Top of the Ticker: Former MSNBC anchor Mehdi Hasan has announced his next move after leaving the network in January. Following in the footsteps of ex-cable Newsers like Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, Hasan is launching a subscription-based digital media company. The new venture is named Zeteo—derived from the ancient Greek term for “seeking out”—and will encompass a full suite of digital features, including interviews, newsletters and podcasts. “Zeteo is not just a media company; it’s a movement for media accountability,” the site promises. “So join us as we challenge the powerful, change the narrative, and champion good ol’ fashioned adversarial journalism.”
Festival Season: The 2024 Tribeca Festival unveiled its line-up for its 23rd edition, which features a number of documentaries tackling timely news issues. Antidote celebrates the efforts of Russian whistleblowers exposing corruption within Vladimir Putin’s regime, while Checkpoint Zero documents a volunteer team of zookeepers and animal lovers that sought to protect thousands of animals impacted by Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine. Celebrated Swedish journalist My Vingren takes center stage in Hacking Hate, which chronicles her experiences going undercover to investigate the global neo-Nazi movement. And State of Silence provides an on-the-ground look at Mexican journalists who continue to investigate the narcotics trade despite the threat to their lives. This year’s Tribeca Festival runs from June 5-16 in New York.
In other summer festival news, the Aspen Ideas Festival has revealed some of the speakers who will be appearing at this year’s event, which runs from June 23-29 in the Rocky Mountains. A partnership between the Aspen Institute and the NBCUniversal News Group, the festival will feature a number of prominent NBC Newsers, including CNBC senior finance correspondent Sharon Epperson and Squawk Box co-anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin. Additional moderators and speakers from across NBC platforms will be announced in the coming weeks.
CBS Catch-Up: Ahead of Earth Day on April 22, CBS News and Stations will celebrate the planet with a week-long line-up of environmental programming titled Protecting Life on Earth. The series kicked off on Tuesday with a half-hour special hosted by national climate correspondent David Schechter that reveals how climate change is impacting the natural world. Schechter and senior national and environmental correspondent Ben Tracy will also appear in multiple Climate Watch reports that begin airing on Thursday on CBS News Streaming as well as morning and evening news programs.
CBS News also picked up a pair of statues at the Writers Guild Awards on Sunday. Scott Pelley, Nicole Young and Kristin Steve were recognized in the News Script, Analysis, Feature or Commentary category for their 60 Minutes report, Healing and Hope. James Hutton and Rob Rivielle won News Script, Regularly Scheduled, Bulletin or Breaking Report for their coverage featured on CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell.
Scripps Notes: On the heels of creating a new Disinformation Desk, Scripps News has unveiled a partnership with the tech company Ad Fontes Media, which audits news outlets to ensure that coverage remains transparent and nonpartisan. “Scripps News’ unbiased, fact-based journalism is what sets it apart from misinformation, AI-manipulated content, and clickbait that has flooded the information ecosystem,” Kate O’Brian, president of news, said in a statement. “The partnership with Ad Fontes Media will ensure that readers and advertisers can be confident in the reliability of our award-winning work.”
New in Newsletters: In addition to its linear and streaming coverage of former President Donald Trump’s ongoing hush money trial in New York, NBCNews.com will launch a weekly pop-up newsletter called Trump on Trial. TVNewser has learned that the newsletter will go live every Friday and provide a recap of all the major events of the week from the Manhattan Criminal Court.