Welcome to Wednesday. Here's the latest on TikTok, ProPublica, Newsmax, Steve Kornacki, Forbes, Skylight, Joe Rogan, and much more... |
The 'smartphone theory of everything' 📱 |
That's what Arpit Gupta calls it. The NYU Stern School of Business professor says the "smartphone theory of everything" explains many societal trends, listing these as examples: "Worsening mental health," especially among women; "the rise of addictive gambling behavior," especially among men; "lower coupling rates, so lower fertility;" new "information bubbles" and a global rise in populism.
I noticed Gupta's posts yesterday while browsing X (on my phone of course) and I thought his "theory of everything" relates to the stories we cover here every day.
"You can contest any one of these links," he wrote. "For example, is the mental health increase partially about measurement error?" But the proliferation of phones "is the Occam's razor to explain all facts at once."
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Amplifying our vulnerabilities? |
Veteran journalist and former World Economic Forum bigwig Adrian Monck took Gupta's points over to Threads and said "smartphones systematically amplify existing human vulnerabilities at unprecedented scale."
Monck wrote, "What makes smartphones uniquely powerful isn't that they're the sole cause of these trends, but how they function: they remove all friction between impulse and action. Want to check social media? It’s instantly available. Feel like placing a bet? Two taps away. Need to compare yourself to impossibly perfect strangers? Scroll away." The phone-powered attention economy "methodically exploits" existing human weaknesses "with ruthless efficiency."
Phones also enhance lives in too many ways to count. But the "theory of everything" is something to think about as we keep scrolling...
>> Related: Check out Shoshana Dubnow and Pamela Brown's new CNN.com story about "how a cellphone ban is changing life at a Virginia high school."
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Calling Sen. Cory Booker's 25-hour Senate speech "made for TV" is a just plain outdated way to talk. Yes, Booker and his team thought about TV when planning the marathon, and C-SPAN's cameras captured every minute, but the speech was almost certainly streamed more than it was watched the old-fashioned way. Booker's allies promoted livestreams all across the internet; clipped moments from the talkathon for later viewing; and celebrated the "likes" he was getting on TikTok.
It's impossible to measure the overall digital reach, but the phrase "made for TV and TikTok" feels more accurate, because it's not either/or, it's all of the above. Booker courted social media, but also went on MSNBC and CNN right after finishing the speech...
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World awaits Trump's tariffs event |
Trump has assigned slogans – "Liberation Day," "Make America Wealthy Again" – that he wants the news media to repeat ahead of his 4pm announcement about trade tariffs. But he has provided "no real detail of what’s coming — meaning the entire world will be hanging on his every word. Which of course, is partly the point," Politico's Jack Blanchard wrote in Playbook this morning. By holding a tariff-touting event in the Rose Garden, "he's creating a highly visual moment which will forever tie him personally to the consequences." Until the announcement, the news coverage needs to emphasize the uncertainty, not the bumper stickers.
>> Hunter Schwarz's take on Trump's sloganeering: "In Europe, Liberation Day is observed by countries in celebration of the liberation from Nazi Germany. For Trump, he simply uses the phrase to describe a day on which he enacts his agenda..."
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WH holding TikTok meeting today |
Trump will hold an Oval Office meeting today to "consider a final proposal for TikTok on Wednesday," CBS reporters Jennifer Jacobs and Sara Cook scooped. "The administration is finalizing plans for potential investors that could include Blackstone and Oracle, as well as a long list of other investors that will likely involve blue chip private equity firms, venture capital firms," and biotech investors...
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Among the many cuts across HHS yesterday: The offices at the CDC and the National Institutes of Health that handle Freedom of Information Act requests. "It is unclear what will happen to hundreds of pending requests before the agencies," Alexander Tin wrote. As Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s team "has tightened its grip on communications being issued by health agencies," comms staffers "have also been among the hardest-hit by the cuts, multiple officials said."
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Asking for tips with a truck |
This is my favorite story of the day. "ProPublica wanted to find more sources in the federal government," NiemanLab reports, "so it brought a truck:"
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Jason Andrew for ProPublica |
Brilliant, right? The billboard truck in DC has been an operation "that drew in people from across the newsroom," Neel Dhanesha writes. Copy editors "commented on how they'd never been asked to proofread a truck before." Check out the full story about how ProPublica is trying to create a "feedback loop" with sources...
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Coalition asks Congress for help |
While U.S. Agency for Global Media senior adviser Kari Lake promotes herself and harangues judges for slowing her shutdown of Voice of America, a coalition of 36 human rights and press freedom groups is sounding the alarm about journalists in harms' way. Numerous staffers at VOA, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and other outlets "could soon face high risks if forced to return to their home countries." The Trump admin doesn't seem to have a plan to protect them, so the coalition is urging Congress to ensure "that no journalist working for an outlet associated with USAGM is deported to a country where they risk persecution."
>> Meanwhile, RFE/RL implemented furloughs at its Prague HQ yesterday as it awaits promised government funding that still hasn't arrived. Last night European Parliament lawmakers had a vigorous debate about whether to fill the funding gaps...
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Day three of Newsmax's IPO |
Newsmax's rocket ship of an IPO gave the relatively small right-wing media brand a market cap of $20 billion yesterday, putting it within striking distance of Fox Corp.
I know Fox execs would scoff at the comparison, since Fox Corp is a diversified company (with sports and other assets) and Fox News is ten times as popular as Newsmax in the daily ratings race. But the $NMAX euphoria was very real on Monday and Tuesday. It may be fading now; shares are trading around $180 in premarket trading after touching $265 yesterday.
>> During one of Newsmax's many promotional TV segments about its IPO, CEO Chris Ruddy said Trump sent him a "nice note" on Monday night "congratulating me and Newsmax on our success."
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Trumpworld notes and quotes |
>> With Trump back in office, Fox News just notched "the best quarter in cable news history in terms of total weekday viewership," TheWrap's Sean Burch writes.
>> Forbes released its annual Billionaires List yesterday. Elon Musk is back on top. Mark Zuckerberg is #2. Trump ranks #700.
>> NYMag's headline this morning about liberals retaining the state Supreme Court majority in Wisconsin despite all of Musk's campaigning: "Elon Musk Goes Bust."
>> Hadas Gold noted that Musk popped up on "The Five" yesterday, his fifth Fox News appearance since January, to urge Wisconsin Republicans to vote.
>> Some influential MAGA media figures are "raising alarm over Trump's immigration tactics," the NYT's Luke Broadwater wrote, citing Joe Rogan's recent comments about "people who are not criminals" being deported to El Salvador. Rogan said it's "horrific" and "bad for the cause."
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Kornacki's flexible new deal |
Steve Kornacki's new deal is interesting for multiple reasons. One, as NBC News and MSNBC split up, Kornacki is choosing the NBC side, even though he has been a beloved presence on MSNBC for years. ("The search is already on for a new data guru" at MSNBC, Stephen Battaglio reports.)
Two, the new deal makes Kornacki "an NBC contributor with the title of chief data analyst" and "allows him to pursue projects on other networks and media platforms as long as they are unrelated to politics and sports," Battaglio explains. Kornacki "shot a game show pilot in 2022 and, as a major enthusiast of the genre, is likely to pursue a hosting role in the future..."
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>> While NBC is getting Kornacki in the divorce, MSNBC is getting Antonia Hylton; she is currently a correspondent on both networks, and she is becoming a co-host of MSNBC's "The Weekend: Primetime." Elise Jordan is the other newly announced co-host. (Deadline)
>> "Dan Abrams is in talks to raise money for his new media company Bottle Raiders," Sara Fischer reports. (Axios)
>> Chuck Todd "has hired a bank to explore a potential $2 billion buyout of a community news and information company," Ben Mullin reports in a new feature about Todd's post-NBC plans. (NYT)
>> A huge loss for the field of nonprofit, public service journalism: John Thornton, "the American Journalism Project and Elsewhere Partners co-founder who also founded The Texas Tribune," has died. He was 59. (AJP)
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>> The Mark Cuban-backed TikTok alternative Skylight has launched its mobile app "after just 10 weeks of active development." (TechCrunch)
>> Is "Ask Grok" making X better? Katie Notopoulos says no, it's "just another tool for dunking on someone." (Business Insider)
>> Mark Gurman has details about Meta's forthcoming "deluxe version of its popular smart glasses." (Bloomberg)
>> "Gen Z's safe space:" Amanda Hoover says Zoomers are "flocking to Tumblr." (Business Insider)
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Amazon's first appearance at CinemaCon |
It's coming up later today in Las Vegas. Amazon is "spending several millions of dollars to parade a stream of A-list stars," the NYT's Nicole Sperling reports. "The point: to prove that its movie arm, Amazon MGM Studios, is serious about releasing around 14 big, broad commercial films a year to theaters nationwide and around the world..."
>> Warner Bros. Pictures presented yesterday. The studio "has its most exciting movie slate in years," TheWrap's Drew Taylor wrote, before asking whether Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy will "survive to deliver it."
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>> Roger Vincent and Meg James' scoop: "Disney plans to vacate storied Fox lot in Century City by year's end." Fox Corp will have to find new tenants... (LAT)
>> This Sunday's season three finale of "The White Lotus" will be the series' longest at 90 minutes. (Deadline)
>> "Adolescence" has "landed on Netflix's top 10 most-watched English series of all time in just three weeks." (TheWrap)
>> "Good Night and Good Luck" was "the highest grossing show on Broadway again last week, even as its grosses took a slight dip." (THR)
>> And last but not least, Val Kilmer has died. He was 65. Read Alli Rosenbloom and Brian Lowry's appreciation here. (CNN)
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