Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 6h

One reason "ABC World News Tonight" draws 7.3 million viewers every evening is that the people who produce it know TV news viewers aren't particularly interested in Hillary Clinton's and Condoleezza Rice's perspectives on the Israel-Hamas accord.

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 13h

Evening newscast ratings notoriously difficult explain (they correlate more closely to lead-in show ratings than any individual characteristics- this is the famous "Oprah" effect lifting Jennings + ABC locals in 1980s-90s).

Muir's handsome, and team is solid. It's Errol Flynn reading news wires.

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 13h

Nothing says: "I'm capable and prepared to lead this news organization to new heights" than a memo asking "Can all of you please tell me what you're doing here?" that's sent on a holiday weekend Friday, ordering it done by Tuesday, that also promises "I'll keep it just between us!"

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 13h

Imagine what Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, Morley Safer, Mike Wallace, or Andy Rooney would say if ordered to produce a memo that explained how they spend their working hours...

... by somebody who's never worked in broadcasting, on Friday of a holiday weekend, due the following Tuesday.

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 14h

That jumped out at me, too. Written by somebody who's never been senior management at a massive news organization. Depending on what memos used for, could open up massive legal liability.

Also: Today's Friday of a holiday weekend, and these reports are due Tuesday. That'll encourage people.

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 14h

1) Issued on Friday of a holiday weekend, with reports due Tuesday. Great timing. Urgent deadlines and breaking news coverage can often be sidelined at giant news organizations.

2) The line "they will be held in the strictest of confidence" could open up all kinds of liability.

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 1d

I supervised a 2012 UMaine Ph.D. dissertation titled "Cops, Cameras and Accountability: User-Generated Online Video and Public Space Police-Civilian Interactions" by D.A. Kelly.

It'll never not be timely.

The Bureau of Justice Assistance uploaded it here:

bja.ojp.gov/sites/g/file...

bja.ojp.gov

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 2d

"Do you have any idea what it's like trying to be profound for two minutes every day?"
-Eric Sevareid

books.google.com/books?newbks...

Eric Sevareid's Commentaries, 1964-1977

Eric Sevaried, one of the original Murrow boys, was a highly influential CBS correspondent and best known for his provocative television commentaries, which he delivered almost every night on the Even...

books.google.com

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 2d

You know what's a strange fact to contemplate?

Right now we're closer in time to 2030 than to 2020.

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 2d

Thanks for the kind words, Elana.

And thanks for teachinig me (with "Her Stories") basically anything I know about daytime serial drama (soap opera) history!

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 2d

Bari Weiss should be judged at CBS News as all her predecessors were judged: By the ratings and the quality of the journalistic product.

Her greatest challenge isn't what most people think it'll be - it's ABC News.

The latest in the Lint Trap

linttrapofhistory.substack.com/p/bari-weiss...

Bari Weiss's Greatest Challenge at CBS

It's not the Murrow-Cronkite Legacy. It's not the newsrooms & bureaus filled with journalists more experienced than her. It's not the scale of the operation. It's David Muir's incredible dominance.

linttrapofhistory.substack.com

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 3d

Great piece by @ajbauer.bsky.social in Time about how Conservatives have been after CBS News for a very long time.

I wish AJ had mentioned G.H.W. Bush's ambushing Rather on live TV, and G.W. Bush's FCC giving CBS biggest fine in history for Janet Jackson, etc.

time.com/7318570/cbs-...

CBS Has Been in Conservative Sights for Decades

It was once deemed the "Communist Broadcasting System" by conservative activists.

time.com

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 3d

Not good: It's beginning to appear that the Air India Flight 171 plane crash earlier this year, like Egypt Air Flight 990 in 1999, was mass murder.

The pilot apparently shut off all fuel to engines shortly after takeoff [for unknown reasons].

www.reuters.com/world/india/...

www.reuters.com

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 3d

If mass audience influence power [as measured in ciruclation/subs/TV ratings] mattered as much as they used to, then Washington Post + CBS News would focus more on retaining their fleeing (declining) audiences than sacrificing huge potential audiences to be more pleasing to the administration.

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 3d

Seems almost the opposite: The bigger the audience + influence (ABC News, CBS News, NY Times, Wall Street Journal), the more Trump feels he must sue them into compliance.
The more pleasing to the administration (podcasters, micro-influencers), regardless of audience size, the more favors.

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 3d

This is an excellent, well-informed piece that demonstrates a very sharp understanding of the huge differences between the worlds of TV news and web publication.

Elizabeth Lopatto @lopatto.bsky.social · 3d

please read my memo www.theverge.com/business/793...

Memo to Bari Weiss Re: CBS News: You’re doomed

Bari Weiss has sold her company, The Free Press, to manage the decline of broadcast news at CBS. How many ways can it go wrong?

www.theverge.com

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 3d

In talking about circulation, subscriptions sold, ad sales, revenues + profits... we're misleading ourselves.

Much of the commercial media now exist primarily as vehicles for regulatory & political favors.

That's why Jeff Bezos doesn't care that Washington Post subs + circulation has collapsed.

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 3d

I used to think the political economy of U.S. media was more about economics [the need to package huge bipartisan audiences to sell to advertisers] than about the politics [rent-seeking + regulatory favoritism more important than profit-earning].

I think that was true last century, but not anymore.

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 3d

One important way TV news is distinct from print/web publishing is the multi-person collaborative production process.

Remember how difficult it was to learn precisely who did what in the Dan Rather-Memogate story?
Remember how easy it was to figure out what Jayson Blair did?

That's the difference.

Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 4d

Good introduction to Larry Ellison here, covers the essential questions about CBS News + Tik Tok (and maybe CNN).
We don't know what he'll do yet, but his vision of the future is a bit scary.
(I'm quoted)

Bobby Allyn @bobbyallyn.bsky.social · 4d

lol former Oracle exec: "I remember earlier in my career when I told people I was working for Oracle they would say, ‘Oh you mean the toothbrush company,' and I would say, 'not Oral B, Oracle'

www.npr.org/2025/10/06/n...

Who is Larry Ellison, the billionaire Trump friend who's part of the TikTok takeover?

Larry Ellison has a lower profile than other tech billionaires, but his influence over media is about to be immense. His family's empire could soon own CBS, Paramount, CNN and TikTok.

https://www.npr.org/2025/10/06/nx-s1-5560216/who-is-larry-ellison-the-billionaire-trump-friend-whos-part-of-the-tiktok-takeover”

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 4d

Walter Cronkite, in agreeing to anchor the CBS Evening News in 1962, insisted on the "Managing Editor" title.

He wanted a very clear line of authority - every word on the nightly broadcast was his, and ultimately only his, responsibility.

Who has that authority at CBS News today?

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 4d

Little-known CBS News history: In 1964, CBS News President Fred Friendly hired NY Times legend Herbert Mitgang to be "Executive Editor" of CBS News, a new role.

Mitgang barely lasted 2 years before going back to the Times. He knew newspapers, didn't really understand TV news.

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 5d

Catnip for the Curious: @ourworldindata.org isn't exactly a secret, but, like Reddit's Data Is Beautiful, it's filled with fascinating infographics & information about trends in our contemporary world.

The latest in the Lint Trap.

linttrapofhistory.substack.com/p/our-world-...

Over an image of the website Our World in Data, this text: "Our World in Data: Catnip for the Curious A Resource from Oxford University, filled with fascinating data."

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 7d

Cool story: The Seattle Seahawks helmet logo comes from a mask of the Kwakwaka’wakw people of British Columbia.

But it resides in a museum at the University of Maine.

umaine.edu/news/blog/20...

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Michael Socolow @michaelsocolow.bsky.social · 7d

Low trust in the media?

Not a problem: “Everyone in a democracy is a certified media critic, which is as it should be"
-Michael Schudson

"An enduring democracy will encourage rather than discourage media criticism."
Me in @us.theconversation.com a few years ago

theconversation.com/dont-trust-t...

Don’t trust the news media? That’s good

Journalism has been fodder for politicians’ contempt for generations. A huge percentage of the public doesn’t trust the news media either. That mistrust isn’t a bad thing in a democracy.

theconversation.com

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