SPECIAL EDITION: I'm hitting send early tonight, getting ahead of the CNN/NYT #DemDebate, which begins at 8pm ET. Scroll down for a scoop about ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, this year's THR 100 list, President Trump's funniest tweet of the day, and much more...
Debate night in America
This is the fourth #DemDebate of the season and the widest field of candidates for any single debate in modern TV history. Twelve candidates will be sharing the stage.
"There are many challenges involved in televising a presidential debate featuring a historic number of candidates," the NYT's Michael Grynbaum writes. "Keep track of speaking time. Calibrate the camera shots. And, of course, coordinate the commodes."
But: "In an interview, Sam Feist, CNN's Washington bureau chief, said he was not sweating the unprecedented number of candidates in the debate. 'We've had 11 before, and now we have 12,' Mr. Feist said between rehearsals at Otterbein University, in the cavernous gymnasium that has been converted into a one-night-only soundstage with seating for 1,500 people. 'It doesn't really change our approach.'"
Shoutout to the staff
Behind every debate are scores of producers, researchers, technicians, engineers, and other staffers. They make these events a reality. Here's a snapshot of the CNN Special Events team on the stage ahead of Tuesday night's face-off: | |
33 days since the last debate
"It's important to remember just how much has happened since the last debate 33 days ago," Brianna Keilar said on her CNN show Tuesday afternoon. "The formal impeachment inquiry launched; we saw the whistleblower report and a phone call transcript of the president's conversation with the Ukrainian president where he asked for an investigation of Joe Biden. There's the debunked Biden conspiracy theories; Elizabeth Warren, her rise in the polls; Bernie Sanders has had a heart attack since the last debate. And then this military offensive by Turkey and the pull-out of U.S. troops from northern Syria..."
Tuesday night's details
-- It is streaming live on the CNN and NYT homepages...
-- Erin Burnett, Anderson Cooper, and NYT national editor Marc Lacey are moderating...
-- Candidates are not delivering opening or closing statements...
-- There are three commercial breaks...
-- For other ways to watch or hear the debate, click here...
-- Joe Biden "will stand center stage," flanked by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren," Kate Sullivan's story notes. "It will be businessman Tom Steyer's first presidential debate, and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii will return to the stage after failing to qualify for the September debate..."
Inside debate prep...
This is the NYT's first time co-hosting a primary debate since 2004, VF's Joe Pompeo notes. He says Lacey "has been in debate prep for weeks, both at CNN's Washington bureau and its new Hudson Yards headquarters on the far West Side of Manhattan, along with two editors from the Times' masthead: Carolyn Ryan, who was politics editor during the 2016 election cycle, and Sam Dolnick, who works on television projects. Over the weekend, the trio flew down to Ohio for final rehearsals." Some top NYT execs, including CEO Mark Thompson, flew in for the event as well. Thompson joked with me that he's only there as a "tourist..."
By the #'s:
There are 550 lights. 50 speakers. A 70-foot-long wall of LED lights. And at least 16 cameras, per the NYT's story...
Will Big Tech come up?
On Tuesday afternoon Elizabeth Warren tweeted out Politico's scoop, "Inside Mark Zuckerberg's private meetings with conservative pundits," and said: "Facebook shouldn't be intimidated into allowing lies and propaganda to be promoted on their website—and no private company should have this much power in the first place. We need to #BreakUpBigTech..."
Ratings forecast
I don't try to predict the #DemDebate ratings anymore since I've been off base each time. But viewer interest has obviously been elevated all season long. The June and July debates were two-night events... The only one-night debate to date was ABC and Univision's telecast in September. About 12.9 million viewers were tuned in on ABC and another 1.1 million on Univision that night. Those two are broadcast networks, so they had some built-in advantages, and we'll find out on Wednesday if the CNN/NYT audience came close to matching 'em...
What's the goal for the candidates?
I thought Amy Klobuchar's comment at a political dinner on Sunday was spot-on. She was asked how she would define debate success, and she said, "Well, let's see, success would be that they mention me the next day." The audience laughed...
Google's search interest rankings
Always interesting to see... Here are Google's up-to-date calculations of the Dem field, based on search interest rankings... Biden has been leading the pack, with Sanders, Warren and Yang also seeing sustained interest... | |
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- CNN's live coverage page is up and running... and so is the NYT's version...
-- Harry Enten says this debate could be make-or-break for Gabbard, Klobuchar, Julián Castro, and Beto O'Rourke. They are "all in deep danger of not making November's debate..." (CNN)
-- The DNC is warning campaigns about heightened disinformation activity ahead of the debate... (CNN)
-- BREAKING: Nancy Pelosi "will hold off on a House vote on impeachment inquiry for now..." (CNN)
-- ALSO BREAKING: "Trump is slated to meet with congressional leadership at the White House Wednesday to discuss the escalating situation in Syria." Pelosi and Mitch McConnell "are both currently expected to attend," CNN's team reports...
-- Stephen Collinson's latest: "Bombshell testimony shows alarm over White House-Ukraine shadow diplomacy was early and deep..." (CNN)
-- Before or after the debate, if you want to hear my reporting and analysis about Fox News, ABC, NBC, and other media stories, I was on Tuesday's edition of The Bulwark Podcast with Charlie Sykes... (The Bulwark)
EXCLUSIVE
ProPublica and Texas Tribune joining forces in Texas
ProPublica is widely thought to be the gold standard of nonprofit investigative journalism. And The Texas Tribune has the same reputation on the local level, with coverage of the Lone Star State that is commonly cited as a model for nonprofit news startups. Now they are coming together to launch a co-branded investigative reporting unit. And they are hiring eleven people to do it. Details:
-- "Texas is a target-rich environment for the investigative journalism of the kind we plan to do for the next five years," Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith told me...
-- ProPublica is known for its partnerships with scores of news outlets on a variety of stories, mostly one-offs. But this deal with The Texas Tribune is different because it is "envisioned as a permanent step, and it starts with a five year commitment," ProPublica president Richard Tofel said...
-- The long-term commitment is made possible by a $5.75 million donation from Arnold Ventures. Several other donors have also made initial contributions that give the collaboration a $6 million launchpad. Smith said the plan is to raise another $3 million...
WEDNESDAY PLANNER
4pm ET: All eyes will be on Netflix earnings after the bell...
Knight-Bagehot Fellowship's annual celebration in NYC...
8pm ET: Megyn Kelly will be on Tucker Carlson's show...
FIRST LOOK
THR 100 list comes out on Wednesday
I haven't seen the entire list yet, but I hear that Bob Iger is No. 1 on The Hollywood Reporter's annual most powerful people in entertainment list... And for the first time, Barack and Michelle Obama are on the list, since they are now Netflix producers... The Obamas join the list at No. 50. The list will be up on THR.com in the morning...
Strong demand for "Catch and Kill"
Little, Brown and Co., the publisher of Ronan Farrow's book, went into a second printing of "Catch and Kill" on Monday, one day before the book's official release, due to robust demand/pre-orders...
--> Bret Baier will interview Farrow on "Special Report" Wednesday night... It will be Farrow's first time on Fox...
Why "Catch" might be difficult to purchase abroad
Hadas Gold emails: Some readers abroad are having a hard time getting a hold of Ronan Farrow's new book. That may be because former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard is threatening legal action against bookstores that are planning to sell "Catch and Kill." Defamation and libel laws are much different – and easier to win for plaintiffs – in places like Australia, where at least one online book seller has pulled the book.
>> Farrow commented in a tweet: "I'm sorry to all the Australian readers to whom this story is important too. I hope you can import or buy from an independent bookseller, and avoid outlets that yield to these kinds of intimidation tactics."
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- Hoda Kotb's book "I Really Needed This Today: Words to Live By" came out Tuesday... It is No. 1 on Amazon right now... Elton John's "Me" is No. 2 and "Catch and Kill" is No. 3... (Amazon)
-- Nate Fredman, a veteran Fox News producer, is joining The Hill as executive vice president for Hill.TV. He starts immediately...
-- Mehdi Hasan's provocative new piece: "Let's Be Serious — Trump Doesn't Mind These Incitements to Kill Journalists..." (The Intercept)
-- Will Bunch summarizing his latest column: "Those angry people screaming at the press pit at Trump rallies? They're not going away, even when this horrible POTUS does. And the rot of fading U.S. press freedom is worse than you think. We need a plan to save the 1st Amendment..." (Inquirer)
-- Joseph Bernstein and Mark Di Stefano's latest: "Rupert Murdoch is fighting to keep his fraying empire behind Trump and Boris Johnson..." (BuzzFeed News)
Trump's funniest tweet of the day
He tweeted this out on Tuesday afternoon, with the word "resigning" misspelled: "Now that we have found out that @CNN is a virtual fraud, rumor has it that Jeff Zucker will be resigining momentarily?"
It's not true, of course, and it caused a few chuckles around CNN. Spokesman Matt Dornic replied with a simple "lol." Trump has been wishing for the CNN president's ouster for years, but nothing has changed...
>> BTW, Michael Grynbaum's story noted that "Zucker was on the job in Ohio overseeing debate preparations" on Tuesday...
Viacom denies interest in launching Fox News rival
Both Shari Redstone and Viacom are strongly denying THR's report that she is "quietly exploring a plan to launch a conservative TV outlet meant to square off with the Fox News Channel." Kim Masters and Paul Bond came out with the story on Tuesday afternoon... But Redstone's spokeswoman said she is not planning to do so... And a spokesman for Viacom said the company "has no intention of launching a TV news channel, conservative or otherwise."
>> Redstone did have a meeting with Trump earlier this month, a source confirmed to me. It was the first time Trump invited her to meet... she said yes... they talked for an hour... and he did most of the talking. Notably, CBS and Viacom are awaiting one final step of the government's merger approval process...
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- Chris Cillizza's latest: "Donald Trump tweeted that the Fox impeachment poll was 'incorrect.' It's not." (CNN)
-- Still no updates from ABC News about Tuesday and Monday's shocking error, labeling video from a Kentucky gun range as "slaughter in Syria..." (CNN)
-- Poynter and Press Forward "are partnering to provide sexual harassment training specifically for media organizations..." (Poynter)
-- Joshua Benton's latest: "Twitter says it wants to solve the 'journalists' careers end because someone digs up an old tweet' problem..." (NiemanLab)
-- Hadas Gold emails: As trust in the media falls and local papers close at a rapid pace – a spot of good news: How one local paper in the UK, the Yorkshire Post, took the crown of being the most trusted weekday paper in the country... (FT) | |
BuzzFeed: Facebook is unevenly enforcing its ad policies
Oliver Darcy emails: While Facebook has recently prompted debated over allowing politicians to lie in ads, the company still enforces a number of other advertising policies. Those other policies, according to a report from BuzzFeed's Ryan Mac and Zahra Hirji, have "led to the takedowns of paid content from at least five US presidential candidates."
But what is particularly interesting, though not surprising, is that Facebook seems to be unevenly enforcing these rules. According to BuzzFeed, "In some cases, Facebook appeared to apply its policies unequally, removing some ads for breaking rules around profanity, fake buttons, and advertising in certain states while leaving others that seemed to do the exact same thing untouched." When BuzzFeed alerted Facebook to this, the company quietly removed some ads. Read more here...
Brexit-free news coming to the UK
Hadas Gold emails: Get your news Brexit-free: British cable news channel Sky News is launching a pop-up channel this week that promises viewers all the news… without the Brexit. The channel, which will only be live on weekdays from 5pm to 10pm, will also be available on YouTube.
In announcing the Brexit-free channel, Sky said a recent study found that a third of people are avoiding the news entirely and more than 70% of them blamed Brexit. It's not clear how long the pop up channel will last, just as it's not clear what will happen with Brexit.
What makes NatGeo's next issue unique
Kerry Flynn writes: National Geographic's November issue, titled "Women: A Century of Change," is its first-ever written and photographed exclusively by women. NatGeo says it's not just a one-off but a yearlong commitment of coverage on women. NatGeo EIC Susan Goldberg tells me, "We have planned a year's worth of content starting with our November issue exploring the state of womanhood around the world and throughout history to not only shine a light on how women have gained rights, protections and opportunities during the past century, but to lift up their voices and celebrate those who fearlessly push boundaries and inspire the next generation of changemakers."
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
-- Tiger Woods is writing a memoir titled "BACK" for HarperCollins... (Fox Biz)
-- Via Kerry Flynn: Vox Media has more than 200 active podcasts, up from 75 in January, and expects its podcasts business to be in the eight figures this year... (Axios)
-- "Netflix is releasing fewer stand-up comedy specials," Lucas Shaw reports. "Despite industry concerns it's cutting back, Netflix says it's just investing more in other types of comedy..." (Bloomberg)
-- As Harry McCracken tweeted, "the Pixel 4's new auto-transcribing voice recorder looks like a killer app for journalists, and bad news for the companies that want us to pay for transcriptions..." (Twitter)
-- Don't miss John Blake's new feature: "Why Christian music's biggest stars refuse to change their tune for the Trump era..." (CNN)
'Fortnite' returns
"The nightmare for gamers is over: Fortnite is back online with a new chapter," Jordan Valinsky reports for CNN Business. "The hugely popular video game came back online Tuesday after a two-day outage while its next iteration was prepped." The new chapter "features an all-new island with new weapons..."
| | Kevin Feige is now the center of Marvel's universe
Frank Pallotta writes: Kevin Feige is adding the title of chief creative officer to his resume at Marvel.
The new role has Feige overseeing the creative direction of Marvel and its superhero stories meaning that he will be in charge of the creative side of Marvel's publishing, film, TV (which includes streaming) and animation divisions. Marvel has become the biggest blockbuster brand in Hollywood under Feige's leadership, bringing in more than $22 billion at the worldwide global box office. Read the story here...
| | Lowry reviews "Watchmen"
Brian Lowry writes: "Watchmen" is a big bet for HBO heading into the streaming wars, an ambitious addition to the acclaimed graphic novel that was called "unfilmable," before a 2009 movie that didn't completely dispel that contention. A lot of people will love the impenetrable nature of the series, created by "Lost" and "The Leftovers'" Damon Lindelof, and others will find it too dense and confusing to bother. As someone who read the comics and mostly enjoyed the movie, put me in the middle -- intrigued by the concept and casting, but given the sluggish pacing, not entirely sold on the show...
HBO Max orders "Grease: Rydell High"
Brian Lowry adds: Meanwhile, another day, another big streaming announcement based on a known commodity: "Grease: Rydell High" is described as a musical spinoff series for HBO Max, not to be confused with "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series," premiering next month on Disney+...
| | AMC Theatres enters the streaming market -- kinda
Frank Pallotta writes: AMC Theatres, the largest movie theater chain in the world, announced that it's launching AMC Theatres On Demand. The new digital movie service will allow members of company's Stubs loyalty program the chance to rent or buy from 2,000 films produced by major Hollywood studios.
Theaters and streaming have not always seen eye to eye, but the new service (which is more iTunes store than Netflix) will let AMC promote its product to consumers who use streaming while not giving up on its long-standing business of getting butts in seats.
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
By Lisa Respers France:
-- The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2020 nominees are...
-- Gal Gadot is producing and starring in a special project...
-- Salma Hayek had a treat on Instagram after reaching 12 million followers...
"Succession" correction
Brian Lowry emails: A correction to yesterday¹s newsletter: I was actually working off old numbers when I said the "Succession" finale set a series high. The actual number for Sunday, about 1.1 million viewers, clocked in just below that, but as the WSJ's Joe Flint noted, seemed to generate about two tweets from media reporters for every viewer...
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