Mediaite’s Winner and Loser of the Day
THE DAILY NEWSLETTER – THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 2021
MEDIA WINNER: Politico’s Robert Allbritton
Thursday stands to go down as a very, very profitable day for Politico Publisher Robert Allbritton.
Last week, reports began circulating that Politico was in talks to be acquired by German publishing group Axel Springer, for somewhere in the neighborhood of $1 billion. Those discussions were finalized quickly — as the sale was announced in a joint press release on Thursday.
“My 15-year adventure with POLITICO has been the ride of a lifetime,” Allbritton said, in the release. “I reach this milestone with a sense of satisfaction that I hope is shared by every POLITICO. Together we have built what is without a doubt the most impressive and most enduring of the many experiments in new publications over the past generation. Particularly in recent years, we have put the emphasis on doing rather than boasting, and what multiple competitors have aspired to—a consistently profitable publication that supports true journalistic excellence—we have achieved.”
Emphasis on profitable. Allbritton, who owns the site, stands to become a very, very rich man. What’s more, he intends to remain on as publisher. Allbritton’s staying on, he says, because the new owner has expressed its intention to run the publication in a manner he intended.
“As I have often said, I would only welcome a new investor that reflected my values and POLITICO’s distinctive company values,” he added. “Axel Springer and Mathias Döpfner and his team meet that test better than any other company in media today. I look forward to working with them as publisher of POLITICO and Protocol as we reach even greater heights.”
There are many big questions in Politico’s future — as there are for all major digital media operations. Allbritton will be part of that decision-making process. But based on the transaction Thursday, he’ll being doing his fair share of work while lounging poolside.
MEDIA LOSER: ESPN’s Rachel Nichols
Despite establishing herself as a star of ESPN’s NBA coverage in recent years, Rachel Nichols’ second stint with the network appears destined for a humiliating and unceremonious end — with the announcement that she is being pulled from the network’s coverage of the league.
Last month, a year-old recording of Nichols having a private conversation was leaked without her knowledge. During the conversation, Nichols implied ESPN chose Maria Taylor to host their NBA Finals coverage because she’s Black.
For years, Nichols championed diversity and inclusion, but it doesn’t matter. A private conversation where Nichols began by expressing admiration for her female colleague, ultimately led to her demise with ESPN and conceivably as a high-profile sports personality. Talent aside, Nichols won’t have an easy time rebounding in the NBA media after being deemed damaged goods for her racial insensitivity.
ESPN didn’t directly connect their decision to take Nichols off-air with the private conversation from last year, but the network’s actions are enough to consider the move an apparent consequence of the leaked audio.
When the audio was released, Taylor was in the middle of a contract dispute with ESPN. She ultimately chose to leave the Disney owned sports network for NBC. Had it not been for the damning audio, Nichols would have been Taylor’s obvious replacement on NBA Countdown. Instead, Nichols is being erased from their platform with one-year remaining on her contract.
Maybe that makes ESPN the real loser. This controversy was unleashed while the network had two star talents covering the NBA in Taylor and Nichols. Spurned by Taylor, ESPN felt it was necessary to move on from Nichols too, leaving them scrambling to rebuild the always evolving NBA Countdown again.
