For the roughly 130 people on Spectrum Reach's digital and advanced sales team -- who work with advertisers and agencies with their expertise on everything digital -- Group Vice President Kim Norris is both senior leader and chief supporter.  And as she told me over coffee one morning last week, she is their biggest fan.

In recent years, Tuesday morning of Upfront week was ESPN's time for a sports-minded breakfast showcase near Times Square.  With ESPN bringing that Broadway theater-originated gathering to a close this past Tuesday morning, becoming part of parent Walt Disney's multi-network Upfront later that afternoon at Lincoln Center, AT&T's advertising venture, Xandr, moved right in to fill the void.

“Broadcast networks aren’t going anywhere,” ICM Partners’ Co-Managing Director Ted Chervin told Jack Myers and me during a recent dinner at Michael’s in Santa Monica.  “They’re different from what they were, but they are still a major opportunity in advertiser supported television.”

In the summer of 2018, Gallup released its list of the most trusted American social institutions, with the military and "small business" leading the charge.  But, second only to Congress, the least trusted institution was television news, followed closely by newspapers.  As for the origin of this distrust, viewers worried about accuracy in reporting, sensationalism (including "clickbait") and the perception that news sources publish stories before verifying all the facts.  In total, 94% of Republicans, 66% of moderates and 42% of Democrats indicated that their trust in media has declined over the past decade.  And this isn't even to mention other charges levied against the news media: marked degrees of partisanship in coverage and an alleged disproportionate focus on the goings-on in a few major cities, with much of the rest of the country arguably underrepresented in airtime.

(Kent Harrington, a former senior CIA analyst, served as National Intelligence Officer for East Asia, Chief of Station in Asia and the CIA's Director of Public Affairs.).  President Trump didn't bother to talk to Vladimir Putin about Russia's preparations to interfere in the 2020 presidential election two weeks ago when he telephoned the Kremlin.  Instead, Trump said, the two had a good laugh over the hoax that Putin did anything even remotely offensive in 2016.  As for the intelligence community's warning that Moscow is gearing up its attack on the 2020 campaign, Trump was categorical.  "We didn't discuss that." 

“It’s not a bad thing to want to feel good,” declared Michelle Vicary, Executive Vice President of Programming and Network Publicity for Crown Media Family Networks, during a recent dinner with Jack Myers and me at Michael’s restaurant in Santa Monica.  The topic, of course, was television.  “I love all kinds of television," she said.  "I watch everything.  There's a lot of room for dark and edgy programs.  But I also know there is a lot of room for what we do.  Look at the spectrum of the life experience.  There’s this whole range of how people live their lives and how they want to see it reflected in art and entertainment.  That’s something we have to pay attention to in a big way.”