Good morning.
- Great TV theater, even if two co-hosts MIA
Whew. It may now be over. At more than three hours, it seemed to be of Lincoln-Douglas duration. Promoted by CNN as a de facto boxing match (Los Angeles Times), it featured lots of Trump-centric questions (arguably too many), even to his rivals and opened the door both to harsh attacks on him but also to his at times snide responses. (The Washington Post) Politically, it may have been a net loss for Trump (and net win for main stage newcomer Carly Fiorina). If not, his brand is more resilient than most imagine.
Moderator Jake Tapper clearly sidestepped the pitfalls encountered by Fox co-host Megyn Kelly in the first debate; thus, no pissing match with Trump or anybody else. We’ll now see if all the obvious time, orchestration and advertising spent by CNN results in ratings comparable to the record lured by Fox. Speaking of Fox, when the debate ended as many Americans slept, Bill O’Reilly noted how Trump was on air for 17 minutes, while Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker got only seven minutes. Fox contributor and former CBS correspondent Bernie Goldberg gave Tapper good marks but said he’d be looking for pictures of Tapper co-hosts Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash “on milk cartons” this morning. They were “missing in action.”
- Yet another ginormous cable deal
Luxembourg-based Altice SA early Thursday agreed to buy New York’s Cablevision Systems for a tidy $18 billion. (Newsday). It’s “the latest move by the European cable company to build a communications empire in the U.S.” Cablevision, which also owns Newsday, is America’s fifth-biggest cable provider and has been looking for a deal “in a fast-consolidating industry where a few heavyweights are in dominant positions. AT&T Inc. became the No. 1 pay-TV provider when it closed its purchase of DirecTV in July. Comcast Corp. is the largest broadband provider, and Charter will leap to the top ranks if regulators approve its proposed takeover of TWC.” (The Wall Street Journal) Altice is run by a Moroccan-born billionaire investor with Israeli and French citizenship who’s looking to be a player in the U.S.
- A paper kills its print edition
“Another alarm bell sounded Wednesday for the future of print newspapers in Canada when one of the country’s largest and oldest dailies announced the end of its printed weekday edition nearly three years after introducing its free digital tablet edition. Montreal La Presse, owned by Power Corp., announced Wednesday that the print edition of the 131-year-old French-language paper will only be available on Saturdays after Jan. 1.” (Montreal Gazette) It may be the first daily to go this route but it won’t be the last.
- David Gregory on NBC backstabbing
The former “Meet the Press” host says that when leaks started trashing him, “it was clear that they were coming from within NBC. I made it very clear that in politics, in Washington – if there’s blood in the water, you have to do something to sure (sic) up your person and I think that NBC proved to be incapable or unwilling of doing that in my case and as a result it was becoming too negative about me, it was getting in the way of what I wanted to do with the show and it was time for me to go.” (Adweek) He said he’s not spoken with Chuck Todd, his successor.
- Diapers, coffee, water filters and The Washington Post
What took so long? Jeff Bezos is now offering big discounts on the Post’s digital version if you’re an Amazon Prime member. And, hey, you don’t have to worry about all those boxes to ditch if your family is a big Prime customer (like ours). The new move is smart, potentially potent for the newspaper and will be a case study in marketing quality content. (Poynter) Now, time to order more water filters.
- Bloomberg cuts deal with Twitter
The financial news giant wants Twitter’s help to “further enhance financially relevant information found on the social media platform for users of the Bloomberg Professional service.” Customers “have told us that Twitter helps them uncover early trends, breaking news, and sentiment shifts, which may be indicative of changing market conditions,” said Ben Macdonald, Global Head of Product at Bloomberg.” (Bloomberg) Speed, speed, speed. Sounds smart for both.
- Huffington Post doubles down on Trump
In July, The Huffington Post scoffed at what it considered a ludicrous essence of the Trump campaign and said it would treat it as “Entertainment,” not politics. When I asked yesterday if subsequent events have changed their minds in the slightest, two top editors said absolutely not. “No! We’re more and more confident in the decision each day, particularly as we watch the way the media is covering his candidacy. At its heart, our decision wasn’t just about Donald Trump, but also about the way the media had been covering him. That, unfortunately, hasn’t changed. In fact, it’s gotten worse. The fact is that many political journalists are willing to give Donald Trump’s racist, sexist, xenophobic rhetoric a mainstream platform — and all the legitimacy that goes along with that — because he is a very entertaining celebrity.” (Poynter)
- Kickstarter-meets-Groupon-meets-Chronicle
The San Francisco Chronicle will partner with Beacon and become the first big paper to crowdfund journalism through Beacon. It’s looking for “$15,000 from readers to fund a multimedia project examining the interplay between immigration regulations and the Bay Area tech industry.” So it will ask readers to pony up, with Beacon matching dollar-for-dollar. It sounds ingenious, or maybe desperate, or maybe a combo of the two. (Poynter) “At best, the Chronicle appeal will generate a bit of publicity and maybe even enough cash,” San Franciso-based industry analyst Alan Mutter tells me. “It is not likely to be a significant and ongoing revenue stream for the Chronicle or any other paper. This reminds me of the tip-jar experiment a few years ago on the website of the Miami Herald.” (Newsosaur)
- Big money backs independent media
OK, OK, it is India. “A core group of civic-minded and self-made wealthy entrepreneurs primarily from Bangalore are getting ready to formally launch a trust that will help fund independent and socially committed media ventures in India. The Independent and Public Spirited Media Trust (IPSMT) will be launched in October, following a year or more of behind-the-scenes preparation, said one Bangalore-based executive who is familiar with the workings of the trust but did not want to be named.” (VCCIRCLE)
- NFL coach moved to assisted living (not)
A fellow New York Giants fan passed the news on late Wednesday via a link to a New York Times sports story. Upon closer, inspection, it just resembled The New York Times. “Saying that they held off taking such a drastic step for as long as they could, officials from the New York Giants confirmed Wednesday that the team had made the difficult decision to move head coach Tom Coughlin into an assisted-coaching facility.” (The Onion)
- Front page of the day, curated by Kristen Hare
Today’s front page comes from The Orange County Register, which offered a quick look at the highs and lows of Wednesday night’s GOP debate. (Courtesy the Newseum)
- Job moves, edited by Benjamin Mullin
Peter Stevenson has been named deputy editor of Men’s Journal. Previously, he was a consulting editor for the New Republic. (POLITICO Media) | David Hamilton is now technology editor at The Associated Press. Previously, he was assistant managing editor at CNET. (Email) | Kate McCarthy Zachry is now news director at WGBH. Previously, she was editorial producer for “This Week with George Stephanopolous.” Aaron Schachter will be executive producer and editor for WGBH radio. Previously, he was an assignment editor at PRI’s “The World.” (Email) | Dan Macsai is now an assistant managing editor at Time. Previously, he was a senior editor there. (Email) | Tracy Wahl will be executive producer for editorial franchises at NPR. Previously, she was an executive producer at “Morning Edition.” (Email) | Jennifer Senior is joining The New York Times as a book critic focusing on nonfiction. Previously, she was a contributing editor at New York magazine. Wesley Morris is now a critic at large at The New York Times. Previously, he was a staff writer for Grantland. (POLITICO Media) | Job of the day: VICE News is looking for a managing editor. Get your resumes in! (Journalism Jobs) | Send Ben your job moves: bmullin@poynter.org.
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