Every weekday in 2014, I'll be keeping an eye on what's happening in the media. My focus will be on some of my favorite subjects...the moguls, the pundits, the broadcast news biz, show business, and the publishing business. (Read "$everance" if you want a crystallization of my positions on those subjects.) And, of course, I'll also keep tabs on Chicago's media.
Chicago Media
~Tribune Hires New Boss for WGN-TV
His name is Greg Easterly and he comes here from WJW-TV in Cleveland. He'll report directly to Larry Wert. More details in Crains at the link.
The Moguls
~Zuckerberg's Salary is $1
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg reduced his base salary last year to only $1. I'm going to start up a charity drive immediately.
The FCC
~FCC Closes Media Ownership Loophole
From this morning's The Hill...
In a contentious vote that attracted scrutiny from Republicans in the agency and on Capitol Hill, the FCC approved an order that will keep broadcast companies from sharing resources on advertising sales. Under current FCC rules, a single broadcast company cannot own more than one of the top four broadcast stations in a media market. But prior to the agency’s actions on Monday, a broadcast company could use a Joint Service Agreement (JSA) to control advertising sales across multiple broadcast stations. Critics of this practice said it allowed broadcasters to control multiple stations in practice without technically violating the agency’s ownership rules.
The Pundits
~Glenn Beck Being Sued for Defamation
Defamation is one of the most difficult things to prove in court, but it sure looks like this Boston citizen Beck kept calling a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing (long after he was cleared) has got a case.
~Stephen Colbert Responds To Twittersphere Calling For His Head
In this video below he explains the whole controversy and responds...
~Is Ronan Farrow's Show in Trouble?
Well, the headline in the Daily News gossip page is: "Ratings May Sink Ronan Farrow". And an anonymous MSNBC source says: “He sort of stinks on TV. He hasn’t turned out to be the superstar they were hoping for.” I normally completely dismiss anonymous sources like that, but I've seen the show. He does stink on TV. It's sort of a creepy show.
Showbiz
~Amazon Picks Up Six Original Series
Among the shows that got the green light yesterday was "Transparent", starring John Landecker's daughter Amy.
The Radio Biz
~Beware...it's April Fool's Day.
The Kars for Kids jingle was redone to be Kids for Kars. The new jingle is at the link. It's obviously just a bit. You'll probably hear many of those today.
