| | | | | Reporters assaulted in Charlotte | | CNN correspondent Ed Lavandera was assaulted while reporting live during the violent protests in Charlotte Wednesday night. And his colleague Boris Sanchez choked on what was apparently tear gas. Feeling the stinging effects in his eyes and mouth, Sanchez coughed but continued to report during "Anderson Cooper 360." Lavandera's team brought water to Sanchez's team (producer Kevin Conlon and photojournalist Jerry Simonson). This video of Lavendera being knocked over is getting a lot of attention. He said the perpetrator later came over to apologize and to hug him...
-- On Fox, Steve Harrigan said he was "seeing scenes" that he hadn't seen since his time in "the West Bank..." | | | "My reporter almost got shot" | | WCCB, the CW station, tweets: "WCCB witnessed protesters try to throw still photographer into fire in Uptown..."
WCNC anchor Mike Hanson: "One of our crews was attacked in Uptown. Reporter & Cameraman taken by ambulance to hospital..."
The Daily Beast's Justin Miller: "My reporter almost got shot in Charlotte..." | | | Hannity/Trump town hall postponed | | | Sean Hannity and Donald Trump taped a town hall focusing on African American issues earlier in the day. Hannity went live at 10pm and said the town hall would air on Thursday... | | | Gawker Media becomes Gizmodo Media... and Raju Narisetti becomes CEO | | Raju Narisetti is the new CEO of the Gawker-less Gawker Media Group, which is being renamed the Gizmodo Media Group. Narisetti is currently an SVP at News Corp... He'll effectively be the new Nick Denton... He'll start in late October. Here's my full story...
-- Notable quote: The group's sites will be "offering accurate, responsible, edgy and engaging journalism," Narisetti said in a statement. Staffers will surely parse his use of the words "responsible" and "edgy..." | | | Lewandowski's ties to Trump under fresh scrutiny | | Corey Lewandowski, CNN's most scrutinized political commentator, was on Brooke Baldwin's show Wednesday afternoon... And that's only newsworthy because Mediaite reported Wednesday morning that he'd been suspended. CNN quickly denied it. But the report sent media writers scrambling. (Poynter has a tick-tock.) And it amplified the ongoing controversy about Lewandowski's role on CNN.
On Tuesday night Trump campaign filings showed that Lewandowski was paid another $20,000 in August for "consulting." The campaign came out and said this payment was actually the severance that everyone already knew about. He will continue to be paid severance through the end of the year, per the terms of his contract. But there is understandable skepticism about this. Erik Wemple and others say this smells like the Trump campaign compensating Lewandowski for toeing the Trump line, even if that's not what's happening...
-- NYT's print headline on Thursday: "Trump Camp Still Paying Lewandowski" | | | James Murdoch pointing to the scoreboard | | | Hey, he's not wrong: At Communacopia on Wednesday, "James Murdoch said that Fox News not only survived the ouster of Roger Ailes, but the cable news network's viewership actually improved after his stormy exit last summer. 'From a ratings perspective, it's been stronger than ever,' said Murdoch." Variety's Brent Lang has more here... | | | We'll have a full wrap-up of the News and Doc Emmys tomorrow... In the meantime, you can see the winners list on the @NewsEmmys Twitter feed... | | | People mag rushed a new edition to newsstands | | | Chloe Melas emails her latest scoop: This morning I reported that People mag raced to print next week's edition this week with Brangelina on the cover. That means two issues in the same week. Their original issue with Michael Strahan on the cover came out today. The mag's editors are not sure if they will put out another issue next week. Read more here... | | Were you busy today? Lisa France can catch you up on what we know and don't know about the Brangelina split...
She also notes that both of them have movie projects coming out soon. Details here. Per Chloe Melas, Pitt will be walking the carpet (but not giving any interviews) at next week's L.A. premiere of "Voyage of Time," a film he narrated... | | -- "Vocativ editor in chief Jessica Coen will leave the new media company at the end of this week..." Deputy editor Erin Gloria Ryan is also leaving, heading over to The Daily Beast... (Politico)
-- "Verizon is in advanced discussions to acquire mobile video startup Vessel," Peter Kafka scoops... (Recode)
-- Jason Calacanis talking about his plan for a media biz based on dozens and dozens of newsletters: "It's going to be a very boring business but I hope it can be a very boring profitable business..." Holler! (Mashable)
-- More texting testing by media companies: WashPost will text you commentary about the "must-watch moments" of the debates... (WashPost) | | | Dateline: Atwater Federal Prison | | | Dylan Byers emails: Matthew Keys, the former Reuters social media editor who is currently serving two years in federal prison for providing Anonymous with unauthorized access to the L.A. Times, sends a letter to Jim Swift of The Weekly Standard: "I never realized how much I'd miss interacting online—particularly on social media—until I was forced to go without," Keys writes. "Although it seems so inconsequential, lack of online access is just one of the many resources that could prepare inmates here for success in their lives and communities beyond their sentences..." | | WSJ lede: Interim CEO Tom Dooley said that "he plans to step down in mid-November, effectively setting a timetable for the struggling media company to chart its destiny."
(Ooof: "Struggling media company.")
Also Wednesday: "The company halved its dividend and said it would soon tap debt markets to shore up its near-term finances. It also said it was no longer seeking to sell a minority stake in Paramount Pictures..." And it is "taking a $115 million write-down on its Paramount division because of the 'expected performance of an unreleased film,' which it didn't identify." Probably "Monster Trucks." Read more... | | | Variety's Cynthia Littleton and Brent Lang write: "The latest shakeup at Viacom offers strong evidence that controlling shareholder Shari Redstone is focused on engineering a reunification of the troubled owner of Paramount and MTV Networks with CBS Corp. But getting there won't be easy, or quick. The fact that Viacom's newly constituted board did not have a successor" for Dooley "ready to be announced when word of his departure surfaced Wednesday suggests that the exit came together quickly." Do read this full story... | | | Twitter teaming with Bloomberg for debates | | | On Wednesday AM Twitter announced an expansion of its pact with Bloomberg TV that will bring Mark Halperin and John Heilemann's coverage of the debates to the Twitter interface. The debates will be one of the prominent uses of Twitter live streaming yet... | | | Sunday on "Reliable Sources..." | | | Jim Lehrer. The show will be live from Hofstra U... | | | A scooplet I published this evening: Bernie Sanders has been a mayor, a congressman, a senator and an almost-upset presidential nominee. Soon he'll add "young adult nonfiction author" to that resume. Sanders' next book, "Our Revolution," is being adapted for teenagers (12 to 18) and being pitched to booksellers as a high school graduation gift. It'll come out in April. Makes sense, right? It's a twist on the usual political tome... | | | Local TV interviewer asks Trump about "birther" lie | | WSYX's Ben Garbarek was told Donald Trump only had time for three questions while Trump visited Toledo on Wednesday. So Garbarek asked about John Kasich and the race in Ohio; the WashPost story about the Trump Foundation; and "what changed" Trump's mind about "birtherism."
Trump's answer to the last question: "Well, I just wanted to get on with -- you know, we wanted to get on with the campaign. And a lot of people were asking me the questions."
This was Trump's first time answering a Q about his "birther" reversal since it happened last Friday. Jeremy Diamond says the answer suggests Trump was "motivated by politics, not by a genuine change of heart..." | | | A referendum on "fact-based journalism?" | | | Positive "premiere week" news for NBC and CBS | | Brian Lowry emails this ratings update:
The second night of premiere week offered more good news for CBS and NBC, and signaled potential troubles for Fox, which won't have "American Idol" in its quiver for midseason. "The Voice" and "NCIS" provided solid lead-ins for NBC's "This is Us" and CBS' "Bull," respectively, which both got off to promising starts. CBS also got some good news in late-night, where the "Late Show With Stephen Colbert" delivered its biggest overnight rating in a year with Michelle Obama as his guest. Fox, meanwhile, saw "Scream Queens" return to tepid numbers, after "Gotham" under-performed Monday. The next few days will be significant for the network, with premieres of the new series "Lethal Weapon," "Pitch" and "The Exorcist." Unless something pops from that trio, this could be a long fall.
And as for those movie-inspired shows, here's Lowry's review... | | | The Avengers want people to vote (while taking shots at Trump) | | | Frank Pallotta emails: Joss Whedon has assembled the Avengers to get people to vote. Whedon, who directed Marvel's "The Avengers," launched "Save the Day," a super PAC with a get-out-the-vote mission. He recruited actors like Robert Downey Jr. as well as a dozen other A-listers for a video that stresses the importance of the election -- while also taking thinly veiled shots at Donald Trump. "Hamilton" star Leslie Odom Jr. asks: "Do we really want to give nuclear weapons to a man whose signature move is firing things?" Read more... | | -- Via Lisa France: According to the death certificate, Alexis Arquette lived with AIDS for 29 years and died of cardiac arrest...
-- More from Lisa: Rapper Shawty Lo was beloved in the hip hop industry and almost became a reality star thanks to his having 11 kids with 10 women. On Wednesday he died in a car crash in Atlanta at the age of 40...
-- Correction to last night's newsletter: I accidentally attributed this Jimmy Kimmel joke to Jimmy Fallon. Sorry, Mr. Kimmel! "Of course – all the celebrity gossip magazines are claiming victory. They broke this story. They broke it every week for the last eleven years. Over and over and over again. Until it finally came true." | | Tell us what you think... | | | What do you like about this newsletter? What do you dislike? Send your feedback- to reliablesources@cnn.com. We appreciate every email. See you tomorrow! | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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