Innehållsförteckning för January 14, 2019 från Adweek

In his day job, Peter Bihr is a strategic consultant who provides big tech companies and the occasional government with policy work, research and product advice around Internet of Things (IoT) technology and other emerging platforms. But earlier this year, Bihr set out to solve one of the many problems that marketers face when using the IoT to advertise: Consumers had no idea which devices they could trust to securely and transparently handle their personal data. With the support of a German nonprofit called ThingsCon and a research fellowship from Mozilla, Bihr created a heptagonal Trustable Tech Mark awarded based on consistent criteria that would indicate to consumers whether the companies behind their smart speakers or connected appliances should be considered reliable stewards of sometimes-intimate information about their lives. The…

ARIENS WAS TVNEWSER EDITOR FROM 2007-2018 Dan Rather In 2004, Rather was on top of CBS as anchor of the CBS Evening News and a correspondent for 60 Minutes II. After an outside investigation found flaws in the reporting of the military service of George W. Bush, including the use of fake documents as source material—a report that aired just weeks before the 2004 election—Rather lost his anchor seat in 2005. He left the network a year later. Brian Williams At NBC, Williams was the anchor of America’s most-watched evening newscast when, in February 2015, he told a story of a Chinook helicopter that he was riding in during the Iraq War coming under fire. Williams had been telling the story since 2003, but now soldiers who were on the…

As a musician, Will Cady knows just how hard it can be to attract an audience. But on Reddit, Cady found himself a thriving community of fans who not only listened to and shared his music, but even went so far as to find him a new venue in 2013 when show plans fell apart at the last minute—a movement of online support that proved to be a “transformative experience,” he said. That’s why Cady didn’t hesitate when he saw an opportunity to tap into that tight-knit community of Reddit users. But this time, it was on behalf of brands. An accomplished bass player, Cady graduated from Boston’s Berklee College of Music and became a professional musician, songwriting and touring across the country. He went on to teach music, then…

Television news matters. The networks should be monitored, scrutinized, criticized and applauded when appropriate. And all of the scrutiny makes TV news better. That was the simple idea behind the launch of my blog CableNewser 15 years ago. I was a television news junkie, and I wanted to read more about the shows, the stars and the screw-ups. I was also intrigued by this up-and-coming thing called blogging. In 2003, it suddenly became really easy to set up a blog and start publishing anything, anytime, anywhere. In the days before Facebook and Twitter, this was a revelation. So in the fall of 2003, when I was starting classes at Towson University, I came up with CableNewser, the name of the website and my anonymous identity. I figured no one at…

Barbara Walters reinvented TV news during her five decades in the business. In 1974, she became the first female co-host of an American news program on Today (though she had already been doing the job unofficially for a decade); and two years later, ABC Evening News named her the first female co-anchor of a network evening news broadcast. Walters also co-hosted 20/20 for 25 years and created The View in 1997, but she is best known for her blockbuster interviews with world leaders, entertainment icons and global newsmakers. Her 1999 interview with Monica Lewinsky drew a whopping 74 million viewers. ABC News’ three most recent presidents reflected on the TV news legend (who retired in 2014) and her extraordinary legacy. DAVID WESTIN (1997-2010) “Barbara Walters changed television news forever. She…

The early 1990s were tough years for Cher. Battling chronic fatigue syndrome and unsure of her next career move, she signed up for some easy dough by appearing in that most maligned of TV contrivances, the infomercial. In a three-part series for Lori Davis hair-care products, the statuesque chanteuse perched on a sofa and marveled at the moisturizing might of shampoo. Fans were confused. Fellow celebs looked on in horror. So campy were the infomercials that Saturday Night Live’s send-up — featuring Chris Farley, in drag, as Lori Davis—didn’t have to exaggerate that much. By May 1993, as Adweek reported, Cher had had enough. “I kind of lost my way,” she admitted. “I’ve sold my soul. … I just don’t want to be a businesswoman who does informercials anymore. It…

Mention the term “brand safety” to those with a cursory knowledge of how online advertising works and it conjures images of content farmers fueling ad networks to game the convoluted programmatic ecosystem of legitimate ad dollars. The end result is that ads from household brands are then served on low-quality websites containing everything from fake news to tawdry content, thus damaging their brand equity while wasting millions. Unfortunately, however, there’s even more to worry about. The dark arts of online advertising don’t just happen via bot networks often established in faraway corners of the world. It can happen much closer to home on some of the oldest and most established advertising outlets thanks to brand hijacking on biddable media on the web’s largest search engines. Despite the hype around programmatic,…

In 2005, one year after the launch of TVNewser (now owned by Adweek), morning news history was made when Robin Roberts joined Diane Sawyer as anchor of ABC’s Good Morning America. It marked the first time ever that two women had hosted a national morning news show. They worked side by side for five years, until Sawyer departed in 2009 to anchor ABC World News (she stepped down in 2014 and now focuses on long-form interviews and investigations as an ABC News anchor). ESPN alum Roberts—who had been a GMA contributor for a decade before she was named anchor—remains on the show, now alongside anchors George Stephanopoulos and Michael Strahan. As part of TVNewser’s 15th anniversary this month, and this week’s 30 Most Impactful TVNewsers of the Past 15 Years…

On Jan. 1, 2004, a Towson University college freshman named Brian Stelter (now chief media correspondent for CNN Worldwide and anchor of Reliable Sources) launched a potent little blog about the TV news business. First called CableNewser, then renamed TVNewser that July when it joined the Mediabistro Blog Network, it quickly became the go-to industry site for all things broadcast and cable news. Fifteen years later, the blog, which is now part of the Adweek Network, is as influential as ever. To mark the 15th anniversary of TVNewser, Adweek is honoring the 30 most impactful TV newsers since 2004: spotlighting the personalities and execs—including cover subjects Robin Roberts and Diane Sawyer—who were instrumental in the industry’s incredible decade-and-a-half evolution. Christiane Amanpour JOB NOW chief international anchor, CNN; anchor, Amanpour, CNN…

Aiming to woo a younger and hipper audience (and compete with NBC’s Bonanza), CBS took a chance on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, a variety show whose monologues, skits and guests took weekly aim at the establishment class and pushed the boundaries of TV’s milquetoast sensibilities. One of the show’s singular moments took place 50 years ago, when The Doors performed “Touch Me” with backing by the Nelson Riddle Orchestra. Seemingly sober and fully clothed, frontman Jim Morrison actually behaved himself for the cameras. But the show’s reverence for rock (and its disdain for the Vietnam war) had already angered too many executives. Three months after this episode, CBS pulled the plug.…