Hey, lots to get to. Pete Hegseth is misleading the public about the press corps. Voice of America is expecting another new boss. Meta is giving up on its namesake metaverse. And Disney has a "need for speed." But first...
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States move to block Trump-backed megadeal |
Eight state attorneys general have filed an antitrust lawsuit to block Nexstar's pending acquisition of Tegna, arguing the TV marketplace consolidation would hurt consumers.
The lawsuit is the latest instance of Democratic state attorneys general acting as a counterweight to President Trump, who has publicly endorsed the Nexstar-Tegna deal after previously sounding skeptical of it.
Some of the state AGs are holding a press conference later this morning. And I'm told that other states may join the coalition in the near future. (Here's my full story for CNN.com.)
"This merger is illegal, plain and simple, running contrary to federal antitrust laws that protect consumers," California AG Rob Bonta, said in a statement late last night. "When broadcast media is owned by a handful of companies, we get fewer voices, less competition, and communities lose the critical check on power that local journalism delivers."
The station owners had no immediate comment on the lawsuit. But the state action will likely slow Nexstar's months-long effort to acquire Tegna...
>> Bonta has also vowed to "vigorously" review Paramount's pending deal to take over Warner Bros. Discovery, including CNN.
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Media reform group praises the suit |
"If the Federal Communications Commission won't do its job, antitrust enforcers can still do theirs," Free Press general counsel Matt Wood said this morning.
"FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has ignored the law and the facts of this merger, promising to get it done for President Trump while pressuring newsrooms to warp their coverage of the administration. Nexstar has been all too willing to comply with Carr's bullying if it means getting this deal done and cementing its domination over the local airwaves." (That's probably a reference to Nexstar yanking Jimmy Kimmel's show from its ABC-affiliated stations last September.)
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Carr leans into Trump fandom |
The aforementioned Brendan Carr is the subject of an outstanding new profile by Bloomberg's Kelcee Griffis. (Carr claims his efforts are all about a "desire to restore balance to the airwaves.") He also went on NY Post columnist Miranda Levine's podcast after returning from Mar-a-Lago the other day. Among other Trumpy topics, Carr promoted his push to have stations air more "patriotic programming."
Overnight, I noticed a clip of Carr calling Trump "the alpha in every single room, in every single place, all across the world" seemed to be going viral. Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu responded, "Dear Brendan Carr: Tell me you’re in a cult without telling me you're in a cult."
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DOJ sorta comments on Paramount-WBD deal review |
"The idea that somehow enforcement has been politicized is ludicrous," acting assistant attorney general Omeed Assefi told Reuters reporter Jody Godoy in an exclusive interview. Godoy said Assefi "declined to comment on ongoing probes," but said Paramount "will 'absolutely not' have a fast track to approval because of political factors."
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'TDS' becomes Pentagon talking point |
As attacks on Middle East gas facilities escalate and military analysts depict Iran as a quagmire for the US, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insists the skeptical coverage and commentary all stem from "TDS," aka Trump Derangement Syndrome.
From his scripted remarks at this morning's Pentagon presser: "A dishonest and anti-Trump press will stop at nothing — we know this, at this point — to downplay progress, amplify every cost, and call into question every step. Sadly, TDS is in their DNA. They want President Trump to fail. But you, the American people, know better."
Hegseth stared into the TV "pool" camera and addressed American viewers directly (which immediately gave me flashbacks to his Fox hosting days).
>> This CNN.com headline feels like the main takeaway from the presser: "Hegseth says US is 'on plan' with war's objectives, but still no definitive timeline for its end."
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Fact-checking Hegseth's 'fall' |
Hegseth falsely claimed that the American news media have fallen for AI-generated propaganda pushed by the Iranian regime. He echoed Trump's lie about this from the other day, stating that Iran wants "to put out fake AI-generated images, which, by the way, sometimes our press happens to fall for, like the Abraham Lincoln on fire."
As CNN's Daniel Dale wrote the other day, "there is no evidence that mainstream US media outlets promoted fake videos of the Lincoln on fire." In fact, several US outlets debunked the videos. Hegseth, like Trump, is claiming the problem-solvers are the problem...
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'Iran maintains near-total internet blackout' |
That's the headline on the story by the NYT's Parin Behrooz. (Here's a gift link.) NetBlocks says the 20-day blackout "is now the longest recorded shutdown in Iran's history, surpassing the blackout imposed during protests in January."
>> Behrooz also notes that "journalists inside Iran face heightened risks when trying to connect with people outside Iran or to document the toll of the war. Iran's Ministry of Culture has restricted press credentials, leaving many reporters to work without authorization or not at all."
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Freedom House describes 'growing shadow of autocracy' |
Yesterday I shared V-Dem's bleak findings about democratic backsliding in the US. Today, Freedom House is out with its annual democracy scorecard and, well... what's a good synonym for bleak?
"Global freedom declined for the 20th consecutive year in 2025," the organization says.
"Among countries rated Free, the United States, Bulgaria, and Italy have experienced the year’s largest declines," this year's report states. Among the factors weakening democracy in the US: "Growing pressure on people's ability to engage in free expression." 🔌: I'll be discussing that pressure on WAMU/NPR's "1A" later today.
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Rodríguez set to be released today |
Liam Reilly writes: Estefany Rodríguez, the Colombian reporter who works in Nashville and was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this month, is expected to be released on bond this afternoon, sources tell CNN.
>> "We remain concerned by the fact that Rodríguez was detained in the first place," Katherine Jacobsen of the Committee to Protect Journalists said. "She is one of a growing number of journalists whose ability to report has been stymied or stopped by the actions of Department of Homeland Security and its affiliates."
>> ICE previously said Rodriguez "currently has no lawful immigration status," but there was a dispute over the warrant shared by DHS...
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Conservative media vet tapped to help run VOA |
The US Agency for Global Media still hasn't publicly responded to Tuesday's rulings undoing Kari Lake's overhaul of the agency. Voice of America staffers are still wondering if they're going to get back to work next week. But there has been one new development: Christopher Wallace, formerly of Newsmax and Fox News, has been named the new deputy director of VOA.
The appointment — which came in an unsigned memo — gave VOA journalists even more reason to worry that the Trump administration is trying to "erode" the news outlet's independence, as the NYT's Minho Kim wrote here...
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BBC close to naming new boss |
The BBC board convened today for a regular meeting with a not-so-regular agenda item: The appointment of a new director general. Former Google executive Matt Brittin "is expected to be named" to the post within days, The Guardian's Michael Savage reports, though an announcement is not expected until next week at the earliest.
>> Another key story by Savage: The UK's culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, says she wants to grant the BBC's "demand for a permanent charter" to "protect it from repeated 'culture war' attacks."
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Behind the Chavez bombshell |
Get this: The NYT's bombshell story about Cesar Chavez was nearly five years in the making.
Manny Fernandez, the NYT's California editor at large, shared this background with readers: "Back in 2021, The Times received a tip about Cesar Chavez's past. My colleague, Sarah Hurtes, and I have investigated aspects of this story for nearly five years now. After gaining the trust of several women who told us their stories, we discovered disturbing allegations that Chavez sexually abused and assaulted teenage girls and adult women."
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>> "Six weeks after Nancy Guthrie vanished, the spotlight on Tucson dims as the cloud of uncertainty lingers," CNN's Celina Tebor writes in this new piece from Tucson, with some contributions from yours truly. I noted that Savannah Guthrie is back home in NYC these days. A friend of Savannah's says the Guthrie family maintains close communication with law enforcement. (CNN)
>> The NYT and Serial Productions "are launching a new true crime podcast" called "The Idiot," hosted and reported by M. Gessen. (THR)
>> Andy Lack, who chairs "a network of local nonprofit newsrooms in Louisiana and Mississippi," is committing another $7 million to the cause, "one of the largest contributions to nonprofit local journalism made by a single individual in recent memory." (Axios)
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Yesterday's Disney shareholder meeting, "typically a pro forma affair," was a stage for new CEO Josh D'Amaro, as Variety's Todd Spangler wrote afterward. "D’Amaro indicated that he remains committed to the same principles that [Bob] Iger adhered to as chief exec — including wielding Disney+ as the Mouse House's main gateway to connect with fans worldwide."
The key quote: "Disney+ will continue to evolve beyond a traditional streaming service to become the digital centerpiece of our company: a portal that connects our stories, experiences, games, films and more in entirely new ways."
>> D'Amaro also threw some shade at Paramount, WBD, etc: "While others in our industry are consolidating just to compete, or struggling to be relevant in a fragmented and disrupted world, Disney is in a category of one..."
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Disney's 'need for speed' |
That's what Ben Fritz's story in today's WSJ is about. He says D'Amaro "wants to accelerate Disney’s flywheel — the process by which franchises move between film, television, digital, consumer products and real-world experiences." Tech "is central to the new CEO's vision..."
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Meta gives up on its namesake metaverse |
This week's announcement about Meta shutting down its social VR platform Horizon Worlds "is the clearest signal yet that the metaverse pivot has been quietly unwound," Jackie Snow writes for Quartz.
Cue all the jaundiced commentary about tens of billions of dollars wasted. But seriously, it was: The Reality Labs division "has accumulated nearly $80 billion in losses since 2020."
"The costs were always the argument for staying the course," Snow writes... But AI "changed the calculus..."
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Meta offers 'Creator Fast Track' |
Meta is launching a "new program aimed at luring top creators from TikTok and YouTube to Facebook, offering guaranteed pay and boosted reach," CNBC's Zach Vallese reports. The company is calling it "Creator Fast Track."
>> Some experts are skeptical. "I mean, how many times do we have to go through this?" Simon Owens asked in his newsletter last night. "Remember when Facebook paid out huge advances to Twitch streamers to lure them onto its livestreaming platform, only for those streamers to then quickly move back to Twitch the moment the checks stopped coming?"
>> Speaking of Meta and creators, the company has shared new guidance for what counts as "original" content, which it's prioritizing in Feed and Reels recommendations...
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More of today's tech talk |
>> Google says it is "developing new search controls to let websites specifically opt out of its generative AI features." (Reuters)
>> Elon Musk and the SEC "are working on a settlement over Musk's failure to disclose purchases of Twitter stock prior to making his April 2022 takeover offer,” Dan Primack reports. (Axios)
>> AI tools "that can be used to create nonconsensual sexual images may be banned in the European Union," following the outcry over Grok. (Bloomberg)
>> Trump's White House "registered the domain aliens.gov on Wednesday," Matthew Gault reports. (404 Media)
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Val Kilmer resurrected by AI |
"As Deep as the Grave" writer and director Coerte Voorhees has resurrected the late Val Kilmer using AI to star in the movie, a role he was cast for, but was ultimately too sick to fill, Variety's Brent Lang and Jazz Tangcay report.
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