EXEC SUMMARY: Here are first looks at USA Today's new Hidden Common Ground initiative and Denise Kiernan's next two books... Plus, Elizabeth Warren's appearance on Bloomberg TV, Thursday's NYT front page, and much more...
Reunited, and...
CBS and Viacom, corporate cousins for the past decade, are now one. Shari Redstone's long-sought merger of the two media companies took effect on Wednesday afternoon, and ViacomCBS will start trading on the NASDAQ on Thursday morning.
So now what? "Unlike its streaming rivals," the NYT's Edmund Lee writes, "ViacomCBS will focus on supplying films and television series to other companies." ViacomCBS "intends to follow a strategy of selling its wares to the highest bidder as demand for original content increases."
Lee also says that the deal "cements" Redstone's role "as a trailblazing figure in a male-dominated industry, a woman whose peers now include leaders of media behemoths like Brian Roberts of Comcast and Robert A. Iger of the Walt Disney Company."
Is ViacomCBS big enough?
"The equity value of the new business is about $25 billion, putting it far behind rivals like Disney, which also has a theme parks business, and NBCUniversal, which is owned by the cable giant Comcast," Lee notes. "Several key advisers to Ms. Redstone have suggested a bigger deal could come in the future, with ViacomCBS selling to a tech giant, four people familiar with those discussions have said. Even so, Ms. Redstone is not in a rush to sell off a business she has just spent years pulling together..."
Bakish's promise
"It's been a long and winding road to get here," ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish acknowledged to Variety's Cynthia Littleton in an interview.
"While the merger is now complete, the new company has work to do yet on Wall Street," Littleton wrote. "CBS and Viacom shares have dropped about 19% and 24%, respectively, since the long-expected deal was confirmed on Aug. 13."
"There's a light at the end of the tunnel," Bakish told her. The people who got in at this [low share] price are going to be happy campers..."
Ringing the opening bell
I hear that Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, Gayle King, Phil Simms, and SpongeBob SquarePants will be joining Redstone and Bakish to ring the NASDAQ opening bell on Thursday morning. Here is Bakish's "welcome to ViacomCBS" letter...
Employee townhall on Thursday
Bakish will hold his "Bob Live" townhall at noon, joined by Shari Redstone, for a conversation moderated by Norah O'Donnell. Something that's sure to come up: These concerns about "synergies," a/k/a, expected layoffs.
"How many people will get the ax is anyone's guess at least for the near term, but layoffs are most definitely in the future for the newly merged company if management is to meet the lofty cost-cutting expectations it has set for itself and start boosting the new company's share price," Fox's Charlie Gasparino and Lydia Moynihan reported Wednesday, citing sources...
Lowry's big unknown Q
Brian Lowry writes: In the past, I wrote about Sumner Redstone's misguided decision to split up Viacom and CBS, forcing the company to go to great lengths seeking to replicate the synergies and the economies of scale that they would have enjoyed had they stayed together. At the time, though, the obvious plan was to put then-CBS chief Leslie Moonves in charge of the entity. With Moonves gone in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations, it raises the Q of whether the current management has what it takes to maximize the combined assets, and whether they're presently formidable enough, given the shift to streaming and the deep-pocketed tech players (Amazon, Apple, Google, etc.) that have joined the fray...
FIRST LOOK
USA Today is launching a "hidden common ground" project
On Thursday the newspaper and Public Agenda, a nonpartisan research organization, will launch the Hidden Common Ground initiative, which will identify those hidden areas and highlight how localities are solving problems despite all the divisions.
The project is supported by several foundations. It begins with a front-page story by Susan Page and a survey is taken by Ipsos Public Affairs... "Across partisan lines," the survey finds, "an overwhelming 92% say it is important to reduce divisiveness in America, and almost 40% of Republicans and almost 50% of Democrats would be tempted to cross party lines if they thought the other party's candidate would do the best job of bringing the country together." The full story will be up on USAToday.com in the morning...
THURSDAY PLANNER
Jake Tapper will moderate a CNN town hall with Nancy Pelosi at 9pm ET...
Warren on Bloomberg (TV)
| | What a lede by Bloomberg News: "Elizabeth Warren accused former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg of trying to buy the 2020 election with millions of dollars in advertising to fuel his late entry into the Democratic race. Warren delivered her message in an interview on Bloomberg Television from the company's headquarters in New York City."
Bravo to Bloomberg TV's Joe Weisenthal, who navigated the cross-currents of this interview so well. Weisenthal acknowledged the potential awkwardness at the very start: "Let's start with the big question. You're on Bloomberg TV. Our boss is running against you."
"I've heard that!" she quipped.
So Weisenthal brought up Bloomberg's TV ad spending and asked, "How much is this, for you, evidence of the need for a wealth tax?" Watch the full interview here...
>> Earlier in the day, Warren "bought an ad to air on Bloomberg TV that took on the company's owner directly..." Details here...
YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST:
Denise Kiernan's next two books are...
Whatever Denise Kiernan writes, I want to read. She authored "The Last Castle" and "The Girls of Atomic City." Now she has a new two-book deal with Dutton. The first title, "We Gather Together: A Nation at War, A President in Turmoil, and One Woman's Campaign to Return Us All to a State of Grace," is set during the Civil War -- unfortunately timely -- and explores the creation of the Thanksgiving holiday. It is set to come out in the fall of 2020. The second book, "Obstinate Daughters: A Revolutionary Road Trip to Reclaim America," will come out later. Dutton EIC John Parsley acquired the rights from Yfat Reiss Gendell...
Did Wednesday's impeachment hearing change anything?
Sure doesn't seem like it. But some commentators argued that the day was significant nonetheless.
Clever: This WaPo story says "the impeachment process has reached the peer-review phase."
And the lead story on Page One of Thursday's NYT says the House Judiciary hearing "opened a critical new phase of the impeachment proceedings..." | |
So much talking, so little questioning
Brian Lowry writes: WaPo's Aaron Blake kept a running tally of how long Republicans went during the impeachment proceedings without actually asking questions of the witnesses. Setting aside the partisan strategizing involved -- or the discussion about the "optics" of it all -- there is something inherently awkward and off-putting about assembling experts to talk *at* them, without giving them the opportunity to speak.
Hannity's misinformation has an impact
Now this is striking, per FiveThirtyEight's latest survey with Ipsos, recapped by Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux and Laura Bronner. The survey found that "Republicans aren't any likelier than Democrats to think that Ukraine meddled in 2016." But "there is one group, though, where a substantial chunk of respondents do believe Ukraine interfered in 2016: Fox News viewers. More than 4 in 10 respondents who say they predominantly watch Fox News say that Ukraine did interfere in the 2016 election, a higher share than among respondents who get their news from other networks. Fox News viewers were also less likely than other respondents to believe that Russia interfered with the last presidential election." Details here...
Jarrett's laughable defense
Oliver Darcy emails: Appearing on "Fox & Friends" Wednesday, pro-Trump commentator Gregg Jarrett attempted to defend Devin Nunes from call records showing the California congressman had been in contact with Lev Parnas. Jarrett claimed that, while the call records showed calls between Nunes and Parnas, it was not clear whether it was Nunes who had actually been the person operating his own phone. "Well we just don't know because we don't know the details," Jarrett said. "In fact, it's a call log. Does that mean that Devin Nunes was actually on the call or somebody else?" An astounding example of right-wing media personalities going to extreme lengths to defend POTUS and his allies...
Napolitano's vote
As Oliver pointed out on Twitter, it was notable that Fox's senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano was "part of Fox's impeachment team coverage" on Wednesday, since, during the previous hearings, "he was absent and Fox just used Ken Starr and Andrew McCarthy as legal analysts, both of whom are more sympathetic to Trump's case."
On Wednesday morning, Mediaite's Colby Hall wrote, Napolitano "put as fine a point as possible on where he stands. Asked by America's Newsroom anchor Bill Hemmer if he'd vote for impeachment if he were a member of the House of Representatives, Napolitano answered that yes, he would vote FOR impeachment..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- The story behind the story: "How a CBC producer caught Trudeau on a hot mic gossiping about Trump..." (CBC)
-- Then came the cancellation of Trump's planned presser, although there's a dispute about whether the decision was related to the gossipy video. Annie Karni and Katie Rogers write that Trump's "quiet departure from Britain... seemed to show an uncharacteristic admission of defeat..." (NYT)
-- Matt Zapotosky and Devlin Barrett's scoop: William Barr's "handpicked prosecutor tells inspector general he can't back right-wing theory that Russia case was U.S. intelligence setup..." (WaPo)
-- Asawin Suebsaeng says the president has an odd "preoccupation with the pages and glossy photo spreads of Washington Life, a D.C. luxury and culture magazine..." (Beast)
Trump's favorite Dowd
This Maureen Dowd column written by her Trump-supporting brother Kevin is almost one week old. Trump evidently found out about it on Wednesday. He tweeted that he "just read the best Maureen Dowd column" EVER and said some news outlet "should hire her wonderful, talented, and very smart brother!"
How long til Kevin is booked on Fox? Anyway, Dowd tweeted back to Trump, "I'm with Kevin at dinner now and he says thanks. I'm glad you're again reading the paper you once called 'a great, great American jewel.'"
Giuliani is interviewing Ukrainians for an OANN docu-series
Oliver Darcy emails: Rudy Giuliani has spent time this week in Europe interviewing former Ukrainian officials for a documentary series being produced by the far-right media organization One America News, NYT reported Wednesday.
OANN announced the series earlier this week, saying interviews were "in the works" and being conducted "outside the United States" at "undisclosed safe houses." The cable channel has very little viewership, but it has been repeatedly promoted by Trump... | | >> Context: While One America is known for employing personalities on the fringes of the right, it is still worth noting who Giuliani has chosen to partner with. According to the NYT's story, the series is being hosted by Chanel Rion, above, a far-right personality who previously promoted the Seth Rich conspiracy theory and generated controversy for drawing politically incendiary cartoons, including at least one about George Soros playing off an anti-Semitic trope. And yet, she's now working with the president's personal attorney...
Bongino launches competitor to Drudge
Oliver Darcy emails: Anger continues to build in the right-wing media community toward Matt Drudge for souring on Trump. Now, one popular Fox personality is launching a competitor to the Drudge Report. Dan Bongino, the popular right-wing commentator, launched the Bongino Report Wednesday. "Drudge has abandoned you," Bongino said. "I NEVER will."
While some small Drudge competitors have surfaced over the last few months, Bongino's seems most notable. Bongino appears frequently across Fox's programming, and is often a guest on shows hosted by people Drudge has been friendly with. In fact, Bongino's new website was promoted by Mark Levin, a radio and Fox host who previously used to refer to Drudge as his friend. I emailed Drudge to see if he had a comment on Bongino's new site, but didn't hear back...
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- "Crime in Progress," by the founders of Fusion GPS, debuts at No. 1 on this week's NYT hardcover and e-book nonfiction bestseller list. "A Warning" drops to No. 2 and "Triggered" drops to No. 6... (NYT)
-- On the paperback nonfiction list, the basis for "The Irishman" is No. 1 while "Impeach," by Neal Katyal and Sam Koppelman, is debuting at No. 2...
-- There was lots of buzz about Hillary Clinton making her debut on Howard Stern's show on Wednesday, since she turned down Stern's interview requests during the 2016 campaign... (CNN)
-- Joe DePaolo flagged Sean Hannity's complaint about Stern: "Not sure why Howard hates Trump and loves her. Makes no sense. That's not the guy I grew up listening to..." (Mediaite)
MSNBC analyst running for Westchester D.A.
MSNBC legal analyst Mimi Rocah, a former assistant U.S. attorney, used "Morning Joe" to announce she's running for Westchester District Attorney. (A position previously held by Jeanine Pirro, BTW.)
I inquired with an MSNBC spokesperson, who said Rocah "will no longer be a paid analyst, but may be booked on a case by case basis..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- The Bloomberg 50 list of "the people who defined 2019" is out... (Bloomberg)
-- Jeff Zucker, who is on the list, talked with Bloomberg's Felix Gillette. On the subject of Trump's disdain for CNN: "It's because he knows it matters what CNN reports. He's got Fox News in the bag. He doesn't think the people who watch MSNBC are ever going to be persuadable voters. That's why he is always obsessed with what CNN is reporting." (Bloomberg)
-- Lori Leibovich, formerly of Time Inc., HuffPost and Salon, is joining theSkimm as SVP of Content, per an internal memo...
-- I previewed Nick Martin's new newsletter about hate and extremism, The Informant, last night. Now here's the link to get subscribed... (The Informant)
-- "Apple News is expanding its mail notifications with a new 'Good Morning' daily newsletter..." (9to5Mac)
The white van problem
Donie O'Sullivan emails: A story about white vans — yes, white vans — demonstrates how hysteria and misinformation can spread online.
People across the United States are taking to Facebook to share sightings of supposedly suspicious white vans. The latest online-induced panic shows how viral Facebook posts can stoke paranoia and make people believe that spotting something as common as a white van, can be deemed suspicious and connected to a nationwide cabal. Some local TV stations have unfortunately played into this as well.
The viral posts even resulted in the Mayor of Baltimore warning people to stay away from white vans — the mayor hadn't consulted his police department about the rumor. Baltimore Police told us they had received no reports of any actual incidents. More...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
-- BuzzFeed's Jane Bradley is joining the NYT as an investigative reporter for the United Kingdom... (Twitter)
-- From Enrique Núñez-Mussa for Poynter: How political turmoil around a "4-cent raise on Santiago's subway fare sparked the Chilean fact-checking ecosystem and made it flourish..." (Poynter)
-- The Information is launching Tech Top 10, a new $30/year app that will offer "a curated feed of the top 10 technology stories of the day," to help in "sorting the signal from the noise..." (The Information, NiemanLab)
-- Marianne Garvey's latest: How a determined director got 'Hustlers' to the big screen... (CNN)
| | This January at Sundance...
Netflix's documentary "Taylor Swift: Miss Americana," directed by Lana Wilson, "will open the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and will be released globally on Netflix in early 2020," Netflix announced on Wednesday.
Of course, that's just one of many, many films on the Sundance 2020 slate... There's so much to see... Variety has the details about the festival program here...
AFI's honors
Brian Lowry writes: Year-end awards continue to roll out, with a solid list of movies and TV from the American Film Institute's juried honors, listing 10 films and a special award for director Bong Joon Ho's "Parasite." Netflix scored two entries -- "The Irishman" and "Marriage Story" -- as well as a trio in TV, with "The Crown," "Unbelievable" and "When They See Us." HBO, notably, accounted for half of that TV list, with "Chernobyl," "Game of Thrones," "Succession," "Veep" and "Watchmen," while FX ("Pose," "Fosse/Verdon") rounded out the voting, plus a special award for Amazon's Emmy-winning "Fleabag..."
Gabrielle Union's 'America's Got Talent' exit sparks NBC investigation
"NBC is launching a deeper investigation into its reality competition series 'America's Got Talent,' eight days after Variety exclusively reported that judge Gabrielle Union would not return to the series amid complaints of toxic culture on set," Matt Donnelly reports. "Union and the network sat for five hours in a fact-finding meeting on Tuesday evening, both parties said, prompting a deeper probe from NBC."
NBC's newest statement: "The initial conversation was candid and productive. While there will be a further investigation to get a deeper understanding of the facts, we are working with Gabrielle to come to a positive resolution."
>> Lisa Respers France has all the background here...
>> Rachel Sklar's reaction to it all is titled "The Power and Danger of Being a Difficult Woman:" She says Union's ouster from "AGT" "shows it's sometimes necessary to be 'difficult...'"
About Fox's "comedy event" that isn't...
Brian Lowry writes: Fox's "The Moodys" is being billed as a "comedy event," which it isn't. But this adaptation of an Australian series is an interesting scheduling experiment -- Fox will air the holiday comedy over three nights within a week -- the disclaimer being that viewers are already engaging in their own creative scheduling by virtue of streaming, bingeing, etc. The first two episodes aired on Wednesday night... Read on...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
By Lisa Respers France:
-- Cardi B defended he husband Offset who said his social media accounts were hacked...
-- Jay-Z's 50th birthday on Wednesday was celebrated with a return of his music to Spotify...
-- The trailer for the new James Bond film "No Time to Die" is a wild ride... Here it is on YouTube...
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