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      Harris’s DNC Speech Seen by 29 Million, Slightly More Than Trump at RNC

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      Overall, TV viewership of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago was up 14 percent from the Republicans’ event last month.Maybe it was curiosity about the untested candidate who took command of the ticket at the last minute, or the cameos by TV-ready celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Mindy Kaling and Kerry Washington. The runaway (and ultimately misguided) speculation that Beyoncé might make an appearance certainly did not hurt.Whatever the reason, Democrats notched a victory this week in one of the year’s biggest media bouts: Which party’s political convention would attract more viewers?The four-day celebration in Chicago of Vice President Kamala Harris was watched on TV by an average of 21.8 million viewers across four nights, Nielsen said on Friday. That was 14 percent more than the Republicans’ jamboree last month in Milwaukee, a four-day tribute to former President Donald J. Trump.The gap between the conventions, however, narrowed on the final day, when the presidential nominees delivered their climactic remarks. On Thursday, the night of Ms. Harris’s acceptance speech, 26.2 million people tuned in. On the evening in July when Mr. Trump spoke, in his first extensive address since surviving an assassination attempt, 25.4 million watched — a difference of only 3 percent.On its own, Ms. Harris’s 40-minute speech averaged 28.9 million TV viewers, according to Nielsen. The audience for Mr. Trump’s 92-minute address last month fell short of that figure, peaking early at 28.4 million viewers and then dwindling as the former president spoke long into the night.Live TV ratings are a useful metric of the nation’s attention economy, but they are not all-encompassing. The Nielsen data did not capture viewers who streamed the conventions on their phones or laptops. Democrats, in particular, encouraged podcasters and social media influencers to post short videos from Chicago in the hopes of reaching voters who do not watch traditional TV.This year’s convention ratings also underscored the continuing flight toward partisanship in television news.Just as Fox News crushed its network rivals in the ratings race during the Republican convention — beating MSNBC and CNN combined — the Democratic convention had one clear winner: MSNBC. The cable home of Rachel Maddow and Joy Reid, which has a fervent liberal fan base, beat every network (including ABC, CBS, and NBC) in total convention viewership.This year marked MSNBC’s largest audience for a Democratic convention since the network’s founding in 1996, a milestone achieved despite the cord-cutting that has drastically reduced the number of people who subscribe to cable in the first place.CNN has endured a tough stretch in the ratings, but its Democratic convention coverage attracted more viewers in the most coveted demographic — adults 25 to 54 years old — than any other network. (MSNBC fell just short, losing to CNN in the category by a margin of roughly 1 percent.)CNN’s new leadership is trying to appeal to more casual, and less partisan, consumers of news. It has already played a central role in this year’s campaign: It was CNN’s presidential debate in June that set off the head-spinning series of events that led to Ms. Harris’s prime-time speech on Thursday. More

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      John Lansing, Who Guided NPR Through Tumultuous Times, Dies at 67

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      He led the broadcasting organization during the coronavirus pandemic, a decline in revenue and a period of extreme political polarization.John Lansing, who as chief executive of NPR from 2019 until earlier this year guided the broadcasting organization through a global pandemic, an imploding media landscape and widening political polarization that called into question some of its journalistic principles, died on Aug. 14 at his home in Eagle River, Wis. He was 67.An NPR representative confirmed the death but did not cite a cause.Mr. Lansing, who had been in the news business since he graduated from high school, arrived at NPR with a mission to broaden its reach beyond traditional radio into media like podcasts and newsletters.He also announced what he considered his “north star”: a commitment to expand NPR’s audience to include a younger and more diverse demographic, and a parallel commitment to diversify, equity and inclusion in its coverage, sources and staff.His changes included documenting the diversity of sources, introducing unconscious bias training and hiring people of color for both on- and off-air positions.“I felt that we needed to double down our efforts in D.E.I. throughout our organization in order to fulfill the promise to reflect the entire American public in terms of what America looks like,” he told Current, a magazine covering public media, in 2021.Mr. Lansing started as NPR’s chief executive in October 2019 and was still settling into the role when the Covid pandemic hit. It presented a very different challenge: Radio listenership declined precipitously with the shift to remote work, and NPR developed a $25 million deficit as corporations pulled back sponsorship dollars.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Google Joins $250 Million Deal to Support Newsrooms in California

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      The agreement includes $70 million from the state, which needs legislative approval. Some lawmakers objected, calling for a more comprehensive solution with tech companies.Google, a news industry trade group and key California lawmakers announced a first-in-the-nation agreement on Wednesday aimed at shoring up newsrooms in the state with as much as $250 million.Through a mix of funding from Google, taxpayers and potentially other private sources, the five-year deal would let Google avert a proposed state bill that could force tech companies to pay news organizations when advertising appeared alongside articles on the tech company’s platform.The announcement was packed with praise for the effort to stabilize the news industry, which has faced layoffs and shuttered newsrooms as readership has shifted online.“The deal not only provides funding to support hundreds of new journalists but helps rebuild a robust and dynamic California press corps for years to come, reinforcing the vital role of journalism in our democracy,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.The trade group, the California News Publishers Association, called the agreement “a first step toward what we hope will become a comprehensive program to sustain local news in the long term.” The author of the bill, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, praised it for being a “cross-sector commitment” and called it “just the beginning.”A union representing journalists, however, denounced the deal as a “shakedown,” and lawmakers who had been working for months on more comprehensive proposals criticized its scope. Also, the president pro tempore of the State Senate, Mike McGuire, questioned legislative support for the state’s share of the deal, which would require approval as part of the annual budget process.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Almin Karamehmedovic Named President of ABC News

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      Almin Karamehmedovic, the senior executive producer of ABC’s flagship newscast with anchor David Muir, will run Disney’s news division.ABC News said on Monday that Almin Karamehmedovic, the senior executive producer of “World News Tonight with David Muir,” is the network’s next president.The appointment puts Mr. Karamehmedovic, 52, in charge of a diminished but still powerful TV news empire that includes popular shows like “Good Morning America,” “World News Tonight with David Muir,” “20/20” and “Nightline.” He will also oversee the network’s coverage of special events, such as the upcoming presidential debate and election, and the ABC News Studios division.Mr. Karamehmedovic has been at ABC News for more than two decades, working his way up the ranks from freelance video editing to the pinnacle of the TV news industry. His ascension is a positive omen for Mr. Muir, who anchors ABC’s flagship newscast, putting one of his key allies in control of the entire network.Mr. Karamehmedovic said in a statement that he would be leading “the best team in journalism” in his new role.“I approach this role with great respect and humility, not only for the hundreds of colleagues around the world whose tireless contributions fuel the unflinching and unbiased reporting of ABC News but also for the viewers we serve,” Mr. Karamehmedovic said.Mr. Karamehmedovic replaces Kim Godwin, whose tenure was marred by infighting and incessant leaks. Ms. Godwin announced her exit in May.Disney is appointing Mr. Karamehmedovic at a tricky moment for network news. As viewership of traditional TV erodes, networks have developed streaming services like ABC News Live to try to attract and retain viewers. But those services are not the appointment viewing juggernauts that network news programs were in their heyday, when broadcasters like Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather were household names.Mr. Karamehmedovic oversaw one of the genuine success stories at ABC News. “World News Tonight With David Muir” is consistently the most highly rated network newscast and frequently outperforms non-news programs.Mr. Karamehmedovic, who began working for ABC News on a freelance basis in 1998, has held a variety of roles at the network. He embedded with the U.S. Army in 2003, during the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and traveled to Darfur in 2005 to report on the genocide there. He joined “Nightline,” ABC’s Peabody Award-winning evening news program, in 2008 and served as its executive producer before joining “World News Tonight.” More

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      Trump’s Interviews Since Harris Joined the Presidential Race

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      A whirl of appearances in media venues large and small have defined Donald Trump’s past four weeks, as he tries to wrest attention from his new opponent, Kamala Harris.Donald J. Trump’s media strategy can be summed up with a phrase often applied to one of his erstwhile nemeses, the logorrheic New York City mayor Ed Koch: unavoidable for comment.The former president has certainly seemed that way in the month since President Biden yielded the Democratic ticket to Vice President Kamala Harris, upending a campaign that Mr. Trump was once convinced he would easily win.Ms. Harris has dominated the national conversation even as she has mostly avoided reporters and declined to hold a news conference. Eager to reassert himself, Mr. Trump has embarked on a cavalcade of interviews in venues large and small, popping up on a video game celebrity’s streaming page, calling into a New York City drive-time radio show and holding court from his vacation homes in Florida and New Jersey. His appearances, however, often involve sympathetic interviewers who rarely challenge his words and intersperse questions with heaps of praise.The results have been mixed. Fans enjoyed his appearances, and Mr. Trump’s news conferences were carried live on cable news. But he also set off controversies that his supporters have scrambled to clean up, such as when he told Elon Musk that some striking workers ought to be fired.A sampling of Mr. Trump’s media-heavy month:‘Sid & Friends in the Morning,’ WABC-AMDate: July 30.Interviewer: Sid Rosenberg, a longtime New York City radio personality who came to fame as a blunt-spoken commentator on Don Imus’s show (from which he was eventually fired for making offensive remarks).Notable Trump quote: “If you’re Jewish, if you vote for a Democrat, you’re a fool, an absolute fool.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      How to Watch the 2024 DNC Live

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      The Democratic National Convention will begin in Chicago on Monday, about a month after Republicans held their convention in Milwaukee.It runs through Thursday, when Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to take the stage during prime time. While conventions are traditionally used to formally nominate the party’s presidential candidate, Ms. Harris was voted in through a virtual roll call earlier this month. Even so, the party’s gathering will be a high-profile affair as top Democrats make the case for a Harris-Walz administration.Here’s how to watch it (all times are Eastern):How to stream the D.N.C.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Judge Blocks Joint Streaming Service from Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery

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      The planned service from Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery was slated to cost $42.99 a month and aimed at fans who had abandoned cable TV.A judge issued a preliminary injunction against Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery on Friday over a planned sports-focused streaming service from the companies, saying the joint venture would most likely make the market for sports viewership less competitive.The 69-page ruling from a federal judge in New York’s Southern District effectively halts — at least for the moment — the companies’ ambitious plans for the service, called Venu, which was aimed at sports fans who had abandoned cable television.The service, which had been expected to become available this fall and cost $42.99 a month, promised to offer marquee games from the National Football League, the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball.But the idea raised alarms with rivals, most notably a sports streaming service called Fubo, which sued to block the new service’s formation after it was announced this year. In a statement accompanying its complaint, filed on Feb. 20, Fubo alleged that Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery had “engaged in a long-running pattern” of trying to stymie its business through anticompetitive tactics.The complaint led to a hearing this month that focused on whether Fubo should be able to obtain a preliminary injunction against Venu, essentially stopping the sports-media venture from proceeding.In her ruling, Judge Margaret Garnett said Fubo was likely to prevail in its claim that the new service would “substantially lessen competition and restrain trade.” She added that refusing to grant the injunction could limit the effectiveness of any court order reached after a trial.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Biden Made Trump Bigger. Harris Makes Him Smaller.

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      Kamala Harris has a very different theory of this election than Joe Biden did.In 2020, and then again in 2024, Biden ceded the battle for attention to Donald Trump. Whether as a matter of strategy or as a result of Biden’s own limitations, Biden adopted a low-key campaigning style, letting Trump dominate news cycle after news cycle. Trump wanted the election to be about Donald Trump, and Joe Biden wanted the election to be about Donald Trump. On that much, they agreed.In 2020, when Trump was the unpopular incumbent, that strategy worked for Biden. In 2024, when Biden was the unpopular incumbent, it was failing him. It was failing in part because Biden no longer had the communication skills to foreground Trump’s sins and malignancies. It was failing in part because some voters had grown nostalgic for the Trump-era economy. It was failing in part because Biden’s age and stumbles kept turning attention back to Biden and his fitness for office, rather than keeping it on Trump and Trump’s fitness for office.Then came the debate, and Biden’s decision to step aside, and Harris’s ascent as the Democratic nominee. Harris has been able to do what Biden could or would not: fight — and win — the battle for attention. She had help, to be sure. Online meme-makers who found viral gold in an anecdote about coconuts. Charli XCX’s “kamala IS brat.”But much of it is strategy and talent. Harris holds the camera like no politician since Barack Obama. And while Harris’s campaign is largely composed of Biden’s staffers, the tenor has changed. Gone is the grave, stentorian tone of Biden’s news releases. Harris’s communications are playful, mocking, confident, even mean. Trump is “old” and “feeble”; JD Vance is “creepy.” Her campaign wants to be talked about and knows how to get people talking. It is trying to do something Democrats have treated as beneath them for years: win news cycles.Biden’s communications strategy was designed to make Trump bigger. Harris’s strategy is to make him smaller. “These guys are just weird,” Tim Walz said on “Morning Joe,” and it stuck. Walz inverted the way Democrats talked about Trump. Don’t make a strongman look stronger. Make him look weaker. Biden’s argument was that Trump might end American democracy. Walz’s argument is that Trump might ruin Thanksgiving.There are many reasons Walz was chosen as Harris’s running mate, not least the chemistry between the candidates. But he was on the shortlist in the first place because he proved himself able to do what Harris wanted done: Get people talking about the thing he wanted them talking about.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More