Mourning 'The Mouth of the South'

Ted Turner

Living up to the legend's legacy… On the day that CNN’s visionary founder Ted Turner died, the network’s chief global affairs correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, expressed doubts about the media outlet's independence under David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance.

She noted that CBS News under Ellison’s ownership has had an “ideological realignment.” She added that CBS News is “hemorrhaging viewers and probably hemorrhaging money.”

Amanpour told the Truth Tellers investigative conference in London that she worries about CNN’s independence. Ellison though has promised that CNN’s independence will remain intact.

Amanpour remembers Turner as a giant. "He said it like it was and like it is, and we were his willing foot soldiers. And I think he changed not just the world, but all of our lives, too.”

Will today’s CNNers think the same of Ellison?

CNN set the template for today’s media world. Its remarkable coverage of the first Persian Gulf War, Challenger explosion, and the student uprising in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square captivated viewers throughout the world and earned it a place on top of the media heap.

Ellison would be foolish to tarnish CNN’s legacy.

The Anti-Defamation League reports a 33 percent decline to 6,274 incidents of antisemitic assault, harassment and vandalism in 2025.

The year included three fatalities due to antisemitic attacks. Two people were shot on May 21 outside the Capital Jewish Museum in DC. Another person died from injuries sustained in the June 1 firebombing attack at a "Run for Their Lives" event in Boulder, Colorado.

Despite the dip in overall antisemitic incidents, the ADL said 2025 was one of the most violent periods for American Jews. The year only trailed 2023 and 2024 in the number of antisemitic incidents.

“Even as overall incidents declined, the surge in physical assaults is a stark reminder that a historically high level of antisemitism puts Jewish lives at risk,” said Oren Segal, ADL senior VP for Counter-Extremism and Intelligence. “The safety of Jewish communities depends on our collective willingness to meet this moment with urgency, which is what we are doing every day at ADL."

Skeptical about AI… The Yale University Spring survey of young voters finds that a majority (58 percent) of them think that AI should not play any role in driving buses, trains or subways, or in making decisions in military combat situations (54 percent).

A plurality say that AI should not play any role in making patient decisions in healthcare (48 percent), or in reading job applications and making hiring decisions (45 percent).

Respondents are split on whether AI should be used for K-12 teaching: 46 percent say humans should do most of the work with some AI assistance, while 41 percent say humans should do all of the work.

Only 26 percent feel that “the benefits of Ai will outweigh the harms,” compared to 43 percent who disagree and 31 percent who are not sure.

According to the survey, the most significant benefits of AI will be assisting people with disabilities and achieving scientific breakthroughs.

The key takeaway: AI could use some PR.

Mix the messages up… Omnicom Media Intelligence has warned marketers about the dangers associated with advertising’s oldest metric: frequency.

Its “Why Frequency Matters: Combatting Negative Reach,” report finds that overexposure erodes returns.

The result is “negative reach,” defined as the point at which repeated impressions turn off consumers and damage brand perception.

Omnicom recommends mixing up the spots.

Consumers are more receptive of seeing different ad looks and platforms, compared to being bombarded with the same old tired message.

Layoffs fail to boost Coinbase... Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong fired 14 percent (700 people) at Coinbase, a move that usually results in cheers on Wall Street and a boost in the company’s stock price.

But that didn’t happen as shares of the crypto company tumbled 3.7 percent on the release of Armstrong’s smarmy internal memo that informed those being shown the door that they would lose access to Coinbase’s computer network within the next hour.

Unremarkably, Armstrong blamed AI for the job cuts. He’s “watched engineers use AI to ship in days what used to take a team weeks.” AI has ushered in “one person teams” with engineers, designers and product managers all in one role.

Armstrong noted that talented “real people’ are getting the ax. He’s bullish about their non-Coinbase future because their “skills and experience will be highly sought after as you pursue your next chapters.”

The CEO's goal is to rebuild Coinbase as an intelligence company, with humans around the edge aligning it.

That doesn’t bode well for Coinbase staffers who are clinging onto their jobs. It appears that Armstrong’s goal is to have “zero person” teams empowered by AI.