TGIT! Here's the latest on VOA, Clarissa Ward, TIME, Mark Zuckerberg, Nexstar, Dasha Burns, a "Friday Night Lights" reboot, and more... |
WBD's new corporate structure |
Moments ago, CNN's corporate parent, Warner Bros. Discovery, announced a "new corporate structure," establishing two operating divisions: "Global Linear Networks" for CNN, TBS, TNT and other cable assets, and "Streaming & Studios" for MAX and the company's storied film and entertainment studios.
It's not a spin-off like Comcast recently announced, but CEO David Zaslav says the new structure will give WBD more "flexibility with potential future strategic opportunities across an evolving media landscape." The company says it will take effect "by mid-2025." Here's the press release...
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What type of information about your community is most important to you? Are you satisfied with your options?
Later today, Civic News Company – which operates Chalkbeat, Votebeat, and Healthbeat – is publishing a "census" report about what Americans say is important (information about local emergencies, weather, politics, health, economic opportunities, etc) and how they rate the quality of the information about it. As you might expect, there are big gaps between "importance" and "satisfaction."
According to a national survey by Embold Research, Americans are by and large satisfied with local coverage of sports and weather. But there are big gaps in other areas, like health and politics. Parents are especially dissatisfied with education info. All too often, when we go looking for reliable sources, we find blank spaces instead.
>> When respondents were asked about sources of quality info, online search was #1; local TV was #2; friends and Facebook groups and online creators came up a lot; and print newspapers ranked way down at #9. "Civic information should be the fuel of our civic life," the report says. But right now, in many places, the tank is close to empty. You can take a sneak peek at the report right here...
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Christian Petersen/Getty Images |
Here's why I included a question mark in the headline: Donald Trump says he has picked the MAGA darling and two-time failed Arizona candidate Kari Lake to run the Voice of America, but installing a new director of the news operation is a lot more complicated than a Truth Social post. Presidents don't ordinarily choose the VOA's director. For the time being, his announcement is more of a suggestion – albeit a highly influential one.
Last night Trump said Lake "will be appointed by, and work closely with, our next head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, who I will announce soon." But during Trump's first term in office, it took two years for his pick to run USAGM, Michael Pack, to get confirmed. Once Pack arrived, chaos ensued inside VOA and other parts of the agency.
Pack's purge efforts led Congress to institute reforms. A bipartisan group called the International Broadcasting Advisory Board now works with the CEO of USAGM, and the head of VOA can only be hired or fired upon the board's approval. The board just celebrated the swearing-in of a new VOA director, Michael Abramowitz, a few months ago. So by announcing Lake, Trump is "putting the cart before the horse," a veteran of the agency remarked.
Maybe the board will fall in line and install Trump's pick – because the board's makeup will tilt in the GOP's favor – but it will break with precedent and it will take some time. Current board chair Kenneth Jarin, a Biden appointee who has two more years on the board, said "no comment" when I reached him overnight.
Ultimately at issue: What should VOA be and who should it serve? Here's my fully story for CNN.com...
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'Hoping that the guardrails will hold' |
The VOA says it has a "firewall" in place that "prohibits interference by any U.S. government official in the objective, independent reporting of news." Already, some journalists at VOA are highly concerned about that idea that Lake, a longtime local TV anchor turned media-basher and election denier, could take over the outlet. "We're hoping that the guardrails will hold," an employee told me. More here...
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Meta's big Trump donation |
Meta has donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund – despite Mark Zuckerberg's pledge to "be neutral," the WSJ's Dana Mattioli and Rebecca Ballhaus scooped last night. The donation is the clearest sign yet of the Facebook founder cozying up to Trump. (Remember, Trump once threatened to jail him.)
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Political media notes and quotes |
>> New this morning: Pete Hegseth "says allowing gay troops to serve openly reflects a Marxist agenda," KFILE reports. (CNN)
>> Here is TIME editor in chief Sam Jacobs' letter explaining why Trump was chosen as 2024 Person of the Year. (TIME)
>> Kash Patel's past threats about using the power of the FBI "to scrutinize news outlets critical of the incoming administration are sending a chill through the media,” Dominick Mastrangelo writes. (The Hill)
>> With GOP Sen. Tom Cotton publicly standing in the way of the PRESS Act, the Committee to Protect Journalists CPJ is pressing the Senate to "include the bill in a year-end legislative package." So far there is no indication that will happen. (CPJ)
>> What went wrong for The Onion? And what's next for Alex Jones and Infowars? Hadas Gold has answers here. (CNN)
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Politico poaches Dasha Burns |
Last year, in a Vanity Fair magazine story, I called NBC's Dasha Burns one of the rising stars of TV news. And I was far from the only one saying so. That's why there was so much buzz Wednesday when Politico poached the political correspondent to become its White House bureau chief.
"A few years ago, this might have been perceived as an exotic move, but the winds of change in journalism are undeniable," Politico CEO Goli Sheikholeslami told me. The winds are blowing from TV toward digital – enabling journalists to "showcase a range of reporting skills across multiple platforms." She said "we are one of the few media organizations that is both growing and financially secure. Talented, agenda-setting journalists like Dasha recognize this shift and are seizing the moment to make Politico their home."
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>> "In nearly twenty years as a journalist, this was one of the most extraordinary moments I have witnessed," Clarissa Ward said. Her jaw-dropping report showing the moment a Syrian prisoner learned he was free is getting plaudits from colleagues and competitors alike...
>> While reporting from Damascus, NPR's Ruth Sherlock said "it's amazing to see the way the people I'm interviewing lean into the microphone to give me their full name. This was impossible under the regime. Syrians are finding their voices..."
>> CPJ called on Syrian authorities to "take decisive action to ensure the safety of all journalists" and "hold Assad's media persecutors to account..."
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>> Nexstar Media is cutting 2% of its workforce, or approximately 260 staffers, Brian Steinberg reports. (Variety)
>> Speaking of Nexstar, The Hill's editor-in-chief Bob Cusack apparently couldn't come to terms with the company about a new contract. He said Wednesday that he is leaving, prompting many of his past and present colleagues to call this an "end of an era" for The Hill... (X)
>> The Times Tech Guild has "reached a tentative deal with The Times on a contract, after more than two years of bargaining and a weeklong strike," Katie Robertson reports. (NYT)
>> BSE Global — which owns the Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty, and Barclays Center — "plans to launch the new global media brand in early 2025 with a focus on 'capturing and sharing the zeitgeist of Brooklyn,'" Lucia Moses reports. (Business Insider)
>> New this morning out of Tulsa: "A coalition of Oklahoma media and philanthropy leaders has raised $14 million to address the challenges of diminished local information by launching the Tulsa Local News Initiative." (KOSU)
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Tracking journalist arrests in 2024 |
"In 2024, journalists in the U.S. were arrested or detained by police at least 48 times, more than during the previous two years combined," according to the Freedom of the Press Foundation's U.S. Press Freedom Tracker's end of the year analysis. "Nearly 90% of those arrests took place around Israel-Gaza war protests. New York City police were responsible for nearly half the arrests and detentions this year, all while the reporters and photographers were covering demonstrations." The full report came out this morning...
>> Though most journalists taken into custody by the NYPD saw their charges dropped within a month, press advocates have decried the use of such catch-and-release tactics that stop staffers from doing their jobs...
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Epps refiles case against Fox |
Marshall Cohen reports: Ray Epps wants to revive his defamation lawsuit against Fox News. A judge tossed the case last month, saying there wasn’t enough evidence that Fox intentionally accused him – falsely – of being an undercover FBI agent and instigating the January 6 insurrection. Epps refiled the case this week with new details from other Fox lawsuits that he wants the judge to consider...
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A year-end report about "YouTube on TV" says "podcast watching is growing rapidly on TVs (yep — picture that!). Viewers watched over 400 million hours of podcasts monthly on living room devices. They've been tuning into podcasts similarly to how one would tune into a late-night talk show. The lines between audio-only podcasts and videos have blurred, and more creators are evolving to a multimedia storytelling approach." More info here...
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>> LinkedIn has been "gradually rolling out a TikTok-style vertical video feed that features career advice, industry news, and other creator content," Amanda Perelli and Sydney Bradley write. (Business Insider)
>> No, it wasn't just you: Meta suffered a "global outage" for part of the day on Wednesday. (TechCrunch)
>> "Google Gemini 2.0 — a major upgrade to the core workings of Google's AI that the company launched Wednesday — is designed to help generative AI move from answering users' questions to taking action on its own," Ina Fried reports. (Axios)
>> Apple's newest software update includes "a long-awaited ChatGPT integration with Siri." (CNBC)
>> Nielsen's Gracenote will showcase "its live-sports discovery technology" at CES next month. (Variety)
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Zach Baron sat down with David Letterman for the newest edition of GQ's video cover story. (And at the end, Baron asked Letterman to evaluate his interviewing skills, natch.)
The news peg was the launch of the Letterman TV FAST Channel on
Samsung TV Plus – which takes advantage of the fact that the former late-night star owns the rights to his archives. In the interview, Letterman said "retirement is a myth." He called it nonsense. "As long as you are healthy," he said, "you still want to produce...
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>> Peacock "has won a bidding war" for the "Friday Night Lights" reboot that Universal Television is developing. (THR)
>> "For the first time, the Oscars will be streamed on Hulu and aired live on ABC, making the ceremony more accessible than ever." (Variety)
>> "A rape allegation against rapper Jay-Z, whose company Roc Nation has produced some of the NFL’s entertainment presentations including the Super Bowl halftime show, won’t impact the league’s relationship with the music mogul," Rob Maaddi reports. (AP)
>> The success of Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar" re-release in IMAX "is the latest example of how legacy films have swung back in fashion at the cinemas," Ethan Shanfeld and Adam Vary write. (Variety)
>> Taylor Sheridan is planning a "Yellowstone" spinoff starring Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser. (Deadline)
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Rest in peace, Bill Hennessy |
"William J. Hennessy Jr., a veteran sketch artist who gave Americans striking views from inside courtrooms during some of the nation's most important legal dramas, died on Monday," CNN's John Fritze and Katelyn Polantz report. You have undoubtedly seen Hennessy's work over the years. His sketches "allowed the public to picture history unfolding in places where cameras either aren’t allowed or are heavily restricted. In many cases, his sketches are the only visual record of those proceedings." What an admirable legacy...
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