From the Beast’s media desk

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The slap seen ’round the world last night answered the perennial question of whether the Academy Awards are dead. Despite the bell tolling for movie theaters, the rise of streaming content, and much moaning about the relevancy of Hollywood’s biggest night, a meh joke by Chris Rock and a half-pulled punch by Will Smith proved that old Oscar can still bring the high drama. We’ve spent the last few days in Hollyweird chasing a bunch of juicy tips (keep ’em coming here) and are back this week with a spicy spree of scooplets. There’s no time for any rambling speeches—so let’s just rip open the envelope, shall we?

JON KARL TESTS THE WATERS: Chris Wallace poured a bucket of verbal

manure over Fox News on Sunday, describing the latter stage of his tenure at the top-rated cable network as “increasingly unsustainable,” but people inside Rupert Murdoch’s empire were nonplussed. In their view, they’re saving $9 million a year, which is what Wallace is now getting to appear on CNN+, according to two people familiar with the situation. Now, Source Material has learned that ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl, who has long yearned to host a Sunday show, had talks with Fox News execs about replacing Wallace on Fox News Sunday but ultimately passed. Bret Baier and John Roberts are among those who have filled in since Wallace departed in December, with a decision on a permanent replacement still pending. “We had very informal conversations with Jonathan Karl as we routinely have with many talent across all media—offers are never extended in these discussions, therefore nothing was declined,” a Fox News spokesperson emailed Source Material. Karl and a rep for CNN+ did not respond to a request for comment.

‘DEAR WRAPPERS!’: The high turnover at TheWrap has only grown more dire since our exposé on founder, CEO and EIC Sharon Waxman’s toxic leadership some months ago. The Hollywood trade pub has seen a wave of experienced reporters and editors bolt, according to three people familiar with the matter—including longtime TV reporter and editor Tony Maglio (for IndieWire), senior TV reporter Tim Baysinger (to Axios), deputy editor Lawrence Yee (now at Netflix), TV reporter Jennifer Maas (to Variety) and news editor Madeline Roth (now an entertainment editor at The Daily Beast). At least nine people from the editorial and business side have jumped ship, among them a senior adviser and a reporter who called it quits after just one day on the job. Waxman, who started the site a decade ago, had vowed to change her ways after our exclusive detailing horror stories from employees. “Dear Wrappers, Hi everyone. As we are all aware, it's been a difficult number of days because of the recent article about myself and TheWrap,” Waxman wrote in an email to staff, obtained and reviewed by Source Material, shortly after our story broke. ”And we ended last week with a commitment to take concrete steps to make TheWrap a better—indeed the best—place to work, even as we produce the best journalism in our space.” She created a confidential “feedback portal” for employees to send concerns, contracted a third-party human resources company, and announced that an outside adviser would conduct an internal review based on employee feedback. And that feedback had to sting: Two months later, the adviser revealed that staffers felt that “trust is broken,” there is “a culture based on fear,” they’re “treated like children,” and there had “been little/no changes made since” the article, according to confidential and internal PowerPoint slides obtained and reviewed by Source Material. One slide of employee messages included this quote: “Embarrassing. Very disappointing for everyone. The article affected the entire company.” Despite the scathing reviews, one staffer told Source Material, the head honcho has only paid lip service to changing the workplace culture. “Waxman is as bad as ever,” they said. Waxman declined to comment to Source Material but noted that TheWrap has hired over a dozen new staffers in the past few months.

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DON’T ASK JONAH ANYTHING: BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti wasn’t around to take questions at a company all-hands after last week’s shock announcement that editor-in-chief Mark Schoofs and two other top editors are out and that buyouts (and likely layoffs) would be in the offing. But as the company began its money-saving retreat from specialty news coverage and award-winning investigations, raising questions about the long-term viability of the site, Peretti was inundated with questions from employees in BuzzFeed’s “ask Jonah anything” slack channel. “We are pissed about the way he has treated the newsroom,” senior reporter Julie Reinstein told Source Material. “He broke life-changing news then left before taking questions. It was fucking gutting.” Peretti’s don’t-look-at-me stance may backfire, with staff likely to vote on a strike motion this week, two people familiar with the matter told us. A spokesman for BuzzFeed declined to comment. In the meantime, interim EIC Samantha Henig emailed staff late on Friday with an update on a permanent replacement for Schoofs, saying she had heard from “some strong internal candidates, which is exciting.” It sounded like she was ready to draw a line under the bloody week, writing, “As soon as I hit send on this I am making a Manhattan and ordering some pho.”

MCCARTHY JOINS THE #WAR: Ahead of his own 2022 re-election bid, and with hopes of taking back the lower chamber, Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has sought out an old yet critical ally among right-wing media: Breitbart News. Among the powerful lawmaker’s camp there has been a strategic effort to court the favor of Breitbart—founded by the late Andrew Breitbart and known for declaring “#WAR” on its liberal enemies—and, more specifically, Matthew Boyle, the digital outfit’s Washington bureau chief, according to two people familiar with the situation. McCarthy has frequently appeared on Boyle’s weekly Breitbart News program on SiriusXM’s Patriot channel, and the outlet recently ran a glowing 7,500-word profile of the former majority leader. In fact, Breitbart has recently run more than a few “exclusive” stories touting McCarthy’s Capitol Hill stunts. Neither a McCarthy spokesperson nor Boyle returned Source Material’s request for comment.

OSCARS PARTY WRAP: The Dolby Theater wasn’t the only scene of controversy on Sunday night. At the nearby Chateau Marmont, where workers picketed over a labor dispute with management, dozens of heavy-handed security guards worked to keep protesters at bay using umbrellas to protect stars like Zoe Kravitz as they entered Jay-Z and Beyonce’s Oscar night bash. Over in Beverly Hills, Vanity Fair hosted its annual shindig or as one underwhelmed attendee noted “the event is dead but the corpse keeps twitching.” Conde Nast blasted out a press release touting notable guests, including Derek Blasberg, Chris Licht, Matthew Greenfield, Kirstin Benson and Lisa Stein.

Tips? We're all ears: sourcematerial@thedailybeast.com

IN PLAIN SIGHT: Spotted outside Sunset Tower Hotel Saturday night: Jack Nicholson’s daughter, Lorraine, along with Sean Penn’s daughter, Dylan. Meantime, the Daily Mail’s Baz Bamigboye (who is soon joining Deadline) was sighted with his partner in crime, Showbiz 411’s Roger Friedman, at the Armani pre-Oscars shindig on Rodeo Drive.

WE HEAR WHISPERS: Tucker Carlson has bought a house in Whitefish, Montana, the state where last year he got into a heated confrontation with a fly-fishing guide who called him “the worst human being”... Chuck Todd is debating whether to attend next month’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in fear he will be roasted by host Trevor Noah.

More from the Beast’s Media Desk

—“Alex Jones Was Too Sick to Be Deposed by Sandy Hook Families, but Not Too Sick to Host Infowars” It’s the conspiracy crowd equivalent of being caught golfing by the boss on a sick day. Alex Jones said a mysterious medical emergency prevented him from giving a deposition in the Sandy Hook lawsuit last week. But he somehow still managed to record his four-hour show on InfoWars. The judge was not amused.

—“Kremlin TV Descends Into Screaming Match Over Putin’s War Failures” The united front presented on Russia’s state-controlled television is showing cracks as the war in Ukraine drags on. Julia Davis reports that host Olga Skabeeva began shrieking at political analyst Vitaly Tretyakov when he dared to suggest that Putin’s invasion is going less than swimmingly. “So you sprinkled the ashes all over your head, but what do we do now?” she sniped.

—“People’s Convoy Gives Up, Will Leave D.C. After 3 Weeks of Doing Absolutely Nothing” The U.S. convoy was boosted like crazy by right-wing online media as it drove in circles and got caught in traffic jams but ended up being a massive dud. On Sunday night, a co-organizer said they were packing up and hitting the road.

Recent Reads

—The New York Times’ big story on Jay Penske, the billionaire heir to a moving empire turned media kingpin, came out over the weekend. The 3,000-word profile delves into Penske Media Corporation’s near-monopoly on Hollywood-centered publications, including The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Rolling Stone, and Deadline, and touched on its Saudi investment, but was short on bombshells. The juiciest bit was a reminder of that time in 2012 when Penske was arrested in Nantucket for allegedly peeing on a woman’s shoes.

— The Guardian reports that Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers failed to quash an ongoing legal case about the hacking of phones by the now-shuttered British tabloid News of the World after 15 years and upwards of 1,000 claims being filed. Actions have also been filed against Murdoch’s The Sun, but unlike News of the World, that tab has never admitted to any wrongdoing.

—With the war in Ukraine putting news-gatherers in the line of fire, Reuters Institute reflects on the vital role of “fixers,” journalists who work for media companies and provide contacts, cultural insight, and more to foreign correspondents. Some of these freelancers talk about the risks they face, and the respect they deserve.

**WHAT ARE WE OUTRAGED ABOUT NOW?**

While the Senate confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson was chock full of grandstanding moments by Republicans looking for Fox News airtime, nobody could top Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) demanding that Jackson define the word “woman.” It didn’t take long for Blackburn’s barely veiled transphobia and Jackson’s side-stepping answer of “I’m not a biologist” to become a prime focus of Fox programming. From Wednesday morning through Friday night, the network devoted dozens of outrage segments to Jackson’s refusal to engage in Blackburn’s culture-war button-pressing. Tucker Carlson, for instance, kicked off his primetime show Wednesday by airing a graphic of the female reproductive system while launching into a lengthy tirade about science “crumbling in the face of the trans lobby” and “pregnant flight suits” destroying masculinity. Greg Gutfeld, the network’s resident late-night “comedian,” covered the subject at length for three straight evenings. Even on Friday, the network’s hosts were still grumbling about KBJ’s comments. “As a woman, I’m offended that she doesn’t know who I am,” anchor Julie Banderas seethed. “For my intents and purposes, she has insulted all women across the country!”

We’ll be back next week with more saucy Source Material. In the meantime, send us questions, complaints and tips and subscribe here.

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