--:-- Gideon Resnick: Good morning. It's Friday, January 26th. I'm Gideon Resnick in for Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: On today's show, what to know about the wave of media layoffs, how Trump could tank a bipartisan border deal, and the four teams vying for spots in this year's Super Bowl. But first, the United Nations top court ruled that Israel must take action to prevent acts of genocide. But they stopped short of ordering the country to suspend its military operations in the Gaza Strip.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The ruling from the International Court of Justice in The Hague was highly anticipated. It came after South Africa brought charges of genocide against Israel last month. The ICJ did not rule today on whether or not Israel's war constitutes a genocide, but said they do have jurisdiction to rule on that charge. It could be years before we get a ruling.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: In an hour-long hearing, ICJ President Judge Joan Donahue, who is American, said that Israel must ensure compliance with the Genocide Convention and do all within its power to protect civilian life.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: By 16 votes to 1, the state of Israel shall take immediate and effective measures to ensure the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Health officials in Gaza say more than 25,000 people have been killed, a majority of them women and children. According to the World Health Organization, 93% of Palestinians in Gaza face crisis levels of hunger.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The court called the current situation in Gaza, catastrophic and warned that without immediate humanitarian aid, it is at risk of deteriorating further.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: It also ruled that Israel must take effective measures to avoid the destruction of any evidence of genocide. And it called for the release of the remaining hostages being held by Hamas.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The court deems it necessary to emphasize that all parties to the conflict in the Gaza Strip are bound by international humanitarian law.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: It is gravely concerned about the fate of the hostages abducted during the attack in Israel on 7 October 2023 and held since then by Hamas and other armed groups and calls for their immediate and unconditional release.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The ICJ said Israel must submit a report within a month demonstrating it is complying with its orders.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: While the court's rulings are binding, it has no means of enforcement. That would be left up to the international community.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said they welcomed today's ruling from the ICJ.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the ruling, calling the accusation of genocide not only false but outrageous.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Earlier this month he said nothing would stop the country war against Hamas including the Hague.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Now let's turn to some other major stories that are in the news.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: In Russia, a court in Moscow extended the detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich for an additional two months.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: This means Gershkovich will now spend at least one year behind bars.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: He was arrested in March of 2023, and the U.S. says that he has been wrongly detained.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: In the United States, Alabama carried out the first execution in the nation to use nitrogen gas.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: It's an untested method that U.N. human rights experts have strongly criticized.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Convicted murderer Kenneth Smith was pronounced dead Thursday night after the Supreme Court denied an appeal from Smith's attorneys to halt the execution.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: On Capitol Hill, some Senate Republicans are expressing frustrations over former President Donald Trump speaking out against a border deal in an effort to deny President Biden a legislative win.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: It's taken lawmakers months to come to a bipartisan compromise over the southern border in exchange for more funding for the Ukraine war effort.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Yesterday, Senator Mitt Romney aired his frustrations.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: I think the border is a very important issue for Donald Trump.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And the fact that he would communicate to Republican senators and congresspeople that he doesn't want us to solve the border problem because he wants to blame Biden for it is really appalling.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: CNN reports that this is the second time in six years that Trump has either successfully killed or tried to kill a bipartisan immigration deal.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: It's a brutal time for the journalism industry, with publishers large and small laying off employees.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: In the past year alone, there have been layoffs at The Washington Post, Sports Illustrated, Vox Media, NPR, ABC, NBC, National Geographic, Time, and many more.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: This week, employees at Condé Nast and Forbes staged walkouts to protest cuts.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Business Insider announced layoffs for 8% of its staff, and the Los Angeles Times cut their newsroom by more than 20%.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The problem is particularly acute when it comes to local news.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: According to the Medill School of Journalism, an average of 10 local newspapers are shutting down every month.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: It all leads to questions of how to fix journalism's business model to support quality reporting, and what it means for our democracy to have so many fewer working journalists in an election year when there's an onslaught of misinformation.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Here's Geeta Anand, the Dean of UC Berkeley's Graduate School for Journalism, talking to KQED.
--:-- Geeta Anand: This is just hugely problematic for communities for democracy. If you don't have the reporters at the LA Times and at other local publications covering school board meetings and covering zoning board meetings and telling you what's happening in local communities, there's no way for people to go to the polls and vote responsibly.
--:-- Geeta Anand: Local news, publications like the LA Times are fundamental to holding governments accountable. And as they get decimated, our ability to hold our government to account is in shambles.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: NPR media reporter David Folkenflick says it's hard to point to one reason for this wave of layoffs.
--:-- David Folkenflick: With a few rare exceptions, newspapers have struggled to get readers to pay for subscriptions.
--:-- David Folkenflick: And despite a healthy economy, advertising dollars are down.
--:-- David Folkenflick: Advertising gets cut in a time of anxiety. And so a lot of corporations up and down have withheld their advertising dollars as they feared an economy which by and large hasn't arrived.
--:-- David Folkenflick: We've had terrific, quarter after quarter ratings. And so that means there's been not an actual recession, but what I am calling now kind of a media recession.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Media commentator Margaret Sullivan told CNN about the damage she worries all of this will have on our society.
--:-- Margaret Sullivan: Democracy needs an informed electorate in order to function. And that is tragically dwindling.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: This weekend is the NFL conference championship games.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The Baltimore Ravens play the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers face off against the Detroit Lions.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The winners of these games will go on to play in the Super Bowl.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: So here to talk through the matchups, what we can expect, and more is Apple News Sports editor, Shaker Saman.
--:-- Shaker Saman: Hey, what's going on, man? Thanks for having me.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Okay, so let's start with the Chiefs-Ravens game.
--:-- Shaker Saman: Yeah, you know, this is basically the matchup that in the AFC we've kind of been hoping for all season.
--:-- Shaker Saman: You have the defending champions, the Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelsey, right?
--:-- Shaker Saman: This team that has, as long as we can remember, had this dominant, imposing offense that actually this year kind of took a step back and is more of a defensive team.
--:-- Shaker Saman: And on the other hand, you have the Baltimore Ravens led by probable MVP Lamar Jackson, who, if you look at the advanced numbers, might be the best football team of all time.
--:-- Shaker Saman: They can beat you so many different ways through the air, on the ground. And they're getting a boost this week when superstar tight end Mark Andrews comes back from injury.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Yeah, they seem like the scariest team of the bunch if you were thinking about playing them.
--:-- Shaker Saman: Let's talk about the NFC. San Francisco 49ers are playing the Detroit Lions.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Obviously, a lot of excitement, I think, between you and I and many other people about the Lions specifically.
--:-- Shaker Saman: But what should we watch for here?
--:-- Shaker Saman: I think this game comes down to two things. Number one, the health of Debo Samuel, the 49ers superstar do-it-all kind of like wide receiver running back combo player who is effectively a game breaker because there's no real way to scheme for him without leaving something else open.
--:-- Shaker Saman: And also whether or not the Detroit defense can step up.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: But this Lions team is kind of been the story of the NFL season, right?
--:-- Shaker Saman: They have an unlikely coach and Dan Campbell, who a few years ago in his first press conference talked about wanting to bite kneecaps and just beat the snot out of opponents.
--:-- Shaker Saman: And this toughness and grit and kind of like the way people talked about football in like the 60s.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: But his teams have kind of shown that they fight through it all.
--:-- Shaker Saman: They're one of four teams to have never made it to the Super Bowl.
--:-- Shaker Saman: They only have one NFC championship appearance, and it was in 1992.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: I'm sure people in Detroit don't need to be reminded of all of this.
--:-- Shaker Saman: So just to take a step back here from the actual games, what does this mean for this team and this city and its fan base that's sort of been waiting for an opportunity like this?
--:-- Shaker Saman: Yeah, I mean, to put into context, I'm from the Detroit area.
--:-- Shaker Saman: As long as I can remember, the Lions have been miserable.
--:-- Shaker Saman: In 2008, they lost every single game.
--:-- Shaker Saman: And the kind of like legacy of this team has been losing or almost winning and then breaking your heart.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And for the first time in a lot of Lions fans' lives, myself included, they're good.
--:-- Shaker Saman: They are 120 minutes of football away from being Super Bowl champions, potentially.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Yeah, it feels like it's been like a mass delusion for people to have to convince themselves of what is actually reality week by week with this, which has been fun to see that it is actually happening.
--:-- Shaker Saman: So on that note, 120 minutes away, give me your brain's pick for the Super Bowl and the winner there and your heart's pick.
--:-- Shaker Saman: So we'll start with the AFC.
--:-- Shaker Saman: I think the Ravens are going to knock off the Chiefs.
--:-- Shaker Saman: I think we're going to have a new champion this year.
--:-- Shaker Saman: The Baltimore Ravens are just too good.
--:-- Shaker Saman: As for the NFC, my brain's pick is still the 49ers.
--:-- Shaker Saman: My heart picks as the Lions win that game, but I can't let myself be caught in that emotionally compromised scenario.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: So Super Bowl 49ers versus Ravens.
--:-- Shaker Saman: And just like we saw in the regular season, I think the Ravens beat the 49ers by just a upsetting margin.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Shaka Saman, Apple News Sports Editor. Thank you so much for joining us.
--:-- Shaker Saman: Thanks for having me and absolutely go Lions.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And check out our weekend interview show, Apple News, In Conversation.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: This week, you're going to hear the last interview Shemitah recorded before her maternity leave.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: She talks to New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast about what it takes to create the iconic drawings we love so much.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: I didn't want to learn how to be a New Yorker cartoonist.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: I wanted to learn how to be me.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: You know, the only thing I really could do was draw how I drew and think like I thought and pay attention to what I thought was funny, not trying to figure out what somebody else thought was funny.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And if you're listening in the Apple News app right now, that episode is queued up to play for you next.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Enjoy the weekend, and we'll be back with the news on Monday.
