MSNBC's succession planning; competing narratives about Afghanistan; Spotify's expansion; 'Jeopardy!' intel; Netflix's stunning fall slate

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Brian Stelter here. It's 10:36pm ET on Tuesday, August 24. With a big assist from Oliver Darcy, here is the latest on Netflix, Josh Sapan, Ron Klain, ESPN, Jessica Cruel, Spotify, "Jeopardy!" and much more...

MSNBC's shuffle

MSNBC's evening lineup will look very different one year from now.

The weeknight edition of "The Rachel Maddow Show" will come to an end sometime next year, as I reported earlier this week. But that's not the only X factor. Brian Williams may be leaving his program "The 11th Hour." Williams' contract will expire in the next six months and he wants to move off the late-night hour, three people familiar with the matter said.

So 9pm and 11pm are both big puzzle pieces for MSNBC management. As you can imagine, staffers are abuzz about the possibilities, since prime time changes are relatively rare across the cable news landscape. I just published this brand new story for CNN Business, based on conversations with eleven sources, sizing up the situation...

Succession planning

None of the sources, not a one, were surprised that Maddow wants a change of professional pace. Sunday's stories about her new mega-deal noted that Maddow has been going strong for thirteen years. Colleagues speak about her work ethic and storytelling skills in glowing terms. Hiring Endeavor was seen internally as a signal that she was changing lanes: "You don't hire Ari Emanuel just to renew your deal at MSNBC," said one fellow MSNBC anchor. Indeed, with her new contract, she'll be working on content across NBCUniversal.

So when the time comes -- some say next spring -- Maddow will start to host specials for MSNBC. One source pegged the number of specials at around 35 a year. NBC execs concluded that fewer days of Maddow was better than no days at all.

Who might succeed her? The other prime time hours are stable: The 8pm host Chris Hayes signed a contract extension last year and the 10pm host Lawrence O'Donnell signed an extension earlier this year. At 9pm, Maddow's regular fill-ins are Nicolle Wallace, Ali Velshi and Ari Melber. I get into all the details here. Bottom line: "MSNBC will look very different by spring," one of the sources said...

"MSNBC's Perplexing Lack Of A Primetime Anchor Farm Team"

That's what TV critic Rick Ellis wrote about on Monday. "Rachel Maddow is a singular talent. But there are also other singular talents out there to be discovered," he wrote. "And when they are discovered, they need to be put into an environment where their talent can be nurtured and they can develop their own individual voice..."

WEDNESDAY PLANNER

The first full day of the Asian American Journalist Association's annual convention...

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will provide a 12:15pm ET update on Afghanistan...

"Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed" premieres on Netflix...

CinemaCon continues in Las Vegas...

Competing narratives about Afghanistan withdrawal

While the Biden White House emphasizes the data -- 70,000+ evacuations from Afghanistan since August 14, an extraordinary success story -- news outlets continue to emphasize the people at risk of being left behind. And it's all true. It's all accurate.

The tension really comes down to the emphasis: Is the story primarily, as Politico wrote, that "the West Wing is looking increasingly disconnected from reality" by projecting "a sense of calm competence — even as the Taliban tighten their grip on Afghanistan," or is the story primarily the success of the US-led extractions?

At the WH press briefing on Tuesday, Fox's Peter Doocy gave voice to an American citizen in Kabul named Fatima who, he said, is stranded at home, lacking "clear guidance" about evacuation options. Eventually Jen Psaki said "I would welcome you providing their phone number and we will reach out to them today. And I can assure you of that." Keep scrolling for more examples of the competing narratives...

The journo evacuation continues

"CBS News has secured the evacuation of Afghan individuals who provided support of its news coverage on the ground in Afghanistan," the network said Tuesday. "The group of workers and their family members — dozens in total — had arrived safely in Doha," and "they aim to eventually gain refugee status in the United States..."

Investigating the death of a Reuters colleague

Danish Siddiqui, a star photojournalist for Reuters, was killed during a Taliban attack in Afghanistan on July 16. More than one month later, questions persist about what happened and whether his death could have been prevented. For example: "Some of the news agency's journalists have questioned whether Reuters provided adequate security for Siddiqui on the assignment."

So the Reuters newsroom conducted an investigation into his death -- and produced this special report completely independent of the colleagues who supervised Siddiqui and approved his Special Forces embed. Take the time to read it here...

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- Since WH chief of staff Ron Klain's Twitter likes and retweets keep getting scrutinized, here's a retweet to note: Klain shared MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan reacting to the 70,000 # and saying "a lot of 'hot takes' turned out to be not so hot. Credit to Biden and his team. This is a pretty huge number..." (Twitter)

-- On the other hand, NBC's Richard Engel, back in Kabul, said Tuesday that "I think history will judge this moment as a very dark period for the United States..." (Mediaite)

-- "Watching recent news coverage, a future president would likely conclude that indefinite occupation will get you better press than withdrawal, even from an unpopular war," Seth Masket writes... (Mischiefs of Faction)

-- "No, the press hasn't turned hawkish on Afghanistan," Ramesh Ponnuru writes: The criticism of Biden's predicament "has at least eight better explanations..." (Bloomberg)

-- "An Afghan pop star is sharing her harrowing story of fleeing her country," Lisa Respers France reports... (CNN)

Is the law finally catching up to Burkman and Wohl?

CNN's Brian Fung reports: "The FCC has proposed a record-breaking $5 million fine against notorious right-wing political operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman on Tuesday, after an investigation by the agency found that the two men appeared to have violated US robocalling laws. The decision, which is not yet final, follows charges by Michigan's attorney general last year linked to hundreds of robocalls allegedly created by Wohl and Burkman and designed to discourage voting in the 2020 election..."

Another 1/6 prosecution relating to the media

Oliver Darcy writes: "An Oklahoma man has been arrested for allegedly assaulting an Associated Press photographer during the Jan 6 insurrection. The DOJ says he is the eighth person arrested for an assault on the press that day..."

>> An AP spokeswoman told Darcy, "It is deeply troubling when journalists are targeted for simply doing their jobs. These charges are an encouraging sign that those who attacked journalists on Jan. 6 will be held accountable.."

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- Another example of the Larry Elder full-court press I mentioned last night: Shawn Hubler writes about how Elder "rose swiftly" in "the age of Rush Limbaugh..." (NYT)

-- Susan Dominos has a must-read on how Dominion exec Eric Coomer became a villain on the right: "At a time when well-funded efforts to sow mistrust in the election were already underway, Coomer had given conspiracy theorists a valuable resource, a grain of sand they could transform into something that had the feel — the false promise — of proof..." (NYT)

-- Aaron Blake explains "how the right's ivermectin conspiracy theories led to people buying horse dewormer." He writes that "the story of how ivermectin slowly worked its way to the top of the priority list for many on the right is a familiar one in this day and age..." (WaPo)

-- Catherine Rampell says Fox's Covid message "seems to be: Don't be one of those liberal sheep, getting vaccinated. Act like a literal sheep, getting dewormed..." (WaPo)

-- "Nightline" looked at how teen social media influencers are in an "uphill battle against COVID-19 vaccine misinformation..." (ABC News)

-- Harvard's Institute of Politics polling director John Della Volpe: "I would say one thing that we have found is that people who are less engaged with the news do tend to be more hesitant..." (Harvard Gazette)

-- "The sister of a woman who died in March has called on anti-vaccination campaigners to stop using her dead sister's image and memory as part of their protest," Rogan McGreevy reports... (Irish Times)

CNN Health EP: My son was "lucky to get a pediatric ICU bed"

Ben Tinker, the executive producer of CNN Health, published on Tuesday a must-read piece in which he revealed that his son was recently hospitalized in the ICU. Tinker wrote the piece because he wanted to explain how the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting people not inflicted with the virus. Tinker wrote that his son was "lucky to get a pediatric ICU bed when he needed one," but "he shouldn't have needed luck." Tinker added, "This is why I'm sharing my family's story -- as a call to action for everyone to make the important decisions that allow us to maintain a safety net that any of us might need at any time..."

WaPo humor columnist apologizes for inaccurate piece

Kerry Flynn writes: "After receiving fierce criticism for a humor column that inaccurately described Indian food as 'based entirely on one spice,' WaPo's Gene Weingarten apologized and the paper amended a correction. Weingarten told me via phone Tuesday that he thought 'people would not take this column seriously because I was not taking myself seriously. That was a miscalculation, and what I do realize that I did not realize before — I should have — was that the item on Indian food was different from all the others. All the others were specific foods. Even tongue in cheek, I was not condemning an entire ethnic cuisine, and I think that made it stand out. I do understand why people are upset by it.'"

David Zurawik lets the Sun set

Baltimore Sun media critic (and "Reliable Sources" regular!) David Zurawik "has retired from his position after 32 years at the newspaper," Dan Rodricks broke the news on Tuesday and took the words right out of my mouth: "Z's departure is a loss for the Sun and its readers. The man has an energy field around him, a writer who approaches his work with enthusiasm, insightfulness and a sense of humor."

Now here's the good news: Zurawik is teaching full-time at Goucher College and continuing to write about how media can help save our democracy. Stay tuned...

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

By Kerry Flynn:

-- Condé Nast has promoted Jessica Cruel to EIC of Allure. She was most recently serving as the media brand's content director... (WWD)

-- Substack has acquired Cocoon, "a subscription-based social network for connecting with close friends and family," Kia Kokalitcheva writes... (Axios)

-- Kayleigh Barber checks in on publishers who have experimented with crypto and the blockchain such as Time and Bleacher Report... (Digiday)

-- Marc Tracy writes about the "newly rebooted" Ebony, "which has an illustrious history but wants (and needs) to be something new as well..." (NYT)

-- Great news for Dave Jorgenson... WaPo is growing its TikTok team, hiring a video producer and community manager with plans to test new formats... (Insider)

Inside the heated battle at WGAE over digital media

Kerry Flynn writes: "For the past two years, I've written a lot about the new unions in digital media. I believe it's been one of the most important changes in this industry as workers secure themselves and future staffers better compensation and benefits as well as hold their employers accountable. Every time a union went public, I found my Twitter feed to be flooded with supportive tweets from other union members. But it turns out not everyone has been happy about this movement, or at least they aren't anymore. I dug into a heated debate happening among members of the Writers' Guild of America, East. It's become the main point of contention between the two tickets in this week's WGAE council election. One side wants the WGAE to consider spinning digital media workers out of the union. The other side is advocating for the WGAE to stay together and continue new organizing. More in my story..."

>> Related: WGAE announced Tuesday MSNBC staffers voted to unionize. The 300-person bargaining unit includes writers, producers and other editorial staff. Meanwhile, MSNBC.com writers are represented by the NewsGuild in NBC News Digital's union...

Spotify opens paid subscriptions to all creators

"Spotify is flinging open the doors to its podcast-subscription program to anyone in the U.S., as the audio streamer rolls out new monetization options for podcast creators as part of its ongoing battle with Apple," Variety's Todd Spangler reported Tuesday. "Along with the broader availability, Spotify is expanding monthly subscription options creators can charge to 20 different price points — starting at 49 cents and stepping up to $150..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- CNN's Alisyn Camerota is guest-hosting the "Distraction" parenting podcast this month. Her newest episode is with ABC correspondent (and Jim Sciutto's better half) Gloria Riviera, talking about juggling demanding TV careers & parenting... (Distraction)

-- "The former co-head of Google's Ethical AI research group, Margaret Mitchell, who was fired in February after a controversy over a critical paper she co-authored, will join artificial intelligence startup Hugging Face to create tools that help companies make sure their algorithms are fair," Dina Bass reports... (Bloomberg)

-- TikTok and Shopify are "working together to add the ability for consumers to shop directly in the TikTok app for the first time," NYT's Erin Woo reports... (NYT)

-- Speaking of the Tok... "TikTok is testing an experimental set of developer tools that might one day let creators build augmented reality effects," James Vincent reports... (The Verge)

-- A decade ago, Tim Cook took over Apple as CEO. Kif Leswing writes about "how the company has thrived under his watch..." (CNBC)

-- "More independent media is being blacklisted" in Russia, Bianna Golodryga reported on "Amanpour," highlighting the plight of Russia's only independent TV channel, TV Rain, which is being listed as a foreign agent... (CNN)

Andrew Cuomo loses his home and his Emmy

More bad news for the now-former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo: The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced Tuesday that it would revoke the Emmy he was awarded for the briefings he delivered during the pandemic. The organization cited the AG's report and Cuomo's resignation as the reason for the decision. "His name and any reference to his receiving the award will be eliminated from International Academy materials going forward," the group added. The announcement came on the same day that new governor Kathy Hochul took control of the Executive Mansion in Albany...

>> Cynthia Nixon's burn: "The difference between me and Andrew Cuomo? Neither of us is governor, but I still have my Emmy(s)..."

Who will fix the "Jeopardy!" mess?

Tuesday's must-read about "Jeopardy!" comes from Vulture's Joe Adalian. He channels the TV industry's big question -- "What the hell was Sony thinking?" -- and gets the game show's former showrunner Harry Friedman on the record for the first time. Friedman says he was not pushed out in favor of Mike Richards, and was not consulted about any of this year's changes. Adalian points out that Sony "has failed in building a bridge from the Trebek era to the future" and strongly suggests that Sony bring Friedman back to steady the ship. Read on...

>> Cynical reporter Joe Flint pointed out that "Jeopardy's ratings don't suggest the show has been irreparably damaged or tarnished with viewers. Now maybe that will change, but until then one might think that most viewers are greeting all this drama with a shrug..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

-- "Max Kellerman's departure from 'First Take' is official." He's moving to ESPN Radio mornings and getting a daily TV show... (USA Today)

-- The takeaway from the Kellerman news: ESPN is Stephen A. Smith's world now, Andrew Marchand writes... (NYPost)

-- "A controlling R. Kelly barred his live-in girlfriends from watching a documentary series that portrayed him as a sexual predator and kept watch over them during an interview with Gayle King, one of the women testified Tuesday at the R&B singer's sex-trafficking trial," Tom Hays reports... (AP)

-- Whoopi Goldberg slammed cancel culture during a conversation at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Naman Ramachandran reports: "The truth doesn't seem to matter as much these days..." (Variety)

Sapan steps aside. Sale next?

Tuesday morning's news: AMC Networks president and CEO Josh Sapan, a "cable pioneer," is becoming vice chair, and Matt Blank is taking over as interim CEO.

Tuesday afternoon's analysis by THR's Georg Szalai: "At this moment of transition, some Wall Street experts also wonder if an often-suggested potential sale of AMC Networks could materialize as the company searches for a new, permanent CEO."

>> Szalai says "several analysts lauded Sapan as a key figure in what has often been called the dawning of the 'golden age of TV...'"

Here's the big question about Netflix's fall slate

"Netflix has dated its fall schedule of film releases, narrative and documentary," Deadline's Mike Fleming Jr wrote Monday. "The service that promised a new movie each week has a whopping 43 films coming in the final four months of 2021. That is twice the volume of releases most film studios would dream of releasing in a busy calendar year. Can a studio generate that many movies and have most of them be any good?"

>> As Fleming wrote, this will be a major test of Netflix's "high volume plan..."

>> Brian Lowry emails: It "sure looks like the service's strategy is to drown some of its competition through the sheer weight of its volume..."

"Sony executives slam hybrid releases..."

Brian Lowry writes: "Sony executives expressed solidarity with theater owners at CinemaCon Monday evening, saying that the simultaneous release of movies at home by rival studios with streaming services is 'devastating' to the film industry. IndieWire's Chris Lindahl has the details here. Of course, it's worth noting Sony did enter into a recent deal that includes producing direct-to-streaming movies for Netflix..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX

-- "National Association of Theatre Owners chief John Fithian and No. 1 global circuit AMC boss Adam Aron took the [CinemaCon stage] to continue the patriotic messages for theatrical exhibition about how they are an essential to a multibillion-dollar industry," Anthony D'Alessandro and Nancy Tartaglione write... (Deadline)

-- "On Tuesday, Netflix offered a first look at 'Attack Of The Hollywood Clichés!,' a one-off comedy special hosted by Rob Lowe, announcing that it will debut globally on September 28," Matt Grobar writes... (Deadline)

-- "'Your Honor' has been renewed for Season 2 at Showtime," Joe Otterson writes... (Variety)

-- "Jake Gyllenhaal will star in and produce an adaptation of Robert Kirkman's comic book, 'Oblivion Song.' Brian Oliver and Bradley Fischer's New Republic Pictures optioned the title, developing it as a feature film," Mia Galuppo writes... (THR)

Lowry reviews "Clickbait"

Brian Lowry writes: "'Clickbait' is the latest provocative-sounding Netflix series that might not be worth a click. The premise: A man is kidnapped, and will be killed when video of him hits 5 million views." Read on...

Remembering Charlie Watts

"The unassuming son of a truck driver who gained global fame as the drummer for the Rolling Stones" has died, Hilary Clarke wrote for CNN. He was 80.

Watts' death is front page news in some of Wednesday's papers. The Guardian remembers him this way: "With his limber stance, keen knowledge of jazz, and unruffled ability to make songs swing even when keeping the strictest time, Watts is regarded as one of the greatest – and most stylish – rock drummers of all time."

"Rock's ultimate drum god didn't want the spotlight," Rob Sheffield wrote in this appreciation for Rolling Stone. Watts "was there to do a job," he wrote, "which was knocking people off their feet, night after night, year after year." 🙏

SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST...

Pet of the day

Reader Stephen Levinson emails a photo of his dog Benji on a sunny day in the Berkshires: "He can't wait until later tonight so that he can read the latest issue of Reliable Sources..."

Thank you for reading! Email us your feedback and tips anytime. Oliver will be in the chair tomorrow while I learn how to chop down trees at my farmhouse...

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