Kissed and made up: Newsmax is back on DirecTV

The Trump-loving, ultra-conservative network Newsmax is returning to DirecTV after all.

So it looks like the GOP can put away its pitchforks and torches.

You might remember that, back in January, DirecTV dropped Newsmax. DirecTV said the dispute was strictly business — a disagreement over carriage fees. But Newsmax said it was personal — specifically that DirecTV was dropping Newsmax because it didn’t like its political stance. Some Republican lawmakers jumped on the outrage bandwagon, demanding DirecTV restore Newsmax and calling for investigations.

But on Wednesday, DirecTV said it had reached “a mutually beneficial business agreement” with Newsmax, adding, “Our successful negotiation with Newsmax was based on economics and protecting our customers from higher costs — not politics or ideology.”

And now Newsmax is backing off its original claims that DirecTV was censoring it. Newsmax founder and CEO Christopher Ruddy said DirecTV “clearly supports diverse voices, including conservative ones.” And on the air, Newsmax anchors acknowledged that it “accepts the position” that DirecTV was “never about limiting conservative voices.”

DirecTV has about 13 million subscribers.

MSNBC’s Steve Benen wrote, “The long national nightmare for the Republican Party has come to an unexpected end.”

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The latest on Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems

We’re moving closer to a possible trial in Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News.

So what’s the latest?

Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis said Wednesday in a pretrial hearing that he might compel News Corp. big boss Rupert Murdoch to testify. Davis said, “(Rupert Murdoch) holds a special role at Fox Corporation, that he may be able to be compelled to be here.”

Murdoch’s son Lachlan, who is the Fox Corp. CEO, also might be compelled to testify. Davis said he prefers if they did testify, it would be in person, but he would consider doing it over video conferencing, such as Zoom.

Fox’s legal team does not want the Murdochs and other certain executives and board members to testify, writing in a letter to the court, “The Court should decline to compel their appearance at trial due to the hardships on those witnesses, and the undue burden given their limited knowledge of pertinent facts.”

The Washington Post’s Jeremy Barr wrote, “But on Wednesday morning, Dominion lawyer Justin A. Nelson argued that the elder Murdoch is extremely relevant to its case that Fox defamed the company by airing baseless allegations that its voting machines helped steal the 2020 election from Donald Trump. In particular, Dominion has argued that Murdoch understood the allegations of voter fraud made on Fox’s airwaves to be false but chose not to stop them for business reasons.”

The judge said he has not made a decision on whether or not to compel the Murdochs to testify at trial.

Both Dominion and Fox News want the judge to declare a “summary judgment,” meaning they each want to be declared the winner of the case before the trial even begins. As of now, the trial is set to start on April 17. The sides also could reach an out-of-court settlement between now and then, too.

CNN’s Marshall Cohen wrote, “Still, the courtroom showdown that unfolded Tuesday and Wednesday serves as a preview of what the trial might look like. A wide array of legal experts have described Dominion’s lawsuit as one of the most consequential defamation and First Amendment cases in recent memory.”

In a statement, Fox News said, “Despite the noise and confusion that Dominion has generated by presenting cherry-picked quotes without context, this case is ultimately about the First Amendment protections of the media’s absolute need to cover the news. Fox will continue to fiercely advocate for the rights of free speech and a free press.”

Boston radio controversy

Boston sports radio station WEEI is in the spotlight again for all the wrong reasons. A producer/on-air personality from “The Greg Hill Show” appeared to make a racist remark about ESPN’s Mina Kimes. The show was doing a segment about the city possibly banning “nips” — miniature bottles of alcohol. So the show decided to name their “top five nips.”

Producer Chris Curtis said, “I’d probably go Mina Kimes.” (Here’s the clip.)

“Nip” is a derogatory term for Japanese people. Kimes is of Korean descent.

Boston Globe sports columnist Chad Finn reported that WEEI’s parent company had no official comment, but suggested Curtis meant to say Mila Kunis. Finn said they did not elaborate.

Whaaaat?! That doesn’t even make sense. Kunis is Ukrainian. Was Curtis referring to Kunis’ body? Does WEEI really think people are going to buy that excuse?

ESPN’s Sarah Spain tweeted, “When you have to play the ‘I’m sexist’ card to get out of your ‘I’m racist’ issue, you’re really in the (expletive.)”

ESPN put out a statement that said, “There is no place for these types of hateful comments, which were uncalled for and extremely offensive.”

What did Kimes think? She changed the avatar on her Twitter page to a photo of … Mila Kunis.

By the way, this is not the first time WEEI has had issues with insensitive comments. In 2018, the station shut down live programming for a day so that staff could attend mandatory sensitivity training. That came after another host used a stereotypical Asian accent while talking about Tom Brady’s agent Don Yee.

Video of the day

Here’s a touching scene as Denver-based Fox News reporter Alicia Acuna hugs her teenage son while she was reporting on a school shooting at East High School in Denver. Acuna apologized several times on air while hugging her son, but who could blame her for being a mom first and a journalist second? It was the first time she had seen him since arriving on the scene. “There’s no way you would’ve let your kid walk by,” Acuna said.

As far as what happened, a 17-year-old male student shot and wounded two faculty members and then fled. As of Wednesday night, the suspect was still at large. One faculty member is in stable condition, and the other is in critical condition.

A playlist for us all

Music lovers, this sounds cool. The New York Times has started a new subscriber-only newsletter called “The Amplifier.”

Twice a week, Lindsay Zoladz, pop music critic at The Times, will send, the Times said, “unpredictably eclectic playlists and introduce subscribers to new and old music.” The point is to help music lovers who are paralyzed because they are overwhelmed by so much music out there.

In a statement, Zoladz said, “All too often, we let the algorithm take over, but I want ‘The Amplifier' to bring the human touch back to music discovery. I want readers to consider each installment a mixtape from your most music-obsessed friend.”

In a Q&A with the Times’ Josh Ocampo, Zoladz said the first question she gets when people find out what she does for a living is “What should I listen to?”

“The Amplifier” will answer that question.

And where does she find her musical inspiration? Zoladz said, “I look through other websites that post new music. I look through my inbox at what publicists and artists send me. I’ll listen to my friends, if they text me something that they think I might like. In terms of older things, I’m working through record stores or reading and researching about other artists I’m writing about. I always like to keep my antennae up. I’m someone who really likes to follow random paths of curiosity.”

Media tidbits

• New York Times sports editor Randy Archibold announced on Twitter that he is leaving sports to become senior editor for news at the Times. The Times’ sports section is consistently among the best and most interesting sections in the country, and Archibold certainly had lots to do with that.
• Semafor’s Max Tani tweeted that The Washington Post announced that after three years, it will discontinue its on-site COVID-19 testing. Check out Tani’s tweet for the memo the Post sent to staff.
• My Poynter colleague, Kristen Hare, with “An obit lover took her passion, and dead people’s life lessons, to TikTok.”
• Northeastern University professor and media observer Dan Kennedy with “The Boston Globe ends its involvement with The Emancipator.”
• Only a few more days until Sunday’s season four of “Succession” starts. There are some early mild spoilers in reviews starting to make their way online, but I’m avoiding them at all costs. Here’s something for fanatics like me and, hopefully, you: The New York Times’ Sarah Lyall talks to the man who plays Tom on the show in “Matthew Macfadyen Has Mixed Feelings About the End of ‘Succession.’”

Hot type

• A must-read, especially for sports and media fans: For Sports Illustrated, Jon Wertheim with “The Death of the Local Sports Anchor.”
• Another winner from Washington Post sports columnist Sally Jenkins: “The surfer, the scientist and the big-wave beach at a breaking point.”
• The Los Angeles Times’ Meredith Blake with “4,500 words of dialogue, 250 times a year: How “The Young and the Restless’ is made.”

More resources for journalists

• Subscribe to Poynter’s Friday newsletter, Open Tabs with Poynter managing editor Ren LaForme, and get behind-the-scenes stories only available to subscribers.
• Hiring? Post jobs on The Media Job Board — Powered by Poynter, Editor & Publisher and America’s Newspapers.
• Lead With Influence (July 2023) (Seminar) — Apply by June 2.
• Editorial Integrity and Leadership Initiative — (Sept. - April, 2024) (Hybrid) — Apply by May 15.

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