FORTUNE MAGAZINE LOSES DAN PRIMACK TO JIM VANDEHEI AND MIKE ALLEN'S NEW DIGITAL VENTURE
I’m leaving Fortune. You might already have read about it earlier this
morning, in a journalistic piece of karma. But for those who haven’t,
I’m joining a nascent media startup whose co-founders include Jim
VandeHei (co-founder of Politico) and Mike Allen (creator of Politico’s
Playbook newsletter, which makes him one of the world’s few people who
understand my daily schedule). And yes, it’s backed by a host of venture
capitalists and angels, which will add some degrees of conflict
difficulty that I’ll discuss at a later time in a different venue (Hi
Steve Rattner - seriously, can you believe this?).
WITH ITS 'SOCIAL NOW' AD PRODUCT, TIME INC IS NOT WAITING ON FACEBOOK TO HELP IT MONETIZE 'LIVE'
Time Inc. didn’t want to wait for Facebook to come out with its own
solution to monetize Live. Brands who want to integrate with Time’s
Facebook Live experience buy a package from Time Inc. with a guarantee
of performance.
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED AND ENDEMOL SHINE BUDDY UP TO PRODUCE VIRTUAL REALITY DOCUMENTARY
The multipart, multi-platform production, the first complete ascent of
Everest in VR, will premiere in early 2017 on Time Inc.’s new LIFE VR
platform and SI.com in 360-degree video. Sports Illustrated will also
feature coverage of this historic endeavor across its print and digital
properties. The production, to be entitled “Capturing Everest,” is
presented by Sports Illustrated. LIFE VR, an extension of the historic
LIFE brand, is Time Inc.’s dedicated virtual reality platform featuring
next-level storytelling from across the company’s global titles.
INVESTOR CALLS FOR LES MOONVES TO HAVE FREE REIN IF CBS AND VIACOM RE-MERGE
Chief Executive Leslie Moonves should get five years without
interference from Sumner Redstone's family if the media company is
merged with Viacom Inc investor Mario Gabelli told CNBC
on Tuesday. The
Redstone family's National Amusements Inc holds 80 percent of the
voting shares in CBS and Viacom, and has urged the two companies to
consider a merger.
HUFFINGTON POST'S EXECUTIVE EDITOR LIZ HERON IS EXITING
Heron joined The Huffington Post in October 2015. When Huffington Post
co-founder editor Arianna Huffington stepped down in August, Heron was
not named interim editor, but instead was named to an interim editorial
committee tasked with finding a new editor to lead the site. It is not
clear how close that committee is to naming Huffington's successor.
AXEL SPRINGER'S BUSINESS INSIDER IS BETTING BIG ON INSTAGRAM STORIES OVER SNAPCHAT
Business Insider’s distributed media brand, Insider, is embracing
Instagram video — particularly Instagram Stories. Focusing on
reproducing listicles and live event coverage for the Snapchat copycat,
Insider did more than 5.2 million views on Instagram Stories in
September. Overall, Instagram is growing as a video platform for
Insider, which has more than tripled the number of followers and monthly
video views on the platform since July.
TO APPLY SOME PERSONALITY TO CHATBOTS PUBLISHERS/BRANDS BRING ON ACTORS AND COMEDIANS
Publishers, like Quartz, are happy using the human touch to power the
news in its chatbot-based app. “We’ll need to make a lot of progress in
natural-language processing and artificial intelligence before bots can
be all they are cracked up to be,” said Zach Seward, svp of product and
executive editor of Quartz. “For now, at least, nothing beats humans.”
FOX NEWS HOST MEGYN KELLY PROFILED IN SUCCESS MAGAZINE
Megyn Kelly wants to hit someone. That’s her approach to journalism. She
wants to press, to prod the people in power—or seeking power, as the
case may be. She wants to see if they’ll squirm in front of a camera.
She wants to call out inconsistencies and highlight hypocrisy wherever
she finds it. She feels it’s her duty, her obligation as a journalist
working for the American public.
DISCOVERY NETWORKS INTERNATIONAL RESTRUCTURES
Discovery Communications veteran Marjorie Kaplan is leaving her role as
president of content for Discovery Networks International in London,
which she took on a year ago, as part of a broader reshuffle of the
international organization. Discovery president and CEO David Zaslav and
Discovery Networks International president JB Perrette tapped Kaplan
for the new role last year. She served as the international content
leader
LINKEDIN'S 'NEXT WAVE' LIST INCLUDES TEN 35 AND UNDER RISING MEDIA STARS WHO INFLUENCE WHAT WE READ DAILY
These Next Wavers are all leading their own initiatives, but in many ways they’re also all highlighting a few big themes
BLOOMBERG'S CAREFUL HUNT FOR NEW AUDIENCES
“If you look at our approach at how we play on platforms that we don’t
own, compared to other media companies, you’ll see we do it a little
differently, because we’re part of a bigger exceedingly
well-capitalized, healthy — for lack of a better term — technology
company,” Michael Shane, Bloomberg Media’s newly appointed global head
of digital innovation, told me. “So we aren’t subject to the stormy
winds of the rest of the media industry.”
WALL STREET JOURNAL IS CLEANING UP ITS NEWSROOM
The Wall Street Journal is in the middle of a newsroom overhaul. And,
according to its top editor, that transformation will include a sharper
focus on cutting out editorial flab. In a memo to Wall Street Journal
reporters
Tuesday,
Editor-in-Chief Gerard Baker advised employees that unnecessarily long
stories would be trimmed amid a newsroomwide focus on digital
journalism.
MEDIA MOGUL BARRY DILLER CALLS TRUMP'S PRESIDENTIAL RUN AN 'EVIL MIRACLE'
This isn't the first time that Diller and Trump have butted heads. At
the Bloomberg Markets Most Influential Summit in New York, Diller said
he would move out of the country if Trump won the election. He also
called him a "self-promoting huckster who found a vein. A vein of
meanness and nastiness." Trump tweeted
on Saturday
that Diller was a "sad and pathetic figure," pointing out Diller's
losses on The Daily Beast and Newsweek and saying the executive was "100
percent clueless on Internet."
THE STREET PINK SLIPS A DOZEN STAFFERS IN HOUSE CLEANING BY NEW CEO
Three months into David Callaway ’s reign as CEO of The Street.com — the
financial website founded by Jim Cramer — the company has laid off at
least a dozen people, roughly 3 percent of its U.S. workforce. Editorial
bore the brunt of the cuts. “The editorial leadership of The Deal and
Real Money is gone,” said one source, who said Callaway “is bringing in
his own people.
-Good Morning
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