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Friday, September 5, 2025 |
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TGIF. Here's the latest on YouTube, Amy Coney Barrett, PBS, Gary Levin, Midjourney, Justin Bieber, Jimmy Kimmel, "Hamilton," the "manosphere," and more...
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The American job market is flashing another warning sign. "After years of resilience, the U.S. job market looks increasingly fragile, especially after the latest numbers that just came out," Matt Egan reported on CNN moments after the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the August jobs data.
But will President Trump and his loyalists believe the numbers? That's the awkward situation we're all now in. The BLS has historically been a reliable — not perfect, but reliable — source, but it is under tremendous pressure now that the president has targeted the fact-finding agency and forced out its leader.
The August jobs report was the first since Trump fired BLS commissioner Erika McEntarfer and baselessly blamed her for rigging the #s. In an appearance on CNBC this morning, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick predicted that the reports will "get better" now... and then this disappointing report landed.
"Trump learned the hard way Friday morning that firing the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn't change the facts: the economy is cooling, the unemployment rate is going up, and the number of job openings isn’t keeping pace," TPM's Layla A. Jones wrote just now.
But this is ultimately a story about acceptance versus denial, right? Before the jobs data came in, CNN's Kate Bolduan asked GOP Rep. Randy Fine, "Are you going to believe the numbers?" He began his evasive answer by saying that BLS employees are "fallible and they make mistakes." Then he charged that the "numbers are always wrong in one direction." Bolduan interjected: "There's no evidence of that." Evidence versus political allegiance is the dividing line...
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'Is the jobs data still reliable?' |
This NYT story by Ben Casselman perfectly gets to the heart of the matter. "Can this month’s numbers be trusted? The answer, according to economists and experts in government statistics, is yes — but with all the same caveats that always apply to the data." Here's his explanation.
And while we're at it: "Is it possible to fake the jobs data?" Over on CNN's live updates page about the jobs report, David Goldman details why the answer
is no.
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A telling Trump-Pichai exchange |
I could devote the rest of this newsletter to the spectacle of Trump's Thursday night dinner with tech execs. But let me highlight just one moment, between Trump and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, referencing the Tuesday ruling by a federal judge in the antitrust case against Google. Trump wrongly and repeatedly said it happened "yesterday" and asked if Pichai wanted to talk about his "good day."
Pichai said, "I'm glad it's over," and pivoted to some general Trump flattery, then Trump interjected, "Biden was the one who prosecuted that lawsuit, you know that, right?" In fact, the antitrust case was "brought by the DOJ while Trump was in office during his first term," as CNBC noted here. "Pichai did not correct him."
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MAGA media moving on from Trump? |
The Bulwark's Will Sommer says "the trend in right-wing media is clear: the most dynamic influencers are treating Trump like a lame duck and preparing for the post-MAGA future." He makes the case here.
And Christian Paz describes some of the same dynamics in this in-depth piece for Vox. "The 'manosphere' — an ecosystem of right-leaning podcasts and YouTube shows that helped elect [Trump] — appears to be losing some of its enthusiasm for him," Paz writes...
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Coming up this weekend... |
YouTube will exclusively stream the Chiefs-Chargers game tonight. The NYT says it will test the platform's "ability to handle live sports."
Justice Amy Coney Barrett's first TV interview about her new book will air on "CBS Sunday Morning."
NFL RedZone will return Sunday afternoon (with a very small number of ads).
Trump will attend the US Open men's final match on Sunday.
The MTV VMAs will be live from UBS Arena on Long Island, Sunday at 8 p.m.
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Sheinelle Jones returns to 'Today' |
Sheinelle Jones is returning to work at the "Today" show after her husband Uche Ojeh died in May from brain cancer. Jones taped an interview with Savannah Guthrie about her grief journey for Friday's broadcast. Here's the video. NBC says "she hopes that her return after such an emotionally wrenching loss can help others who may be going through a similar situation."
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PBS slashes 100 positions |
"PBS is cutting 100 positions, or roughly 15 percent of its staff, as a result of the major federal funding cuts to public broadcasting," the NYT's Ben Mullin reports. PBS has "already frozen hiring, restricted travel and paused pay increases," and the layoffs are a last resort, CEO Paula Kerger told staffers...
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"To truly unlock Paramount's full potential — we must make meaningful changes that position us for long-term success," David Ellison said in a memo yesterday, announcing a phased return-to-office plan that will bring all L.A. and NYC staffers back to the office full-time in January. A "severance opt-in program" will be offered to employees at the VP level and below "who cannot or do not wish to return full-time."
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🌎 Around the media world this week... |
In New York... USA Today TV editor Gary Levin is retiring today after a phenomenal 40-year career on the media beat. An alum of Variety and Ad Age, Levin spent 28 years at USA Today as a reporter and editor. Colleague Bryan Alexander called him "a vital voice, a fearless advocate, a top-notch editor – and a solid friend." Cheers, Gary!
In Venice... Festival-goers were captivated (and chilled) by Kathryn Bigelow's forthcoming Netflix thriller, "A House of Dynamite," written by Noah Oppenheim. The film "begins with the sighting of a ballistic missile soaring over the Pacific," projected to hit Chicago within 20 minutes...
In Milan... "The Italian media empire founded by Silvio Berlusconi has taken over the German entertainment group ProSiebenSat.1 in a deal it hopes will create a broadcaster capable of 'standing up to” US tech giants," the FT's Laura Pitel reports.
In Mountain View... The judge's ruling in the Google case "was the business equivalent of a ceasefire: Google keeps the pipes, Apple keeps the tollbooth, and the government gets to claim it outlawed exclusivity," Quartz's Shannon Carroll concludes.
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>> Jason Koebler says "AI generated 'boring history' videos are flooding YouTube and drowning out real history." (404 Media)
>> Charlie Warzel's latest chilling piece: "The mass shooters are performing for one another." (The Atlantic)
>> "Social media guessed I was pregnant – and my feed soon grew horrifying." Kathryn Wheeler says the "personalized doses of fear" are part of "pregnancy and motherhood in 2025." (The Guardian)
>> Georgia Wells describes how ex-Mormon, or "Exmo," influencers are mounting a "TikTok war" against the church. (WSJ)
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More of today's tech talk |
>> The FTC "plans to study the impact of artificial-intelligence chatbots on children’s mental health and request documents from OpenAI and other tech companies, a signal that regulators are growing concerned about the unintended consequences of the AI boom." (WSJ)
>> "The rate at which chatbots are spreading false information doubled in the last year," per a NewsGuard report. (Axios)
>> New this morning: TikTok says it now has "more than 200 million monthly users in Europe, or roughly one in three citizens on the continent," up from 175 million people last year. (Reuters)
>> Meta's introduction of teen accounts has been generally well-received, but researchers say they found a "loophole" of sorts, allowing young users "to view videos of fights and animal abuse." (WaPo)
>> "Blogging is back." Meta is adding a new feature to Threads "that lets you attach up to 10,000 characters of text" to posts on the platform. (The Verge)
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Another pro-Trump complaint to FCC |
"The Center for American Rights filed a complaint against ABC's Jimmy Kimmel with the FCC on Thursday, accusing the late-night host of 'unlawful politicking' through his show 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!'" Corbin Bolies reports at TheWrap. Frivolous? Maybe, but it lines up with Trump's attacks against Kimmel, and it might give the Trump-aligned FCC a pretext to torment ABC and parent company Disney...
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WBD is latest to sue Midjourney |
Warner Bros Discovery (CNN's parent) has joined Disney and NBCUniversal in filing a lawsuit against the AI photo generation company Midjourney. WBD says Midjourney "brazenly stole the studio's works to generate images of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Bugs Bunny, Scooby-Doo and other copyrighted characters," Jonathan Stempel reports for Reuters.
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>> Legendary has inked a three-year pact with Paramount to distribute its movies, with the Capcom video game adaptation 'Street Fighter' the first out of the gate." (THR)
>> Following the release of "Swag" in July, Justin Bieber dropped "Swag II" overnight. (Billboard)
>> Bruce Springsteen is putting out another box set this year: The fabled "Electric Nebraska" tapes, releasing a week before his biopic starring Jeremy Allen White. (Rolling Stone)
>> "The White Lotus creator Mike White and HBO have zeroed in on France as location for the upcoming fourth season." However, "no hotel has been locked in" for shooting yet. (Deadline)
>> The filmed version of the "Hamilton" musical arrives in theaters today. Note to my wife: Should we get tickets for tomorrow? (USA Today)
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