| | | | | Three weeks after the initial NYT investigation into Harvey Weinstein hit, and the entire top half of this newsletter is about allegations of sexual misconduct by powerful men in the media business... | | "I'm writing this to make sure other young women won't stay silent like I did" | | Eleanor McManus was a senior producer for "Larry King Live." She's now a partner at a crisis comms shop. "But my career at CNN -- and journalism for that matter -- almost didn't happen," she writes in this brand new piece for CNN.com.
McManus is speaking on the record about alleged harassment by Mark Halperin. She describes an incident in Halperin's office in the 1990s: "He leaned in, tried to kiss me, and attempted to do a bit more." She "practically ran out of the office." She says she asked herself: "Was my suit too revealing? Did I lead him on? Was this what I had to expect if I went into broadcast news or journalism? If so, I didn't want any part of it." Read her piece here... | | | --> A spokesman for Halperin declined to comment, and pointed to Halperin's statement from Wednesday night, in which he apologized for inappropriate behavior... | | Companies cut ties with Halperin | | Hadas Gold emails: Mark Halperin's empire is crumbling. The man who was an institution in politics and media lost a book deal, an HBO miniseries and possibly his regular role as a political analyst for MSNBC on Thursday... less than 24 hours after our own Oliver Darcy reported on allegations of sexual harassment in his past. Here's where things stand:
-- Penguin Press canceled its plans to publish the 2016 installment of "Game Change." HBO canceled the miniseries based on the book...
-- Showtime, for which Halperin has co-hosted the series "The Circus," is "reevaluating" its relationship with him...
-- MSNBC says his analyst role is on hold "until the questions around his past conduct are fully understood..." | | More from Hadas: Like McManus, women are starting to go on the record. The Washington Post's Paul Farhi spoke with one woman, completely on the record, about what she alleges were her experiences with Halperin, including being invited to sit on his lap several times while, she says, he was having an erection -- all ostensibly under the guise of a work meeting. There's more here.
"I didn't know what to do," Dianna May (then Dianna Goldberg), told Farhi. "He was important. He wasn't my superior, but he was certainly in a superior position to mine. I didn't say anything. I didn't know how to at the time. I knew it was wrong." | | No comment from Heilemann | | | Via Gold and Darcy's latest story: Halperin's longtime co-author and co-host, John Heilemann, declined to comment when asked about the allegations Halperin is facing and whether he will continue his professional relationship with him... | | Internal memo at ABC News | | | ABC News, where Halperin was working during the time the alleged harassment took place, says "no complaints were filed during his tenure." James Goldston sent a note to staff on Thursday encouraging them to report harassment or misconduct. "We know we do our best work in an environment where people feel respected, safe and supported. Harassment or retaliation of any kind is never acceptable," he wrote... | | Harvey sues the Weinstein Co. | | Brooks Barnes' lead: "Weinstein v. Weinstein has commenced."
Julia Waldow emails: Harvey Weinstein has filed a suit against The Weinstein Company, calling for the handoff of records and documents tied to his corporate email that he believes could "exonerate" him from claims of sexual assault and harassment...
In addition, Weinstein says his personnel file was leaked to the media, for which the lawsuit cites "potential claims against the company and its Representatives or officers for mismanagement..." | | Fortress expected to loan $$$ to Weinstein Co. | | | Weinstein Co. "is close to obtaining a crucial loan of about $35 million from Fortress Investment Group," Bloomberg's Anousha Sakoui reported Thursday. She said "the funds could be available as soon as this week, buying time" for the firm to "weigh options including a possible sale and avert job cuts." Buying about three months, to be specific... | | Changes to BuzzFeed's entertainment coverage | | | Julia Waldow emails: BuzzFeed News is changing the way it approaches entertainment coverage, and as a result, three members of the entertainment team are leaving the org. In a memo, Shani Hilton said the site had "holes" in its Weinstein coverage and "needed to change the way we cover entertainment to put ourselves in a position to tell great stories." Jeremy Barr has details about the new three-pronged approach... | | -- Anna North and Ezra Klein's piece for Vox: "Why Harvey Weinstein is disgraced but Donald Trump is president"
-- Splinter's Clio Chang says Leon Wieseltier, accused of harassment by numerous women, was "always hiding in plain sight..."
-- The Wrap's Tim Molloy has sources accusing E! News correspondent Ken Baker of sexual harassment... Baker says he's "disturbed" by the allegations...
-- Kirsten Powers on "The Lead:" "I've been harassed so many times I can't even count..."
-- Recommended: Maeve Reston's Thursday tweetstorm. "Enough with the blame and use of the phrase 'open secret' ... the theories about what could have happened if more women spoke up ... Change the culture." | | | Tom Kludt emails: Even after he was banished by Fox News and relegated to opining on his website, Bill O'Reilly still had his wildly successful publishing enterprise to fall back on. But now that's been thrust into uncertainty too, with Thursday's announcement that William Morris Endeavor -- which has handled his book deals -- will no longer represent him after his current contract ends. Still no word from his publisher, Henry Holt. O'Reilly has now been dropped by two talent agencies this week. But even before the $32 million settlement revelation, O'Reilly's star power had begun to fade… | | | -- Tom's latest story is a reality check: O'Reilly's latest book, "Killing England," has sold worse than previous titles in the franchise. And O'Reilly's website -- pretty much his only platform these days -- drew a paltry 125,000 visitors last month... | | | Brian Lowry emails: Regarding Tom's story: Before anyone completely writes off O'Reilly, it's worth noting there were similar stories about Mel Gibson when WME dropped him as a client in 2010, after reports of racist, sexist and antI-Semitic comments and an alleged assault on his ex-girlfriend. Seven years later, Gibson is back, having been nominated for best director earlier this year for the movie "Hacksaw Ridge" and co-starring in the family comedy "Daddy's Home 2," which opens Nov. 10... | | -- Jill Abramson's view: "Bill O'Reilly is just one of the countless terrible men in media..."
-- ICYMI: Here's what Ashley Judd told Diane Sawyer...
-- Via Rebecca Keegan: "In email to members, Academy CEO Dawn Hudson lays out steps group is taking in establishing new code of conduct to cover sexual harassment..." Here's the memo...
-- Glenn Whipp of the LATimes tweets: "The number of women who have contacted me about their encounters with James Toback now stands at 310..." | | -- Eric Bolling says a coroner has ruled his son Eric Chase's death "an accidental overdose that included opioids"... (Twitter)
-- Spotify is cancelling its original video shows and rebooting its video strategy again, Lucas Shaw reports... (Bloomberg)
-- Time Warner's third quarter earnings beat Wall Street expectations on Thursday... Charter had a harder time... (Variety)
-- James Heidenry, the editor in charge of Us Weekly, Star and OK! Magazine, "is out..." (Page Six) | | It's JFK deadline day. Thursday night's CNN.com headline: "Trump releases some, but not all, JFK assassination records." So did he live up to his transparency promise or not? No, not completely. Some national security agencies requested redactions. He is said to be "unhappy" about it. Jeffrey Toobin's reaction to the incomplete release: "Shameful." Asking for a delay when this date was scheduled for decades? It's "absurd" and "really disappointing that the agencies are behaving this way," he said...
-- Jared Yates Sexton tweeted: "The one topic we should all be talking about from the JFK files is how the government is way too careful in what it keeps from citizens..." | | Coming Friday: "Reliable" pod with Jeff Fager | | | "60 Minutes" exec producer Jeff Fager stopped by CNN for an interview on Thursday, pegged to his new book... We'll post the interview as a podcast on Friday... | | By Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman:
-- Twitter says the company's financial statements accidentally overstated monthly user figures for years... (NYT)
-- Time Inc. is cutting between 50 and 75 employees. Some workers left willingly, others were laid off... (WWD)
-- A dozen Bloomberg employees were also laid off from its media distribution unit... (Digiday)
-- Jessica Toonkel's latest: "Viacom looks to U.S. mobile deals as young viewers flee TV" (Reuters) | | | Brian Lowry emails: Dodgers fans might be a little blue, but Houston's comeback win on Wednesday increases the chances that Fox will get exactly what networks always want -- namely, a competitive World Series that goes six or seven games... | | Are the anthem controversies hurting NFL ratings? Think again: | | Some ratings perspective from Frank Pallotta: Through week seven, the NFL is down 5% overall from the same point last year. That's a troubling drop for the biggest ratings powerhouse on TV, but it seems less dire when you consider that the four major networks are down an average of 8% in prime time. NBC is down 4%, CBS is down 6%, ABC is down 11%, and Fox's prime time viewership dropped 20% through the first month of the new TV season, according to Nielsen data. And those numbers are down despite the inclusion of live sporting events, which usually bring in big audiences...
The point: The NFL's sluggish viewership may be less a symptom of the league's problems and more about what's happening in the TV environment overall... | | Trump's dinner with Fox Newsers | | | "An Instagram post earlier this week from Fox News contributor Robert J. O'Neill reveals that he recently attended a private dinner with Trump at the White House along with former 'Fox & Friends' executive producer Jennifer Rauchet and show co-host Pete Hegseth," The Wrap's Jon Levine reported Thursday... | | This Time cover is in the eye of the beholder | | | "THE WRECKING CREW," it says -- "how Trump's cabinet is dismantling government as we know it." Donald Trump Jr. reacted by tweeting this: "Love that @Time thinks this is a negative for @realDonaldTrump as opposed to EXACTLY what his voters wanted. Thanks for acknowledging!" | | "On this spot," Trump "bragged about committing sexual assault..." | | Hadas Gold emails: A plaque supposedly posted by a "Legends of Tomorrow" producer to sarcastically commemorate the spot where President Trump's infamous "Access Hollywood" tape was filmed was quickly taken down, the producer says.
Phil Klemmer, an executive producer of the super hero show on the CW, posted the plaque last week, according to social media posts from staffers. It reads: "On this spot in September 2005, Donald J. Trump bragged about committing sexual assault. In November 2016, he was elected President of the United States." There was also an image of U.S. flag.
Seth Gottlieb, a visual effects editor on the show, posted a photo of the plaque on Facebook and wrote "In dishonor of our President, the producers of my show have created a plaque commemorating his comments to Billy Bush, which happened on our lot." He replied to a comment that the plaque "was all Phil," likely referring to Klemmer.
Klemmer tweeted: "It took our offices 15 minutes to take down this plaque. The truth remains." The studio lot declined to comment when we asked... | | | For the record, part three | | | By Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman:
-- Poynter and Google News Lab are partnering to expand the work of the International Fact-Checking Network... (Poynter, Google)
-- CJR looks at how "fake news" is being fought in Europe, how regulators are thinking about the issue, and how the definition of "free speech" is different on the two sides of the pond... (CJR)
-- Shan Wang outlines what's at stake when Facebook experiments with moving news stories to a separate News Feed: traffic, and most importantly, public discourse... (NiemanLab) | | Twitter pulls advertising by RT and Sputnik | | Dylan Byers reports: Twitter has pulled all advertising bought by Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik on its platform after concluding that both news organizations attempted to interfere with the 2016 presidential election on behalf of Russia... RT and Sputnik accounts will be allowed to continue producing content on Twitter, but can no longer advertise...
-- Also: Twitter said it would donate the $1.9 million of ad revenue it has received from RT to external research into Twitter's role in civic engagement and elections... Read more... | | "When, in the future, we look back on the history of American journalism, the collapse of local newspapers will be a source of shame..."
--Emily Bell in this piece for CJR: "Tech attempts to heal local scars" | | How Did David Rubenstein "Become a TV Star?" | | | That's the headline on this feature from The Washingtonian about private equity titan/philanthropist/Bloomberg TV host David Rubenstein. His interview show is now in its third season. Ben Wofford writes: "It's one of Bloomberg's fastest-growing programs. Viewership is up by 67%. A new agreement grants PBS affiliates nationwide the option to syndicate..." | | | For the record, part four | | | By Julia Waldow:
-- Google's parent company Alphabet was up 21% in ad revenue for Q3... Aggregate paid clicks were up 47%... (AdWeek)
-- Shareen Pathak says "agencies are feeling the Harvey Weinstein effect..." (Digiday)
-- AMC's comic book adaptation "Preacher" has been renewed for a third season... (THR)
-- And Netflix has renewed "American Vandal" for a second season... (Variety) | | "Stranger Things" gets an after-show | | | Lisa Respers France emails: Here's some Halloween candy for you: Netflix is launching a "Stranger Things" post-show on Friday to coincide with the season two debut of the series... | | | For the record, part five | | | By Lisa Respers France:
-- I talked to "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" star Tituss Burgess when he was in Atlanta Wednesday night to pick up a Local Hero Award from GLAAD. The Georgia native said that while he is grateful for the honor, he can't revel in it with all the work that needs to be done -- especially with our current administration...
-- Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez look to be friendly right now -- and that's whipped fans up into a frenzy that the return of #Jelena might be possible...
-- Anna Wintour sat down with James Corden for a disgusting food game and named the one celeb she would not invite back to the Met Gala... | | | 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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