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Lost in Translation: Scarlett Johansson and Donald Trump arrive for the White House Correspondents Association dinner April 30, 2011 at the Washington Hilton. (Photo: Toby Jorrin/AFP via Getty Images)
Welcome to the latest edition of Breaker. If this email has been forwarded, you can subscribe here and send your questions and complaints here. If you have a tip contact the 24/7 Breaker Tip Hotline via text or Signal # 551 655 2343. Anonymity guaranteed!
In tonight’s edition, with just weeks away from a White House Correspondents' dinner that will be attended by Donald Trump for the first time as President, we break down the jockeying behind the scenes from the networks and publishers to lock in the most high-profile guests for their tables. We also reveal why Clavicular will be in attendance over the weekend and why Jane Fonda will not.
The New York Times and the Times Guild have finally put one foot forward today, agreeing on a proposal regarding disability accommodations as part of their contract negotiations. But when it comes to A.I. the two sides can’t agree if there are already sufficient standards in place or not. We’ll hear both sides state their case in tonight's edition.
Plus, a prominent L.A. journalist is working on a book about Netflix, a phishing attempt at “Air Puck’s” South Tribeca HQ, and a scene report from The Metropolitan Review’s shindig celebrating its Gay Talese special edition.
Finally, if you logged off over the last several days and took a spring break, we have you covered. We have a comprehensive reading, watching, and listening list that means you’ll be up to speed with all the media news you missed.
Mentioned tonight: Bari Weiss, Matt Belloni, Keith Poole, Almar Latour, Weijia Jiang, Greg Peters, Bela Bajaria, Ted Sarandos, A.G. Sulzberger, Marc Lacey, Carolyn Ryan, Meredith Kopit Levien, Joe Kahn, Kathleen Kingsbury, Jake Silverstein, Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan, Alex Vadukul, Jay McInerney, Michael Grynbaum, Lou Bahet, Ross Barkan, Marie Solis, Maxi Tani, Paul Choix, Julie Flanagan, Dodai Stewart, Kevin Dugan, Anna Kode, David Ellison, Amy Kaufman, Steve Kroft, Bill O’Reilly, Sara Fischer, Alan Rusbridger, Jeremy Barr, Erik Wemple, Nick McKenzie, Jeffrey Trachtenberg, Jon Kelly, Taylor Lorenz, Will Sommer, and more.
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All The Presidents Men (and Women)
(Exclusive.) When Donald Trump attended the White House Correspondents' Association dinner in 2011, he was famously roasted by President Barack Obama.
Speaking on The Breaker Podcast last year, Tina Brown told us that Trump looked beyond humiliated that night.
“He looked around that room of the White House Correspondents' dinner and saw what in his mind was the entire liberal establishment laughing at him. Correctly, he thought that.”
Brown, who was in the room, also recalled that Trump appeared to be infuriated as the gags from Obama, at his expense, just kept on coming.
“I was sitting right behind him that night, and I saw his neck go from pale pink to sort of magenta, you know. And you could just tell that he was steamed,” she told us.
Now, fifteen years on, Trump will later this month make his first appearance as President sitting at the top table for the dinner held at the Washington Hilton.
His decision to attend has led to a frenzy of activity behind the scenes as the networks, cable news channels, and publishers compete to get the most high-profile people at their table.
Breaker has learned that New York Post Editor-in-Chief, Keith Poole, will be hosting both Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, EPA Commissioner Lee Zeldin, and Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz (the Post had also invited Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who, owing to a family commitment, had to turn them down).
The Wall Street Journal’s publisher and Dow Jones CEO, Almar “No drama Dutchman” Latour, will be joined by former Trump campaign Senior Advisor, Chris LaCivita. Their Murdoch colleagues at Fox News will be playing host to National Intelligence Director, Tulsi Gabbard, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy (former Fox & Friends Weekend host, now Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth’s invite must have been lost in the mail).
All eyes will be on CBS News’ tables, where their Senior White House Correspondent, Weijia Jiang, who is also President of the White House Correspondents' Association, will be on stage with Trump. Breaker has also learned CBS News President Bari Weiss will be in attendance, but she will not …
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⁘ As credited in The New York Times, CNBC, Axios, The New York Post, CNN, Bloomberg, The Guardian, and more.
The Algorithm Of Record
(Exclusive.) The Times Guild, representing 1500 employees of The New York Times, has described the current A.I. standards at The Gray Lady as “woefully inadequate” in a letter to management.
The letter comes following the revelation that a freelance Times book reviewer had used A.I. and, in doing so, plagiarized The Guardian.
“At present, The Times’ standards on A.I. use are woefully inadequate,” the letter jointly addressed to A.G. Sulzberger, Meredith Kopit Levien, Joe Kahn, Kathleen Kingsbury, Marc Lacey, and Carolyn Ryan, and reviewed by Breaker, reads.
“They are often unclear or open to interpretation; place responsibility on writers, editors, producers, and our members, rather than on leadership, and are already frequently ignored.”
“We are told to use A.I. ‘ethically,’ but given little guidance on what exactly that means,” continues the letter, signed by the Times Guild Artificial Intelligence subcommittee.
Better protection for union members around the use of A.I. at The New York Times is one of the five core priorities the Guild Bargaining Committee has brought to negotiations over the past three months. In today's letter, they say that the request has fallen on deaf ears.
“The company’s representatives have treated our bargaining committee’s position on A.I. with scorn, crossing out our proposals or merely ignoring them. Management has fully rejected our team’s reasonable questions about how the company uses, and expects to use, A.I.”
In a memo to staff last week, Managing Editors Marc Lacey and Carolyn Ryan acknowledged that negotiations were moving more slowly than they’d hoped, describing the process as “much less robust than we imagined.”
“The bargaining sessions have felt more like cable news show appearances - geared toward…
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The rest of this newsletter is for paid subscribers.
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⁘ As credited in The New York Times, CNBC, Axios, The New York Post, CNN, Bloomberg, The Guardian, and more.