| | | | | More departures expected at Fox News | | What began with Gretchen Carlson's lawsuit ends with -- well, actually no one knows how this story will end. Roger Ailes is gone, but more revelations keep coming out. And some of his longtime associates are literally on the way out. "Longtime friends of Roger's dating back to the '70s are beginning to exit the building," a senior source said today.
Ties were already severed with five Ailes consultants, as New York magazine first reported. But another wave of departures is also expected, two sources told me.
At the moment, the Fox News executive leadership team remains in place. Acting CEO Rupert Murdoch and programming chief Bill Shine are running the network side by side and trying to stabilize things. But Paul, Weiss continues to ferret out new information. The law firm's work remains a mystery to Fox News staffers, so the future remains pretty murky as a result.
21st Century Fox won't say how long Paul, Weiss will remain on the job. When I ask questions about the Murdochs' knowledge of alleged harassment, Ailes' spending habits, etcetera, corporate spokepeople cite the ongoing review as a reason why the Murdochs have no comment. Here's my full story... | | Gabriel Sherman's Sunday scoop named Bert Solivan as one of the recently dismissed consultants. Who were the others? These "friends of Roger" -- one of whom earned $10,000 a month by submitting a monthly invoice to Fox -- are named in my story:
-- Communications consultant Jon Kraushar, co-author of Ailes' 1988 book "You Are The Message." He wrote occasional columns for FoxNews.com...
-- Producer John Huddy Sr., the father of two on-air personalities who work for Fox...
-- Robert L. Dilenschneider, a P.R. executive. "I know Roger but that is all," he told me via email, declining to elaborate on his work for Ailes...
-- Another consultant could not be reached for comment, but shows up in press clippings as a veteran producer who helped launch TV shows with Ailes in the early 1990s. "Roger keeps his friends close, very close," a source said... | | | "Murdoch's U.S. version of hacking scandal" | | This saga is increasingly being compared to the News Corp. phone hacking scandal... Including by Murdoch newspaper editor turned Murdoch critic Andrew Neil, who was a victim of phone hacking. Today he tweeted: "As more comes out about dark arts/ops under Roger Ailes at Fox News, much speculation that this is Murdoch's U.S. version of hacking scandal."
-- Yes, but: I was Gchatting about this with another reporter this afternoon... We both recalled how in, the summer of 2011, it felt like Murdoch's entire media empire was about to topple due to phone hacking... But now, five years later, Murdoch's companies are still humming along. Beware of wishful thinking by liberal-leaning reporters... | | | Gabriel Sherman will be a main character in his next book... | | | Earlier today, Politico quoted a source who recalled Ailes saying, "I know where" biographer Gabriel Sherman lives, "and I'm gonna send people to beat the shit out of him." The source also said they were told by another person that if the full scope of Ailes' campaign against Sherman ever came out, "multiple people at Fox would go to jail." What crimes could have possibly been committed is unclear... | | | Ailes has a very long memory | | | I ended tonight's story by noting that Ailes and his allies have remained relatively quiet in recent weeks. I wanted to re-up this old quote, from a New York magazine profile of Ailes, published back in 1996 when Fox News was about to launch. He warned the writer of the profile, "Take your best shot at me, and I'll have the rest of my life to go after you." | | | Anita Hill criticizes Ailes' payout | | | In this excellent Steve Inskeep interview of Anita Hill, she says, "One thing I would have the Fox News network do is to take back the $40 million [severance package] that Roger Ailes reportedly has received." Fox's POV: Ailes was owed the remainder of his contract $$$. But she says it "sends a very bad signal..." | | | Tyndall predicts Kelly will stay at Fox | | Writing for THR, Andrew Tyndall asks this question: "With Ailes gone, will FNC's stable primetime lineup of anchors remain intact? In particular, what will become of Megyn Kelly?" His answer: "I bet she stays at Fox News. As its queen bee..." | | Tom Kludt emails: I grew up watching "The Sports Reporters," going back to the Dick Schaap days. When Schaap died in 2001, and John Saunders took his place as host of the Sunday morning roundtable, I remember thinking, "Oh, that makes sense." Even as an eighth grader, I was able to recognize Saunders as a consummate pro with the cool, level-headed personality necessary to moderate a show starring cantankerous sportswriters. And that is what typified Saunders' 30-year run at ESPN: a rare ability to slide seamlessly into virtually any role at the network. There is a reason why so many stories today about his untimely death prominently feature the word "versatile." From college basketball and football to the NHL to MLB, Saunders did a little bit of everything for ESPN. And then there was that killer voice – rich and deep, and just a bit gravelly – that separate the legendary broadcasters from the merely good broadcasters. John Saunders was a legend. RIP.
Read Tom's Saunders obituary here... | | | "He wanted Mr. Trump's attention" | | NYT's Nick Confessore sums up this afternoon's Trump Tower climber coverage: "A man begins a gigantic publicity stunt at Trump Tower, and we in the media are transfixed and carry it live. Solid 2016 metaphor." Authorities said the suspect "wanted Mr. Trump's attention." He got it...
-- Michael Luo: "Trying to remember last time so many people in newsroom were watching TVs. Someone says it was the llamas..."
-- Big day for Facebook and Periscope: CNN's Facebook Live stream of the climb had 225,000 "tuning in at one time, a record for the network," Frank Pallotta reports. An amateur Periscope feed had upwards of 200,000 as well...
-- Funny moment on Fox: Greg Gutfeld brought Shep Smith an iced coffee during the live coverage... | | | Scenes from tonight's Trump rally | | | "Lock her up" becomes "lock them up" | | | -- Jim Acosta: Trump said "The biggest rigger of the system is the media.. it's crooked as hell." He also referenced coverage of his "second amendment people" comments: "Look at the way they covered that story yesterday... that was disgusting."
-- Noah Gray: The crowd "changed their 'lock her up' chants to 'lock them up,' referring to the press, after Trump criticizing press..."
-- Sopan Deb: "A Trump supporter who asked me if he could use my phone charger is now yelling "You suck!" at the media risers." | | | Programming note: Jim Rutenberg and I will be on "New Day" Thursday at 8:45am... | | | Nick Denton's Gawker goodbye (?) bash | | Tonight's Gawker party ran out of booze. That says it all, right? The court-administered auction of Gawker's assets is a few days away... Meaning the company will have a new owner soon. So Nick Denton held a bash at the company's HQ...
Tom Kludt, now on the way home, texts: "John Cook, Heather Dietrick and Denton all spoke. Cook gave a rousing speech in which he saluted the 'sacrifice' by every Gawker Media reporter, and lamented that Roger Ailes gets to walk away with $40 million while AJ Daulerio (not present) has to file for personal bankruptcy. When Heather spoke, she paid tribute to Nick, who showed uncharacteristic emotion, fighting back tears..."
-- Party sightings: Choire Sicha, Max Read (who resigned from Gawker in protest in 2015), Irin Carmon, Anil Dash, Michael Calderone, Sydney Ember, Adrian Chen, Lloyd Grove, Megan Carpentier, Leah Finnegan, Davidson Goldin... | | Sandra Gonzalez has been busy at TCA Press Tour. A few of her stories: FX CEO John Landgraf addressing diversity questions yesterday... A preview of "American Crime Story" season two... And CBS Entertainment president Glenn Geller addressing diversity questions today...
She just filed this at deadline time: "On the same day CBS went on the defensive about the lack of diversity on its fall schedule, 'Star Trek: Discovery' E.P. Bryan Fuller made clear that his new series will not have that problem. Fuller announced that the new show will feature a female lead character and honor the franchise's history of inclusion..." | | She also emailed these tidbits:
-- CBS Interactive president Marc DeBevoise reaffirmed that CBS All Access will not be publicizing the ratings for its streaming shows...
-- Re: the "Good Wife" spin-off that's in the works, he says it will have "none of the restrictions of broadcast TV," hinting it will be saucier...
-- CBS is predicting 15 million+ viewers for the on-air premiere of "Star Trek" next year... | | The one that got away from Condé Nast | | | "Condé Nast was in advanced talks to acquire tech review site Digital Trends, but say the deal broke up in the past week or so," Peter Kafka reports. "A source familiar with the deal says Condé was willing to pay $120 million for the 10-year-old, Portland, Ore.-based company, which is expected to generate $30 million in revenue this year and around $6 million in profit." No word on why the deal fell through. Digital Trends has been "growing rapidly" thanks to solid Google search placement for its reviews. More from Kafka here... | | | Village Voice editor sacked | | "Will Bourne, the editor in chief of The Village Voice, is leaving the newspaper after less than a year," Ben Mullin reports. Bourne says he was "fired." (Always appreciate it when a journalist is straight up about what happened.) Managing editor Meave Gallagher will be the interim EIC...
An internal memo says Village Voice is planning an "extensive relaunch next year," including a print redesign and an "entirely new web site for the brand..." | | | Dan Rather says Trump has reached a "new low" | | Dan Rather's latest Facebook essay to go viral: "To anyone who still pretends this is a normal election of Republican against Democrat, history is watching. And I suspect its verdict will be harsh..."
-- Unrelated: Tom Kludt has this look at Fox's coverage of Trump's "second amendment people" comments... | | | NBC News: "72% of registered Republicans still doubt President Obama's citizenship, poll shows." Dan Pfeiffer responds: "This is what happens when an entire political party from its voters to its leaders live in a right wing media bubble..." | | | Clinton writes op-ed for Mormon-owned paper; no sign of Trump | | | Hillary Clinton pitched herself to Mormon voters in Utah "with an op-ed in the church-owned Deseret News" on Wednesday, McKay Coppins reports. Here's the most interesting part: Both campaigns were contacted. "The paper's opinion editor told BuzzFeed News they have made several attempts to contact the Trump campaign and have so far not heard back..." | | | Why Facebook is facing resistance from media cos | | The disconnect between Facebook and media companies comes through so loudly and clearly in this Shalini Ramachandran/Steven Perlberg story.
The lead: The NFL, Disney and NBCU "are among TV content owners that are resisting striking deals with Facebook for its video features, concerned about ceding control to the social networking giant and undermining the value of their programming." A key problem: "Facebook wants its ad sales force to be in charge of selling ads against TV companies' videos."
NBCU is on the record expressing concern in this story. And so is CNN, specifically on the subject of Facebook Live. Facebook signed one-year deals with CNN and a raft of other media brands, paying them to produce live-streaming content. Andrew Morse is quoted saying, "If we can't figure out a way to monetize it, it's hard to see the long-term viability." Read more... | | | Plepler and Sarandos speak | | Would you get a look at this? Richard Plepler and Ted Sarandos, standing tall, standing together in a photo for THR. They're part of a must-read roundtable. At a couple points, they even interview each other:
PLEPLER: Going forward, you'd agree it's a better thing than not to own your content?
SARANDOS: For sure.
...
PLEPLER: 74% of our viewing across all platforms is Hollywood movies.
SARANDOS: Is that true of [HBO] Now and [HBO] Go as well?
PLEPLER: Absolutely. And movies that did not necessarily perform so brilliantly at the box office [perform for us]...
Read/watch more of it here... Plus Sandra's write-up... | | What all of us who make media should never forget:
"We're not competing against ABC sitcoms, we're competing against Pokemon Go, we're competing against the $200 million blockbuster movies."
--Ted Sarandos in the aforementioned THR roundtable... | | -- Chloe Melas speaks with Lisa Loeb about loving the 90s but not its fashion: "I miss -- from the earlier '90s -- when there were no cell phones. There was just a little bit of a slower pace and less input. More room for creativity and pondering life. I think we are very distracted in this new world and we want to capture everything..."
-- Ed Sheeran won a Grammy for "Thinking Out Loud" but now he's being accused of stealing the melody from a Marvin Gaye hit. The heirs of the co-writer for "Let's Get It On" have filed suit, Lisa France reports...
-- More from Lisa: Taylor Lautner has admitted he was the inspiration for a Taylor Swift song. But let's not forget about these fan theories about the others... | | | 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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