Biden condemns 'peddlers of lies;' far-right TV ignores his speech; Trump book battle; two reasons for ESPN to cheer; key hearing for Britney Spears

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Brian Stelter here at 10:55pm ET on Tuesday, July 13 with news about the MLB All-Star game, Substack, Olivia Rodrigo, Disney, Newsmax, "YouTube voice," and much more...

"Have you no shame?"

"Make no mistake," President Biden said Tuesday, "bullies and merchants of fear, peddlers of lies, are threatening the very foundation of our country."

Biden's dire warning -- part of his address about an ongoing assault on voting rights across the country -- aired live on CNN, MSNBC, and across the web. But Fox News didn't carry the speech live. Neither did Newsmax. Nor did One America News.

Arguably the faction that needed to hear it the most, the Donald-Trump-won crowd, didn't hear it at all.

"It was the most forcefully Biden has inveighed against Trump since taking office," CNN's team noted. "At one point, accusing Republicans of shirking truth and responsibility for upholding the Constitution, he bellowed: 'Have you no shame?'"

The same question could be asked to the anchors and producers who went out of their way to ignore Biden as he delivered one of the most important speeches of his presidency thus far. Every network and news outlet was well aware it was happening. And Fox was in what it considers "news," not talk, programming at the time.

>> Oliver Darcy writes: "So what prevented Fox from covering the pivotal speech? Nothing that was pressing. While Biden spoke, Fox hosted a discussion on Bill Gates' divorce, previewed a Fox Nation show, and talked about the 'woke' military. It's hard to see how any news exec would view those topics as carrying more importance than Biden's speech on voting rights. But Suzanne Scott and Jay Wallace did..."

Wednesday morning's lead

For a gut check about the significance of the moment, here's the lead story in Wednesday's Washington Post:

"President Biden on Tuesday delivered his most forceful condemnation yet of the wave of voting restrictions proposed in Republican-led states nationwide — efforts the president argued are the biggest threat to American democracy since the Civil War. Biden's speech was an attempt to inject new life into flagging efforts to pass federal legislation addressing the issue. But while he intensified his explanation of the stakes, his speech did not include a call for the Senate to change the filibuster, which is seen by advocates as the best, and perhaps only, way to usher in the kinds of changes Biden is seeking."

Now back to Oliver...

Fox's behavior is not 'news network' behavior

Oliver Darcy writes: "As I said, no news executive could actually believe that previewing a Fox Nation infotainment show holds more editorial weight than carrying a major presidential speech. That leads to the natural Q that has been debated for years: Is Fox a news network? I'd argue it is primarily not. Fox's decisions only make sense when it's viewed as a right-wing talk channel, not a news outlet. It's truly just talk radio on TV: Constant right-wing commentary with an occasional dry reading of the headlines from a conservative POV. Yet too many media reporters still lump Fox in with major news brands. Why is that?"

Fox defaults to mockery

Mockery is really a default setting for Fox's drama-star personalities. "It was a happy day in America, a beautiful July day, and then this afternoon something grave happened. Joe Biden made a very disturbing announcement," Tucker Carlson inveighed. "This country faces a crisis more dangerous than anything since the American Civil War, Biden said."

Carlson acted very, very upset about the Civil War reference. "Even allowing for the dementia," Carlson continued, slipping in a conspiracy theory about the president, "it was a stunningly irresponsible thing for an American leader to say out loud -- dangerous even."

Hegseth won't answer: "Did Donald Trump lose the election?"

Instead of the Biden address, far-right TV focused on the Texas Democrats who flew out of the state to slow down a Republican bill to tighten the state's already-stringent voting rules. Fox's 7pm host this week, Pete Hegseth, booked one of those Dems, James Talarico, for an interview/fight, and as soon as Talarico mentioned Trump's "Big Lie," Hegseth interrupted.

As the segment went on, Talarico heightened the stakes this way: "You have made a lot of money personally and you've enriched a lot of corporations with advertising by getting on here and spewing lies and conspiracy theories to folks who trust you. So what I'm asking you to do is to tell your voters right now that Donald Trump lost the election in 2020."

Hegseth totally lost control of the conversation. He tried to say "it's not your show, sir," but Talarico kept going: "Did Donald Trump lose the election in 2020? Can you answer the question? Did Donald Trump lose the election in 2020?" He added: "Is this an uncomfortable question for you?"

Clearly it was. Hegseth stumbled and then deflected: "Why are you in DC and not in Texas?" I just kept thinking, why is Hegseth unable to admit Trump lost? Again: This is not the behavior of a "news network." And yet Fox constantly gets "news network" treatment and deference...

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- Joe DePaolo writes: "Fox News hated MLB for moving the All Star Game from Georgia over voting law. Now that Fox Sports is airing it, mum's the word..." (Mediaite)

-- Back to reality now... Matt Egan with a critical wake-up call: "America's deep political fissures could cost the country its perfect credit rating..." (CNN Business)

-- Devlin Barrett and Spencer S. Hsu's latest: "Newly unsealed court documents show the Trump DOJ sought a court order for the comms records of three Washington Post reporters in the final days of William P. Barr's tenure as attorney general in 2020, as prosecutors sought to identify sources for three articles written in 2017..." (WaPo)

Trump book battle

The two new books about Trump's final days in office are best sellers already. Michael Bender is at #3 on Amazon's chart right now. Michael Wolff is at #4. In a display of our fractured state of the union, two Fox hosts are even higher on the chart: Mark Levin is at #1 and Jesse Watters is at #2. The difference, of course, is that Levin and Watters don't do any reporting. They just bitch and moan about others' reporting. There are markets for both, with very little overlap...

Next week's Trump book

On Tuesday morning Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker dropped the first excerpt from their new work, "I Alone Can Fix It," which comes out next Tuesday. And their book is now #5 on Amazon's chart. This portion of the excerpt stood out to me: A striking account of Mark Esper trying to stop NBC's Courtney Kube from reporting that "he was preparing to be fired the day after the election" along with other details. "Esper warned Kube that publishing her story could result in a more compliant acting secretary of defense, which could have worrisome repercussions. The story was held as they tussled back and forth."

>> 🔌: I'm coming up on "Don Lemon Tonight" with a look at all three books and what they have in common... Starting with the fact that all three titles are Trump quotes...

WEDNESDAY PLANNER

Olivia Rodrigo will meet with Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci at the WH and record pro-vaccination videos...

The "Loki" series finale drops on Disney+...

Richard Branson and Sirisha Bandla are guests on "The View..."

Game 4 of the NBA Finals starts at 9pm ET...

Key hearing for Britney Spears

En route to L.A. for the hearing, Chloe Melas writes: "Wednesday is a make or break moment in the battle for Britney Spears' freedom. The singer is expected to learn whether Judge Brenda Penny will allow her to hire an attorney of her choice. Her hearing will begin at 4:30pm ET. Remember, Spears' lawyer for nearly 13 years was Samuel D. Ingham. He was court-appointed, and he recently resigned. Now there are lots of petitions going back and forth -- for example the ACLU 'along with 25 civil and disability organizations' just filed a brief 'in support of Spears' wish to choose her own attorney,' as TheWrap reported here.

Melas adds: "Reporters and organizers of the 'Free Britney' movement will be arriving at the courthouse in the wee hours of the morning, clamoring for a seat inside, since there will be no audio feed this time. Spears is expected to call in to the proceeding..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- Days like Tuesday really distinguish CNN: Correspondents delivered live reports from Cuba, Haiti, South Africa, and Iraq, just to name a few of the critical datelines...

-- Jake Tapper: "The Cuban people deserve freedom and democracy..." (Twitter)

-- "Four Iranian intelligence operatives schemed to kidnap a Brooklyn-based journalist," Masih Alinejad, "and smuggle her to Iran in a bid to silence her criticism of human-rights abuses in the Islamic republic, federal authorities said Tuesday..." (NYPost)

-- Coming up: "Biden will participate in a CNN town hall on Wednesday, July 21 in Cincinnati, Ohio," to be moderated by Don Lemon... (CNN)

AccuWeather founder: Fox Weather an "unproven entrant"

Oliver Darcy writes: "On the heels of that NYT story about the forthcoming Fox Weather streaming service, AccuWeather founder/CEO Dr. Joel N. Myers released a statement about Fox and the media's coverage of the new outlet. Myers said that he believes 'as increasingly volatile weather impacts more people,' the focus should not be on Fox, which he called an 'unproven entrant.' Then he boasted about AccuWeather's reach and said journalists should not obsess over 'media wars...'"

Newsmax says it "strongly supports" vaccines

Oliver Darcy writes: "One day after one of its primetime hosts said vaccines fly in the face of 'nature,' Newsmax told WaPo's Jeremy Barr in a statement that the company does support them. 'Newsmax as a network strongly supports President Biden's efforts to widely distribute the COVID vaccine,' a spokesperson said. 'It is important for the safety of all and especially those at high risk, such as the elderly.' Newsmax added, 'From time to time, a guest or host may not be as supportive of these efforts. However, they do not reflect the position of Newsmax...'"

>> That said, Jason Campbell of the progressive group Media Matters has a lengthy article chronicling the channel's "campaign to undermine COVID-19 vaccination..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- "Covid-19 cases are surging in 45 states," and the vast majority of cases involve the unvaccinated... (CNN)

-- "The Mississippi State Department of Health is now blocking comments on its Facebook posts that relate to COVID-19 because of a 'rise of misinformation' about the virus and vaccinations," Leah Willingham reports... (AP)

-- "Brandy Zadrozny writes about how "on TikTok, audio gives new virality to misinformation..." (NBC News)

France fines Google $600 million

"France's antitrust regulator has fined Google nearly $600 million and given the company two months to come up with proposals on how to pay publishers for their content or face more punishment," CNN's Charles Riley and Sashay Vandoorne reported Tuesday. The regulator said "that Google had disregarded several injunctions related to the tech company's negotiations with French news publishers..."

>> Google said it was "very disappointed," adding, "We have acted in good faith throughout the entire process. The fine ignores our efforts to reach an agreement, and the reality of how news works on our platforms..."

"Ugly Truth" launch week

"An Ugly Truth" authors Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang will be on CNN's "New Day" on Wednesday AM...

-- Margaret Sullivan's newest column builds off the book's revelations: "I can't quit you, Facebook, but I should. We all should." (WaPo)

-- Critical new research about outrage being part of Facebook's secret sauce: "Social media is creating perverse incentives for polarizing content... Polarizing posts are more likely to go viral... These posts inspired mockery and condemnation..." And, big picture, "U.S. politics is increasingly driven by hate, not solidarity..." (WaPo)

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- FB is introducing a new feature called "Group Experts." It will allow admins to designate which members are highly knowledgeable about the group's topic," Dave Gershgorn writes... (The Verge)

-- "Twitter now lets you limit who can reply to a tweet after the fact," Taylor Hatmaker reports... (TechCrunch)

-- "Substack will offer free classes to writers to help them earn their first $1,000," Kaya Yurieff reports. That's one of the takeaways from her interview with CEO Chris Best... (The Information)

-- "Brands may be worried about negative feedback, but disabling the feature might do more harm than good," Emmy Liederman writes of TikTok comments... (Adweek)

-- Rebecca Jennings writes about "YouTube voice," which she describes as "the slightly exaggerated, over-pronounced manner of speaking" on the platform... (Vox)

The Atlantic's finances

Kerry Flynn writes: "$50 million. That's how much The Atlantic needs to make in annual subscription revenue in order to 'break even,' CEO Nicholas Thompson says. It's one of the many details Dylan Byers shares about the magazine's finances in his latest report. The Atlantic lost more than $20 million in 2020 and is on track to lose $10 million, according to slides of a company presentation Byers obtained. The goal is to turn a profit in 2023, which all depends on the subscription pivot. The bad news is that the magazine's subscriber base has been 'static' or even 'slightly declining' with a 75% to 80% retention rate..."

Zenia Mucha to exit Disney

Brooks Barnes' question is on the minds of many in and around Disney: "Who will replace the departing Zenia B. Mucha, the power behind the power?"

The longtime chief communications officer announced Tuesday "that she would not renew her lucrative contract ($4.9 million in total 2020 compensation) and would leave Disney early next year." Alan Braverman, Disney's top lawyer, "also announced his retirement on Tuesday," Barnes wrote. Don't miss his kicker about Mucha making sure that Bob Iger would never be photographed "wearing Mickey Mouse ears, an image that she fears media outlets could use to make him look silly..."

>> Brian Lowry writes: "Mucha's timing makes sense after nearly 20 years working with outgoing chairman Bob Iger, but her tenure is equally notable given that she came out of politics. In surviving so long at a major studio, she bucked the trend of senior PR executives who have been wooed by Hollywood -- always a little star-struck when it comes to the political class -- only to experience a rather rude awakening once they got there. As for Mucha's deserved reputation for toughness in dealing with reporters, whatever Disney's image, she was doing precisely the job that her bosses wanted her to do."

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

By Kerry Flynn:

-- The Observer plans to relaunch in the coming months with Meg Marco of ProPublica as its new EIC. She starts next week, per Sara Fischer... (Axios)

-- Speaking of Fischer, Axios says it is exploring a paid version of her Media Trends newsletter. And Gabriel Synder announced a paid NYC-media-news newsletter called Off the Record, in a nod to his days at the Observer. Fischer wrote about Synder's plans, too... (Axios)

-- ESPN's Jeff Passan defended MLB star Shohei Ohtani on "First Take" after Stephen A. Smith's xenophobic remarks: "He is the sort of person who this show and who this network and who this country should embrace. We are not the ones who should be trafficking in ignorance." Ben Strauss has a good rundown on Smith's other ESPN colleagues who spoke out... (WaPo)

-- Smith apologized on the air on Tuesday... (People)

-- LeBron James' entertainment firm, SpringHill Company, is exploring a sale at a valuation of up to $750 million, Jessica Toonkel and Sahil Patel scooped. Nike is interested... (The Information)

Two reasons for ESPN to cheer

>> SUNDAY: "Italy's victory over England on penalties in the UEFA Euro 2020 Final was a smash hit for ESPN," Awful Announcing's Joe Lucia writes. "Per the network, the match drew 6.488 million viewers, an all-time high for a Euro match in the US. Viewership peaked at over eight million viewers for the penalties..."

>> MONDAY: The Home Run Derby on ESPN and ESPN2 "was the most-watched since 2017," the network reported. The event averaged 7.1 million viewers and peaked with 8.7 million "during the swing-off between Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto..."

Takeaways from the Emmy noms

Brian Lowry writes: "My main reaction perusing the Emmy nominations was that the most loaded categories for this year's awards are related to limited series, which has become an especially strong showcase for the best that TV has to offer. The other note is that by nominating shows like 'WandaVision' and 'The Mandalorian,' the Emmys have embraced pop culture more directly than the Oscars thus far have in their resistance to theatrical blockbusters, the question being whether that will actually lure anyone back to watch the awards show. Last year's Emmys were in hindsight the canary in the coal mine, warning of the awards-show ratings collapse to come. While it's unlikely anything will fully reverse that trend, even modest gains would be progress."

Read Lowry's full analysis here...

Noteworthy nominations

-- Lowry writes: "For the first time I can remember, the Academy actually put out the nomination numbers by studio, which saw Disney (between Disney+, ABC, Freeform, etc.), with 146 total nominations, followed by 138 for WarnerMedia (HBO/HBO Max, CNN et al), and 129 for Netflix."

-- Frank Pallotta quipped: "Congrats to 'Hamilton,' a film of a musical that was released on a streaming service, for its nominations for Emmys, an award that celebrates TV..."

-- "Pose" star Mj Rodriguez became "the first out trans woman to be nominated in the outstanding lead actress category," Sandra Gonzalez writes...

-- "WandaVision" lifted Marvel to "its first major Emmy nominations," the LAT notes...

-- Good headline via Variety's Todd Spangler: "Quibi is dead but its shows — which live on via Roku — just got eight Emmy noms..."

-- CNN's "Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy" and "United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell" were both nominated for outstanding hosted nonfiction series/special...

-- The NYT's "Framing Britney Spears" documentary was also nominated, in the same category as "Boys State" and "The Social Dilemma..."

A very well-timed cover...

The day began with GQ releasing its August cover featuring Jason Sudeikis. It's a great profile. Then, later in the morning, "Ted Lasso" became the most nominated freshman comedy in Emmy history, "besting the 19 nominations 'Glee' earned in 2010 for its first season," as Sandra Gonzalez wrote here...

Streaming and theaters can clearly coexist

Frank Pallotta writes: "Streaming vs. movie theaters has dominated the Hollywood narrative over the last few years. However, two of the biggest hits this summer have shown that the two sides can get along. Paramount announced that 'A Quiet Place, Part II' would be available on Paramount+ starting on Tuesday after a big box office run. This followed a huge weekend for 'Black Widow' both in theaters and on Disney+."

>> "We have had success with a variety of strategies," Jim Gianopulos, chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, told Pallotta. "Viewers and fans who were not yet ready to return to theaters now have the opportunity to experience this film in the comfort of their homes and via their streaming devices." He added, "we're confident that we'll see the same enthusiasm for 'A Quiet Place Part II' on Paramount+ that made it such a standout success in theaters..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX

-- "A24 recently explored a possible sale, with the indie film studio floating an asking price of between $2.5 billion to $3 billion," Matt Donnelly reports. "It's unclear if those discussions continue..." (Variety)

-- "Netflix and Universal Filmed Entertainment Group are extending an agreement that will give the streaming giant exclusive rights in the U.S. to the media company's animated feature films," Brent Lang writes... (Variety)

-- Speaking of Netflix, it's is turning to the YouTube franchise "CoComelon" for help "cracking children's TV," Lucas Shaw reports... (Bloomberg)