| | | | | I'm not at Cannes Lions this year... but I'm going to fake it today... here's the biggest news from the annual advertising festival: | | "The world of digital advertising is a nightmarish joke." | | | That's NYT CEO Mark Thompson speaking on a Monday panel. "it's a joke," he said. "It's out of control. There are all sorts of creepy, borderline fraudulent middlemen, this thicket of strange companies, tracking pixels on everything. You couldn't think of a more dangerous environment for a brand." Like other premium publishers, he's channeling widespread concerns about "brand safety" while touting the NYT as a safe spot... | | So much for that Disney takeover: the WSJ broke the news that "Vice Media has secured a $450 million investment from private-equity firm TPG." Minutes later CNBC's Julia Boorstin had the first interview with Shane Smith on the beach in Cannes. The new infusion values Vice at $5.7 billion, though Smith said "I generally round it up to $6 [billion] because it's easier to say." He said the $$$ is for new verticals, "direct to consumer," scripted programming, feature films, etc...
The valuation definitely surprised some observers. Disney's absence from the new round indicated that sales talks have cooled... | | Snap's $$$ deal with Time Warner | | NYPost's Claire Atkinson: "Snap signed a $100 million deal with Time Warner on Monday to create as many as 10 original shows" for the app. (CNBC called it a "$100 million lifeline" because it helped Snap's sluggish stock.) More from Atkinson: "Snap is in Cannes to sign as many new advertisers and partners as possible to juice its quarterly earnings."
Via BI, this is the Snap ferris wheel in Cannes... | | "Facebook is about Facebook" | | While AdAge wonders if Facebook is "laying low" at Cannes this year, I was struck by the quotes in this piece by Bloomberg's Sarah Frier and Gerry Smith titled "Media Companies Are Getting Sick of Facebook." They say, "Facebook's efforts to build a library of high-end original videos are meeting resistance from publishers frustrated by the way the company has treated them." Andrew Morse, GM of CNN Digital Worldwide, is quoted saying "Facebook is about Facebook."
Writing from Cannes, Morse elaborated: Facebook being about Facebook "isn't necessarily bad. They need to innovate and iterate. Cool. Got it. We want to work with them to innovate and iterate and want to continue to put $$ into it." He said he agrees with Ben Lerer, also quoted in the piece, that you can't expect short term cash. "Nobody likes whiners. But... it's about the long game and real value and working together. Here's hoping FB wants to play." | | More headlines from La Croisette | | | David Remnick spoke about "fake news" and the "rising tide of bullshit..." Jeff Zucker and Casey Neistat previewed Neistat's new app "centered around a daily news show..." The sportsy streaming TV service FuboTV announced a $55 million funding round... | | "Fearless Girl" wins first three Grand Prix awards | | | You knew the famous "Fearless Girl" statue was orchestrated by ad agency McCann New York for its client State Street Global advisers, yeah? The production "came into Cannes a heavy favorite and the female-empowerment campaign lived up to expectations on Monday, taking home the first three Grand Prix awards handed out in the morning," AdAge's E.J. Schultz reports. It "took home the top awards in the PR, Glass and Nontraditional Outdoor categories..." | | For more Cannes coverage... | | Spicer getting promoted out of his press secretary job? | | | "Sean Spicer's future is uncertain" -- again. On Monday afternoon there was a new round of stories about Spicer leaving the W.H. press secretary job... a source familiar with the matter told CNN's Jim Acosta that "the White House is exploring having Spicer oversee the entire comms operation, which would mean hiring a new comms director and press secretary." Nothing is official yet... but it sounds likely to come true this time... | | | --> Now here's the better question... | | Does anyone want to be press secretary? | | | Dylan Byers emails: What's true is that the White House has been trying to improve its communications strategy for months -- and that includes relieving Spicer from press briefing duties so he can focus on bigger communications issues. He has been as aware of those ever-impending changes as anyone. Perhaps the bigger story is that this is taking so long. Perhaps the story is that this White House is so disorganized and unpopular that it can't find anyone of merit who is actually willing and interested in filling that job. Spicer has shown that serving as press secretary for this president is a sure-fire way to destroy your reputation... | | | CNN's Elizabeth Landers just tweeted this: "The @WhiteHouse schedule is out for tomorrow. No mention of when or who will do the press briefing." | | Acosta says the briefings are "basically pointless at this point" | | Monday's new Spicer stories came after another unsatisfying off-camera gaggle. As Tom Kludt reported here, for four days last week, Trump's press shop "skipped the usual on-camera briefing to take questions off-camera" AND barred networks from broadcasting audio of the Q&A. The W.H. did the same thing on Monday. And Spicer said he still didn't have answers to some of the press corps' ongoing questions, like "does the president believe in manmade climate change?" and "is he secretly recording conversations in the Oval Office?"
After the briefing, Acosta let it rip on CNN. The briefings are "basically pointless at this point," he told Brooke Baldwin. He said Spicer is "kind of useless" and even suggested reporters en masse should skip the briefings: "I don't know why everyone is going along with this..." | | A few minutes later, I told Baldwin that I agreed with Acosta's "stonewalling" characterization. Inch by inch by inch, the Trump administration is rolling back press access, which means less info for the public.
This story in Tuesday's WashPost strikes a similar chord: "More and more in the Trump era, business in Washington is happening behind closed doors. The federal government's leaders are hiding from public scrutiny..." | | Tom Kludt emails: My latest video with Jon Sarlin could not be more timely. We decided to pursue a simple hypothetical: What would happen if Trump's White House just froze out the press completely? No interviews, no news conferences, no press briefings. Just…Trump's tweets? We took the question to three experts: Larry Sabato, Martha Kumar and Dan Pfeiffer.
The consensus: despite polls showing that much of the public despises the press, the Trump administration is taking a big risk if it shelters itself from journalists. Watch... | | Double trouble in Georgia special election | | Trouble for two members of POV news organizations on the last day of campaigning in Georgia's special election: Per ThinkProgress editor Judd Legum, reporter Kira Lerner was barred from Republican candidate Karen Handel's last event on Monday. "We attended the two previous events without a problem. At the event before getting blocked, our reporter asked Handel about the health care bill," Legum told me.
Hours later, Washington Free Beacon staff writer Brent Scher was told he was "not welcome" at an event for Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff. Was it because Scher had highlighted how Ossoff doesn't live in the district he's running to represent?
Ridiculous behavior by both campaigns. On Twitter, Jake Tapper called these incidents "bipartisan petulance and thin skin..." | | Joe Pompeo to Vanity Fair! | | | A tip of the newsletter cap to Joe Pompeo, the lead author of Politico's Morning Media newsletter, who's heading over to Vanity Fair. He'll be the senior media correspondent for The Hive. One of Pompeo's last pieces for Politico is this fun read about the friendly Marty Baron-Dean Baquet rivalry... | | -- Tucker Carlson was back on TV Monday night after being treated for appendicitis last week... He talked about it on his show... (Fox)
-- Sam Stein, an indispensable part of HuffPost, is decamping for The Daily Beast... (WashPost)
-- "Jesse Palmer has agreed to remain with ESPN after being hotly pursued by Fox Sports..." (Sporting News)
-- Robert Feder has the latest on the bidding for the Chicago Sun-Times... (Feder)
-- TheWrap says Bloomberg's EIC "personally killed a feature about the growth of rival Fox Business Network, confusing staffers in the process..." (TheWrap) | | Ofcom decision due Tuesday | | | Per NYT's Mark Scott and Emily Steel: "Rupert Murdoch's legacy as a media mogul will be tested on Tuesday when British regulators report to the government whether 21st Century Fox should be allowed to buy the rest of Sky, the British satellite giant..." | | Megyn Kelly's Alex Jones interview got lots of attention, but not many viewers | | After three episodes of Megyn Kelly's "Sunday Night," TV execs are asking: Will the newsmag come back after the fall/winter NFL season?
Episode #3, featuring Kelly's interview with Alex Jones, nabbed 3.5 million viewers Sunday night. "That's the lowest of Kelly's three broadcasts so far," Frank Pallotta reports. It "lost out to reruns of CBS's '60 Minutes' and ABC's 'America's Funniest Home Videos...'" | | What Tom noticed at Bill O'Reilly's stage show... | | Tom Kludt attended Bill O'Reilly's first post-Fox tour date on Saturday, and he found an anti-media fervor:
This was the second time in three years that I've taken in the O'Reilly/Dennis Miller comedy show, and the change in political climate was on full display. In 2015, several attendees were willing to chat with me. Sure, some folks declined, but pretty much everyone I approached was polite. Nobody held it against me that I worked for CNN. On Saturday, at the same venue on Long Island, my efforts to talk to more than a dozen people were met with suspicion and derision. Nobody wanted to talk to me. "No, I don't like CNN," sneered one woman. "I watch Fox." O'Reilly also drew loud boos when he mentioned CNN. This was a window into Trump's base, as virtually all of the 3,000 people in attendance were clear supporters of the president. Read Tom's full story here... | | By Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman:
-- Lisa Bloom says Fox News is being investigated for sexual harassment and retaliation by the New York State Division of Human Rights... you might remember that she made a complaint with the agency back in April... (NYDN)
-- David Uberti writes about "drive-by journalism in Trumplandia," discussing how reporters like Salena Zito and Chris Arnade have been covering the rust belt while local newsrooms are evaporating..." (CJR)
-- Lucia Moses has a deep dive into the comment moderation process at the NYT. There are 14 content curators who review about 12,000 comments each day... (Digiday) | | | Brian Lowry emails: The TV Critics Association issued its annual list of award nominees on Monday. There were some good choices, but another strange amalgam of contenders in the news/information category: The roster includes two multi-part documentaries ("O.J.: Made in America," "Planet Earth II"), the one-part doc "Weiner," one daily news program (CNN's "The Lead With Jake Tapper"), and a pair of late-night comedy shows ("Last Week Tonight With John Oliver," "Full Frontal With Samantha Bee"). While those shows are worthy of recognition, that's a pretty strange, disjointed assortment of bedfellows... | | Megan Thomas emails: Could the secret of the Kardashian empire be this simple?
"I think the reason we became something of a phenomenon is because there are so many of us. Everybody can relate to somebody in my family, whether you're 7 or you're 107. And people just got emotionally attached and invested in seeing this family evolve: They're getting married, getting divorced, having babies."
--Kris Jenner on striking a chord, speaking at this THR Reality TV Roundtable... | | Get it straight, it's JAY-Z | | | More from Megan Thomas: Mr. Carter has changed his name, again. According to EW, "Jay Z is now a relic of the past, consigned to the dustbin of history. In its place stands JAY-Z, now with the hyphen back in its place and the whole name in all-caps." The rapper changed the stylization of his name ahead of his upcoming visual album "4:44," which Lisa Respers France reported on today... | | About that "ridiculous" increase in Emmys ad $$$... | | | Brian Lowry emails: One overlooked footnote in this NYT piece on the increase in spending on Emmy advertising, and the "ridiculous" (to quote FX's John Landgraf) money being thrown around by the likes of Netflix: The key drama category is a bit more wide open this year, since "Game of Thrones" -- the winner two years running -- won't air during the current Emmy eligibility window. Another perennial nominee, "Downton Abbey," also frees up a spot, having finished its run in 2016... | | | For the record, part three | | | By Lisa Respers France:
-- According to an autopsy report, Carrie Fisher had cocaine and other drugs in her system when she died in December at the age of 60...
-- Jamie Lynn Spears' daughter celebrated a milestone birthday, coming four months after a catastrophic ATV accident...
-- The new cast of 16 house guests for season 19 of "Big Brother" have been announced... | | | "Reliable Sources" highlights | | | Matt Schlapp said Trump faces a "massive bias" every day...
Alex Conant cited the bias toward "covering conflict, covering crisis..."
Kaitlan Collins welcomed Trump's tweets...
Sally Kohn and Steve Deace discussed how to disagree without "dehumanizing" the other side...
And Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) said the Russia investigations are a "truth hunt," not a "witch hunt..." | | Questions for Oliver Stone | | During my interview with Oliver Stone, I asked about the critics who say his "Putin Interviews" series was too sympathetic to Vladimir Putin... and I brought up his son's affiliation with Putin's Russia Today network.
"He's been working at RT since six, seven years -- five, six years -- way before this project was born," Stone acknowledged. "My son, I'm very proud of him. There's no connection there. He's not an agent -- a Russian agent or something like that." Stone also credited RT with having "lot of interesting stuff." Mediaite's Justin Baragona has a recap here... | | | What do you like about this newsletter? What do you dislike? Email us... we're at reliablesources@cnn.com... we appreciate every email. | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment