| | | | "The women at Fox News spoke, and the Murdochs listened." That's what a senior exec says in the wake of Roger Ailes' resignation. Given the detailed allegations of sexual harassment by Ailes, 21st Century Fox deserves credit for taking action. But I tried to make this point repeatedly on TV on Friday: Why didn't the Murdochs hear them years ago?
In a Friday evening column, Variety's Andrew Wallenstein framed it this way: "Who else knew, yet wasn't saying anything about, these incidents?"
There are a lot of questions that still need to be answered...
Friday's new reporting:
-- A woman who briefly interned at Fox in 2002 told the Washington Post that Ailes propositioned her and grabbed her buttocks
-- NYT said "around 10 women have come forward with stories of inappropriate conduct from Mr. Ailes while at Fox News"
-- Rupert Murdoch led Fox's morning meeting
-- Ailes isn't really "advising." A senior exec says there's a chance Rupert will call on Ailes, but the "adviser" title is just pro forma
-- Rumors continue to swirl inside Fox HQ about a potential talent revolt, but there's more smoke than fire
-- Sources say Ailes was not able to address Fox staffers on the way out
-- Irena Briganti remains in charge of P.R. | | Ailes' only public comments to date came in his Thursday letter to Rupert. Keep this in mind going forward: The exit agreement includes legal language that forbids Ailes and the Murdochs from publicly criticizing each other.
For apparently related reasons, the results of the internal review will not be made public... Fox cannot specify the number of women who leveled sexual harassment allegations... | | | Four women interviewed by WashPost | | But there have been some leaks. Sarah Ellison reported that Paul, Weiss lawyers found "multiple instances of sexual harassment and other inappropriate conduct" by Ailes. And on Friday night the WashPost published this must-read, from four reporters, including interviews with four accusers who portray Ailes "as a man who could be routinely crude and inappropriate, ogling young women, commenting about their breasts and legs, and fostering a macho, insensitive culture." In particular, read this account from a "pretty and blond" 20-year-old college student who "scored an accounting internship with Fox" in 2002...
-- Of note: Ailes has previously denied allegations of harassment... The Post says "Ailes and his attorneys did not respond to interview requests for this story..." | | | Silence from the Fox stars who stood up for Ailes | | Every time another one of these stories is published, people are going to wonder, what about all the Fox hosts who stood up for Ailes when Gretchen Carlson's lawsuit was filed?Deciding what to say, and what not to, will be a challenge for Fox personalities going forward... For now, pretty much everyone is staying silent... Here's my Friday news story with more info...
-- Text from a FNC employee: Reading stories like the WashPost is "the hard part internally for employees who never knew this side of Roger. Continuing to absorb the utter disbelief." | | "When Roger gets knocked down, he wants to get up and swing right back."
--One of the many Fox hosts loyal to Ailes, predicting the exec will try to settle the score with 21st Century Fox... | | | One of the execs closest to Ailes, public relations chief Irena Briganti, was unreachable earlier this week, spurring speculation that she might be on the way out. But she remains in charge of the Fox News P.R. department, now working closely with Murdoch's P.R. reps. Briganti got back in touch with reporters today... Read more... | | | I spoke with a prominent talent agent who has common sense advice for the hosts and other staffers at Fox: "Take a deep breath." Don't freak out. Don't make any rash decisions. Wait a few weeks and get a sense of what the new Fox landscape is like. The agent and several other sources said they've been reassured that there will no sudden changes to the programming or editorial bent... | | | And why would there be? Speaking with me on the sidelines of the convention Thursday night, 5 p.m. co-host Juan Williams said it's critical not to lose sight of the reason why Fox is so successful: its audience. "They like the product. They like it a lot," he said. "The question is, how do we, as a ship, hold steady right now and deliver for the audience?" | | | Hearing from the Murdochs | | THR's Marisa Guthrie reports: "The Murdochs' main focus now, in addition to running the network, is retaining top talent... So far, sources say the Murdochs have not personally reached out to key talent to reassure them. But such communication is expected soon."
-- Related: Of all the reasons why there will not be a mass "exodus," this is reason #1: Where else would the hosts and commentators go? | | FishbowlNY: "Colleagues Bow to One-Armed Scoop Machine Gabriel Sherman"
And Sherman, with his broken arm still in a sling, will join me on Sunday's "Reliable Sources..." For a preview, check out what he told Slate's Isaac Chotiner... | | | Special coverage on "Reliable Sources" | | | Sunday's lineup also includes Dan Rather, Bill Carter, Jane Hall, Dylan Byers, Carl Bernstein, Amy Goodman, and Jeff Greenfield. We'll be live at the Wells Fargo Arena in Philly... Join us... 11am ET on CNN... | | | Clinton picks Kaine, and "60 Minutes" | | The Clinton campaign's text message rollout mostly worked... Although Amy Chozick scooped the news a few minutes beforehand... I was in a restaurant when the campaign texted the Tim Kaine VP news, and several phones started buzzing simultaneously.
The Dems are following Donald Trump's VP playbook in one significant way: With a joint interview on "60 Minutes." Scott Pelley will interview Clinton and Kaine late Saturday afternoon... Clips will come out on Sunday morning... | | | Whatever happened to the nightly news deadline? | | | The Kaine news didn't come until 8:11 p.m. As an emailer points out, the campaign paid no heed to the network evening newscasts, which had already aired in half the country. Related: Fox and CNN topped the networks on Thursday night... Scroll down for details... | | | What you should know about Philly | | It's hot here. Really, really, really hot. Tomorrow it's getting up to 99. It will remain in the mid to upper 90s all week. Pack accordingly!
Here's CNN's outdoor set under construction across the street from the arena... | | | About 32 million viewers for Trump's speech | | According to Donald Trump, the "TV ratings for this convention were through the roof." The reality is more complicated. The ratings were fine, but not record-breaking, not by a long shot. Trump's acceptance speech averaged 32.2 million viewers. Mitt Romney in 2012: 30.3 million viewers. John McCain in 2008: 39 million.
It appears the much-anticipated "Trump ratings bump" did not materialize. Here's my full story...
-- Flashback: Michael Wolff last week: Trump talked about doubling Romney... | | -- Michael Grynbaum tweets: "The youngs (18-34) accounted for less than 10% of last night's Trump audience on cable & broadcast."
-- Brian Lowry writes about the speech: "Trump's TelePrompTer occupied a central role in the drama. Clearly committed not to extensively riff or drift off script -- as was his habit on the campaign trail -- the candidate frequently sounded awkward, raising his voice and emphasizing words and phrases ("regime change," "ever") for what felt like no reason..." | | | Fox News and CNN surpassed all of the broadcasters during convention coverage on Thursday. Check out how the "gap" has tightened considerably: During the final night of the RNC in 2012, CNN averaged 581,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo while Fox had 1.6 million. This year CNN had almost 1.4 million and Fox had 1.7 million. Read more... | | | Inside Colbert's live "Late Show" | | Frank Pallotta emails: I've been to multiple tapings of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," but last night I was in the audience for his *live* show covering the RNC. The energy of the audience was different from anything I had experienced in the Ed Sullivan Theater, especially when Jon Stewart surprised the crowd and took over Colbert's desk to crack jokes at the expense of his old foe, Fox News.
"I see you and I see your bulls***," Stewart said. Colbert then whispered in Stewart's ear. "Oh, we're live," Stewart said. Colbert has seen critical praise and ratings boosts for this week of shows, and even though he looked a bit tired during last night's show (which didn't even go on air until 12:15am), he looked like he was still having fun. Colbert and his "Late Show" staff better get some sleep while they can, however. They'll be covering the DNC live next week. Read Frank's full report here... | | | Frank's interview with Chris Licht | | | More from Frank: Since leaving "CBS This Morning" to become the showrunner of "The Late Show," Chris Licht has had quite the change of schedule, and his week's full run of live shows wasn't any easier on his sleeping patterns. I spoke with Licht today to see how he put the live show together and if we'll see Stewart on the show next week. "There are no plans for it right now, but I don't know," Licht told me. "Jon and Stephen have the kind of relationship where he could literally wake up one morning and call Stephen and say I want to do this and we'll do it." | | | Post rules out Trump endorsement | | | WashPost editorial board says: "We cannot salute the Republican nominee or pretend that we might endorse him this fall." So it's ruling out an endorsement. "A Trump presidency would be dangerous for the nation and the world." Read more... | | | Film about Marie Colvin's life | | | Mark Mooney emails: Really pleased to see that Charlize Theron is going to produce a movie about Marie Colvin, the intrepid American reporter who was tracked and killed by the Syrian government while reporting behind the lines in 2012. Newsday reports the movie of her life will be made by Theron's Denver and Delilah Productions. Colvin's amazing career and her daring exploits sound like fiction – right down to the eye patch after losing an eye to a grenade fragment in Sri Lanka. But she was the real deal. | | -- On this week's On The Media: "Looking back on the RNC; moving forward with Black Lives Matter; and making sense of military coups..." (On The Media)
-- An editorial reorg at Time Inc. has segmented the "publisher's magazines into four main groupings while elevating two of the company's most prominent editors," Nancy Gibbs and Jess Cagle... (Politico)
-- Headline of the day: "Reporter busted for playing 'Pokémon Go' during State Department briefing" (Mashable) -- Via Sandra Gonzalez: The season seven premiere of "The Walking Dead" is slated for October 23...
-- "Bates Motel" is closing... (The Wrap) | | | Lin-Manuel will give you a drunk history lesson | | | Chloe Melas reports: Lin-Manuel Miranda made a huge name for himself by rapping the history of America's founding fathers on Broadway. Now he'll do it drunk... On the next season of "Drunk History." The series features celebrities who give history lessons while completely obliterated. It sounds hilarious: Miranda as Hamilton rapping about fighting the British and defending the constitution while intoxicated... | | By Lisa France:
-- More than 2 million viewers watched the season 3 premiere of "Power" last Sunday -- a 58% increase from the show's season 2 premiere episode and a new record for Starz. Soon after, the network announced it had renewed "Power" for two more seasons...
-- Plus-size model Ashley Graham broke down barriers with her Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover. But now she's being body shamed for slimming down...
-- Leslie Jones is grateful for all the love she received after racist trolls went after her on Twitter and she logged off. There was a movement to bring her back, but now she says she never actually left the site...
-- Paget Brewster can't seem to stay away from "Criminal Minds." The actress has been fired from -- and quit -- the hit CBS drama, but fans love her and she keeps coming back. She'll be back for a few episodes in her role as FBI Supervisory Special Agent Emily Prentiss next season...
-- We are just now finding out that before he died, Prince purchased the house used for the exterior shots in "Purple Rain..." | | Let us know what you think... | | | What do you like about today's newsletter -- and what do you think we should improve? Email your feedback to reliablesources@cnn.com. We'll be back Sunday... | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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