AllThingsD » Daily Beast

Video: BoomTown Talks AOL-HuffPo as Web's Condé Nast on CNN

Kara Swisher — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 20:15:11 +0000

Here is a video of a segment I did on CNN’s “Reliable Sources” cable television program yesterday morning–in the wee hours in San Francisco, hence the bags under my eyes–about last week’s $315 million acquisition of the Huffington Post by AOL.

(Pictured here is AOL CEO Tim Armstrong and HuffPo flagship Arianna Huffington during my video interview with them last week, which is also embedded below.)

“Someone has to be the Condé Nast of the Internet,” I noted in answer to a question from host Howard Kurtz, since it has not been that famous magazine company which has become the big publishing dog online.

(By the way, Kurtz recently decamped to the Daily Beast from his famous columnist gig at the Washington Post, so he obvi gets the meme going on here.)

Here’s the video, which includes Reuters’ financial blogger Felix Salmon and Mark Potts, a former Washington Post reporter and now Internet strategy consultant:

[ See post to watch video ]

Facebook to Big Media: We Like You. We Really, Really Like You.

Peter Kafka — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 11:30:59 +0000

Facebook has more than 550 million users, but right now the company has its eyes on a very particular set of friends: Big media companies.

Mark Zuckerberg’s company is working hard to win over heavyweight content distributors, hoping to convince them to link their sites up with Facebook, or to make their existing links deeper. The pitch: Connect your site to ours, and we’ll drive you eyeballs and help you hang on to them. And in return, we’d like to know more about your users.

Facebook has been headed in this direction for a while, and made a big move in April when it rolled out its “Like” button to outside sites. Some two million of them have now integrated the social network in some form.

But Facebook has made a point of wooing big media companies in the past few months. It has hired New York-based ambassadors specifically for the task, and is sending top executives out east for schmoozes. It might be working.

For instance: Facebook and Time Warner are now talking about using the social network’s login system to “authenticate” cable subscribers who want to watch online video from cable channels like TBS and HBO. Sources familiar with the companies’ plans say they are in early stages, but that the two companies are hoping to link up first with Verizon’s FiOS TV service.

The upside for Time Warner and Verizon: It will be easy for customers to sign into Web video sites, and easy for them to tell their Facebook friends what they’re doing. That can drive more traffic and engagement, and ultimately more ad dollars or more subscribers.

And the upside for Facebook: It gets incredibly valuable data.

If that linkup goes through, it will be a big deal for pay TV operators, who have been wary about letting outsiders act as gatekeepers between their subscribers and their content. That’s why Facebook and Time Warner want to work with Verizon, a newcomer to the TV business, instead of established cable giants like Comcast.

The proposed Time Warner-Facebook linkup is a good example of what Facebook is trying to accomplish across the board. It wants to insert itself between media companies and their consumers–with “Share” buttons, “Like” buttons and Facebook Connect logins–but in a way that makes both groups happy about the arrangement.

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Dan Rose, the company’s VP of partnerships, made a version of that pitch to senior Time Warner executives in a meeting last week. The pair also hosted a presentation and dinner for about 20 other big Web publishers, including executives from ESPN, the New York Times, Condé Nast, CBS and at least one media celebrity. “Tina Brown was actually there, which I thought was sort of hilarious,” says one attendee.

Facebook has also hired two New York-based executives tasked specifically with getting big media companies on board: Andy Mitchell, previously a VP of business development at the Daily Beast, and Nick Grudin, who held the same title at Newsweek.

Executives who’ve attended the meetings say media companies seem reasonably receptive to Facebook’s approach. In part, it seems, it’s because the company isn’t Apple or Google, two heavyweights that can make Web publishers wary.

“Facebook doesn’t attest to be perfect about being perfectly transparent about where they’re going. But they’re pretty predictable,” says one meeting participant. “It’s not like Apple, where they’re closed.”

Add another: “It was very friendly. It wasn’t like meetings we’ve had with Google, where everyone’s arms are crossed.”

But publishers are also realistic–they realize by trading user data for traffic and engagement, they’re helping to build up a company that is already competing with them for ad dollars. “In the end, they’re like the other big guys,” says another attendee. “They’re both friend and foe simultaneously.”

QOTD: The Old Media – New Media – Old Media Round Trip

Peter Kafka — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 13:23:29 +0000

Well, I managed to leave print journalism for all of four weeks.

Daily Beast media columnist Howard Kurtz, whose work used to appear in the Washington Post, and will now appear in Newsweek, now that the magazine is merging with his new employer.

Newsweek, Daily Beast to Merge

Russell Adams — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 01:56:18 +0000

Newsweek magazine and news Web site The Daily Beast have agreed to a deal that will make Daily Beast co-founder Tina Brown the editor-in-chief of the combined operation, according to people familiar with the situation, three weeks after they abandoned talks of a merger over a disagreement about control.

Under the proposed agreement, expected to be disclosed on Friday, the two news organizations will be combined in a 50-50 joint venture called the Newsweek Daily Beast Company, the people said.

The two parties began exploring a merger late in the summer after Sidney Harman, the 92-year-old stereo-equipment tycoon, acquired Newsweek from the Washington Post Co. Initially, Mr. Harman sought to hire Ms. Brown as editor. The courtship sparked talks about combining the two news organizations under the editorial direction of Ms. Brown, who would report to an independent board.

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Strong Personalities Color Talks Between Newsweek, Daily Beast

Russell Adams — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 12:00:48 +0000

Newsweek magazine and the Daily Beast news website are deep in talks over a possible combination and the likelihood of a deal is increasing, though some hurdles remain.

The key question hanging over talks is whether a merged operation would be big enough for the three outsize personalities that such a deal would bring together, according to people familiar with the discussions.

A deal would make Daily Beast co-founder and co-owner Tina Brown the editor of Newsweek on top of her existing editorial duties at the website, answering to two bosses who are heavily invested, both emotionally and financially, in their respective properties.

Stereo tycoon Sidney Harman, who recently acquired Newsweek from Washington Post Co., has said he didn’t buy the magazine to make money. He bought it because he was drawn to the challenge of turning it around and has strong convictions about how that can happen.

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Sumner Redstone's Many Gigs: Viacom Chairman, Girl-Band Promoter, Leak Plugger!

Peter Kafka — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:22:53 +0000

Maybe Sumner Redstone has too much time on his hands.

Last month we learned, from the Daily Beast’s Peter Lauria, that the Viacom (VIA) chairman was moonlighting as a talent promoter: Redstone was reportedly trying to get his MTV channel to run an unwatchable reality TV show about the Electric Barbarellas–a “scantily clad new all-girl group” the octogenarian was supposedly “smitten with.”

Now we learn, from Lauria as well, that Redstone is working on a new project: Trying to figure out which Viacom employee leaked last month’s story to Lauria.

Redstone, a lawyer by training, isn’t beating around the bush here–he just called up Lauria and told him to give up the name. “You will be well-rewarded and well-protected,” he promised. Here’s the astounding voicemail he left:

For the record, Lauria isn’t giving up the name of his source.

UPDATE: I’ll admit I’m a bit surprised to hear from Viacom at all on this one. But PR boss Carl Folta wants us to know that Redstone’s call was a freelance affair, and not a reflection of Viacom policy. “There is no investigation under way at Viacom,” he says.

President Clinton Talks About His Internet Legacy (BTW, He's an iPhone Dude, While the GOP's #41 Is a BlackBerry Teen)

Kara Swisher — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 07:38:51 +0000

Here is a video I did of former President Bill Clinton talking at an event related to the 25th anniversary of the first .com domain registration.

Clinton gave a keynote speech first–which was, inexplicably, about health-care legislation and global warming.

But after Clinton was done, he sat down with VeriSign (VRSN) CEO Mark McLaughlin to talk about a range of Web-related topics, in a very amusing interview exchange.

They included what devices he uses, broadband access and the dire state of traditional media.

Clinton talked about what sites–largely political–he likes. He mentioned Politico, Daily Beast and the Huffington Post for their analysis and outlook, as well as far-right ones, to keep track of his opposition.

Interestingly, he did not mention the Washington Post (WPO) or the New York Times (NYT) online, although he said their deep reporting was valuable.

Still, Clinton noted, “It’s almost impossible, given the economics of the modern world for newspapers to continue.”

And the 42nd President of the United States is an Apple (AAPL) fanboy, naming his iPhone as his fave gadget (although he said he also has a BlackBerry).

Clinton joked that his predecessor, No. 41, former President George H.W. Bush, is a maniac user of the Research in Motion (RIMM) BlackBerry, likening him to a teenager.

Also, no Kindle from Amazon (AMZN), since Clinton said he still likes books.

Here’s the video (sorry about his shiny watch, but you can hear him!):

[ See post to watch video ]

Meghan McCain Twitter Photo Sparks Controversy

Andrew LaVallee — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:36:43 +0000

Meghan McCain, a Daily Beast columnist and daughter of Sen. John McCain, apologized late Wednesday after posting a photo of herself on Twitter that stirred up some criticism and plenty of retweets.

The photo shows Ms. McCain in a tanktop, holding a copy of Andy Warhol’s biography, and her accompanying tweet referred to her “’spontaneous’ night in.”

With Ms. McCain’s tens of thousands of followers, her snapshot quickly made the rounds. She then began posting follow-up messages defending it.

“So I took a fun picture not thinking anything about what I was wearing but apparently anything other than a pantsuit I am a slut,” she wrote, followed by “what once was fun now just seems like a vessel for harassment” and “when I am alone in my apartment, I wear tank tops and sweat pants, I had no idea this makes me a ‘slut,’ I can’t even tell you how hurt I am.”

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Hearst Launches Aggregator Site LMK

Shira Ovide — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:16:03 +0000

Hearst today launched LMK.com, a low-cost Web roundup on topics from college football to reality television.

(For the youth-challenged, “LMK” is the texting shorthand for “let me know.”)

LMK joins a crowded field of aggregation sites, which cull news and information from across the Web and organize them by topic or in other user-friendly ways. Other aggregators include Topix, Newser and Daylife, and sites like the Daily Beast that combine aggregation with their own content.

LMK will be nearly entirely automated, with just one full-time employee. Initially, the most developed part of the site is about college football, with news, blog posts, photos and statistics. It will roll out new topics every few weeks.

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Dear Dad: You Lost the Election Because the GOP FailWhaled on the Web

Kara Swisher — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 09:45:44 +0000

Almost-First Daughter Meghan McCain (pictured here) gave the Republican Party the analog equivalent of an unhappy emoticon :( yesterday in a column in The Daily Beast, predicting the political party will lose power quicker than a faulty iPhone if it does not get more Web-savvy pronto.

BoomTown always liked GOP Presidential candidate Sen. John McCain’s sassy spawn, who had a pretty good blog–deliciously called McCain Blogette.com: Musings on Politics From a Pop CultureGirl–during the campaign and was always coming out with some little nugget that I am sure made her PR handlers cringe.

Well, there she goes again!

In a post titled, “Why Republicans Don’t Get the Internet,” Meghan McCain noted flatly:

The Republican party isn’t exactly Internet savvy. That’s no secret…This has been a source of personal frustration for me for a very long time. Unless the GOP evolves as the party that can successfully utilize the Web, we’ll continue to lose influence.”

Thankfully, it gets worse!

Writes Meghan:

I know this aggravates the old school political operatives to no end, but it’s true. The Obama administration understands that my generation spends most of its day on a laptop or a BlackBerry, and that using the web is easy way to communicate their ideas to their constituents. Making a website, Facebook group, or YouTube video entertaining and enticing is where grassroots campaigning begins. President Obama currently has around five-and-a-half million supporters on Facebook; my father has around five-hundred thousand.”

Sorry, Dad!

But apparently not all that much, because she ended her piece with a zinger about the GOP’s new Web effort, the Rebuild the Party site, essentially declaring the party a wizened Luddite with no hopes of ever beating the BlackBerry-loving Obama.

…The website is about as provocative as a blue suit, white shirt, and red tie. At the time that I write this, the video on the homepage features various individuals, most of them I would guess between the ages of fifty and sixty, explaining why they consider themselves Republicans. Had I still been an independent, there is nothing about this website or video that would sway me as a twenty-four year old woman to join the GOP…Until the Republican party joins the twenty-first century and learns how to use the Internet, its members will keep getting older and the youth of America will just keep logging on to the other side.”

Meghan McCain is definitely right about the unusually sleepy video–which only pops when they focus on dead Republican former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Teddy Roosevelt:

Viral Video: The Beast on Oscar Do's and Don'ts

Kara Swisher — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:39:12 +0000

The increasingly entertaining online content site, The Daily Beast, edited by Tina Brown, is getting very good at putting together juicy collections.

Besides one on “Seven Great Talk-Show Trainwrecks” recently, it has cued up a nice group of videos of past Oscar speeches in anticipation of the 81st annual awards show this weekend, analyzing what works and what does not.

The piece, by Dale Hrabi, includes a range of stars in action and inaction, with some good tips for those who are about to receive the hallowed little golden naked man.

It boils down to: Shut up and show some humility (neither of which is a Hollywood character trait).

Here are my two faves, one a do (Audrey Hepburn in 1954 with a classy and short thank you for Best Actress in “Roman Holiday”) and, of course, a big don’t (“Sacheen Littlefeather,” actually named Maria Cruz, not accepting the Oscar in 1973 for Marlon Brando for Best Actor in “The Godfather”).

Audrey Hepburn:

Sacheen Littlefeather: