EXEC SUMMARY: Scroll down for a UN expert's report about Jamal Khashoggi's killing... Mark Levin and Jim Acosta sharing space on the NYT's best seller list... and a new coalition called the Critics Groups for Equality in Media...
Making YouTube safer for kids | | YouTube is under scrutiny from several different directions. One big issue: How children interact with videos. Given YouTube's dominance, and the allure of the smartphone screen for kids, this is one of the most important issues in media and tech right now.
-- The news: "YouTube is weighing a number of changes to its handling of content for children following pressure from inside and outside the company," CNN's Brian Fung wrote Wednesday. "Some of the changes under consideration include preventing videos from automatically playing after the previous one finishes, the person said. Another concept, first reported by the WSJ, proposes moving children's videos off of YouTube and into YouTube Kids, a standalone app that more tightly limits the content it allows. But that would be a drastic step and is unlikely to occur, the person said, and no decisions have been made."
-- The context: The WaPo reported Wednesday that the FTC is "in the late stages of an investigation into YouTube for its handling of children's videos..."
-- The next steps: No announcements are imminent, but lots of potential changes are on the proverbial table...
"It's not about free speech, it's about free reach."
According to the WSJ's Rob Copeland, who came out with a big new story on Wednesday, that's a new "company mantra" that's been "endorsed" by CEO Susan Wojcicki in internal meetings.
The suggestion is that not all videos are created equal -- not all videos are owed the same treatment and visibility. Some of the company's changes, Copeland wrote, "are designed to choke viewership for certain content by burying it far from most users, rather than proactively eliminating wide swaths of videos..."
What will the FTC do?
After the WSJ story came the Post story, which revealed that the FTC could hit YouTube with a "hefty penalty" and a settlement that forces changes to "better protect kids." The focus has been on the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. So in other words, as WIRED editor Nicholas Thompson tweeted, the FTC investigation "is into whether YouTube illegally collected data on kids, violating privacy. It's not about child porn, addictive recommendations, or the videos of kids being put in washing machines..."
Markey says he's working on a bill...
Democratic Senator Ed Markey responded to the Post report by saying it's "long overdue." Markey tweeted that YouTube "has yet to take the necessary steps to protect its youngest users." And he said that he'll introduce legislation "in the coming weeks" that will combat "online design features that coerce children and create bad habits; marketing that manipulates kids and pushes them into consumer culture; the amplification of inappropriate and harmful content on the internet."
Everyone thinks they can fix it...
On the phone with a tech exec on Wednesday night, I found myself second-guessing my own ideas about YouTube. Move all kids content to the YouTube Kids app? Makes sense! But: What about kids videos that teens and adults like to share? That's tricky.
Or how about the YouTube feature I desperately want for my two-year-old -- an option that only shows professionally-made content, removing all the amateur and homemade videos? The question is, who's going to determine when an amateur becomes a pro? Every suggested solution leads to more questions...
The trouble with the recommendation engine
As Fung noted in his story, "YouTube has found itself in the crosshairs amid concerns that the platform's video-recommendation software directs viewers toward violent, disturbing or conspiratorial content. Users, including children, may start viewing safe content and then be led to less appropriate videos that have been optimized for YouTube's algorithm. There are videos on YouTube of familiar children's cartoon characters in dangerous or unsettling scenarios."
--> Stephen Balkam, founder and CEO of the Family Online Safety Institute: "My hope would be that YouTube's algorithms would be better at picking these sorts of things up, and in the case of disturbing or violent images, at the very least put them behind an interstitial warning that content might be seen as offensive."
--> My most recent "Reliable" podcast, with Kevin Roose, was all about the recommendation engine...
Former Facebook content moderators go on-record: "It's like a sweatshop in America" | | Katie Pellico writes: In this equally-explosive follow-up to his February exposé, Casey Newton details the harrowing conditions at "Facebook's worst-performing content moderation site in North America." The Tampa, Florida, site — called Cognizant — employs around 800 workers who Newton says "face relentless pressure from their bosses to better enforce the social network's community standards, which receive near-daily updates that leave its contractor workforce in a perpetual state of uncertainty."
Of the "12 current and former moderators and managers" Newton interviewed, three agreed to go on-record, on-camera. In the 12-minute video accompanying The Verge report, Newton stresses, "This is a really big deal. Everyone who works for Cognizant signs a lengthy non-disclosure agreement."
In addition to the graphic violence content employees are expected to regulate with near-perfect accuracy, the workplace conditions they describe are also graphic. One employee died on the job last year, and "management initially discouraged employees from discussing the incident, for fear it would hurt productivity." One employee says, "It's like a sweatshop in America." Read on...
THURSDAY PLANNER
-- "Toy Story 4" opens nationwide...
-- Women's World Cup: The US will face Sweden at 3 p.m. ET...
-- POTUS sits down with Jose Diaz-Balart... It will air on Telemundo at 11 p.m. ET... Trump's first interview with a Spanish-language network since inauguration day...
Times publisher pens op-ed in Journal
That headline made you do a double-take, right? The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are arch-rivals. But Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger was moved to write an op-ed after President Trump accused the paper of committing a "virtual act of treason" last weekend.
Sulzberger reached out to WSJ editorial page editor Paul Gigot -- and Gigot welcomed the submission. It's in Thursday's paper. It's a remarkable show of solidarity amid Trump's increasingly extreme rhetorical attacks against the news media, so I wrote about it here...
"A dangerous line"
"Few paid much attention" to Trump's tweeted charge last weekend, Sulzberger wrote. "Many news organizations, including the Times, determined the accusation wasn't even worth reporting, a sign of how inured we've grown to such rhetorical recklessness. But this new attack crosses a dangerous line in the president's campaign against a free and independent press."
More: "There is no more serious charge a commander in chief can make against an independent news organization," Sulzberger wrote. "Which presents a troubling question: What would it look like for Mr. Trump to escalate his attacks on the press further? Having already reached for the most incendiary language available, what is left but putting his threats into action?" Read on...
This week's best seller list
Jim Acosta's "The Enemy of the People" debuts at No. 10 on this week's NYT hardcover plus ebook nonfiction best seller list.
Meanwhile, Mark Levin's book promoting Trump's hate movement against the media, "Unfreedom of the Press," holds steady at No. 1 on the list...
I guess Trump hasn't watched "When They See Us" yet...
Brian Lowry emails: If President Trump really was as surprised as he sounded that a reporter would bring up the Central Park Five -- thrust back into the spotlight by the Netflix miniseries "When They See Us" -- that has to qualify as bad staff work. Given his prominent role vis-a-vis the case, and the fact the miniseries includes footage of him, it's certainly not far-fetched to anticipate that the subject might arise...
--> Ava DuVernay's reaction to Trump's comments, per Vulture: "I don't care."
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- Bob Cohn tweeted: "Five years ago, Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote The Case for Reparations, an argument dismissed as farfetched. Now a bunch of presidential candidates support the idea, and today he delivered this testimony to Congress." (The Atlantic)
-- Alexandra Olson's in-depth look at The Berkshire Eagle: "A newspaper bucks layoff trend, and hopes readers respond" (AP)
-- News from Cannes: Quibi "has booked $100 million in advertising revenue" months ahead of its launch... (WSJ)
-- theSkimm's first book, "How To Skimm Your Life," debuted at No. 1 on the NYT's advice book best seller list... (NYT)
-- "Twitter is turning off location data on tweets — a small win for privacy but a small loss for journalists and researchers," Joshua Benton writes... (NiemanLab)
UN expert: "Credible evidence" Saudi crown prince responsible for Khashoggi killing
CNN's Nic Robertson writes: "There is 'sufficient credible evidence' Saudi Arabia's crown prince bears responsibility for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and he should be investigated for it, a United Nations special rapporteur said in the first independent investigation into the death.
"In a much-anticipated report, released Wednesday, UN investigator Agnes Callamard said that Saudi Arabia was responsible under international law for the 'deliberate, premeditated execution' of Khashoggi and current sanctions on some senior officials do not go far enough.
"Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his personal assets abroad should be hit by 'targeted sanctions,' the report recommends, 'until and unless evidence is provided and corroborated that he carries no responsibilities for this execution.'" Read Robertson's full report here...
Five female anchors file discrimination lawsuit against NY1
Oliver Darcy emails: Five female anchors filed a lawsuit against the prominent New York cable news channel NY1 on Wednesday, alleging age and gender discrimination. The lawsuit characterized NY1 management as having made recent programming decisions that favored younger female and male talent at the expense of older, more experienced women.
The lawsuit was filed by Roma Torre, 61, who was the first on-air talent hired by NY1. She was joined in the lawsuit by Jeanine Ramirez, 49, Kristen Shaughhnessy, 50, Vivian Lee, 44, and Amanda Farinacci, 40. The five women collectively have more than 100 years of experience at NY1. More details about the lawsuit in my story here…
>> Related: The five female anchors penned an open letter on Medium about their lawsuit…
NY1's parent company denies discrimination claims
Darcy emails: Maureen Huff, a spokesperson for NY1's owner Charter, pushed back against the claims made in the lawsuit. Huff said in a statement that the company takes the allegations seriously and that it has "not found any merit to them" as it works to complete a "thorough review."
>> A disclosure from Brian: Many of you know that my wife Jamie is a host on NY1. For that reason, Oliver wrote these items and I didn't edit them. That's how we'll handle this story in the newsletter going forward, as well.
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
By Laney Pope:
-- "A shareholder resolution aimed at halting Google's efforts to bring a censored version of its search engine to China has failed..." (TechCrunch)
-- American journalist Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, who had a history of unflattering coverage of the Communist Part, was denied a visa to enter China, which the Committee to Protect Journalists called "an act of retribution" by the Chinese government... (BuzzFeed News)
-- "The hired guns of Instagram:" Gun companies are using female influencers to advertise on Instagram, skirting "the rules and restrictions platforms impose on official businesses that want to advertise guns or gun-related services and accessories..." (Vox)
| | Trump on the cover of TIME this week
On Monday, TIME EIC Edward Felsenthal, joined by Massimo Calabresi, Brian Bennett and Tessa Berenson, sat down with Trump in the Oval Office for an interview. The resulting cover story will be up on TIME.com on Thursday morning.
"One of the many ironies of Donald Trump's presidency is that for all his vitriol toward journalists -- language that has been dangerously echoed by autocrats around the world -- he is intensely interested in the inner workings of the media," all of which was on display during the interview, Felsenthal writes in his editors note. "An allotted 30 minutes for the interview and photo shoot stretched to more than an hour, as he brushed off press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders' repeated calls for 'last question.'"
--> This is Trump's 29th time on the cover of the mag...
A "farce"
That's what Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal called Wednesday's closed-door hearing with Hope Hicks. A pack of lawyers "objected to every single thing," The White House was clearly trying to "stymie the American people from getting information that they deserve to have," she told John Berman on "AC360..."
Hicks has stopped returning some of Trump's calls
Oliver Darcy emails: Hicks has tried to distance herself from Trump and the W.H. since leaving, sources told CNN's Kaitlan Collins and Kevin Liptak. Hicks, the sources cautioned, is still firmly on Trump's side of things, but has made an effort to exit his orbit. That has even included not returning Trump's call on several occasions. More on the Hicks-Trump relationship from Collins and Liptak here…
"How does an aspiring governor come back from a legacy of having lied?"
So this governor thing is more than just a passing idea: Sarah Sanders "is seriously considering running for governor of Arkansas," Politico's Andrew Restuccia and Daniel Lippman reported Wednesday, citing three sources. Key detail: "Sanders and her allies have started making calls to donors and Republican operatives in the state."
This reporting reminded me of what Paige Williams wrote in The New Yorker earlier this week: "How does an aspiring governor come back from a legacy of having lied, repeatedly, to the public that she purports to serve?"
FIRST LOOK
Trump towers over Dems on new cover of The New Republic: | | The New Republic's July-August cover promotes a pair of pieces by Alex Pareene and David Roth... Pareene writes about the "Democratic Party's long-running aversion to outright attacks on its opponents" and Roth examines Trump's "extraordinary petulance..."
Clinton compares Trump's rally to InfoWars
Oliver Darcy emails: Back in May, when I was on "Reliable," I questioned whether there was any difference between Trump's Twitter feed and InfoWars. It seems Hillary Clinton doesn't see any daylight between Trump's rhetoric and the fringe, conspiratorial network either. On Wednesday, referring to Trump's Tuesday night rally, she tweeted that she "didn't stay up late last night watching InfoWars." Oof...
Rally garners big ratings for Fox
I wrote earlier this week that Trump's interviews and appearances don't "rate" like they used to. And that's generally true, but Tuesday proved to be an exception: Fox's live coverage of Trump's 2020 re-launch rally drew 4.96 million total viewers, and averaged 984,000 between the ages 25 to 54, Deadline's Denise Petski wrote Wednesday. Both #'s are well above Fox's average. "With the coverage, FNC marked its third highest primetime night of the year in both categories..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- Mediaite's Reed Richardson writes: "Trump called in to his favorite Fox News media haunt on Wednesday night and indulged in a long lovefest with host Sean Hannity while bashing as 'disgraceful' a press corps that has 'lost credibility...'" (Mediaite)
-- "In private conversations with Trump, Tucker Carlson has advocated against military action against Iran..." (Beast)
-- Meg Kinnard and David Bauder report: "South Carolina's Democratic leader says he granted MSNBC exclusive live rights to this weekend's party convention because the network agreed to show speeches from 21 presidential contenders and offered a strong chance to reach black voters. The coverage arrangement for the event, a stop in a key early primary state and a chance for candidates to make their case before next week's opening debate, angered other media outlets..." (AP)
-- Angelina Jolie is now a Contributing Editor for TIME, writing "primarily on displacement, conflict and human rights..." (TIME)
Forbes back on the block?
"The Asian investors who bought a controlling stake in Forbes Media from the Forbes family in 2014 are quietly exploring a sale of the magazine and related web properties," the NYPost's Keith J. Kelly reported Tuesday night.
The mag's spokesman Matthew Hutchison encouraged the chatter: "We have no comment, but smart investors often express interest in Forbes Media, especially now, coming off our best year ever in 2018 and with 2019 shaping up to be a strong year as well."
Speaking of Forbes...
Norah O'Donnell at the Forbes Women's Summit | | Katie Pellico writes: Norah O'Donnell sat down with Forbes EVP Moira Forbes at Tuesday's annual Women's Summit in New York. Addressing her move to the "CBS Evening News," she ran through the long list of women in power at CBS News, from Susan Zirinsky on down, and noted the female E.P.s at the three network morning shows. "I just gave myself chills," she said, still listing...
"We are in the midst of this incredible moment," O'Donnell said. She later admitted, "I'm not even sure I understand my own voice and my own power." It felt like a zeitgeist-y remark, if not reflecting the "spirit of the times," surely the spirit in the room. "I feel like we were never meant to 'lean in' alone."
Where are the inclusion riders?
Smart followup piece by the NYT's Cara Buckley: "The term 'inclusion rider' took Hollywood by storm after Frances McDormand introduced it in her 2018 Oscar acceptance speech... But now, 15 months later, even though talk of inclusion has come to occupy center stage in Hollywood and champions of the contractual add-on include the Marvel stars Michael B. Jordan and Brie Larson, it is hard to identify more than a handful of productions that have adopted the rider outright." More...
| | Lowry reviews "Toy Story 4"
Brian Lowry emails: "Toy Story 4" returns this week, a decade after the last sequel, long enough to let a nine year old, like Andy, move on to college. It joins "Incredibles 2" and "Finding Dory" -- which let 14 and 13 years lapse, respectively -- in demonstrating the ageless aspect of animation, which is turning out to be a major asset as sequel-happy Hollywood seeks to mine established titles...
'Avengers: Endgame' getting re-release in bid to dethrone 'Avatar'
Brian Lowry emails: "Avengers: Endgame" is making a final bid to dethrone "Avatar" as the top-grossing worldwide movie of all time, with Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige telling reporters at the "Spider-Man: Far From Home" junket that the studio will re-release the film with additional footage. As it stands, "Endgame" is about $44 million behind James Cameron's epic. It's not unusual for studios to get creative trying to push a movie past a particular milestone, but worth noting "Avatar" (and its planned sequels) now also fall under the Disney empire since its Fox acquisition...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
By Lisa Respers France:
-- Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos really need to lock their bedroom door. Their teen daughter walked in and caught them in flagrante delicto...
-- XXXTentacion was remembered a year after his death with a trailer for an upcoming documentary and announcement of a posthumous album...
-- James Charles has returned to YouTube after all his drama...
"Critics groups band together to redefine who covers Hollywood"
Introducing the Critics Groups for Equality in Media. The LAT's Ashley Lee writes: "At a time when entertainment journalism has come under fire for its lack of diversity and inclusion, a new coalition is hoping to redefine who gets to write about Hollywood." The alliance includes GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, the African American Film Critics Assn., Online Assn. of Female Film Critics, and other groups. Per Lee, "the new coalition's goals include pushing for better pay and inclusive representation at media outlets; strengthening relationships with studios, networks and public-relations firms; and nurturing the next generation of voices..."
>> More: Variety's Marc Malkin broke the news...
Lin-Manuel Miranda bringing "Freestyle Love Supreme" to Broadway
"Freestyle Love Supreme" is set to hit the Great White Way in the fall, Lisa Respers France reports: "Conceived by Anthony Veneziale and co-created by 'Hamilton's' Thomas Kail and Miranda, the show takes cues from the audience to deliver unique, improvisatory hip-hop musical experiences." The trio "first developed the concept in 2004 when Miranda's 'In the Heights' musical was being developed. Miranda will make unscheduled appearances during its 16-week run from September to January at the Booth Theater." The NYT's Michael Paulson spoke with Miranda about the plans here...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
-- Trevor Noah's portfolio "is said to rake in eight figures annually, making him one of the highest earners in the comedy business," Lacey Rose reports in her latest THR cover story... (THR)
-- Chloe Melas emails: The California Supreme Court has turned down U2's The Edge, who has been petitioning to build a Malibu compound in a 14-year battle... (CNN)
-- "A relatively small round of layoffs hit the Disney and Fox film studios on Wednesday as the combined companies continue to consolidate their operations. It's the third time severance slips have been issued" since Disney closed the deal... (THR)
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