Good morning. Here's the latest on Brendan Carr, Hope Hicks, TikTok, Glenn Kessler, Stephen Colbert, the BBC's new AI role, and more. But first... |
New York City mayor Eric Adams says the man who committed the city's deadliest mass shooting in 25 years "seemed to have blamed the NFL" for an alleged brain injury.
The attacker, who played football in high school and had no known affiliation with the pro football league, stated in a three-page suicide note "that he had CTE," a disease that can only be formally diagnosed with an autopsy, Adams said in TV interviews this morning, confirming what CNN reported overnight.
"He went on the wrong elevator bank," Adams added on PIX11, and wound up at Rudin Management, the owner of the skyscraper, rather than the NFL's offices on the lower floors. CNN's John Miller pointed out on air that the shooter — who had a "documented mental health history" — may have thought that any or every floor in the building belonged to the NFL.
With five weeks until the regular season begins, the league now finds itself in a dreadful position: Headquartered at a crime scene, supporting an employee who was seriously wounded in the attack, and facing a renewed PR nightmare about head trauma problems in football. ESPN just changed its homepage lead to read, "NYC shooter was targeting NFL HQ, mayor says."
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According to The Athletic, the NFL employee was "struck in the back by a bullet during the shooting. The man, who recently welcomed a new baby, was on the phone with other NFL employees at the time, warning them to stay safe and evacuate the building. He continued to make calls even while he was taken to the hospital by ambulance."
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'What connects us is our airwaves' |
"In Alaska's North Slope region — the northernmost county in the US, roughly the same size as the United Kingdom — one small public radio station, KBRW, keeps eight Iñupiat villages connected and serves about 10,000 people. Now, it may not survive," CNN's Nayeli Jaramillo-Plata reports.
That's because KBRW gets about 40% of its funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which was just defunded by Republicans in DC. "It's really up in the air as to how long we can survive," station manager Jeff Seifert told CNN. "But it’s just not sustainable. It’s just going to run out of gas eventually." Read the full story here...
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"The most television-conscious president in American history is colliding with television images that don’t sit well with him," this morning's Playbook says.
Trump reacted to TV coverage of "real starvation" in Gaza yesterday, saying, "I see it, and you can't fake that."
>> David A. Graham's assessment for The Atlantic: "Trump has arrived at the right conclusion in a terrible way. As president, Trump has access to the most powerful information-gathering network in the world, yet he takes his cues from what he watches on television. This helps him see the news from the same perspective as the general public, which has enabled his political success. But it also narrows his understanding, and it makes him highly susceptible to manipulation."
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New scrutiny of FCC chair's conduct |
FCC chair Brendan Carr's conduct is under scrutiny — including from the Freedom of the Press Foundation, which is charging Carr with "politicized and unlawful abuse of the FCC's powers" and asking a disciplinary body to consider disbarring him. Oliver Darcy has the group's letter here.
Also noteworthy: This critical column by National Review's Noah Rothman. "If nothing else, Carr seems set on raising the costs that media companies invite by broadcasting content that cuts against the president's political interests," Rothman writes. "That is an ugly thing to write of any American regulatory agency chair, much less a conservative Republican who is — or, at least, should be — properly wary of state power."
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Last night on late-night... |
Stephen Colbert mocked the aforementioned FCC chair last night. "I'm thrilled for everyone at Paramount that the deal went through," Colbert claimed, setting up jokes about Paramount-Skydance's future stock ticker, PSKY.
"Soon," he said, "PSKY will blast hot streaming content right in your face with hits like 'Yellowstone,' 'Yellowjackets' and the full variety of water sports." He went on...
>> Colbert also noted Trump's weekend criticism of NBC and ABC, observing that he "doesn't seem satisfied with humiliating just CBS."
>> On "The Daily Show," Jon Stewart highlighted the recent video clip that "appeared to show one of Trump's caddies cheating on his behalf." Stewart's reaction: "When the going gets tough, the tough pay someone to cheat for you. But this moment on the course, seemingly random, could not be more representative of Trump's entire existence." Here's the rest...
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Following the late-night money |
CNBC's Alex Sherman looked into the finances for other network late-night shows, and found that linear TV ad revenue is not enough to sustain the famous franchises. For instance, ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" "loses money based on cost relative to traditional TV advertising," but "the show is profitable" when other forms of revenue are factored in. Maybe the math is whatever you want the math to be: After all, as Sherman noted, Kimmel "helps ABC boost affiliate revenue when it strikes carriage deals with pay-TV distributors."
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Spotify swings to a surprise loss |
Spotify "posted second-quarter subscriber gains to end June with 276 million paying premium subscribers," ahead of the company's forecast, THR's Georg Szalai writes. Spotify "posted a quarterly loss rather than a predicted profit," driving its stock down about 5 percent in pre-market trading.
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WaPo 'Fact Checker' column in limbo |
"After more than 27 years at The Washington Post, including almost 15 as The Fact Checker, I will be leaving on July 31, having taken a buyout," Glenn Kessler announced on LinkedIn yesterday. Kessler said he offered to arrange "a short-term contract that would have given the editors time to find a worthy successor and allow me to train him or her. I didn't want The Post to have a gap in fact-checking coverage during this fraught period in U.S. history. But we couldn't work out an agreement." He remains hopeful that The Post "finds someone to carry on this important project..."
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Trump's aggressive bid to depose Murdoch |
Marshall Cohen writes: Trump's lawyers are asking a judge to let them depose Rupert Murdoch within the next 15 days in their lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal, according to new court filings. They're arguing that Murdoch, 94, is "believed to have suffered recent significant health scares" and needs to answer questions ASAP.
>> This is an aggressive move; the judge hasn't even considered whether the case is strong enough to proceed to trial yet, so this deposition request is unlikely to be granted.
>> Murdoch's reps have not commented on the "health scares" claim.
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Megyn Kelly hires Hope Hicks |
"There's a lot happening, and I needed help," Megyn Kelly said on her show yesterday. "Now I've got the best of the best." Kelly was announcing that longtime Trump confidant and counselor Hope Hicks is joining Kelly's media company, Devil May Care Media, as COO. "She's going to help us grow this thing," Kelly said...
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>> Meta exec Anjali Kapoor is joining BBC News in a newly-created director role for AI, Innovation and Growth. (Deadline)
>> A fascinating piece compiled by Casey Newton: "Trust and safety workers on why they're not speaking out." (Platformer)
>> As print publications shrink and shutter, "event listings have all but disappeared," Gabriel Kahane observes, adding that algorithms are no replacement for robust cultural journalism. "We have no idea what we're missing." (The Atlantic)
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Warner Bros. and Discovery |
"Warner Bros. Discovery, meet Warner Bros. and Discovery," THR's Alex Weprin writes. "The media company has officially announced the names and senior leadership teams for after it splits itself in two, with David Zaslav's streaming and studios business to be called Warner Bros., and Gunnar Weidenfels' global networks business to be called Discovery Global."
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TikTok + iHeartRadio's live show |
"A new singing competition show is coming to TikTok Live," Rolling Stone's Tomás Mier scoops. "TikTok will partner up with iHeartRadio to launch 'Next Up: Live Music,' a competition show solely on TikTok Live through September." A live finale will take place at the iHeartRadio Theater.
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>> "'The Gilded Age' has been renewed for Season 4 at HBO." (Variety)
>> "A proposed House Republican bill aims to strip former president John F. Kennedy's name from the Kennedy Center, turning it into the 'Trump Center for the Performing Arts.'" (TheWrap)
>> Maria Shriver reacted to that proposal by saying "it makes my blood boil. It's so ridiculous, so petty, so small minded. Truly, what is this about? It’s always about something. 'Let's get rid of the Rose Garden. Let's rename the Kennedy Center.’ What's next?" (Deadline)
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