| | | | The Democratic convention got off to a "ROCKY start" in Philadelphia, as hometown man Jake Tapper said on the air this afternoon. Then it turned downright stormy, with leaks inside the media tents during a severe thunderstorm. At least the rain washed away the 90-100 degree temps. But those will be back tomorrow. So will the complaints about arduous security and slow shuttle buses. Media types are booing almost as loudly as Bernie Sanders' hold-outs.
Why does this matter? Because it affects the way the DNC is "framed" by annoyed journos. Andy Rosenthal was right when he told Philly's indispensable Billy Penn web site, "The convention that matters is the one that's on television." But the logistical problems this week -- especially when compared to Cleveland last week -- are already weighing on the convention and the resulting news coverage.
On the bright side, at least the Dems are putting on a star-studded "show," complete with Sarah Silverman telling the hold-outs, "You're being ridiculous..." | | | Metaphor alert! "DNC media tent evacuated in storm" | | | There are a lot of headlines the Dems didn't want to see this week. This is by no means the worst one. But still... There it is... Via CNN's Eric Bradner... | | | Predictions for night one #'s | | How much does "star power" really matter? The Dems have more political stars on stage than the GOP did last week, so the ratings these next four days will be a test.
On night one of the DNC back in 2012, during the 10pm hour, 22 million people tuned in. NBC was tops with 5 million, MSNBC had 4.1 million, and CNN had 3.9 million. I'm very curious to see how these rankings change... And if the overall 10pm # beats RNC night one's 23 million total... | | | Scroll down for much more from Philly... | | Dylan Byers reports: Michael Clemente is following Roger Ailes out the door. The longtime Fox News EVP who was effectively demoted earlier this year has now left the network, Fox confirmed tonight. Clemente's departure, first reported by TVNewser, was approved by Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch.
Network insiders say the move was unrelated to the recent sexual harassment allegations surrounding Ailes. We're just beginning to pursue reporting about this...
-- Text message from an Fox insider: "Can you tell me who's next?" | | Four key lines in Michael Wolff's must-read column:
James Murdoch "speaks to colleagues and friends of maintaining a conservative-leaning network but one that is more responsible and nuanced..."
"The red meat conservative audience is as up for grabs as it's ever been..."
"Ailes has almost always entertained alternatives to Fox News, and... has toyed with a succession of offers and proposals to fund a new conservative news outlet, never so often as around contract renewal time..."
"It is only possible to try to imagine what a crazy, crazy brilliant man will do in his quest for satisfaction and vindication..." | | -- Bloomberg's Gerry Smith: "Ailes Departure Gives CNN a Chance to Close Ratings Gap With Fox"
-- Mashable's Rebecca Ruiz: "Why did so many people say Gretchen Carlson was wrong about Ailes? My story on character witnesses & the 'truth'"
-- Newsmax's recap of Chris Ruddy's comments on Sunday's Reliable Sources:" "Fox News Remains Strong Despite Scandal"
-- And in case you missed it last night: ABC's Josh Margolin on "How Megyn Kelly's Silence Signaled the Worst for Roger Ailes" | | | Verizon announced its purchase of Yahoo's core assets this morning... Ken Doctor says it's about challenging Google and Facebook in the ad biz... Seth Fiegerman has this look at what went wrong... | | | What now for Yahoo's A-listers? | | Yahoo spent millions of dollars to hire media all-stars like Katie Couric, Joe Zee, Andy Serwer, and David Pogue. So what's going to happen with them now that Yahoo is being swallowed up by Verizon? The short answer is, they don't know. And if Verizon knows, it's not telling yet.
But today several staffers told me that they expect cutbacks, given the areas of overlap between Yahoo and AOL, which Verizon already owns. And some of the boldface names behind Yahoo's brands are looking to leave.
Short term, "things are status quo," one well-known staffer told me. The deal won't take effect until Q1 2017. But "in the long term, no one is safe." | | | Several possible paths for Couric | | | Couric, the face of Yahoo News, is in Philly covering the DNC, and she declined to comment on today's sale of Yahoo. But industry insiders are abuzz about how much longer she'll stay at the company. (Remember, Page Six reported in May that Couric was "eyeing an exit" from Yahoo.) A Yahoo source told me that all options are on the table... With her contract expiring next year... Here's my full story... | | | "I've tried to be gender blind and believe tech is a gender neutral zone, but do think there has been gender-charged reporting. We all see the things that only plague women leaders, like articles that focus on their appearance, like Hillary Clinton sporting a new pantsuit. I think all women are aware of that, but I had hoped in 2015 and 2016 that I would see fewer articles like that. It's a shame." | | -- Erik Wemple's latest: "New York Times will add editor's note to story that omitted record of cop who criticized Black Lives Matter" (WashPost)
-- Zach Schonfeld asks: "Are We Living in a Golden Age of Stunt Journalism?" (Newsweek)
-- TV ad sales won't be the same without him. Joe Abruzzese is stepping down... (Variety)
-- THR: "Margot Robbie is finally responding to her recent Vanity Fair cover story that generated controversy for its possibly sexist tone." Funny use of the word "finally." Interesting story, though... (THR)
-- Chloe Melas on Shailene Woodley's crusade for food stamps... (CNN) | | | Will Tronc have the last laugh? | | Media editor Alex Koppelman emails: It's easy to get snarky about tronc — they sure haven't made it hard — but sometimes all that fun comes at the expense of actually understanding what they're doing and what the effect on media will be when we learn how to do it well. Along those lines, my former colleague Markham Nolan wrote a smart piece on Medium responding to the guffawing over a want ad tronc posted looking for someone who would count among their responsibilities "Develop, maintain and upgrade content-harvesting robots." Markham writes: "We are now in the realm of robots, i.e. algorithms, processing and learning from all the content/data we create, processing it as both intelligence and a commodity... And you know what? It bloody well works. You can build a business on it...
If your product has or is data that artificial intelligence or machine learning can learn from, you should feel very, very threatened unless you're prepared to fight that fight. It's robots writing sports journalism. It's Netflix reverse-engineering Hollywood. It's artificial intelligence writing a movie. It's Amazon copying all the best-selling products made by its sellers.
And who's preparing for that future in media?
Jesus. It could be Tronc." Read the full piece here... | | | NPR's Domenico Montanaro tweets: "When is the last time we had BOTH parties at each others' respective throats/this level of disunity at their conventions?" | | | What we're not hearing on stage | | | Dylan Byers emails: Impassioned criticism of the media was a feature of the GOP convention, often met with rapturous applause from the audience... As you might expect, there's been none of that at the DNC tonight. But there may yet be. Bernie Sanders is speaking later, and he's made railing against the "corporate media" a feature of his speeches... | | | Alright, all you journalists soaked with sweat and rain. You've gotta embrace this as a bonding opportunity with your peers. That's what Megyn Kelly and co. were doing with this selfie from the back of a drenched golf cart outside the arena... | | | They look like they're having a blast... | | | Chloe Melas writes about this group that launched today: "Lena Dunham, Uzo Aduba and Taylor Schilling are some of the celebrities who are teaming up to create Humanity for Hillary, an organization working to build support for Clinton's campaign" and for more women office-holders across the country... | | | What to expect from Colbert | | | CNN photog John Nowak tailed Stephen Colbert during the comedian's visit to the convention yesterday, and he says "the first thing Colbert did was comment on the fact that big banks are an issue, and we're here at the Wells Fargo Center." At one point Colbert sent a stuffed rodent-like animal off to pick up the scent of missing emails. We'll see what material gets onto tonight's show... | | | ...That's Jacob Weisberg, channeling liberal elite reaction to today's CNN/ORC poll showing Trump's convention bounce, and more specifically 538's reaction to the poll. A couple hours after the poll came out, Nate Silver announced that "Trump now leads in 538's now-cast, our estimate of what would happen in an election today." Clinton continues to lead in 538's "polls plus" model, which accounts for the expected convention bounce. Read more from Silver here and on Twitter... | | | Trump's beef with Juan Williams | | | Donald Trump has been keeping his Fox-bashing to a minimum lately, but this afternoon he tweeted this gem: "I was at @FoxNews and met Juan Williams in passing. He asked if he could have pictures taken with me. I said fine. He then trashes on air!" | | The most thought-provoking thing I read today was an 11-word tweet by web designer Jeffrey Zeldman:
"We are still in the first 10,000 days of the web." | | | Fandom, entitlement and outrage culture | | Brian Lowry emails this gem: Before that other convention, Comic-Con, is too far behind us, there was an important story in the Los Angeles Times about the heightened sense of entitlement exhibited by die-hard fans, and how that manifests itself – sometimes in troubling ways – on social media. The piece quotes "The Avengers" director Joss Whedon, among others, on why he left Twitter, saying that while he would like to engage in a dialogue with fans, he can't create by committee to serve their desires.
The money quote comes from Chris Hardwick, host of AMC's "The Walking Dead" companion show "Talking Dead," who actually made a plea at the convention for patience from fans: "We're culturally addicted to outrage at the moment." Read the full story here... | | By Lisa France:
-- The Taylor Swift vs. Kim Kardashian West beef just got an extra dose of fuel with Swift's ex, Calvin Harris, posing for a pic with Kim. Admit it: This is all feeling like high school all over again...
-- "Sherlock" season 4 won't arrive until 2017, but already there is excitement. Here's what we know so far about the beloved BBC series...
-- Jennifer Aniston is sharing her feelings more these days. Learn what made her cry over the weekend and why she thinks we should all put our cell phones down...
-- A Clinton is vying for the White House, we are debating the merits of Third Eye Blind and Pokemon has us glued to our screens. It so feels like the '90s are back and never have we needed that decade more... | | | Listen/watch Sunday's "Reliable Sources" | | 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 tomorrow... | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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