Good morning.
- What the press pros want to know
Mark Barabak, Los Angeles Times: “I’ll be looking for what I always look for: What separates these guys-and this gal-substantively? And what glimpse(s) of authenticity/reality/who-they-are-and-what-makes-them-tick peeks through the scripted zingers, policy platitudes and bouquets they toss at the memory of Ronald Reagan.”
John Harwood, CNBC and The New York Times: “I’d love to know A) How aggressively will Jeb Bush and Carly Fiorina go after Donald Trump? And B) Does Donald Trump try out a different — more temperate and substantive — style?”
Laura Ingraham, syndicated talk radio host, Fox News contributor: “These candidates have to offer credible insights into how they are going to make this country better for the average American. When 75 percent of the people say they don’t trust our government, really radical things could happen, the old rules may be out the window, the old political attack lines might not work.”
Celeste Katz, New York Daily News: “I’m interested in the dynamic between Trump and Carson. I’m interested to see how far Trump is willing to go in attacks on Carson, whether Carson takes the “high road” or pushes back on Trump’s faith, conservative credentials, inflammatory rhetoric, or anything else.”
Bill Kristol, editor, Weekly Standard: “I’d like the crystal ball to reassure me that neither of the current frontrunners, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, will be president.”
There’s more from all of them and Alexis Simendinger of RealClearPolitics, Steve Scully of C-span and Jonathan Martin of The New York Times. (Poynter)
- Bloomberg goes full-bore for meetings lucre
The events business, especially in Washington and New York, is a nice profit stream for media as they lure paying audiences to watch reporters play nice with the people they cover. Bloomberg is refreshing a focus on its conference business with changes “to the events to underscore that they’re extensions of the company’s journalism. The events team now reports to both editorial and business (John Micklethwait and Justin Smith, respectively); previously, it just reported to the business side. The edit side is more involved now in programming the content. Bloomberg journalists who are moderating panels are required to do prep calls with panelists well in advance, [Stephanie] Mehta said, ‘to make sure the content is as strong as it can be.'” (Digiday) Some of this will be “off the record,” raising questions as to whether this is about getting big-ticket business newsmakers in a room via Bloomberg’s journalism cachet or merely selling access to its journalists? The line between the two can be thin, which the smart folks at Bloomberg surely know as they seek to monetize their two-legged full-time equivalents.
- Walter Isaacson on CNN ‘egomaniacs’
The journalist-author, who runs the Aspen Institute, spoke at a humanities nonprofit’s fundraiser in Chicago Tuesday night. It was mostly about his books on Ben Franklin, Steve Jobs, Henry Kissinger, Albert Einstein and innovation. But when moderator Mellody Hobson, who is the powerhouse, whirling dervish president of Ariel Investments (and married to entertainment icon George Lucas), broached the subject of his tenure as CNN boss, he said, “I’m not a huge fan of television.” He didn’t last long there, he said, because he was “not very good at managing egomaniacs, which you have to be if you’re in cable.”
- Immigrant takes Trump’s job Entertainment Weekly) Meanwhile, a nice bit of journalistic initiative doesn’t result in much as the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, where the debate will be tonight, doesn’t have much on any Reagan-Trump connection. The records show, “Aides in the Reagan White House, peppered with invitations to Trump events, mostly kept the real-estate mogul at arm’s length, except when they were trying to stop his donations to Democrats or soothe his ‘large ego,’ as one memo put it.” (The Wall Street Journal) Of course, Trump invokes Reagan often.
- L.A. officials rebuke Tribune for canning publisher
A resolution passed Tuesday by the politically potent L.A. County Supervisors urges “Chicago-based Tribune Publishing Co. to ‘restore local, established and invested leadership’ at the Los Angeles Times or consider selling it to someone with those attributes.” (Los Angeles Times) What is curious is how the dismissal of a publisher, and his replacement by a company loyalist, has initially bred strange political bedfellows against the company. The board’s unanimous action was led by Mark Ridley-Thomas, an influential liberal from South L.A., and Michael Antonovich, a conservative from the north. Tribune has been down a similar path before, dispatching an L.A. neophyte to run the paper amid civic discord. I ran into a former high-level Tribune executive yesterday. “I’ve seen this movie and it doesn’t end well,” he said. Yup.
- Meet Hugh Hewitt
CNN’s inquisition team will be Jake Tapper, Dana Bash and Hewitt. Hewitt? He “has made himself into a real subject in the Republican field—a distinguished free agent. He is the nearly-professorial power-baron of conservative media, the party interrogator. A grown-up. Hewitt told Bloomberg in February that he had lobbied the RNC to have a conservative journalist to ask the questions at a debate — to discourage questions like one about birth control asked in 2012 by George Stephanopoulos, a member of what Hewitt would call the ‘MSM.’ Ten years ago, the New Yorker’s Nicholas Lemann referred to Hewitt as ‘Most Famous Conservative Journalist Whom Liberals Have Never Heard Of.’ Now that a conservative journalist — Hewitt himself — will be asking questions, this may change.” (Bloomberg)
- A great war correspondent returns home
The New York Times hired ex-Marine-turned journalist C.J. Chivers to be a war correspondent in 1999 and a great one he was. Now he’s returned home to Rhode Island, where “He has devised strategies to exhaust himself, he says, so that he can get true rest, without the persistent thoughts and alertness and memories of living in war. He has decided that he has to remain in motion: He takes his boat out with his kids every day the seas aren’t too choppy. Last year alone, they hauled in a thousand pounds of fish. He splits wood. And he gardens, or it would be more accurate to say — given the amount of potatoes and onions and beans and broccoli and squash involved — he farms.” (Esquire)
- The media’s ‘Clinton deathwatch’
“As Hillary Clinton was giving a speech about the crisis of sexual assault on Monday, pundits were obsessing about her shocking drop in support from women voters.” Her approval ratings have dropped sharply, yes, but she still leads Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders among women (and, heck, it’s September, 2015). “Clinton’s campaign could in fact be doomed – the Beltway media is certainly invested in dooming it, and the non-stop coverage of her email non-scandal is taking a toll. But there’s nothing shocking, or fatal, about the drop in her support among female voters.” (Salon)
- Reporters with real tenure
At Boston University one finds a U.S. version of Australia’s The Conversation. “It’s a daily newsroom with editors, all of whom are journalists, and the reporters are all academics,” says a former longtime BBC journalist. “We take the news agenda as our starting point, then go to academics to provide distinctive, original, and evidence-based context to the news cycle.” (NiemanLab) Oh, these writers have final say over copy, headlines and photos. Just like all normal reporters, right?! Right?
- Forget the political pros!
What might Jane Fonda, Stephen King, Susan Sarandon, Mark Cuban, Sharon Stone, Robert Duvall or magician Penn Jillette want to ask tonight? It’s all, well, earnest. Says Jillette: “If the person you think would be your best vice president reveals to you in private that he or she is an atheist, would you encourage him or her to lie, to come out, or would you find another candidate?” Jake, Dana and Hugh, take it away and good luck. (CNN)
- Job moves, edited by Benjamin Mullin
Peter Flax is now features editor at The Hollywood Reporter. Previously, he was editor in chief at Bicycling Magazine. Dan Fienberg will be a TV critic at The Hollywood Reporter. Previously, he was executive editor of HitFix.com. Ryan Parker is now a staff editor at The Hollywood Reporter. Previously, he was a reporter at the Los Angeles Times. Mia Galuppo is now a staff writer at The Hollywood Reporter. Previously, she was a contributor to HelloGiggles. Jen Liles is now a social media manager at The Hollywood Reporter. Previously, she was a social media manager at E! Entertainment. (Email) | Glenn Geller will be president of CBS Entertainment. Previously, he oversaw oversees current programming for CBS Entertainment and CBS Television Studios. (Email) | Robin Wilson is now chief operating officer at Upworthy. Previously, she was vice president of operations there. (Email) | Ashley Bolding is now director of event operations at Government Executive Media Group. Previously, she helped organize the Aspen Ideas Festival at The Atlantic. (Email) | Andrew Kirell will join The Daily Beast. Previously, he editor in chief of Mediaite. (POLITICO) | Job of the day: The Los Angeles Times is looking for an entertainment editor. Get your resumes in! (Journalism Jobs) | Send Ben your job moves: bmullin@poynter.org.
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