| | | | In the span of 15 minutes this morning, Fox announced it had settled Gretchen Carlson's lawsuit against Roger Ailes and said sayonara to 7pm host Greta Van Susteren. The timing was a coincidence. But the aftershocks are connected. Here are the top Q's I have:
-- What is Roger Ailes' next move?
-- How much can Carlson say about her experiences at Fox/how restrictive are the confidentiality clauses in the settlement deal?
-- Exactly how many other settlements were there? (My source says "a handful.")
-- Are other settlements still in the works? How much $$$ will the Murdochs eventually spend on this?
-- How soon til Greta can hop to another network? (Within a few months, I suspect.)
-- Greta's husband is hinting at "possible litigation in the future." Could she really sue Fox?
-- Brit Hume is replacing Greta until Election Day. Who will get the 7pm time slot then?
-- Megyn Kelly hired a new personal PR person today. What will she say about Ailes during her book tour in November?
-- Ailes retained libel lawyer Charles Harder last week. Is Ailes still thinking about suing Gabriel Sherman and NYMag?
-- Does any of this matter to Fox viewers? | | | Here's our latest reporting... from sources on all sides... | | | Fox apologizes to Carlson | | Sarah Ellison had the scoop this morning: $20 million PLUS a public apology to Carlson. The parties agreed to a post-Labor Day announcement.
Notice how Fox's statement was structured so no specific person takes the blame: "We sincerely regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect that she and all our colleagues deserve."
An admission of guilt, if not an explicit admission of harassment. Here's my full story... | | | Ailes had nothing to say about the settlement today. A Fox source initially said that Ailes was paying a "contribution" -- an unknown portion of the $20 million. But Ailes' lawyer Susan Estrich shot back: "Ailes did not contribute." Apparently there was some sort of misfire inside Fox, because the original source sheepishly confirmed Estrich was right... | | | "Handful" of "smaller" settlements too | | Here's what Fox did NOT announce today: The company has also completed settlement deals with a "handful" of other women who accused Ailes of harassing behavior, according to a person briefed on the matter. These payments were substantially "smaller" than the $20 million paid to Carlson...
-- Important note: The lawsuit by ex-host Andrea Tantaros is still ongoing... Her lawyer says there's been no settlement deal with Tantaros... | | | What the Murdochs are thinking | | I'm channeling Rupert, James and Lachlan Murdoch here... Not necessarily agreeing with it... But this is the POV in Murdochworld:
Today's settlement and apology underscore just how seriously we've been taking these allegations against Ailes. We remain committed to making things right, to the tune of tens of millions of $$$. And we're ready to move forward...
Of course, settling with Carlson is advantageous for the Murdochs too. Today's deal means no trial, no public testimony, no embarrassing audiotapes... | | | Carlson hires Cindi Berger | | | The next phase of Carlson's career will include a "television presence, penning a book, speaking engagements and philanthropy." That's according to Cindi Berger's firm PMK*BNC. This afternoon Berger confirmed via email that she is now representing Carlson... | | -- Ellison writing about Ailes: "Now that the Carlson suit has settled, he can move on to his next battle..."
-- Poynter's Al Tompkins says Fox should have been much more transparent with its viewers about today's news...
-- Margaret Sullivan's latest: "If Roger Ailes believes in anything, it's the counterattack. When you're accused, losing, wounded, bleeding — hit back hard. Go for the jugular..."
-- On "QMB" today, Richard Quest asked me, "Isn't it time for one of the Murdochs" to answer Q's about this scandal? The answer: Yes... | | | Why Greta left Fox so suddenly | | At 9 a.m. today, a sharp knock on the door signaled that Greta's time on Fox was over. A courier arrived at her DC home with two letters saying that Van Susteren "was being taken off the air" immediately, according to her husband, John Coale.
It was both a literal and a symbolic message from the Murdochs. Greta gave notice last week that she was exercising her "key man clause," allowing her to leave since Ailes left. But she thought she would be hosting "On the Record" for a few more weeks... | | After Ailes left, Greta sought a big bump in pay and other changes to her contract. Fox execs refused to negotiate. A source put it this way: There was a "financial disagreement."
At the same time, according to Greta's allies, she had been unhappy and uncomfortable with the way Ailes ran the network the past few years. Even while vocally defending Fox in public, she had concerns in private. "It didn't appear it was getting better" after Ailes left, one of the sources said, so she was motivated to leave.
So Greta sent a letter to Fox last Thursday saying she was leaving. She expected to continue hosting for weeks "to help them sort things out and have a smooth transition," Coale said. But Rupert disliked her attempt at playing hardball, and that's why the courier showed up this morning. Dylan Byers and I have the full story here... | | | Fox execs sending a message | | It feels like Rupert, Bill Shine and Jack Abernethy just sent a message that no one host or commentator or reporter is bigger than Fox as a whole. We've seen Fox reinforce this POV before. "We have a deep bench" is one of the phrases you hear from Fox execs. It's an especially important message right now, with so many contracts coming up for renewal at Fox...
Other important details:
-- Fox quickly deleted Greta's biography, her show's web site, and her pioneering Gretawire blog -- essentially erasing her from FoxNews.com...
-- But Greta still owns Greta.com, which redirected to the blog. So she changed the settings this afternoon, pointing the domain to a charity called PetConnect Rescue...
-- Coale declined to elaborate on his comment that there's "possible litigation in the future..." And Fox had nothing to say about it... | | | Brian Lowry emails: It's difficult to escape a sense that Van Susteren has been stewing ever since she was relocated to make room for Megyn Kelly in the heart of the primetime lineup, and seized on what amounts to the opportunity created by Ailes' departure as leverage in negotiating with the network. Fox hasn't elicited much sympathy since this story broke, but one can at least see why Murdoch would be irritated by that sort of squeeze play at this juncture... | | | Brit Hume taking over, but not for long | | In all of Brit Hume's public comments today, he emphasized that he's a short-termer. At the end of tonight's show, he said, "Don't worry, I'll only be here through the election." So Murdoch and Shine and Abernethy now face a big scheduling/programming challenge...
-- More from Hume tonight: "I count Greta a friend and I'm sorry to see her go. All of us here certainly wish her well. She made a big contribution, and we will miss her..." | | -- TheWrap's Scott Collins: Ailes' sudden departure "looks likely to topple the empire he painstakingly built..."
-- Larry King tweeted to Greta: "She's a loyal friend in a cut-throat industry, and a class act too. Go get 'em kid..."
-- I'll have more on all the Fox news (and the Trump connection) on "Early Start" and "New Day" Wednesday AM... | | | Neil Cavuto returned to Fox News and Fox Biz today "for the first time since undergoing open heart surgery in June," TVNewser reports. "He thanked viewers for supporting him during the last few 'scary months,' saying 'I wouldn't wish what I've been through on anyone, even CNBC watchers. It was scary stuff...' " | | | Megyn Kelly hires Leslee Dart | | | In preparation for her November book launch, Megyn Kelly has hired an outside P.R. pro: Leslee Dart of 42West. Deadline reported the news earlier today. Dart confirmed to me that she'll be representing Kelly not just during the book tour, but during next year's contract negotiations too... | | | Gabe Sherman becomes NBC/MSNBC contributor | | | Congrats to Gabriel Sherman, who just gained a new title: NBC News and MSNBC contributor. He'll remain full time at NYMag while appearing on the air discussing "media and politics," Hadas Gold reports. His first appearance on MSNBC was this afternoon... | | | There was also a lot of NON-Fox media news today! Here it is... | | "I love Cosmo, but I gave it everything I had. I just didn't have another sex position in me."
--Joanna Coles, speaking to the NYT, announcing she is leaving Cosmo and becoming the chief content officer for all of Hearst's magazines. Here's Dylan's full story... | | -- Not a parody: "L.A. Vice: Inside Media Mogul Shane Smith's Santa Monica Estate" (WSJ)
-- Journo wonks, you'll enjoy this: Politico EIC John Harris writes about the calling of journalism... (Medium)
-- NYT's fourth podcast will be "Still Processing," hosted by Jenna Wortham and Wesley Morris... Details here... (Politico)
-- Wednesday: IAVA's "Commander-in-Chief" forum, led by Matt Lauer, airs at 8pm on NBC and MSNBC...
-- Also Wednesday: Apple unveils new products at 1pm ET... | | | VandeHei raises $10 million | | Dylan Byers emails: Remember that "digital media company" that Politico CEO Jim VandeHei is working on? Well, now it has investors -- including NBCUniversal, which has put money into several digital media properties, and Lerer Hippeau Ventures, whose managing partner, Ken Lerer, co-founded the Huffington Post and is chairman of BuzzFeed. VandeHei's new project has raised $10 million in what amounts to a Series A funding round for the venture, which is slated to launch in early 2017. NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack and Lerer Hippeau managing partner Eric Hippeau will sit on the company's board. Working launch date: Early 2017... | | | Cheddar raises $10 million | | | WSJ's Patience Haggin reports: Jon Steinberg's Cheddar streaming video company "has raised $10 million in Series B funding to launch a full eight-hour day of live programming... Returning investor Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round, along with participation from Comcast Ventures and Ribbit Capital." Series A round was $3.1 million in February... | | | Brian Williams' 11pm show starts | | | MSNBC introduced Brian Williams' "11th Hour" election show tonight. "While it may not be the 11 o'clock hour where you are watching, we are rapidly nearing the 11th hour for this presidential campaign, so we'll be here at this hour from now until election day, when we will cancel ourselves," Williams said... | | | On the plus side: Clinton is taking Q's. On the minus side: It's awk-ward... | | Clinton held another presser on board her plane today. She's getting credit among political reporters for meeting the press twice this week.
That said, Clinton appears "less than entirely comfortable with having dozens of eager reporters in such close quarters, resulting in a handful of exchanges that at times felt as awkward as a blind date," MJ Lee and Dan Merica write in this delightful read... | | | More from Lee and Merica: This evening, "as the Clinton plane was returning to NY from Florida, the traveling press corps tried its luck at engaging Clinton one more time with a campaign tradition: Rolling an orange with a question written on it down the aisle to the front of the plane. The question, written with a marker, asked who Clinton would rather have dinner with -- Trump or Russian President Vladimir Putin. Clinton's traveling press secretary Nick Merrill rolled the orange back, with the word "Putin" circled. But minutes later, Merrill informed the traveling press corps that Clinton was not responsible for marking the answer -- it was actually Merrill who had circled the orange, and Clinton never indicated her preferred dinner partner..." | | | Well, that was over Hiddleswiftly | | Chloe Melas and Frank Pallotta email: Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston have broken up after just three months of dating. Us Weekly broke the break-up news this afternoon, and People mag swiftly confirmed it.
This comes as a shock to "Hiddleswift" supporters since their romance has been so passionate and public. Neither person has commented on the record about what went wrong, but only time and another Swift song will tell... Read Chloe and Frank's full story here... | | -- Netflix is ordering two more seasons of "Narcos." I will be resuming my season two binge tomorrow... (CNNMoney)
-- Netflix should have its own section of this newsletter. The company is also developing a new series with the creators of "MythBusters," Lisa France reports... (CNNMoney)
-- This is going to be such a great cutaway shot: Sarah Paulson is bringing Marcia Clark to the Emmys... (THR) | | | Add these two shows to your queue | | FX's "Better Things" and Amazon's "One Mississippi" are riding TV's dark comedy wave, Brian Lowry writes in this review of the binge-worthy series.
Lowry says the shows "really reinforce the sense that this is a boom time for original half-hours, on the order of 'Louie,' the disclaimer being that characterizing them as 'comedies' can be something of a misnomer -- especially in contrast to more conventional sitcoms." Read more... | | | Entertainment editor Megan Thomas emails: Coming out of the Venice and Telluride film festivals and heading into Toronto's later this week, early Oscar favorites include:
-- 'La La Land'
-- 'Moonlight'
-- Tom Ford's 'Nocturnal Animals'
-- Casey Affleck's performance in 'Manchester by the Sea'
-- Tom Hanks in 'Sully' | | | Look out for Chloe's interviews from the "Sully" premiere tomorrow... | | | ICYMI: highlights from Sunday's "Reliable Sources" | | | What do you like about today's newsletter -- and what do you think we should improve? Email your feedback to reliablesources@cnn.com. | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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