For years now, Donald Trump has considered the media to be his enemy. Not just his enemy, but the “enemy of the people.”

He says it over and over, so much so that it has become something of a catchphrase for him. And so much so that we practically have become numb to it.

Which is very troubling.

Sometimes we have to remind ourselves just how dangerous and undemocratic (note the small d in democratic) it is to have someone who was president, and wants to be again, constantly attack a profession specifically mentioned in the U.S. Constitution.

While Trump has been known to go on unhinged rants, both in speeches and on his Truth Social, it doesn’t mean his threats can just simply be brushed off as, well, unhinged rants. His words should be taken seriously.

That brings us to what he posted on Truth Social late Tuesday night. Trump wrote:

MSNBC (MSDNC) uses FREE government approved airwaves, and yet it is nothing but a 24 hour hit job on Donald J. Trump and the Republican Party for purposes of ELECTION INTERFERENCE. Brian Roberts, its Chairman and CEO, is a slimeball who has been able to get away with these constant attacks for years. It is the world’s biggest political contribution to the Radical Left Democrats who, by the way, are destroying our Country. Our so-called “government” should come down hard on them and make them pay for their illegal political activity. Much more to come, watch!

Come down hard on them? Make them pay? Much more to come, watch?

It doesn’t take a First Amendment scholar to see that Trump is threatening a cable news network just because they criticize him, just because he doesn’t like them.

Aren’t those the kind of things they do in countries with dictators?

This is hardly the first time Trump has gone after MSNBC.

Now, to be clear, MSNBC does not use public airways, as Trump wrote. It’s a cable network. But Brian Roberts, who Trump mentioned, is the chairman and CEO of Comcast, which owns NBC. And NBC does use public airways.

In September, Trump wrote on Truth Social, “They are almost all dishonest and corrupt, but Comcast, with its one-side and vicious coverage by NBC NEWS, and in particular MSNBC, often and correctly referred to as MSDNC (Democrat National Committee!), should be investigated for its ‘Country Threatening Treason.’”

Trump added, “Why should NBC, or any other of the corrupt & dishonest media companies, be entitled to use the very valuable Airwaves of the USA, FREE? They are a true threat to Democracy and are, in fact, THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE! The Fake News Media should pay a big price for what they have done to our once great Country!”

Deadline’s Ted Johnson points out that “Ajit Pai, who Trump appointed to chair the FCC, said … the FCC ‘under the law does not have the authority to revoke the license of a broadcast station based on the content of a particular newscast.’”

That shouldn’t stop anyone 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 power of government to punish media outlets who do critical reporting about him. Where are those who speak reflexively about fidelity to the Constitution but apparently have not read it?”

Musk’s R-rated message

X owner Elon Musk has a message for advertisers who have boycotted (or threatened to boycott) his company because of antisemitic posts he amplified there: “Go (bleep) yourself.” Except, of course, he didn’t say “bleep.”

Speaking at the 2023 New York Times DealBook Summit in New York on Wednesday, Musk told interviewer Andrew Ross Sorkin that he doesn’t want such companies to advertise. When Sorkin asked him to clarify, Musk said, “If somebody’s gonna try to blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Go (expletive) yourself.”

Sorkin looked at Musk while some laughter could be heard among the audience. Musk then said it slowly. “Go. (Expletive). Yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is.”

He then said, “Hey, Bob, if you’re in the audience” — an apparent reference to Disney CEO Bob Iger.

It seemed like a stunning moment, even for the unpredictable Musk.

When Sorkin said the reality is that X needs advertisers, Musk said, “What this advertising boycott is going to do is it’s going to kill the company. And the whole world will know that those advertisers killed the company. And we’ll document it in great detail.”

When Sorkin suggested that advertisers will say they didn’t kill the company, but that Musk did with his antisemitic posts, Musk said, “Oh yeah? Tell it to 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 on stage Wednesday, tweeting, “Someone just (bleeped) himself for sure.” Except she didn’t say “bleep.” Swisher later tweeted, “Adult toddler says naughty words and thinks that it’s cool when it’s just pathetic.”

Musk also addressed what the White House recently called “Antisemitic and racist hate” when Musk said he agreed with a social media post accusing “Jewish communities” of pushing “hatred against whites.”

Musk told Sorkin the tweets were “one of the most foolish if not the most foolish thing I’ve ever done on the platform.” He added, “I’m sorry for that tweet or post. … I tried my best to clarify, six ways to Sunday, but you know at least I think over time it will be obvious that in fact, far from being antisemitic, I am in fact philosemitic.”

By the way, just one more thought: Sorkin’s interview skills were exceptional, specifically when staying quiet and letting Musk keep talking.

Paste Magazine acquires Jezebel in all-cash deal

For this item, I turn it over to my Poynter colleague, Angela Fu.

Iconic feminist site Jezebel, which closed Nov. 9, could start publishing again as soon as this week, after Paste Magazine acquired the site Tuesday in an all-cash deal.

The deal, first reported by The New York Times, also included political news site Splinter, which shut down in 2019. Paste editor-in-chief Josh Jackson declined to share how much the magazine paid G/O Media for the two sites. He said he hopes to publish new stories on Jezebel this week, and 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 Nov. 9 that it was closing Jezebel because the site did not have enough advertising support. High interest rates and “global crises” had chilled the advertising market, CEO Jim Spanfeller told staff in a memo announcing the closure, and the company failed to find a buyer for the publication. G/O Media laid off 23 staff members across its brands, including the entire Jezebel team.

404 Media later reported that G/O Media had told Jezebel staff that advertisers did not want their content to appear next to Jezebel’s stories, which touch on subjects like sex and abortion. The ad sales team also reportedly asked if it could remove Jezebel’s “Sex. Celebrity. Politics. With Teeth” tagline from the site.

Jackson told The New York Times that he wanted to bring the “with teeth” aspect of Jezebel’s coverage back when he revives the site and that he believes there are advertisers who “have the courage to go where the audience is.”

Paste, which Jackson co-founded in 1998 and now runs as a digital-only outlet, is completely supported by advertising. Asked if Jezebel will use a similar business model, Jackson told Poynter, “The site will continue to be ad-supported. It’s a beloved site with a large daily-user audience, and we’re confident we can be successful with that model.”

Following Jezebel’s closure, journalists, former staff and readers penned remembrances for the site, which launched in 2007 and helped usher in a wave of women-focused digital outlets during the 2010s. Many of those websites, including xoJane, The Hairpin, Rookie and The Frisky, have since shut down.

Jackson has already rehired one former Jezebel employee and plans to bring back as many former staff as Paste can afford to, Adweek reported.

Striking a deal

(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

Google and the Canadian government have reached a deal that will continue to allow Canadians to search for news on Google.

Back in June, Canada passed the Online News Act, which will require tech giants to pay publishers for linking to their content online. The new law goes into effect next month. Google threatened to block news content on its platforms, but the crisis was averted with Wednesday’s agreement. Google will pay $100 million (Canadian) to the country’s news industry.

Meanwhile, because of the new law, Meta has been blocking news in Canada since June, meaning Canadians cannot access news content from sites such as Facebook and Instagram.

On Wednesday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, “Google has agreed to properly support journalists, including local journalism. Unfortunately Meta continues to completely abdicate any responsibility towards democratic institutions.”

Meta has argued the Canadian law “is based on the incorrect premise that Meta benefits unfairly from news content shared on our platforms, when the reverse is true.”

The Associated Press’ Robert Gillies has more.

ABC for sale? Maybe, maybe not

There have been rumors for a while now that Disney might be willing to sell some or all of its linear TV assets — most notably ABC. That’s because CEO Bob Iger has hinted as much, saying last summer that networks such as ABC, FX and Freeform “may not be core” to Disney’s business.

But at a town hall this week, according to the Los Angeles Times’ J. Clara Chan, Iger downplayed the rumors, saying, “Maybe this is a fault of mine, I don’t know, but I often give people the benefit of my own thinking in public, meaning I run things up flag poles to see how they’re going to fly. It’s just sometimes when I speak out loud or think out loud, I get a reaction right away. In most cases when I do it, I’m trying to get a reaction from the investment community, just to see.”

He added, “When I said that, I meant it, but I did not necessarily believe everybody would run with a story that everything was being sold, which is not the case.”

In fact, during the town hall, he seemed rather bullish about the TV business, saying, “The fact that I can either watch a show on ABC in prime time or see it on Hulu the next morning, or four or five or six hours later and serve maybe a completely different audience, that has real strategic value to the company. And there’s a lot of it. So no decisions have been made. Really that should not in any way indicate anything that is negative or, or should be of concern.”

In September, media entrepreneur Byron Allen reportedly offered Disney $10 billion for ABC, eight local TV stations, FX and the National Geographic Channel. Then last month, Allen reiterated his desire to buy ABC, telling Variety’s Jaden Thompson, “I think ABC’s a real possibility. They say they’re not ready. When they’re ready I’m going to chase it down like a lion chases down a gazelle.”

Cuban says he isn’t running

Mark Cuban was certainly 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.

Still, what’s the deal? Leaving “Shark Tank” and selling the Mavs? That led to speculation that he might run for political office (i.e. the presidency).

But Cuban told CNBC’s Dan Mangan in an email, “No plans to run.”

In an email to The Hollywood Reporter about why he is leaving “Shark Tank,” Cuban wrote, “I just want to have a couple summers with my teens before they go off on their own. Nothing to do with the show. I love it. I love being on it. I love what (it) represents and how it motivates entrepreneurs around the world.”

Words from NBC News’ Kristen Welker

NBC News’ Kristen Welker, moderating a presidential debate in 2020. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

NBC “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker was honored this week with the Fourth Estate Award from the National Press Club.

In her speech at the ceremony in Washington, D.C., Welker said, “We’re about to turn the calendar again — into yet another consequential election year, an election year that will be defined perhaps like no other by our political and cultural divides. As we consider our role and our responsibility as journalists in this coming year … we are equipped, perhaps better than anyone, to give our audiences what they need to make decisions this year. But telling people how to think or what to think is not a part of that role.”

Welker added, “The viewpoints of our elected officials and of those who are seeking office matter. Those perspectives are critical to helping voters make their decisions and holding these officials to account — that is the core of our very democracy. At this critical moment, we cannot afford to stick out heads in the sand. We must have the courage to hold a mirror up to ourselves as a society — and to always ask the hard questions about who we are and how we got to this moment. And furthermore, we have to trust in our audience that they will have the tools and capacity to make decisions if we do our jobs well. If we do not trust in our audiences — how will we ever help repair their faith in us?”

Media tidbits

• Breaking news from Wednesday night. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has died. He was 100. There surely will be some extensive think pieces in the days ahead, and we’ll review them here in the newsletter. But, for now, here’s an obit from The Washington Post’s Thomas W. Lippman.
• Tonight is the debate between Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California. It will be on Fox News starting at 9 p.m. Eastern. Sean Hannity will moderate.
• The Associated Press with “Five journalists were shot in one day in Mexico, officials confirm.”
• The Atlantic’s Jonathan M. Katz with “Substack Has a Nazi Problem.”
• Watch this from MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow: “‘Like a moral tug of war for the soul’: Horrific knife attack sets up modern political showdown.”
• Awful Announcing’s Jesse Pantuosco with “The long, sad decline of Sports Illustrated.”
• “Saturday Night Live” announced a big show for Dec. 16. Former cast member Kate McKinnon returns to guest host, with Billie Eilish as musical guest.
• My Poynter colleague, Kristen Hare, with “What’s Press Forward? Here’s your primer.”

Hot type

• Juicy story of the day: The Hollywood Reporter’s Suzanne O’Malley and Barbara Lippert with “The Golden Bachelor’s Not-So-Golden Past.”
• Vox with “The 2023 Future Perfect 50. The thinkers, activists, and scholars working on solutions to today’s (and tomorrow’s) biggest problems.”
• Texas Monthly’s Lauren Larson with “My Weekend With Bigfoot Believers.”

More resources for journalists

• Subscribe to PolitiFact’s weekly newsletter. Get facts delivered straight to your inbox.
• Poynter ACES Introductory Certificate in Editing (Online) — Enroll now.
• How Any Journalist Can Earn Trust (Self-directed course) — Enroll now.
• Transforming Local Crime Reporting Into Public Safety Journalism (Seminar) — Apply now.

Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.

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