TGIF! Here's the latest on Patrick Soon-Shiong, Joe Rogan, Beyoncé, Charlamagne the God, Jon Stewart, Sarah Matthews, Chappell Roan and more... |
In the 2017 book "On Tyranny," historian Timothy Snyder wrote that "most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given."
"In times like these," Snyder observed, "individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked," for example by self-censoring. Snyder urged readers: do not "obey in advance."
This concept, known as "anticipatory obedience," is getting more and more attention in the final weeks of the 2024 presidential campaign. Media critics who double as Donald Trump critics say they are seeing it happen now – in big and little ways – in news coverage and corporate decision-making.
As NPR's David Folkenflik wrote on Thursday, "recent episodes involving major U.S. news organizations have stoked fears that outlets are preemptively self-censoring coverage that could offend former President Donald Trump." Folkenflik quoted Ian Bassin of Protect Democracy, who said outlets like the Los Angeles Times are "pulling back from their obligation to tell the truth in order to placate the tyrant so he doesn’t come after them."
The reality is that it's borderline impossible to get into the brains of media bigwigs. What looks to one person like "caving to Trump" looks to another person like balanced news coverage. But Mark Jacobs, who writes the Stop the Presses newsletter, recently asserted that "there's no reason to be confident about how any mainstream media would react to coercion from Trump."
This line of argument from the left is not going away. Nor is it limited to the left. Avowed conservative Amanda Carpenter, a Never-Trump-type Republican, wrote earlier this year that modern autocrats typically "win democratically-run elections," then use "salami tactics" to "slice away at democratic institutions." She cited Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán, who Trump frequently praises, and who has "ruthlessly used state power to coerce most media outlets and private enterprises into serving his political goals."
Consider, in this context, Trump's talk of retribution, "enemies from within," and the revoking of TV licenses. Carpenter wrote it this way: Autocrats around the world send a message "that bad things will happen to those who don't fall in line." |
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images |
This has been "an incredibly dark week" at the Los Angeles Times. That's what Times reporter James Queally wrote last night after two more members of the editorial board resigned. The exits stem from owner Patrick Soon-Shiong's decision to block the board from endorsing Kamala Harris. He told Spectrum News 1 SoCal that "my fear is that if we chose either [candidate] that it would just add to the division." Karin Klein, who resigned along with Robert Greene, countered Soon-Shiong's explanation, saying he is "doing the opposite of the neutrality he said he was seeking. Enough. Done." Jon Passantino has more on the LAT tumult here.
>> The backlash has been so severe that the LA Times Guild is asking subscribers to think twice before canceling, since its members are the ones who suffer...
>> Times management has decided not to report on its in-house crisis, Oliver Darcy reports over at Status.
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In 2022, citing the "eternal shame" of January 6, Rupert Murdoch's New York Post said "Trump has proven himself unworthy to be this country's chief executive again."
But this morning the Post endorsed Trump with a front page editorial calling him "the clear choice for a better future." The editorial contains no mention of January 6.
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Let's hear more from historians |
There is an intense campaign underway to discredit John Kelly and dismiss his depiction of Trump as a fascist who repeatedly praised Adolf Hitler. People are "saying he's making it up," JD Vance said yesterday. Trump disparaged Kelly in several interviews and said he's "just the opposite" of Hitler. On Fox, the scandal is not Trump's authoritarian tendencies, the scandal is that people like Kelly are daring to talk about it.
>> Here's what I believe the "fascist" discussion needs: fewer political strategists and more historians. Fewer random talking heads and more subject matter experts.
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Political media notes and quotes |
>> CNN's town hall with Harris drew at least 3.3 million viewers, making it the highest-rated town hall event of the general election season.
>> Last night's frank discussion between Charlamagne the God, Angela Rye and Anderson Cooper was a perfect distillation of the Trump coverage conundrum. I tweeted the transcript. (Mediaite)
>> Trump called into Vance's voter town hall last night on NewsNation to jokingly ask Vance a question: "How brilliant is Donald J. Trump?"
>> Trump is expected to tape an interview with Joe Rogan later today. The Harris campaign also talked with Rogan's team about an interview, but "it isn't going to work out right now" due to scheduling difficulties, campaign spokesman Ian Sams said.
>> On Vanity Fair's "Inside the Hive" podcast, I asked Trump aide turned Harris advocate Sarah Matthews about whether she fears the "retribution" Trump has promised.
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Coming up this weekend... |
Harris holds a rally in Houston with Beyoncé tonight.
The World Series starts tonight on Fox.
John Mulaney hosts "SNL" with musical guest Chappell Roan.
Trump holds a rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
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>> New this morning by Brandy Zadrozny: "The 'big lie' of the 2024 election is being workshopped on Webex." (NBC News)
>> Jim Rutenberg's new NYT Magazine story about pro-Trump election officials who are "ready to reject the vote" notes that the denialist movement has been fed by "false content on 'anti-censorship' platforms like Gab, Parler and Rumble as well as on Steve Bannon's 'War Room' podcast." (NYT)
>> A timely reminder via
Eduardo Suárez: "Why millions of Americans avoid the news – and what it means for the US election." (Reuters Institute)
>> The Haitian Times is "navigating culture, crisis, and community" at a very difficult time, Bob Miller writes. (E&P)
>> Via Laura Wagner: "What happens if the NYT's tech staff strikes on election night?" (Wash Post)
>> This is a great example of creative storytelling from Davey Alba, Julia Love, Jeff Kao, and Leonardo Nicoletti. The headline: "Elon Musk Is Now X's Biggest Promoter of Anti-Immigrant Conspiracies." (Bloomberg)
>> With "Patriot," a memoir by the late Alexei Navalny, topping Amazon's best seller list,
Decca Aitkenhead writes about how Navalny's widow
Yulia Navalnaya is picking up the baton. (Air Mail)
>> "The Print Magazine Revival of 2024:" Amanda Mull says "more publishers are discovering that magazines are now a luxury good." (Bloomberg Businessweek)
>> Yes, there are some "green shoots in local news," but "not where they're needed most," Paul Farhi writes. (CJR)
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Election coverage notes and quotes |
Yes, we're so close to election night that we're starting to hear and read about coverage plans...
>> CNN is "gearing up" for its "Super Bowl," an election night that might drag on for "several days," Jake Tapper tells Natalie Korach. (Vanity Fair)
>> Brian Steinberg spoke with officials at all the major networks for this curtain-raiser story. (Variety)
>> Multiview was a big hit during the Summer Olympics, so NBC is going to apply it to election coverage: Peacock will have "a main feed, a feed focused on Steve Kornacki, and a decision desk feed." (THR)
>> Jon Stewart will host a live election night edition of "The Daily Show," complete with "tips on surviving the post-election breakdown of society," the show says. (TheWrap)
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>> Sophie Vershbow goes "inside the political book machine" and how publishers try to capitalize on election seasons. (Esquire)
>> AI slop "is loosely defined as spammy, cheap blocks of text, video or images, quickly generated by computer programs for mass distribution," Charlie Warzel writes, making the case that "Trump's primary output is always a kind of slop." (The Atlantic)
>> Speaking of slop: On sites like Pinterest, "autumn is being eaten by a deluge of AI slop," Rebecca Jennings writes. She offers some great insights about how bogus images "desensitize our ability to discern what’s real and what’s fake." (Vox)
>> Winston Cho reports: "Why Los Angeles Is Becoming a Production Graveyard." (THR)
>> What's the future of kids TV? "As Gen A pivots entirely to streaming and creator-driven content, studios are struggling to adjust to a remaking of kids entertainment," Kayla Cobb and Adam Chitwood report. (The Wrap)
>> "Pad Thai, Spring Rolls and a Side of Peacock?" Alex Weprin explains why "streamers are teaming up with delivery apps." (THR)
>> One-time MTV reality star Kailyn Lowry's second act is as social media book influencer, Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg writes. (WSJ)
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>> Three journalists working for Al-Manar TV and Al Mayadeen TV were killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon known to house reporters. (BBC)
>> Citing "the seismic shifts facing our organization," CBS News talent boss Alison Pepper is the latest exec to announce her exit. (Variety)
>> Televisa chairman Emilio Azcárraga is taking "administrative leave" amid a Justice Department investigation into alleged FIFA bribes. (Reuters)
>> Cooper Hefner's bid to take over his father Hugh's Playboy brand has been "unanimously rejected" by the current owner, Todd Spangler reports. (Variety)
>> A data point about the influencer economy: "Corinna Kopf retires from OnlyFans after earning [a] reported $67 million in three years." (Complex)
>> Russia helped amplify bogus online claims about the federal government's response to hurricanes, researchers say. (AP)
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>> New this morning: "Meta has struck a multi-year deal with Reuters to use its news content to provide real-time answers to user queries about news and current events in its Meta AI chatbot," Sara Fischer scoops. (Axios)
>> John Herrman writes about "the rise of the self-clicking computer." (NYMag)
>> The White House is directing the Pentagon and intel agencies "to increase their adoption of artificial intelligence," Gerrit De Vynck reports. (Wash Post)
>> "Smashing, a new app curating the best of the web from Goodreads co-founder Otis Chandler, is now available to the public." (TechCrunch)
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Perplexity's way or the highway |
Liam Reilly writes: Perplexity AI is, well, perplexed by Dow Jones and the New York Post's decision to sue over alleged copyright infringement. In a new statement, the generative A.I.-maker shared its "view of the world," saying the lawsuit "reflects an adversarial posture between media and tech that is — while depressingly familiar — fundamentally shortsighted, unnecessary, and self-defeating." The A.I. company's message is clear: Publishers can either get on board or get out of the way...
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Menendez's set to be resentenced |
George Gascón, the Los Angeles County district attorney, will recommend that a judge resentence Lyle and Erik Menendez, CNN's team reports here. The move, which comes almost 30 years after the pair were convicted of their parents’ murders, follows renewed interest in their case sparked by the September release of Netflix's "Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story." The streaming platform also published a documentary that gave the brothers a chance to speak out.
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>> Amazon's fantasy drama "Good Omens" will "end with one 90-minute episode in lieu of a full third season with creator Neil Gaiman exiting after allegations were made against him by a slew of women," Peter White reports. (Deadline)
>> John Jurgensen sat down with Lorne Michaels for this feature headlined "Behind the Magic of 'Saturday Night Live's' Comedy Empire." (WSJ)
>> To celebrate the 25th anniversary of David Fincher's "Fight Club," "the filmmaker is overseeing a new 4K Ultra HD remaster," Aaron Couch reports. Also: "Fincher is also planning a theatrical re-release early next year." (THR)
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