Bad press for presidential pooches; real April Fools' Day news; Covid 'cognitive dissonance;' Fox CEO's Australian move; Netflix's $450 million sequels

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No April Fool's pranks here, I promise! Brian Stelter here at 10:40pm ET Wednesday with the latest on President Biden, Endeavor, Facebook, Vice, the BBC, "Made for Love," Netflix, Paul Simon, and more...

In the doghouse

President Biden's dogs Major and Champ are a media story!

Okay, hear me out 😉 Biden's infrastructure goals are certainly the more important story right now. But I think we can learn some things by looking at the reactions to coverage of the presidential pooches.

First there were those biting incidents. Then on Wednesday there was an instance of "dog poo on the floor," as dutifully (doo-doo-tifully?) reported by the White House press pool. The reactions are running the gamut, showcasing the many feelings and gripes and questions people have about the American news media.

More than anything, the doggie drama heralds a return to a more mundane post-Trump news cycle. The Biden White House is largely scandal-free (by design) so a problematic pet counts as newsworthy. Of course, even the word "problematic" is a problem in some corners. There are Major defenders who think this subject is being botched by the press. So let's unpack this a bit.

When a canine accident was spotted at the WH on Wednesday, FoxNews.com played it straight: "Biden dog poops on White House floor." The Daily Mail went with "the eagle has landed!" The AP's playful headline was "Ruh roh! Biden pooch drops doggie doo in White House hallway."

More than anything, in this always-on age, Major and Champ are #content, hashtag included. In the same way that presidential puppy photos are a reliable viewer draw, good dog/bad dog debates are traffic bait. There's something for everyone so to speak: While right wing trolls called the doo-doo a metaphor for the Biden era, The Daily Caller came up with an editorial defending Major as a "patriotic American dog."

The Discourse's Jack Crosbie took a faux-controversial stand, "The Biden Dogs are Bad Boys," writing on Wednesday that "the truth demands to be heard." Manny Fidel went even further in an opinion piece for Insider: "Biden's dogs must resign." Even The Onion got in on the fun: "Secret Service Worry Major Biden's Behavior Influenced By Time Spent On Far-Right Dog Forums."

Every website gets clicks and everyone wins, except for the readers who aren't in on the jokes...

A chance to learn

Hot takes and humor aside, there's been some serious coverage of the dogs, and rightly so. For example, the CBS affiliate in Philly interviewed experts who said Major, a rescue, is "likely dealing with social anxiety." This is common: "It's a problem that many dogs face in new environments..."

The age of abundance

A quick Twitter search reveals hashtags like #MajorGate and supporters chanting "Free Major" and many, many complaints about the volume of news coverage about the dogs. Political analyst Matthew Dowd channeled all of it on Wednesday: "Our democracy is under assault, we are still in midst of a global pandemic, white supremacy is rampant, and GOP refuses to do anything about gun violence and voting rights, and some in the media are focusing on Biden's dogs?? Come on folks."

"Come on" is what the AP's DC bureau chief Julie Pace also said when Dan Pfeiffer, the former Obama aide, mocked the AP's "Ruh roh!" coverage of the dogs. Pace said people should view the newswire's coverage in its totality: "We have important stories out today on Biden's infrastructure plan, DOD's transgender policies, EPA returning scientists to key boards, more $$ going to the Palestinians, a new poll on Biden's high pandemic approval ratings. And yes, a light, 273 word story on a dog."

I agree with Pace, but most people don't see all of the AP's Biden stories in one place – they see scraps of stories shared in social feeds. Gone are the days when the dogs would be the subject of a single People magazine spread or weekend TV segment. We live in age of news media abundance, when one bowel movement is covered a dozen different ways, and where the internet makes it all searchable. Then writers like me weigh in, and comedians, and contrarians, and the quantity of coverage causes normal people to roll their eyes and dismiss the media writ large. Not good!

The bottom line

CNN's Kate Bennett, who broke the stories about both biting incidents, has been on the receiving end of a ton of "this isn't news" commentary. I asked her about the news coverage of these human, or canine, interest stories, and she pointed this out:

"The Bidens made a big deal about these dogs, heralding their arrival, letting them run free, posting pics of them all over the White House. I could have done without the poop anecdote - mostly because it was Champ who had the accident and he is 13, and any of us who have raised a dog into old age are very sensitive to the ways in which our beloved dogs show decline. It broke my heart. I couldn't find it funny, or newsy. Yet, with the biting, in a very real news way, I did a good deal of reporting... There are a good deal of people who work on the campus, inside and out, who have had strong feelings about Major's behavior since he arrived in late January."

The bottom line, Bennett said, is that "the stories that rile up the Twitterverse and peanut gallery the most are the ones that are human. And there's nothing more 'human' than a story about a pet dog. Right?"

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- Biden's message about his $2 billion jobs proposal: "I'm convinced if we act now in 50 years people are going to look back and say this was the moment that American won the future..." (CNN)

-- The trial of Derek Chauvin eclipsed POTUS on the network news: Wednesday's revelations led all three nightly newscasts... (CNN)

-- The whole "Voltswagen" thing was merely a joke "in the spirit of April Fools' Day." But it's never funny to hoax the press... (AP)

-- Ari Emanuel and Endeavor are taking a "second shot at an IPO," expected sometime later this year, "the first public offering by a Hollywood agency owner and an opportunity for redemption..." (LAT)

-- This time around, Elon Musk "is listed as a nominee for its board of directors..." (Bloomberg)

-- Variety's new cover story: "Can Alamo Drafthouse Battle Back From Bankruptcy and Lead a Moviegoing Revival?" (Variety)

Covid 'cognitive dissonance'

"We're in a tricky spot right now, a moment of profound cognitive dissonance," with many Americans vaccinated but many more still vulnerable to the coronavirus, as Frank Bruni wrote in his most recent NYT newsletter. Here's more along those lines:

-- "Biden's Covid-19 team is torn over how to convey two seemingly conflicting ideas," Politico reports: "That the nation is closer than ever to ending the health crisis, and yet remains in imminent danger from the virus..."

-- The US has seen 6,960 new deaths in the last seven days... STAT's Andrew Joseph wrote about "the particular torment of dying, now, from Covid-19..."

-- "Now is just not the time to pull back and declare premature victory," Dr. Anthony Fauci told Chris Cuomo Wednesday night. "Hang in there a bit longer..."

-- CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the same thing at Wednesday's Covid briefing: "We are so close" but "but we're not quite there yet." But is anyone listening anymore?

-- The newest AP-NORC poll shows that 73% of Americans are approving of Biden's handling of the pandemic, including about half of Republicans...

-- Looking ahead: Kara Swisher said in an email to colleagues Wednesday that the Code conference is planning an in-person event for late September...

THURSDAY PLANNER

Ryan Lizza will interview Ron Klain at a virtual Politico Playbook event at 9am ET...

Biden will convene his Cabinet in-person for the first time...

Testimony in Minnesota v. Chauvin will resume at 10:30am ET...

It's MLB Opening Day, which means 17 straight hours of coverage on the MLB Network...

"Law & Order: Organized Crime" premieres as part of a crossover with "SVU..."

Hunter Biden's book is beginning to leak

The Guardian and the NYT both have highlights from Hunter Biden's memoir "Beautiful Things," which comes out next Tuesday. He opens up "about crack addiction, his romantic relationship with his sister-in-law and the new love that halted his cycle of despair," NYT's Elisabeth Egan wrote.

Marianne Szegedy-Maszak, who reviewed the book for WaPo, says the book is "at once harrowing, relentless and a determined exercise in trying to seize his own narrative from the clutches of the Republicans and the press." So: Who will snag the first TV interview with Hunter?

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- "Houston Chronicle Executive Editor Steve Riley announced Wednesday that he will retire after a 41-year career in journalism, including more than three years at the Chronicle... A national search for Riley's successor will start immediately..." (Chron)

-- Ian Bogost wrote about "the implications of Amazon's turn toward social-media hostility..." (The Atlantic)

-- Katherine Miller's newest must-read: "In out of the darkness of the pandemic, you can feel the future coming back, in the relative calculations of people's lives..." (BuzzFeed News)

Fox and OAN: We're not hiring Gaetz

Oliver Darcy writes: "In addition to talking with Newsmax about a possible position at the right-wing network, Matt Gaetz told The Daily Beast's Asawin Suebsaeng and Justin Baragona that he also had conversations with OAN and Fox. But in statements to the Beast, those channels made it clear they are not interested. 'No one with any level of authority has had conversations with Matt Gaetz for any of our platforms and we have no interest in hiring him,' a Fox rep said. And OAN founder Robert Herring said, 'Right now, I'm not really hiring anybody for talk shows. I think he is a great congressman, and I told [that 'somebody'] to tell him to stay there. That's what I want Congressman Gaetz to do.' Oof..."

Tucker was livid after that interview

Darcy adds: "Gaetz's hopes of potentially landing at Fox were likely further diminished after his interview Tuesday with Tucker Carlson. During the interview, Gaetz repeatedly tried to rope Carlson into the scandal — something that angered the Fox host. 'It pissed him off,' a source familiar with Carlson's thinking explained to me."

>> Related story: "When Carlson marvels at the craziness of the interview, he's coming face to face with the ethic of his own employer," WaPo's Erik Wemple writes...

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- Facebook's VP of global affairs Nick Clegg came out with a Medium post about the FB algorithm on Wednesday. He asserted that it's not in FB's interest "to continually turn up the temperature and push users towards ever more extreme content..." (Medium)

-- Casey Newton chatted with Clegg and challenged him on the idea that Facebook does not reward provocative content... (The Verge)

-- Facebook's removal of Lara Trump's chat with Donald Trump was a big story in right-wing media circles on Wednesday. Not as big: Interest in the actual video of the two Trumps. It has barely topped half a million views on Rumble... (USA Today)

-- At least 34 QAnon believers participated in the Capitol insurrection, according to researchers at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, Masood Farivar reported... (VOA)

-- David Gilbert "talked to dozens of people whose lives have been affected by QAnon and found that there is no such thing as a typical Q follower..." (Vice)

Lachlan's Australian adventure

David Folkenflik's story for NPR is full of new details about Fox Corp CEO Lachlan Murdoch relocating to Sydney, Australia. He reports that "Murdoch's children are now enrolled in school in Sydney, Australia's largest city, and the family is expected to stay there at least through the start of the next school year."

The obvious question: Can anyone effectively oversee Fox News and Fox's other US assets from half a world away? Related Q: Does Lachlan want to?

"The company has not explained to employees how Murdoch intends to run the company a half-world away," Folkenflik says. But the official line from the company is that Lachlan "continues to split his time between Los Angeles, New York and Sydney as he has for years," and "our businesses all are thriving," largely via Zoom meetings...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

By Kerry Flynn:

-- Some SPAC news: "Vice Media is in advanced talks to merge with 7GC & Co Holdings, a special purpose acquisition company led by tech investor Jack Leeney," Jessica Toonkel reported... (The Information)

-- Newsletter publisher 6AM plans to expand to 14 markets and nearly double its subscribers and its annual revenue, Mark Stenberg wrote... (Adweek)

-- Amaris Castillo interviewed New Jersey journalists about covering the state's cannabis legalization... (Poynter)

-- Lyz Lenz talked with Talia Lavin about online harassment and how people should respond and prepare... (Men Yell at Me)

-- Ashley Carman's scoop: Facebook shorted video creators thousands of dollars in ad revenue, claiming there were 'technical issues' affecting a 'small number' of creators. They'll be paid out... (The Verge)

-- Scott Nover analyzed why Microsoft is interested in buying Discord... (Adweek)

-- Staffers at The State, McClatchy's newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, announced their intention to unionize... (Twitter)

BBC's China correspondent leaves the country

The BBC has moved China correspondent John Sudworth to Taiwan after what the Foreign Correspondent's Club of China called "months of personal attacks and disinformation." The group said the "abuse" was part of a "larger pattern of harassment and intimidation that obstructs the work of foreign correspondents in China and exposes their Chinese news assistants to growing pressure."

The BBC said Wednesday that "John's work has exposed the truths the Chinese authorities did not want the world to know." Sudworth will remain the BBC's China correspondent, but from Taiwan. This comes "as Beijing repeatedly expresses frustration with BBC reporting on the Chinese region of Xinjiang, where authorities are accused of carrying out human rights abuses on Uyghur and other ethnic Muslim minorities," CNN's Pauline Lockwood explains...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

-- Missed this yesterday: Ruby Cramer is joining Politico as senior staff writer... (Politico)

-- This striking newspaper campaign by Havas Lisbon "shows just how rarely women are covered in sports..." (Adweek)

-- For sports fans without cable, a startup called Buzzer "has secured rights to stream snippets of NHL games and PGA golf on smartphones" for 99 cents. Ben Mullin has details... (WSJ)

-- Ben Sisario reports on the "latest blockbuster transaction" in the music publishing business: Paul Simon "has sold his entire songwriting catalog — including classics like 'Bridge Over Troubled Water,' 'The Sound of Silence' and 'Still Crazy After All These Years' — to Sony Music Publishing..." (NYT)

-- "NBCUniversal is considering pulling its movies from HBO Max and Netflix and keeping future new film releases for its streaming service Peacock," Lucas Shaw reports... (Bloomberg)

-- ICYMI: Britney Spears has officially and candidly responded to the "Framing Britney Spears" documentary... (CNN)

'Godzilla vs. Kong' stomps into US theaters

Frank Pallotta writes: "Hollywood has looked for a film that gives insights into its future post-pandemic. It may finally have it, and it stars a radioactive lizard and a giant ape. Warner Bros.' 'Godzilla vs. Kong' hit domestic theaters and HBO Max on Wednesday. It's expected to make north of $20 million over the holiday weekend. That would normally be a pretty lackluster result, but it's enough to make the movie one of the biggest openings of the pandemic..."

>> "'Godzilla vs. Kong' is important both financially and symbolically for a movie theater industry that has been shaken to its core by the pandemic," Comscore's Paul Dergarabedian told Frank. "This weekend's debut provides a real-time opportunity to gauge consumer enthusiasm..."

Lowry reviews 'Made for Love'

Brian Lowry writes: "'Made for Love,' streaming Thursday, is the latest series set about 15 minutes in the future, with the perils of technology -- used in this case as a means of control by a tech billionaire over his partner -- as a recurring theme. Like 'The Flight Attendant,' this HBO Max show is built around a female character in a perilous situation, and buoyed by Cristin Milioti's performance. Read on..."

Netflix's $450 million sequels

"Netflix unsheathed the awesome power of its checkbook Wednesday, spending an astronomical $450 million for the rights to Knives Out 2 and 3 — the follow-up installments to writer-director Rian Johnson's hit 2019 whodunit," Vulture's Chris Lee wrote Wednesday evening. "The sequels' $450 million price tag eclipses Netflix's biggest movie-acquisition expenditures to date... by a wide margin..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX

-- Lisa Respers France writes: "FKA Twigs thanked Lil Nas X for acknowledging that her 'Cellophane' video inspired his 'Montero...'"

-- One more from Lisa: "Amanda Kloots marked the anniversary of the day she took Nick Cordero to the hospital for Covid-19..."

-- Alexis Benveniste writes: "Nickelodeon is pulling a virus-themed episode of 'SpongeBob SquarePants' because of 'sensitivities' linking it to the coronavirus pandemic..."

-- "Reality TV star Jen Shah of 'The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City' was unable to participate in her own court arraignment on Wednesday due to technical issues caused by more than 250 people calling in to the virtual hearing..."

A "CSI" revival

Brian Lowry writes: "Here's one more for the everything-old-is-new-again department, as CBS confirms a revival of the long-in-development 'CSI: Vegas.' The original show -- which premiered in 2000 -- ended its run in 2015.Variety's Joe Otterson wrote that 'original series stars William Petersen and Jorja Fox will reprise the roles of Gil Grissom and Sara Sidle...'"

SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST...

Pet of the day

Corinna Keller, VP of CNN International Commercial ad sales, writes: "Love starting my day with a healthy dose of RELIABLE SOURCES to get informed. My dog ARTECHE is often nearby, curious to get the scoop, but tends to be more interested in finding a warm spot in the sun..."