Step by step for Savannah
|
Step by step, Savannah Guthrie is inching back toward something resembling normal, nearly two months after her mom disappeared in the middle of the night. This week is a big step: Guthrie’s first interview about her family’s ordeal. She taped a tearful sit-down with her friend and colleague Hoda Kotb, and NBC shared a clip from the interview on “Today” this morning. The full interview will air on Thursday and Friday, and it’s sure to generate tons of attention, because this entire situation is unprecedented. A sit-down interview is a necessary step before Guthrie comes back to the “Today” show. NBC has not announced a return date for her yet. But a person close to the show tells me they anticipate Guthrie returning to Studio 1A sometime in April. The New York Post recently reported that Guthrie could return “in just a few weeks,” saying she is “hoping” to be back on air after “her children’s spring break.” Yes, but the interview clip that aired this morning underscored how hard that will be. Guthrie choked back tears as she spoke. |
‘I will not hide my face’ |
“Someone needs to do the right thing. We are in agony. We are in agony. It is unbearable,” Guthrie said in the conversation with Kotb. Guthrie said she wakes up “in the middle of the night, every night, and in the darkness, I imagine her terror. And it is unthinkable, but those thoughts demand to be thought.” “And I will not hide my face,” Guthrie added, perhaps alluding to her steely resolve to get back to work. After the clip aired, co-host Carson Daly said it’s difficult to see Guthrie “in this tortured limbo state,” given that there has been no closure since Nancy remains missing. Officials say the case is still active, with a 20- to 24-person task force dedicated to the investigation. “We’re not giving up,” Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told KOLD, the CBS affiliate in Tucson, earlier this week… |
THR’s Steven Zeitchik called it “the biggest story in Hollywood and tech in many months.” OpenAI is shutting down Sora, and Disney is shutting down its deal with OpenAI. WSJ reporter Berber Jin, who broke the news about Sora on Tuesday afternoon, wrote that its discontinuation “is a rebuke to OpenAI’s previous strategy, which involved an array of product launches that created a complicated organizational structure and competing priorities.” It may also be a reflection of the fact that Sora burned bright last fall but fizzled out very quickly. Recall how the app quickly shot to the #1 spot in Apple’s US App Store back in October, stirring up all kinds of concerns about deepfakes. Users were generating videos featuring long-dead icons like Martin Luther King Jr., prompting estates to threaten lawsuits. Weeks later, however, Sora was a ghost town. BI’s Katie Notopoulos noted that “none of my friends who don’t work in tech or media ever joined,” leading her to say she was “bored” with the app. >> Ultimately, even though “the underlying Sora 2 video- and audio-generation model is scarily impressive, there was not sustained interest in an AI-only social feed,” TechCrunch’s Amanda Silberling writes. >> “OpenAI is prioritizing capital, chips and enterprise products over experimental bets as it faces increased competition from Anthropic and Google,” Ina Fried explains for Axios. “Sora was consuming significant compute.” |
So what about the Disney of it all? The OpenAI-Disney deal “never closed,” meaning “no money changed hands,” Reuters’ Dawn Chmielewski and Deepa Seetharaman reported. Disney’s involvement was the most significant endorsement for OpenAI, a signal of Hollywood’s willingness to join forces rather than get eaten alive by the tech. But the fact that the deal never fully closed might underscore just how tentative these transactions still are. |
Meta employees are girding for layoffs today after staffers in some divisions received notes “directing them to work remotely,” Business Insider’s Pranav Dixit reported overnight. “The short HR email said leadership would share more information.” Reuters has signaled that the coming round of layoffs “could affect 20% or more of the company…” |
New Mexico jury rules against Meta in landmark case |
Yesterday, a New Mexico jury found Meta “liable on all counts” over child sexual exploitation on its platforms and ordered the social media giant to pony up $375 million in damages. “For years,” Clare Duffy said on “CNN News Central” just now, “we have heard these concerns from parents, from lawmakers, from advocates, about the risks to children on Meta’s platforms. And this is the first time that we’re seeing a jury hold the company accountable for that. And this decision came after less than a day of jury deliberations.” >> A Meta rep said the company “respectfully” disagrees with the decision and will appeal. In L.A., jurors are taking much longer to mull a separate case against Meta and YouTube… |
Pentagon digs in deeper after court loss |
The words “Correspondents’ Corridor,” which designate the press workspace in the Pentagon, have literally been stripped off the walls. A spy also noticed a giant trash can in the corridor yesterday. But the fight over Pentagon press access is far from over. Yesterday, The New York Times filed a motion to compel compliance with the court’s order from last Friday. Ted Boutrous, who is representing the NYT, says the Defense Department is defying that order “by doubling down on the policy’s unconstitutional restrictions on newsgathering and adding new restrictions in retaliation for the Times’s efforts to protect its First Amendment rights.” NYT reporter Erik Wemple has more here, including an interview with an advisor to Pete Hegseth who says “unauthorized disclosures,” AKA leaks to reporters, “was really our whole concern from the beginning.” |
Inside Trump’s video montage bubble |
Every day since the start of the Iran war, military officials show Trump a compilation of “the biggest, most successful strikes on Iranian targets over the previous 48 hours,” NBC’s Katherine Doyle, Courtney Kube and Dan De Luce reported this morning. One official described it as a montage of “stuff blowing up.” However, they report, “the video briefing is fueling concerns among some of Trump’s allies that he may not be receiving — or absorbing — the complete picture of the war.” Furthermore, “They said the videos are also driving Trump’s increasing frustration with news coverage of the war. Trump has pointed to the success depicted in the daily videos to privately question why his administration can’t better influence the public narrative, asking aides why the news media doesn’t emphasize what he’s seeing.” |
‘Morning Joe’ duo renew with MS |
Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski have “re-signed their ‘Morning Joe’ contracts with MS NOW through the end of 2029,” Mike Allen and Sara Fischer reported this morning. Rebecca Kutler noted that “we are about to celebrate 20 years of ‘Morning Joe’ ” next year… |
‘The kind of behavior that makes Putin blush’ |
Gavin Newsom minced no words when asked yesterday about the FCC approving the Nexstar-Tegna merger. “I think it’s a disgrace. I think Brendan Carr is a disgrace,” he said in a clip posted to X by HQNewsNow. “I don’t care what side of the political aisle you’re on. This is the kind of behavior you would see in Hungary, the kind of behavior you would see in Turkey, the kind of behavior that makes Putin blush. Brendan Carr is a disgrace, and this deal is an outrage and disgrace.” Newsom said he’s “proud” of California AG Rob Bonta for suing to block the deal, but “disappointed” that more states haven’t joined the complaint. TheWrap’s Lucas Manfredi has more on his comments here… |
>> Former CBS News boss Wendy McMahon talked with Noor Ibrahim about her decision to resign last year, the network’s editorial changes and the future of journalism. (Marie Claire) >> The relaunched “CBS Evening News” is on track for “its lowest-rated first quarter of the 21st century in both total viewers and the advertiser-coveted 25-54 demo,” Oliver Darcy reports. The morning show is also down year over year, prompting Darcy’s sources to blame Bari Weiss. (Status) >> Last week, CBS was back above the 4 million viewer mark, with 4.17 million viewers, while ABC led with 8.82 million and NBC was in between with 6.52 million. >> The chief executive of a TV trade group says Nielsen’s decision to delay its February “Gauge” report runs “completely counter to the role of a fair and neutral measurement and currency data provider.” (Variety) |
This is how fast print papers are dwindling |
New data from the Alliance for Audited Media shows that “the combined average daily print circulation at 25 of the largest audited newspapers in the US fell by 12.5% in the year to the end of September 2025,” Press Gazette’s Alice Booker reports. >> The Washington Post saw the largest year-on-year decline, with its “average daily print circulation down by 21.2% to 87,576.” |
More of today’s tech talk |
>> “The Trump administration has agreed to a settlement that will bar three federal agencies from pressuring social media companies to remove or suppress speech, ending a high-profile lawsuit that reached the U.S. Supreme Court when Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden was president.” (Reuters) >> “Lawsuits against Elon Musk’s xAI are piling up, with Baltimore becoming the first major U.S. city to file a complaint against the company concerning issues with its Grok image generator.” (CNBC) >> Epic Games “is cutting more than 1,000 jobs, citing a downturn in engagement for ‘Fortnite’ dating back to last year.” (The Verge) >> Sky News reporter Tom Clarke tracked down the person behind the viral IG account “Chloe vs. History” and found it’s a man “using a new Chinese AI video model, Seedance 2.0, to create hyper-realistic” historical clips. (Sky) |
Colbert to write new ‘Lord of the Rings’ film |
Stephen Colbert has a new job lined up: The well-known J.R.R. Tolkien superfan “announced he will co-write and develop a new film in the blockbuster ‘Lord of the Rings’ franchise,” CNN’s Karina Tsui wrote overnight. “Colbert joined ‘LOTR’ director Peter Jackson to reveal the news in a video announcement…” |
A few more Hollywood headlines |
>> “TikTok is getting serious about mini dramas,” announcing “casting for a new short-drama production this month, recruiting actors for a soap opera-style project.” (Business Insider) >> The live BTS concert special “reached 18.4 million viewers on Netflix,” Selome Hailu writes. (Variety) >> In four days, the trailer for “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” hit one billion views, “cementing its status as the biggest movie trailer in history,” Jordan Moreau writes. (Variety) >> HBO is out with a first look at its “Harry Potter” series. (TheWrap) |