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NBC News 'Road Warriors'
It is Monday, February 3, and that means it's Iowa Caucus day. Every news outlet, cable, network, and online, has been planning for this first big contest of the Democratic primary. Not just big, huge.
On Iowa Caucus day, fates are decided, deals are struck, and questions that have lingered for months begin to get answers. It's a news bonanza, and among the outlets with huge presences, NBC's ground game is particularly noteworthy.
NBC News and MSNBC have over 30 anchors, correspondents, reporters and embeds on the ground in Iowa as we speak. There's a staff of over 250 there to put, and keep, it all together.
Senior VP, Specials, for NBC News and MSNBC Rashida Jones told the Hollywood Reporter, "We've been planning for this for over a year. I have goosebumps thinking about it. It's history, and we get to be in the front row of it."
The Democratic primary is going to be one of the most monumentally important and ratings-busting stories of the year. And it all begins in earnest today.
And when it comes to front row seats, NBC has reserved a pretty big row for the viewers. 6.5.0 |
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 | MEDIA LOSER:
PETA
The ads during the Super Bowl always get a huge amount of attention. It's the advertising industry's biggest game, too. But there's a second way to play it.
It's possible to get Big Game buzz by not having your ad on air. By being rejected and getting almost as much attention as you would if it aired. PETA played that game this year with an they described as paying "homage" to former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and “movements rejecting injustice.”
But things didn't go according to plan.
"We know that whites are always gonna white, especially at the Super Bowl," wrote The Root's Michael Harriot, for example. "I’m sure, somewhere in the PETA office, there’s someone explaining that “this is what MLK would have wanted.”
"No one thought that maybe comparing police brutality on black Americans to eating meat isn't a good idea," wrote one Twitter user, among a deluge of backlash against the animal rights group for what was a tone deaf ad.
PETA relies on progressives and "woke" sensibilities to survive. Running afoul of their core donor audience this way is an obvious media fail. 6.5.0 |
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Rush Limbaugh
The political and radio worlds were rocked today by the news that legendary powerhouse conservative talker Rush Limbaugh has been diagnosed with lung cancer.
Limbaugh made the announcement on air. "I have to tell you something today that I wish I didn’t have to tell you,” he said on Monday. “I have been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer."
There were thousands of reactions shared online, and his name took the top two spots in trending topics on Twitter. The Green Room, too, wishes Rush Limbaugh a full and speedy recovery, and comfort for his family in this difficult moment.
Closing Arguments
Impeachment trial of President Donald Trump is all but over, now, after the vote against new witnesses on Friday. But the trial must come to its close, and to do that, there remained Monday and Tuesday sessions for closing arguments.
Rep. Adam Schiff offered his this morning.
“He has not changed. He will not change,” Schiff said. “He has made that clear himself without self-awareness or hesitation. A man without character or ethical compass will never find his way.”
If left in office, Schiff argued, Trump would “100 percent… continue trying to cheat in the election until he succeeds.”
“Then what shall you say?” he asked.
Bernie Sanders Buzz
On caucus day, all the candidates are hitting, or being hit by, the news. But one name is getting an extra bit of play: Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Over the weekend, former presidential candidate John Kerry make a lot of noise with the idea that he might run a campaign himself just to stop Sanders, and more buzz when he categorically 'f***ing' denied it.
Donald Trump Jr. went on Fox and Friends on Monday and noted said that Sanders, like Trump in 2016, has a "very motivated base" and suggested the media underestimates him, just like they did the Trump campaign.
Conservative talker Ben Shapiro also warned against underestimating Sanders on Monday. But he was warning Republicans who might be rooting for Sanders thinking him an easy win for Trump.
Since Don Jr. had warned the press, and Shapiro had warned Republicans, it was left to MSNBC's Steve Schmidt, then, to warn Democrats not to underestimate Sanders. But his warning wasn't so much about underestimating his ability to win, as it was about underestimating Sanders' ability to blow up his own party.
Speaking of Warnings
CNN's Chris Cuomo said Republicans have made a "Faustian bargain" with Trump, and that they'll pay for it now, because the only lesson Trump will have learned from impeachment is that "he owns this party."
Mediaite's Iowa Coverage
Stick with Mediaite throughout the night tonight for breaking election news, analysis, and the media moments that surround this major first battle in the 2020 Democratic primary. |
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 | | Inside the Life and Career of Kobe Bryant,
From Those in the Media Who Knew Him Best
Mediaite spoke with some who knew the 20-year NBA veteran best, as they recounted and mourned the life of Kobe Bryant from the moment he stepped into stardom. Read those remembrances and insights here. |
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| Fair Journalism
President Trump bashed Fox News last week over the sin of having Democrats on air. He's previously bashed Fox for having "Trump haters" on air.
On Sunday, very briefly, Media Buzz host Howard Kurtz responded to Trump. The clip is good TV for a few reasons. For one thing, it's succinct. For another, it's a good example of how to respond to criticism with some dignity and without melodramatics. Some other journalists might want to take notes.
And of course, it's always nice to see the press refusing to take direction, even in a small way.
Watch Kurtz's response here.
(By the way, Chris Wallace also responded, and that, too, is worth checking out.) |
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