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As President Biden prepares to hand back power to his nemesis Donald Trump, he is trying to make sense of what happened. And he is zeroing in on the media's role in American society – and, more importantly, on the changing definition of media.
Biden has brought up this subject twice recently, unprompted, first in an exchange with the White House traveling press pool and then on an economic podcast. He said he wasn't seeking to criticize the press. The structural changes he pointed out are much bigger than any single person or outlet. Frankly, he sounds like a lot of bewildered Democrats right now.
The day after Thanksgiving, Biden said he remembered seeing a recent survey showing that 62% of Americans thought they were personally doing pretty well, but only 35% thought the country was moving in the right direction.
I had a hard time finding a survey with those exact results, but directionally speaking, Biden was describing a phenomenon that many polls have documented: Many Americans say they're happy at home, but horrified by what they perceive to be happening in the country writ large. Biden asserted that negative news coverage accounted for the disconnect. "When you turn on the TV," he said, "everything looks bad. Everything looks bad."
He also said mainstream TV and newspaper audiences are "way down," alluding to the fact that people are soaking up news via social media and new sources. "Where do you get your news?" he asked. "And what — and how do you know what you're getting is not just what you're looking for as opposed to what's happening?"
This introspection is revealing, but it also raises a question about whether Biden and his White House adequately reckoned with this new media reality back in 2021, when it mattered most for his political future. I remember quoting a Fox News insider that year who said, referring to the 24/7 information war, "the Biden team has no idea what they are up against."
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The biggest change of all? |
Biden brought up the same disconnect between personal optimism and outward pessimism in an interview with the Pitchfork Economics podcast this week.
"Everything's changing," he said, "but the biggest change taking place is the press. They're not bad. They're still good people. But where do people get their news? The thing is – don’t hold me to this – if the data's correct, something only 5, 7% of people under the age of 25 are reading the newspaper."
"We pick what news we want to hear," Biden continued. "It's a totally different deal. We've got to figure out how we deal with this significant technological change... Where do you go? What is true? We have no evidence anymore. I'm not sure how that gets resolved. But I think it's a big deal."
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"Once Washington's most loquacious chatterbox, Mr. Biden these days barely engages with the reporters who follow him everywhere," Peter Baker and Zolan Kanno-Youngs note. The two exchanges up above are the exceptions. "His only reply to shouted questions from journalists during his entire Africa trip added up to 14 words. In South America, it was just a single word."
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Trump's recent legal actions against the media "amount to a warning shot about what sort of retaliation journalists, in particular, might face" once he takes office in January, the NYT says.
Two points of view about his suit against the Des Moines Register and J. Ann Selzer are common among media lawyers and news media advocates: One, that the suit is an attack on free speech, and two, it's a total stretch from a legal standpoint. Joel Simon, director of the CUNY Journalism Protection Initiative, said he was "concerned about the arbitrary, petty, and vindictive nature of these legal actions that President-elect Trump is pursuing."
But on MAGA social media sites, Trump fans are cheering the lawsuit, and that's an important part of this story too – the MAGA base wants him to punish media outlets.
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The NYT's Brooks Barnes has new reporting about precisely why ABC's parent company Disney settled Trump's defamation suit. The company opened settlement talks immediately after ABC was told to hand over George Stephanopoulos's texts and emails to Trump's lawyers, he reports, citing three people with knowledge.
Disney lawyers had numerous concerns, including "that a jury in Florida — a deep-red state that Mr. Trump carried by 13 points in the election last month — would side with the president-elect and potentially award him a sizable sum exceeding what it would cost to settle." Also: "In the worst-case scenario, Disney concluded, fighting the case could lead to the Supreme Court and become a vehicle for Mr. Trump and his allies to overturn the landmark First Amendment decision in New York Times v. Sullivan." Read the rest here...
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Stephanopoulos "is 'apoplectic' and 'humiliated' by the network’s decision to pay $16 million" to settle Trump's defamation suit, according to a team of New York Post reporters. The quotes are anonymous, and Stephanopoulos and ABC obviously aren't commenting. The story also notes that the payout "is coming from the network's insurance," which is normal.
>> More: Within ABC News the settlement met "with quiet anger and frustration," Rolling Stone's Asawin Suebsaeng and Nikki McCann Ramirez report.
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>> "Refinery29 CEO Cory Haik has exited the company" and no replacement has been named. Refinery has also "quietly laid off staff," Sara Fischer and Kerry Flynn report. (Axios)
>> Substack is working with The Free Press to figure out an "enterprise offering" for growing publishers. (Substack)
>> Sabrina Tavernise is moving into a new reporting role at the NYT, which means "The Daily" is looking for a new co-host. (NYT)
>> Oliver Darcy identifies several reasons why "the situation at The Post is not likely to get better in the weeks and months ahead." (Status)
>> "Forbes is cutting ties with freelance writers, citing Google spam policies," Mia Sato reports. (The Verge)
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Drones: What/who do you believe? |
As a proud New Jersey resident who lives near a couple of the so-called drone "hot spots," my eyes have been fixated on the skies for several weeks. I have hesitated to write much about it because, well, I believe most of the curious sights are planes and stars. Not all! But most. This story is all about differing beliefs – what you believe is based in part on which sources you trust – and that's why I appreciated Tatum Hunter's story for The Washington Post about "online drone panic."
Online being the key word. So much of the action has been on Facebook, where local residents swap stories and try to solve the mystery together, and on X, where clout-chasers post out-of-context video clips to earn a quick buck. When authorities responded at first with "scant information," online creators and communities took over, Hunter writes, "rushing to fill in the blanks with theories tailored to followers across the political spectrum." Read the full story here. And notice that the drone storyline is starting to fade, or fly, away...
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>> This is a fascinating read about the future of video gaming: "Inside the risky strategy that will define Xbox's next decade..." (Windows Central)
>> OpenAI "says it has no plans to release an API for Sora, its AI model that can generate reasonably realistic videos." (TechCrunch)
>>"In what's being touted as the first partnership of its kind, CAA is collaborating with YouTube on a program promising to let actors, athletes and other talent fight back against AI-generated fakes," Todd Spangler reports. (Variety)
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Disney cuts trans storyline |
Liam Reilly reports: Disney has cut a transgender storyline from Pixar's upcoming animated series, "Win or Lose," just two months ahead of the show's Feb. 19 debut on Disney+. The decision, first reported by THR, comes as Bob Iger has repeatedly told the press that the company's priority is to entertain, not to infuse "messages" into programming.
>> In a statement, Disney told CNN that "when it comes to animated content for a younger audience, we recognize that many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline." Disney declined to comment on whether the decision could be interpreted as the company distancing itself from diversity initiatives ahead of a second Trump administration...
>> Trans actress Chanel Stewart found out about the change on Monday, and is "very disheartened..."
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This Daily Beast headline got my attention: "Hit Show in Jeopardy as Creator and Star Hit With Sexual Assault Claim." Which show? What star?
The answers are in Alex Jung's explosive Vulture story about Jon Ebeling accusing "English Teacher" creator and star Brian Jordan Alvarez of sexual assault. The story, titled "Friends Like These," is complex and deserves to be read in full. Alvarez denied Ebeling’s accusations and blasted Vulture's parent New York for "its reckless headlong pursuit of publishing a salacious, attention-grabbing article, no matter the truth."
>> As for "English Teacher," it has enjoyed "critical adoration" and a slew of award nominations, but FX has not renewed it for a second season...
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>> Going out on top: The "Yellowstone" season five finale scored series-high ratings with 11.4 million same-day viewers. (THR)
>> The Oscars shortlists are out, and "Emilia Pérez" "landed six mentions overall," while "Wicked" landed four. (Variety)
>> Just announced: Roku "will stream X Games Aspen next year and a summer X Games event as it adds strategic sports rights to its free Roku Channel." (THR)
>> "Disney led Nielsen's Media Distributor Gauge for its third consecutive month in November." YouTube was a close #2. (TheWrap)
>> FX has cancelled "The Old Man." (Deadline)
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