Brian Stelter here at 11:50pm ET Wednesday with the latest on Kimberly Godwin, "Sway," Lachlan Murdoch, TikTok, Mark Wahlberg, Netflix, and much more...
Presidential
Being the president of a broadcast TV news division: Is it a dream job or a dreadful job? A president is expected to make the right editorial calls in real time, beat the competition, juggle talent egos, stave off staff rebellions, enhance the corporate culture, grow the digital operation, balance the budget, impress advertisers, and defend real news against "fake news" lies.
These are complex jobs, which may explain why it takes a while to consider the candidates and name a successor. Disney did that on Wednesday when Kimberly Godwin was named the next president of ABC News. Another such job is currently open: CBS News president Susan Zirinsky told her staff that she'll be stepping aside in short order. ViacomCBS is close to announcing her successor.
Zirinsky was a historic pick two years ago: The first woman to lead CBS News. And Godwin, her second in command at CBS, is making history as well: She will be the first woman to run ABC News and the first Black person to run any of America's big broadcast news divisions.
It is a triumphant moment, a hopeful time for everyone who believes the news should look and sound more like the country it covers. And yet I'd be lying if I ended the story there. The scuttlebutt surrounding both Godwin's appointment and the impending CBS announcement is about the changing nature of broadcast news...
Growing or shrinking?
The NBC, ABC and CBS newsrooms are still ambitious, but not the way they once were. Ratings are eroding. Audiences are gravitating to cable channels for breaking news and views. Digital efforts are a hard slog. The broadcast networks are covering the day's top stories, but are they setting the news agenda? Is anyone, anymore?
When I asked a senior exec if it's apt to call these "caretaker" jobs, the person responded with a different word, "undertaker."
And yet: Millions of people still do watch, especially in emergencies. News is a public good and media CEOs want to feel that they're doing good. The shifts in the industry (fragmentation, polarization, streaming, subscription) are bigger than any one person or outlet or platform. Despite these shifts, the networks produce standout content. There are real opportunities for expansion – if the broadcasters can get it right. For example, there are high hopes inside ABC about creating content for Hulu and other streaming outlets...
Wednesday's headline
On CNN.com, we went with this: "The new president of ABC News is about to make history." Most other outlets went with the same framing. At ABC News, every past president has been a white man. And newsrooms have been under both internal and external pressure to match their talk about valuing diversity with action. Thus, when James Goldston announced his departure plans in January, industry insiders said that Disney would make finding a person of color a priority.
During a 3pm call with staffers on Wednesday, Disney exec Peter Rice praised Godwin and indicated that she's not being installed to "fix" ABC's shows -- "World News" and "GMA" are already "humming along," as the AP's David Bauder put it -- but she is being charged with improving the news division's "culture..."
Who will run CBS News?
"Several news organizations have undergone leadership changes as executives confront a drastically different news environment in the aftermath of Donald J. Trump’s presidency," the NYT's John Koblin and Michael M. Grynbaum wrote. "Jeff Zucker announced in February that he will step down as CNN’s president by the end of the year. Rashida Jones recently replaced Phil Griffin as the head of MSNBC."
The next shoe to drop will be at CBS News. Page Six led with a colorful story about Zirinsky on Wednesday morning: She protested a boring CBS corporate budget meeting by writing "I hate my job" and holding it up for everyone to read, a source told the gossip column.
There's no denying that Zirinsky disliked some of the backstage parts of the presidency. She will be getting back to full-time producing once ViacomCBS names a new president. The exec search has been underway for months, and Godwin obviously wasn't chosen. So what's taking so long? Yashar Ali tweeted on Wednesday, "Let me tell you, it's been some time since a network has been able to keep a secret like this. It's rather remarkable and frustrating. Everyone who normally would know truly doesn't know this time..."
>> Ali also broke the news that Wendy McMahon, the president of ABC Owned Television Stations, is leaving the company with no immediate word on her replacement. Is she about to take over the CBS Television Stations?
What do viewers want?
That's always the key question: What do news consumers want? On TV, online, in print, etcetera? Coincidentally, a new study "of the public's attitude toward the press" came out on Wednesday and showed that "distrust goes deeper than partisanship and down to how journalists define their very mission," per The AP.
Tom Rosenstiel said that "in some ways, this study suggests that our job is broader and bigger than we've defined it." Check out the findings here. WaPo's Margaret Sullivan said the study revealed "a troubling disconnect between core journalistic values (accountability, transparency, giving a voice to the less powerful) and the American public..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- At the time I'm hitting send, reporters are covering a fourth night of unrest in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. Here are CNN's latest updates... (CNN)
-- Quite a contrast between CNN and Fox at 11pm ET: While Sara Sidner was covering the protests live on CNN, Fox's "Gutfeld!" comedy show was replaying a two-day-old clip of Sidner's reporting...
-- "Where are the good apples?" In this web video, Trevor Noah says there are many good police officers but a rotten system: "We're not dealing with bad apples, we're dealing with a rotten tree that happens to grow good apples..." (Twitter)
-- Dan Bongino and Geraldo Rivera shouted at each other on "Hannity" again on Wednesday night. Rivera ridiculed Bongino's credentials: "What, did you have a ten-minute career as a cop? You’ve been running for office for the last 20 years..." (Mediaite)
SNEAK PEEK
Don Lemon on "Sway"
The "CNN Tonight" anchor is Kara Swisher's guest on the newest episode of her "Sway" podcast, which drops at 5am ET Thursday. She asks about the future of cable news, and Lemon says "I see cable news quite honestly as more personality-driven than ever before. And I know people don't like that, but when you have so much information on your devices, people are going to tune into things and people they relate to, and something that, that, inspires some emotion and passion in them." Very true...
InfoWars staffer charged
CNN's Marshall Cohen writes: "A staffer from the far-right conspiracy website InfoWars has been charged in connection with the Capitol insurrection. The Justice Department says Samuel Montoya committed five federal crimes while rummaging through the Capitol on January 6. They say he claimed to be a reporter while he was inside, and that he captured footage of the fatal police shooting of pro-Trump rioter Ashlii Babbitt. InfoWars confirmed the arrest in a post, and the organization’s infamous leader Alex Jones praised Montoya as a 'great video editor and camera person.' Montoya hasn't yet entered a plea to the charges..."
>> Fox's Tucker Carlson jumped to Montoya's defense on Wednesday night...
The end of Madoff... but...
Wednesday's news about Bernie Madoff's death in prison was, for author Jim Campbell, what they call a "news peg." Campbell has a book titled "Madoff Talks" coming out in two weeks. Campbell talked to Madoff, wife Ruth, son Andrew, and many many others. He posted this Twitter thread on Wednesday...
>> Geoff Colvin of Forbes wrote last week that the book "will likely stand as the authoritative source on this massive crime that impoverished thousands of investors around the world — except that they weren’t investors at all."
>> Before Madoff died, Colvin asked: "Why did Madoff decide to communicate at length with Campbell?" And Campbell, a Wall Street vet and business radio host, responded, "I believe, from his perspective, he saw me as an avenue to get his side of the story out. He will, I am sure, be disappointed with my findings."
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- Susan Glasser on Biden's Afghanistan decision: "It's finally, really, for-better-or-worse over. I guess this is how eras end: not with a culminating battle or some movie-thriller crescendo but with a Tuesday-morning leak to the Washington Post and, a day later, a fifteen-minute Presidential speech confirming the historic decision..." (New Yorker)
-- The Biden admin is operating "with the sincere belief" that missing journalist Austin Tice is alive, "two U.S. officials told McClatchy on Wednesday..." (McClatchy)
-- The leaks about Matt Gaetz keep coming. This was David Shortell and Paula Reid's Wednesday story for CNN: "Women detail drug use, sex and payments after late-night parties with Gaetz and others..." (CNN)
-- And now The Daily Beast is out with more Venmo payments news... (Beast)
-- Six (!) new books are debuting atop the NYT's print and ebook nonfiction list: "Broken Horses" by Brandi Carlile is at No. 1, followed by "Finding Freedom" by Erin French, "Broken" by Jenny Lawson, "Beautiful Things" by Hunter Biden, "The Light of Days" by Judy Batalion, and "The God Equation" by Michio Kaku... (NYT)
Up next: George W. Bush's pro-immigration book
Crown is releasing "Out of Many, One: Portraits of America's Immigrants" next Tuesday. Here's the rollout plan: First, Bush's pre-taped interview with Norah O'Donnell will air on "CBS Sunday Morning." In the first excerpt, released Wednesday, Bush said that not passing immigration reform was one of his biggest regrets.
Then, in what NBC is calling Bush's "first live television interview in three years," he will sit down with Hoda Kotb on publication day, April 20. "Following the interview, 'Today' will host an official U.S. naturalization ceremony in partnership with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services," with 30 new citizens participating out on the plaza. Bush will also be on "Hoda & Jenna," co-hosted by his daughter.
Over at CBS, additional portions of O'Donnell's interview will air on her newscast Tuesday night and on "CBS This Morning" on Wednesday...
"Vanity Fair meets Substack" ?!
Edmund Lee and Lauren Hirsch's scoop for the NYT on Wednesday: A former editor at Vanity Fair, Jon Kelly, "has been working for several years to create a digital publication with a business twist: Its writers will share in subscription revenue. Think of it as Vanity Fair meets Substack."
According to the report, Kelly and the startup Heat Media, backed by TPG and Standard Industries, have "been in talks with several well-known journalists," including some of his former VF colleagues, along with Wesley Lowery, formerly of WaPo. "Writers have been offered equity and a percentage of the subscription revenue they would generate," Lee and Hirsch reported, calling it "one of the first attempts to align the new talent economy with more traditional media institutions."
>> The story's kicker: "As media businesses large and small rely more on revenue from readers, connecting a writer’s pay to subscriptions may become an inevitable feature of the industry..."
Red news, blue news
One of the saddest stories of the day, written by the AP's Russ Bynum: "With coronavirus shots now in the arms of nearly half of American adults, the parts of the U.S. that are excelling and those that are struggling with vaccinations are starting to look like the nation’s political map: deeply divided between red and blue states."
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- Matt Viser tweeted: "Close to 2,500 American troops have died over the past 20 years in Afghanistan, serving their country in the nation's longest war. Close to 2,500 Americans have died from covid over just the past four days, in a pandemic of unimaginable proportions." (Twitter)
-- Steven Perlberg's latest: "Media companies including Bloomberg, The Washington Post, and ViacomCBS detail their return-to-office plans as workers push for flexibility after the pandemic..." (BI)
-- The White House Correspondents' Association is "canceling its annual dinner for the second year in a row" due to the pandemic. Next year's dinner is on the books for April 30, 2022... (Politico)
-- Which magazines have really resonated during the pandemic? Kathryn Hopkins says "home decor, bookazines and food are among the categories that have performed well in print and online..." (WWD)
-- Mark Wahlberg's "Wahl Street," a six-episode series debuting Thursday on HBO Max, "is one of the first business documentaries to emerge from the Covid-19 shutdown." Ellen Gamerman says it is "a survival story whose themes many business owners will recognize after the losses of the past year..." (WSJ)
-- The LAT's Ryan Faughnder and Anousha Sakoui are out with a new look at "Hollywood's awakening from the COVID-19 pandemic," finding that "some things may never return to normal..." (LAT)
TikTok is funding "VIRAL"
"TikTok is taking another step towards directly funding publishers' content with today's announcement that it's financially backing the production of media publisher NowThis' new series, 'VIRAL,' which will feature interviews with public health experts and a live Q&A session focused on answering questions about the pandemic," TechCrunch's Sarah Perez wrote. This "represents TikTok’s first-ever funding of an episodic series from a publisher, though TikTok has previously funded creator content..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
-- "Long before he emerged as a potential champion of journalism with his bid for Tribune Publishing, the Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss quietly created a sophisticated political operation to advance progressive policy initiatives and the Democrats who support them," Kenneth P. Vogel and Katie Robertson write... (NYT)
-- Hamilton Nolan, who is CJR's "public editor" covering the Washington Post, writes: "Bezos has been hands-off. What if that changes?" (CJR)
Lachlan is staying in Sydney for a long while
"Fox Corp chief executive Lachlan Murdoch will return to the United States from a months-long Australian sojourn in early September," Byron Kaye and Helen Coster reported for Reuters on Wednesday. So in other words: He's staying put for five more months. And even once he returns to the US, he will "commute regularly to Sydney where his immediate family will remain," according to the story...
>> Stark evidence of the Murdoch family split: Lachlan defended Tucker's "replacement" rant while James signed this CEO letter opposing "discriminatory legislation..."
An early assessment of Kudlow on Fox
William D. Cohan poses the question: "Is Larry Kudlow Fox Enough for Fox Business?" His profile of the former Trump official is full of telling details. Kudlow's ratings on Fox Business have been relatively weak to date. Cohan (a CNBC contributor) says some cable insiders are wondering "whether Kudlow, despite his Trump Stink, is too cerebral and thoughtful to be successful at Fox. Will he be willing to embrace the daily blasphemy that made Lou Dobbs a runaway hit for so long?" Here's his full article for Institutional Investor...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
-- Helen Rosner interviewed Nigella Lawson "on privacy, performance, and cooking for one..." (New Yorker)
-- Spencer Kornhaber says "Fearless (Taylor's Version)" shows that "Taylor Swift knew everything when she was young..." (The Atlantic)
"F9" debuts a new trailer
Frank Pallotta writes: "F9 — the latest installment in Universal's blockbuster Fast & Furious franchise — may have to pull off the brand's boldest stunt yet: saving movie theaters. On Wednesday, Universal released the latest trailer for the film, which will finally hit theaters on June 25 after multiple delays. Away from the series' signature action, the trailer is a save-the-date reminder to the franchise's fan base and an industry that desperately needs more box office hits..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX
-- Former "Bachelor" star Colton Underwood "came out as gay in an exclusive interview with Robin Roberts on 'GMA' on Wednesday..." (ABC)
-- Later in the day came the word that Underwood "is currently in production on an unscripted series" for Netflix. Sandra Gonzalez has details here... (CNN)
-- I enjoyed this Michael Schneider story: "The streaming era has blown up the traditional TV hierarchy. Now, everyone wants to know: who do I call?" (Variety)
-- CBS has given a two-season renewal to Phil Keoghan's competition series "Tough as Nails..." (THR)
-- "Superstore actor Lauren Ash is staying in business with NBCUniversal after signing an overall deal that includes a commitment for her to write her own comedy pilot..." (Deadline)
Something for everyone on Netflix
Brian Lowry writes: "Starring Jamie Foxx and produced with his daughter, the Netflix sitcom 'Dad Stop Embarrassing Me!' is as overly broad and loudly bland as that title/exclamation point would suggest. But it reflects a wider Netflix strategy as the service has grown from an alternative to the TV establishment to become part of it. That includes offering something for everyone, peppering its menu with star-driven sitcoms (including other recent ones starring Kevin James and Katharine McPhee) that wouldn’t look out of place on a broadcast network schedule in the 1990s..."
"Netflix Show to Teach Subscribers How to Fall Asleep"
Netflix's new docuseries from Vox Media Studios, the "Headspace Guide to Sleep," will "attempt to teach its subscribers how not to watch Netflix," THR's James Hibberd writes.
The first trailer for the seven-episode animated series was released on Wednesday. Hibberd notes that "it's a rather ironic title from the media content company that introduced the world to the habit of binging full seasons of television shows" and whose CEO "once said that sleep was the company's competitor" 😉
SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST...
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