| | | | Welcome to Wednesday night's edition of Reliable Sources. Tom Kludt here, the latest contributor to our week-long newsletter-by-committee while Brian Stelter soaks up the sun.
We begin this evening with a look at a pair of new ventures from some familiar faces... | | Arianna launches Thrive Global | | It's been three months since Arianna Huffington departed the namesake news site she founded.
Today marked the start of her second act with the launch of Thrive Global, the new venture centered around the lifestyle philosophies that have become Huffington's calling card.
Thrive Global will offer apps and other products designed to promote productivity and work-life balance and an online forum for users to share experiences. Think of it as a multimedia extension of Huffington's wellness evangelism.
"Together," Huffington wrote today on Thrive's website, "we will change the way we work and live and truly thrive."
It wouldn't be a launch without a party, of course. Huffington will be glad-handing with colleagues and well-wishers tonight at Thrive Global's pop-up store in SoHo. | | Over at Vanity Fair, Sarah Ellison has an exclusive look at the forthcoming media company from ex-Politico poobahs Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen.
Dylan Byers, a former Politico man himself, digests it all for us: Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen have given their long-awaited new media company a name and a manifesto. What they haven't provided is any clarity on what the media company will actually be.
What we know: It's called Axios, which means "worthy" in Greek. There will be newsletters, from Mike Allen (on "business, politics, tech and media"), from Dan Primack (on business and M&A) and David Nather (on healthcare).
What we don't know: What makes it different from any other company. The manifesto promises content readers "can trust -- delivered way, way more efficiently. No bias. No nonsense." It also promises seamless integration with social media. Sounds great!
But until we see an actual product -- launch date: January -- it's all hype. No doubt the vagenuess and secrecy is intentional. Few in the media business understand the power of hyping a product better than VandeHei and Allen. | | The manifesto, signed by Allen, VandeHei and the dozens of others associated with the project, begins with a bold declaration:
"Media is broken -- and too often a scam."
It continues:
"Stories are too long. Or too boring. Web sites are a maddening mess. Readers and advertisers alike are too often afterthoughts. They get duped by headlines that don't deliver and distracted by pop-up nonsense or unworthy clicks. Many now make money selling fake headlines, fake controversies and even fake news."
"We are engineering Axios around a simple proposition: Deliver the cleanest, smartest, most efficient and trust-worthy experience for readers and advertisers alike."
| | The world lost a true titan of the television industry yesterday. Grant Tinker died peacefully in his Los Angeles home. He was 91.
Brian Lowry emails: When Johnny Carson died in 2005, Grant Tinker called his run on "The Tonight Show" "the biggest and best television has ever been." That's also a fair description of Tinker's career, which included overseeing NBC when it birthed "Must-See TV" in the 1980s and founding MTM, which produced such hits as "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "Hill Street Blues."
For many in the TV industry, his death feels like the end of an era. More than most, he was an executive who was revered by creative people, frequently stating that his role was to help them do their jobs, not interfere.
In a memo to employees, NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt said that Tinker -- who engineered a third-to-first ratings turnaround, along with the late Brandon Tartikoff -- "restored success and dignity to NBC and helped define our brand that still endures to this day," adding that his name "will always be synonymous with the best of television and the best of NBC."
Make sure to read Brian's obit for Tinker... | | A relatively quiet day from our president-elect, who commandeered the previous news cycles with tweets on baseless allegations of illegal voting and a harsh condemnation of flag burning. Today, most of the attention was directed not at Trump's social media activity, but rather his ever-emerging cabinet.
Journalists, meanwhile, continue to ruminate about how to cover Trump and his tweets. The latest offering in the genre comes from Michael Grynbaum and Sydney Ember, who write that that the next president's Twitter account, "a bully pulpit, propaganda weapon and attention magnet all rolled into one," has become "a fresh journalistic challenge and a source of lively debate." (ICYMI: I also took a stab at this dilemma earlier this week.)
Grynbaum and Ember's piece includes this take from The Washington Post's Steven Ginsberg:
"My view, frankly, is that everybody is getting way too caught up with the fact that he's tweeting...In this post-election period, anything he says in any way you have to consider it and you have to weigh whether it deserves a story." | | | Trump press conference watch | | | There was one Trump tweet that caught my eye today... | | In subsequent tweets, Trump explained that he is leaving his "great business" to avoid any potential conflicts of interest. I was mostly interested in that first part though. More than five weeks after he won the election, Trump will finally have a press conference.
Will he take questions? I asked Hope Hicks, but still haven't heard back.
Reminder that virtually all presidents-elect hold press conferences within a few days of their victory.
Yes, Trump did sit down for a lengthy, on-the-record interview with the New York Times. But a press conference, with the cameras rolling and the bulbs flashing, is an entirely different beast. And there is already a host of fresh issues -- flag burning, anyone? -- that have emerged since the pre-Thanksgiving sitdown with the Times. This is long overdue.
Quick thought: What would the public reaction be if Hillary won and waited this long to give a press conference? | | HuffPost tried 'not to normalize' what Trump said | | CNNMoney's Christine Romans sat down with Huffington this morning for a chat about the election, the media and, naturally, Trump.
You might recall that the Huffington Post originally covered Trump's campaign in the website's entertainment section.
That policy was eventually abandoned; instead, HuffPost appended every Trump story with an editor's note calling him a "racist" and "xenophobe." Following Trump's stunning victory over Hillary Clinton, that too was scrapped.
"We tried for a long time not to normalize the things he was saying," Huffington told Romans. "But he's now the president-elect, so people need to cover what he's doing. | | | Meredith bidding for Time? | | A report that Meredith Corporation might bid for Time Inc. "has raised share prices for both companies, and fueled more industry speculation over Time Inc.'s future," Dylan writes.
The speculation is resurfacing after a report that Time Inc. rejected a $1.8 billion offer from a trio of billionaire businessmen.
Dylan emails: There's no evidence Meredith has made any offer, but The New York Post's Keith Kelly, source of both reports, is stoking speculation -- and it makes sense. Meredith, which owns magazines like Parents and Shape, tried to acquire Time Inc. before it was spun off from Time Warner in 2014.
In a statement, a Meredith spokesperson said, "Meredith is continually exploring opportunities to add attractive magazine media, broadcast, and digital/video brands to its multi-channel portfolio. But we do not have any comment on any specific opportunities at this time." | | | Breitbart's breakfast war | | Breitbart is going to war with Kellogg's after the cereal maker decided to pull its advertisements from the far-right news site in protest of its political views, Dylan reports.
The statement from Breitbart editor-in-chief Alex Marlow:
"For Kellogg's, an American brand, to blacklist Breitbart News in order to placate left-wing totalitarians is a disgraceful act of cowardice. Boycotting Breitbart News for presenting mainstream American ideas is an act of discrimination and intense prejudice. If you serve Kellogg's products to your family, you are serving up bigotry at your breakfast table."
Breitbart's petition encourages readers to stop buying all Kellogg products, including Frosted Flakes and Eggo waffles. | | | Cost of latest Gawker settlement: Words, not $$$ | | The latest post-bankruptcy legal resolution for Gawker Media won't leave a dent in its pocketbook, but it will result in another change in the company's archives.
As part of its settlement with Mail Online, the parent company of Daily Mail, Gawker has agreed to tweak a 2015 story that prompted the libel suit.
The story, titled "My Year Ripping Off the Web With the Daily Mail Online," featured allegations from former Daily Mail freelancer James King that the British publication's "editorial model depends on little more than dishonesty, theft of copyrighted material, and sensationalism so absurd that it crosses into fabrication."
Mail Online sued Gawker for $1 million, but the plaintiffs won't be getting any money out of the settlement. Instead, there will be an editor's note added to King's story, which includes the Daily Mail's rebuttal of the allegations.
It represents yet another round of retroactive editing to Gawker stories that were the subject of litigation. Univision removed six stories in September after buying the company, much to the chagrin of Gawker employees. Gawker's estate then agreed to remove three more stories as part of its settlement with Hulk Hogan and two other plaintiffs. | | James King emailed me this afternoon, saying he and Gawker both "stand behind the story."
More from King:
"This lawsuit was BS from the beginning. It was intended to trash me for airing the Mail's dirty laundry, much of which, frankly, was no huge secret in the media world. The only thing they got out of this settlement is a chance to include a rambling 20-paragraph screed about how I was a terrible employee, most of which isn't true or is based on some thin straw of truth that they then sensationalized -- like everything else they do -- to trash me. But consider this when looking through their rant: They didn't fire me. I quit. Take a look at their claims -- if any of it was based on any sort of reality they should have fired me on the spot. But they didn't. I quit in disgust of a powerful news organization that belongs on the growing list of 'fake news' sites." | | From Lisa France:
-- Hillary Clinton surprised Katy Perry at the UNICEF gala.
-- Martin Scorcese found someone really interested in his new film "Silence."
-- Kyra Sedgwick and Matthew Broderick dated in high school. Who knew?!
From Chloe Melas:
-- Natalie Portman tells CNN that the toughest part of portraying Jackie Kennedy in the upcoming biopic was mastering her breathy accent and mannerisms. | | Sopan Deb to the New York Times | | If you kept up on this year's extraordinary election through Twitter, chances are you came across Sopan Deb. He was CBS' indefatigable, indispensable chronicler of all things Trump. If the Republican nominee gave an interview -- be it to a national outlet like Fox or a radio station in Tulsa -- Deb, 28, could be counted on to produce an accurate transcript within minutes.
Today, Deb continued his ascent, with the New York Times announcing that he is joining the newspaper's culture desk. Michael Calderone has more on the move... | | Kristin Roberts out at Politico | | Roberts, the national editor at Politico, "was considering other opportunities and came to the conclusion that it was time for her to move on from POLITICO," according to a memo from Carrie Budoff Brown.
Per Poynter, which first reported the departure, Roberts's decision "was spurred by a sense that national news organizations covering the election did not do a good enough job reaching beyond the Washington D.C./New York City media bubble."
She told Poynter that she wants a job "that reminds me that journalism is a public service." | | | What do you like about this newsletter? What do you dislike? Send 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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