Good morning.
- The master of nuanced cultural critique
Humbled by his loss in Wisconsin? Belatedly realizing he best change his ways to avoid a contested Republican convention? Well, last night on Long Island, Trump reverted to his press-bashing reflexes. (Newsday) “The press is so dirty. The press is bad. They’re terrible. Look at ’em. They’re terrible people.” At one point Newsday reporter Laura Figueroa tweeted, “So far I’ve counted 3 seniors taken out of packed crowd on stretchers since the start of #trumponLI rally.” (@Laura_Figueroa)Presumably, Trump and campaign manager Corey Lewandowski would prefer that it had been any three reporters or photographers. As for the press horrors being visited upon him, the cable TV networks should start billing Trump for the record-breaking amount of free air time they give him — be it speeches or phone calls from the prone position somewhere. Ditto this morning on the cable networks, which included MSNBC’s Trump-cozy Joe Scarborough declaring, “If Donald Trump ends up running against Hillary Clinton, I would be glad to take all bets that he will win by ten points or more.” Sign me up.
- Obama to do Fox News
He’s heading today to the University of Chicago Law School, where he taught (and a very short hop from where he’s still got a home) to argue for his Supreme Court choice. He’s also taping an interview in Chicago with Chris Wallace for “Fox News Sunday.”Obama spokesman Josh Earnest said, “It’s the first time that the President has appeared on that program as President of the United States.” And, he added, “I think part of our expectation in terms of preparing the president for the interview is that Mr. Wallace will want to talk to him about the Supreme Court nomination that he’s put forward. And this is obviously something that Mr. Wallace has questioned his guests about quite frequently over the last several weeks. And I would anticipate that that will be true of this week’s program, as well.” Media factoid: Wallace’s late dad, Mike, was a radio and TV broadcaster (he even announced wrestling) in Chicago both right before and after World War II — and before he became a CBS News stalwart. The Washington Post has the tale of how Wallace landed his sitdown with Obama.
- Redstone’s new caretaker
The melancholy Sumner Redstone soap opera continues as he now supposedly taps his daughter Shari as his health-care agent, supplanting Viacom Inc. Chairman Philippe Dauman. Redstone is 92, in failing health and a classic example of somebody staying too long at the helm of his company. His attorneys are also “conducting settlement talks with lawyers for Manuela Herzer, a former girlfriend and companion who also once filled that role.” It’s been rather dubious that Dauman be entitled to make life and death calls about his company’s largest (80 percent) shareholder. (Bloomberg) - A corporate slime heads to prison
Six years after a mine explosion that killed 29 miners, “Former Massey Energy Co. CEO Don Blankenship, who rose from humble beginnings in Mingo County to become the wealthy and powerful chief executive of one of the region’s largest coal producers, will serve one year in prison and pay a $250,000 fine for a mine safety criminal conspiracy, a judge decided Wednesday.” (Charleston Gazette-Mail) The judge, herself a coal miner’s daughter, noted that she’d not seen a (damning) “60 Minutes” tale on Blankenship. Blankenship’s attorney tried to play a part of the segment as he claimed ulterior political motives by the former chief prosecutor, who’s now running for governor in West Virginia. (MetroNews) - Mr. Ma, tear down this wall!
Well, Jack Ma, leader of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, is taking down the paywall of the 113-year-old South China Morning Post, which he bought for $266 million a short while ago. “Our focus now should not be on finding the right media business model. Our priority should be on how we should change to better adapt to the reading habits of our readers.” It’s rather unclear how the paper, with a characteristically declining print circulation, will make money from its website beyond crossing its fingers with online ads. (Tech In Asia) - Gay Talese: Social media is ‘wicked’
After being pilloried on Twitter following a conference appearance where he failed to mention a female journalist who inspired him during his youth, the famously dapper longform writer gave an interview to his newspaper alma mater. In it, he took a dim view of social media. “‘The journalism I grew up with was to try and be careful, fair and accurate,’ he said. ‘But social media is wicked, reckless. And what happened to me in Boston is shameful, with stuff flying all around the world that isn’t true.'” (The New York Times) - Republican Convention chaos?
“The narrative on national television says that establishment Republicans will seize control of the Rules Committee at the RNC and they will open the convention to nominations from the floor.” OK, that’s one theme that’s being repeated. But, “It’s an unlikely scenario and even if it happens there’s a bigger problem. Any change in the rules must be ratified on the floor of the Convention where Trump and Cruz delegates will shut it down.” (Law Newz) - Journalists hitting pay dirt
Knocking on wood over that 2 percent pay hike? Get this news from London: “Dozens of journalists at oil-price reporting agency Argus Media are set to become multi-millionaires when a deal to bring an investor onboard goes through later this year, potentially valuing the firm at as much as $1.3 billion. Argus, which makes the bulk of its revenue by assessing energy prices and selling subscriptions to the industry, has been seeking investors since last year to expand its business and as some of the founding shareholders want to sell out.” (Reuters) About 40 journalists have stock that would bring them a minimum of $1 million apiece. - A golden age of political reporting?
Watching post-Wisconsin primary coverage, the positive impact of the democratization of media seemed underscored. Yes, there’s more junk and rampant reporting-free speculation. But there’s also a lot more quality from a vastly greater array of sources. (Poynter) - Very wet news in New York City
What a coincidence. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced he’ll miraculously find $305 million to belatedly speed work on a gigantic, decades in the making and now stalled water tunnel meant to serve Brooklyn and Queens, where more than half the city’s population live. It would build two very deep shafts to connect with a basically completed tunnel to assist another, 80-year-old tunnel. Oh, “The mayor’s announcement came just hours after The New York Times reported that his administration last year had removed all money to pay for the tunnel and had also replaced the announced 2021 deadline for completion with a commissioner’s ‘guess’ that it would be ready for service sometime in the mid-2020s.” (The New York Times) - And welcome to New York, Ted Cruz
“Take the F U Train, Ted” is today”s New York Daily News headline. It’s a purely gentlemanly disagreement over New York “values.” (Politic USA) - Fewer TV ads, really?
The industry has B.S’d about this topic for years. Yes, they know there are too many ads that turn off all of us. It came up again at Ad Age’s Digital Conference. “‘There’s a saying I keep hearing: ‘Television advertising is killing television advertising,’ said Michael Strober, exec VP-client strategy and ad innovation, Turner Broadcasting. The medium is staying the same even while everything changes around it, he said.” He added, “The commercial ad load has been the same since Truman was president.” (Ad Age) There’s a greater likelihood that eight people under 40 in the audience got the historical reference than we’ll see a decrease in commercials anytime prior to the Grand Canyon again being underwater. - Job moves, edited by Benjamin Mullin
Justin Chang will be a film critic at the Los Angeles Times. Previously, he was the chief film critic for Variety. (Email) | Ed Pesce is now a senior legislative analyst at CQ. Previously, he was head of the Senate periodical press gallery. (Email) | Amy Marks will be global head of advertising sales marketing at Bloomberg Media. Previously, she was head of client solutions there. (Fishbowl NY) | Send Ben your job moves: bmullin@poynter.org.
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