Law And More

Weakness at ABC? - Weekend News Anchor Tom Llamas Parachutes to NBC

David Muir has helped make ABC the top network for news. But is that wonderful state of being in play?

The weekend news anchor Tom Llamas is switching to NBC, reports the New York Post. There he will have a wide-ranging role, including in streaming on MSNBC. 

This could be a situation of one man's individual ambition. Or it could be an early sign of trouble at ABC. 

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Pile-on for MyPillow's Mike Lindell - Twitter Joins in

It is well known that major retailers ranging from Macy's to Kohl's have stopped selling MyPillow.

Dominican Voting Systems might sue MyPillow's founder Mike Lindell.

Mike Lindell felt it necessary to hire media powerhouse lawyer Charles Harder to get an alleged romance story straight with Daily Mail.

Now, the AP tells us that Twitter has permanently banned Lindell. That is for repeated violations of its civic integrity policies. Since the attack on the Capitol, Twitter has suspended about 70,000 accounts. 

However, Lindell doesn't seem to be stepping back from his contentions that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent. In fact, he seems to perceive himself operating from a position of strength. As the Star Tribune reports, Lindell is open to speculation that he could take on current Minnesota Governor Tim Walz in 2022. 

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It Was a Very Different Time - "Larry King Live"

At age 87, Larry King - or at least his body ravaged by COVID-19 - had had enough. He died after a week-long battle with the disease - and after recently losing two of his children.

His concrete legacy is "Larry King Live." For decades, on CNN, that dominated media. Anyone who was anybody knew he or she had to appear on that program to stay somebody and have a shot at scaling that personal brand.

But, more importantly, what he left generations was the model for how to have a conversation. That was long before social media made "having a conversation" the model for communication. 

When I was based in the New York City public relations scene my client had me interview King's daughter for an internship. That's the closest I had come to The King. It was a heady time when New York City meant establishment media and establishment media meant unquestioned power. Talk show hosts such as King were golden. 

Now is a very different time. Anything's and anyone's hold on power has become fragile. A sexual harassment accusation could knock players out of the box. Upstart competition can send a network reeling.  

It might be said that King lived in the best of establishment media times.

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Gary Zerola - Irony that People Magazine's Top Bachelor Faces Multiple Rape Charges

If convicted or if he takes a plea, will Gary Zerola get cut some slack in sentencing because of his difficult childhood? From ages 3 through 15, he had been in 12 foster homes. When he became a lawyer, he also did advocacy work for foster care.

That background might help explain why such an attractive male is facing in Massachusetts multiple charges of rape and has been accused by women of others, dating back to the 1990s. As New York Post reports, when Zerola was 29, People Magazine listed him as one of America's Top 50 Bachelors. 

In addition to operating his own legal practice, Zerola served as an assistant district attorney in Essex and Suffolk Counties in MA. 

When he had been arraigned on January 15th for an alleged rape, he already had been out on bail for an earlier alleged rape. This time there will be no bail. He is designated as a danger to his community.

This saga, if it is proved accurate, mirrors those plot lines in that quirky former program "Criminal Minds." There was usually something in the miscreant's background which triggered aberrant behavior.

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Lou Dobbs Projects Return of Donald Trump Via Creation of the "Patriot Party"

"[Lou] Dobbs noted how Trump said he would be back and brought up the recent reporting about how Trump has been considering starting a new third party called the 'Patriot Party.'” - Josh Feldman, Mediaite, January 20, 2021.

America could be getting a new political party. Former U.S. President Donald Trump has a massive number of loyalists who would pivot to that political organization. Tentatively, it's being called the "Patriot Party." 

No one in the know believes that Trump will recede into the ether.

He already has established Florida as a base of operations. There, members of his family could run for and win public office. He could become the puppeteer pulling all the ideological strings.

In addition, Trump, with his family, can create new businesses. That can restore the family wealth. Money, of course, is a source of power. 

 

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Style - Will Public Weeping Become Symbol of Personal Depth? (remembering unfortunate Ed Muskie in New Hampshire)

"Biden cries during farewell address from Delaware ahead of inauguration, says 'we should be introducing' his late son Beau as president instead'" - Jake Lahut, BusinessInsider, January 19, 2021

Style keeps mutating. The latest introduction could be the accidental or planned flow of tears which signals great personal depth. The release sends the message that the person is a human being with plenty going on internally. 

Currently, President-elect Joe Biden is the one crying.

Obviously, optics have come a long way since Ed Muskie was knocked out of the race for U.S. President because of alleged tears in New Hampshire in 1972. Then, any display of tears (especially in the workplace) had been verboten.

Reflection: Seize changing stylistics to give your personal brand the edge.  

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Inauguration Day - Diversity Symbolism

Diversity takes a giant step forward on Inauguration Day - at least symbolically.

The global media cameras will be panning on the administration of the oath of office to Vice President Kamala Harris by United States Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Both are minorities. 

As the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday comes around again, it's interesting to reflect what that activist for racial equality would make his priorities today. And what strategies and tactics would he be using. 

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Conspiracy-Theory Demand - Is It Peaking, Then Will Go into Rapid Decline?

"The demand among conservative-news consumers for the unhinged is obviously high." - Jason Zengerle, The New York Times, January 13, 2021. 

At the top of the list of the unhinged are conspiracy theories. The current one with the most traction is that the U.S. Presidential election had been stolen and Donald Trump should have a second term. 

But, not all conservative media outlets continue to feed that demand. At least, not with the former gusto.

For instance, as The New York Times points out, Fox News has been stepping somewhat back from the pile-on of conspiracy thinking. That could be a factor in its recent ratings decline. It has lost viewers to the more outrageous Newsmax, However, media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, who oversees Fox, could use that negative development to reset the cable network's tone and content to more moderate. He is returning to a more active role at Fox.

If Fox becomes more middle of the road, that could turn out to be the smart business move of 2021. The demand for conspiracy material, like most demand patterns, could peak and then go into a rapid descent. Most phenomena are cyclical. Demand for the McMansion, as Wharton explains, came and gone and returned. The Tiny House is catching on.

A subdued Fox could attract more advertising and at possibly a higher rate. Other media outlets, both far right and far left, could take note and fall into line.

Currently, more corporations are going beyond the bottom line. They are embracing the need to be responsive to other stakeholders, not just investors. One attribute is social consciousness. And, an offshoot of that is becoming more political. A sign of that, of course, was the recent pause in donating to PACs. Pragmatism might steer them away from partnering with enterprises whose core competence is conspiracy theory.

A similar dynamic is taking place in the BigLaw niche. The classic example is that Bard Karp, chairman of Paul Weiss, had been an early mover in establishing an initiative throughout the legal sector to aid COVID-19 victims. Interestingly, later Paul Weiss launched the ESG practice - Sustainability and Environmental and Governance Advisory Practice. That approach to corporate leadership and management is often referred to as focusing on the Triple Bottom Line. The business of business might no longer be business, in isolation. 

Media is a business. That business, like all industries, is subject to the play-out of external forces. Those in the conspiracy-consumption loop could weary of the bombast. They could pivot to another form of what could be classified as "entertainment." Such a shift happens all the time. 

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A Family Divided - James Murdoch Takes on Misleading U.S. Media

Last year, James Murdoch left the Fox media empire his father Rupert Murdoch had created and where his brother Lachlan still is employed. In Walt Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox James received $2 billion. Therefore, he has the financial independence to speak out. 

And speak out he did do with Financial News, reports The Guardian. Although he didn't mention Fox per se, his statements aligned with what that cable network frequently is accused of. 

According to James, such media produced the misinformation, including about the election, which had a role in the attack on the Capitol. 

The timing of that assessment likely hit Fox hard. It is struggling. As the Daily Beast notes, the cable network has been falling in the ratings. Liberal media outlets are ahead of it.

Simultaneously competitors in the conservative space are growing. Among them is Newsmax.

It is rumored that Rupert plans to take a more active role in leading and managing Fox. The executives now in-place could be purged. 

 Although Fox may be a wounded entity, conservative media outlets are not. They have tremendous support from those loyal to Donald Trump and to the belief system he represents. That sort of media machine will likely be in overdrive during the Biden Administration. The new U.S. President could have a challenging time struggling to reunite the nation. A united states may not happen in the next four years. 

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Serial Killer Samuel Little Dead at Age 80 - Good Riddance

On that former popular fictional crime show "Criminal Minds" there were episodes about notorious serial killers who managed to escape prison. In real life there was the actual murderer Ted Bundy who pulled that off twice.

So, it's a relief that convicted serial killer Samuel Little is dead. He won't get out there.

Little was age 80 when he died. He had confessed to 93 murders. Most of his victims were women who were on the margins of society. Perhaps he assumed no one would notice they were missing and he could continue with his deadly acts undetected. 

The deaths of those women raise might raise in us the reflections of Renaissance poet John Donne. In the classic poem "For Whom the Bell Tolls," Donne reminded us that what happens to any one of us happens to all of us. Every time there is a tragedy in a community, such as a funeral, he pointed out that the church bell which tolled tolled for us. What was occurring was part of the human condition we all share in.

Those supposed invisible women have gained presence through Little's admission of those criminal acts.

At some time in our lives, we all are vulnerable. At those times the serial killers could be metaphorical. For instance, there are the bad bosses or clients who attempt to deep-six our sense of self or professional self-confidence. Or they could be families, neighbors or even friends who have a compulsion to undermine others' success.

As the new year rings in it's critical to figure out who are the actual or potential serial killers in our own professional orbits. Otherwise the bell could toll for our careers - literally. 

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