TGIT! Hope you're having a great week. Here's the latest on Axel Springer, David Muir, Oprah Winfrey, Univision, Substack, YouTube, and more...
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Harris's 'little' press strategy |
Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Image |
VP Kamala Harris's campaign media strategy is taking shape, even if viewers in New York and DC might not be seeing it. In recent days, Harris has granted sit-downs to local media outlets and fielded questions in unconventional forums to target crucial swing state and minority voters. Her running mate Tim Walz is doing the same through appearances on local TV outlets in Georgia, Wisconsin, and North Carolina.
Harris is doing a little bit of this, a little bit of that – emphasis on "little." The media's access to Harris is still limited, and journalists always want more. (This morning Axios wrote that Harris and Walz are "largely dodging the media.") But Harris's aides say they're implementing a strategy that reflects how the media world works in 2024. So far this week, Harris has parried tough questions from the National Association of Black Journalists and taped a chat with Stephanie "Chiquibaby" Himonidis, a popular Spanish-language radio host and podcaster.
Harris spokesman Ian Sams told me "she does a steady dose of media engagements because she believes speaking to a broad array of voters where they consume their news and information is important. It’s how you reach people where they are."
Sams also criticized Trump’s much looser approach, commenting, "Maybe we're completely wrong and a two hour live space with Elon Musk or hawking some sketchy crypto venture is the best way to reach battleground swing voters, but I doubt it." Here's my full story about Harris and Walz's interviews.
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Holding out hopes for another debate |
"We know she is under pressure to be unscripted," a Harris campaign staffer said on condition of anonymity. Last week's debate was a huge moment, and Harris is still angling for a rematch, though Trump has publicly stated he won't participate. When the Harris campaign is booking interviews, it is also trying to advance this debate goal. If Trump doesn't change his mind, then Harris may agree to town hall-style events with networks. |
In this piece for Reckon, Zach Silber says he analyzed nearly 3,000 articles and related readership data "across leading news sources in all seven battleground states" on the day after last week's debate. His conclusion: "While political news draws interest, economic issues are grabbing voters’ attention most consistently." That's even more true, he says, when the stories have local relevance: "In the battle for voter attention, local angles and trusted voices play a pivotal role." Something to keep in mind when we see federal candidates seek out swing state interviewers...
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Coming up today: Oprah's live stream |
Titled "Unite for America," it is a virtual fundraiser that will pull together dozens of grassroots groups that have held pro-Harris Zoom meetings recently. Oprah Winfrey will host the live stream across YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitch and other platforms. |
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On the way to his rally on Long Island last night, Trump stopped by Fox News HQ for a taped segment with comedian-host Greg Gutfeld. He joked about last Sunday's apparent assassination attempt, quipping that "golf is a very dangerous game." In my story about Harris, I noted Trump's "looser" media strategy.
>> Don't miss: Jake Tapper on the "cognitive dissonance" of Trump accusing others of dangerous rhetoric. Watch here.
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Fox News terminates executive producer |
Robert Samuel, a nearly 20-year veteran of Fox News, was terminated last week after allegations of sexual harassment surfaced internally, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter. Samuel was an executive producer on Sean Hannity's prime time show, where he served as #2 under boss Tiffany Fazio. (His emails surfaced in Dominion's litigation over Fox's post-election lies.) He previously worked on Bill O'Reilly's show, among others. He did not respond to requests for comment about his exit from Fox. A network spokeswoman told me, in response to an inquiry about Samuel, "employees who violate FOX News Media's Anti-Harassment, Discrimination and Retaliation policy are subject to appropriate remedial action, up to and including immediate termination."
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"Politico owner Axel Springer and private equity group KKR have agreed a €13.5bn deal to break up the company, splitting the profitable classifieds business from its media group," the FT reports. The deal allows Mathias Döpfner "to cement his control over the new business and pursue his ambitions to expand in English-language media." He already owns Politico, Business Insider, and Morning Brew in the U.S. According to the NYT, the breakup values the publishing assets at around $4 billion.
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Using AI to protect journalists |
The most intriguing story I've read this week: In Venezuela, a group of media outlets are producing an AI-anchored news show in order to "shelter their real-life journalists from a crackdown launched by strongman Nicolas Maduro's government," CNN's Stefano Pozzebon reports.
"Right now, being a journalist in Venezuela is a bit like being a firefighter," Carlos Eduardo Huertas explained. "You still need to attend the fire even though it's dangerous." The AI anchors (nicknamed The Dude and The Girl) "want to be instruments for our firefighters: we don't want to replace journalists, but to protect them."
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Liam Reilly writes: Elon Musk is using X to promote misinformation about the presidential candidates in the lead up to the election, amplifying false claims Wednesday about a Trump rally bomb threat, immigrants eating pets in Ohio, and a fake Nate Silver electoral map showing Trump's supposed lead. And that was just in a single day. More here...
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Debate didn't dent Muir's ratings |
Earlier this week, Fox published a deceptive story titled "ABC's David Muir sees newscast ratings decline after controversial debate performance." The story compared apples and oranges to assert that Muir might have turned off viewers by fact-checking Trump. But an apples to apples comparison indicates otherwise. As Deadline's Ted Johnson wrote Wednesday, ratings for Monday's "World News" – at the start of the first workweek since the debate – were at its highest Monday night level in five weeks. There is simply no solid evidence that ABC's ratings have been dinged by the debate.
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Veteran NBA scoop king Adrian Wojnarowski is retiring from ESPN and from the media business. "He decided he had enough," The Athletic's Andrew Marchand wrote. "On Wednesday, Wojnarowski announced that, at 55, with millions in the bank, he was fine walking away from around $20 million more because a new frontier in the college game was offered to him. The man who has been texting and talking with executives for nearly two decades will now be the men's basketball general manager at his alma mater, St. Bonaventure."
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TelevisaUnivision named Daniel Alegre as its new chief executive, effective today, just hours after the NYT broke the story that the Spanish-language broadcast network was mulling the immediate replacement of its chief executive, Wade Davis.
>> From Dominic Patten: "Davis will continue at the company as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and on the Board’s executive committee. The ongoing role for Davis comes as lower-than-anticipated revenues for TelevisaUnivision resulted in a loss of confidence in the executive on both sides of the border as well as in the boardroom."
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Why "NewsNight" stands out |
CNN's 10 p.m. program "NewsNight" has been transformed in the past two months into a frank and freewheeling dialogue about the "State of the Race," a/k/a the presidential election. Variety's Brian Steinberg visited the studio, interviewed host Abby Phillip, and noted that viewership for the retooled program is "on the rise."
As Phillip tweeted Wednesday, "We're doing things differently on NewsNight. People on opposite sides of the issues at the heart of our politics don't often talk to each other. Here, they do." Speaking as an occasional guest on the show, I think she is onto something. "NewsNight" segments are surprising and frustrating and illuminating and sidesplitting and sometimes all of the above – because that's what politics is like right now. "NewsNight" is televising the fight, yes, but also showing how much common ground still exists.
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>> Media and tech shares are set to soar this morning following the Fed’s decision to cut interest rates. (Deadline)
>> As national networks mull adding local sports rights to their growing portfolios, major leagues are considering how to nationalize their local rights, Tim Baysinger and Sara Fischer report. (Axios)
>> "Substack is adding a live video component." (Engadget)
>> Jim Waterson, the former Guardian media editor, is launching the London Centric newsletter.
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>> Sen. Mark Warner held a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on threats to the upcoming election yesterday, which included leadership from Meta, Microsoft, and Alphabet as witnesses. X "declined to send an appropriate witness." (CNBC)
>> Speaking of X, Musk "boosted content from creators and accounts tied to Tenet Media at least 60 times, resharing the operation's posts and engaging in back-and-forth replies with Tenet's paid pundits on X," David Ingram writes. (NBC News)
>> The GOP has long since taken aim at Mark Zuckerberg for cultivating an apolitical image, yet they seem to have no issues with Musk trying to get Trump elected, Will Oremus and Cristiano Lima-Strong write. (Washington Post)
>> Peter Kafka landed an interview with YouTube chief Neal Mohan for "Channels." When pressed on what YouTube will do if Trump loses the 2024 election, yet claims he won again, Mohan said "our election integrity rules of the road are pretty clear," adding that "we are going to enforce those regardless of what happens there." (Business Insider)
>> YouTube will redesign its TV app, blending in new tools as the platform looks to retain the top streaming spot it nabbed in August. (THR)
>> I think, therefore I ban: OpenAI is threatening to bar users who ask its Strawberry LLM how it reasons. (WIRED)
>> Sahar Elhabashi, Spotify's podcast boss who helped transform the streaming platform into a podcast powerhouse, is leaving the company. (Variety)
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Ted Sarandos called on Netflix's streaming rivals to share viewership data ahead of the company’s Thursday #'s reveal. (The Wrap)
>> Lionsgate will give AI start-up Runway access to its content library as the studio behind “The Hunger Games” franchise, the “Twilight” saga, and the “John Wick” films looks to use generative A.I. in its movies. (WSJ)
>> Warner Bros dropped the much-anticipated trailer for "Mickey 17," director Bong Joon-ho's first film since "Parasite," which stars Robert Pattinson. (YouTube)
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