'A moment for the ages' as Mark Zuckerberg apologizes to families of ...

It was a powerful moment

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook and the leader of Meta, stood up during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday on online child safety. He then turned and faced the families of victims who had suffered abuse on Meta’s apps.

After being prompted by Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, Zuckerberg told the families, “I’m sorry for everything you have all been through. No one should have to go through the things that your families have suffered, and this is why we invested so much.”

Many of the families held up photos of their children while Zuckerberg faced them.

The Washington Post called it an “extraordinary moment.” CNN’s Dana Bash said, “Wow, what we all just saw live on television is going to be a moment for the ages.”

That moment stood out during a four-hour session that featured the questioning of Zuckerberg, TikTok’s Shou Zi Chew, X’s Linda Yaccarino, Snap’s Evan Spiegel and Discord’s Jason Citron as they tried to convince the senators, and the nation, that they are combating child exploitation online.

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told the social media executives, “You have blood on your hands.”

The Washington Post’s Cristiano Lima-Strong, Cat Zakrzewski, Will Oremus and Naomi Nix wrote, “Congress has held dozens of hearings with tech executives in recent years, but the emotional session highlighted lawmakers’ increasing desperation — and willingness to wield the power of spectacle to galvanize efforts to pass new protections for children. Kids’ online safety legislation has stagnated for years, and lawmakers flashed growing frustration on Wednesday over Congress’s glacial pace and inability to take action on the issue.”

There are, as The New York Times’ Mike Isaac wrote, “no clear resolutions in sight.”

The Post added, “Senate Judiciary Committee leaders said they hoped the hearing would help build momentum for a package of bills aimed at curbing child abuse material online, including by allowing victims to sue companies for facilitation and by making it more difficult for platforms to dismiss such lawsuits. The panel advanced the bills with broad bipartisan support in May, but the measures have since stalled with no clear timetable for them to be taken up in the full chamber.”

Meanwhile …

There was a curious moment during Wednesday’s hearings when Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas asked TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew about his citizenship.

Cotton asked, “Have you ever been a member of the Chinese Communist Party?”

Chew said, “Senator, I’m Singaporean. No!”

Cotton followed up with, “Have you ever been associated or affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party?”

Chew, appearing to be in mild disbelief, said, “No, senator. Again, I’m Singaporean.”

The Daily Beast’s Justin Baragona wrote that Cotton “engaged in a bit of McCarthyism” in his questioning of Chew about the Chinese Communist Party.

Cotton later appeared on Fox News with host Martha MacCallum, who asked Cotton, “Do you have some information on this TikTok CEO we should be aware of?”

Cotton danced around a bit before MacCallum followed up by asking if he was out of line with his questions and asking again if Cotton had “any evidence that he’s a member of the CCP?”

Again Cotton rambled a bit and never directly answered the question before MacCallum weakly let him go with, “Good questions, very good questions, senator.”

Good start by MacCallum, but she couldn’t stick the landing.

The Messenger goes down

The Messenger, the digital news startup that was supposed to make a big splash in the media landscape, is instead doing something else: crashing.

Started just last May with $50 million in funding, The Messenger will shut down operations immediately.

Axios’ Sara Fischer wrote, “It’s one of the biggest media failures of the internet era. Worse, the demise was foreseeable — and foreseen.”

The New York Times’ Benjamin Mullin wrote, “The organization hired about 300 people, including journalists with experience at such publications as Politico, Reuters, NBC News and The Associated Press, who joined the company in the hopes that it would deliver on its promise to introduce an important new nonpartisan voice to the American news landscape.”

To be honest, I don’t know that there is much to be said because I don’t recall much that I read. Last May, I wrote about The Messenger’s strong debut with an interview with former President Donald Trump. After that, and maybe others will disagree, it just wasn’t a site that I felt moved the needle.

Semafor’s Max Tani wrote, “… the project was beset with problems from the start. Its plan to build a massive newsroom quickly backfired, burdening the company with large costs: According to a leaked balance sheet, the company spent millions of dollars on travel and entertainment last year alone. It wasn’t able to generate enough revenue from advertising, and its events and digital video businesses never got off the ground.”

Fischer noted that CEO and founder Jimmy Finkelstein “came close to raising the cash necessary to keep the business afloat for several more months, sources told Axios, but ultimately failed to close a deal to keep the company afloat. The company, which was losing tens of millions of dollars, only brought in around $3 million in revenue last year, according to financial documents seen by Axios.”

Mullin wrote, “Things quickly went sour after the launch. A well-regarded politics editor, Gregg Birnbaum, quit after clashing with The Messenger’s chief growth officer, Neetzan Zimmerman. Employees grew fatigued with demands to mass-produce stories based on competitors’ articles. The site’s debut was met with a tepid reception from industry critics like Columbia Journalism Review and Nieman Lab.”

After word got out on Wednesday, Eli Walsh, a breaking news reporter for The Messenger, tweeted, “Now that the cat’s out of the bag, let me tell you something. This company worked its news and audience reporters to the bone over the last eight months. I wrote 630+ stories in that time, most of them were just copying and pasting work that other reporters put time and effort into, just for us to swoop in and, essentially, steal it. It was, and is, deeply embarrassing and humiliating to know that you’re ripping off your colleagues in this industry for the sake of driving traffic at any and all costs.”

Fischer delivered a verdict: “The Messenger was built on the flawed premise that a big, generic news audience has value. It doesn‘t anymore.”

She added, “The Messenger was built on the idea that consumers would flock to centrist news across topics ranging from politics to entertainment and sports. While the site did garner a sizable amount of traffic, proving some audience interest, it was unable to support its sizable newsroom on the revenue it generated.”

News of the shutdown got out publicly before the staff was told. Apparently, the announcement caught much of the staff off guard. Reports are that they will not receive any severance.

In a note to staff, Finkelstein said he was “personally devastated” to share the news. He said even up until Wednesday, he was working to “raise sufficient capital to reach profitability,” but was unable to do so.

Finkelstein acknowledged how difficult the past year has been for media companies because of “economic headwinds.” He added, “Unfortunately, as a new company, we encountered even more significant challenges than others and could not survive those headwinds.”

Awful Announcing’s Sam Neumann writes about the sports angle to The Messenger shutting down. The staffers covering sports included noted names such Seth Davis and Jeff Goodman on college basketball, Ryan Nanni on college football, Arash Markazi on sports and pop culture), and Mike Tanier on the NFL.

Walter Hussman launches journalism awards

For this item, I turn it over to Poynter media business analyst Rick Edmonds.

Walter E. Hussman Jr., retired publisher of The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, has found a new vehicle to advocate for his passion: traditional, objective journalism. He is sponsoring a contest (advertised in The Poynter Report this week) to honor reporting in the spirit of The New York Times’ motto: “To give the news impartially without fear or favor.”

Hussman chose not to put his family name on the awards. They will be judged in four categories by state press associations and administered through the University of North Carolina and a family foundation. Prizes for print, broadcast, cable and digital news will each carry a $25,000 prize.

In 2020 and 2021, Hussman was a flashpoint of conflict at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media that bears his name. He criticized the work of history writer and scholar Nikole Hannah-Jones as she was being considered for a tenured chair. She ultimately withdrew her candidacy for the job, which was to be the centerpiece of an expanded race and reporting focus at UNC.

Also, as a condition of his $25 million naming gift pledge to UNC, Hussman had insisted on a prominent display of his “core values.” Students and younger faculty complained that the statement was outdated and not reflective of the range of the school’s programs.

“The controversy from four years ago now seems well behind us,” Hussman emailed me. “The core values have been up for over a year in stone in the lobby of the school of journalism at UNC. They have a new Dean, Raul Reis, and I have an excellent relationship with him. I also met with a new interim Chancellor last week. I have been invited to teach a class once every semester at the school, usually on media ethics. I give them real ethical situations that actually occurred, then ask them how they would decide. It seems to keep their attention and I certainly enjoy it.”

O’Donnell’s international reporting

Norah O’Donnell has been anchoring the “CBS Evening News” this week from Bahrain while on assignment for “60 Minutes.”

That’s allowed her to file several noteworthy reports, including:

From above the Red Sea aboard a U.S. surveillance aircraft, where she could see the measures in place to defend against the Iranian-backed Houthi militia attacks on commercial cargo vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region. From inside a secret operations center where no other journalist has been at the U.S. Naval base in Bahrain. A conversation with Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of the U.S. Fifth Fleet, on the protection and security measures in the region. This came after three U.S. soldiers were killed in a drone attack on a base in Jordan on Sunday. No comments in Milwaukee

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is the latest newspaper to end online comments on stories. In a note to readers, Journal Sentinel executive editor Greg Borowski wrote, “No one should have to listen to a few people — standing bravely behind fake names — lob racist or misogynistic taunts at them, or others. And a forum for ideas should not involve running debates on whose mother does what to whom. Allowing that only elevates bad behavior and only empowers bullies.”

Almost a year ago to the day, Feb. 3, 2023, Gannett ended online commenting for most of its news sites. A few of the bigger Gannett papers — including the Detroit Free Press, The Arizona Republic, The Cincinnati Enquirer, and the Journal Sentinel — continued running online comments. The Journal Sentinel then shut down comments on news articles but allowed them elsewhere.

Borowski wrote, “But after closing down comments on news stories at the Journal Sentinel, much of the vitriol and name calling simply migrated to sports and entertainment stories. You may read those comments and think it is mild stuff. But if you got a look at what gets caught in the filters, you would be appalled. Our readers — real people in our community who take time to share their views — are called racist names and labeled child molesters. It’s disgusting.”

Borowski added, “No one should have to read that, least of all a staff member here who is taking valuable time to go through the queue of flagged comments — a journalist who could otherwise be writing stories, shooting photos and editing video. That is, doing their job, and not playing hallway monitor.”

The Journal Sentinel will continue listening to readers in other ways, including mailbags, where readers can ask questions of the news outlet, and a more robust letters to the editor section. It also will try some new ideas, such as readers answering a “Question of the Day.”

Borowski concluded by writing, “Meanwhile, if you are upset about the decision on comments and want to send a spleen-venting email that spews vitriol, calls me names and criticizes us for deciding how we want our own platform to function … Well, please take it elsewhere.”

A big offer for Paramount

Byron Allen, the former comedian and TV host turned media mogul, has made an unsolicited bid for Paramount Global. He offered $14.3 billion, and would also assume Paramount’s debt, which is believed to be around $15 billion. That would make it a deal worth, approximately, $30 billion. The offer was reported first by Bloomberg’s Christopher Palmeri.

Paramount Global includes CBS, Paramount Pictures, the Paramount+ with Showtime streaming service, MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, BET Networks and several international broadcasters.

Allen’s company put out a statement that said, “Mr. Byron Allen did submit a bid on behalf of Allen Media Group and its strategic partners to purchase all of Paramount Global’s outstanding shares. We believe this $30 billion offer, which includes debt and equity, is the best solution for all of the Paramount Global shareholders, and the bid should be taken seriously and pursued.”

Variety’s Todd Spangler wrote, “If successful in swinging a deal, Allen would sell off Paramount Pictures, Paramount Global’s real estate assets and some of its intellectual property, while retaining the company’s TV networks and Paramount+ streaming service and operating those ‘on a more cost-efficient basis,’ according to the Bloomberg report, citing anonymous sources. Meanwhile, Paramount Global has been rumored to be looking at mass layoffs in early 2024.”

Variety’s Cynthia Littleton wrote, “Allen Media Group will undoubtedly face an uphill climb in its pursuit of the storied studio. The company has been at the center of M&A speculation for months. David Ellison’s Skydance Media for several months has been circling a deal to take control of Paramount Global by acquiring the preferred voting shares owned by controlling shareholder Shari Redstone through holding company National Amusements Inc. Warner Bros. Discovery has also had at least one informal discussion with Paramount leadership about the possibility of a combination although those rumors have cooled in recent weeks.”

Allen already is involved in TV ownership. His company owns The Weather Channel, The Grio and many local TV stations. He also has a syndicated TV content business.

After Allen’s bid became public, Paramount Global’s stock “rocketed,” according to Market Watches’ Steve Goldstein and Ciara Linnane.

Best video of the day

FS1 sports talk host Colin Cowherd delivered an absolutely devastating takedown of anyone who has a problem with Taylor Swift and any attention given to her for showing up to support her partner, Travis Kelce, of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Cowherd said that those bothered are mostly “weird, lonely, insecure men.”

Cowherd noted that when male celebrities show up at games — Matthew McConaughey, Drake, Spike Lee and Jack Nicholson, for example — they are celebrated.

“But,” Cowherd said, “a talented and beautiful woman is on the air — one who would never pay attention to lonely men — and it bothers them.”

There’s so much more and I don’t want to spoil it. But it’s four minutes of gold.

Meanwhile, Fox News seems rather shaken by Swift.

As The New York Times’ Michael M. Grynbaum wrote, “Taylor Swift has not uttered a word about the 2024 presidential election. But the mere prospect that the pop superstar could endorse President Biden has sent conservatives on Fox News into conniptions.”

Several on-air Fox News personalities seem spooked by Swift possibly speaking her opinion about the upcoming presidential election. Jeanine Pirro told Swift to not get involved in politics. Commentator Charly Arnolt said, “Please don’t believe everything Taylor Swift says.”

Even Sean Hannity spoke up about Swift, saying she needs to think twice before endorsing Biden. And there are even more examples.

Grynbaum wrote, “Right-wing activists have indulged in baseless speculation that Ms. Swift’s romance with the Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce — a kind of ur-American couple of football star and wholesome pop icon — is a contrivance engineered by Democrats, or perhaps the National Football League, to trick unsuspecting Americans into boosting Super Bowl ratings or voting for Mr. Biden in November.”

Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up.

Interesting thought of the day

Sports radio host Dan Patrick had a really smart idea. Because there are two weeks between the NFL’s conference championship games and the Super Bowl, why not play the Super Bowl on Saturday instead of Sunday?

That way, most viewers can enjoy the game, party a little while watching, and not have to worry about getting up the next day for work.

Media tidbits The Chicago Tribune Guild put out a statement Wednesday that Tribune staffers — more than 200 journalists and production workers — will go on strike for 24 hours starting today. The walkout will also include staffers from the Orlando Sentinel, The Virginian-Pilot, and The Morning Call. Tribune is owned by Alden Global Capital. The Guild says it is protesting over “better pay and working conditions.” The guild claims it has bargained for a “fair contract” since 2018 and that “Alden responded by offering functional pay cuts & fewer benefits despite the Trib’s profits. We’re done playing games.” Madeline Buckley, criminal courts reporter at the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Tribune Guild unit chair, said in a statement, “We didn’t go into this job for the money, but Alden’s cuts have hit so close to the bone that we can’t even do our jobs as journalists anymore. Enough is enough.” NBC News’ Kat Tenbarge with “Fake news YouTube creators target Black celebrities with AI-generated misinformation.” Mediaite’s Tommy Christopher with “Megyn Kelly LOSES It On Maddow and E. Jean Carroll — Says Trump Defamation ‘Worth a Pittance’ If Assault ‘Happened At All!’” People’s Danielle Bacher writes about an anchor from NewsNation in “News Anchor Nichole Berlie Opens Up About Her Breast Cancer Journey: ‘I’m Stronger Than I Thought.’” Hot type Superb work in The Washington Post from Will Hobson: “The Concussion Files. The broken promises of the NFL concussion settlement.” For Andscape, Dwayne Bray with “After Kelvin Moore died in an Alabama prison, his body was returned without organs. His family wants answers.” The New York Times’ Susan Dominus writes about New College in Florida in “Recruited to Play Sports, and Win a Culture War.” More resources for journalists The 2024 Poynter Journalism Prizes are now open for entries. To enter, go to the contest website. The deadline for entries is Feb. 16. Transforming Local Crime Reporting Into Public Safety Journalism (Seminar) — Application deadline today – Feb. 1. Empower your storytelling skills with Beat Academy 2024 (Webinar series) — Feb. 1-Sept. 26. Enroll now. Essential Skills for Rising Newsroom Leaders (Seminar) (May) — Apply by March 26.

Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at [email protected].

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