Axios

Mercedes-Benz has "reassigned" ads slated to appear on The O'Reilly Factor following this weekend's New York Times report that host Bill O'Reilly and Fox News had settled multiple accusations of sexual harassment against O'Reilly, per CNN.

If more advertisers follow suit, it could be a cause for concern to Fox News as O'Reilly's show is the network's biggest draw and generated nearly $450 million in revenue from 2014 to 2016. CNN reached out to other companies who advertise on O'Reilly — many of whom indicated that they were still looking into the matter.

But Mercedes-Benz's manager of corporate communications pulled no punches when discussing the decision, telling CNN:

The allegations are disturbing and, given the importance of women in every aspect of our business, we don't feel this is a good environment in which to advertise our products right now.

On April 27, Comedy Central will debut a new late-night show — The President Show — on Thursdays at 11:30 p.m, hosted by Anthony Atamanuik (as Donald Trump) and set in the Oval Office, NYT reports.

"Laughing at the president is a proud American tradition and we hope not to disappoint anyone in that department.But our political system is too broken for us to be content joking about one man, even though he is a disastrous silly little toddler boy. Mostly I'd just like to thank Comedy Central for giving us this platform to speak truth to power and if we're lucky, end up in prison!" — Anthony Atamanuik

April Ryan, White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks, has been named a CNN political analyst, per Politico. She's long been an institution in the press corps, but her exchanges with Trump and Spicer have repeatedly made national news.

During a February press conference, Ryan asked Trump how he would tackle urban issues, as well as whether he was planning on meeting with the Congressional Black Congress. Trump told Ryan he'd be happy to meet with them, then asked: "Are they friends of yours?" His answer quickly went viral.

Another famous Ryan moment was during a daily press briefing with Spicer, when the press secretary told Ryan to "stop shaking her head" at him. Following the briefing Ryan tweeted, "Lawd!" in response. The tweet got nearly 6,500 retweets, and was liked nearly 28,000 times.

The New York Times reported this weekend that roughly $13 million has been paid to women accusing Bill O'Reilly of sexual harassment, and at least six women have leveled accusations against him. Then on Monday, Fox News contributor Julia Roginsky became the latest to go public with accusations against Roger Ailes, the network's former chairman.

Both O'Reilly and Ailes have denied all of the accusations against them, and 21st Century Fox released a statement in response to the NYT story saying the company "takes matters of workplace behavior very seriously" and had discussed the claims with O'Reilly.

The New Yorker's latest profile takes an inside look at Fox News' Tucker Carlson, who became host of his own show, "Tucker Carlson Tonight," back in November to fill the space formerly occupied by Megyn Kelly. Comeback star Carlson, buoyed by Trump's election win and the explosion of interest in political news, drew even better ratings than Kelly had, and has proven to "thrive in the tumult of Trump-era politics":

Some cable shows rely on the drama of putting people in the same place, but Carlson's thrives on remote interviews, which allow his producers to "box" his face, keeping it onscreen so that viewers can watch him react. When Carlson is talking to someone he agrees with, he pulls back, adopting the role of an earnest student seeking edification from a wise professor. But the segments most people remember are the contentious ones.

Carlson grows incredulous and furrows his brow; he grows more incredulous and unfurrows it, letting his features melt into a disbelieving smile, which sometimes gives way to a high-pitched chuckle of outrage. One of his favorite tactics is to insist that his guest answer a question that is essentially unanswerable, as when he pressed Bill Nye to tell him what percentage of climate change was caused by human activity, then berated him for evading the question.

A lengthy New York Times report about Uber's techniques for managing when and where drivers work reveals an intense collision between Uber's business model, its employment practices, and its use of behavior science to influence drivers.

• Why it matters: Uber's classification of its drivers as independent contractors instead of employees is at the core of its need for these practices. To avoid being forced to classify workers as employees, a company has to limit how much control is exerts over its contractors' work—it can't do things like train them, give them set work schedules, etc. So it's devised methods — similar to those used by video game developers — to direct drivers, including "surge" pricing, encouraging text messages, reminding them of earnings goals, and more.
• Competing goals: Not all techniques satisfy everyone's goals, as the Times points out. "Surge" pricing, for example, aims to get more drivers to get on the road to meet the increased demand for rides, but the price hikes frustrate passengers. And while Uber wants to have as many drivers on the road at all times to ensure passengers can get picked up quickly, this leaves many drivers idle if there's not enough demand.
• Beyond Uber: While Uber is the subject of the Times' report, it's far from the only "gig economy" company to use such techniques to manage independent contractors.

The H-1B lottery for high-skilled foreign workers — the one Trump had pledged to reform — opens today without any White House action. By Friday, the government is expected to be flooded by almost 300,000 applications for a pool of only 85,000 visas that are coveted by tech firms to fill engineering jobs.

Why it matters: Trump campaigned on a promise to overhaul the H-1B program, which he said was used by some companies to undercut American employees with cheaper overseas labor. A draft executive order leaked out from the White House in February. Since then, immigration experts and lobbyists expected Trump to call for a reprioritized lottery system that would put outsourcing companies at the back of the line. The tech industry, which has pushed for an expanded lottery system, was widely nervous that he'd drastically curtail the total number of visas in the process.

But Trump never made his move — and the lottery will start today as usual.

Three million North Koreans now use the intra-country cell phone network called Koryolink. That may sound like progress, but that cell phone network is just "giving the North Korean government more control," according to a U.S. government-funded report from InterMedia, which assembled its findings based on responses from 34 North Korean defectors.

Why it matters: North Korea is trying to create "the appearance of development and modernization," but it's really seeking new ways to control its populace's media consumption. North Korea's surveillance state now goes "beyond what is observed even in other authoritarian states or closed media environments," the report said, and citizens are subject to monitoring from more than eight ministries and organizations.