Good morning! Today's edition is a true team effort, with contributions from CNN's Clare Duffy, Elizabeth Wagmeister, Katelyn Polantz, Liam Reilly, Megan Thomas, Dan Heching and more. Let's get to it...
|
This is the day The Associated Press has been waiting for: the day its arguments against the Trump White House's ban will be heard at length by US District Court Judge Trevor McFadden.
The AP is seeking a preliminary injunction to restore access to Trump press conferences and other events.
"The White House has locked us out simply because we refer to the Gulf of Mexico by the name it has carried for more than 400 years, while acknowledging that Mr. Trump has chosen to call it the Gulf of America," AP executive editor Julie Pace says in a new op-ed for the Wall Street Journal. But ultimately it's about something much bigger: "Whether the government can control what you say."
Pace also points out that The AP "didn't ask for this fight." And she asks readers to "imagine this dispute outside the U.S. context. If you discovered that the AP caved to a different government trying to control its speech, would you ever again trust anything the AP reported from that country—or for that matter, from anywhere?"
|
The hearing will begin in DC at 9:30am ET. I'm told it will take several hours. The judge will be calling witnesses, including some from The AP. After all the parties are heard, the judge could rule immediately, or he could not; given how methodically he has approached this case, he may well take some time to deliberate first. |
Speaking of the courts... |
|
|
Fox's Jesse Watters engaged in some wishful thinking yesterday when he claimed that "no one outside of D.C. and in the news business really cares about this story." In fact, the Signal chat scandal is capturing America's attention, and for proof, look to Dave Portnoy's social media feeds. Portnoy weighed in and said Mike Waltz has to go, and his critique came up at the press briefing.
Trump said the press is "upplaying" the scandal (that's the opposite of "downplaying") but his apparent ignorance about what happened (he said Pete Hegseth had "nothing to do with it") may propel the story forward again today.
>> The Atlantic CEO Nick Thompson says "one lesson from this story" is "how honest, consistent, and careful with national security the best reporters are compared to the people who always attack them." (Bluesky)
>> "In Signalgate, Trumpworld is demonstrating exactly what's wrong with authoritarian populism: Refusal to admit error, walling out of constructive criticism, the cult-like defense of the leader at all costs," Greg Sargent writes. (New Republic)
>> The MAGA media ecosystem "has splintered into a series of competing theories to try to explain away the scandal." (Axios)
|
|
|
Here is some of what's on the calendar:
The Trump admin is hosting a gaggle of podcasters at the WH, Shelby Talcott reports.
Bret Baier is interviewing Elon Musk and some DOGE staffers on "Special Report."
In NYC, Spotter is holding a "first-of-its-kind Upfront for the likes of Dude Perfect and Kinigra Deon and their libraries," Natalie Jarvey reports.
Also in NYC, "a new documentary about the 2024 student protests at Columbia University, narrated by activist and recent graduate Mahmoud Khalil, has bumped up its release date by months in response to Khalil’s detainment and will have its U.S. premiere in Manhattan." Gothamist's Ryan Kailath has details.
Plus, it's MLB Opening Day!
|
|
|
VOA director sues Trump admin |
The lawsuits keep coming: The Voice of America's sidelined director Michael Abramowitz has sued the Trump admin, Kari Lake, and Victor Morales in the latest challenge to the shutdown of the network. "Litigation is the only way to stop the wholesale destruction of VOA," Abramowitz says. The NYT's Danielle Kaye has more here...
|
|
|
Carr pressures Disney over DEI |
First it was Comcast, now Disney: FCC chair Brendan Carr has sent “a letter to ABC’s parent company, Disney, to probe its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives,” per Punchbowl News reporter Diego Areas Munhoz.
Speaking of Carr, Oliver Darcy of Status reported last night that a bipartisan group of five former FCC officials are coming together and urging Carr to drop the agency's "60 Minutes" proceeding, lest the FCC turn into "a tool of White House-driven speech suppression." Carr reacted to the news by sending Darcy a GIF of "Dr. Evil" saying "How about no!"
|
|
|
Pew: Only 1 in 4 Americans want to defund NPR/PBS |
Nothing surprising happened at yesterday's DOGE hearing about NPR and PBS. The Republican lawmakers and the public media execs talked past each other most of the time. The Democratic lawmakers mocked the proceedings and defended the networks. CNN's Liam Reilly has a recap here.
>> On Truth Social overnight, Trump said the networks "should be DEFUNDED by Congress, IMMEDIATELY." However, the funding bill passed by Congress and signed by Trump earlier this month included funding for public media. Will Congress rescind it now?
>> This new Pew polling that finds defunding NPR and PBS is a political loser: Only 24% of adults say the government should stop the funding, while 43% say it should continue and 33% are not sure...
|
|
|
>> Take a bow, Rita Braver! She will "retire from CBS News Sunday Morning at the end of this month, capping a career at the network that has spanned more than 50 years." An extraordinary career, indeed. (Deadline)
>> The fate of America’s democracy "depends in good measure on the fight to preserve media freedom," Joel Simon writes in this powerful new piece. (VF)
>> 🔌 : I'm on the Apple News Today podcast this morning talking about Trump 2.0's treatment of the news media. (Apple)
>> Axel Springer has parted ways with board member Martín Varsavsky after he posted tweets "accusing Politico of leftwing bias." (FT)
>> John Green's "Everything is Tuberculosis" has debuted at #1 on the NYT best sellers list, with Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson's "Abundance" at #2 and Benjamin Hall's "Resolute" at #4. (NYT)
|
|
|
Utah gov signs 'App Store Accountability Act' |
Clare Duffy writes: Yesterday Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed a first-of-its-kind state law that will require app store operators to verify users' ages, share age data with app developers and get parental consent before letting minors download apps.
Implementing and enforcing the law could be complicated – and create privacy tradeoffs, even for adults and people who have no interest in using apps where age verification is at issue. Apple and Google previously pushed back on the legislation and said developers should share the burden of age verification with app stores. But the law does mark a big win for at least one tech leader: Mark Zuckerberg. Read more on that here...
|
|
|
>> X "is on pace for its first year of ad revenue growth" since Musk acquired the company in 2022. Kurt Wagner says the gains are "in part because advertisers are reacting to Musk's power" in the Trump admin. (Bloomberg)
>> AOL is using AI to write captions for photos, and it went terribly wrong when the system "gave cutesy captions to photos of a man who allegedly tried to throw his wife off of a cliff in Hawaii," Jason Koebler reports. (404 Media)
>> "China has developed an AI system that supercharges its already formidable censorship machine," Charles Rollet writes. (TechCrunch)
>> "OpenAI expects to more than triple its revenue this year to $12.7 billion," Bailey Lipschultz and Shirin Ghaffary report. (Bloomberg)
|
|
|
Paramount to premiere 'The Children of October 7' |
Elizabeth Wagmeister writes: Paramount has acquired a documentary that centers around Israeli children who witnessed the horrors of October 7. "The Children of October 7" will begin streaming April 23 on Paramount+ followed by a linear run on MTV. The doc comes from TikTok star and social media activist Montana Tucker, a granddaughter of Holocaust survivors who traveled to Israel to obtain firsthand accounts from Israeli children. I spoke with her about the project last December. Tucker said she has lost brand deals and hundreds of thousands of social media followers because of her support for Israel.
|
|
|
Four sports media headlines |
>> With the Sweet 16 starting today, check out this wild stat from Michael Mulvihill: "According to Nielsen data, approximately 3,000 people watched at least one minute of all 48 March Madness first and second round games." (X)
>> "CBS Sports' announcing lineup is undergoing some massive shifts." (USA Today)
>> LeBron James' "Mind the Game" podcast is back after a nine-month hiatus, with new co-host Steve Nash and new distributor Wondery. (NYT)
>> "The Sports Illustrated brand is teaming up with UK-based media firm Galactic to launch a predictions market allowing users to bet on anything linked to athletic events — except the outcome of games." (Bloomberg)
|
|
|
Time to stream 'The Studio' |
"The Studio" premiered yesterday on Apple TV+ and it's an absolute critical darling, with a 97% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes. The AP's Jake Coyle calls it "the defining portrait of modern Hollywood."
As CNN's Megan Thomas explains here, "the series is a satire about the disrupted state of the film industry, insecure executives, artist egos and corporate greed, with a whole lot of A-list talent in on the jokes. It's Corporate Erin for those who hear the words 'award season' and think 'gridlock' not 'glamour.'" Check out her guide to the first episode's "comically passive-aggressive Hollywood speak..."
|
|
|
"After Midnight" host Taylor Tomlinson "is the latest host to exit the wee-hours space as more comedians see better career opportunities in the worlds of stand-up, podcasts and other creator-based media," Variety's Brian Steinberg reports.
Notably, CBS is not going to replace her. The network is giving up on original programming in the late late timeslot. Execs are "loath to take big swings and run up more costs" as Paramount pursues its deal with Skydance Media, Steinberg adds, citing a source.
>> Bill Carter has a novel idea about what CBS could do with the time slot now: Re-air "The Daily Show."
|
|
|
Dan Heching writes: Perhaps attempting to prove that reports of its box office demise have been greatly exaggerated, Marvel on Wednesday announced major casting news for its upcoming "Avengers" sequel that both flex the power of its history and set it up for the future.
A major component to their plan: The return of characters and actors from the original "X-Men" franchise, a Marvel property that was under the 20th Century Fox banner before Disney purchased that studio in 2019. The “Avengers: Doomsday” cast now includes Sir Patrick Stewart, Sir Ian McKellen, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn and Alan Cumming, reprising their "X" roles. The cast reveal included 27 (!!) names in all, including the previously announced return of Robert Downey Jr. in the role of Doctor Doom. Read on...
|
|
|
|
® © 2025 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved.
1050 Techwood Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30318 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
