| | | | | Roger Ailes' replacements, plural | | Here are your new faces of Fox News: Now that Roger Ailes is gone, co-president Jack Abernethy, exec chairman Rupert Murdoch and co-president Bill Shine.
Effective today, Abernethy is in charge of the business, Shine is in charge of what's on screen, and they're both reporting up to Rupert. The new structure was announced this afternoon -- kinda sorta answering the question "Who will succeed Ailes?"
No one will, exactly, because power will be dispersed, but Shine is coming closest, because he'll be overseeing programming, newsgathering and political coverage. Jay Wallace and the newly promoted Suzanne Scott will both report to him.
As for Rupert, he'll be hands-on at Fox News for the "foreseeable future," a source says. He is working out of Ailes' office now... | | These promotions were announced at the same time as one exit: Fox News CFO Mark Kranz. He's "retiring," the press release said, but there was no attempt to deflect or deny what this looks like: That Kranz is the second male executive casualty of the Ailes sexual harassment scandal. Kranz, after all, presumably cut the settlement checks. (FWIW, I remember that he was contemplating retirement several years ago.)
Here's the thing: No other exec departures are expected in the near term. So the twin promotions send a message from Murdoch: The cable news channel does not need an infusion of new leadership at the top. Here's my full story... | | | Promotions for "Fox originals" | | A longtime Fox News staffer emails: "Rupert's corporate moves are brilliant -- everyone loves Bill, Jack and Suzanne. They are Fox originals -- before Fox even went to air. People at Fox respect these three. Those rumors about them being involved with knowing anything about Roger were dead wrong..."
A more skeptical voice called by phone: "Shine's name keeps coming up in the Roger stories... The Murdochs must be convinced that he's clean..." (Recall that Andrea Tantaros said she complained to Shine about Ailes' harassment last year. Shine denied her account...) | | -- Sunday morning TV: Murdoch watcher Sarah Ellison will join me on "Reliable Sources" to discuss all of this week's Fox developments...
-- 21CF is "anticipating having to reach settlements" with some of the women who have accused Ailes of harassment, Joe Flint and co. reported yesterday... | | | Lineup for Sunday's "Reliable Sources" | | | Trump senior communications advisor Jason Miller will be back on the program this Sunday morning. We also have former Time Inc. editor John Huey, media critic/Twitter star Jennifer Pozner, Newsmax host Steve Malzberg, and AP reporter Jill Colvin. The Q for Colvin: What's it like to be in the "press pen" at Trump's rallies when the crowd boos the journalists? | | | Dangerous: Trump talks about election "cheating" | | I'm afraid I might start sounding like a broken record. Last Sunday: Trump is trying to "delegitimize our democratic process" by talking about election rigging without any evidence. Monday: It's downright dangerous. Tuesday: It's part of a broader, sinister story Trump is telling.
Tonight Trump is at it again, warning that he'll only lose Pennsylvania "if cheating goes on." As I said to Erin Burnett tonight, Trump is giving us quite a job to do. Because these comments must be challenged and fact-checked. Earlier in the 7pm hour, Burnett asked Trump surrogate Ben Carson, "Do you think it's okay for the system," for our democratic system, for Trump to be talking about cheating? Carson dodged so Burnett asked several versions of the question... | | | "Major development" for the subjects of "Making a Murderer" | | Today's ruling overturning Brendan Dassey's murder conviction was national news since Dassey and Steven Avery were the subjects of the Netflix doc series "Making a Murderer." The directors Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos just issued a statement: "Today there was a major development for the subjects in our story and this recent news shows the criminal justice system at work."
Ricciardi and Demos are working on season two of "Making," which Netflix officially green-lit last month. "As we have done for the past 10 years, we will continue to document the story as it unfolds, and follow it wherever it may lead," they said... | | | Fallout from Daily Beast article | | No new comment today from The Daily Beast about last night's removal of an article about closeted athletes using the Grindr app for hook-ups in Rio. But many others weighed in today. A couple examples:
-- Newsweek's John Walters: Nico Hines "did a very stupid and malevolent thing: He endangered the careers and/or lives of innocent men for the purpose of a worthless piece of journalism, if we should even call it that..."
-- Aaron Jay Ledesma's open letter to Hines on HuffPost: "You stole their life's story and prematurely shared it. You forced yourself into a situation you had no right to be in. You used others for your own gain..." | | | NYT rebuts talk of print cutbacks | | | Dylan Byers reports: With staff cuts looming, The New York Times is seeking to ease fears that it may eliminate certain sections from its print edition. In a memo to staff today, Arthur Sulzberger categorically denied a NYPost report stating that the paper was "weighing ending the print edition of its Sunday magazine, folding the Metro section, making the weekly book review section online-only and leasing out space in its Midtown headquarters." But even in his denial of the Post report, Sulzberger did allow that the paper would be undergoing changes. Read Dylan's full story here... | | | Inside a Turkish network that's feeling "post-coup crackdown" | | | Don't miss this story by the WSJ's Dion Nissenbaum: Turkey's TRT World news channel "launched last fall with ambitions to become an internationally recognized news leader in league with the BBC. But in the past four weeks, at least seven foreigners on the 220-person editorial staff have resigned amid concerns about the station's direction. Staff members say that critical views of the government's post-coup crackdown have been muted, that reports have been subtly tilted in favor of the government and that journalists have passed around talking points provided by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's office." Read more... | | | Guest of NBC's dies in Rio | | -- Big shoutout to "Reliable Sources" intern Julia Waldow... Today was her last day on the team... Thank you for the summer's worth of help, Julia!
-- Omnicom and WPP have been competing for AT&T's ad business. Now we know who won: Omnicom... (AdWeek)
-- Frank Pallotta says "this summer's best movie isn't a movie, it's 'Stranger Things' on Netflix..." (CNN)
-- The producers of "Homeland" say the show's next president will be a Hillary Clinton/Donald Trump/Bernie Sanders combo... (THR) | | | Today a visitor to Rio on business with NBCUniversal -- possibly an ad sales client -- passed away. "We were shocked and saddened to learn that a guest of ours passed away suddenly due to what appears to be natural causes today in Rio. Our thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones and his colleagues," the network said... | | | Frank's daily look at the #'s | | Frank Pallotta reports: NBC had its second-best ratings of the Rio Olympics on Thursday night, but the games are still attracting fewer viewers than the 2012 London games did. And the road looks more difficult from here for NBC. Premiere events like swimming and gymnastics are wrapping up, and the daily schedule is shifting to sports like track and field. Read more...
-- In case you missed his story yesterday: Live-streaming is growing, but it's still tiny compared to the Olympic TV audience... | | "Some Viacom Inc. directors are pressing for a settlement of litigation engulfing the media company," which could lead to Philippe Dauman's exit, sources tell Bloomberg's Christopher Palmeri and Lucas Shaw. COO Tom Dooley would "step in as interim CEO."
-- But: "There's no indication settlement talks are close to resolution, and it's possible a trial may start as early as next month in Massachusetts..." | | -- Sean Hannity has been pedaling Hillary Clinton health conspiracy theories all week long. This afternoon I talked with Poppy Harlow about how this harms his audience...
-- Fact checking Trump, but not Clinton, in cable news chyrons "exposes media bias," The Hill's Joe Concha says...
-- Politico senior WH reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere tweets: "The challenge to journalists that Trump poses is not to objectivity. It is to facts and reality..."
-- More than a few people were snookered into believing Andy Borowitz's latest piece of satire was for real: "Trump Blasts Media for Reporting Things He Says..." | | Friday 6:26am: @realDonaldTrump: "Ratings challenged @CNN reports so seriously that I call President Obama (and Clinton) "the founder" of ISIS, & MVP. THEY DON'T GET SARCASM?"
Friday 7:11pm: @NBCNightlyNews: "Donald Trump says only way Hillary Clinton can win Pennsylvania "is if cheating goes on;" does not specify if he is being sarcastic." | | | Wonder how quickly Ivanka Trump will delete this | | | Gossip Cop spotted something embarrassing for Ivanka Trump. She posted this quote on her Twitter feed/web site and attributed it to Jack Nicholson: "I don't want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me." Turns out the quote actually comes from Nicholson's mob boss character in "The Departed." The full quote from the movie includes the N word and F word... | | | Any chance Clinton will appear on a CNN podcast next? | | | Clinton's campaign is producing a podcast for supporters -- it's called "With Her" -- hosted by Max Linsky, a co-host of the Longform podcast. The first episode features a Linsky chat with the candidate. Politico calls it another way for Clinton to "avoid the press..." | | | More forums for the Libertarians | | Earlier this week Fox Business announced a Libertarian Party town hall, to be moderated by John Stossel, coming up on August 26. Now there's one on the books before then: Tonight Fusion announced that it will hold a forum for Johnson and Weld next Wednesday at 8pm. Meantime, CNN has started running ads for its Green Party town hall, to be moderated by Chris Cuomo, next Wednesday at 9pm...
-- What's the difference between a town hall and a forum? At a town hall, there are more Q's from the audience... | | | Thomas Gibson dismissed from "Criminal Minds" | | | Sandra Gonzalez reports: Actor Thomas Gibson has been fired from CBS's "Criminal Minds" following an on-set altercation with one of the show's writers. ABC Studios, which produces the show for CBS, says "creative details for how the character's exit will be addressed in the show will be announced at a later date…" Get caught up on this story here… | | | -- Frank Pallotta says "this summer's best movie isn't a movie, it's 'Stranger Things' on Netflix..." | | -- ICYMI in yesterday's letter: Baz Luhrmann's Netflix musical drama "The Get Down" starts streaming today. Read Brian Lowry's full review here...
-- Lisa France emails: No joke: Kevin Hart has a rap alter-ego who just got signed to Motown. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Chocolate Droppa...
-- Also via Lisa: Adele was blown away by the vocals when she pulled an audience member up on stage in Los Angeles to sing. That's because she didn't know it was Grammy-nominated Christian artist Jamie Grace... | | Circling back to an earlier story... Gawker... the NYT's story about this week's Gawker party wins the prize for greatest correction of the day:
"An earlier version of this article misstated the alcoholic drinks served at the party. Only beer and wine were served. There was no vodka."
(So what did Jacob Bernstein think he was drinking?)
Alright, that's all for tonight's newsletter... Drink up... | | And tell us 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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