For years, Donald Trump has regarded the media as his enemy. Not just their enemy, but “the enemy of the people. “
He repeats it over and over again, to the point that he has a kind of slogan for it. And to such an extent that we have almost become desensitized to it.
Which is very worrying.
Sometimes we want to see how damaging and undemocratic (note the lowercase d in democratic) it is to see someone who has been president and needs to return constantly attack a particular race discussed in the U. S. Constitution.
Although Trump is known for his lopsided rants, whether in his speeches or in his Truth Social, that doesn’t mean his threats can be considered simply unbalanced rants. His words should be taken seriously.
This brings us to what he posted on Truth Social on Tuesday night. Trump wrote:
MSNBC (MSDNC) uses FREE government-approved airwaves and yet it is still not a 24-hour task for Donald J. Trump and the Republican Party with the goal of ELECTION INTERFERENCE. Brian Roberts, its chairman and CEO, is a slug who has managed to evade those constant attacks for years. This is the world’s greatest political contrition towards the radical left-wing democrats who, in the process, are destroying our country. Our so-called “government” harshly attacks them and makes them pay for their illegal political activities. Much more to come, look!
Will it be them? Make them pay? There’s a lot to come, look?
You don’t have to be a First Amendment expert to realize that Trump is threatening a cable news network just because they criticize him, simply because he doesn’t like them.
Isn’t that the kind of thing they do in countries ruled by dictators?
This is the first time Trump has lashed out at MSNBC.
Now, to be clear, MSNBC does not use public airways, as Trump wrote. It’s a stressed network. But Brian Roberts, who is being talked about through Trump, is the chairman and CEO of Comcast, which owns NBC, and NBC uses public airways.
In September, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Almost everyone is a cheater and corrupt, yet Comcast, with its one-sided and vicious policy through NBC NEWS, and especially MSNBC, is, and rightly so, known as MSDNC (Democratic National Committee). ), deserve to be investigated for “threatening to betray the country”.
Trump added: “Why is NBC, or any other corrupt and deceitful media company, allowed to use America’s invaluable airwaves for FREE?They constitute a real risk to democracy and are, in fact, THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!The fake news media pays a heavy price for what they have done to our wonderful country!
Deadline’s Ted Johnson reports that “Ajit Pai, whom Trump nominated for FCC chairmanship, said. . . that the FCC “has the authority by law to revoke a broadcast station’s license based on the content of a specific newscast. “
That shouldn’t stop us from paying close attention to what Trump says about the media.
CNN commentator David Axelrod tweeted: “I think we owe it to Trump to take his words seriously. He would use the government’s force to punish media outlets that report critically on him. Where are those who reflexively speak of constancy in the Constitution and have not yet read it?
X owner Elon Musk has a message for advertisers who have boycotted (or threatened to boycott) his company because of the anti-Semitic messages he amplified there: “Bee yourself. “Except, of course, that he didn’t say “beep. “
Speaking at the New York Times DealBook Summit 2023 in New York City on Wednesday, Musk told interviewer Andrew Ross Sorkin that he doesn’t need these types of corporations to advertise. When asked by Sorkin to clarify, Musk responded, “If you’re trying to blackmail me with advertising, ‘Blackmail me with money?’Say (expletive) yourself.
Sorkin looked at Musk as laughter erupted from the audience. Musk then said it slowly. ” To go. (expletive). Is that clear? I hope so. “
He then said, “Hey, Bob, if you’re in the audience,” an obvious reference to Disney CEO Bob Iger.
It was a surprising moment, even for the unpredictable Musk.
When Sorkin told the truth that X needed advertisers, Musk said, “This ad boycott is going to kill the company. And everyone will know that those advertisers killed the company. And we’ll document it in wonderful detail. “
When Sorkin warned that advertisers would say they didn’t kill the company, but that Musk did with his anti-Semitic messages, Musk responded, “Oh yes?Tell it to the Earth. “
Podcaster and journalist Kara Swisher, who knows the tech industry as well as any journalist, used her own R-rated word to describe what happened at the level on Wednesday, tweeting, “Someone just (blew), that’s for sure. “He didn’t say “beep. ” Swisher later tweeted, “An adult baby says bad words and thinks it’s cool when it’s just pathetic. “
Musk also addressed what the White House recently expressed as “anti-Semitic and racist hate” when he said he agreed with a social media post that accused “Jewish communities” of pushing “anti-white hate. “
Musk told Sorkin that tweeting was “one of the dumbest and most productive, if not the stupidest, things I’ve ever done on the platform. “He added: “I’m sorry for that tweet or message. . . I’ve done it. “The best I can do is clear it up, in six tactics until Sunday, but at least you know, I think in time it will become apparent that in fact, far from being anti-Semitic, I’m a philo-Semite.
By the way, one more thought: Sorkin’s interview was exceptional, especially when he remained silent and let Musk continue talking.
For this article, I’ll leave it to my Poynter colleague, Angela Fu.
The iconic feminist Jezebel, which will close on Nov. 9, could start publishing again this week, after Paste Magazine acquired her on Tuesday in an all-cash deal.
The deal, first reported via the New York Times, also included political news Splinter, which will close in 2019. Paste’s editor-in-chief, Josh Jackson, declined to say how much the magazine paid G/O Media for the two. He said he expects to publish new articles about Jezebel this week and that the company plans to relaunch Splinter next year, in time for the 2024 election cycle.
G/O Media, which also owns Gizmodo, AV Club, Deadspin, Quartz, The Root and other brands, announced on Nov. 9 that it was shutting down Jezebel because the site didn’t have enough advertising support. High interest rates and “global crises” have cooled the advertising market, CEO Jim Spanfeller told staff in a memo announcing the closure, and the company has been unable to find a client for the publication. G/O Media has laid off to 23 members of staff from its brands, adding that the entire Jezebel team.
404 Media later reported that G/O Media told Jezebel that advertisers didn’t need their content to appear alongside Jezebel’s stories, which touch on topics such as sex and abortion. Reportedly, the ad sales team also asked if they could remove “Sex. “Celebrity. Politics. With teeth” motto of the site.
Jackson told The New York Times that he sought to recapture the “toothless” side of Jezebel’s politics when he relaunched the campaign and that he thought there were advertisers who “had the courage to go where the audience is. “
Paste, which Jackson co-founded in 1998 and now operates as a digital-only media outlet, is sustained entirely by advertising. When asked if Jezebel would use a similar business model, Jackson told Poynter, “The site will continue to receive advertising. It is a popular site with a huge audience of users and we are confident that we can succeed with this model.
After Jezebel closed, journalists, former workers and readers wrote commemorative articles for the site, which launched in 2007 and helped usher in a wave of women-focused virtual media over the years. Many of those websites, including xoJane, The Hairpin, Rookie and The Frisky, have since closed.
Jackson has already rehired a former Jezebel worker and plans to bring back as many former workers as Paste can afford, Adweek reported.
(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
Google and the Canadian government have reached an agreement that will allow Canadians to continue searching for data on Google.
Last June, Canada passed the Online News Act, which will force tech giants to pay publishers for links to their online content. The new law will go into effect next month. Google threatened to block news content on its platforms, but the crisis was averted thanks to Wednesday’s settlement. Google will pay $100 million (Canadian) to the country’s data industry.
Meanwhile, due to the new law, Meta has been blocking data in Canada since June, meaning Canadians can’t see news content from sites like Facebook and Instagram.
On Wednesday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said: “Google has kindly accessed journalists, adding local journalism. Regrettably, Meta continues to abdicate absolutely any accountability to democratic institutions. “
Meta argued that the Canadian law “is based on the false premise that Meta unfairly profits from news content shared on our platforms, when the opposite is true. “
Robert Gillies of the Associated Press has more information.
Rumors have been circulating for some time that Disney may be willing to sell some or all of its linear TV assets, ABC added. That’s because CEO Bob Iger hinted at it when he said last summer that networks like ABC, FX and Freeform “may not be pivotal” to Disney’s business.
But at a city press conference this week, according to J. Clara Chan of the Los Angeles Times, Iger downplayed the rumors, saying, “Maybe it’s my fault, I don’t know, but I give other people a chance to gain advantage. “of my own public thinking, which means I put things up on flagpoles to see how they’re going to fly. It’s just that rarely when I speak or think out loud, I get a quick reaction. In most cases, when I do, I check to get a reaction from the investment community, just to see.
He added: “When I said that, I meant it, but I didn’t necessarily think that everyone would say that everything was sold, which is not the case. »
In fact, at the town hall, he was positive about the TV business, saying, “The fact that I can watch a show on ABC in prime time or watch it on Hulu the next morning, or four, five or six hours later and perhaps serve a completely different audience, which has real strategic value for the company. And there are many of them. Therefore, no resolution has been made. In reality, this does not imply anything negative in any way . or worrying.
In September, media entrepreneur Byron Allen reportedly pitched Disney $10 billion for ABC, eight local TV stations, FX and the National Geographic Channel. Then, last month, Allen reiterated his preference for buying ABC, telling Variety’s Jaden Thompson, “I think ABC is a genuine possibility. They say they’re not ready. When they’re ready, I’ll chase him like a lion chases a gazelle.
In fact, Mark Cuban was in the news on Tuesday.
First came word that next season will be his final one on “Shark Tank,” a show he has been doing for nearly 15 years. Then came even bigger news as it was learned that Cuban would sell a significant portion of his NBA team, the Dallas Mavericks. He bought the team in 2000 for $285 million and, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, Cuban is selling majority ownership for a valuation in the range of $3.5 billion. Yet, he will continue to be the controlling owner.
But what’s the problem: Quitting “Shark Tank” and selling the Mavs?This has led to the hypothesis that he would possibly run for the presidency (i. e. , for the presidency).
But Dan Mangan of Cuba’s CNBC in an email: “There are no plans to run. »
In an email to The Hollywood Reporter explaining why he’s leaving “Shark Tank,” Cuban wrote: “I just need to spend a few summers with my teenage kids before they go off on their own. Nothing to do with the show. I love it. ” I love being there. I love what it means and how it motivates marketers around the world.
Kristen Welker of NBC News, moderator of a presidential debate in 2020 (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
Kristen Welker, moderator of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” won the National Press Club’s Fourth Estate Award this week.
In his speech at the rite in Washington, D. C. , Welker said, “We are about to return to the calendar, to another important election year, an election year that will perhaps be explained like no other through our political and cultural divides. As we reflect on our role and duty as bloodhounds in the coming year. . . We are equipped, perhaps better than anyone, to give our audience what they want to make decisions this year. But telling other people how or what to think isn’t part of that role.
Welker added, “The perspectives of our elected officials and those running for public office are important. These perspectives are essential to help the electorate make their decisions and hold them accountable; It is the very center of our democracy. At this critical moment At this time, we cannot bury our heads in the sand. We will have to have the courage to look in a mirror as a society and to ask ourselves at all times the hard questions about who we are and how we were given. until this moment. And above all, we want to accept as true with our audience that they will have the equipment and the ability to make decisions if we do our homework well. If we don’t accept it as true with our audience, how can we help them repair their acceptance as true in us? »
Do you have any comments or advice? Email Poynter’s senior media editor, Tom Jones, at tjones@poynter. org.
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