Speaking of which …
The Washington Post’s Naomi Nix and Elizabeth Dwoskin get into the Meta-Trump-fact-checking story in their latest piece: “Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s Trump pivot.”
Nix and Dwoskin write, “With Trump back in the Oval Office, Zuckerberg is rebranding the company to go all-in on a MAGA-dominated Washington, shelving Meta’s once-lauded fact-checking program, eliminating DEI initiatives and installing (Republican lobbyist Joel) Kaplan as the face of the company’s policy division to replace the liberal-leaning former British politician Nick Clegg.”
They add, “If Meta’s new political playbook works, the company may avoid attacks from a president known for punishing his opponents and gain a new ally to fight against a ballooning set of tech regulations around the world. The strategy, however, risks alienating employees, Democrats and users, many of whom have bristled at the company’s dramatic transformation.”
Trump attacks
Donald Trump took a break from being president to mount an attack on cable news in general and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow in particular. In a Truth Social post on Saturday — at 1:05 a.m. Eastern time, to be exact — Trump wrote, “Wow! Rachel Maddow has horrible ratings. She’ll be off the air very soon. MSNBC IS CLOSE TO DEATH. CNN HAS REACHED THE BOTTOM. This is a good thing. They are the Enemy of the people!”
What set Trump off? As always, who knows?
AP’s statement on famous photo
On June 8, 1972, the world saw what some people called “the most important photo of the 20th century.” It showed five children fleeing their village in Vietnam after U.S.-backed South Vietnamese forces had dropped chemical bombs. At the center of the photo, a naked girl, Phan Thi Kim Phuc. The photo became known as “The Terror of War” and “Napalm Girl,” and some credit it with leading to antiwar sentiment that helped end the U.S. involvement in the war.
The photo was credited to Nick Ut, then a 21-year-old Vietnamese AP staff photographer. He eventually won a Pulitzer Prize for making it. However, a new documentary called “The Stringer” questions if Ut actually took the photo. As the Los Angeles Times’ Mark Olsen explained it, “‘The Stringer’ alleges the photo was actually taken by Nguyen Thanh Nghe, a driver for an NBC news crew present that day whose photos came into the AP‘s possession as a freelancer, also known as a stringer. The origin of the claim in the film comes from Carl Robinson, an AP photo editor in Saigon on that day. In the film, Robinson claims that Horst Faas, the chief of photos in Saigon, instructed him to ‘make it Nick Ut’ and for Robinson to incorrectly credit what would within a few hours become the photo known around the world.”
Before the film debuted last weekend at the Sundance Film Festival, The Associated Press, without seeing the film, published a 23-page report after a six-month investigation, standing behind Ut. That report came out on Jan. 15.
On Sunday, after seeing the film for the first time, The AP put out another statement. The AP claimed it asked filmmakers for six months to look at the film, but said the filmmakers did not allow it unless the AP signed a nondisclosure agreement or agreed to an embargo.
After finally seeing the film, the AP, citing its lengthy report, continued to push back on the documentary’s assertions. The wire service called them “completely false.”
The AP then added in its latest statement, “We continue to reiterate what we have said all along — and said publicly last week: AP stands ready to review any and all evidence and new information about this photo. To do so, the filmmakers would have to lift the restriction they placed on all their contributors who signed non-disclosure agreements. We would like to review the visual analysis and report by INDEX and speak with all involved, especially Nguyen Thanh Nghe. As an international news organization, we are deeply appreciative of the work of local journalists and rely on them for their expertise. We cannot state more clearly that The Associated Press is only interested in the facts and a truthful history of this iconic photo.”
The Washington Post’s Jada Yuan was in Park City, Utah, for Sundance and has more in “Controversial doc ‘The Stringer’ investigates famous Vietnam War photo.”
NBC News changes
NBC News is the latest media company to have layoffs, but it comes with a bit of a caveat.
Late last week, NBC News cut about 40 positions. Business Insider’s Lucia Moses wrote, “The roles were scattered across the organization, though some employees shared the perception that teams focused on covering culture and diverse populations were particularly impacted. Another insider said no diversity news teams were eliminated and that there are still eight digital news staffers covering diverse communities. Apart from the layoffs, about 12 new positions will be created, mostly in digital news. NBC News is encouraging those laid off to apply. The network is also hiring for over 50 other positions.”
Good stuff
