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Speaker 1: Hello, strictly business listeners. This is your host Cynthia Littleton.

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Speaker 1: I'm so excited today to give you a sneak listen

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Speaker 1: to a podcast project we've been working on for a

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Speaker 1: few months, Daily Variety. On this show, we talked to

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Speaker 1: Variety journalists and guests about news, personalities and trends that

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Speaker 1: are making headlines and showbiz. Variety has the most incredible

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Speaker 1: masthead of journalists covering media and entertainment. In addition to

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Speaker 1: our strength in La, New York and London. Almost every

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Speaker 1: day of the year, Variety is somewhere in the world

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Speaker 1: covering a festival, or a market or a premier. We

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Speaker 1: want to showcase all this great work in a new

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Speaker 1: way with this program. Of course, we'd love to hear

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Speaker 1: your feedback at Variety dot com. Thanks for checking us out,

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Speaker 1: and away we go. Welcome to Daily Variety, your daily

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Speaker 1: dose of news and analysis for entertainment industry inside. It's Wednesday,

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Speaker 1: July sixteenth, twenty twenty five. I'm your host, Cynthia Littleton.

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Speaker 1: I am co editor in chief of Variety alongside Ramin Stuta.

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Speaker 1: I'm in LA, he's in New York, and Variety has

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Speaker 1: reporters around the world covering the business of entertainment. In

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Speaker 1: today's episode, we'll talk to Variety's Jennifer mos about what

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Speaker 1: to expect from Netflix's second quarter earnings report on Thursday.

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Speaker 1: And if it's Wednesday, it's time for our cover story segment,

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Speaker 1: highlighting the week's big story. In Variety's print magazine, business

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Speaker 1: editor Todd Spangler signs on to discuss what he learned

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Speaker 1: by tackling a story about President Donald Trump's assault on

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Speaker 1: the First Amendment. Before we get to all that, here

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Speaker 1: are a few headlines just in this morning that you

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Speaker 1: need to know. Legendary Indian movie star Sabu is getting

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Speaker 1: the biopic treatment. Variety's nomen Rama Chandron reports that the

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Speaker 1: Almighty Motion Picture Company has acquired the rights to a

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Speaker 1: biography of the actor who co starred in Hollywood films

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Speaker 1: in the nineteen forties and fifties but died of a

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Speaker 1: heart attack at age thirty nine. Nintendo and Sony have

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Speaker 1: found their live action Zelda actor Bo Braggison will play

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Speaker 1: the plucky princess in the live action adaptation of the

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Speaker 1: beloved Legend of Zelda video game. The fans seem to

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Speaker 1: be swooning already. Netflix has dropped a teaser trailer for

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Speaker 1: Stranger Things season five. It's the fall of nineteen eighty

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Speaker 1: seven in Hawkins, Indiana, and things are not well. The

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Speaker 1: first half of the show's final season bows November twenty seventh.

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Speaker 1: Now we turn to conversations with variety journalists about news

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Speaker 1: and trends in show business. Next up, Jennifer Mos gives

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Speaker 1: us a curtain raiser on Netflix's Q two earnings report

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Speaker 1: that is coming on Thursday. Get ready to hear about

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Speaker 1: AI strategies and competing with YouTube, but don't hold your

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Speaker 1: breath for a total subscriber update. Jennifer Mis, Senior business writer,

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Speaker 1: TV and Gaming, Thanks for joining me. Happy to be here.

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Speaker 1: We're coming off a big day for TV on Tuesday

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Speaker 1: with the Emmy nominations, and Wednesday is another big day.

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Speaker 1: We have Netflix's second corner earnings report. Netflix, of course,

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Speaker 1: now for many years, has set the tone for the

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Speaker 1: rest of big media. What are we expecting at the

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Speaker 1: most top and bottom line numbers?

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Speaker 2: So right now, Netflix as a last quarter had forecast

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Speaker 2: eleven billion dollars for revenue and seven dollars and three

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Speaker 2: cents in earnings per share, And right now analysts have

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Speaker 2: estimates at eleven point zero four billion for revenue and

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Speaker 2: seven point six dollars for earnings per share, So it's

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Speaker 2: not going to be fantastic, but they're they're looking to

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Speaker 2: meet expectations.

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Speaker 1: What do you think co CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg

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Speaker 1: Peters are going to be talking about.

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Speaker 2: I think probably they're going to be feeling quite a

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Speaker 2: few questions about generative AI and different ways that that

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Speaker 2: can impact not only the user interface looking at you

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Speaker 2: worship habit, feeding more people stuff to their algorithms, but

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Speaker 2: also how it might effect production costs and distribution. Ted

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Speaker 2: Zarendo said in a recent interview, trying to make the

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Speaker 2: point that in general, being able to do giant epic

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Speaker 2: things will be more possible for the creative community with

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Speaker 2: generative AI, and they're not looking to take over, They're

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Speaker 2: looking to make it easier and more economical.

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Speaker 1: As you will know, that's still a very very touchy

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Speaker 1: subject with the creative community. Yes. Absolutely.

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Speaker 2: They only settled the sag after strike between the actors

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Speaker 2: and the video games companies recently, and the main point

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Speaker 2: there was generative AI and protecting actors against that.

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Speaker 1: So it's still a very hot topic. And this also

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Speaker 1: tells me that Netflix is in fact mortal as a

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Speaker 1: company in that right now, every company has to articulate

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Speaker 1: an AI strategy, has to have a plan to show

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Speaker 1: that we're going to harness this revolutionary technology for the

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Speaker 1: betterment of our shareholders. And for so long Netflix was

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Speaker 1: so gold plated. But they also need to be in

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Speaker 1: this conversation. What other topics do you think are gonna

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Speaker 1: come up?

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Speaker 2: Probably the biggest would be first conversations surrounding Netflix and YouTube,

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Speaker 2: you know, talking about what Netflix's competitors are. There's been

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Speaker 2: a long conversation about, well, maybe we don't have any competitors.

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Speaker 2: Our competitors is like sleep, But really the competitor is

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Speaker 2: YouTube in a lot of ways, the creator economy taking

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Speaker 2: up time, what people have time to watch, a lot

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Speaker 2: of the younger generation being focused on YouTube. So the

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Speaker 2: conversation surrounding that time, TV share and just in general

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Speaker 2: attention span. So that'll be a lot of questions and

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Speaker 2: commentary surrounding that. And then one thing analysts will probably

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Speaker 2: push on, I doubt they'll get an answer is Netflix

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Speaker 2: subscriber numbers. Netflix stopped as of last quarter reporting subscriber

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Speaker 2: numbers because their total steps are honestly slowing that that

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Speaker 2: doesn't mean that they'll be down. We won't know, they

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Speaker 2: won't say, but it's just the impressive quarter over quarder

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Speaker 2: growth is not there anymore, and so they're rolling that

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Speaker 2: on in a slower, case by case basis, and that

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Speaker 2: probably won't be a number that we get tomorrow. Maybe

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Speaker 2: they'll hedge and say, you know, we were up this much,

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Speaker 2: but not give a real number.

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Speaker 1: Netflix implemented this change where they were not going to

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Speaker 1: disclose quarterly subscriber data. It had become an important benchmark

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Speaker 1: for the industry in terms of how streaming subscription growth

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Speaker 1: was going. And as we all remember in twenty twenty two,

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Speaker 1: when Netflix disclosed that they had slowed quite a bit,

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Speaker 1: that sent out shock waves that rippled through the industry

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Speaker 1: in a huge way. So those numbers can truly move markets,

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Speaker 1: and they're clearly decided that the time has come for

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Speaker 1: them to be more selective about when they put it

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Speaker 1: out without the sub number, which was the first thing

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Speaker 1: that we all went to, that was the headline without that,

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Speaker 1: Does that make it more challenging? Do you have to

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Speaker 1: look a little deeper to find your headline for oh, definitely, definitely.

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Speaker 2: And one of the things that makes it easier and

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Speaker 2: is Netflix is now putting out a biannual viewership report

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Speaker 2: that will come around September, and that will show the

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Speaker 2: first half of twenty twenty five. So it's going to

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Speaker 2: be a little more of a struggle tomorrow, but we

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Speaker 2: will definitely have more headlines in quarter ahead and then tomorrow,

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Speaker 2: you know, one of the other things will be talking

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Speaker 2: about both how the ads supported product is going for

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Speaker 2: Netflix and talking about their appetite for live sports and

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Speaker 2: just live in general, because we know there's a big

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Speaker 2: focus on that.

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Speaker 1: Yep, all roads in television right now more than ever

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Speaker 1: lead through sports. I'm looking at the closing price for

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Speaker 1: Netflix today here on Tuesday was twelve hundred and sixty

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Speaker 1: dollars and twenty seven cents, So they got a lot

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Speaker 1: of market cap and a lot of runway, and certainly

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Speaker 1: no company has ever had a bigger impact in a

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Speaker 1: shorter time on entertainment. Jennifer, thank you as always for

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Speaker 1: helping to sort it out for us, and thank you

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Speaker 1: for your time. Of course, look out for our headline later.

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Speaker 1: Now we'll hear from Todd Spangler on how he pulled

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Speaker 1: together this week's cover story, Trump's war on Truth. It's

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Speaker 1: no exaggeration to say that the First Amendment protections that

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Speaker 1: we hold so dear are under assault from this administration.

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Speaker 1: Todd's Bangler. Thanks for making time for me. Hello, So Todd,

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Speaker 1: you labored on this week's cover story. It was a

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Speaker 1: beast to put together. Collectively, we decided that the time

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Speaker 1: had come to take the measure of what the Trump

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Speaker 1: administration had meant to journalism, to media and the First Amendment.

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Speaker 1: Todd tell us what it was like to put this

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Speaker 1: very big subject into context for us for our cover.

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Speaker 3: So what's not new? Right? Everybody knows that Trump complains

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Speaker 3: about the press the media constantly. In fact, we found

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Speaker 3: that on average, he spits out one attack on the

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Speaker 3: media or a journalist per day for the last ten years.

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Speaker 3: So that's not new. But what was interesting to see

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Speaker 3: when you put it all together in one place. Now,

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Speaker 3: I thought of this metaphor of the frog boiling and water,

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Speaker 3: where you know, he's not just railing against the thing news.

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Speaker 3: It's not just that he's you know, he's filed those

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Speaker 3: lawsuits against media companies and he's won settlements. You know,

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Speaker 3: he's moved to use the power of the federal government

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Speaker 3: to defund public media, for example, and he's blocked the

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Speaker 3: Associated Press from the Oval Office because it continues to

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Speaker 3: call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of Mexico, not

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Speaker 3: the Gulf of America. And that's just a clear explicit

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Speaker 3: example of retaliation of a news outlet exercising its free speech.

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Speaker 3: So putting it all together was kind of eye opening

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Speaker 3: to see the full sweep of what's happening here in

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Speaker 3: terms of attacks on the free speech. And by the way,

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Speaker 3: to the story touches on this that he's gone after

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Speaker 3: law firms that oppose him, He's gone after universities with

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Speaker 3: which he has some ideological disagreement, and other things. And

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Speaker 3: so this is not just limited to the media.

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Speaker 1: These are the rights that define us as American. You

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Speaker 1: talk to a lot of legal scholars, what are they saying.

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Speaker 3: They say that the playbook is really designed to make speakers,

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Speaker 3: whether that's the news media or anybody else who might

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Speaker 3: challenge or critique this administration, make them think twice. You

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Speaker 3: reached it to more than a dozen different major media organizations,

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Speaker 3: and nobody wanted to go on the record. And the

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Speaker 3: only CEO of a media organization that did was Paula Kerger,

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Speaker 3: CEO PBS. She says, it's clear that it's designed to

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Speaker 3: inhibit the kind of news coverage that PBS, for example, does,

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Speaker 3: I asked Paula Kruger, this is not in the story,

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Speaker 3: but I said, why is Trump doing this? And she responded,

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Speaker 3: I don't even know where to beget And you know,

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Speaker 3: it was not an emotional response from Paula Kerer. There's

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Speaker 3: a recognition that there's certain factions that want to change

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Speaker 3: the way America thinks about itself. I mean, that's really,

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Speaker 3: broadly speaking, what we're talking about, and so that's kind

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Speaker 3: of a lens through which I came to this story.

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Speaker 1: Let me ask you specifically about the FCC, the Federal

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Speaker 1: Communications Commission. What did you gather from the scope of

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Speaker 1: the actions that the FCC has taken in instituting probes

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Speaker 1: into ABC over DEE and I, probing NPR and PBS.

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Speaker 3: There's no question that Brandon Carr is a Trump loyalist.

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Speaker 3: He's proud of that. He's said that he will carry

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Speaker 3: out Donald Trump's agenda, which is not Historically. The role

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Speaker 3: of the FCC is an independent agency one of the

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Speaker 3: timely hooks for this story it was the Paramount Global

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Speaker 3: settlement with Donald Trump. The conventional wisdom was that, hey,

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Speaker 3: this is a quid pro quo going on. Once paramout

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Speaker 3: settles this deal, that will clear the way for the

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Speaker 3: Trump administration to give the blessing to the sky Dance

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Speaker 3: media emergent, which is something Paramount really needs in order

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Speaker 3: to get back on its feet. We talked to Anagoveez,

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Speaker 3: who is the lone Democrat on the FCC, and she

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Speaker 3: told me that she's surprised that, first of all, Trump

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Speaker 3: hasn't fired her, and she is telling anybody who listens

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Speaker 3: that the FCC under Chairman Brandan Carr is being weaponized

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Speaker 3: for political purposes, and that it really is a thread

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Speaker 3: to the First Amendment.

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Speaker 1: The step back question is the dichotomy between Trump calling

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Speaker 1: himself a First Amendment warrior and actions that are clearly

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Speaker 1: designed to intimidate and to put a chill on aggressive

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Speaker 1: investigative reporting by news organizations. Did you find anybody that

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Speaker 1: could square that for you, Like, how do you call

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Speaker 1: yourself a First Amendment warrior that then go after reporting

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Speaker 1: you don't like?

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Speaker 3: It's sort of like free speech for everything. As long

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Speaker 3: as I agree with it, which it's just not free speech,

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Speaker 3: is it. So we reached out to the White House.

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Speaker 3: Trump says he's for the First Amendment. There are all

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Speaker 3: these critics who say he's undermining free speech, and they

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Speaker 3: a seement back to us. Actually, according to this statement,

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Speaker 3: there is no greater defender of freedom than President Trump,

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Speaker 3: and he, the statement goes on, he ended the Weaponsation

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Speaker 3: of Justice, restored over four hundred press passes to the

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Speaker 3: White House complex, and takes immediate questions daily. Meanwhile, about

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Speaker 3: the paramount settlement, a spokesperson for the Trump legal team

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Speaker 3: mosted of scoring a victory over the quote thing news

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Speaker 3: and it's another win for the American people. According to

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Speaker 3: this statement, that holds the fake news media accountable for

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Speaker 3: their wrongdoing and deceeeds.

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Speaker 1: It's never felt more like we are living in two

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Speaker 1: America's Todd, this was a lot to wrangle. Thank you

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Speaker 1: so much for your labor on this. I think it's

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Speaker 1: going to be an important doc for now and in

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Speaker 1: ten years time when we're still trying to figure out

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Speaker 1: what this all meant.

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Speaker 3: Thank you so you.

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Speaker 1: As we close out today's episode, here are a few

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Speaker 1: things we're watching for as we ease into second quarter

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Speaker 1: earning season. The next date to watch for is July

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Speaker 1: thirty first. That's when Comcast will deliver its results. Variety's

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Speaker 1: Ten Comics to Watch extra print edition publishes today. You

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Speaker 1: can also find it on all of our social platforms

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Speaker 1: and Variety dot com. We'll host an event next week

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Speaker 1: at the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal to

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Speaker 1: celebrate this year's list. Before we go. Congrats to Colin Creton.

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Speaker 1: He's joined New Regency as vice president of Film. He'd

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Speaker 1: been a production executive at twentieth Century Studios and Fox

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Speaker 1: since twenty sixteen. Before that, he survived two years as

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Speaker 1: an assistant to Scott Rutten. Thanks for listening. This episode

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Speaker 1: was written and reported by me Anthea Littleton, with contributions

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Speaker 1: from Jennifer Moz and Todd Spangler. It was edited by

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Speaker 1: Aaron Greenwold Sticks Next hick Picks. Please leave us a

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Speaker 1: review with the podcast platform of your choice, and please

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Speaker 1: tune in tomorrow for another episode of Daily Variety.