Top of the Ticker: BBC News is facing legal trouble as five senior female on-air presenters are taking legal action against the network. Deadline reports that presenter Martine Croxall will be taking the British news institution to an employment tribunal over accusations of gender and age discrimination, as well as equal pay. Croxall’s BBC colleagues Karin Giannone, Geeta Guru-Murthy, Kasia Madera and Annita McVeigh are reportedly parties to the case. The dispute is rooted in allegations that the journalists failed to be named chief presenters due to a rigged hiring process after the network merged its domestic and international news channels in 2023. While Guru-Murthy and McVeigh resumed their on-air duties and were named as chief presenters in February, Croxall, Giannone, and Madera have not appeared on the BBC in over a year.
CBS Catch-Up: Back in the U.S., two CBS News franchises have something to crow about in the ratings department. 60 Minutes was the most-watched primetime broadcast in total viewers and Adults 25-54 for the week of April 8. Last Sunday’s edition featured Anderson Cooper‘s much-talked about conversation with Salman Rushdie, the author’s first television interview since he was stabbed at a New York literary festival in 2022. That episode was seen by 8.6 million people, according to Nielsen Live plus same-day ratings.
Meanwhile, CBS Mornings topped ABC News’ Good Morning twice this week in the advertiser-coveted demo of A25-54. The Monday and Tuesday editions of CBS Mornings beat GMA by 451,000 vs. 406,000 and 496,000 vs. 486,000, respectively. This is the ninth and tenth time that CBS Mornings has overtaken GMA in the demo this broadcast season.
Staying with CBS News, the speculation surrounding who will be the new owner of its parent company has taken another twist. According to The New York Times, Sony Pictures Entertainment may partner with Apollo Global Management to make a joint bid for the Shari Redstone-owned company. Apollo previously made a $26 billion solo bid, but Redstone reportedly opted to pursue exclusive discussions with David Ellison’s Skydance Media. Whoever ultimately strikes a deal with Paramount will steer the future of CBS News. Puck News’s William Cohan has suggested that former CNN boss, Jeff Zucker, might take that spot should the Skydance/Paramount deal go through.
Zaz Bucks: Warner Bros. Discovery head David Zaslav received a nice little pay bump in 2023. According to Bloomberg, Zaslav—whose WBD portfolio includes CNN—received $49.7 million in compensation last year, up nearly 27% from the prior year despite the fact that WBD didn’t produce many films or TV shows due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Zaslav’s 2023 compensation puts him near the top of media executives, taking second place to Netflix’s Ted Sarandos ($49.8 million) and finishing ahead of fellow news network owners like Disney’s Bob Iger ($31.6 million) and Paramount Global’s Bob Bakish ($31.3 million).
Awards Watch: Famed Fox Business anchor Liz Claman joined the Cable Hall of Fame on Thursday. The Claman Countdown host received her award at a star-studded Newser event at Manhattan’s Ziegfeld Theater. “I value this award more than you’ll ever know,” Claman remarked in her acceptance speech.
Dateline Taylor: Is Taylor Swift a “Dateliner?” (We’ll make that nickname happen.) Sure sounds like it. During a recent interview with iHeart Radio, Swift confessed that she “always watches” NBC News’s signature true crime magazine show. “People have these crimes they commit where they immediately skip down and go to Florida,” continued Swift, who just dropped a new double album, The Tortured Poets Department. “They try to have a new identity, blend in. I think when you go through a heartbreak, there is a part of you that thinks, ‘I want a new name. I want a new life.'” Swift’s Dateline fandom has been known for a while. In 2018, she invited Dateline correspondent Dennis Murphy to one of her concerts.
Goin’ Country: A new documentary from CNN FlashDocs will explore how Black artists like Beyoncé–who just became the first Black woman to hit the top of the Hot Country Songs chart —and Lil Nas X are challenging the country music status quo. Call Me Country: Beyoncé & Nashville’s Renaissance premieres on Max on Friday, April 26, and features interviews with musicians like Rhiannon Giddens, who plays banjo Beyoncé’s hit single “Texas Hold ‘Em,” John and T.J. Osborne of Brothers Osborne, Rissi Palmer, Aaron Vance, and Denitia.
Produced by the CNN FlashDocs unit, Call Me Country: Beyoncé & Nashville’s Renaissance comes to Max on Friday, April 26: https://t.co/qav5HI5wBZ
The CNN FlashDoc examines this reckoning in the genre straight from the country music capital of the world. pic.twitter.com/kcn1XDjM6u
— Max PR (@MaxPR) April 18, 2024