EXEC SUMMARY: Rupert Murdoch and Ben Horowitz, Spotify and studio chiefs, Campbell Brown and Charlie Collier, and much more... Start scrolling...
Time to vote
At some point on Thursday, the House is expected to vote on an impeachment resolution, establishing procedures for the Democrats' impeachment inquiry into President Trump... Setting the table for public impeachment hearings, the release of deposition transcripts, and more.
"It will be the first vote the full House has taken on the impeachment inquiry since Democratic leaders launched the probe," CNN's Haley Byrd writes.
Expect to see wall-to-wall coverage of the vote. Fox News said in a press release that Chris Wallace and Martha MacCallum will be "preempting regularly scheduled programming" for special coverage. The unmistakable context: Fox wants to tout its top newscasters at a key moment after Shep Smith's departure...
Ingraham pressuring GOP pols
While Game Seven was on Fox, Laura Ingraham was on Fox News, continuing to pressure Republican lawmakers to stick with POTUS. "Now is the time for Republicans to stand together and defend the leader of their party," she said during a segment titled "REPUBLICAN VOTERS ARE WATCHING." She warned senators that "there is no GOP in 2020 without Trump..."
Rupert's night on the town
First Rupert Murdoch stopped by a book party for VC Ben Horowitz, whose book "What You Do is Who You Are" was just published by HarperCollins. Then Murdoch headed to the Hudson Institute's annual gala, where he introduced the night's honoree, Mike Pompeo. Murdoch made a "President Pompeo" quip, and later said, "As accomplished as Mike Pompeo has been in his illustrious life, I'm sure there's much more to come. Secretary of States usually do quite well once they move on. Incidentally, I've got a good publishing house if he wants to decide to write a book..." | |
Trump's ad during Game Seven
The Trump 2020 campaign paid handsomely for a national ad during Wednesday night's ballgame. "He's no Mr. Nice Guy, but sometimes it takes a Donald Trump to change Washington," the narrator said in the ad.
Per CNN's team in DC, "campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh says it's a seven figure ad buy to run during the World Series and beyond. 'It's a national World Series buy 12 months out. We're on offense,' he said."
WITH THAT MIND...
Facebook, Twitter and online political ads
On Wednesday Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said his site would stop allowing political ads. A few minutes later, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg doubled down on his decision to keep such ads.
Donie O'Sullivan writes: It's worth remembering that Twitter makes a tiny fraction of what Facebook makes on political ads – though FB says it's not in this for the money! If you read Dorsey's tweets and listen to Zuckerberg's speech from two weeks ago in DC, you'll see two men at total odds with each other on this issue. Two of Silicon Valley's tech titans with two very different perspectives on an issue that could have a real impact on American democracy... and the election is only a year away...
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- Kara Swisher calls Twitter's ban "the best subtweet ever..."
-- Casey Newton's take: "It remains to be seen whether Twitter can live up to the promise it made to the public today. But in some important quarters, it seems to have notched a moral victory over its longtime rival..."
-- Charlie Warzel tweeted: "The big problem is the *overall* platform architecture offers a disproportionate advantage to those most likely to stoke negative emotions..."
A fake page parroting the Trump campaign
More from Donie O'Sullivan: Even as its executives were out fiercely defending its policies on political ads this month, Facebook was allowing an obviously fake page that purported to be linked to Trump's reelection campaign to run ads on its platform. The ads directed users to an online donation portal that claimed to be a way to donate to the Trump campaign. The page was only taken down after CNN called FB about it. Read on...
Up, up, up
MEANWHILE... FB's Q3 earnings beat analyst expectations. "During the quarter, daily active users increased by 9% and revenue grew 29% from the year prior, reaching $17.7 billion," Ahiza Garcia reported Wednesday afternoon. The stock is up nearly 5% in after-hours trading. "Roughly 2.8 billion people use Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp or Messenger each month, the company reported."
The takeaway from the WSJ's Jeff Horwitz: "Facebook's profit machine showed little wear and tear from the beating the social-media giant has received lately in Washington, though chief executive Mark Zuckerberg warned the political pressure could soon take a toll..."
EXCLUSIVE
"The 1619 Project" will be a book
"The 1619 Project," by The New York Times Magazine, had an incredible impact when it was first published in August. More and more customers clamored for copies -- and the issue is now listed as "sold out" in the NYT store.
So it's no surprise that publishers are clamoring to come out with a "1619 Project" book. Numerous editors have been cycling through NYT HQ for meetings about potential books. A Times spokesman confirms the meetings but declines further comment. More to come soon... | | In a further testament to the power of the project, the NYT held a big event at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture in DC on Wednesday... Nikole Hannah-Jones, seen above, spoke at the event...
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- Elle Reeve's first story for CNN: "She went from a liberal non-voter to burning books with white supremacists. Here's why she finally left the movement..." (CNN)
-- "Expect impeachment to be catnip for news junkies — but also a boost for news avoidance," warn researchers María Celeste Wagner and Pablo Boczkowski... (NiemanLab)
-- Daniel Dale summing up his latest: "It's hard to explain just how comprehensively Trump is lying about the Ukraine scandal. He's being dishonest about basically every individual component of the story..." (CNN)
Mass resignations at Deadspin
Kerry Flynn writes: At least 7 Deadspin staffers resigned on Wednesday, individually announcing their decisions to quit in a series of tweets. Among the departures are Kelsey McKinney, Laura Wagner, Tom Ley, Lauren Theisen, Patrick Redford, Chris Thompson and Albert Burneko.
The resignations came a day after interim EIC Barry Petchesky was fired after protesting against G/O Media's editorial mandate to "stick to sports."
Re: Wednesday's departures, a G/O spokesperson said "they resigned and we're sorry that they couldn't work within this incredibly broad coverage mandate. We're excited about Deadspin's future and we'll have some important updates in the coming days." But does the site really have a future without these writers?
--> Erik Wemple's takeaway: "Deadspin is ceasing to be Deadspin..."
THURSDAY PLANNER
Beto O'Rourke will be on Power 105.1's "The Breakfast Club" at 7am ET. The interview will be up on YouTube shortly after...
Happy Halloween! 🎃 We're going to send out an early edition of the newsletter since my wife is co-hosting NY1's Halloween Parade coverage at night...
Nancy Pelosi is booked on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert..."
Extreme red flag warning continues...
Banner headline on the LATimes.com home page right now: "From Simi Valley to wine country, extreme winds and explosive fires maintain hold on California."
NBC's Lester Holt anchored from Simi Valley on Wednesday and ended his newscast with "a nod to the crews working on the fire lines here... For a firefighter or water dropping pilot, this is almost as bad as it gets. Yet they persist determined to save lives and property. And we wish them God speed..."
CNN's Bill Weir was also in the thick of it on Wednesday... Here's the video of one of his intense live shots... | |
"It's the End of California as We Know It"
Brian Lowry emails: Farhad Manjoo's latest piece carries the attention-getting headline "It's the End of California as We Know It," in the context of the wildfires. While some were quick to liken the columnist to Chicken Little -- accusing him of feeding conservatives talking points, in the same way Fox News pounced on a previous column about "unlivable" cities governed by Democrats -- let me say this as a life-long resident of the state: It's undeniable that things have changed from a climate standpoint in deeply concerning ways. What really struck me Wednesday, though, was that LA Times photo of flames near the Reagan Library, which packed a symbolic punch, seemingly, for Republicans who revere the late president while continuing to deny climate science...
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- Variety's Kate Aurthur with a story that hits close to home: "CNN staffers shocked WarnerMedia hired Morgan Freeman after sexual harassment allegations..." (Variety)
-- Apple's quarterly earnings "beat analyst expectations on Wednesday, thanks to strong performance in services and its fast-growing wearables business..." (CNBC)
-- Paris-based media company Brut., aimed at millennials and Gen Z, have announced a stateside launch backed by $40 million in funding... (THR)
-- From Chris Cillizza: "What Barack Obama gets exactly right about our toxic 'cancel' culture..." (CNN)
Campbell Brown responds to Breitbart controversy | | Oliver Darcy emails: Facebook executive Campbell Brown appeared to defend the company's controversial decision to include Breitbart, the far-right website known for misinformation, in its recently-unveiled news section. Brown wrote in a Wednesday blog post that she believed when "building out a destination for news on Facebook" content "from ideological publishers on both the left and right" should be included.
Despite Breitbart's well-documented history of publishing brazenly misleading stories about Democrats and Trump critics, Brown suggested the site met Facebook's "integrity standards for misinformation." Brown wrote, "All the content on Facebook News today meets those standards."
A pattern: Facebook execs defend Breitbart decision by pivoting to discussion on ideology
Darcy continues: In her blog post, Brown focused largely on questions about ideology, as if that were the chief issue versus standards for accuracy and accountability. She wrote, for instance, "There will invariably be news organizations, ideological or otherwise, who say or write things that I find abhorrent, but I will always stand by their right to express their views."
That defense echoed what Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram chief Adam Mosseri have said. But it fails to address the elephant in the room: Facebook is choosing to include a website notorious for publishing misleading stories in a news tab marketed as a place for "high quality" information from "trustworthy" sources. That's not about ideology. It's about standards.
Brown knocks CNN in response to Q's
Darcy adds: For my story, I sent over a handful of questions to a FB spokesperson. The spokesperson declined to answer most of them, but did say that Facebook will eventually release the full list of outlets it is using for its news tab (so far the company has declined to do so). Brown, a former CNN anchor, also responded by tweeting, "These are tough issues Oliver - ones your own news org is struggling with in deciding who to pay to be on your air. Thanks for engaging on this."
Sleeping Giants targets FB employees with ads
Darcy sends one more: Anti-Breitbart group Sleeping Giants announced Wednesday that it had started targeting Facebook employees with ads "asking them to ask their executive team why Breitbart ... is considered as a 'trusted' news source." In a statement, Sleeping Giants said, "More and more, it is employees who can raise their voices when something doesn't make sense and create meaningful change."
Facebook settles with UK information commissioner
Hadas Gold emails: Last year the UK government's information commissioner fined Facebook £500,000 (around $645,000) over the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Facebook appealed, and there was one initial hearing in June in which FB came out with the upper hand (the judge said there was the possibility of a "very serious and properly pleaded actual bias" against Facebook). Then things went quiet for months -- until Wednesday, when Facebook and the commissioner announced they had reached a settlement. FB will pay the fine but won't take any liability.
Now, Facebook appealed the fine not because of the pricetag -- which they can pay in a blink -- but because FB said the process was unfair. So I was a bit surprised that Facebook agreed to the settlement. But a Facebook source said they just wanted to draw a line under the issue and move on.
>> One thing to keep in mind: Because of when the offense took place, the £500,000 fine is the maximum Facebook could face. If the same thing happened today, Facebook could be liable for up to 4% of its annual turnover...
YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST...
New SI owners will be at Code Media
On Thursday Vox's Recode is announcing two newsworthy additions to next month's Code Media conference in Hollywood: Ross Levinsohn and Jim Heckman. Peter Kafka will be interviewing the duo on stage. This looks to be the first big interview with Sports Illustrated's controversial new owner/operators since their publishing company, Maven, took control of SI. Code Media gets underway on November 18... Other participants include John Stankey, Kevin Mayer, Nancy Dubuc, and Roger Lynch...
NBC News digital staffers announce plans for union
Big news at NBC News today, Kerry Flynn writes: Staffers in the digital news division announced their intention to unionize, pushing for fair wages, newsroom diversity and ability to address the mishandling of sexual harassment allegations. The full unit is about 150 employees. Tate James, a video producer at NBC News, told me, "We started organizing over a year and a half ago. The recent news made it clear that we needed to unionize now, but we already had a huge majority by the time 'Catch and Kill' came out." More in my story here...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
-- Janko Roettgers explores "how The Weather Channel is pioneering mixed reality for live television..." (Variety)
-- Stacey Abrams signs with UTA for "entertainment projects, including a project on voting rights..." (THR)
WaPo: "How and why Fox News fails to credit CNN scoops"
Erik Wemple's latest in his blog post series on Fox News: "Acute stinginess in terms of crediting CNN is something of a pattern at Fox News." Wemple itemized three scoops from CNN's KFILE that made waves on Fox without any attribution. In all three examples, videos of Joe Biden that KFILE had "unearthed" made for new news cycles on Fox News.
>> Andrew Kaczynski of the KFILE points out: "Their late night hosts are calling CNN partisan and a super PAC for the Democratic Party, and then they're turning around and repeatedly not crediting CNN's reporting on Democratic candidates on air..."
In Boston's suburbs, "No News Is Bad News"
Katie Pellico writes: DigBoston EIC and co-publisher Chris Faraone has a front row seat to the newspaper closures and consolidations across the city's suburbs. Though it may be "impossible to assess" the damage already done, Faraone tried anyway in this new piece for Boston Magazine. He says "the marriage of GateHouse and Gannett looms like an Angel of Death over what's left of the local media landscape." Read...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
-- "Jo Ann Ross, one of the advertising industry's best-known executives, will lead ad-sales efforts at ViacomCBS..." (Variety)
-- "Walmart is considering selling its 15-year old Vudu on-demand video service, say people familiar with the situation, a sign of how the digital video business has evolved from on-demand rentals and purchases to streaming..." (The Information)
-- I forgot to include this yesterday: Sony's PlayStation Vue "will shut down on January 30, after four years of existence..." (CNN)
-- "Taylor Swift will be honored as the artist of the decade at the 2019 American Music Awards..." (THR)
Spotify launches kids-only app for Premium Family subscribers
Katie Pellico writes: Spotify announced the launch of Spotify Kids on Wednesday, a standalone app for kids ages 3 and up beginning a beta launch in Ireland. The app is available exclusively to Premium Family subscribers and will roll out over the "coming months." The app is a pared down "playground of sound," Spotify says, offering a "composite" of kid-friendly playlists.
>> Variety's Todd Spangler says Spotify "is trying to sell more multi-account family-plan subscriptions," which run $14.99 per month...
Collier, one year in
Brian Lowry emails: By the time you read this newsletter, the World Series should be nearly over, but the big winner is already Fox, since networks always benefit from the additional ad inventory and heightened ratings of a seventh game. Variety¹s Michael Schneider, meanwhile, has an interview with Fox president Charlie Collier one year into the job, as the network navigates its way in a post-Disney merger future. Among other things, he stressed the separation between the network and Fox News, saying most of its product is "nowhere near our air." Read on...
| | Reactions to the HBO Max curtain-raiser
"A day after AT&T and WarnerMedia executives unveiled their plans for HBO Max... Wall Street analysts shared their mostly positive takeaways," THR's Georg Szalai wrote Wednesday. Here's his recap...
Lowry's take
Brian Lowry emails: WarnerMedia described the company as being "all in" on its streaming venture, which seems like the perfect analogy for what is, for all the studios wading into this business, a huge gamble. It's also particularly interesting to see DC's "Green Lantern" getting the series treatment for HBO Max after a disappointing movie, following a similar approach with two HBO series based on literary properties, "Watchmen" and the upcoming "His Dark Materials." Keep reading...
The cost of streaming
Frank Pallotta writes: With HBO Max announcing its price on Tuesday, a consumer's potential streaming budget is now clearer:
Apple TV+: $4.99
Disney+: $6.99
HBO Max: $14.99
Hulu: $11.99, no ads
Netflix: $12.99
Amazon: $8.99
CBS: $9.99, no ads
That's about $71 per month. And that's just the major services, and not accounting for Peacock, which hasn't announced a price yet. Sure, there's bundles and discounts that make it cheaper, but streaming is still going to come at a cost...
>> And if you want to see what HBO Max's $14.99 gets you, here's a long list of the shows and films that will be available on HBO Max...
FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX
By Lisa Respers France:
-- I talked to Kasi Lemmons, the director of "Harriet," who said she knows people don't want to see another slave film. But her movie about Harriet Tubman who rescued slaves after escaping herself is a story of freedom, she said...
-- Alex Trebek released a PSA to raise awareness about the pancreatic cancer he's battling. "I wish I had known sooner" he says...
-- Kevin Hart posted an emotional video about his car crash and says his now "sees things differently..."
-- Tim McGraw lost 40 pounds after one particular comment. Now, at 52, he's in his best shape ever...
The studio chiefs summit
 Frank Pallotta writes: THR brought together the 7 major studio chiefs (Warner Bros.' Toby Emmerich, Paramount's Jim Gianopulos, Disney's Alan Horn, Universal's Donna Langley, Sony's Tom Rothman, Amazon's Jennifer Salke and Netflix's Scott Stuber) to talk about the changing world of the film business.
It's really interesting and worth the read if you're a fan of film or Hollywood, but for the sake of time, here are some great quotes:
-- Rothman: "Nowadays, good movies aren't good enough. I am not sure you ever really got away with a movie that genuinely was a significant disappointment. But it certainly used to be that if you made a good movie, it was OK [financially]. And I don't think those of us still in the theatrical business can settle for good anymore."
-- Horn: "There is no question that we, at some point, are going to run out of the kinds of films like 'Aladdin' or 'Lion King.' We have taken a step past that now, so 'Maleficent' is a step away from 'Sleeping Beauty,' and 'Cruella' (2021) is a step away from '101 Dalmatians.' But there is no question it's a finite universe."
-- Stuber: "We all have to get to a place where there is opportunity and choice and more movies. It's not always one size fits all. We have to be cognizant of everyone's businesses and protect them."
FOR THE RECORD, PART SEVEN
By Katie Pellico:
-- There's a new HBO limited series about Jeffrey Epstein in the works, based on reporting from Miami Herald's Julie K. Brown and led by Adam McKay... (Variety)
-- Rolling Stone chief TV critic Alan Sepinwall spoke with David Simon, co-creator of "The Deuce," about sexual misconduct allegations made against the show's star James Franco. Things got "contentious..." (Rolling Stone)
-- MEL Mag's UK and EU editor Hussein Kesvani explains how commonly viewers "cheat" their way through binge-worthy TV series, by way of "tweets, wikias, memes, GIFs and episode recaps..." (MEL Mag)
-- Maria Sherman profiled some of "the composers who write YouTube influencers' music, often for free..." (Jezebel)
-- Lindsay Lohan's father wants to clarify that her relationship with Saudi Crown Prince MBS is "platonic and respectful..." (Page Six)
LAST BUT DEFINITELY NOT LEAST...
10 years later: Letterman apologizes to comedy writer Nell Scovell
Katie Pellico writes: Comedy writer Nell Scovell says she wanted to "mark the 10th anniversary" of her viral VF article that called out "sexual favoritism" during her time at "Late Night with David Letterman," arranging an interview with her former boss. Letterman tells Scovell that on reading her article for the first time (she says she "assigned it as homework" before their meeting), "I thought, Holy s--t, this is so disturbing and, sadly, a perspective that I did not have... I'm sorry I was that way and I was happy to have read the piece because it wasn't angering." He says he "felt horrible" to learn an employee was "unhappy." "I'm not that guy now. I was that guy then." Read more from her fascinating piece...
>> Scovell writes, "In the past decade, I've written hundreds of thousands of words about women in the workplace, but the main point boils down to six: Believe women. Hire women. Respect women."
| | | Thanks for reading! Email me your feedback here. See you tomorrow... | | | |
