Good morning! Here's the latest on President Trump, Dasha Burns, Michael Strahan, "Friendship," YouTube, the Webby Awards, and much more... |
Inside WaPo's 'identity crisis' |
Since the beginning of this year, The Atlantic has hired twelve journalists away from The Washington Post. The New York Times has poached at least ten Posties. CNN has picked up half a dozen. The Post exodus is one of those things that rival editors whisper about, sounding mystified as they ask, "How is Jeff Bezos letting this happen?"
The New Yorker's Clare Malone is out with a comprehensive new story about Bezos and the Post this morning. I found myself agreeing with the "former top editor" she quotes at the beginning of the story. The source says "this is all a story about Jeff and how he changed over the course of his ownership and really became a different person, with huge implications for the institution."
Bezos, Malone writes, weathered Trump's attacks and withstood the White House's pressure during Trump's first term in office, then welcomed Joe Biden's arrival, only to see Amazon sued by the Biden-era FTC. "Bezos felt a sense of betrayal," Malone reports. (And now, she adds, the Trump-era FTC has the authority to settle the case against Amazon.)
Malone also digs deep into Post publisher William Lewis and the widespread doubts about his leadership. "In exit interviews" with some of the dozens who have left for The Atlantic et al, "staff members have attributed their departures to Lewis's lack of a discernible plan for the paper."
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Lewis and Bezos did not speak to Malone. But many other people did. Here are a few of the standout details from the story:
>> Since this time last year, when Sally Buzbee left and Matt Murray took an interim editor role that has since become permanent, "Lewis has gone into what a number of Post staffers described as a state of hiding." His absence from the recent Pulitzer celebration is just the latest example.
>> Bezos remains hard to reach. Last August the opinion leadership team tried to set up time to talk with him, but was told "that Bezos's schedule was full until late September." He "has not visited the paper since before the election."
>> Bezos and his fiancée Lauren Sánchez "are both devoted readers of Bari Weiss's Free Press."
>> "Matthew Continetti, a conservative columnist at the Free Press, is rumored to be in the running to become the Post's next opinion editor."
>> "There has been some speculation that Bezos might sell the Post, but he recently told one interested buyer that it is not for sale."
Check out the full piece here...
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The annual TV upfronts "carry less importance than they once did," as Variety's Brian Steinberg writes here, but the theatrical presentations and tempting parties still have a lot of value. That's why I'm heading over to NBCUniversal's upfront show at Radio City right now.
Eight big stage shows will take place in the next three days, with Fox and Amazon later today; TelevisaUnivision and Disney on Tuesday; and Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix and YouTube on Wednesday. (CBS/Paramount has opted out for a third straight year.)
>> "Media companies are staring down widespread economic uncertainty as their annual pitch to advertisers and marketers kicks off," CNBC's Lillian Rizzo points out here. Media buyers are expecting "a slower TV upfronts season" as a result, Digiday's Sam Bradley writes.
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Media week-ahead calendar |
Today: The Sean 'Diddy' Combs sex trafficking trial resumes with jury selection and opening statements.
Tonight: The 29th annual Webby Awards take over Cipriani Wall Street. (This year there are "dedicated creator categories" for the first time.)
Tuesday: The Cannes Film Festival begins.
Thursday: PEN America's annual literary gala in NYC.
Saturday: The Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Basel, Switzerland and the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore.
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I count at least 4 huge stories that all relate to Trump this morning. All feature flashy announcements that require equally aggressive followups by reporters.
CNN's top homepage headline right now is "US and China to roll back tariffs in a major breakthrough." Stock markets are surging as a result.
Trump is holding a press conference this morning to highlight his latest push to cut drug prices; he is under widespread scrutiny, including from normally loyal Laura Loomer types, for accepting a luxury jet from Qatar; and he is about to start a major Middle East trip that is fraught with conflicts.
>> The Trump White House strategy is to "just keep changing the tune every day" to match whatever they want to get done, Clinton-era press secretary Mike McCurry told The Guardian's David Smith the other day. "It's either completely malevolent or completely brilliant. It’s hard to know which."
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Liam Reilly writes: The White House launched its own Drudge-style news wire at the end of April, as yet another way to end-run the mainstream press and create its own reality. I surveyed the links shared by the White House Wire over its first week, and while it's no surprise the site has largely boosted MAGA media, here’s what else I found:
>> Of the news organizations mentioned on the wire, at least 90% were conservative outlets. The most-represented outlet was Fox News, with 21 unique mentions, followed by the Daily Caller with 16, and Breitbart with 11.
>> The wire linked six times to "mainstream" outlets: Twice to Axios, once to NBC News, once to the Miami Herald, and twice to The Washington Post. One of the Post links was to VP
JD Vance’s op-ed.
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U.S. Copyright Office fallout |
Late on Friday afternoon "the U.S. Copyright Office quietly dropped a 'pre-publication' version of Part 3 of its highly anticipated artificial intelligence study," lawyer and blogger Aaron Moss writes at Copyright Lately.
The timing "was no accident," for the report's release "was sandwiched between two extraordinary firings. The day before it was posted on the Copyright Office's website, the Trump administration abruptly dismissed Dr. Carla Hayden, the longtime Librarian of Congress who had appointed Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter. Then, on Saturday... Perlmutter was fired by the administration as well." Moss suspects the office "raced to release the report before a wave of leadership changes could delay — or derail — its conclusions."
CBS's Scott MacFarlane has more on the AI findings and the Elon Musk of it all here...
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Trumpworld notes and quotes |
>> On a day like today, Trump is taking all the credit. But at many other points in the past few months, he has "pleaded ignorance about major events and suggested he’s not involved in major decisions," Aaron Blake writes. (WaPo)
>> "Losses in court" are "causing this administration to escalate its rhetoric," Jeffrey Toobin said, pointing to White House discussions about potentially suspending habeas corpus. (CNN)
>> "Elon Musk's regulatory troubles have begun to melt away in Trump's second term," David Ingram observes. (NBC)
>> Liam Scott's latest: "Under Trump, student journalism is ‘trial by fire,’ reporters say." (Poynter)
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Pope calls for release of jailed journalists |
CNN's Sharon Braithwaite and Sana Noor Haq report: "Pope Leo XIV pledged the Catholic Church's 'solidarity' with journalists in his first speech to reporters on Monday, including those incarcerated for 'seeking and reporting the truth.' The pontiff called on members of the press and the international community to halt a 'war of words' and 'safeguard the precious gift of free speech' as he addressed news media at the Vatican. 'Let me, therefore, reiterate today the Church’s solidarity with journalists who are imprisoned for seeking and reporting the truth while also asking for their release,' he said."
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Some newsletter enthusiasts "are falling into a familiar budgeting trap: It can be difficult to keep track of how many newsletters they've signed up for and how much they’re paying for them," Logan Sachon writes for the NYT.
Sachon hit up 40+ paying readers about their habits, including some who are paying hundreds, and even thousands, of dollars a year on a digital stack of subscriptions. There are some really insightful quotes here...
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>> Bill Belichick has mostly eschewed interviews since that "CBS Sunday Morning" sit-down, but he is slated to join Michael Strahan for a live interview on "GMA" this Friday. (SI)
>> Politico's Dasha Burns is joining Playbook as "chief correspondent." She will co-host Playbook's relaunched daily podcast with Jack Blanchard and helm a Sunday show. Plus, Adam Wren is joining the team as contributing author, "leading the Friday and Saturday editions," per an internal memo. (Politico)
>> Now that ABC has axed 538, G. Elliott Morris "is launching Strength In Numbers, a paid Substack that he plans on growing into a publication to rival his old website." He shared some blunt critiques of ABC with Max Tani. (Semafor)
>> Speaking of ABC, Stephen Battaglio took stock of David Muir's success amid changes to the rival nightly newscasts on NBC and CBS. (LA Times)
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In a wide-ranging interview with Maureen Dowd about his forthcoming book, Barry Diller compliments some of his fellow mogul friends, including Jeff Bezos and Shari Redstone. Dowd says Diller defended Redstone "for being willing to cave to Trump on his '60 Minutes' lawsuit to clear the way for Paramount's merger with Skydance. Although 'the idea of settling this idiot suit is horrible,' he said, Redstone has financial problems 'and made this deal to get bailed out by the sale.' It’s understandable, he said, to 'bend the knee if there’s a guillotine at your head.'"
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"Marvel Studios' 'Thunderbolts*' lorded over a relatively quiet weekend at the domestic box office, earning $33.1 million," THR's Pamela McClintock reports. And "Warner Bros. had plenty to celebrate as Ryan Coogler's sleeper hit 'Sinners' crossed the $200 million mark at the domestic box office for a worldwide total of nearly $300 million. In a second victory, 'A Minecraft Movie' zoomed past $900 million in global ticket sales."
>> Also: A24's "Friendship" opened in six cinemas and "scored a dazzling per theater average of $75,137, which A24 says is the best showing of the year so far for an indie title opening in platform run..."
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Looking forward to Cannes |
Skydance/Paramount Pictures |
"All signs point to a stellar year for Cannes," CNN's Thomas Page reports, with an "even glitzier" lineup than usual. "The US contingent at the festival, which begins Tuesday, is large," he notes. Tom Cruise will be premiering "Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning" there on Wednesday. Read on...
>> Related: The AP's Jake Coyle asks: "Will tariffs topple Cannes?"
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>> "Tom Rothman has signed a multiyear extension of his contract as chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures' Motion Picture Group." It will make him the "longest-serving film chief in Hollywood." (Deadline)
>> "YouTube has further cracked down on fake movie trailer channels" following a "Deadline investigation that chronicled the scale and sophistication" of the fakery. (Deadline)
>> "Streaming services, talent agencies and studios are throwing money at social media influencers (and their managers)," Lucas Shaw reports. (Bloomberg)
>> And last but not least, this is a great read by Nicole Sperling that relates to the tariff debate: "A Hit TV Show Brought Production Back to California. Will Others Follow?" (NYT)
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