What A Day - Make Way For A New Murdoch

Episode Date: September 22, 2023

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Washington D.C. on Thursday to meet with President Biden and Senate leaders. Zelensky is trying to secure additional funding from the U.S. to help in the fight against Russian forces. But some Republican lawmakers are reluctant to continue financial support for Ukraine.Billionaire right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch is stepping down as chairman of News Corp. and Fox. His son, Lachlan, will come in to lead both companies. Murdoch’s exit caps a controversial, decades-long career that ultimately gave rise to the far-right discourse we see today.And in headlines: House Republicans once again failed to advance legislation on federal spending as the government shutdown deadline looms, India announced it has suspended visa services for Canadians, and free COVID tests by mail are coming back.Show Notes:What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastCOVID.gov: Free at-home COVID-19 tests – https://www.covidtests.govAll She Wrote Books: Author Conversation with Tre’vell Anderson, September 23rd – https://tinyurl.com/7wd776bzCrooked Coffee is officially here. Our first blend, What A Morning, is available in medium and dark roasts. Wake up with your own bag at crooked.com/coffeeFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday 

It's Friday, September 22nd. I'm Trevelle Anderson. And I'm Priyanka Arabindi. And this is What A Day, where we are proud of the fact that we just spent 78 bucks on a meal at Newark Airport. And we can tell you we spent the majority of it on the alcohol. Yeah. David Brooks won't tell you that, but we'll tell you that.

We'll be honest. Right. on the alcohol. Yeah. David Brooks won't tell you that, but we'll tell you that. We'll be honest. Right. On today's show, House Republicans once again can't get their act together on a defense spending bill. Plus, free COVID tests by mail are coming back. But first, to continue some of our coverage from earlier this week, following his appearance before the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Washington, D.C. yesterday to meet with Senate leaders on both sides of the aisle at the Capitol, as well as President Biden in his third visit to the White House. He, of course, is trying to secure additional funding for Ukraine to defend against Russia's invasion. And President Biden

appears to be on the same invasion. And President Biden appears to be on the same page. Biden is currently seeking congressional approval for an additional $24 billion in funding, but that aid is now in jeopardy due to reluctance by some Republicans to continue financial support for Ukraine. Since Russia's invasion began, the U.S. had approved a total of $113 billion in aid. And that faction of the GOP does not want to see that number rise. You mentioned that Zelensky was at the Capitol speaking to Senate leadership. What about the folks in the House? He certainly tried. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy actually denied Zelensky's request to deliver a joint address to Congress.

He said they were too busy, they didn't have the time, which is a bit baffling, and then said that Zelensky had already had the opportunity to deliver a joint address in the past, basically implying that they shouldn't give him one again. The majority of congressional Republicans

still support aid for Ukraine. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell shared a photo on Twitter with Zelensky writing, quote, American support for Ukraine is not charity. It's in our own direct interest. So you have it coming from pretty high up there at the top. But opposition is still mounting. Yesterday, 29 Republicans in the House and Senate signed a letter to the Biden administration stating their position against additional funding. And I'm sure they had a lot to say.

They always do. Yes, they always do. Several pages could have been one sentence. Anyways, it is also worth noting that while these lawmakers and anyone living outside of Ukraine have the privilege of being able to tune out of the conflict from time to time

as it's gone on for 18 plus months, violence is still taking place there every single day. Just hours before these meetings in Washington, Russia unleashed a torrent of missiles and artillery in cities all across Ukraine, targeting energy facilities in particular. It was the largest strike in over a month and has resulted in fires, destroyed buildings, trapped people in the rubble, and left at least five people dead all across the country. I mean, this wasn't even isolated to one city. It took place all over. The attack on Ukraine's infrastructure also comes as the country prepares for the winter months that

will require more energy to be able to heat people's homes, which really speaks to the nature of these kinds of attacks and what Russia is trying to accomplish here. That very much feeds into the way Volodymyr Zelensky was characterizing Russia's attacks and their attempts to really inflict harm on regular Ukrainian civilians. Yeah, the war is ongoing over there. Thanks so much for that update, Priyanka. Now on to the latest in NEPO baby news. 92-year-old billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch is stepping down as chairman of his empire. His son Lachlan Murdoch will become the sole chair of News Corp, and he will continue as executive chair and CEO of the Fox Corporation. This is major news for the media industry, for a lot of the English-speaking world, honestly. For those who don't know, could you explain just how big Rupert Murdoch's empire is? It honestly is a little hard to even comprehend.

It's wild. So Rupert's net worth is estimated to be somewhere between $8.26 billion, that's according to Bloomberg News, and $17.4 billion, that's according to Forbes, making him one of the wealthiest media moguls ever. That's entirely too much money, right? Yes. Now, I'm going to go down the long list of properties that fall under his reach, but I want to first dictate how we got to this point. It all started back in his early 20s when he inherited a small family-owned newspaper in Australia, where he's from, after his dad died in 1952. He ended up expanding his print empire locally before turning his attention to the media market in the UK, eventually acquiring his first British tabloid, News of the World, in 1968. He then bought The Sun, followed by The Times of London and The Sunday Times. But wait, there's more. Over 70 years in the business, Rupert Murdoch's portfolio includes

or included The New York Post, publishing giant HarperCollins, Fox News, which to many of our is the top rated cable news channel right now and it has been for a little minute there's also fox broadcasting fox sports sky tv the film and tv studio 21st century fox which was sold to disney in 2017 for a whopping 71.3 billion dollars he also owns the wall street journal for crying out loud truly this man has had his hands on and in so much. So much. And so many places that have mostly negative associations about them. Feels like probably not a coincidence.

But anyways, he's certainly had a huge impact on the entire media industry and has for decades now. Absolutely. And, you know, even though we might want to roll our eyes at him and his outsized wealth because nobody needs all of that money, he's also hella conservative. We are in so many ways living through his influence. Most of the articles about Murdoch stepping down in this moment specifically have been focusing on the hellscape that is Fox News and how that channel changed things in the industry, for the worse in my opinion, but perhaps something we can all rejoice in across the political spectrum. If it wasn't for Rupert Murdoch and his creation of the Fox Broadcasting Network to compete with CBS, NBC, and ABC,

we might not have gotten the iconic TV characters Al and Peggy Bundy from the show Married with Children or Bart, Homer, and Marge and the rest of them on The Simpsons. I'm personally going to choose to focus on that part of his impact. You can focus on that part. I would trade these people in a heartbeat. Goodbye. No Simpsons. No married with children. For no Fox News, that is the easiest trade I would ever make in my life. Absolutely. Anyway, Rupert will officially be stepping down in mid-November.

Becoming chair emeritus and his son Lachlan will take over. There is no expectation that the company's operations might shift in any meaningful way, especially as Lachlan and his father are ideologically similar. Plus, Rupert basically said in a memo announcing his departure to staff that he ain't really going nowhere. He said, quote, I will be watching our broadcasts with a critical eye, reading our newspapers and websites and books with much interest and reaching out to you with thoughts, ideas, and advice. When I visit your countries and companies, you can expect to see me in the office late on a Friday afternoon. And to that, I have to say, somebody tell this man to sit down somewhere. He is 92 for freaking sake. Like, what are you doing? I mean, this man sounds like a nightmare. I'm sorry. He's taking a step back and he's going to be there not only just to visit, but on a Friday afternoon late. He specifically said late. This man sounds like an absolute tyrant, an awful person to work for, and really just needs to take a beat, like chill out. Chill all the way out. That is the latest for now. Let's get to some headlines.

With the clock ticking toward a potential government shutdown, House Republicans once again sank a vote yesterday to start debate on a Pentagon funding bill. This was the second time just this week that Republicans failed to advance a defense bill from their own party. And that came after five hardline Republicans again joined Democrats to oppose the measure. Here's what House Speaker Kevin McCarthy had to say to reporters after the vote. It's frustrating in the sense that I don't understand why anybody votes against bringing the idea and having the debate. And then you've got all the amendments that you don't like to do. This is a whole new concept of individuals that just want to burn the whole place down. It doesn't work.

Republican leaders also sent lawmakers home for the weekend yesterday, canceling votes scheduled for today and the weekend. Members were told they'd get, quote, ample notice should that change. As a reminder, lawmakers have until midnight on September 30th, which is only eight days away, to figure this all out. Congress needs to pass something by that deadline and get it to President Biden's desk to avert a shutdown. India announced that it has suspended visa services for Canadians, meaning that they won't be issuing new visas and that those who don't already have visas cannot travel to India. This is India's clapback against Canada's accusation this week that the Indian government

may have played a role in the killing of a prominent Canadian Sikh activist. The move by India to suspend new visas for citizens of a Western country is unprecedented. A spokesperson for India's foreign ministry justified the decision based on, quote, security threats to its diplomatic staff in Canada. India has not yet provided evidence or given details for that claim, but there's a lot else that's being left unsaid here. Canadian officials have also declined to say exactly why they believe that India is linked to Hardeep Singh Nizhar's murder, though Prime Minister Justin Trudeau previously said that it was based on, quote, credible evidence. Canada is home to the largest population of Sikhs

outside of the northern Indian state of Punjab, and India has repeatedly accused Canada of supporting the Sikh separatist movement. 17 writers are suing OpenAI, the company that owns the popular and increasingly creepy artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT, for allegedly using their copyrighted work without permission. The lawsuit argues that ChatGPT relies on, quote, systematic theft of a mass scale to create complete, unauthorized versions of books written by a number of human authors. The plaintiffs include George R.R. Martin, who wrote the epic fantasy series that became the basis for the hit show Game of Thrones, and Michael Connelly, who writes best-selling detective novels. Connelly recently said this to the Today Show about the suit.

It's just not fair. Why should I take a year to write a 400-page novel if in 15 minutes it can be stolen and redistributed? ChatGPT, along with other AI platforms, rely on what are known as large language models, which are basically algorithms that can generate content using massive amounts of data. But OpenAI hasn't been clear about where all this data and text comes from, and it's become a huge concern within the creative community. This isn't the first lawsuit against OpenAI brought on by writers either.

A separate group sued the company earlier this month for, quote, clear infringement of intellectual property. Good on these writers. These are, you know, some of the most prominent names in the industry, and I think that this will really get attention coming from them, but also is working to support everyone in these creative industries. I mean, the same thing is happening in Hollywood. These people rightly are getting upset about open AI being able to use and learn from their work and as they should be. that wasn't what it was intended to be used for. The UAW is expected to announce today whether or not it will expand its ongoing strike against Detroit's big three automakers. Nearly 13,000 union members are currently on strike at three auto plants. And while negotiations for a new labor agreement continue, UAW President Sean

Fain said earlier this week that if automakers don't make, quote, serious progress towards meeting their demands by noon Eastern today, more workers could walk off the job at undisclosed locations across the country. Sources familiar with the talks said yesterday that the two sides remain far apart on a number of issues like wages, scheduling, and benefits. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, all three automakers furloughed more non-striking workers in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Kansas, citing the impact of the strike on their operations. General Motors, which laid off 2,000 people, also added that these workers will not be eligible for any kind of benefits that its laid-off employees usually get,

so those folks won't be receiving any financial support from the company. Yeah, these automakers aren't doing themselves any favors in this situation by laying people off, blaming it on the strike. Like it doesn't make any sense. No. And finally, a public service announcement, if you will. The U.S. government is once again offering free COVID-19 tests in the mail. Starting this coming Monday, you can order up to four rapid tests per household through the website COVIDTests.gov. And did I mention that they're free? That's really good because we all know they're not cheap. This move comes after the Biden administration this week announced a $600 million investment to produce these new at-home tests.

In a statement, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Javier Becerra said it's meant to, quote, help mitigate the spread of the virus. And that's especially important going into the fall when other respiratory diseases like the flu start circulating. Not to mention that some areas are seeing an uptick in COVID cases. Make sure you all are protecting yourselves, still wearing your masks in crowded areas. You just want to make sure that you are as safe as you can possibly be. Yeah, get that booster and get those tests. Absolutely. And those are the headlines. We'll be back after some ads with a shining example of why local news is so important.

It is Friday, Wild Squad. And to close out the week, we have an update on a story we told you about just a few days ago. Military officials have located the wreckage of that missing F-35 fighter jet that, poof, disappeared in South Carolina. The pilot of the aircraft, who has not been publicly identified, was found alive,

but we don't know what led the pilot to eject from the aircraft before the crash. Yes, there are so many questions that we have, but meanwhile, military investigators this week have been busy interviewing witnesses in rural Williamsburg County, and one witness stood out from all the rest. Meet Randolph White, a 71-year-old retired paper mill worker who spoke to local CBS affiliate WBTW News 13 on Tuesday, and he gave a very vivid account of what he heard. Take a listen. I heard a screeching, between a screech and a whistle. No! I said, what in the world is this?

And I heard a boom in my whole house. The first thought came to me, I said, must be a meteorite coming out of space or something? And I said, well, if the airplane, it needs to be reported. The thing was flying just too low. Oh, my God. I'm sorry. I couldn't focus on a single word outside of the imitation screech. What? What do you make of that, Trayvon? Listen, you know, this is one of the things I can say I deeply appreciate about my fellow South Carolinians is we are very colorful people. Okay. We're great at giving descriptions of what we hear and what we see. Oh, yes.

Don't you feel like you were there? Like you witnessed the jet disappearing yourself? I mean, I'm Brian Williams right now. I was there on the jet. It just disappeared. Oh, you gotta love it. And just like that, we are gonna call it a week. Two more things before we go.

This week on Pod Save the World, hosts Tommy Vitor and Ben Rhodes sit down with former British politician and diplomat Rory Stewart about his new book, Politics on the Edge, which The Guardian calls a blistering insider portrait of a nation in decline. For more breakdowns of the world's biggest headlines, check out Pod Save the World wherever you get your podcasts. And a reminder for everyone in the Boston area, I will be in town this Saturday talking about my book, We See Each Other, A Black Trans Journey Through TV and Film in partnership with the All She Wrote bookstore. Come on out and have some fun with me. All the info you need is at the link in our show notes. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, treat yourself next time you're flying out of Newark,

and tell your friends to listen. And if you are into reading and not just weird fantasy novels written by Chad GBT, like me, what a day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Priyanka Arabindi. I'm Trevelle Anderson.

And we salute you, Randolph White. You are a new American hero. Listen. I hope you get remixed. I hope you go viral. I loved everything about that.

Absolutely. Like, it's right up there with Sweet Brown and you're next up, Randolph. You are. We love to see it. You are.

What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance. Our show's producer is Itzy Quintanilla. Raven Yamamoto and Natalie Bettendorf are our associate producers and our senior producer is Lita Martinez. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.