EXEC SUMMARY: TGIF! Scroll down for the latest on President Trump v. Baltimore, "Ninja," Edward Snowden, Tomi Lahren, "Doctor Who," and more...
Inside the LA Times
LA Times executive editor Norm Pearlstine sent an urgent memo to the newsroom on Monday. It was a punch in the gut to many of the reporters who received it.
"We had hoped to double digital subscriptions this year, to 300,000," Pearlstine said, in the past tense. He revealed that the first half of the year had been disappointing. "While we added 52,000 digital subscriptions," he said, "significant cancellations during the same stretch left us with a net increase of only 13,000." So right now the paper only has about 170,000 digital-only subscribers -- a fraction of the NYT, WSJ and WaPo.
Pearlstine's memo encapsulated the bind that so many print newsrooms are in. Almost everyone accepts that print is going, going, gone and that digital subscriptions are the smartest path to survival -- but the path is poorly lit and booby-trapped and littered with corpses. Rank-and-file staffers don't know what they should be doing to help convert readers to subscribers. And that's one of the reasons why the memo rankled reporters.
Poynter's Tom Jones, who has been leading the way on this story, said Pearlstine's out-of-the-blue message "left his staff furious." So Pearlstine convened the newsroom for an all-hands meeting on Thursday and said he had screwed up by sending the memo before meeting as a group. But he reiterated that upping subscription #'s has to be "Job One." The conversation went on for two hours. Reporters expressed their frustration with the business side's failures. Pearlstine, in turn, introduced some key new hires from the business side. He said he wanted the newsroom to know more about the strategic plan and what it's going to take to achieve it. Both sides agreed that the past leadership of the paper didn't communicate well. It's been a little bit more than a year since Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong took control of the LA Times, and people are still adjusting...
What I'm hearing... | | The LA Times is in the midst of an exhausting newsroom union contract negotiation. The contract limbo is definitely a factor in this week's tensions. So I spoke with LA Times sources on both sides. All agree that "churn" is the fundamental challenge. As NiemanLab's Joshua Benton wrote earlier this week, "once you get all those subscribers signed up, you've got to prove yourself worthy of their money, over and over again. Churn has always been an issue for newspapers, but it's even more of one in a world of constant competition for subscription dollars."
In this world, where the LAT and the WSJ are effectively competing with Netflix and Spotify, news outlets have to build habit and loyalty. At Thursday's meeting, reporters "raised a lot of issues with pervasive customer service problems," one source said. For example: Who's in charge of subscriber retention? Why does it seem broken?
The editors acknowledged some of this and said the LAT has come a long, long way in the past year. "Six months ago," another source said, "we had a bad website, broken search, no CRO, no one local running consumer marketing, a CMS we didn't control and couldn't edit. And no newsroom data leads or culture of using numbers to inform decision making." Now the infrastructure has been improved in half a dozen different ways, the source told me, so it's time to involve everyone in this uphill battle: "We're now ready to create a culture where we start using data to examine what we do, what's most valuable to our users, and what's less valuable. The goal is to help everyone be smarter about where to focus our attention." This is what newsrooms big and small are up against...
Further reading
I know I plugged Benton's piece yesterday, but it's really worth plugging again -- to understand how news outlets need to approach these subscriber challenges...
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- BREAKING: The number of GOP reps who have decided to leave Congress instead of running again in 2020 just keeps growing. Texas Republican Rep. Will Hurd is the latest. He gave an interview to the Washington Post shortly before tweeting his decision... (WaPo)
-- Read about how "Finland is winning the war on fake news" with a government-led, "cross-sector approach," from Eliza Mackintosh... (CNN)
-- Luis Gomez spoke with 160 former journalists about their motivations for moving on, which "vary widely -- a result of low pay, stress, layoffs, or simply loss of interest." And to wash that down, seven former journalists suggested what to consider before leaving the industry... (Medium)
HERE'S THE BIGGER PICTURE...
Papers going from "daily" to "weekly"
Many publishers "are now seriously modeling and planning for the transformation of their businesses from seven-day newspapers to something… less," analyst Ken Doctor reported Thursday, citing numerous industry sources. "And not just a little less — significantly less."
Doctor suggested that some papers will shift to a print on Sundays / digital the rest of the week model. Others will take more measured steps. But the point is that "we are on the brink of seeing major cutbacks in daily delivery and daily printing of newspapers, as soon as 2020." Read on...
Pew: 1 in 4 papers faced layoffs in 2018
Katie Pellico writes: Per a new Pew study out Thursday, 27% of large US newspapers "experienced one or more publicly reported layoffs in 2018." Pew looked at 97 newspapers with Sunday circulation higher than 50,000.
The good news: This is down slightly from 32% in 2017.
The bad news: Nearly one-third of the papers that faced layoffs dealt with more than one round of them. Also, "the number of jobs typically cut by newspapers in 2018 tended to be higher than in the year before."
Also... Mid-market papers with higher circulations fared worse: 36% of those newsrooms faced layoffs in 2018. Read all the finer points...
>> In her sum-up of the study, Poynter's Kristen Hare offers a glass half full with "a few much smaller but still important data points" and success stories...
The "dying gasp of one local newspaper"
| | Katie Pellico writes: The demise of the longstanding, small town weekly newspaper The Warroad Pioneer is documented in stunning detail in this new story by NYT correspondent Richard Fausset.
This, Fausset warns, is the news desert The Pioneer left behind in Warroad, Minnesota: "No hometown paper to print the obituaries from the Helgeson Funeral Home. No place to chronicle the exploits of the beloved high school hockey teams. No historical record for the little town museum, which had carefully kept the newspaper in boxes going back to 1897." Keep reading...
"What happens when the presses stop rolling?"
The NYT asked "several industry innovators — three founders of local digital operations, and the architects of a program aimed at bringing legacy newsrooms into the digital era — to share their visions of what local news can look like without a local newspaper."
Hear from Bene Cipolla, Sarah Alvarez, Douglas Smith, Steven Waldman and Charles Sennott here...
For a reminder of local journalism's importance, look no further than the Baltimore Sun and the way it has represented its community this week. This is the lead story on the Sun home page right now, conveying how the president used the city as a "punch line:" | | Trump versus Baltimore, day six
At his rally in Cincinnati on Thursday, "Trump pressed forward with his disparagement of Baltimore, a majority-black city, claiming that its homicide rate is higher than war-torn Afghanistan's, where tens of thousands of people have been killed over the course of the US war there," CNN's Jeremy Diamond wrote.
The Afghanistan claim originally came from a man in the crowd. There were some smiles and cheers while Trump riffed about the topic. The NYT's Erica L. Green, a Baltimore Sun alum, tweeted that "the President of the United States is using people's kids, mothers, fathers, who have died on the streets of Baltimore as a punchline at a campaign rally."
And CNN's Abby Phillip made this point on Twitter: "Imagine a president riffing on the opioid overdose rate in suburban or rural America to laughter from his supporters. You probably can't..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- Sun media critic David Zurawik's latest column: "Trump tweets started a conversation about Baltimore, but it is polarized, social-media nasty and going nowhere..." (Sun)
-- Kate Maltby writes: "Every Democratic candidate should have a plan for how to counter disinformation and misinformation in American politics..." (CNN)
Iran, Russia, now the Saudis
Donie O'Sullivan emails his latest: Facebook confirmed today something a lot of us suspected: Like Russia and Iran, there are people linked to the Saudi government running covert campaigns on Facebook in a bid to prop up support for the kingdom and attack its enemies.
And they're very well funded, this one operation had spent more than $100,000 on ads on Facebook and Instagram.
A warning on #DemDebate Twitter stats...
O'Sullivan adds: This should serve as a warning to us all that what you see online may not be what it seems. I'd point in particular to data Twitter released about the #DemDebate about the most tweeted candidates and issues.
We have spent most of the last three years talking about how Russia and others have sought to sow chaos on social media through fake accounts and manipulation. The Twitter data is fun but it's sure isn't worth much.
#DemDebate ratings takeaways
The reality shows and dramas on broadcast TV couldn't even come close to matching the Democratic debate on CNN on Wednesday night. About 11.3 million people watched the night two debate via both television and streaming... That's up more than 20 percent from Tuesday's night one...
On one hand, the CNN debate #'s were down from the NBC debates in June. NBC had two big advantages: The opportunity to go first and the ability to air the debates on a trio of big channels. On the other hand, both the NBC and CNN debates were the highest-rated programs on TV on their respective days. That says a lot about Dem enthusiasm...
"We would do it exactly the same way"
On Thursday The AP's David Bauder took a look at the critiques of CNN's approach to the debates. "CNN poked and prodded for fault lines among Democrats running for president during both nights of debates this week, and that wasn't to everyone's liking. The network took a hit on social media and among some critics for baiting candidates and provoking conflict," he wrote. "Drawing out differences in policy prescriptions and records, and seeing how politicians aspiring for the nation's highest office handle pressure, is precisely the point of a debate, however."
--> CNN DC bureau chief Sam Feist told Bauder: "If we were doing the debate again tomorrow, we would do it exactly the same way."
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- Powerful interview: Anderson Cooper challenged Marianne Williamson "on her record on mental health, vaccines, and antidepressants..." (Video via Twitter)
-- Casey Newton's newest must-read: "Why we love fake stuff on Facebook." He has a point... (The Interface)
-- "Streaming giant Twitch was dealt a major blow Thursday when Tyler 'Ninja' Blevins announced via Twitter that he is leaving the platform to stream exclusively on a rival platform, Mixer..." (CNN Business)
-- A YouTube software update "that came in July, without explanation, was designed to promote 'quality' children's videos." Mark Bergen reports that it was meant to appease the FTC... (Bloomberg)
Welcome Kerry Flynn to the team!
Digiday platforms reporter Kerry Flynn is about to make the move to CNN Business. She will be covering media giants, digital media, magazines, newspapers, etc for us. Flynn tweeted, "I'm looking forward to working in a global newsroom and taking on a new beat covering media, not just the social kind." You'll be seeing her byline here soon!
Snowden's book comes out September 17
Metropolitan Books, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers, announced Edward Snowden's "Permanent Record" on Thursday. The book "will be released simultaneously in more than 20 countries" on September 17, The AP reported.
In a promotional video, Snowden is seen saying this about the meaning of the book title: "Everything that we do now lasts forever. Not because we want to remember, but because we're no longer allowed to forget. Helping to create that system is my greatest regret."
Under fire, Tomi Lahren apologizes for Kamala Harris smear
Oliver Darcy emails: Fox News personality Tomi Lahren on Wednesday apologized for suggesting the night before that Kamala Harris slept her way "to the top." In her apology, which came after Lahren had previously doubled and even tripled down on her comments, Lahren said she used "the wrong choice of words" when she smeared Harris on Twitter. Lahren added, "There are many other things to take her to task for and I will stick to those."
Lahren's tweet had drawn significant criticism, including from her own Fox colleagues, some of whom publicly expressed their outrage. Fox personality Britt McHenry tweeted directly at Lahren, writing, "Do you have any idea how damaging this is to women who've actually been sexually harassed, assaulted or demeaned in the workplace? How much this weakens our own gender, regardless of partisanship. My goodness." And Fox meteorologist Janice Dean said that "if a male contributor tweeted" what she had he "would probably be suspended with a trip to HR."
I asked a Fox spokesperson if Lahren did face any disciplinary action, and if her comments were in accordance with the network's standards, but did not receive a reply back.
>> Of note: Media Matters' Matt Gertz observed in a story that Lahren had previously devoted a Fox Nation episode to pushing the smear against Harris.
| | "Doctor Who" coming to HBO Max in 2020
Eleven seasons of the British cult favorite "Doctor Who" will be available on HBO Max when it launches next spring. It is "part of a larger, long-term deal the service has made with BBC Studios," Sandra Gonzalez wrote Thursday. "Through this partnership, the service will also be home to episodes of 'The Office' (starring Ricky Gervais), 'Top Gear,' 'Luther,' 'The Honorable Woman' and future seasons of 'Doctor Who' after they air on BBC America..."
"13 Reasons Why" ending in Season 4
The announcement came on the same day Netflix "unveiled the trailer for the show's third season," which will premiere on August 23, Sandra Gonzalez wrote. "The new season picks up eight months after the previous season concluded and centers on the mysterious death of a teen character named Bryce Walker. Netflix did not say when the fourth and final season was scheduled to be released or provide an episode count..."
| | Lessons for Hollywood ... from 'Hollywood?'
Brian Lowry writes: Occasionally a movie comes along that seemingly spurs a column and hot take for every dollar earned. So it is with "Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood," but the main question might be the one WaPo's Steven Zeitchik poses here — namely, is its success a fluke, or evidence of an appetite that's been underserved of late at the multiplex? Read on...
Fantastic 4
Brian Lowry writes: "Toy Story 4" topped $400 million at the domestic box-office Wednesday, a plateau "The Lion King" will cross Friday. That gives Disney, yes, a quartet of $400-million-plus domestic earners in 2019 (the others being "Avengers: Endgame" and "Captain Marvel"), with the Marvel-produced "Spider-Man: Far From Home" and Disney's "Aladdin" as the only $300-million-plus titles...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
-- Matthew Ball is out with a new piece examining some of the faulty narratives about "franchise fatigue" and "sequelitis..." (REDEF)
-- Disney "enacted another round of layoffs on Wednesday," when "several dozen employees" at the studio and at 20th Century Fox were let go... (Variety)
-- "Tom Brady has signed with WME for off-the-field representation..." (THR)
CBS touts progress on the inclusion front
Whitney Friedlander is covering the TCA Press Tour for us. She writes: CBS Entertainment president Kelly Kahl and SVP of programming Thom Sherman began their joint exec session by championing the broadcast network's diversity gains. After shouting out new shows with inclusive casts like the comedies "Bob Hearts Abishola" and "The Unicorn," Sherman boasted "that, this season, 53-percent of our writers are women or people of color" and "when we finish filling out our director slate, 50% of our directors will be women or people of color."
Lizzo and the dichotomy of big girl praise
Lisa Respers France recapping her latest: "It's OK for us to love singer Lizzo for being a visibly larger woman dancing, singing and rapping on stage, as long as we recognize that it's her talent that got her there." Read the rest here...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
By Lisa Respers France:
-- Eva Longoria says she thinks her "Desperate Housewives" co-star Felicity Huffman handled the college cheating scandal with "grace..."
-- Jordyn Woods reportedly hopes to work things out with Kylie Jenner...
-- Jerry Garcia was remembered Thursday on his posthumous birthday...
LAST BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST...
Harry Friedman stepping down
After 25 years and almost 12,000 broadcasts, "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy!" executive producer Harry Friedman "has decided to step down at the end of the coming season," THR's Seth Abramovitch wrote. "He informed the staffs Thursday morning on the Culver City soundstage where the hugely popular syndicated game shows tape." Q&A here...
>> Sony Pictures TV chairman Mike Hopkins: "Under Harry's direction, these iconic shows have become among the longest running and most successful game shows in television history... Harry is truly one of a kind, and he will be greatly missed."
Update on Alex Trebek's health
Here's what Friedman told Abramovitch about Alex Trebek, who was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer in March: "Alex is remarkable in many ways not the least of which is he's got an iron will and an unequaled determination to beat this. He underwent several rounds of chemo and that brought his numbers down. They were around 1,000 at one point and now they're down into the high teens. So he's responded well to the chemotherapy. His doctors credit not just his positive attitude but the outpouring of love, support and encouragement that he's received."
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