| | | | | Exec summary: Emmys ratings are in... Laura Ingraham's 10pm show is now a done deal... Scottie Nell Hughes is suing Fox News... "Report for America" is recruiting journalists... and Paramount is defending "Mother!" | | | Sean Spicer resigned from his job in July and formally left the White House in August. He immediately came up to NYC for a round of meetings with all the major TV news networks except for CNN. (You might recall CNN said it's not interested in hiring him.) So now it's mid-September and he hasn't signed up with a network. Does that mean there's not a whole lot of media marketplace interest in President Trump's first W.H. press secretary? Is his tattered credibility hurting his chances? | | That's what I found myself wondering after his "Jimmy Kimmel Live" interview last week, and especially after his Emmys skit on Sunday night. The Emmys sorta looked like an audition. When I reached a source closer to Spicer on Monday, the source emphatically denied that he's doing these Hollywood shows to gin up interest from networks. "That's silly," the source said. "He is doing them because they asked and they are fun for him."
So what's going on with the TV news divisions? Have they passed on him? The source said Spicer's reps are still "in discussions about a traditional TV opportunity and three non-traditional TV opportunities." Intriguing... any guesses about the non-traditional ones? | | Why did the Emmys help Spicer rebrand? | | Stephen Colbert had the idea to invite Spicer to the Emmys. He and his producers knew there would be blowback -- and there's been a whole lot -- but Colbert thought it would be funny and surprising, and that's what mattered most. Here's my story with all the backstory...
The fact that Spicer needs image rehab... and that so many Dems and some anti-Trump Republicans were angry at the Emmys for helping with that rehab... speaks to the strange position Spicer and his reps are in. But he has a speakers bureau, several big $$$ speeches booked, and a visiting fellowship at Harvard... The aforementioned source said several corporate consulting gigs are also on the horizon. Maybe he won't end up at a TV network at all? But in that case, is it really his choice, or is it because the networks passed?
-- A media exec emails: "I bet he can make more money going the high road -- Harvard, corporate gigs, 'don't call it lobbying' lobbying..." | | NYT: "Spicer Says He Regrets Berating Reporters Over Inauguration Crowds" | | | Glenn Thrush snagged an interview with Spicer on Monday morning, as Spicer was coming off his Emmys high, and Spicer said "of course I do, absolutely" regret what he did on January 21, the day he charged into the briefing room and made a series of false claims... | | | -- Flashback: In July, on the day he resigned, Spicer told Sean Hannity, "I have no regrets..." Perhaps he meant that in a different way... | | Scottie Nell Hughes accused Fox anchor of rape; claims name was leaked as retaliation | | Rob McLean and Dylan Byers report: Political commentator Scottie Nell Hughes has filed a lawsuit against Fox News, alleging the network had retaliated against her for accusing Fox Business Network anchor Charles Payne of sexual assault and rape. In a suit filed Monday in federal court in New York, Hughes says she had taken her accusations against Payne to Fox and law firm Paul Weiss, which conducted internal investigations for Fox in the wake of a string of sexual harassment allegations. Read the full story here...
-- Fox News responded in a statement calling the lawsuit "shameful" and "bogus..." | | Confirmed: New prime time lineup at Fox News | | | "The Five" moves back to 5pm and Sean Hannity moves to 9pm effective next Monday. Then, on October 30, "The Ingraham Angle" takes over at 10pm. That's the plan at Fox News, according to the network's announcement on Monday, which confirmed the story Hadas Gold and I wrote last week. New details: | | -- Rotating hosts will handle the 10pm hour until Laura Ingraham's debut...
-- Ingraham's show will be live, which is a change... Hannity's 10pm show is usually taped, putting Fox at a competitive disadvantage during breaking news...
-- She will continue hosting her daily radio show and will still serve as editor of LifeZette, but will no longer handle day-to-day operations... Read Gold's full story here... | | Interesting timing: Hannity says O'Reilly "should come back" to Fox | | Oliver Darcy emails: Bill O'Reilly appeared on Sean Hannity's radio show on Monday afternoon to promote his new book. The former king of cable news once again discussed his ouster from Fox News, insisting to Hannity that he -- and not the women he paid millions of dollars to settle sexual harassment lawsuits with -- was the "victim" in the events that led to his departure...
During the discussion, Hannity also hinted that he and O'Reilly weren't the best of friends. But now Hannity says he wants O'Reilly to return to Fox News: "You want to come back?" Hannity asked. "I think you should come back." | | Oliver Darcy emails: Jedediah Bila out, Meghan McCain in? That certainly seems to be how things might turn out on "The View." Bila announced Monday morning that she was abruptly leaving the daytime program after serving as the conservative panelist for the past year. She did not give a reason, but a note sent to show staff from "The View" executives said Bila has "new opportunities on the horizon."
Meanwhile, three sources familiar with the matter told Dylan Byers and me that McCain, who left Fox News last week, is in talks with ABC to join the show. The deal hasn't been finalized, but the sources said the talks are in the late stages... | | | Thomas Frank, one of the three CNN journalists who resigned over the summer after a Russia-related story was retracted, "has been hired by BuzzFeed," VF's Joe Pompeo reports. "I think we'll break more news" on the Russia beat, Ben Smith says. "Tom brings a depth of experience and sourcing..." | | | At almost exactly the same time, 7pm ET, both CNN and the NYT published scoop-filled stories about Paul Manafort. CNN's story is about how he was secretly wiretapped... the NYT's story is about Robert Mueller putting pressure on Manafort and threatening an indictment... | | -- Bret Baier updated viewers on Charles Krauthammer's recovery on Monday: "He's making 'slow steady progress' after issues post surgery -- we're praying for swift recovery -- don't know how long..." (Twitter)
-- Here's what former Politico execs Josh Benson, Katherine Lehr, and Tom McGeveran are doing now: a media company called "Old Town Media" (PDF press release via Mike Allen)
-- New: A site called TheRighting, founded by Howard Polskin, showcasing "top news headlines from the far right for the rest of us..." (TheRighting)
-- Shonda Rhimes launched Shondaland.com on Monday... with the help of Hearst... (Variety) | | Emmy ratings were weak -- but didn't "crash and burn" | | Frank Pallotta emails: The Emmys averaged 11.4 million viewers on Sunday night, which is about even with last year's telecast -- the least-watched on record.
Those relatively low #'s led some right-wing media heavyweights -- like The Drudge Report -- to proclaim that the show "crashed and burned" with viewers. The strong suggestion was that the public has decided to tune out anti-Trump celebs. Kellyanne Conway and other Trump supporters promoted this theory on Fox News on Monday. But the data just doesn't back that up. Flat year-over-year viewership isn't a shock in this TV climate... | | | Brian Lowry emails: Lose-lose? It's pretty obvious the major networks no longer feel like they have much of a dog in the fight at the Emmys, despite NBC's credible showing thanks to "SNL" and "This is Us." For CBS – like ABC and Fox, shut out on Sunday night – the telecast basically offered a way to promote its fall lineup and show off a number of its stars as presenters. Otherwise, the combo of "Sunday Night Football" competition and a lot of niche shows most people don't watch continued to yield relatively weak ratings. Bottom line: The changing face of TV has produced an abundance of good programs, but it's a problem for the Television Academy -- and its Emmy broadcast partners -- with no easy fix... | | Celebs love "Handmaid's Tale" too | | | Melissah Yang emails: "The Handmaid's Tale" won big at Sunday's Emmys, and celebs seem to agree. On Sunday's red carpet, I asked celebs what show they're binging right now, and Hulu's winning series was a popular choice. See what else got A-list approval... | | Hulu picked the right year to start having an Emmys party! | | | Here's my full story about Hulu celebrating its historic Emmy wins... | | Netflix's smart new promo | | | Megan Thomas emails: ICYMI: Netflix debuted a new watch-worthy promo during the Emmys. The spot -- to promote the streaming giant's stand-up specials -- features Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock and Ellen DeGeneres interrupting fan-favorite Netflix dramas... | | -- Via Megan Thomas: VF's Joana Robinson summed up the Emmys with this bold headline: "How the Emmys raised a Surprising Middle Finger to the Patriarchy"
-- Move over #OscarsSoWhite: Diversity dominated the Emmys this year, Lisa Respers France writes...
-- Another story from Lisa: You either loved him or you didn't. Meet Jermaine Fowler, your Emmys announcer...
-- "Normalizing?" C'mon. Newsweek's Alexander Nazaryan says the Emmys were a reminder that "the Trump presidency has become very much the new normal..." | | An Phung emails: Danielle Belton is the new EIC of The Root. Gizmodo Media says the site experienced record-breaking audience growth last summer under her watch as managing editor. The Root has long been a destination for news and analyses about the black community, with insight provided by African-American influencers and experts.
I asked Belton what it means to her that new readers are flocking to her site for information, especially given the political climate and national conversations about race, racism and inequality. "This is a really interesting time where silence can't really be afforded, and I feel fortunate that The Root is here as an outlet, a sounding board, a community for folks to really dig into the issues that affect us as African Americans without holding back, without filter and without fear," Belton told me via email. "I'm proud that as we've embraced ourselves, our talents, our voices and our culture, we're being embraced back by our readers. It feels really good." | | Some news from the Googleplex... | | | I'm filing this newsletter from Google HQ in Mountain View... here at the third annual Google News Lab Summit on Monday, Charles Sennott and Steven Waldman announced Report for America, a version of Teach for America/Peace Corps applied to journalism. Poynter's Kristen Hare has a thorough report on it here... The goal is to "place 1,000 journalists in local newsrooms in the next five years..." | | | Hadas Gold emails: I think it's a wonderful attempt to start addressing one of the biggest crises facing modern journalism. Getting reporters back into communities will not only make the reporting better and more accurate, but will also help restore the sorely needed trust in the media industry. You're more likely to trust reporting from the person you see at your grocery story and whose kids yours play with versus the talking head on TV... | | New Google report on data journalism | | Also announced here on Monday: "The Google News Lab has conducted the most comprehensive study of the state of data journalism in 2017." Here's a recap of the findings, and the PDF of the full study...
-- Key stat: "51% of all news organizations in the U.S. and Europe now have a dedicated data journalist." Only 51%... | | By Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman:
-- Next week BuzzFeed is going to start a live morning show, "AM to DM," on Twitter. BF head of news Shani O. Hilton says it's not a "pivot," because video is "an extension of what we do, not a liability or a threat to our journalism..." (BuzzFeed)
-- A website that did "pivot" to video is Fox Sports, but data suggests that its audience didn't follow. Awful Announcing says traffic to the site has dropped by 88%... (Awful Announcing)
-- Ian Birnbaum at The Outline writes about growing complaints from YouTube creators who feel the platform is demonetizing channels on arbitrary grounds to please advertisers. LGBTQ and alt-right vloggers seem to be particularly affected... (The Outline)
-- Important read from Poynter on why journalism has a gender imbalance problem: even when two-thirds of journalism graduates are women, only one-third of people in the media industry are women... (Poynter)
-- Vox Media is embracing programmatic advertising for its premium ad space. BuzzFeed also recently changed their minds on using programmatic selling... (Business Insider) | | | "The mood in Bristol, Conn., last week was a strange mixture of embarrassment and frustration following a series of public missteps," Sports Business Daily's John Ourand reported Monday. He says ESPN staffers are bemoaning the "series of self-inflicted wounds" that have been in the news lately... Jemele Hill's tweets just being the latest example... Here's his full story... | | Paramount defending "Mother:" "We don't want all movies to be safe. And it's okay if some people don't like it." | | | Megan Thomas emails: Didn't like "Mother?" Paramount is mostly OK with that. "You are talking about a director at the top of his game, and an actress at the top her game. They made a movie that was intended to be bold," Paramount worldwide president of marketing and distribution Megan Colligan said in a statement to THR. "Everyone wants original filmmaking, and everyone celebrates Netflix when they tell a story no one else wants to tell. This is our version. We don't want all movies to be safe. And it's okay if some people don't like it." More on this story from Vulture... | | | Lisa Respers France emails: Lady Gaga has postponed the European leg of her world tour due to "severe physical pain." The superstar recently revealed she suffers from fibromyalgia... | | | ICYMI: "Reliable Sources" highlights | | | Essay: Why Trump's errors aren't "old news" | | I didn't think we'd have time for this segment about President Trump's latest errors and exaggerations. But in our show meeting, we decided we would make the time. And that was sorta the point of the resulting segment -- journalists must keep making time to point out Trump's fact-free assertions.
Why? Because the Trump White House's credibility crisis affects the country every day. And it affects how world leaders perceive the United States, too. With Trump's first UN General Assembly underway, here's my look at some of his latest screw-ups and slip-ups... some of them minor... but all of them part of a pattern that deserves continued attention. You can read the text or watch the video version on this page... | | "A plot twist presidency" | | | My Q to Nancy Gibbs about Trump's deals with Dems -- "Is this a case of journalists loving a plot twist?" Her answer: "Well, this is a plot twist presidency, right? When are we going to stop being surprised at being surprised by what he does? This is someone who wants to command attention... so we really shouldn't be surprised anymore..." | | Hillary has almost "given up on the MSM" | | | The most-tweeted-about segment on Sunday's "Reliable" was my interview with Amy Chozick about Hillary Clinton's numerous media critiques. I pointed out that it's not just Trump loyalists who despise the national news media -- many, many Clinton fans have their own objections. Chozick shared lots of insights... and said it's almost as if Clinton has "given up on the mainstream media..." Watch the discussion here... | | | Email reliablesources@cnn.com... we appreciate every message. The feedback helps us craft the next day's newsletter! | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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