The Hollywood Reporter - 31.07.2019

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THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 11 JULY 31, 2019

SANDERS: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES. TRUMP: MARK WILSON/GETTY IMAGES. WARREN: WIN MCNAMEE/GETTY IMAGES. ZUCKER: ROBERT MARQUA

RDT/GETTY IMAGES. BIDEN: SAUL

LOEB/AFP/GETTY IMAGES. HARRIS: DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES. BUTTIGIEG: JOSH BRASTED/FILMMAGIC. X: PARAS GRIFFIN/GETTY IMAGES. PER

RY: ALLEN BEREZOVSKY/GETTY IMAGES.

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IMAGES FOR REMY MARTIN.

Illustration by John Ueland

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$146.39 (+1. 2 % )

WALT DISNEY CO. (DIS)

Its film studio sets a new yearly

record of $7.67 billion — in

just seven months — as The

Lion King passes $1 billion at

the global box office.

$393.65 (-1. 3%)

CHARTER

COMMUNICATIONS (CHTR)

Video subscriber losses double

from the year-ago quarter

as the cable giant misses on

subscriber forecasts.

the event “an important moment

for transparency.”

While Zucker has said that

“none of the campaigns had

an issue” with The Draw, Faiz

Shakir, who runs Sen. Bernie

Sanders’ operation, wasn’t a fan.

And he wasn’t expecting much

from the network’s two-night

presidential campaign debate

in Detroit, the second in a cycle

of 12 that will help determine

the party’s nominee to take on

Trump — and likely the last

one featuring a massive slate of

20 candidates. “The Draw was

literally a game show,” Shakir

says. “It was symbolically appro-

priate of how networks approach

these debates. They are game

shows with GameDay sets at the

debate venue.”

But the network can point to

programming decisions that

suggest its coverage of the 2020

O

n June 18, as a chant of

“CNN sucks!” broke out

across a crowded arena

in Orlando, CNN anchor John

Berman interrupted the network’s

live coverage of Donald Trump’s

2020 kickoff event to reveal a

change in programming plans.

“Within two minutes, he did talk

about the economy,” Berman told

viewers. “But, within four min-

utes, it was attacks on the media.”

The network broke away.

For some who decried CNN’s

tendency to broadcast candidate

Trump’s 2016 campaign rallies

live and unedited, the decision to

cut away from President Trump’s

latest MAGA-fest was a welcome

one. But then, exactly one month

later, the network turned the

lineup draw for the July 30 and

31 Democratic primary debates

into a dramatic, hourlong

live television event that was

Under fire from partisans, Jeff Zucker cuts away from Trump rallies while betting on live candidate

events (25 town halls, a climate change summit) and experimenting with a ‘game show’ debate lottery

BY JEREMY BARR

aggressively marketed as “The

Draw.” For both CNN critics and

those who believe in the news

organization, it was one step

forward, one step backward, and

an indication that the network’s

2020 coverage might

look more like 2016

than CNN president

Jeff Zucker has let

on. (The gambit

drew 1.031 million

total viewers and about 223,

viewers in the key 25-to-54 demo,

a better-than-average showing

for the hour that still trailed Fox

News and MSNBC.)

“They’re blindly repeating the

mistakes of 2016,” a former CNN

employee tells THR. “Using a

game show to pick the names of

the candidates tells you every-

thing you need to know about

their approach to politics.” CNN

vp Rachel Smolkin, however, calls

Lil Nas X

With its 17th week atop the

Billboard Hot 100, the

rapper’s collaboration (with

Billy Ray Cyrus) breaks

the record for the longest

No. 1 stay in the chart’s

60-year history.

Paula Kerger

The longest-serving head of

PBS renews her contract with

the public broadcaster for

five more years, through 2024.

Katy Perry

The pop star loses a years-

long copyright lawsuit

over her 2013 hit “Dark Horse”

after a jury concludes the

song infringes on a Christian

rap tune.

Robert Evans

The longtime producer exits

his deal at Paramount Pictures,

the studio with which he

has been closely associated for

more than a half-century.

Is CNN ‘Blindly Repeating

the Mistakes of 2016’?

July 22-

Smolkin