| | | | | One month later, still so many questions | | Hello from DC... en route to Phoenix for this year's Newsgeist conference. The election was one month ago today. Thirty days. And many of the questions that we posed right afterward -- about news media missteps before election day and what's going to be different now -- are still burning questions. So it's worth asking them again:
— What do readers and viewers need right now? What should change about journalism in the weeks and months to come? What must NOT change?
— How can journalists help bridge our national divide rather than deepen it? How much influence do we really have, anyway?
— How will Trump's anti-media rhetoric translate to his admin? Will he target individual journalists? Will he withhold press credentials? Will he seek to loosen libel laws?
— Dylan Byers' question: "What is the guiding principle for news organizations in the Trump era? Do they want to challenge him when he goes against their notions of acceptable governance, or simply provide a record of his actions and behavior?"
— My wife's question: "Are you going to have the same people bloviate day in and day out?"
— What role did misinformation and "fake news" have on the outcome?
— What are the best remedies for "Acela corridor bias?"
— What new media outlets will rise from these ashes? What will make these startups different from what exists today?
Here's the original list of 52 post-election questions... And here, via Poynter's Melody Kramer, are "86 pieces of journalism wisdom published in the month since..." | | Another of the 52 post-election questions entailed Trump's TV habits. We asked: "How much cable news did Trump watch today? What did he learn from the coverage?" This question definitely still applies one month later.
On Thursday's "OutFront," I had a story all about Trump's TV/Twitter/TV/Twitter rhythm. Come to think of it, he's really the dream consumer Twitter and Facebook were talking about a few years ago when "second screen" behavior was a hot topic. You know, TV as the first screen, smart phone as the second screen -- encouraging people to react to TV shows in real time. The president-elect seems to do that all the time... Maybe he'll even tweet about the next season of "The Celebrity Apprentice." Watch the story here... | | | Trump, still an executive producer! | | | President Trump will remain as an executive producer on NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice," Dylan Byers reports. The agreement, first reported by Variety's Cynthia Littleton and confirmed by sources at NBC and the Trump campaign, "means the president will have an interest in a show aired by a media company that also reports on his presidency -- a major conflict of interest for the network," Byers writes. Read more... | | | What this really means... | | What's this all about? Well, Trump owns a piece of the "Apprentice" and is loath to give it up. He is understandably proud of the show and wants his imprint on it even though Arnold Schwarzenegger is now the host. Hope Hicks: "Mr. Trump has a big stake in the show and conceived of it with Mark Burnett."
Executive producer titles sometimes mean a LOT and sometimes don't mean anything at all. The latter is true in Trump's case. Trump is not involved in the production of the show. Actually, the show is already in the can -- it was taped months ago!
Still, there's no way around it, this is going to look strange when NBC debuts the new season on January 2. According to Variety, Trump's name will air right after Burnett's name during the credit sequence. Speaking of Burnett... | | More from Dylan: Mark Burnett, who had distanced himself from Trump in October by criticizing "the hatred, division and misogyny" of his campaign, met with the president-elect this week and, according to the NYT, may be planning to produce his inauguration...
-- Unanswered: So how much is the production company, MGM, going to pay Trump per episode? And what will Trump pledge to do with the $$? Maybe he'll answer that Q at his December 15 press conference... But let's be honest, there are much, much bigger Q's to ask... | | | Megyn Kelly's spokesperson speaks about contract talks | | VF's Sarah Ellison with a Megyn Kelly update: "Within the last month, according to a person familiar with the discussions, ABC has renewed, and perhaps sweetened, its effort to woo Kelly."
Disney-ABC TV's response: "As much as we appreciate and admire Megyn Kelly's talents, this is simply not true. There has never been an offer of any job, and therefore there is nothing that could be sweetened. End of story." Of course, a network can be talking to somebody about a job without technically making an offer. The offer comes at the very end.
What's notable about Ellison's story is that Kelly's spokesperson Leslee Dart is quoted -- seemingly rebutting TV industry talk that there's NOT a bidding war for Kelly. Dart: "People can parse language any way they want. The fact of the matter is that fortunately Megyn Kelly has been presented with more opportunities than ever before. She is incredibly grateful and is taking the time she needs to make this important decision for her family and her career."
-- Another important part of Ellison's story: "Kelly, according to the person with knowledge of the discussions, is signaling that money, which once seemed insurmountable, may now be less of an issue. Kelly, this person continues, appears unconcerned with leaving a few million on the table in order to find a creative working situation that fits her preferences and allows her more time with her husband and three children..." | | -- The WashPost has awarded David Fahrenthold the "first annual Ben Bradlee Prize for his penetrating coverage during the 2016 presidential campaign…" (WashPost)
-- Intramural fighting at Fox again: Mediaite's Josh Feldman says Bill O'Reilly "went on a tear against George Will because of his criticisms of Donald Trump's Carrier deal..." (Mediaite)
-- Margaret Sullivan's latest: "News fatigue is understandable -- but it's time to be more engaged, not less..." (WashPost)
-- Important ratings update from Frank Pallotta: "Maybe the NFL really can blame Trump and Clinton for its bad ratings" earlier this season... (CNNMoney)
— Candace Cameron Bure is leaving "The View…" (The Wrap) | | | Group of investors eyeing takeover of Time Inc. | | | WSJ's Jeffrey Trachtenberg and Dana Mattioli report: Time Inc. has "hired banks to help field takeover or partnership interest after the country's largest magazine publisher received overtures from a group of media investors including Edgar Bronfman Jr..." | | | ProPublica's "first regional expansion" will be in Chicago, Poynter's Ben Mullin writes. ProPublica is casting it as a response to diminished reporting resources. "By the time it's up and running" in 2017, "ProPublica Illinois will hire a staff of about 10 journalists..." | | | Trevor Noah scores POTUS interview | | | Brian Lowry emails: President Obama is going to make an appearance on "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah" on Monday. Per the network: "Noah's in-depth interview of President Obama will take place at The White House. President Obama's first appearance on 'The Daily Show with Trevor Noah' will be simulcast across Comedy Central, MTV and BET..." | | | Facebook reiterates: "We don't think it swayed the election" | | | In an interview that aired on Thursday's "Today" show, Sheryl Sandberg was asked about the prevalence of "fake news" on Facebook news feeds. "There have been claims that it swayed the election, and we don't think it swayed the election," she said. "But we take that responsibility really seriously. And we're looking at things, like working with third parties, helping to label false news, doing the things we can do to make it clearer what's a hoax on Facebook..." | | | Clinton calls it an "epidemic" | | CNN's Dan Merica reports: Hillary Clinton, speaking in public Thursday for one of the first times since losing the presidential election a month ago, called the proliferation of fake news "an epidemic." She commented that the spread of fake news, which has "flooded social media over the past year," is a trend that "can have real world consequences." She didn't mention "Pizzagate" directly, but her comments were clearly related… According to Merica, "she spoke with the owners of Comet Ping Pong after the shooting on Sunday, per an aide..."
-- Epidemic? Allahpundit tweets: "Let me mention a bigger threat: Not campaigning in the Rust Belt"
-- My Q: How long til Trump sarcastically calls a real news network "fake news?" | | | I stopped by Comet Ping Pong while in DC on Thursday... Outside the restaurant, a hand-written sign from a community member says "FAKE NEWS is NOT OK..." | | | NBC News shutting down @BreakingNews | | Deeply disappointing news for Twitter news junkies: "NBC News has decided to shut down the Breaking News alert service due to its failure to generate adequate revenue," Dylan Byers writes.
Here's how Nick Ascheim framed it in a memo to staffers: "Unfortunately, despite its consumer appeal, Breaking News has not been able to generate enough revenue to sustain itself." Cory Bergman, the site's general manager, said on Twitter that the @BreakingNews model "doesn't fit with advertising, and despite a surge of interest in our premium data, the money has run out…"
— What now? Per Dylan, "Breaking News will close at the end of the month. Bergman and his team 'will remain with the company until late January,' Ascheim said, while the company tries to find new roles for them at NBCUniversal…" | | | NPR's Mary Louise Kelly tweets that a call went out across the NPR newsroom: "There's a beautiful sunset tonight, in honor of John Glenn." She says staffers "stood to salute..." | | | At CNN's party for its brand new book UNPRECEDENTED about the election: Sam Feist, Ed O'Keefe, Jake and Jennifer Tapper, Jonathan Martin and Betsy Fischer-Martin, Al Cardenas, Jake Sherman, Anna Palmer, Mike Shields, Jeffrey Lord, John Tass-Parker, Armstrong Williams, Sergio Gor, Ashley Parker, Ben Ginsberg, Alice Stewart, Ana Navarro, Amanda Carpenter, Matt Dornic, Emily Kuhn, Brittany Bramell, Tal Kopan, and many more... | | | At NYT Mag's Great Performers event in L.A. Thursday night: Natalie Portman, Don Cheadle, Krisha Fairchild, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Richard Horgan, Mikey Glazer, A.O. Scott, Wesley Morris, Gina Prince-Bythewood. Check out the mag's latest V.R. experience here... | | — Sandra Gonzalez emails: Ahead of the "Fuller House" season two debut, I went to San Francisco to speak with the cast about the show's success during a reunion at the original house...
— Chloe Melas emails: It's the trailer you've all been waiting for... the "Baywatch" trailer dropped Thursday morning in all its tanned, glistening glory. Based on the hit 90s TV show, this film has explosives, gunfire and lots of abs. Watch it here...
— Lisa France emails: Mick Jagger is 73 and a great grandfather. But he still became a new dad on Thursday. The Rolling Stone frontman welcomed baby number eight, this time with girlfriend, American ballerina Melanie Hamrick...
— More from Lisa: We are a year away from it… but there is already buzz about Jennifer Lopez being cast in NBC's "Bye Bye Birdie Live!" | | | 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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