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Thursday, March 07, 2024

Rupert Murdoch plans his fifth wedding (again), TIME features Evan Gershkovich on its cover, Condé Nast misses its revenue goals, Russia creates a spate of fake news websites, TikTok turns out its troops as it is targeted in Washington, China spends big on Big Tech ads, Netflix wades further into live sports, and so much more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

The SOTU Stakes

CNN Photo Illustration/Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

When President Joe Biden stands before a joint session of Congress and delivers the State Of the Union address, he will be addressing one of the largest audiences ahead of the 2024 election.

To be sure, ratings for the annual affair have slipped from their peak decades ago. And its influence has waned amid the fragmentized media landscape dominated by entertainment platforms such as Netflix and TikTok.

But the speech is still one of the most important messaging tools at a president's disposal — especially in a hotly contested election year.

For one, the viewership tuned in for the address is among the largest live television audiences of the year, outside NFL broadcasts. Last year, the speech averaged 27.3 million viewers. The year before, it averaged 38.2 million viewers. Those are not numbers to sneeze at — and they, of course, don't account for the millions and millions of additional views that clips from the speech will amass on social media platforms.

Moreover, unlike say an interview, the State of the Union address provides an opportunity for the president to speak uninterrupted to the American people. It's rare for news and broadcast networks to cede their air and carry a raw speech from the president continuously for a lengthy period of time.

It is also a platform that is particularly suited to presidents. Not only is the speech meticulously scripted and workshopped, allowing the president to tightly control his message, but by delivering it in such a grand fashion before a special session of Congress, it has the natural byproduct of making the president look, well, presidential.

Biden, like other presidents, can use all of this to his advantage. He can boast about his accomplishments, use the bully pulpit to call out Republicans on issues such as immigration and Ukraine, and, perhaps most importantly, connect with the audience.

All of that will be particularly crucial this year as Biden battles poor poll numbers and, whether fairly or not, worries that he is too old for the job. The State of the Union is always a theatrical event, but this year it will especially be one as Biden works to persuade the electorate that he is fit to continue executing the duties of his office. As CNN's Edward-Isaac Dovere reported, Biden is expected to bring the heat during the address.

With Donald Trump having officially secured the GOP nomination this week, Biden's final State of the Union speech before November is arguably also the first big night of the general election.

AT THE LECTURN

The Drudge Report's walk up banner headline: "BIDEN'S BIG NIGHT / HOPES AND FEARS."
The traditional off-the-record pre-SOTU anchor lunch was attended by Lester Holt, David Muir, Norah O'Donnell, Erin Burnett, Geoff Bennett, Lawrence O'Donnell, April Ryan, and Julio Vaquiero, among others. (West Wing Playbook)
The White House, however, didn't limit itself to traditional media. It also briefed dozens of online creators, Makena Kelly reports. (WIRED)
Karine Jean-Pierre joked that the "Morning Joe" crew did her job setting the stage for the Biden speech: "I was just listening to ... the commentary. I don't think you guys need me this morning." (Mediaite)
Ahead of SOTU, the White House dropped a video of Biden seeking advice from actors who have portrayed presidents, including Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, and Geena Davis. (Deadline)
Charlotte Klein spoke with MSNBC hosts Jen Psaki, Symone Sanders-Townsend, and Lawrence O'Donnell about what they'd "want to see" from Biden's SOTU speech. (Vanity Fair)
Peder Schaefer compiled the "7 worst instances of bad behavior at the State of the Union." (POLITICO)

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Shutterstock

'Yep, He Did It Again': Jim Rutenberg's headline for The NYT said it all. Yes, Rupert Murdoch is actually planning on getting married for a fifth time. Rutenberg reported that the 92-year-old media mogul will marry retired biologist Elena Zhukova, 67, in a wedding planned for June at his California vineyard/estate. The news comes after Murdoch announced last year around this time that he was getting married to Anne Lesley Smith, only for him to break off the engagement a couple weeks later. Rutenberg has more here on what promises to be the media wedding of the summer.

THE INDUSTRY

THE FOURTH ESTATE

CNN Photo Illustration/TIME

As the one-year mark of Evan Gershkovich imprisonment approaches, TIME featured a Charlotte Alter story about The WSJ reporter on its cover. (TIME)
A joint report by the Committee to Protect Journalists and Amnesty International "found that Mexico's Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists failed to adequately evaluate risks journalists are facing." (CPJ)
CPJ also announced a new partnership with Condé Nast. (CPJ)
Justin Bank is exiting at the end of the month as managing editor of The WaPo, The NYT's Ben Mullin reported, citing a note that was sent to staff by Sally Buzbee. (Threads)
The FT's Alexandra Calinikos spoke to Brown Maher about why the publication launched a fund to invest in new media companies: "It was clear there was an appetite there." (Press Gazette)
Natalie Korach reported on "how NBC News NOW is being positioned as the future of the network's news." (The Wrap)
Troy Young wrote about CNN's future, tossing out the idea that A.I. could be a major component of what it looks like: "Imagine a world where CNN is everywhere, but delivered exactly how the viewer wants it — an AI-powered video stream of live news, across every major geo and category, in every language, on any device." (People vs Algorithms)
The New Yorker's Michael Schulman chatted with Andrew Murfett, discussing his 20-year career at the magazine, his 2021 Jeremy Strong feature, and his new book, "Oscar Wars." (LinkedIn)
The NYT redesigned its Games app. (NYT)

IN THE MARKET

Condé Nast missed its 2023 revenue goals, chief executive Roger Lynch told Sara Fischer as he tried to strike an upbeat tone for the company's future. (Axios)
For the first time ever, LinkedIn disclosed sales for its premium subscription business — and they're nothing to brush aside. The service generated $1.7 billion in revenue in 2023. (Reuters)
Disney sold out its ad inventory for the Oscars. (Adweek)
The Magic Kingdom was also slapped with a class-action lawsuit by hotel maintenance workers who alleged the company underpaid them. (THR)
But Dade Hayes noted that amid the proxy fight, Disney's stock has rebounded more than 20% in 2024. (Deadline)

MEDIA MOVES

NBC News named Matt Glassman to the new role of vice president of regional editorial. (NextTV)
The NYT promoted John Woo to executive producer of the Reporter Reads team and promoted Alexa Mills to assistant editor. (NYT/NYT)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Obliging OAN: "A federal judge has cleared the way for far-right network OAN to seek information from several foreign governments about the voting technology company Smartmatic, as it tries to fend off a massive defamation lawsuit stemming from its 2020 election denialism," CNN's Marshall Cohen reported Thursday. "OAN is seeking documents from the Philippines, Venezuela, Brazil, the United Kingdom and six other nations, according to filings made public Thursday."

🔎 Zooming in: "Smartmatic was only used in one California county in the 2020 election, but that didn't stop OAN and other pro-Trump figures from falsely claiming they 'rigged' the election," Cohen added. "OAN, Fox News and other right-wing outlets facing 2020-related defamation suits are arguing in court that Smartmatic's standing was already sorely diminished due to foreign election scandals and alleged improprieties overseas — and not because of the 2020 fallout in the US."

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Steven Lee Myers reported that Russia recently created several websites "meant to mimic actual news organizations," but mean to "push Kremlin propaganda by interspersing it among an at-times odd mix of stories about crime, politics and culture." (NYT)
Chris Cuomo can't stop chatting with extremists! The NewsNation host recorded a sit-down conversation with Tucker Carlson, set to air on Monday. (Variety)
To be fair, extremism is running rampant on the right these days. Talk show host and Fox News personality Mark Levin, for instance, casually said Democrats want Americans in "concentration camps" and living in a "full-on police state." (MMFA)
Meanwhile, Clay Travis is under the impression there are "more issues of fake racism in America today than […] instances of actual racism." (MMFA)
Switching gears: Bill Carter wrote about comics using Joe Biden's age as fodder: "Late-night jokes do not create identifications for presidents and aspiring presidents. But they can assuredly cement them." (LateNighter)
Donald Trump's lawyers "are hunting for the identity of secret consultants who approved Pulitzer prizes for Russiagate coverage," Jacob Shamsian reports. (Business Insider)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/TikTok

TikTok Turns Out Its Troops: TikTok is working to mobilize its large army of users against a bipartisan piece of federal legislation that could lead to a nationwide ban on the app. Users who opened TikTok Thursday were met with a message that implored them to help "stop a TikTok shutdown." The message explained that "Congress is planning a total ban" of the app and asked them to call their representatives. While the call led to Capitol Hill phones being flooded with angry messages, it did not prevent the legislation from being stalled in committee. The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved the bill, with Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers calling it the "first step in creating long-overdue laws to protect Americans from the threat posed by apps controlled by our adversaries." CNN's Brian Fung has details here.

► More bad news for TikTok: The National Music Publishers Association said it does not plan to renew its license with the company. Variety's Jem Aswad has more here.

TOO MANY TABS

"The trade relationship between China and the United States has plenty of friction," Daisuke Wakabayashi and Mike Isaac write. "But at least one area is booming: Chinese start-ups looking to establish a presence in the West are spending billions of dollars for advertisements on services owned by some of Silicon Valley's biggest technology companies." (NYT)
Temu, for instance, was Meta's top advertiser in 2023 by revenue and was one of Google's top five advertisers, Dana Mattioli, Suzanne Vranica, and Miles Kruppa report. (WSJ)
Get ready for another book about Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter. Kate Conger and Ryan Mac's "Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter" is set to hit shelves September 17. (Axios)
Speaking of Musk destroying the platform: Jody Serrano argues that his plan "to hide like counts and retweets is going to make Twitter boring as hell." (Gizmodo)
Meanwhile, Threads just keeps getting better and better. The platform now lets everyone save drafts and shoot photos inside the app. (TechCrunch)
The Bot Wars: Inflection's Pi, a ChatGPT rival, reported the A.I. chatbot has one million daily active users and performs "neck and neck with" GPT-4, Ina Fried writes. (Axios)
The E.U. is investigating Apple's decision to terminate Epic Games' developer account. (TechCrunch)
On that topic: "Europe is breaking open the empires of Big Tech," writes Morgan Maker. (WIRED)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Netflix

Netflix In the Ring: Netflix is wading further into live sports. While the company has eschewed speculation that it wants to be a major player in the arena, it keeps announcing new live sports programming. On Thursday, the streamer said it will partner with Most Valuable Promotions to air a Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight set to go down in Texas on July 20. It's the third live sports venture from Netflix. Of course, these are on a much smaller scale than, say, paying the NFL $100 million+ to broadcast a game. And Netflix really doesn't need to do that right now to drive growth. But the platform's dabbling in the field of sports does make one wonder whether, at some point in the future, it will become the home to more high-profile sporting events.

OFF STAGE

Brian Steinberg reports on how Warner Bros. Discovery is adding sports content to TruTV, aiming to "bring one of its 'zombie' cable networks back to life." (Variety)
An attorney for Andy Cohen again denied accusations of workplace discrimination and retaliation, calling on Leah McSweeney to retract them. (Deadline)
Kirsten Chuba and Chris Gardner have the inside scoop on all the Oscars pre-parties. (THR)
"Dune: Part II" wormed its way past the $200 million mark at the global box office. (Collider)
But will "Kung Fu Panda 4" take the box office crown from Paul Atreides this weekend? It's eyeing a $50 million-ish weekend, so we'll see!
Eliza Brooke argues that Taylor Tomlinson's "After Midnight" is "perfect" for the "TikTok era." (NYT)
Zack Snyder believes more people streamed his latest movie, "Rebel Moon — Part One: Child of Fire," on Netflix than saw "Barbie" in theaters. (The Wrap)
Hulu ordered a limited series about Amanda Knox from KJ Steinberg that will star Margaret Qualley. (Deadline)
Laura Dern will reunite with Noah Baumbach for an untitled Netflix project starring George Clooney and Adam Sander. (Deadline)
Ben Affleck's "The Accountant" moved to Amazon MGM Studios just as production is slated to commence on the movie's sequel. (THR)
Meanwhile, Jon Bernthal, J.K. Simmons, and Cynthia Addai-Robinson have inked deals to return for the Affleck-driven movie's sequel. (Deadline)
Netflix U.K. licensed "House of Sims," its first original show from OnlyFans. (WON)
Pixar dropped the official trailer for "Inside Out 2." (YouTube)
Hulu released the official trailer for "Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story." (YouTube)

Thank you for reading! This newsletter was edited by Jon Passantino and produced with the assistance of Liam Reilly. Have feedback? Send us an email. You can follow us on Instagram, Threads, and LinkedIn. We will see you back in your inbox next week.

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