Showtime’s ‘The Circus’ is to politics what ‘Inside the NFL’ is to football
For almost 40 years, “Inside the NFL” has been able to capture the attention of football fans despite airing several days after the action on the field has occurred. While the basic elements of the show are the same as any other sports recap show, featuring highlights of the week’s games and discussion of events around the league, the fact that there are no commercials allows the panel to discuss subjects at length without the normal network time restrictions. In other words, in a sports news environment where ESPN’s SportsCenter is ubiquitous and other outlets’ highlight shows hammer viewers over the heads with one catchphrase-driven recap after another, “Inside the NFL” works because of its stately pace. Of course, having the highlight reels produced by NFL Films, with its lavish production values, also makes “Inside the NFL” must-see TV. Watching the latest episode of Showtime’s “The Circus,” I kept thinking I was watching a more compelling version of “Inside,” except instead of football, the game at the center of the show is politics. Like “Inside, “The Circus” benefits from its all-star panel — Bloomberg reporters Mark Halperin and John Heilemann and strategist Mark McKinnon — being able to take a breath and put the Most Important Week Ever in much-needed context. The show offers the same highlights as “Morning Joe” and “Meet the Press,” but it’s able to tell us, like “Inside the NFL” does with football, which highlights really mattered and which didn’t. The show has the urgency of being shot in real time, but it is assembled and produced after all involved have had time to digest the full scope of the previous seven days. And what a week it was that the latest episode of “The Circus” had to cover, beginning with the FBI’s decision to recommend no prosecution in the controversy surrounding Hillary Clinton’s use of a home-brewed server and ending with the tragic shooting of police officers in Dallas. It was not a slow news week. Yet for Halperin, Heilemann, and to a lesser extent McKinnon, who was caught away from a television during FBI Director James Comey‘s press conference, there is no hyperventilating. They continue to give the sense that this presidential campaign will be a long season. If there’s one element missing from “The Circus,” it’s disagreement between the two lead reporters. Whether it’s over a round of drinks at a New York restaurant or during a very meta-clip of them during “Pardon the Interruption,” err I mean, “With All Due Respect,” (their daily show for Bloomberg), Halperin or Heilemann rarely suggest to the other that, well, they’re full of crap. As someone who talks politics with hundreds of other people who enjoy talking about politics, I find myself disagreeing as much as I concur — even with those I consider allies or simpatico. It would be refreshing to see one of the two “Game Change boys” say to the other, “No, you’re wrong about that.” In one way, it really doesn’t matter what Halperin, Heilemann, or McKinnon have to say because the visuals of “The Circus” are alone worth tuning in. Showtime gives the 2016 presidential campaign trail the same treatment NFL Films gives Drew Brees or Lambeau Field. Hillary Clinton never looked so good as she does during one of the slow-motion shots of her on “The Circus.” To extend the football metaphor further, I worry that “The Circus,” which now must focus on Clinton and Donald Trump, could turn into an episode of “Inside the NFL” that focused only on the Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots. Those two teams are probably the most recognizable — and least liked — franchises in the league, just like Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are the most recognizable — and least liked —politicians in the country. Early episodes of “The Circus” were fun to watch because viewers got to see a side of Ted Cruz that rarely made its way into the mainstream media. Viewers got to meet the energetic Jeb Bush they kept hearing rumors about but never saw on the campaign trail. Viewers got to see all of this and a dozen more characters running for president who, while unable to win elections, were interesting enough to fill up 30 minutes of TV programming. Now all we are left with is Clinton and Trump, the Tom Brady‘s of American politics.
Email insights: Auburn-based, national conservative group announces 10 new board members
In an email Monday, Auburn-based Take Back Our Republic (TBOR), a right-leaning campaign finance reform group that’s building conservative support for reducing the influence of private wealth in politics, announced new members selected to their National Board of Governors. Leading the Board is Chair Mark McKinnon, a seasoned political advisor and global vice chair of Hill+Knowlton Strategies. Read the entire announcement email below. Distinguished business, political and community leaders from across the country accepted positions on the National Board of Governors for Take Back Our Republic, an independent nonpartisan group that is focusing on conservative solutions to problems with the campaign finance system. Please click the names of each of the 10 new members, listed in alphabetical order by first name, as well as Advisory Board member Abby Moffat, for their video introduction. Bruce McEver, NY, founded Berkshire Capital in 1983, pioneering the concept of providing independent merger, acquisition and strategic advisory services for investment managers and securities firms. Based in New York, Bruce is an avid biker, hiker and reader. He recently hosted a TBOR fundraiser in New York. Camille Solberg, WI, served with John Pudner on the National Faith and Values Coalition for Romney 2008. Camille is a Latina leader and a distinguished alumna of one of the most conservative Catholic college in the nation (Catholic University). Camille also serves as Regional Director for US Senator Ron Johnson. Francis Johnson, CA, was featured in Black Enterprise and Ebony Magazine as one of the top five Black Republicans in the country for his ability to raise money and organize grassroots. Francis runs a public affairs/public relations firm. Kahlil Byrd, NY, is a Republican whose expertise is building and leading large, disruptive, technology-based, bipartisan reform organizations. He was president of the education reform effort – StudentsFirst; and, cofounder and CEO of Americans Elect. His current firm, Forward Progress in Politics, is building a national bipartisan community of funders committed to essential and aggressive issue reform. Kathy Hayden, VA, has served as GOP National Committeewoman for Virginia since 2007; recently ending one of the longest serving committee member terms on April 29, 2016. She brings years of leadership, experience with grassroots efforts, and a wealth of knowledge about the workings of the American political system – all of which will help lead and direct TBOR’s current and future efforts. Kathy understands that sometimes we need to “roll up our sleeves and get to work” to affect much needed change. Kim Vaughn, AL, currently chairs the Women’s Committee of the Madison County Farmers Federation, part of one of the largest Farm Bureaus in the country, which also runs the largest insurance company in Alabama. Kim is also on the board of the Madison Farmers’ Market, which serves the thriving Huntsville market that is home to high-level engineers for thriving defense companies and NASA. Kim also runs hospitality for Providence Baptist Church. LaNell Morold, TX, is an operational and crisis management consultant assisting companies facing challenges during difficult financial and leadership circumstances. LaNell is also an author and talk radio personality. In the past she was a groundbreaking title insurance and real estate executive, who oversaw cash management and P&L, including an annual budget exceeding $100 million, and listed real estate in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France and the Caribbean as well as her local market of Dallas/Fort Worth. Judge Ola Lewis, NC, made news by switching to the Republican Party as a judge. She recently felt the full blunt of huge dark money when she ran for State Supreme Court. Elected as the youngest District Court Judge, and first African-American in Brunswick County, North Carolina. Created five Speciality Courts (drug treatment, a true night court, mental health therapeutic, DWI therapeutic, sex offender accountability and rehabilitation court) Randy Brooks, AL, most recently built a real estate operation of more than 100 people, following years of experience having interactions with politicians involving development deals. Randy is one of the greatest promoters of multifaceted efforts, from Take Back’s mission to supporting youth sports. Robert Schaaf, MO, a graduate of Harvard College, has worked with his father, Republican State Senator Rob Schaaf, to prepare and promote the Missouri Anti-Corruption Act and other legislation. Some of his additional experience includes advising small business owners at the Cambridge Microfinance Initiative and working with a team to build a successful startup at TILLS Animal Health. The 10 new members join Chair Mark McKinnon, Juleanna Glover and Richard Painter, whose bios can be found, along with that of Executive Director John Pudner, here. In addition, the recently named Advisory Board was represented at the meeting by Abby Moffat, is Chaired by Beth Coulson (IL) and includes Peter Schweizer (FL), Ed MacDougall (FL), Curtis Colgate (VA) and Nick Bellas (NY). Abby Moffat (Advisory Board), MD, serves on the Board of Trustees for The Heritage Foundation. She is a former owner‐operator of an event planning business, and is chair of the Board of Trustees of the Media Research Center and a member of the Board of Overseers of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation. Abby is a veteran leader on the boards of nonprofits – currently, she runs the Diana Davis Spencer Foundation. As expressed on Take Back Our Republic’s website, “We believe that the way in which we elect our officials is not a partisan issue; it is an American issue. …Our organization was formed and is run by individuals who understand the political process from the inside out, and are now seeking to educate people about the power they have to shape the process from the outside in. Our staff members have participated in elections of all shapes and sizes across this great nation.” Take Back Our Republic (www.takeback.org), or TBOR, is based near the campus of Auburn University just 90 minutes from the Atlanta airport. Its mission is to conduct research, analysis and public education on conservative ideas for improving the financing of campaigns for public office. One such idea is to incentivize small campaign donations from private citizens. TBOR believes that if more Americans have a
Wrong number? Donald Trump’s TV telephone interviews in spotlight
In television news, a telephone interview is typically frowned upon. Donald Trump‘s fondness for them is changing habits and causing consternation in newsrooms, while challenging political traditions. Two organizations are circulating petitions to encourage Sunday morning political shows to hang up on Trump. Some prominent holdouts, like Fox’s Chris Wallace, refuse to do on-air phoners. Others argue that a phone interview is better than no interview at all. Except in news emergencies, producers usually avoid phoners because television is a visual medium — a face-to-face discussion between a newsmaker and questioner is preferable to a picture of an anchor listening to a disembodied voice. It’s easy to see why Trump likes them. There’s no travel or TV makeup involved; if he wishes to, Trump can talk to Matt Lauer without changing out of his pajamas. They often put an interviewer at a disadvantage, since it’s harder to interrupt or ask follow-up questions, and impossible to tell if a subject is being coached. Face-to-face interviews let viewers see a candidate physically react to a tough question and think on his feet, said Chris Licht, executive producer of “CBS This Morning.” Sometimes that’s as important as what is being said. Trump tends to take over phone interviews and can get his message out with little challenge, Wallace said. “The Sunday show, in the broadcast landscape, I feel is a gold standard for probing interviews,” said Wallace, host of “Fox News Sunday.” ”The idea that you would do a phone interview, not face-to-face or not by satellite, with a presidential candidate — I’d never seen it before, and I was quite frankly shocked that my competitors were doing it.” Since Trump announced his candidacy in June 2015, Wallace has conducted three in-person interviews with him on “Fox News Sunday,” and four via satellite. Chuck Todd, host of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” has done phoners with Trump but now said he’s decided to stick to in-person interviews on his Sunday show. He’s no absolutist, though. “It’s a much better viewer experience when it’s in person,” Todd said. “Satellite and phoners are a little harder, there’s no doubt about it. But at the end of the day, you’ll take something over nothing.” Morning news shows do phoners most frequently. At the outset of the campaign, Trump was ratings catnip. The ratings impact of a Trump interview has since settled down, but it’s still hard to turn him down. He’s the leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination. He’s news. There appear to be no network policies; different shows on the same network have different philosophies. Licht has turned Trump down for phoners on CBS but concedes there may be exceptions for breaking news. “CBS This Morning,” in fact, aired Trump commenting by phone following Tuesday’s attack in Belgium. Since the campaign began, Trump has appeared for 29 phone interviews on the five Sunday political panel shows, according to the liberal watchdog Media Matters for America. Through last Sunday, ABC’s “This Week” has done it 10 times, CBS’ “Face the Nation” seven and six times each on “Meet the Press” and CNN’s “State of the Union.” None of these shows has done phoners with Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, said Media Matters, which is urging that the practice be discontinued. The activist group MomsRising said the disparity “sends the message that some candidates can play by different rules, without consequences, and that’s just un-American.” A study by mediaQuant and The New York Times estimated that Trump has received the equivalent of $1.9 billion in free advertising given the media attention paid to his campaign. A Trump spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment. What’s unclear is whether other candidates were denied opportunities given to Trump. CNN chief executive Jeff Zucker said Trump opponents frequently turn down interview requests. During an appearance on CNN last week, former GOP candidate Carly Fiorina complained about media attention paid to Trump, leading Anderson Cooper to shoot back: “Donald Trump returned phone calls and was willing to do interviews, which was something your campaign, frankly, was unwilling to do.” Cruz spokeswoman Catherine Frazier tweeted last week that she saw Trump being interviewed via phone on “Fox & Friends” a day after Cruz was told that he couldn’t do a phone interview with the show. Fox said that since then, “Fox & Friends” has offered to conduct a phone interview with Cruz five times and has been turned down each time. Cruz did appear in the studio Wednesday. Frazier did not return requests for comment. NBC’s Todd believes that complaints about phoners are a surrogate for people who want to blame the media for Trump’s success. “You’re shooting the messenger while you’re ignoring what he is tapping into,” he said. “It becomes a little silly when you look at the bigger picture here. The media is getting criticized for interviewing Donald Trump. If we weren’t questioning him, we’d be criticized for not questioning him.” For years, cautious candidates have tended to be stingy with press access. Trump is the complete opposite. In a fast-moving information age, he may be changing the expectations for how often a candidate submits to interviews. Todd doesn’t believe it’s a coincidence that he’s had more access to Clinton during the past six weeks than he had during the six years she was in the Obama administration. Both Clinton and Cruz appeared in phone interviews following the Belgium attacks. “Trump’s opponents fall into two camps: Those who complain and continue to get crushed by the media wave, or those who grab a surfboard and try to ride it,” said Mark McKinnon, veteran Republican political operative and co-host of Showtime’s political road show, “The Circus.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
