Power of the press
Welcome to your weekly media roundup. Unless you live under a rock, you know the FBI raid on Mar-A-Lago and midterm election results dominated national news broadcasts this week, so I won’t bother to rehash any of that.
It was the attack on controversial author Salman Rushdie that reminds us all about the importance of free speech and underscores why efforts to silence artists only serves to incite solidarity across ideologies.
CBS Sunday Morning aired an insightful piece detailing how Rushdie was banned from Iran and forced into hiding due to threats on his life. It included a 1989 soundbite, that still rings true today, from then President George H.W. Bush who said:
However offensive that book may be, inciting murder and offering rewards for its perpetration are deeply offensive to the norms of civilized behavior.
Proving some are still frozen in that uncivilized mindset with attempts to muffle more free speech, death threats were hurled at Harry Potter creator, J.K. Rowling when she condemned the attack on Rushdie. Warner Brothers Discovery quickly came to her defense with a statement defending her defense of the author.
The good news is that Rushdie is “on the road to recovery,” the suspect who attempted to silence him is silently sitting in a jail cell and the civilized world has rallied around the tenets of free speech.
READS: The news covering the news isn’t good.
📰 CNN’s media program about the media ‘Reliable Sources,’ where I’ve made a few past appearances, has been canceled and its host is leaving the network. It’s being reported as a one-part cost cutting move, another part return to the less opinion, more traditional reporting trend that I wrote about in last week’s newsletter.
📰 Taking a cue from athletes like Naomi Osaka, Jonah Hill has opted not to make any media rounds to promote his new documentary Stutz on Netflix. Citing anxiety and a desire to preserve his mental health, the actor-director wrote an open letter stating:
I have spent nearly 20 years experiencing anxiety attacks, which are exacerbated by media appearances.
Not ironically, the film chronicles Hill’s real life mental health struggles.
MARKETING: Red, blue and green.
📈 The media ad market is getting some relief thanks to a political spending surge that could be a sign of what’s to come in presidential campaign buys. A Variety analysis projected political ad spends to be at $9.7 billion for the 2022 cycle - the most expensive political ad cycle on record.
VIEWING: The show about that morning news show.
📺 The Morning Show on Apple TV+ officially got picked up for a third season. If you haven’t seen it, get caught up now. The Emmy-winning dramatic series, led by powerhouse actresses Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, is described as an “unapologetic look at the modern workplace through the lens of the people who help America wake up.”
I say it’s about as close as you can get to a raw, real look at what goes on behind-the-scenes of your favorite real-life morning news show. Yes, it’s over-dramatic at times, some things would just never happen and I’m not sure how Aniston carries that perpetual state of angst for as long as she does, but it works for what the show is trying to do. It takes me back to my TV news days, provides edge-of-your seat story arcs and will have you constantly wondering, ‘does that really happen?’
Fun fact: Brian Stelter, the host whose show ‘Reliable Sources’ just got canceled on CNN, is a consulting producer on The Morning Show so something tells me he won’t be missing a beat career-wise.
LISTENING: Follow the ink stain.
🎙 Speaking of media reporters, some have wondered where former FOX News media analyst Chris Stirewalt landed after his controversial departure from the network for accurately reporting the 2020 presidential election results. He’s landed a podcast called ‘Ink-Stained Wretches.’
I haven’t started listening to it yet, but it came recommended by a friend and the reviews I’ve read have been good. I’ll keep you posted when I have an opportunity to catch an episode or two, but he had me at “looking out for bias, sloppy reporting and wretched journalism.”
That’s all I’ve got this week. Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend!