Don Lemon posted his interview with X owner Elon Musk on Monday.

The New York Times’ Derrick Bryson Taylor called it “raw and occasionally tense.” The Wall Street Journal’s Alyssa Lukpat described it as “contentious.” A headline on The Daily Beast called it “testy.”

The interview generated headlines long before it was actually published. It was supposed to be the first episode of a long relationship between Lemon, the ousted CNN host, and Musk’s X.

But that relationship crashed not long after Lemon interviewed Musk on March 8. After Lemon announced that Musk had canceled their partnership, Musk put out a statement that said Lemon’s show “was basically just CNN, but on social media.” Musk added, “… instead of it being the real Don Lemon, it was really just Jeff Zucker talking through Don, so (it) lacked authenticity. All this said, Lemon/Zucker are of course welcome to build their viewership on this platform along with everyone else.”

So what was said during the interview?

Well, here are a few of the highlights.

Musk said he will not donate money to any presidential campaign, and has no plans to endorse anyone for now, but that might change.

“I may, in the final stretch, endorse a candidate, but I don’t know yet,” Musk said. “I want to make a considered decision before the election, and if I do decide to endorse a candidate, then I will explain exactly why.”

He has already indicated that he is moving away from President Joe Biden, adding, “I’ve made no secret about that.”

Musk seemed irritated when asked about hate speech on his social media platform and, in particular, when asked about antisemitism.

He snapped at Lemon, “I don’t have to answer these questions. I don’t have to answer questions from reporters. Don, the only reason I’m doing this interview is because you’re on the X platform and you asked for it. Otherwise, I would not do this interview.”

About his responsibility to monitor hate speech on his platform, Musk said, “I think we have a responsibility to adhere to the law.”

Musk also said, “If something is illegal, we’re going to take it down. If it’s not illegal, we’re putting our thumb on the scale and we’re being censors.”

Musk often hides behind free speech claims, but there is something troubling about using fears of “censorship” to excuse harmful speech. Musk not only allows questionable speech on his platform, but he often likes it publicly and contributes to the divisiveness.

In his “Reliable Sources” newsletter, CNN’s Oliver Darcy wrote, “At this juncture, calling Musk a right-wing (expletive)poster is no longer provocative. It’s simply accurate. And his ugly behavior is even more troubling because of the fact that Musk is enormously influential, casting a large shadow across multiple industries and doing billions of dollars’ worth of national security business with the U.S. government. In his ownership of X alone, Musk controls one of the world’s most important communications platforms, spitting corrosive venom into the public discourse at a faster speed than his SpaceX rockets hurtle into orbit.”

Lemon asked Musk if X has become a home to conservative conspiracy theories. Musk said, “Old Twitter was fundamentally a tool of the far left.”

Lemon also asked Musk about his use of drugs, specifically ketamine. Musk said he doesn’t drink and that he is prescribed ketamine for depression. However, he said he does not believe he abuses it.

“If you’ve used too much ketamine,” Musk said, “you can’t really get work done, and I have a lot of work.”

Check out Lemon’s interview with Musk. Or don’t. I just gave you the highlights. Or you can check out The Washington Post’s Taylor Telford with “5 key moments from Elon Musk’s interview with Don Lemon.”

The return of Sports Illustrated?

Sports Illustrated ain’t dead yet. Then again, I’m not convinced it is alive and well either.

Put it this way: Sports Illustrated does seem to be in a bit better shape than it was a couple of days ago. On Monday, SI’s owner, Authentic Brands Group, struck an agreement with Minute Media to take over the magazine and website publishing rights previously held by The Arena Group. The optimistic part is that Minute Media knows the sports publishing business, running such brands as The Players’ Tribune, FanSided, and the soccer-oriented 90min.

Even better news is that Minute Media expects to continue publishing the print version of the magazine and will hire back some of the recently laid-off employees. Just last week, there was an announcement that SI would stop printing the magazine in May. But that now has changed. And so, potentially, has the fortunes of the entire brand.

In a memo to staff, Minute Media CEO and founder Asaf Peled said, “Sports Illustrated is the gold standard for sports journalism in the U.S. and around the world, and has been for nearly 70 years across both print and digital media. The weight and power of that distinction cannot be understated.”

The news was met with cautious optimism by the union that represents Sports Illustrated staffers.

Emma Baccellieri, staff writer for SI and vice chair for the SI Union, said in a statement, “We have said from the start that our top priorities are to keep Sports Illustrated alive, uphold the legacy of the institution and protect our union jobs. We look forward to discussing a future with Minute Media that does that.”

The New York Times’ Benjamin Mullin reported, “Minute Media’s license with Sports Illustrated will stretch for 10 years with an option to extend for up to 30 years total, into the magazine’s centenary. Both companies expect the deal, which also includes Sports Illustrated’s Swim brand, to last for the full 30-year term. The companies declined to disclose financial terms but said that Authentic Brands Group was taking a stake in Minute Media as part of the deal.”

Keeping Evan Gershkovich’s name in the news

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, right, is escorted from court in Moscow in January. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

Margaret Sullivan — the former Washington Post media reporter and Buffalo News editor, as well as New York Times public editor — has a new column out in the US Guardian about Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich: “A year ago Russia jailed Evan Gershkovich for doing journalism. He’s still there.”

Russian authorities arrested Gershkovich on March 29, 2023, on charges of espionage. The Wall Street Journal has denied allegations that he is a spy and the U.S. government considers Gershkovich as being “wrongfully detained.”

Gershkovich was Sullivan’s editorial assistant during part of her time as the Times’ public editor.

Sullivan wrote, “As Evan’s reporter friends from the Guardian and the New York Times told me this week, it’s crucial not to let him be forgotten as his second year of imprisonment begins. Please keep him in mind, they ask; and I do, too. Speak his name, wear his image on a pin or button, post about him with a #FreeEvan or #IStandWithEvan hashtag, mention him to your elected officials. For the sake of a fine young man’s life, and for press freedom writ large, the travesty of Evan’s imprisonment must end.”

Manny García takes the helm at Houston Landing

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

Veteran editor Manny García was named editor-in-chief of the nonprofit Houston Landing website Friday. The ambitious online site, a major startup associated with the American Journalism Project, fired García’s predecessor at the start of the year.

García, most recently executive editor of the Austin American-Statesman, comes with gold-plated credentials. He led the Statesman’s bilingual coverage of the Uvalde school shooting, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service last year. The same coverage earned him an Editor of the Year Award from the National Press Association.

Earlier, García was senior editor of a ProPublica/Texas Tribune investigative initiative, editor of the Naples Daily News, a Gannett corporate editor, and a news executive for the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald.

The firing of Mizanur Rahman, founding editor of the site, shocked the staff of Houston Landing in January. They appealed the decision of CEO Peter Bhatia to the site’s board of directors, who backed Bhatia. In the intervening months, the staff has unionized with the NewsGuild.

Neither Bhatia nor García has a Houston connection, but Angel Rodriguez, named managing editor, grew up there. He has held a variety of editing positions, most recently directing the startup of De Los, a publication covering Latino culture for the Los Angeles Times.

In a press release announcing the appointments, Bhatia said, “Manny and Angel … bring decades of experience, leadership and success in our field, an appreciation of the digital world, and a commitment to Houston. … They will build partnerships within our Houston Landing team, and the community, and will help us find new ways to make our journalism of more value to a wider swath of readers.”

Finally, justice

In October 2022, CNN’s Jake Tapper wrote a story for The Atlantic:
“This is not justice.” It told the story of a Philadelphia man convicted of a crime that he insisted he did not commit. C.J. Rice was 17 years old in 2011 when he was arrested for attempted homicide in a shooting that injured four people. In 2013, he was convicted and sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison.

Tapper reported in great detail about how Rice might have been wrongly convicted. In November 2023, Rice’s conviction was overturned. The Atlantic’s Andrew Aoyama wrote, “No physical evidence tied him to the crime, and the single eyewitness who ultimately identified him as its perpetrator had told police on three previous occasions that she didn’t know who had shot her. She later changed her story.”

There was also evidence that Rice was shot himself three weeks before the incident in which he was arrested. Rice’s pediatrician examined him after he was shot and told Tapper he didn’t think Rice shot anyone. The doctor said, “I don’t think it would have been physically possible. He could not have run away.”

Who was Rice’s pediatrician? Theodore Tapper — Jake Tapper’s father.

On Monday, charges against Rice were formally dismissed. He is a free man. Tapper now has a new story in The Atlantic: “Finally, Justice.”

Tapper wrote, “For Rice, now 30, it’s a chance to finally live an adult life, set his own schedule, choose his own clothes, turn lights on and off at his leisure. When he first visited 1301 Filbert for his arraignment, Blockbuster was still renting DVDs and America was still at war in Iraq. This morning, when the announcement came, Rice wasn’t even in the building. He’d spent enough time there. ‘That’s behind me now,’ Rice said.”

In a text to Tapper on Monday morning, Rice said, “I’m glad to see this wrong righted. Can’t call it a mistake. Because the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s judicial system had at least five separate times to correct this specific situation, and chose not to act in the interest of justice.”

A voice of dissent at Fox News

Washington Post media writer Jeremy Barr has a new piece about “Fox & Friends” co-host Steve Doocy: “On Fox News, Steve Doocy has become the unexpected voice of dissent.”

Barr writes about a recent time when Doocy pushed back against his fellow co-hosts about a particular right-wing talking point. Barr wrote, “Doocy’s swerve was the latest illustration of his surprise emergence as the resident dissenter on ‘Fox & Friends’ — a rare member of the Fox News opinion wing who is challenging conventional Republican wisdom on a regular basis. In particular, Doocy has stood out as a skeptic of congressional investigations into Joe and Hunter Biden, bucking the party line while Fox hosts like Sean Hannity regularly decry what they call ‘the Biden crime family.’ He has also emphasized the significance — and veracity — of the legal challenges facing Trump, talked up Trump challengers like Nikki Haley, and dinged the MAGA wing of the Republican Party.”

Let’s not get it twisted. Doocy is not going to replace Jessica Tarlov as a liberal voice on Fox News’ “The Five.” As veteran media reporter Brian Stelter told Barr, “Doocy’s trying to drag Fox one percent closer back to the center of reality.” Stelter added that Doocy’s pushbacks are “love taps, not punches.”

But because hardly anyone raises a dissenting voice on Fox News, Doocy’s occasional raised eyebrows are noticed.

Check out Barr’s story, although you might be surprised to learn Doocy turned down Barr’s interview request.

A new pod

NBA star LeBron James, speaking at the NBA All-Star Game in February. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Does everybody have a podcast?

The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand reports that NBA star LeBron James and ESPN broadcaster (and former NBA player) JJ Redick are starting a podcast to talk about basketball. It will be called “Mind the Game.” It will be a weekly show and will sometimes include guests. It will generally be around 45 minutes. It will debut today

The pod is being produced by James’ Uninterrupted and Redick’s ThreeFourTwo Productions.

Redick told Marchand, “It’s meant to be a very free-flowing conversation about the sport and about the game. If you look at it in a very simplistic way, it’s just about basketball.”

James said in a statement, “When I do a project, the only thing I think about is whether me and my friends would watch it. That is definitely the case with ‘Mind the Game.’ Everything doesn’t need to be designed for internet culture and clicks.”

Here’s a clip of what it will look like.

Media tidbits

• The New York Times’ Adam Liptak with “Supreme Court Wary of States’ Bid to Limit Federal Contact With Social Media Companies.”
• CNN will air “Real Time with Bill Maher” on Saturday nights at 8 p.m. Eastern — a day after each show’s debut on HBO. Variety’s Brian Steinberg has more details.
• The Cook Political Report has put its entire archive online. Semafor’s Ben Smith has the details.
• A few days old, but still worth your time: “Kate Middleton’s Story Is About So Much More Than Kate Middleton.”
• Digiday’s Sara Guaglione with “News podcasts and ad buyers have yet to see a presidential election year ad spend bump.”
• Mother Jones’ David Corn and Ali Breland with “Justice Ginsburg’s Family Decries Bestowing RBG Award on Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch.” Then came word of this.
• Would ESPN star Stephen A. Smith make a good late-night host? He tells Front Office Sports’ Michael McCarthy that he would “love” to be considered as a possible replacement for ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel should Kimmel leave when his current contract expires in July of 2025.

Hot type

• Superb work from The Washington Post’s Deep Reads series. It’s Dan Zak with “The hero. Rich Fierro fought in America’s war on terror. Then terror found him at home.”
• From the always-readable Katie Strang of The Athletic: “Feeding the ‘demon inside’: Ex-employee tells how and why he stole $22 million from Jaguars.”
• Do you have a relatively new car? Then you might want to check out Monday’s edition of The New York Times’ “The Daily” podcast, featuring the reporting of Kashmir Hill: “Your Car May Be Spying on You.”

More resources for journalists

• Bring Poynter to Your Newsroom, Classroom or Workplace.
• Poynter Producer Project (Seminar) (June 4-Sept. 10) — Apply by April 14.
• Reporter’s Toolkit (Seminar) (May 7-June 11) — Get equipped with the tools you need to be successful and receive one-on-one coaching. Apply by April 28.
• Get the edge on reporting on the eight hot topics of the 2024 election with Beat Academy (webinar series) — Rolling enrollment from now through September. Enroll today.

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

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