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** OPINION
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** Even the Super Bowl divides America these days
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Bad Bunny performs during halftime of the NFL Super Bowl 60 on Sunday. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Super Bowl used to unite our country.

It was the one day a year when liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, people across all races could put aside differences and thoroughly enjoyed a night together over wings, chips and dips.

Now we can’t even get that right.

This year’s Super Bowl somehow managed to be boring and controversial and exciting. Often, it’s the game that is controversial and exciting and the halftime show is the boring part.

But this year, it was the opposite: the game was boring. And the halftime show? Well, how you would describe it depends on how you vote, probably.

The official viewership numbers for the Super Bowl are not out yet. They are expected to come out today.

But let’s start here: a lot of people watched — probably in the neighborhood of last year’s record-breaking viewership number of 127 million viewers.

And now we’ll spend the next several days trying to figure out and spin what those numbers mean.

“But,” Awful Announcing's Manny Soloway wrote ([link removed]) , “even when the final number does come out, be wary of viral comparisons. Nielsen measures viewership using an ‘average minute audience.’ When they say, for example, the Super Bowl halftime show drew 100 million viewers, that means throughout the halftime every minute saw 100 million unique viewers, on average. That is distinct from the way YouTube records viewers. On YouTube, you are counted as a view when you watch a video for 30 seconds. 10 million YouTube views cannot be compared to 10 million views on Nielsen.

Wait, there’s more.

The Nielsen number is for the U.S. only.

Anyway, here’s the point. Soloway writes, “No matter what the viewership for the Super Bowl ends up being, it will almost certainly be used incorrectly by those looking to push an agenda.”

Ah. The agenda. We’re talking about the halftime show featuring global superstar and multi-Grammy winner Bad Bunny. Ever since the NFL announced last September that Bad Bunny would be the featured halftime performer, there was a political divide.

MAGA types complained about the mostly-Spanish speaking Bad Bunny not being “American” enough even though he is from Puerto Rico — which far too many conservatives apparently didn’t realize was a part of the United States. These folks said the NFL chose Bad Bunny not because he is the most downloaded musical artist in the world or extremely talented, but because it was trying to push woke politics on the country.

So what did these people do? They — and by “they,” I mean the Charlie Kirk-created Turning Point USA — went out and started their own halftime show with Kid Rock as the headliner. They called it the “All-American Halftime Show.”

Variety’s Chris Willman wrote ([link removed]) , “Rather than come off as a protest event, the 35-minute program offered a set of mild, largely non-political performances that could have been mistaken for a vintage CMT or Nashville Network special — even from Kid Rock, who was on his very best behavior during a quick two-song appearance.”

Then again, it wasn’t quite as mom and apple pie as we were led to believe. Awful Announcing’s Sean Keeley has some of the details in “TPUSA All-American Halftime Show features plenty of Americana, religion, and un-family-friendly content.” ([link removed])

It’s estimated that somewhere between 4 and 5 million tuned into the YouTube livestream of the event.

Then, of course, everyone weighed in on what they thought about both shows.

Look, I don’t consider myself a Bad Bunny fan. But I don’t know how anyone could have watched that performance and not been completely blown away and impressed.

President Donald Trump apparently did not watch the Turning Point USA show because he put out a Truth Social post talking about how bad the Bad Bunny halftime was. How would he know unless he watched it?

If you want to see someone really go off, check outMegyn Kelly’s meltdown here ([link removed]) . She said Bad Bunny singing in Spanish was a “middle finger to the rest of America.” She was just getting started.

Meanwhile, Bad Bunny drew mostly rave reviews for churning out one of the most intricately choreographed and expertly produced halftime shows of all time with many ranking it up there with Prince as the best ever. (The Athletic’s Saad Yousuf has a fun look in “Super Bowl halftime show rankings: Where does Bad Bunny fall among the greats?” ([link removed])

In the end, what stands out, however, is that a 13-minute halftime show — one that had no controversial moments — from one of the best and most followed performers on the planet was the cause for such much division.

Mediaite’s Colby Hall wrote ([link removed]) , “The show triggered a familiar, noisy, and largely pointless political meltdown. Conservatives treated it as cultural collapse. Progressives rushed to elevate it as a transcendent moment. The arguments were predictable, the sides preassigned, and the actual performance almost beside the point. The halftime slot had been just sitting there for years, undermonetized from a conflict standpoint, and nobody had thought to run the playbook on it until now. That was the real win.”

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** Another Super thought
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This year’s Super Bowl wasn’t the most exciting ever played, although Seattle’s defense was impressive and it did the country a favor by beating the team that (most) everyone loves to hate — the New England Patriots. The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand wrote, “In a boring Super Bowl, NBC’s Mike Tirico was the best quarterback.” ([link removed])

Marchand mentioned how it was just before the 2022 NFL season that NBC made the move from the legendary Al Michaels to Tirico as the voice of “Sunday Night Football” and future Super Bowls aired on NBC. Tirico made a football comparison — like the time the Green Bay Packers went from quarterback Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers. It was not an easy call for NBC, considering Michaels was still very much on top of his game. In fact, as the lead voice of Amazon Prime’s “Thursday Night Football,” Michaels remains as good as anyone in the business.

Tirico has vaulted himself among the all-time greats (a list that includes Michaels). He called Sunday’s Super Bowl masterfully, then went onto the field in Santa Clara, Calif. to host the primetime edition of NBC’s Olympics coverage. After hosting that, Tirico jumped on a plane and flew 6,000 miles (10 hours) to the Winter Games in Italy and will be on your TV screen for the next two weeks.

And when that is all done, when most broadcasters would want to spend a few weeks on a beach, Tirico will be the lead announcer on NBC’s new NBA coverage.


** It gets worse
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Last week, the journalism world was rocked by massive layoffs at The Washington Post. Most reports were that the paper laid off about a third of the newsroom.
However, former longtime Post media reporter Paul Farhi, in a story for The Washingtonian ([link removed]) , writes those estimates might have been low.

Farhi wrote, “… an accounting by the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, the union that represents Post journalists, finds that the paper’s management eliminated closer to half of the journalists it used to employ. According to guild steward Sarah Kaplan, a Post Metro reporter, the paper is dropping between 350 and 375 journalists. With the newsroom’s pre-layoff strength at 790 people, that means between 44 percent and 47.5 percent of the newsroom has been axed.”

Farhi added, “Previous reports said that nearly 300 union members were among those laid off last week. That figure did not account for dozens more layoffs among Post journalists who aren’t covered by the Guild’s contract, including staffers in its foreign bureaus and editors and managers in Washington.”


** Washington Post to provide ‘transition support’ for staff laid off overseas
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For this item, I turn it over to my Poynter colleague, Angela Fu.

Shortly after the Washington Post laid off more than 300 journalists last week — including many of its foreign correspondents — false rumors started to circulate online that overseas staff had been "abandoned" and forced to crowdsource their way home.

"Jeff Bezos fired more than 300 people and didn’t even arrange for them to get safely home," read one popular post ([link removed]) on X, referencing the Post's billionaire owner.

The Post pushed back against that framing, calling such rumors "entirely inaccurate" Monday. The outlet's public relations account on X posted ([link removed]) , "The Washington Post is actively supporting employees impacted by last week’s restructuring, including transition support for our international employees." That support includes severance; extended access to security services, health care and housing subsidies; relocation support; and consultations with immigration services, according to a Post spokesperson.

It is true that many of the Post's foreign correspondents — including those covering the Middle East, China, Russia and South Asia — learned that they were being let go while overseas. At least one, a Ukraine correspondent,got the news ([link removed]) while in a warzone. But those correspondents are permanently stationed overseas and not abroad on temporary assignment, and the Post has said that it is working to support them.

The confusion likely stems from a popularGoFundMe ([link removed]) organized by Post journalists to support the outlet's international employees who were laid off. Many, but not all, of the Post's journalists belong to The Washington Post Guild, whose parent union is the NewsGuild. Those who are not part of the guild — and thus lack the protections that come with a union contract — include members of management and certain international staff who were hired through overseas subsidiaries.

Those non-union international staff include correspondents, editors, researchers, translators, office managers and drivers, according to the GoFundMe campaign. The funds raised — more than $206k as of Monday evening — will be disbursed among non-union staff overseas to help cover "rent, legal guidance, relocation to a new or safer country, storage for belongings left behind, and other urgent transition needs." (A separateGoFundMe ([link removed]) for union members has raised more than $522k.)

Meanwhile, the union is currently bargaining severance packages with the Post. Those negotiations are expected to conclude by Feb. 20, according to a Post spokesperson.

The Guardianreported ([link removed]) that Post employees who were laid off last week will remain part of the staff through April 10 and will receive six months of continued health insurance. While those affected by the layoffs are not required to work, some have chosen to do so, includingtwo ([link removed]) reporters ([link removed]) who received their pink slips while in Italy covering the Winter Olympics.


** Powerful comments
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Catching up on this from the weekend — former New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie was on ABC’s “This Week” ([link removed]) and talked about Donald Trump’s racist social media post about Barack and Michelle Obama last Friday. The post was up about 12 hours before it was taken down. Trump refused to apologize for the post, saying it was put up by a White House staffer.

Christie said, “I talk to friends of mine in my party who will say to me all the time, ‘Look, he’s not a good guy. He’s kind of crazy. But I like the issues.’ Here’s the thing: what they’re discovering now is character is the most important issue. And what the posting of that video shows is his absolute lack of character. And now what we’re seeing is when you don’t have character, you can’t get the issues done either.”

Christie explained that all of Trump’s shenanigans that show his lack of character are so distracting that he — and no one else — can focus on the important matters at hand, such as the economy and immigration.

Christie added, “So for all my friends out there who say, ‘Yeah, I know the character is awful, but I care about the issues’ — you not only now support someone with no character, but his lack of character leads to us not being able to accomplish the issues that we care about either.”


** Reversing course
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Now Trump says he is endorsing the proposed merger between local broadcast giants Nexstar and Tegna — a reversal from his previous stance.

Trump wrote on social media, “We need more competition against THE ENEMY, the Fake News National TV Networks. Letting Good Deals get done like Nexstar — Tegna will help knock out the Fake News because there will be more competition. ... GET THAT DEAL DONE.”

The Associated Press’ Christopher Rugaber wrote ([link removed]) , “The acquisition, which Nexstar announced in August and requires regulatory approval, would bring together two companies with significant holdings in local broadcast media. Nexstar oversees more than 200 owned and partner stations in 116 markets nationwide and also runs networks like The CW and NewsNation. Meanwhile, Tegna owns 64 news stations across 51 markets.”

CNN’s Brian Stelter wrote ([link removed]) that Nexstar's pending acquisition of Tegna “will strengthen the right-leaning Nexstar and shrink the number of station owners in the US.”


** Guess where Dan Bongino is headed?
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Dan Bongino, shown here speaking at a press conference last December. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Dan Bongino was once a right-wing pundit with his own successful podcast and host of a weekly show on Fox News. That, combined with being a former law enforcement officer, was reason enough for President Donald Trump to make him the deputy director of the FBI.

But Bongino, who went on Fox News after he had taken the job to complain about how hard it was, eventually left the FBI last month.

It was no surprise that he returned to his podcast. And guess where else he is returning?

Yep, Fox News. He is returning to the right-wing network as a paid contributor.


** What do you want to know about the news media?
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Do you have questions about last week’s layoffs at The Washington Post? What’s going on in the Bari Weiss era at CBS News? Or why so many news websites are still such frustrating user experiences?

Join me over on the Poynter Instagram ([link removed]) for an Ask Me Anything on IG Live on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. Eastern.

I’ll answer your questions about the media, how the industry is changing, what we do at Poynter and anything else you’ve been curious about but didn’t know who to ask. I’ll even talk about “Vanderpump Rules.” (And “Southern Charm!”)

Have a question already? Submit it ahead of time ([link removed]) and I’ll try to tackle as many as I can live.

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** Contest deadline is approaching
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The deadline to enter the Poynter Journalism Prizes is 6 p.m. Eastern Friday, Feb. 13. The contest offers cash prizes from $2,500 to $10,000 for winners in 12 categories, honoring reporting on local accountability, public service, climate change, poverty, justice and First Amendment issues, as well as innovation, diversity and writing in multiple forms, including general excellence, short writing, column writing and editorial writing.

Enter today! ([link removed])


** Media tidbits
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* New Yorker editor David Remnick with “Listening to Joe Rogan.” ([link removed])
* Semafor’s Max Tani with “Washington Post suffers marketing mishap with new slogan.” ([link removed])
* For Vanity Fair, David Adler with “How The Washington Post Cultivated a Bespoke Concept of Sports Coverage.” ([link removed])
* Diana Barr and Jacob Kirn of the St. Louis Business Journal with “New Lee Chairman Hoffmann says Post-Dispatch 'a little too left,' vows to move it to the middle.” ([link removed])
* My Poynter colleague, Kristen Hare, with “How do I know if that’s real? 3 tips from Poynter’s MediaWise to stay smart in tricky times.” ([link removed])
* George Conner, a former Getty Oil executive who played a crucial role in launching ESPN, passed away on Sunday. He was 84. Here’s more ([link removed]) from ESPN.


** Hot type
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The New York Times’ Jon Caramanica with “Bad Bunny’s Halftime History Lesson.” ([link removed])

It’s never too early to think about next year’s Super Bowl. Here’s CBS Sports’ Robby Kalland with “Who should headline the 2027 Super Bowl Halftime Show?” ([link removed])


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* Get the skills, policies, and editorial support to cover crime with depth, accuracy, and public service in mind. Apply now ([link removed]) .

Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .
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