| | | | | Exec summary: TGIF! Fox's stock is climbing thanks to deal chatter... Jenji Kohan signs with Netflix... Jay-Z writes an op-ed for the NYT... "Justice League" is in theaters and "Mudbound" is streaming on Netflix... | | | This week, the tipping point came to Washington. More than 50 women spoke to CNN describing sexual harassment on Capitol Hill. There was a hearing on Tuesday. There was the revelation about $17 million in settlements in the past 20 years. And there was the damning allegation against Al Franken. Now members of the media are reassessing the accusations against Bill Clinton from the 1990s... and the accusations against President Trump... | | Notice this CNN's banner from Jake Tapper's program: "TRUMP WANTS YOU TO BELIEVE FRANKEN ACCUSER, BUT NOT HIS ACCUSERS." The graphic features the faces of a dozen women who accused Trump or harassment during the campaign. "People in glass White Houses shouldn't throw stones," Tapper said.
Later in the day, Don Lemon also read each of their names and summarized each accusation on "CNN Tonight..." At the same time, over on Fox, Laura Ingraham was interviewing Paula Jones and Juanita Broaddrick... | | "Franken has admitted wrongdoing and the president hasn't" | | On Friday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders dismissed Q's about the allegations against Trump by saying "this was covered pretty extensively during the campaign" and "the American people spoke very loud and clear when they elected this president." I feel like these "he won" arguments always come back to the inconvenient fact that Hillary Clinton won more votes... The popular vote disparity is part of the reason why the campaign continues to be debated...
--> Sanders with the quote of the day: Al Franken "has admitted wrongdoing and the president hasn't."
-- Choose your news: Chris Hayes led his 8pm MSNBC show with a montage of Trump's accusers. Tucker Carlson led his 8pm Fox show with a fight about Bill and Hillary Clinton... | | "Now the heat's on and it's going to boil..." | | People mag's Diane Herbst followed up with several of the women who have made accusations against Trump. Melinda McGillivray told Herbst: "I feel like we were forgotten about and there was no justice, but I do feel he will have his day in court." She said it's "disturbing" that "many of Trump's diehard supporters are so stubborn that they can't seem to come to terms with the reality that their president is just as guilty as Roy Moore."
And Natasha Stoynoff said in an email: "I feel this issue has been 'on hold' all year, but not forgotten. It's been simmering on the stove with the lid on, like a pressure cooker. But now the heat's on and it's going to boil and the lid is going to blast off."
-- So why did Maria Bartiromo say this on Fox Business Friday morning? "Just to be clear, there are no allegations against the president." Mediaite caught the falsehood... | | | Flashback: During the campaign, Trump called the accusers "horrible, horrible liars" and "horrible people." He said they "made up stories." He said some of the women are "doing it for probably a little fame." He said, of one of the women, she "would not be my first choice, that I can tell you." | | Roy Moore continues to evade journalists... and continues to cast himself as the victim of the evil Washington Post... at this point, he's running an explicitly anti-media campaign. His strategy is to deny, deny, deny... Which leads me to what Alisyn Camerota said on Friday's "New Day:"
"Here's the paradoxical lesson that we are all getting during this watershed moment: When you own up to it and admit it or at least apologize or give some sort of acknowledgment -- let's look at Kevin Spacey, let's look at Louis C.K., let's look at Harvey Weinstein -- you go down in flames. You lose your job. Your movies are taken down. You are edited out of things. When you say they are all liars and you never admit it, you are elected president." | | "This has become the Sean Hannity presidency..." | | | Jeffrey Toobin on "The Situation Room" Friday night: "This has become the Sean Hannity presidency. The only response Donald Trump has to any political event now is identical to that of Sean Hannity and Fox News..." | | Roy Moore's "core supporters appear primed to disregard what they're reading in the news," Rosie Gray and McKay Coppins wrote Friday.
All of this reminded me of my podcast with S.E. Cupp earlier in the week. "To certain Trump supporters, none of it's impactful." None of the reporting about Trump controversies, Roy Moore, etc. is going to change those minds. "That's just sort of, maybe, a reality we have to deal with." I asked her: "Are you saying there's a portion of the country that's unreachable?" "Maybe for now," she said. "I hope not forever." You can listen to the podcast via iTunes and other podcast services... Or read Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman's recap here... | | Will this reckoning result in lasting change? | | | Sandra Gonzalez emails: I looked into a question that's on the forefront of many minds as Hollywood continues to be rocked by a seemingly endless stream of sexual misconduct allegations: How does the industry turn this moment into lasting change? Everyone seems to have ideas, ranging from making it easier for people to report allegations to holding companies that employ harassers accountable. Above all, though, SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris thinks it's not a task any one organization can do alone. "If we do work together and really come together in all different aspects of our industry, then we have a really good chance to start to shift the culture," she told me. "That's the only way." More here... | | | WHO'S BUYING? WHO'S SELLING? | | "Various outlets are taking a look" at The Daily Beast | | Dylan Byers emails: You can add The Daily Beast to the list of digital media companies eyeing a sale. Sources tell me that Barry Diller's IAC is entertaining potential buyers for the site. "IAC has made it known it's a seller and various outlets are taking a look," one source with knowledge of IAC's sales pitch said. "They're shopping to all interested parties."
An IAC spokesperson said "IAC does not comment on rumors or speculation," but minutes after I reported the news, Daily Beast president Heather Dietrick emailed staff and said there was "no sales process going on for The Beast," but that IAC often "fields inquiries from third parties" looking to do deals. "In fact I wouldn't be surprised if others come by and ask to take a peek because of the way we've been driving the conversation in news lately," she wrote...
-- Related: Lucas Shaw and Gerry Smith's latest for Bloomberg: "At least six online media companies -- including Defy Media and Uproxx Media -- are considering a sale..." | | Fox on the block: Friday's updates | | There were no surprises re: 21st Century Fox on Friday, but Thursday night's news about Fox's talks with Comcast and Verizon sent $FOXA stock soaring 6%. The talks are preliminary, and I'm told that any deal for Fox's assets is weeks away. No comment from Murdochworld...
-- The WSJ's latest: Fox's "international operations are the main attractions," Joe Flint writes... | | "Fox has retained bankers" | | | "I believe Fox has retained bankers," Charlie Gasparino reported on Fox Business Network Friday afternoon, "so this is at the stage where these are serious offers that are being discussed..." | | Charlie Gasparino's intel | | | On Fox, Gasparino cited "banking sources" who said the likely buyer of Fox's studio/entertainment cable channels/international businesses "is a telecom giant like Verizon, or a tech firm that has a lot of money right now." He mentioned Amazon, the same way we did last night. "The likelihood of a Disney or Comcast is low," he said, given the antitrust hurdles. "The likelihood of a sale to somebody else, in the tech or telecom world, is high..." | | Drudge's headline for my latest column: "Anxiety grips media business..."
Each deal is different, I wrote, but there are some commonalities across media sectors. Generally speaking, at this moment in time, the more reliant on advertising revenues you are, the more vulnerable you are. Case in point: the report of Mashable's desperate $50 million sale to Ziff Davis.
-- CNN's Mitra Kalita tweeted: "Much of digital-media boom (Mashable etc) because Facebook. And decline, also because Facebook. Hunt for scale AND niche, because Facebook..."
-- But at the same time... Axios just raised $20 million in VC funding... | | DOJ's suit against AT&T delayed? | | | Via Bloomberg: "DOJ intended to file a lawsuit this week to block the Time Warner/AT&T deal, but delayed a filing because no states agreed to join the action, MLex said." MLex Market Insight told clients that only 3 or 4 states "expressed interest in joining," and so far none have done so... | | This Sunday on "Reliable Sources..." | | | I'll be joined by Elaina Plott and Anna Claire Vollers in Alabama... Plus Media Matters for America president Angelo Carusone... and Bill Carter, Marc Fisher, Michelle Ciulla Lipkin... I'll also talk with Jacquelyn Martin, the AP photographer who snapped that viral pic of the Mnuchins... Join us Sunday at 11am ET on CNN... | | -- In Saturday's NYT: Sydney Ember and Ken Vogel's piece about the Kochs backing Meredith's bid for Time Inc... (NYT)
-- Notorious Kremlin-linked Twitter troll "Jenna Abrams" has apparently returned to Twitter... Donie O'Sullivan has the details here... (CNN)
-- New: "Greg Gianforte misled police after assault of Guardian journalist, report reveals..." (The Guardian)
-- Emily Bell writing for CNN Opinion's special series on the free press: "Does a free press mean more regulation for Facebook?" | | Radhika Jones' first week in the VF spotlight | | An Phung emails: Vanity Fair's new EIC Radhika Jones boasts a list of accomplishments that includes not one but two Ivy League degrees, as well as high-profile jobs at the NYT and Time. So, when reports circulated that she might be making a fraction of Graydon Carter's $2 million salary, the news sent Media Twitter into a tailspin. To make matters worse, WWD reported that some staffers at Condé Nast were "aghast over her sense of style" during her recent visit to the lower Manhattan HQ. Her crime? Wearing a pair of tights that featured cartoon foxes. Some of the reactions:
-- "I stand with @radhikajones —today, proudly, in CRAB SOCKS," tweeted Alexandra Jacobs...
-- "Wow, hope Radhika Jones cleans out VF's fashion department. This is some real gendered BS right here," Heidi Moore tweeted...
-- "I see the past couple days of Radhika Jones/VF stuff as less about her and more about aging editors worried about losing their expense accounts and car service and clothing allowances and subsequently lashing out," tweeted Esquire deputy editor John Hendrickson... | | Jones has to cut, cut, cut... | | Jones will be tasked with cutting VF's editorial budget by 30%, according to the FT's Matthew Garrahan and Shannon Bond. "Other changes resisted" by Carter "are also looming, such as the merger of Vanity Fair's art and picture departments into Condé Nast's centralized 'creative group...'" Read more...
-- More: Lloyd Grove's latest column about VF... | | -- Brandy Zadrozny's latest: "Vice Media just held an all-hands meeting and didn't address sexual harassment -- and its employees are pissed..." (The Daily Beast)
-- Will Oremus on why "the rise of the phrase 'BIG TECH' should worry Silicon Valley..." (Slate)
-- I missed this last night: "Univision is asking investors to spend up to $200 million to buy a minority stake in Fusion Media Group," Peter Kafka reports... (Recode)
-- Ari N. Schulman's thought-provoking piece: "How Not to Cover Mass Shootings" (WSJ) | | Sunday's WashPost will feature an op-ed by Fox's Chris Wallace, based on the speech he gave while accepting the 2017 International Center for Journalists Founders Award for Excellence in Journalism...
Wallace's argument: Trump's "assault on the free press" has caused many journos to "cross the line themselves, to push back." As tempting as that may be, he says, "it's a big mistake."
Last graf: "We shouldn't be drawn into becoming players on the field, trying to match the people we cover in invective. It's not our role. We're not as good at it as they are. And we're giving up our special place in our democracy. There's enough to report about this president that we don't need to offer opinions or put our thumb on the scale." | | "Our readers want to be nourished – by meaningful journalism about technology, economics, science, the arts – not fattened up with junk..."
—Guardian EIC Katharine Viner... Read her full speech here... | | Jenji Kohan signs with Netflix | | | Netflix has inked "another gargantuan deal," this time with one of its "most successful collaborators, Jenji Kohan," THR's Lacey Rose reports. "The deal will make Netflix the 'Orange Is the New Black' and 'GLOW' producer's exclusive creative home to produce new original series and other projects..." | | | For the record, part three | | | By Julia Waldow:
-- The FCC's vote on cross-ownership was a big deal on Thursday. But Rhett Jones says another FCC change deserves attention as well. The ATSC 3.0 TV standard could include the introduction of more targeted ads... (Gizmodo)
-- Longreads has generated $140,760 through its 2017 member drive, bulking up a story fund to "pay writers, photographers, illustrators, and many others..." (Longreads)
-- Netflix has picked up streaming rights to the animated movie "Klaus," a Santa Claus origin story directed by one of the minds behind "Despicable Me..." (Variety)
-- Using MoviePass just got cheaper. The theatrical subscription service is now being offered for $6.95 a month, instead of $9.95, for a one-year plan... (TechCrunch) | | Our late-night documentary is airing on Monday | | | Have you seen the promos? CNN's in-depth look at late night in the age of Trump is airing this Monday at 9pm... I interviewed Anthony Atamanuik, Chelsea Handler and other comedians for the special... Set your DVR/alarm clock for the show! | | | "Hollywood has offered up few Asian American stars. But one of its most well-known is a cartoon: Apu from The Simpsons," CNNMoney's Leezel Tanglao writes. This Sunday, truTV is airing the documentary "The Problem with Apu," hosted by comedian Hari Kondabolu, wh says "what bothered me about Apu is how he stood in for my parents, replacing their real stories and real struggles and their really complicated lives with an accent." Read Tanglao's full story here... And watch Ahiza Garcia's interview with Kondabolu... | | Jeff Ross uses comedy to tackle immigration in new special | | Sandra Gonzalez emails: As a proud native of South Texas, I have to share this convo I had with comedian Jeff Ross about his Comedy Central special that aired Thursday night about immigration. For it, Ross headed to Brownsville, Texas to put himself face-to-face with the people on the frontlines of this debate. It's a great special that I recommend checking out over the weekend...
>> Here's the link to watch the special via CC.com... | | "Mudbound" now streaming on Netflix | | Brian Lowry emails: Although Netflix is the biggest streamer on the block, it's watched rivals surpass it in some key award measures: Amazon broke through with an Oscar nomination for "Manchester By the Sea," while Hulu nabbed streaming's first best-drama Emmy for "The Handmaid's Tale." Now Netflix might have its own Academy Award contender with "Mudbound," Dee Rees' searing adaptation about race relations in post-World War II Mississippi. The question is whether academy voters will look at the movie -- which is getting a limited release -- as a legitimate feature film.
>> Read Lowry's full review here... | | Notice the print placement... | | | Lowry adds: Although it's easy to lose sight of this in a digital-first age, newspapers still send interesting messages with their print choices. To wit: The New York Times splashed its "Mudbound" review across the top front page of its arts section, and relegated "Justice League" -- which should make roughly 100 times as much money this weekend -- to page 5... | | Will bad reviews be "Justice League's" kryptonite? | | | Frank Pallotta emails: Warner Bros. is bringing together its biggest heroes for this weekend's "Justice League," but will audiences embrace it the way they flocked to this summer's "Wonder Woman?" Ehhhh, maybe? The film has everyone from Batman to the Flash to even Wonder Woman herself, but "Wonder Woman" had good reviews (a stellar 92% score on Rotten Tomatoes), while "Justice League" does not (39%). The film made $13 million in showings last night and is projected for a $110 million opening, but will bad reviews be its kryptonite? Tune in Sunday morning -- same bat time, same bat channel -- to find out... | | Lowry reviews "Jim & Andy" | | | Lowry has another Netflix recommendation: "Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond," a fascinating documentary chronicling Jim Carrey's performance as Andy Kaufman in "Man on the Moon," which included never breaking character, and which appears to have lingered with the comic actor well beyond the movie's production... Read more about it here... | | | For the record, part four | | | By Lisa Respers France:
-- Jennifer Hudson and David Otunga have split after being engaged for a decade...
-- The Latin Grammys were held Thursday and Justin Bieber snagged his first one. Here is the winners list...
-- The American Music Awards are Sunday -- here's what you need to watch for... | | | Email brian.stelter@turner.com... I appreciate every message. The feedback helps us craft the next day's newsletter! | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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