Welcome to 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.
Tomorrow concludes the absolutely bonkers GOP Senate primary race in Pennsylvania and, no matter who wins, the results are sure to piss off a portion of the Fox News primetime slate. After little-known “ultra-MAGA” candidate Kathy Barnette began surging in the polls last week, it seemed like pro-Trump media stars almost immediately got the memo to destroy her. Sean Hannity pulled out all the stops to protect Dr. Mehmet Oz, his close pal Donald Trump’s preferred candidate, while colleague Laura Ingraham has made her disdain for the TV doctor more than clear. The tension between the two Fox stars boiled over late last week when Hannity took aim at Barnette for two straight nights, unironically blasting her past Islamophobic and homophobic remarks. Ingraham vollied back, once again bashing Oz and indirectly attacking Hannity—among other Barnette critics—for “smearing” the upstart candidate. Fellow Fox News host Mark Levin catapulted into the chat on Friday, taking a direct swing at Laura with some colorful insults for his own colleague: “For some reason, the 10 p.m.-er has a real hate-on for Oz,” he huffed. “10 p.m.-er is not a Pennsylvanian. But some people, because they have a camera in their face, actually think they know what’s best for you without actually inquiring into it… 10 p.m.-er has a cork up her nose at this. I don’t know what the problem is.” Insiders suggested to Confider that the bickering—within Fox News and among conservative media at large—is a preview of post-Trump divisions that will emerge in MAGA world as a likely contentious 2024 GOP race draws ever-closer. However, one current Fox staffer said, “You know the moment one of these two characters wins the primary, Fox News will get in line behind them.” Another insider added: “It’s all a part of the entertainment.” Fox News did not respond to a request for comment.
The White House Correspondents’ Association has threatened Simon Ateba, a reporter for the largely unknown Africa Today, with potential disciplinary action after he had a very public outburst at Jen Psaki when she did not call on him during her final day at the podium. In the email to the eccentric briefing room gadfly, WHCA chief Steven Portnoy wrote: “Your disruptive behavior at last Friday’s briefing interrupted your colleagues and reflected poorly on the press corps. There is no right of any reporter to be called on by any official. Preventing your colleagues from asking their questions is no way to seek relief.” Ever the attention-hungry operator, Ateba couldn’t resist emailing Portnoy’s letter to media outlets on Monday with his own lengthy response affixed below it. “I am the victim here and I am being treated so unfairly by WHCA,” he wrote. “It is sad and it is heartbreaking.” Portnoy declined when reached for further comment on Monday night.
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Staffers at Washington Examiner are irked that Editor-in-Chief Hugo Gurdon has continually looked to Murdoch world rather than internally to fill key senior editorial roles, multiple sources with knowledge of the matter told Confider. Last week, we reported that the Examiner poached Fox News senior political reporter Marisa Schultz as the site’s news director and former Fox News editor Liam Quinn, most recently at Murdoch-owned The Sun. The hires came weeks after managing editor Greg Wilson, a former Fox News editor responsible for publishing the discredited Seth Rich story, left for conservative media giant The Daily Wire. According to current staffers and insiders, Gurdon delivered a “gigantic speech” upon Wilson’s departure boasting about the Examiner’s talent and how the company would look to hire from within. But that hasn’t entirely happened. While news editor Chris Irvine, another former Fox News digital editor, was promoted to Examiner’s managing editor post, the latest hires were not received warmly. “All of the editors are really ticked off that they’ve hired two new editors from Fox but no one from inside WEX,” one insider relayed. “Some of the editors were upset about that because they felt that they had been overlooked for those positions, or not even considered seriously,” another source explained. “What the fuck?!” a third current staffer fumed after noting how Schultz was not in a managerial role at Fox News yet will soon oversee the entire newsroom. A rep for the Examiner declined to comment.
Last week we reported how staffers at The Business of Business, a digital news startup founded by WeWork enemy Justin Zhen and led by Christie Smythe, the journo who left her marriage to date “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli, mysteriously stopped receiving paychecks and were told to stop working. Those troubles have gotten worse: Over the past week, the site shed almost all of its editorial staff, Talking Biz News noted, while Smythe—who is promoting her first “Substack book” and has taken to imploring other outlets to hire her now-ex employees—will remain with the company in the hopes of rebuilding. The outlet’s ownership never commented on the stories about its complete disarray, except to issue a brief, pedantic statement promising “a more detailed press release shortly.” That press release has yet to come.
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Insider founder Henry Blodget informed staffers last week that the company will institute a bit of a hiring freeze, as The New York Times’ Ben Mullin first reported. Confider confirmed the details of that call, with insiders noting that Blodget subtly referred to a potential future economic downturn as a reason to slow down hiring for the moment. Furthermore, these sources noted to Confider that the slowdown was actually announced a month earlier and that it hasn’t been combined with any other noticeable cost-cutting measures. “There has been no pivot in our hiring plan; our mid to long-range growth plans haven’t changed. We have always been prudent and measured in our approach to hiring, as a result of always assessing, in real-time, evolving market conditions,” Insider comms exec Mario Ruiz wrote in a statement to Confider. A hiring freeze may seem especially surprising as Insider, which is majority-owned by German mega-publisher Axel Springer, has had a reputation for aggressive hiring, growing by 30 percent since 2020 according to a spokesperson.
In the wake of the deadly mass shootings over the weekend, including the racist massacre in Buffalo, Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff on Monday sent a company-wide memo instructing managers across all outlets to consider taking it easy early this week. “I know that there are people across Vox Media who are hurting,” Bankoff wrote in the memo obtained by Confider and first reported by WaPo’s Jeremy Barr. “I’m canceling or rescheduling non-essential meetings and I’m asking senior leaders to do the same for the next few days. Please take the time and space that you need in the wake of this news.”
A contract proposal from Politico’s union, which Confider obtained and reviewed, shows that staffers at the highly influential D.C. outlet plan to push for substantial raises as part of their next deal. The document outlines a series of proposed minimum salaries for reporting staff, including a $80,000 floor for an entry-level “tier-one reporter” with $95,000, $110,000, $120,000 floors for the next tiers of reporters. Under the union’s proposal, the minimum year-two salary for an entry-level reporter would be $86,400 with a $93,312 minimum by the third year. While the union still has to negotiate this 69-page contract with Politico brass—a likely difficult fight—the document confirms the staff, especially in the wake of Axel Springer’s billion-dollar deal to acquire the company last year, seeks industry-leading raises. Politico’s unit chair Tanya Snyder, a transportation reporter, told Confider that the union seeks the hefty built-in raises to combat what they perceive as “a real retention problem” at the outlet. She claimed that in order to get a substantial raise, staffers are often forced to “flirt” with other outlets to get a competing offer. “I think that Politico has done a really bad job of making sure we keep good people,” Snyder added. A Politico spokesperson declined to comment.
The Congressional Correspondent’s Dinner in D.C. last week featured Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) poking fun at Politico’s Playbook team, whom she joked were currently interviewing for gigs at rival Punchbowl News. Notably, not a single Playbook author was at the function, despite Politico sponsoring the post-dinner drinks reception… Elsewhere at the gala, Punchbowl News co-founder Jake Sherman was overheard in the men’s room discussing luxury wristwatches… CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins and Vice News reporter Elizabeth Landers shared on Instagram that they were at Nationals Park in D.C. for the Nats’ Friday night home game against the Houston Astros. Sadly, Confider never crossed paths with them, likely owing to us being seated in the right-field nosebleeds.
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—“Dr. Oz Refuses to Say 2020 Election Was Rigged.” Trump may not like how Dr. Oz, his pick for the PA GOP Senate primary, answered when asked point-blank by evangelical TV host David Brody whether he believes 2020 was “stolen” or “rigged.”
—“What Symone Sanders’ New Show Means for Bald Black Women.” Vice President Kamala Harris’ former spokesperson Symone Sanders is about to host an MSNBC weekend show. That’s a massive deal for multiple communities underrepresented by cable news broadcasts, Brennan Nevada Johnson writes in an opinion column.
—“‘The View’ Lashes Out at Fox News Advertisers After Buffalo Shooting.” In the wake of the racist massacre in Buffalo, the ABC show declared “it’s time to name names and point fingers” at the people who’ve pushed the racist “Great Replacement” theory and those who’ve enabled them. Co-host Ana Navarro specifically called out Fox News board member Paul Ryan.
—Gawker has a pair of hilarious but depressing stories on how esteemed, defunct literary mag The Believer appeared to have been bought by something called the Sex Toy Collective (owned by Paradise Media) and its website was stuffed with new content like “25 Best Hookup Sites for Flings, New Trysts, and Casual Dating.” Over the weekend, The New York Times reported, Paradise sold the magazine to its original owner, McSweeney’s—a happy ending for all.
—“[M]edia figures have an obligation to condemn… conspiratorial notions as ‘white replacement theory,’” the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal’s editorial board wrote on Sunday. That’s really rich, as others have noted, considering how much Murdoch’s crown jewel Fox News has peddled the racist “replacement” theory, as The Washington Post's Paul Farhi noted.
—Vanity Fair has a sprawling profile of Alyssa Farah Griffin, the former Mark Meadows protégé and Trump spokesperson-turned-critic critic who is trying to remake her career and is currently a frontrunner for The View’s remaining co-host slot vacated by Meghan McCain.
Amid a nationwide baby formula shortage, conservative media outlets could have devoted energy to covering why the crisis has hit a tipping point—like pandemic-related supply chain issues or a contamination recall that shuttered a key manufacturer or U.S. trade policy in general. Instead, Fox News pivoted to their favorite punching bag: immigrants. Several of the network’s top stars raged over the notion that migrant infants held in detention centers were being provided formula. “Apparently, there is no shortage of baby formula for illegal aliens,” Jesse Watters grumbled. “Why are we feeding illegal babies ahead of American babies?” Later in his show, a chyron blared: “AMERICAN BABIES FIRST!” As is his wont, Tucker Carlson took the outrage-baiting several degrees further: “How much more of this are people going to take, you wonder? It’s too humiliating.”
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Confider will be back next week with more saucy scooplets. In the meantime, subscribe here and send us questions, complaints, or tips.
