism)
|
Big #'s for 'Good Night, and Good Luck' |
CNN's telecast of "Good Night, and Good Luck" reached a combined 7.34 million viewers across TV and streaming on Saturday. On US TV, it ranked as the #1 show of the day across all of cable. Check out this stat in Kayla Cobb's story: "The live performance was seen by a total of 155,000 people throughout its entire Broadway run, an insider familiar with the matter told TheWrap. That means CNN's airing marked a 4,635% increase in reach compared to its Broadway run."
>> The play made $4.3 million in its final week, "yet again breaking its own record for highest-grossing play on Broadway," THR's Caitlin Huston reports.
|
Entertainment odds and ends |
>> This morning Nintendo said that it sold more than 3.5 million Switch 2 consoles in the first four days since launch, "marking a new record for the company." I am loving the new "Mario Kart World!" (CNN)
>> James Gunn confirmed that a "Wonder Woman" movie is "being written right now." (EW)
>> Last but not least: Tonight "Conan O'Brien will return to 'Late Night' for the first time since he left for 'The Tonight Show' in 2009." (NYT)
|
|
|
|
® © 2025 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved.
1050 Techwood Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30318 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
