MSNBC Employees Want To Unionize
Taking a cue from their broadcast, print, and digital counterparts, journalists at MSNBC have embraced the idea of forming a union. Over 300 staffers, that includes bookers, writers, producers, and fact-checkers, plan to form a union with the Writers Guild of America.
The rapid changes within the media industry over the past few years have led employees to band together and protect themselves and their interests.
In most instances when employees decide to form a union their management can immediately recognize it and start to work with them, but in this case, MSNBC president Rashida Jones has said that she would like to see a formal vote before they can recognize the union.
The Writers Guild has objected to such a demand saying that MSNBC’s management needs to follow its own progressive principles and honor their editorial employees’ decisions.
Additional pushback to forming a merger is also coming from some senior staff members at MSNBC. Speaking to his staff MSNBC’s senior vice president of news programming Dan Arnall said that being in a union is not all that. He said that union contract negotiations could linger on for a long time and also that union dues could discourage entry-level staff from joining the network.
Employees, though, have support from on-air personalities such as Joy Reid and Chris Hayes. Reid said that she is proud of her “peeps” while Hayes said that he “extremely proud of my colleagues.”
(New York Times, The Daily Beast, Joy Reid/Twitter, Chris Hayes/Twitter)
RECAP
Disney Plus Shifts New Releases From Friday To Wednesday
After the success of Marvel’s Loki, Disney Plus has made the decision to shift its original programming release date from Fridays to Wednesdays. Loki was the streamer’s most-watched premier and that success has led to this change. The move frees Disney Plus from competing with Netflix, which releases its original programming on Friday. Disney Plus will also not have to compete with the movie releases that come out from the House of Mickey on Fridays. (The Hollywood Reporter)
CNN Plans To Sell NFTs Of Its Historic News Coverage
CNN wants to use coverage of its most memorable moments as an opportunity to sell NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens). Vault by CNN is what the news organization is calling its digital collectibles and these offerings will be “minted” using the Flow blockchain. Some of the moments CNN is considering selling include coverage from presidential elections, CNN exclusives, and/or moments from world history. CNN is looking to start selling these NFTs towards the end of this month. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Cari Champion And Kenny Mayne To Work For NBC Sports During The Olympics
NBC Sports’ Tokyo Olympics coverage is going to look like an ESPN production as the sports network has hired former SportsCenter anchors Cari Champion and Kenny Mayne as hosts for its Tokyo Tonight show which will air on Peacock. The nightly show will comprise of highlights, interviews, live reports, and features from the host city. Tokyo Tonight will stream nightly from 7:30 pm ET till midnight Monday through Saturday and from 6:30 pm ET on Sundays and is one of four daily shows that will stream for free on the Tokyo NOW channel, Peacock’s channel for live Olympics coverage. (Front Office Sports and NBCUniversal Media )
QUICK RECAP
Faith Kleppinger a writer for CNN’s AC360 passes away due to cancer. (AC360/Twitter)
CNN’s Christiane Amanpour reveals that she has breast cancer. (CNN)
Vickie Burns named SVP of content at Black News Channel. (TVNewser)
Carrie Budoff Brown moves from politics to NBC News as SVP of Meet the Press. (Axios)
After Eight years CBS News Digital EVP and GM Christy Tanner is leaving ViacomCBS. (TVNewser)
Teaganne Flinn hired by NBC News as a political reporter. (Talking Biz News)
NBC Sports announces more correspondents for its Olympics coverage. (NBC Sports Group Press Box)
Emma Barnett moves from BBC to Bloomberg’s global streaming news service. (TVNewser)
Today’s Craig Melvin makes peace with this father. (Los Angeles Times)
CNN Center on its way to being sold. (BisNow)
Amna Nawaz promoted to senior national correspondent at PBS NewsHour. (TVNewser)
Robert Griffin III and Mark Sanchez are wanted by ESPN and Fox Sports. (New York Post)
Rick Jefferson has been promoted to SVP of operations at CBS News. (TVNewser)
After being fired by the New Orleans Pelicans could Stan Van Gundy be heading back to TV? (Awful Announcing)
Laura Smitherman moves from NPR to CNN. (TVNewser)
How did the UK’s GB News do in its launch week? (New York Times)
Netflix’s Reed Hastings wants to see HBO Max added to Nielsen’s streaming leaderboard. (Variety)
Fox News launches a podcast subscription service. (TVNewser)
Burundi lifts ban on BBC broadcasts. (BBC)
Vaccinated NFL media members will get more access to players and teams. (Awful Announcing)
NBC Sports is looking for $6 million for its Super Bowl commercials. (Variety)
CNN’s Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon launch a new podcast titled The Handoff. (CNN/Twitter)
David Zaslav praises TNT and TBS. (Cablefax)
CNBC will be expanding its events business globally. (Talking Biz News)
Sky News launches a regional channel in Australia. (The Guardian)
Networks are comfortable with game announcers calling games remotely. (Sports Business Journal $$$)
Live sports are a boon for Disney. (Front Office Sports)
NHL Playoffs will also be shown on Peacock Premium. (Awful Announcing)
Is Neil Everett on his way out at ESPN. (Front Office Sports)
The Weather Channel will focus more on climate change. (Variety)
IndyCar is likely to remain with NBC Sports. (Sports Business Journal)
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A MarkHenry Media LLC publication - issue #60 - 2021