The banner on TV right now: "Iran's missile attack on Israel fuels fears of wider regional war." Erin Burnett is anchoring from Tel Aviv. Check out CNN's live updates page here. |
New and gobsmacking #'s from CNN's Matt Egan this morning: "The social media platform formerly known as Twitter is worth almost 80% less than two years ago when Elon Musk bought it, according to estimates from investment giant Fidelity." Of course, X no longer trades publicly, and other investors could value X differently. But "analysts say Fidelity’s plunging price tag for X likely reflects shrinking ad revenue at the company, which no longer publicly releases quarterly financial metrics."
X's decline has happened in plain sight, and every so often a headline like this one about Fidelity hammers home just how destructive Musk's disruption has been. He has chased away advertisers, looked the other way on hate speech, reinstated notorious banned figures, and promoted far-right conspiracy theories. The volume of disinformation on X about the aftermath of Helene has been particularly disturbing to see in the past few days. On the ground in the affected region, we're seeing the best of humanity. On X, we're seeing the worst.
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After the third and maybe final debate of this year's election cycle, it can definitively be said: The Commission on Presidential Debates is a relic of the past.
The Democratic and Republican campaigns for president bypassed the commission this year, negotiated with individual TV networks, and – despite all the doubts and concerns – it worked. CNN, ABC and CBS produced their own debates and received kudos for doing so.
Networks vigorously competed to line up candidates; partisans bickered about the rules and formats; but the resulting debates were a public service. And in a rare and welcome show of solidarity, all the major networks televised their rivals' events. Maybe it will work this way again in 2028?
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The morning after the VP debate, the consensus is that nothing really changed. Political insiders said JD Vance was the better debater, save for his "damning nonanswer" (Tim Walz's phrase) about democracy. Average viewers said it was a draw. CNN's pollsters found "no clear winner," but "the event left viewers with more positive views of both candidates than they held pre-debate."
And that, to me, is the most memorable aspect of the VP matchup: Americans want civil, respectful conversations, even about hotly contested issues. By and large they want decency, not demagoguery; civility, not crass attacks.
Debate viewers appreciated when Walz and Vance acknowledged what they had in common. An "overwhelming majority" of viewers "felt the tone of the debate was positive," CBS said afterward. And yet... We're still very much in the "Trump era" of politics.
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The moderators and the mics |
Moderators Norah O'Donnell and Margaret Brennan chose to thread the fact-checking needle last night. "The most direct fact-check of the night also led to the most dramatic moment on stage," Hadas Gold reports. Afterward, Fox talking heads and other Trump allies expressed par-for-the-course outrage.
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Spun out of the spin room |
Hadas Gold writes: "CBS chose to host the debate at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City, a historic location (ask Brian about its former life as a dairy factory) albeit less grand than other debate venues. It was an obvious, easy – and cheap – choice for CBS with all the infrastructure for a studio debate ready to go. But the media filing area was small and confusing, and the spin room, in a sound stage, was tiny compared to previous debates. Many reporters didn't know they'd be cut out from the spin room if they didn't take the elevators up before the end of the debate. The Secret Service ended up cutting off entry to the spin room and a long line of dozens of reporters stood in line for some time, waiting to go up until after Vance had left the spin room."
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Typically, the VP face-off is sandwiched into between presidential debates. But Trump continues to shun offers of another debate. The Harris campaign said last night that "she will be in Atlanta on October 23" – on the day CNN has offered to host a debate there – so "Donald Trump should step up and face the voters." Trump responded on Truth Social, "I beat Biden, I then beat her, and I’m not looking to do it again, too far down the line." He seems to think he's sitting on a safe lead. Which leads me to this next bit of CBS news...
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Trump avoids "60 Minutes" |
Trump is passing on a chance to appear on "60 Minutes," the country's most-watched newsmagazine. But "60" is moving forward with a prime time election special next Monday anyway. CBS says Trump initially accepted its request for an interview, but backed out on Tuesday. A Trump campaign rep claimed "nothing was ever scheduled or locked in," but two sources with knowledge of the matter told me that Scott Pelley was slated to sit down with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club on Thursday and attend Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday.
>> The bigger issue? Trump's campaign also said CBS "insisted on cutting out of the interview to do fact-checking."
>> Bill Whitaker is interviewing Harris later this week, and the show will go on, evidently without Trump. Here's my full story.
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"Russian" to Trump's side |
"Russia's attempts to influence the 2024 election" in Trump's favor "are accelerating, federal officials and researchers say," adding to "a sea of misinformation" about immigration and Harris "despite U.S. efforts to blunt the onslaught with indictments, seizures and public warnings," the Post's Joseph Menn writes. Menn's story is full of details about the fake and funky stories that are being promoted by foreign propagandists. This is the key context for last night's debate back-and-forth about alleged "censorship..."
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Tasos Katopodis/Stefani Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images/Thomas Machowicz/Reuters |
Olivia Nuzzi is accusing her ex-fiancé Ryan Lizza of harassment, blackmail and hacking in court, in what she says was a campaign to "destroy" her life after their engagement fell apart and she was in a secret relationship with RFK Jr. Furthermore, Nuzzi's camp says the FBI is investigating the matter.
Lizza, Politico’s chief Washington correspondent and Playbook co-author, is denying the allegations, telling CNN, "I am saddened that my ex-fiancée would resort to making a series of false accusations against me as a way to divert attention from her own personal and professional failings." Katelyn Polantz has more here.
>> As for the FBI, the agency declined to comment to the NYT.
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In the wake of Nuzzi's explosive court filing, Lizza took a leave of absence from Politico. A spokesperson said they "have mutually agreed that it is in everyone’s best interest for him to step back and take a leave of absence while an investigation is conducted."
What now? New York magazine, which has also placed Nuzzi on leave, hired top law firm Davis Wright Tremaine to look into the matter, Business Insider's Lucia Moses reported.
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CNN and Reuters want you to pay |
Tuesday brought two big news paywall announcements. First, CNN said it is starting to ask some frequent CNN.com visitors to pay $3.99 a month for access, laying the first bricks in a paywall that should, over time, help foot the bill for CNN’s journalism around the world. Second, Thomson Reuters said it will introduce a $1 a week paywall for its website and app in the coming days. Here's my story about the plans.
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Two key points about paywalls |
"Subscription fatigue" is real. Users can be really reluctant to pay. But researchers see ample room for the industry to grow. I talked with Greg Piechota, a researcher-in-residence at the International News Media Association, who said "there is no subscription ceiling for online news." Most news brands are just getting off the floor.
"Unfortunately, based on surveys, most consumers across the world are not aware of the financial challenges faced by the commercial news media," Piechota added. "But when they hear about the industry’s critical financial situation, their willingness to pay for journalism is the highest, studies showed."
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Taylor Lorenz and the Washington Post were an awkward fit all along, but the tech culture journalist and the old-school paper made it work for a while, thanks in part to a phenomenal veteran editor who helped Lorenz navigate the Post. (Everyone needs a great editor!) The Lorenz-Post relationship soured months ago, though, and on Tuesday she resigned from the paper to launch her own Substack.
"I just wanted to get out of legacy media," she told THR's Alex Weprin. She added: "I like to have a really interactive relationship with my audience. I like to be very vocal online, obviously. And I just think all of that is really hard to do in the roles that are available at these legacy institutions." In a sign of her clout and her controversial nature, the Post wrote a story about her exit...
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>> Yesterday Julian Assange "gave his first public remarks since he was released from prison in June." (AP)
>> "Old-fashioned legacy media — especially radio — have become a vital information lifeline in the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Helene." (Axios)
>> Apple's Podcasts app is "putting a spotlight on narrative-driven series," Alex Weprin reports. (THR)
>> Charles Barkley is launching a production venture "with EverWonder Studio, an independent content studio led by Ian Orefice and backed by Jeff Zucker's RedBird IMI," Brian Steinberg reports. (Variety)
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>> Another state lawsuit is accusing another social network of "giving priority to growth over safety." This time it's New Mexico suing Snap... (WSJ)
>> Clare Duffy's latest: "Why Microsoft is trying to turn its AI chatbot into a digital friend..." (CNN)
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New allegations against Diddy incoming |
Sean 'Diddy' Combs "may soon be facing new allegations from over 100 men and women who've obtained legal representation and plan to file civil suits against the embattled media mogul in the coming weeks, according to Houston-based attorney Tony Buzbee," CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister and Alli Rosenbloom report. Details here...
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"Inside the Fight to Release The Apprentice" |
Vanity Fair's Gabriel Sherman, who wrote the Trump origin pic "The Apprentice," has penned a first-person essay about his experience trying to get the film released in U.S. theaters. "I learned Hollywood has very different goals from journalism," Sherman wrote. "Reporters want to hold powerful people accountable; studio executives want to reach the widest audience, which often means offending as few people as possible." Read all about how the film finally secured an October 11 release date...
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>> "Disney is reorganizing major parts of its television operations." (Variety)
>> Pink Floyd has "agreed to sell the rights to their vast catalogue of music including hits such as 'Wish You Were Here' and 'Money' to music label Sony for about $400 million," Daniel Thomas and Anna Nicolaou report. (FT)
>> Tim Burton's "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" "became the filmmaker's second highest grossing movie at the domestic box office" with a running total of $251 million, Anthony D’Alessandro writes. (Deadline)
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