This reporting appears as one of several scoops featured in this week’s edition of Confider, the media newsletter that pulls back the curtain to reveal what’s really going on inside the world’s most powerful navel-gazing industry. Subscribe here and send your questions, tips, and complaints here.
The increasingly brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine has continued to dominate the media landscape, with networks shifting nearly all of their focus to the crisis and its international ramifications.
The biggest media news over the weekend was the rush among U.S. outlets to remove their reporters from Russia as the Putin regime began criminalizing the mere act of reporting on his war. Elsewhere, an explosive feud (which The Daily Beast first reported last year) between New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman and her former colleague Taylor Lorenz, now with The Washington Post, spilled out into the public view, kickstarting a tedious, industry-wide debate over “influencer journalism.”
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But we’ve got plenty of scooplets for you this week, including a multi-part look at the massive changes in store for CNN under its new leadership. So as one particularly disgraced CNN host used to say, “Let’s get after it.”
New CNN honcho Chris Licht doesn’t start until May, but ever the savvy “operator” he has already begun backchanneling with key figures, including agents and reporters, and, according to two insiders familiar with the matter, making it known to Fox News that he is working towards a cease-fire on his network’s aggressive coverage of them. On Sunday, there were notably no mentions of Fox News on CNN’s marquee media show, Reliable Sources, hosted by Brian Stelter, who last year penned a New York Times bestseller titled Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth. In recent years, CNN has become known for its forceful coverage of Fox News and its partisan talking heads who’ve played enormous roles in influencing former President Donald Trump and the right-wing media ecosystem that supports him. In turn, Fox News has returned the favor, often attacking CNN stars—sometimes with potshots about their physical appearances.
Last week, The Washington Post reported that Licht intends to push CNN away from a Trump-era “resistance” tone and back to a style often described as “hard news.” But Licht may have his work cut out for him when he officially takes over on the Monday after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, seeing as some of the network’s loudest voices have leaned heavily into the heated rhetoric that dominated the past few years. According to two people familiar with the situation, the former Late Show boss (who has been described to Confider as an intense “social climber” by several people who’ve watched his star rise over the years) will work to tone down the often opinionated and emotional reporting from stars like Jim Acosta, Brianna Keilar, and especially Don Lemon, who currently hosts the network’s ratings-deficient 10 p.m. to midnight programming. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has demonstrated CNN’s prowess—rivaled only by that of the BBC—for hard news gathering during major news events. Under Licht, expect to see more boots-on-the-ground reporting and fewer partisan panels with talking heads like former Trump staffer Alyssa Farah.
In addition to fixing their morning show, where ratings have plummeted, and deciding what to do with a bloated CNN+, due to launch later this month, Licht faces a tough challenge in filling the primetime hour once occupied by Chris Cuomo. Former Fox News anchor Chris Wallace is one name being floated internally to take the key 9 p.m. slot. (Javier De Diego, currently the supervising producer on The Lead with Jake Tapper, will become exec producer of Wallace’s CNN+ show, it was announced on Monday). But Licht may look externally to make a splashy new hire. One name that continues to pop up is Brian Williams, who revived his career at MSNBC before exiting last year and is looking for one final act, according to two people familiar with his thinking. It would be quite the comeback for Williams who has always had his sights set on a nighttime talk show—and who better to orchestrate such a move than Licht, who reworked Stephen Colbert’s show and took it to first place in the late-night ratings.
Multiple CNN staffers who spoke with Confider over the last week also believe Licht will do some executive house-cleaning, with the futures of executive vice presidents Michael Bass (a Jeff Zucker college buddy) and Andrew Morse (who was curiously left out of the interim management structure after Zuck fell on his sword) under a cloud of uncertainty. The chatter about Morse, who has a wealth of international news gathering experience and is heading up CNN+, may be meaningless, however, as Discovery CEO David Zaslav reiterated support for the streamer during a recent meeting with CNN leadership, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Overall, Licht’s appointment has been received positively within CNN and especially among the on-air talent who’d grown tired of some of the overwrought coverage of Zucker’s exit. By moving quickly to announce Licht’s hire, Zaslav has managed to change the narrative from one of mourning the old boss to that of excitement about a new regime.
Twitter has apparently tweaked its ban on violent threats in light of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, according to an internal memo obtained and reviewed by Confider. After Lindsey Graham tweeted on Friday an explicit request for someone in Russia to step up and assassinate Vladimir Putin, a Twitter spokesperson told The Daily Beast that the Republican senator’s post did not violate the platform’s rules against violent threats. It may have seemed odd that such a post was permitted, despite the tech giant’s ban on threats of “violence against an individual or a group of people” or “wishing or hoping that someone experiences physical harm.” But as it turns out, Twitter has altered its enforcement of such posts, according to the memo we obtained: “Based on the current safety guidelines on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, content wishing, hoping or calling for serious harm against leaders of the Russian government, military leaders, soldiers or para-military fighters will result in No Action.”
After going on strike for a week, Gizmodo Media Group’s union staffers returned to work Monday after finally inking a new contract with management. The development, which came about after marathon negotiations over the weekend, puts to rest the latest salvo in a perennial war between GMG staffers and CEO Jim Spanfeller, whom many current and former employees derisively refer to as a “herb.” As The Daily Beast has reported, Spanfeller has had numerous run-ins with staffers since taking the reins in April 2019, and at least two former employees are now suing him and the company. This latest battle got particularly intense, as GMG union members (represented by WGA East) picketed the company’s Manhattan office building, the former HQ of Wenner Media, and targeted the company’s owners, Great Hill Partners, in a series of fiery social-media messages much to the chagrin of the venture capital firm. One sticking point, according to two people familiar with the matter, was Spanfeller’s refusal to budge on a return-to-work structure: The union wanted more flexibility, while the CEO demanded employees in the office at least four days per week. At one point, Spanfeller’s own lawyer suggested giving staffers “summer Fridays” as a good-faith measure to resolve the strike but the CEO, who spends his summers in Martha’s Vineyard, rejected the move. Ultimately, “G/O Media agreed to raise salary minimums, severance, and parental leave; maintain our healthcare while requiring it to be trans-inclusive; and ensure annual increases for our Unit members,” according to a statement from WGA East. “We are pleased that G/O Media has reached a tentative agreement with the GMG Union and look forward to serving the most important audience in our business, the people who visit our sites daily,” a G/O spokesperson wrote in a separate statement. “We commend the two bargaining committees for working through the weekend to find a middle ground satisfactory to both sides of the negotiation.” We here at Confider hope this means Spanfeller can enjoy a peaceful summer off the coast of Cape Cod.
When ABC News named Kim Godwin as its new president last April, a splashy press release heralded her as an “instinctive and admired executive whose unique experiences, strengths and strategic vision made her the ideal choice” to run the Disney-owned news network. Indeed, Godwin has had no shortage of “unique experiences” since taking over, but according to eight ABC insiders who spoke with Confider—including reporters, producers, and executives—there is a growing dissatisfaction with her work, with some staffers referring to her as “The Banker,” in reference to her alleged unavailability and the hours she keeps. For example, these sources said, Godwin was hard to reach during the chaotic U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan. Some staffers have been upset over her ham-fisted attempt to manage the Whoopi Goldberg suspension debacle. Others have viewed Godwin as ineffective, citing how she called for an “independent investigation” into claims that former Good Morning America boss Michael Corn sexually assaulted two staffers—before running the idea past her boss Peter Rice, who then flew from Disney HQ in Burbank to New York to tell Godwin there would be no such probe. As coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began to dominate international headlines, Godwin told direct reports on Friday, Feb. 25, she would not be coming into the office, instead working from home in the Poconos because of “the snow.” Accuweather meteorologist Jake Sojda told Confider that only 1-2 inches of snow was recorded in the Poconos on the day Godwin chose to work remotely. “It wasn’t a big snowstorm by any means,” he said. “When there is a change in the culture, there will always be some disgruntled individuals who want to hold on to their old ways of doing things,” an ABC News insider told Confider. The apparent struggles are little surprise to Godwin’s former colleagues at CBS, where she held the No. 2 role in the news division and where management let her out of her contract when she got the offer from Disney, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. “These distortions and slurs regarding Kim Godwin’s work ethic and leadership style are outrageous and untrue. Under Kim’s vision and execution, ABC News continues to grow as the #1 news network as she works overtime to positively impact the division’s culture,” wrote ABC News spokesperson Alison Rudnick.
Every few months, LinkedIn holds a seminar encouraging reporters and editors to utilize the platform to share their work and network with potential sources. March’s session got off to a bumpy start, however, when it fell prey to an attempted phishing scam. Two LinkedIn accounts, which appeared to have been hacked, bearing the names “Steven” and “Ruth,” attempted to get attending journalists to click on a malware link and fork over cash. Several attendees in the seminar’s chat window began cracking jokes over which journalist would be the first to “write it up” for their respective outlets. “Literal LOL at the ‘linkedin for journalists’ workshop getting hit with a phishing attempt,” wrote one BuzzFeed staffer. LinkedIn subsequently moved the seminar over to YouTube, where a reporter quipped in the comments that the seminar had become “YouTube for Journalists,” among other remarks from attendees spotted by The Daily Beast’s Shannon Vavra. In a statement to Confider, LinkedIn spokesperson Jaren Anderson wrote: “We’ve taken action against the accounts flagged during our LinkedIn for Journalists event last week. We’re committed to keeping our members safe and creating a fake account, which is a form of fraudulent activity, violates our terms of service.”
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—“Kremlin-Funded RT America Shuts Down, Lays Off Most of Its Staff.” The U.S. outpost of the Russian propaganda network has finally shuttered for good, citing “unforeseen business interruption events” (lol ok). The move came after media company Ora TV pulled the plug on producing RT America shows hosted by stars like Dennis Miller and William Shatner.
—“Much-Hyped D.C. Trucker Rally Turns Out to Be a Complete Joke.” Despite pre-event hype from MAGA stars like Fox News host Dan Bongino, the anti-vaccine mandate “Stage of Freedom” event on the National Mall turned out to be a total dud, with far more police and media members than any actual demonstrators.
—“TV Host Melts Down at Entirely Wrong Guest in Bonkers Ukraine Debate.” Just set aside two minutes to watch this bizarre on-air meltdown with a hilarious (and cringeworthy) twist that we promise is worth your time.
—Columbia Journalism Review has an in-depth, harrowing, and depressing review of the ways in which Putin’s regime has gutted press freedoms and criminalized reporting amid its brutal invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
—After Tucker Carlson finally backtracked on his horrendous takes about the Ukraine invasion, including minimizing the threat of such an incursion and personally touting Putin, Media Matters compiled an extensive chronology of the Fox News star’s long, embarrassing history of pro-Kremlin commentary and apologia.
—Author Heather Havrilesky wrote an incisive Twitter thread calling out The View, The New York Times, the New York Post, and the Daily Mail for “sexist” coverage of her comedic memoir, Foreverland: On the Divine Tedium of Marriage, which jokingly referred to her husband as a “smelly heap of laundry.” These outlets, the essayist wrote, missed the point and extracted her lighthearted and loving jokes about her husband to frame her as a “total bitch.”
During last week’s State of the Union address, President Joe Biden spotlighted the story of Joshua Davis, a 13-year-old boy who suffers from type 1 diabetes and needs insulin daily. After invoking Davis’ story to push for lower prescription drug costs, Biden pointed him out in the crowd and wished him happy birthday—much to the young man’s surprise. While many observed the genuinely sweet moment for what it was, Fox News anchor Dana Perino found a reason to be mad at Biden: The president didn’t lead the chamber in a singalong. “The young kid that has suffered from diabetes and needs insulin—I loved that!—but then again, even there’s a missed moment for humanity,” she grumbled Wednesday night on Tucker Carlson Tonight. “The president says, ‘And it’s his birthday yesterday!’ Well then—clue—sing ‘Happy Birthday!’ Because that’s what we do! Have a human moment.”
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