LEAD STORY
The Week Belonged To Damar Hamlin
The start of 2023 started with a scare.
Damar Hamlin, a defensive player for the Buffalo Bills, collapsed during the game as a result of the cardiac arrest he suffered after completing the tackle against Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins.
That moment was so shocking that the game was ultimately stopped and subsequently canceled, as players from both sides were highly affected by what had transpired.
Viewers watching the game on ESPN were also disturbed by what had transpired. For the next few days, the sporting world and the nation as a whole remained affixed to his health status, clinging to every news update hoping for a positive outcome.
Thankfully, that is where we are, as Hamlin is making slow and steady progress toward a full recovery. (NPR, CNN)
Below is the media Quick Recap of how the entire situation was handled.
DAMAR HAMLIN QUICK RECAP
Damar Hamlin: How ESPN handled the breaking news situation. (The Washington Post)
Damar Hamlin: For ESPN's Joe Buck, it was ‘kind of a blur.’ (New York Post)
Damar Hamlin: ESPN and the NFL are at odds with regard to the 5-minute warmup call. (New York Post)
Damar Hamlin: ESPN and the NFL are at odds with regard to the 5-minute warmup call. (Front Office Sports)
Damar Hamlin: Hamlin’s collapse and the aftermath lead ESPN's Monday Night Football to its most-watched telecast ever. (CNN)
Damar Hamlin: How ESPN covered its first game after Hamlin’s collapse on MNF. (New York Times)
Damar Hamlin: ESPN's broadcast crew on Saturday night flips their mic flags from an E to 3 in honor of Hamlin. (The Buffalo News)
RECAP
Al Roker Returns To Today
It’s cliche, yes, but Al Roker’s return to the Today show set on Friday morning was a welcome sight for sore eyes. Roker had been MIA from the morning show since November of last year as he was dealing with blood clots in his leg. Roker walked onto the set at the beginning of the broadcast and was greeted with hugs and kisses from Today co-anchors Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb and applause from the Today show crew. “To say we have missed you doesn’t even begin to describe it,” Savannah said. “It is nothing without you here,” she added. For his part, Roker said that he missed his cohosts very much and that he would not have been there had it not been for his wife, “She is the main reason I’m still here,” he said. (Today)
PBS News Hour With Geoff Bennett And Amna Nawaz Begins
Gone is Judy Woodruff as the anchor of PBS NewsHour, and in are Geoff Bennett and Amna Nawaz as the show’s new co-anchors. The duo began their new assignment on Tuesday, January 3, using Woodruff’s old set. A new set for the new team is expected once the construction of the local PBS member station, WETA's, new studios are completed sometime this year. As for the show’s content, they are looking to expand access to it by using digital platforms like YouTube and TikTok. Despite garnering an average of two million viewers during the third quarter of 2020, PBS NewsHour’s average monthly digital audience reached 25 million, with 13 million coming from social media. With such numbers, it makes sense for the new team to do more to connect with its digital audience. (NewscastStudio and Variety)
QUICK RECAP
Susan Malveaux announces she is leaving CNN. (TVNewser)
Laura Mayer and Eric Ortega join ABC News as executive producers. (ABC News Public Relations)
Former CNN exec Andrew Morse named publisher of Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
AppleTV Plus names Ricky Strauss as head of marketing. (Deadline)
CNN adds former Rep. Adam Kinzinger as a senior political commentator. (CNN Press Room)
NFL games rank as the most-watched sporting events of 2022. (Sports Media Watch)
Warner Bros. Discovery's CFO thinks you can pay more for streaming. (Los Angeles Times)
The Best Man: The Final Chapters is Peacock's biggest original series debut. (Variety)
CNN chronicles Rudy Giuliani’s fall from grace in a new four-part series. (Vanity Fair)
The drama with the House speaker vote is creating friction at Fox News. (The Daily Beast)
How did Amazon Prime Video do with its first season of Thursday Night Football? (Sports Business Journal)
Chris Wallace’s show is one bright spot for CNN. (Los Angeles Times)
CBS News rebrands its locally owned affiliate stations. (NewscastStudio)
College bowl season ends with major lows and a high. (Sports Media Watch)
Is there major tension between FS1's Shannon Sharpe and Skip Bayless? (The Daily Beast)
Peacock shone in 2022 as one of the most downloaded apps. (Appfigures)
HBO Max removes 256 Looney Tunes shorts. (NextTV)
Warner Bros. Discovery strikes a deal with Video Amp to measure its video content for its linear TV, streaming, and digital properties. (Adweek $$$)
Will 2023 be another bad year for Warner Bros. Discovery and the media industry? (Bloomberg)
Netflix still remained king in 2022; what about 2023? (Variety Plus)
Have we reached the tipping point in peak TV? (Variety)
Cord cutting to accelerate in 2023. (Axios)
WBD Sports goes above and beyond with its coverage of the 2023 NHL Winter Classic. (Sports Video Group)
ESPN scores big numbers for its College Football Playoffs Semifinals. (ESPN PR/Twitter)
How NBC Sports’ Sunday Night Football rolled with a new broadcast crew. (Associated Press)
Netflix is expected to lose 700,000 UK customers in two years. (The Guardian)
CNN missed the New Year countdown in the Central time zone. (Business Insider)
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A MarkHenry Media LLC publication - Issue #108 - 2023