DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Tucker Carlson’s Lesson in the Perils of Giving Airtime to an Autocrat
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Jim Rutenberg | Michael M. Grynbaum | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Tucker Carlson left Moscow more than a week ago, riding high from an interview with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia that returned him to the spotlight after his abrupt cancellation by Fox News last spring. But the interview with the wartime autocrat, mocked in various corners of the political-media world for its soft touch, continues to have a long and tortured afterlife — becoming a trending topic all over again on Friday after Mr. Putin’s most vocal domestic opponent, Aleksei A. Navalny, turned up dead in a Russian prison. “This is what Putin’s Russia is, @TuckerCarlson,” Liz Cheney, the former Republican congresswoman from Wyoming, wrote on X after the news of Mr. Navalny’s death broke on Friday. “And you are Putin’s useful idiot.”Naomi Biden, President Biden’s granddaughter, also weighed in, pointing to a video that Mr. Carlson had recently posted in which he contrasted the supposed splendors of Russia under Mr. Putin’s leadership with the “filth and crime” of the United States. “Has anything aged so poorly, so quickly before?” Ms. Biden wrote on X.

Persons: Tucker Carlson, Vladimir V, Putin, Aleksei A, ” Liz Cheney, Navalny’s, ” Naomi Biden, Biden’s, Carlson, Ms, Biden Organizations: Fox News Locations: Moscow, Russia, Wyoming, United States

“It seems like a great opportunity to highlight that he’s running for president,” Ms. Shanahan said. “I do think we have an environmental health crisis in this country,” Ms. Shanahan said. Stefanie Spear, the press secretary for the Kennedy campaign, did not respond to a request for comment on Monday. Mr. Mellon’s role has raised eyebrows among some Democrats, with fears widespread in the party that Mr. Kennedy could siphon votes away from Mr. Biden. “Neither of us were willing to give up on the idea of the Super Bowl ad,” Mr. Lyons said.

Persons: Robert F, Kennedy Jr, John F, Kennedy, Nicole Shanahan, Sergey Brin, Ms, Shanahan, ” Ms, ”, ” Mr, “, ” Tony Lyons, Shanahan’s, Stefanie Spear, Brin, Biden’s, —, Biden, Emily Elconin, Lyons, Gavin de Becker, de Becker, Kennedy’s, Timothy Mellon, Donald J, Trump, Mr, he’s, Jim Rutenberg Organizations: Sunday, Google, CBS Sports, Paramount, Paramount Global, PAC, Bay Area, Democratic, Democratic National, Trump, Federal Locations: Bay, United States, New York

☆ Tucker Carlson Regains the Bullhorn, at Least Temporarily
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( Jim Rutenberg | Michael M. Grynbaum | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Last spring, it seemed Tucker Carlson might have reached the end of his fiery path through American media and politics. Fox News canceled his top-rated show, depriving Mr. Carlson of his nightly platform in prime time. Under the old rules of the legacy media, Mr. Carlson would have been off the air and out of sight through the end of the 2024 election, when his contract runs out. But Mr. Carlson is no typical television star. In landing an exclusive interview with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia — released on Thursday on the social network X and Mr. Carlson’s own streaming site, Tucker Carlson Network — the host returned with a vengeance to the center of American politics.

Persons: Tucker Carlson, Carlson, Vladimir V, Putin, Russia — Organizations: Fox News, Tucker Carlson Network Locations: Russia

Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host, has interviewed President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, a sign that the Russian leader is seeking to make a direct appeal to American conservatives as U.S. aid to Ukraine hangs in the balance. Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, said Mr. Carlson had conducted the interview on Tuesday. Mr. Carlson has been in Moscow for several days, according to Russian state media, which has delivered a blow-by-blow account of his visit, raising anticipation of a potential interview by Mr. Carlson of Mr. Putin. On Tuesday night, he revealed that he was interviewing the Russian leader. “We’re here to interview the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin,” Mr. Carlson said in a video apparently shot from a high-rise building in central Moscow and posted to the social media network X.

Persons: Tucker Carlson, Vladimir V, Putin, Dmitri S, Carlson, Mr, “, Vladimir Putin, ” Mr, We’ll, ” Organizations: Fox News, Kremlin Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Moscow

☆ Tucker Carlson Says He Will Soon Interview Putin
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-06 | by ( Anton Troianovski | Jim Rutenberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia will “soon” sit for an interview with Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host said on Tuesday, a sign that the Russian leader is seeking to make a direct appeal to American conservatives as U.S. aid to Ukraine hangs in the balance. “We’re here to interview the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin,” Mr. Carlson said in a video apparently shot from a high-rise in central Moscow and posted to the social network X. “We’ll be doing that soon.”The Kremlin did not immediately confirm that the interview would take place, and has declined to comment on the possibility when asked by journalists in recent days. Mr. Carlson has been in Moscow for several days, according to Russian state media, which has delivered a blow-by-blow account of his visit, raising anticipation of a potential interview by Mr. Carlson of Mr. Putin. Mr. Carlson, whose show appears on X, did not specify the timing of any upcoming interview.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, “, ”, Tucker Carlson, Vladimir Putin, ” Mr, Carlson, We’ll, Mr, Putin’s Organizations: Fox News, CNBC Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Moscow, American

☆ Tucker Carlson’s Visit to Russia Draws Speculation of Putin Interview
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-05 | by ( Jim Rutenberg | Milana Mazaeva | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

If so, Mr. Carlson would be the first American media figure to land a formal interview with the Russian leader since he invaded Ukraine nearly two years ago. Mr. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, has indicated that Mr. Putin was denying requests from Western new outlets because their countries had been “stupefied” by anti-Russian propaganda. But Mr. Carlson has been a defender of Mr. Putin while attacking his Western critics, placing him at the vanguard of a pro-Putin wing of the American conservative movement. In a call with reporters on Monday, Mr. Peskov said: “Many foreign journalists come to the Russian Federation every day. Many continue to work here, and we welcome this.” He added, “As for possible interviews with the president, including with foreign media, we have nothing to report at the moment.”

Persons: Tucker Carlson, Vladimir V, Putin, Carlson, Putin’s, Dmitri Peskov, Mr, Peskov Organizations: Fox News, Putin, Russian Federation Locations: Moscow, Russia, United States, American, Ukraine

☆ Rupert Murdoch officially steps down from his media empire, handing over the reins to his son Lachlan
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Lachlan Murdoch is stepping onto center stage. On Wednesday, his father, Rupert Murdoch, officially stepped down as chairman of News Corporation, the print publishing arm of the billionaire mogul’s powerful media empire, marking the end of an era. In his final remarks on Wednesday to the News Corporation board as chairman, Murdoch hit on a number of topics. His profile rose when he took on the role of executive chairman in 2015 at what was then 21st Century Fox. But Lachlan, whose Fox News has refrained from openly skewering the GOP frontrunner, has never made such comments in public.

Persons: Lachlan Murdoch, Rupert Murdoch, Rupert, Murdoch, Evan Gershkovich, ”, Lachlan, ” Rupert, James Murdoch, Fox, Donald Trump, Trump, hasn’t, Jim Rutenberg, “, “ Will Lachlan, ” Rutenberg, “ Murdoch, Will Lachlan Organizations: CNN, News Corporation, Fox Corporation, Fox News, Century Fox, Disney, Fox, GOP, Australian, Voting, The New York Times Locations: Russia, Lachlan, Australia, Americas

☆ Rupert Murdoch to Retire From Fox and News Corporation Boards
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Jim Rutenberg | More About Jim Rutenberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Rupert Murdoch is retiring from the Fox and News Corporation boards, the company announced Thursday morning, making his son Lachlan the sole executive in charge of the global media empire he built from a small local newspaper concern in Australia starting 70 years ago. The elder Mr. Murdoch will become chairman emeritus of the two companies, the company said in a release. Mr. Murdoch, 92, had shown no intention to step down or even slow down — even after he named Lachlan as the operating heir to his business empire in 2019, when he sold his vast entertainment holdings to the Walt Disney Company. Even now, in his emeritus status, he will continue to offer counsel, Lachlan Murdoch said in a statement.

Persons: Rupert Murdoch, Lachlan, Murdoch, Lachlan Murdoch Organizations: Fox and News Corporation, Walt Disney Company Locations: Australia

☆ Rupert Murdoch completes the real-life 'Succession' story. Here's how his son Lachlan rose to the top.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Madeline Berg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Rupert Murdoch announced he is stepping down as the leader of Fox and News Corp.His elder son, Lachlan, will take over both companies, ending a decades-long family drama. She quit the family business years ago. AdvertisementAdvertisementThat left Lachlan and James, who have passed the title of successor between the two of them over the decades. For much of the 2000s and 2010s, it seemed as if James would eventually take over the family business. AdvertisementAdvertisementMeanwhile, Murdoch's favorite son, Lachlan, has been a Roman Roy-esque wild card, with the same right-wing politics as the "Succession" character.

Persons: Rupert Murdoch, Lachlan, HBO's, Lachlan Murdoch, Murdoch, —, Logan Roy, I'm, Murdoch's, Michael Wolff, — Elisabeth, James —, Murdoch didn't, Jonathan Mahler, Jim Rutenberg, Elisabeth, Siobhan Roy, James, Kendall Roy, Wolff, Kendall, Roman Roy, Fair's Gabriel Sherman, Lachlan weren't, Sherman Organizations: Fox, News Corp, Service, Fox Corp, Fox News, Street, New, New York Post, Fair, New York Times, Wall, Century Fox, latter's, New York Magazine Locations: Wall, Silicon, New York, Roman, Australia

☆ Does CNN’s Turmoil Mean There’s No Room on Cable for Independent News?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Jim Rutenberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the end, Mr. Licht’s attempt appeared to satisfy no one. In fact, Mr. Licht’s short tenure does not provide an easy answer. But it did illuminate just how hard it can be to find success where Mr. Licht was sent looking. And, several current and former CNN staff members said, that clear notion was precisely what was lacking under Mr. Licht and his boss, Mr. Zaslav, whose direction he was following. The definition was shaped more by what they did not want — all that had come before them under Mr. Licht’s predecessor, Jeff Zucker — than what they did want.

Persons: Licht’s, Licht, ” —, Zaslav, Donald J, Trump, . Licht, Jeff Zucker — Organizations: Cable, Republican, CNN

In the month since the settlement, Fox has refused to comment in detail on the case or the many subsequent setbacks. That has left a string of unanswered questions: Why did the company not settle earlier and avoid the release of private emails and texts from executives and hosts? How did Fox’s pretrial assessment so spectacularly miss the mark? Repeatedly, Fox executives overlooked warning signs about the damage they and their network would sustain, The Times found. When pretrial rulings went against the company, Fox did not pursue a settlement in any real way.

☆ New Defamation Suit Against Fox Signals Continued Legal Threat
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Jim Rutenberg | Steven Lee Myers | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Fox News was hit on Wednesday with another defamation lawsuit, this one from a woman who said the network promoted lies about her that generated serious threats to her safety and harmed her career prospects. The suit was filed on behalf of Nina Jankowicz, the former executive director of a short-lived Department of Homeland Security division assigned with coordinating efforts to monitor and address disinformation threats to national security. Right-wing pundits and politicians falsely portrayed her group as part of an Orwellian bid to control the speech and thought of ordinary Americans. Ms. Jankowicz, a prominent specialist in Russian disinformation and online harassment, became the primary subject of their attacks. In 300 mentions over eight months on Fox last year, she was repeatedly demeaned and defamed in highly personal language, the lawsuit asserts.

A representative for Mr. Carlson said he had no comment. The contents of the text were disclosed in interviews with several people close to the defamation lawsuit against Fox. Image A page from the redacted document obtained by The Times that contains the text message from Tucker Carlson that led to his demise at Fox. In that text, Mr. Carlson described his own emotions as he watched the video of the violent clash, which he said took place on the streets of Washington. Mr. Carlson did not describe the race of the man being attacked.

☆ Opinion | Requiem for the Newsroom
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Maureen Dowd | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON — I don’t want this to be one of those pieces that bangs on about how things used to be better, and they’ll never be as good again. But, when it comes to newsrooms, it happens to be true. “What would a newspaper movie look like today?” wondered my New York Times colleague Jim Rutenberg. Now we sit at home alone staring at our computers. There’s a reason they made all those newspaper movies, ‘All the President’s Men,’ ‘Spotlight,’ ‘The Paper.’

The day before Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation trial against Fox News was set to begin in a Delaware courthouse, the Fox board of directors and top executives made a startling discovery that helped lead to the breaking point between the network and Tucker Carlson, one of its top stars. Private messages sent by Mr. Carlson that had been redacted in legal filings showed him making highly offensive and crude remarks that went beyond the inflammatory, often racist comments of his prime-time show and anything disclosed in the lead-up to the trial. Despite the fact that Fox’s trial lawyers had these messages for months, the board and some senior executives were now learning about their details for the first time, setting off a crisis at the highest level of the company, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions. The discovery added pressure on the Fox leadership as it sought to find a way to avoid a trial where Mr. Carlson — not to mention so many others at the network — would be questioned about the contents of the private messages they exchanged in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.

☆ As Carlson and Lemon Exit, a Chapter Closes on Cable’s Trump War
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Jim Rutenberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

They were on very different networks and did very different things to draw very different ratings. Mr. Carlson often led in the ratings by running wild at Fox News with white nationalist and false conspiracy stories that put him in a class by himself. But in their most recent incarnations, Mr. Carlson and Mr. Lemon were both products of the Trump years — set-top-box combatants who often made headlines themselves by giving their audiences generous helpings of indignation and outrage. Now, in different ways, their ousters represent at least a temporary pulling back from the excesses of the media coverage that the Trump election, presidency and post-presidency spawned.

☆ A $787.5 Million Settlement and Embarrassing Disclosures: The Costs of Airing a Lie
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Jim Rutenberg | Katie Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In settling with Dominion Voting Systems, Fox News has avoided an excruciating, drawn-out trial in which its founding chief, Rupert Murdoch, its top managers and its biggest stars would have had to face hostile grilling on an embarrassing question: Why did they allow a virulent and defamatory conspiracy theory about the 2020 election to spread across the network when so many of them knew it to be false? But the $787.5 million settlement agreement — among the largest defamation settlements in history — and Fox’s courthouse statement recognizing that the court had found “certain claims about Dominion” aired on its programming “to be false” — at the very least amount to a rare, high-profile acknowledgment of informational wrongdoing by a powerhouse in conservative media and America’s most popular cable network. “Money is accountability,” Stephen Shackelford, a Dominion lawyer, said outside the courthouse, “and we got that today from Fox.”The terms of the agreement, which was abruptly announced just before lawyers were expected to make opening statements, did not require Fox to apologize for any wrongdoing in its own programming — a point that Dominion was said to have been pressing for.

☆ Fox News election fraud revelations could take down the network’s embattled chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

New York CNN —Who will Rupert Murdoch exile from the Fox kingdom? The stunning levels of misconduct exposed in recent weeks raise questions about the future of Suzanne Scott, the embattled chief executive of Fox News. “They’re leading a trail of crumbs that lead back to her office,” added David Folkenflik, the NPR media correspondent and Murdoch biographer. In each case, Murdoch made the decision to sever ties with top personnel. “They should be reprimanded, maybe got rid of.”As Folkenflik noted, “If you’re Rupert, you can’t fire Rupert.

☆ How Rupert Murdoch’s Empire of Influence Remade the World
▼ + stars: | 2019-04-03 | by ( Jonathan Mahler | Jim Rutenberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +61 min

Murdoch family, 1987: Lachlan, James, Anna and Rupert. The second season of HBO’s “Succession,” whose fictional media family, the Roys, bears a striking resemblance to the Murdochs, airs this summer. ‘A press dictatorship’To understand how the Murdoch empire works, it is essential to return to its origins. The bigger Murdoch’s empire became, the more power he had to clear away obstacles to further its expansion. Like his father, Lachlan considered the idea of meddling with such an important profit driver a form of madness.

Persons: ‘, Rupert Murdoch, Murdoch, Jerry Hall, Lachlan’s, Lachlan, —, Hall, President Trump, Theresa May, Robert A, consummating, Rupert, Elisabeth, Anna, James, David Graves, Rex, Prudence, Murdoch’s, Patricia Booker, Anna Mann, jockeying, Murdoch didn’t, ” Murdoch, Ron Galella, ‘ I’ve, Graham, Jeff Bezos, William R, Hearst, George Hearst, Ochs, Sulzberger, Arnold Newman, HBO’s, Australia —, “, don’t, Trump, Rutger Bregman, Tucker Carlson, Carlson, — Murdoch, Dow Jones, Bancroft, ’, Keith Murdoch, Keith, Joseph Lyons, Tom Roberts’s, ” Lyons, ”, I’ll, ” Rupert Murdoch, Aubrey Hart, Roberts, ” Keith, Margaret Thatcher’s, Thatcher, revel, John Major, Neil Kinnock, Joseph Stalin, Britain’s, Roy Cohn —, Joseph McCarthy, Ronald Reagan’s, Roger Stone Jr, Murdoch weaponize, Reagan’s, Stone, Reagan, George H.W, Bush, L.A, Ted Turner, Roger Ailes, Nixon, George H.W . Bush, Time Warner, Rudolph W, Giuliani, Post —, Fox, Monica Lewinsky, ” David Frum, George W, Sumner, Peter Mathew, Fairfax, Chase Carey, Talib Kweli, Rawkus, Kathryn Hufschmid, Kathryn, ” Lachlan, Sarah O’Hare, Lachlan doesn’t, Chris Mitchell, — he’d, Wendi Murdoch, Wendi, Jules Stein, Leonardo DiCaprio, James warily, Ivanka Trump, Ivanka’s, Jared Kushner, Kushner, Ivanka, Wendi’s, Donald Trump, Ailes, Rudolph Giuliani’s, Corey Lewandowski, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Bret Baier’s, Baier, Stephen F, Hayes, ” Trump, Tell Hayes, Sean Hannity, Sinclair —, Doug Mills, Megyn Kelly, — “ You’ve, — Trump, Kelly, Charles Krauthammer, John Kasich, James’s, Hillary Clinton, Tony Blair, Hillary, Clinton, United States —, Paul Gigot, Obama, Al Drago, Anthony Hilton, Hilton, Rodrigo Duterte, Viktor Orban, europhiles, Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson, David Cameron, feckless, Leveson, Robinson, Mick Jagger, Margaret Thatcher, Nigel Farage, Evgeny Lebedev, Carlo Allegri, Murdoch lounging, What’s, lodestar, David Rhodes, Rhodes, Ben Rhodes, Kevin Hagen, he’d, Trump’s, Jeff Rovin, Satan, James Murdoch, Clint Spaulding, Patrick McMullan, James Stavridis Organizations: Northern, Fox News Channel, Sun, European Union —, Downing, Walt Disney Company, Century Fox, Disney, Getty, News Corp, Trust, Washington Post, Hearst Corporation, United, The New York Times, Arnold Newman Properties, Fox, White, Broadway, Fox News, Trump White, Street, Melbourne Herald, Weekly Times, ”, Eugenics Society of Victoria, Oxford, Murdoch, Fleet, The, British government’s, Sky Television, Britain’s “, Labor, Trump, Gov, Reagan’s, New, New York Post, The Boston Herald, CNN, Time, Republican, Post, Pew, Republicans, CBS, Viacom, British Sky Broadcasting, Australia spearfishing, Harvard, The Harvard, Rawkus Records, Princeton, Kawasaki, Hollywood, New York Observer, York mayoral, Fox & Friends, Trump International Golf Club, Gateway, America, New York Times, Clinton Climate Initiative, Labor Party centrist, Pacific Partnership, Tea Party, European Union, Freedom Party, Nazi, London, Press Association, Associated Press, Brexit Times, United Nations, Reuters, Photographers, CBS News, Democrat Locations: Macedonia, Southern, San Francisco, Los Angeles, California, United States, Britain, London, Australia, Australian, Sydney, Lachlan, Davos, New York, Dutch, Iraq, British, Gallipoli, Adelaide, White Australia, Luxembourg, York, George H.W ., Midtown Manhattan, Manhattan, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Indonesia, Oregon, Fiji, Murdoch, Cavan, Beverly Hills, L.A, Caribbean, earshot, West Palm, Des Moines, Iowa, Ohio, Clinton, Trump, Downing, Brussels, Europe, Philippines, Manila, Bangkok, Cannes, “, Trump’s, Scotland, Aberdeen, Ailes’s, Russian

Search resuls for: "Jim Rutenberg"

19 mentions found