TGIT! Here's the latest on Pete Hegseth, Alex Cooper, Rachael Bade, Esquire, "Morning Joe," TikTok, Nicole Kidman, and more... |
Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for The New York Times |
"We've saved the Washington Post once," Jeff Bezos said, and "this will be the second time.”
The Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos spoke bluntly Wednesday about the Post's problems, and opportunities, at Andrew Ross Sorkin's DealBook Summit. When Bezos first bought the Post, he said, "it took a couple of years, [and then] it made money for six or seven years after that. In the last few years, it's lost money again, and it needs to be put back on a good footing again."
He didn't specify how he'll do that, but said "I have a bunch of ideas and I'm working on that right now." Post staffers who worried earlier this year about his absence might take note of his presence in the months to come. Plus, as Puck's Dylan Byers noted last night, the Post is on the verge of picking a new top editor...
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'Proud' of the non-endorsement |
Bezos also defended his decision to block the paper's endorsement of VP Kamala Harris despite the ensuing resignations and cancellations. "I'm proud of the decision we made, and it was far from cowardly," he said, although he admitted that "if I had the prescience to think about this topic two years before, that would have been better for perception reasons."
Did potential retribution from Donald Trump factor into the decision? "That was certainly not in my mind," he said, adding "The Post covers all presidents very aggressively, is going to continue to cover all presidents very aggressively, and this endorsement or non-endorsement is a drop in the bucket."
Bezos sounded very positive about Trump's second term. CNN's Liam Reilly wrote about the comments here. At the risk of sounding naive, the billionaire said he would "try to talk" Trump out of the idea that journalists are the "enemy of the people." The press "is not the enemy," he said, so "let's go persuade him of this."
>> Veteran tech journalist Alex Kantrowitz's reaction to Sorkin's strong questioning: "Bezos remains fascinating as ever. First interview with a journalist in many years. He should talk more."
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>> Sam Altman, when asked whether Elon Musk would use his relationship with Trump to influence the tech sector: "It would be profoundly un-American to use political power, to the degree that Elon has it, to hurt your competitors and advantage your own businesses. And I don’t think people would tolerate that. I don’t think Elon would do it." Musk favorited a tweet with that quote.
>> Altman, when asked about the NYT's lawsuit against OpenAI: "Look, I don't believe in showing up in someone else's house as a guest and being rude, but I will say I think the New York Times is on the wrong side of history in many ways."
>> Bill Clinton on one of the things that plagues Democrats: "They haven't learned how to disagree with the press without sounding like a left-wing version of Donald Trump."
>> Alex Cooper on what advice she would give to mainstream news publishers: "There has been a wave of skepticism within Gen Z" and "I think a lot of us feel like we're getting sold a crock of shit every week." So "people want to figure it out for themselves, they don't want to be told what to do."
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Fox is giving Trump an award |
Quoting from Fox's own story about the news: "Trump will appear at Fox Nation's Patriot Awards on Thursday and receive the Patriot of the Year award." Trump will be speaking on stage, so this will be one of his first big on-camera appearances since winning the election.
I'm not here to praise Fox's posture toward Trump. There's something deeply cynical about giving the president-elect an award. But isn't this Fox award thing also kind of... brilliant? Given Trump's tendency to critique Fox, and especially given his never-ending complaints that the pro-Trump programming is not Trumpy enough, and the Fox base's devotion to Trump, whoever at Fox thought "let's give him an award!" is probably in line for a raise right about now.
Anyway, the sixth annual event event starts at 8 p.m. ET at the Tilles Center for Performing Arts on Long Island. It streams live on the Fox Nation service and will air on the Fox News cable channel on Sunday night.
>> Per Fox's description, the awards honor "America's patriots, including military veterans, first responders and other inspirational everyday heroes." Hegseth was set to host the ceremony, but Sean Hannity took his place...
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Hegseth back on Capitol Hill today |
The New York Times, The Washington Post, and NPR all published new reporting about Pete Hegseth's time at Fox News yesterday. The Post's headline on Page One today is "history with alcohol shadows Hegseth's Pentagon selection."
Hegseth's camp had already received requests for comment about the reporting by the time he sat down with Megyn Kelly for his first interview about his nomination and the misconduct allegations against him. My observation after checking out the interview: As he fights to save his nomination, Hegseth is courting not just senators, but the right-wing media listeners and followers who tend to vote for those senators. He is speaking a familiar Fox language of victimhood and media-bashing.
>> Hegseth is expected back on Capitol Hill for more meetings today...
>> Big picture: "Every secretary of defense in recent memory has had vastly more experience for the job than Mr. Hegseth," the NYT's story says.
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For days on end Fox stars showed disregard for the allegations against their ex-colleague. They pretended the stories weren't piling up. But yesterday the stance shifted dramatically. Hegseth's Fox friends are now in defense mode, paralleling his own effort on Capitol Hill.
As I reported in this CNN story last night, Hegseth's former weekend co-host Will Cain started the snowball effect, and now more than a dozen Fox hosts and regular guests have weighed in. Cain is tracking them all in this X thread and making the case that on the record voices should take precedence over anonymously sourced accusations...
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Trump's first network interview |
Trump has "agreed to sit down with NBC News' Kristen Welker in an exclusive interview airing on Meet the Press on Sunday, Dec. 8," NBC announced yesterday. "The interview will take place on Friday and marks his first network interview since winning the election." The network will release some highlights ahead of time. "Meet the Press" has also extended multiple invites to President Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris... |
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Political media notes and quotes |
>> The list of Fox regulars joining the Trump admin keeps getting longer. The newest pick: Monica Crowley... (Daily Beast)
>> "Signals from President-elect Trump's team that a shake-up of the White House press briefing room could be coming are roiling journalists preparing to cover his second term," Dominick Mastrangelo reports... (The Hill)
>> "The media can build back trust by how it covers Trump," Nancy Gibbs writes: "A focus on 'not the threats, but the facts'" would "constitute a genuine public service — and might also help to rebuild trust in the media..." (TIME)
>> "Patrick Soon-Shiong's plans to give the Los Angeles Times newsroom a rebirth continue to take shape, this time with the implementation of a so-called 'bias meter,'" JD Knapp reports... (TheWrap)
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>> New this morning: Playbook co-author Rachael Bade is becoming Politico's Capitol bureau chief and senior Washington columnist. (Politico)
>> Outdoing NYT DC bureau chief Elisabeth Bumiller's advice: Newsroom leaders should "just make tough-minded journalism that's fair but doesn’t cave." She says they should "be tough and brave." (CJR)
>> More post-election editing changes: Benjy Sarlin is stepping down after two years as Semafor's DC bureau chief. (Bluesky)
>> Esquire "had to issue a correction to a column that incorrectly claimed President George H.W. Bush pardoned his son, Neil Bush," and eventually took down the piece altogether, Sarah Rumpf reports. (Mediaite)
>> "CBS News unveiled plans Wednesday to launch ‘CBS Evening News Plus,’ a 30-minute continuation of its overhauled flagship newscast that will stream online and air on certain CBS-owned stations," Brian Steinberg reports. (Variety)
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A hot cup of 'Morning Joe' |
The Atlantic writer David Frum said he was unsettled yesterday when he quipped on "Morning Joe" that "if you're too drunk for Fox News, you're very, very drunk indeed" only to see Mika Brzezinski read an on-air "apology" for his remarks. "It is a very ominous thing if our leading forums for discussion of public affairs are already feeling the chill of intimidation and responding with efforts to appease," From wrote.
This morning, Joe Scarborough delivered 20-minute rebuttal blasting Frum's assessment that the on-air disclaimer was made out of fear of Trump. "Let me tell you something, you can talk to anybody that has worked in the front office of NBC and MSNBC over the past 22 years. I tell you, I'm not fearful," Scarborough said. "If you talk to anybody served with me in Congress, they will tell you, not fearful of leadership. Now? Not fearful." Mediaite's David Gilmour has more here.
Frum watched the segment and tweeted that "I want to stress: I am very sympathetic to the predicament faced by TV hosts. These are worrying times."
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>> "Disney+ is getting a lot more grown up," Alex Weprin reports, with major updates and additional Hulu and ESPN content... (THR)
>> Warner Bros. Discovery's Max is testing a set of "always-on HBO channels," Emma Roth reports. (The Verge)
>> "FIFA has agreed a deal with DAZN to broadcast next year's Club World Cup in the United States," Dan Sheldon reports. If you're thinking "what's DAZN?" you're not alone. The streamer "has the option to sub-license to local free-to-air broadcasters as part of its deal with FIFA..." (The Athletic)
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>> Steven Monacelli and Tristan Lee analyzed four X anonymous accounts to better understand how Elon Musk's site became "a hotbed of white supremacist and neo-Nazi content..." (Texas Observer)
>> "One of Poland's wealthiest entrepreneurs" is seeking support for lawsuits against Meta "over the alleged spread of 'deepfake' scams..." (FT)
>> "Threads users can now follow profiles from other fediverse servers." (TechCrunch)
>> Will TikTok get the boot? A federal appeals court is expected to rule soon on whether to uphold the US ban on ByteDance's short-form video app. (WIRED)
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>> Nicole Kidman is on the cover of The Hollywood Reporter's "Most Powerful Women in Entertainment" issue... (THR)
>> “Moana 2” is eyeing $60 million “for the post-Thanksgiving first weekend of December,” which Anthony D’Alessandro calls “an absolute mind-blowing record for a No. 1-ranking title, whether holdover or new release...” (Deadline)
>> Ben Stiller and Dan Erickson say the delays to “Severance” season two were “worth it” despite concerns voiced by the studio... (Deadline)
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