Good morning! Here's the latest on Joe Rogan, Jon Stewart, Elon Musk, Brené Brown, Mehdi Hasan, "The Simpsons," Armie Hammer, and more... |
While defending his eleventh-hour non-endorsement decision, Jeff Bezos is delivering a blunt message to Washington Post employees: You're failing.
Actually, he wrote "we're failing," linking his own identity to the journalists he employs. "But in this year's Gallup poll" about trust, "we have managed to fall below Congress," Bezos wrote last night. "Our profession is now the least trusted of all. Something we are doing is clearly not working."
Bezos cited the trust deficit to explain why he trashed the editorial board's Kamala Harris endorsement – and he admitted the Post might have sowed distrust by waiting until the eve of the election to announce the decision. "That was inadequate planning, and not some intentional strategy," he wrote.
While rereading the Bezos op-ed – which is the most-clicked piece on the Post's site right now – I was most struck by his tough love tone. It was all the more intriguing because he rarely communicates with Post staffers at all. "It would be easy to blame others for our long and continuing fall in credibility (and, therefore, decline in impact), but a victim mentality will not help," Bezos wrote. "Complaining is not a strategy. We must work harder to control what we can control to increase our credibility."
Bezos also rightly observed that "many people are turning to off-the-cuff podcasts, inaccurate social media posts and other unverified news sources, which can quickly spread misinformation and deepen divisions." After reading the op-ed, several Post staffers told me they felt his critique, like his non-endorsement, was an example of the right move at the wrong time. Journalists are jittery and exhausted on the eve of the election, so it might not have been the best moment to say "we're failing."
But to be fair, Bezos also heaped praise on the Post, and he dropped some hints about what he and William Lewis are doing to overhaul the publication. "To win this fight, we will have to exercise new muscles," he said. "Some changes will be a return to the past," like not endorsing presidential candidates, "and some will be new inventions," like the so-called "third newsroom" project.
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What Post readers are saying |
Will disenchanted Post customers be persuaded by the owner's op-ed? We'll see. Yesterday NPR's David Folkenflik reported that cancellations have exceeded 200,000 – a figure that stunned the news industry. Also yesterday, three editorial board members resigned, warning against staying silent in the face of looming autocracy.
Dan Froomkin perused some of the reader comments on the Post website about the non-endorsement and found "a clear, overarching message: The Post’s readers feel betrayed."
"What they see is a hasty, cowardly retreat in the face of a fascist threat," Froomkin wrote on his Press Watch blog. "And in unprecedented numbers, they are leaving."
Some observers have been likening this audience reaction to the exodus Fox experienced after accurately calling the election in 2020. But the difference is that Fox fans recoiled when it reported the truth; Post fans are worried that the paper might be pulling back from truth-telling.
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Political media notes and quotes |
>> Philadelphia's district attorney is trying to shut down Elon Musk's daily $1 million giveaway to registered voters, calling it an "illegal lottery scheme," Marshall Cohen reports. (CNN)
>> The top story on the Post's home page this morning: On X, "Republicans go viral as Democrats disappear." (Post)
>>"Inside Trump's Truth Social Conspiracy Theory Machine:" The NYT collected thousands of Trump's posts and analyzed his "paranoid" online attitude... (NYT)
>> Truth Social's parent company is losing money and "generating very little revenue" but the stock continues to surge as traders bet on a Trump victory, Matt Egan reports. Bet is the key word... (CNN)
>> "Lady blogs" like Feministing and Jezebel "would have had a field day with this election," Marie Solis observes. (NYT)
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Bannon goes back to 'War' |
Steve Bannon was released from federal prison early this morning, and he is expected to be back on his "War Room" podcast/radio program at 10 a.m. today. Sara Murray and Sabrina Shulman's CNN story notes that "Bannon's MAGA megaphone has suffered in his absence" – "War Room" "frequently appeared in Apple’s Top Podcasts before Bannon reported to prison," but it "fell off the charts by early July, according to data from Podchaser."
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Harris 'flooding' the airwaves |
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin |
Harris is "flooding the zone with nationally syndicated Black radio hits over the final week," a campaign rep told me, pointing to her Monday appearance on "DeDe in the Morning" and a visit today to the nationally-syndicated "The Breakfast Club." Tim Walz is on the radio today too, joining Dan Le Batard and Jon "Stugotz" Weiner on "The Dan Le Batard Show."
>> Overnight, Joe Rogan said "for the record the Harris campaign has not passed on doing the podcast." Rogan said "they offered a date for Tuesday, but I would have had to travel to her and they only wanted to do an hour. I strongly feel the best way to do it is in the studio in Austin." He says he wants it to happen...
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Closing arguments at the Ellipse |
Trump's Sunday rally at MSG was a made-for-TV event, and so is Harris's speech tonight at the Ellipse in DC. "If there is a takeaway from that day she wants to drive home, it is that her own victory would turn the page on Trump’s divisiveness, according to advisers," CNN's team reports.
>> For Reliable readers who have asked: An exact time for the speech has not been announced, but it will take place in the evening...
>> In other campaign media news, JD Vance will participate in a Newsmax town hall tonight...
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CNN bans guest over hateful comment |
"CNN pulled a panelist off of NewsNight with Abby Phillip" last night "after he made a swipe at Mehdi Hasan, suggesting that he was aligned with terrorists," Deadline's Ted Johnson reports. "Ryan Girdusky will not be welcomed back at our network," CNN said in a statement shortly after the incident, adding, "there is zero room for racism or bigotry at CNN or on our air." Phillip apologized to the audience as well as Hasan and said, "I hope he'll join us another time."
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>> Alphabet, Reddit, and Snap will all report earnings after the close today...
>> "Apple Intelligence has finally arrived, and like most AI on smartphones so far, it’s mostly underwhelming," Allison Johnson writes. (The Verge)
>> Reality check: Two years after Musk took over Twitter, X "is still the room where it happens," Amanda Hoover argues. (Business Insider)
>> Meta is developing its own AI search engine "to lower its reliance on Google Search and Microsoft's Bing,"
Kalley Huang reports. (The Information)
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>> The Baltimore Sun, purchased earlier this year by conservative Sinclair boss David Smith, has shuttered its features desk — "the first time since at least 1888 the newspaper won’t have even one reporter dedicated to covering the city’s cultural life," its union said. (X)
>> "Anderson Cooper, Questlove, Brené Brown, Trevor Noah, Tig Notaro, Trixie Mattel and Katya Zamolodchikova are just a few of the big name winners at the 2024 Signal Awards, which honor podcasts that define culture..." (TheWrap)
>> In this essay about protecting journalism in Britain, prime minister Keir Starmer says "we recognize the basic principle that publishers should have control over and seek payment for their work, including when thinking about the role of AI." (The Guardian)
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NFL entering world of "The Simpsons" |
"The Walt Disney Co., the NFL and ESPN are teaming up to debut another animated alternative broadcast of an upcoming NFL game, but this time they are going big with 'ESPN's The Simpsons Funday Football,'" THR's Alex Weprin writes.
The Dallas Cowboys-Cincinnati Bengals game on Dec. 9 "will take place in Springfield's Atoms Stadium, with all the players replaced by dozens of animated characters" based on "The Simpsons." Details here...
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Matt Wilson/Comedy Central |
CNN's Liam Reilly writes: Jon Stewart is extending his time in the hosting chair at "The Daily Show" through December 2025. In addition to hosting on Mondays, he will also remain executive producer as the program rotates other comedians in the hosting chair on other nights of the week...
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>> Netflix's new "Moments" feature "lets members save, rewatch and share their favorite scenes across Netflix titles," Jennifer Maas reports. (Variety)
>> "Armie Hammer, the onetime A-list actor whose career came tumbling down around him amid a number of #MeToo accusations, is stepping back into the public sphere with a new podcast," Seth Abramovitch reports. (THR)
>> “Andrew Lloyd Webber has unveiled his new West End and Broadway musical: a magical romance called ‘The Illusionist,’ directed by ‘Sunset Boulevard’s’ Jamie Lloyd,” Baz Bamigboye reports. (Deadline)
>> “In a notable acquisition, Disney+ has picked up a two-part documentary featuring Prince William," Alex Weprin reports. (THR)
>> “The first look at ‘The Bear’ star Jeremy Allen White as Bruce Springsteen in biopic ‘Deliver Me From Nowhere’ has been revealed as production gets underway,” Ellise Shafer reports. (Variety)
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Halloween costume contest week! |
Colleen writes: "At the Doggie Halloween parade in Washington Square Park, NYC, I thought this was the best costume." |
Send in your costume picture here... |
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