TikTok might be hit with a ban in the United States, but the embattled app isn’t going down without a fight. The organization OpenSecrets, which is committed to “following the money in politics,” has revealed that TikTok and parent company ByteDance have spent $13.4 million on U.S. government lobbying since 2019.
OpenSecrets shared a chart that divulges ByteDance’s year-over-year lobbying expenses. In 2019, the Chinese corporation spent less on lobbying than comparable tech companies. But as U.S. politicians have threatened to ban TikTok, the app has ramped up its influence campaign. In 2022 alone, TikTok and ByteDance spent $5.4 billion on their attempts to lobby D.C. power players.
TikTok’s lobbying spend per year. Originally published by OpenSecrets.
ByteDance may not have spent much on its U.S.-based lobbying efforts in 2019, but even at that time, the corporation was still thinking about its reputation. Politico — which claims ByteDance has spent $16 million...
OpenSecrets shared a chart that divulges ByteDance’s year-over-year lobbying expenses. In 2019, the Chinese corporation spent less on lobbying than comparable tech companies. But as U.S. politicians have threatened to ban TikTok, the app has ramped up its influence campaign. In 2022 alone, TikTok and ByteDance spent $5.4 billion on their attempts to lobby D.C. power players.
TikTok’s lobbying spend per year. Originally published by OpenSecrets.
ByteDance may not have spent much on its U.S.-based lobbying efforts in 2019, but even at that time, the corporation was still thinking about its reputation. Politico — which claims ByteDance has spent $16 million...
- 3/31/2023
- by Sam Gutelle
- Tubefilter.com
Daniel Patrick Moynihan was one of those supreme American figures who made looking like a creature of contradiction seem the quintessential way to be. His contradictions were luminous, larger-than-life, and he wore them with a tall, puckishly smiling Irish pride. He carried himself like a patrician — the bow tie, the mop of gray hair falling into his eyes, the preternaturally precise diction — but, in fact, Moynihan grew up in Hell’s Kitchen during the Depression. (He devoted much of his public service to eradicating poverty because he’d known the sting of it.) He was a wonkishly effusive Ivy League academic, but he relished the hurly-burly of combat politics. He was a liberal Democrat who, in 1969, went to work for Richard Nixon (against the furious protests of his wife and many others). If he could have surveyed the perilous divisions that define American politics today, he would have said something like,...
- 10/3/2018
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Stop telling everyone you were duped by Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Who Is America?” show, celebrities and politicians. Your episode might not even air, Showtime programming president Gary Levine (indirectly) said on Monday.
Levine made the remark in a reporter scrum following Showtime’s broader executive session at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour. Here’s how that smaller-scale Q&A went:
Reporter: “When does the Sarah Palin episode air?”
Gary Levine: “All I can say about that is there are several people who have thrown themselves in front of buses that may not be heading their way.”
Reporter: “So some of those bits he shot with famous people might even not end up in the show?”
Levine: “Sacha is incredibly hard-working and selective in the final product and he’s always refining it and he has a very high bar. So we will see what we will see.
Levine made the remark in a reporter scrum following Showtime’s broader executive session at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour. Here’s how that smaller-scale Q&A went:
Reporter: “When does the Sarah Palin episode air?”
Gary Levine: “All I can say about that is there are several people who have thrown themselves in front of buses that may not be heading their way.”
Reporter: “So some of those bits he shot with famous people might even not end up in the show?”
Levine: “Sacha is incredibly hard-working and selective in the final product and he’s always refining it and he has a very high bar. So we will see what we will see.
- 8/6/2018
- by Tony Maglio
- The Wrap
Oscar Wilde once quipped that “there is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”
Having generated a lot of chatter recently, Sacha Baron Cohen and Showtime may take The Importance of Being Earnest author’s words as some cold comfort today. They may have to. Because, for all the hoopla around the debut of Cohen’s Who Is America? series, the 10 Pm premiering satire offering attracted a pretty meager viewership on July 15, at least on the small screen.
Just 327,000 sets of eyeballs tuned in to the premium cabler on Sunday night to see the Borat star spoof Senator Bernie Sanders, gun activists, Trent Lott, supporters of Donald Trump and more in the first episode of the series. Among the key demographic of adults 18-49, Who Is America? pulled in a low 0.1 rating. That put the secretive and controversial Who Is America?...
Having generated a lot of chatter recently, Sacha Baron Cohen and Showtime may take The Importance of Being Earnest author’s words as some cold comfort today. They may have to. Because, for all the hoopla around the debut of Cohen’s Who Is America? series, the 10 Pm premiering satire offering attracted a pretty meager viewership on July 15, at least on the small screen.
Just 327,000 sets of eyeballs tuned in to the premium cabler on Sunday night to see the Borat star spoof Senator Bernie Sanders, gun activists, Trent Lott, supporters of Donald Trump and more in the first episode of the series. Among the key demographic of adults 18-49, Who Is America? pulled in a low 0.1 rating. That put the secretive and controversial Who Is America?...
- 7/17/2018
- by Dominic Patten
- Deadline Film + TV
As promised, the first episode of Sacha Baron Cohen's top-secret new series, Who Is America?, hoodwinked some of the biggest names in politics — on the left (Bernie Sanders) and the right (Trent Lott and more). There were also segments involving non-celebrities (a Trump delegate from South Carolina and an art gallery consultant from California) and a PSA with multiple, real-life Republican members of Congress encouraging Americans to support a program called "Kinderguardians" that would teach 4-year-olds how to shoot guns.
Here's everything that happened in the first episode on Sunday (read the review here).
Victim: Bernie ...
Here's everything that happened in the first episode on Sunday (read the review here).
Victim: Bernie ...
- 7/15/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Sacha Baron Cohen feels like the ultimate George W. Bush-era comedy star.
The early-to-mid-2000s, after all, were when Baron Cohen enjoyed his high point of fame, when TV’s “Da Ali G Show” and the 2006 film “Borat,” a mocking journey through the heartland, made comic use of undercover documentation of what Americans are willing to say and do behind closed doors. The classic Baron Cohen act capitalized on widespread distrust of institutions, politicians, and civic society in general; it was entertainment made for a moment in which the mood had turned sour, but in which exposing, say, the hypocrisies of elected leaders or the prejudice of the white populace felt novel and potentially useful. For many among the target audience for “Who Is America?,” Baron Cohen’s new series on Showtime, such aspects of contemporary life hardly need to be exposed—and Baron Cohen’s approach, so good...
The early-to-mid-2000s, after all, were when Baron Cohen enjoyed his high point of fame, when TV’s “Da Ali G Show” and the 2006 film “Borat,” a mocking journey through the heartland, made comic use of undercover documentation of what Americans are willing to say and do behind closed doors. The classic Baron Cohen act capitalized on widespread distrust of institutions, politicians, and civic society in general; it was entertainment made for a moment in which the mood had turned sour, but in which exposing, say, the hypocrisies of elected leaders or the prejudice of the white populace felt novel and potentially useful. For many among the target audience for “Who Is America?,” Baron Cohen’s new series on Showtime, such aspects of contemporary life hardly need to be exposed—and Baron Cohen’s approach, so good...
- 7/15/2018
- by Daniel D'Addario
- Variety Film + TV
This article originally appeared on Time.com.
In a historic move, Senate Democrats just orchestrated the first partisan filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee, causing Republicans to change the confirmation rules by invoking the nuclear option.
Sixty votes are required to overcome a filibuster, and Republicans didn’t have those votes. So they invoked the “nuclear option,” Capitol Hill-speak for amending long-standing Senate rules requiring a 60-vote threshold to confirm Supreme Court nominees, which would allow the Gop to install Gorsuch with a simple majority vote.
It is almost certain this move will result in Gorsuch’s confirmation to the Supreme Court.
In a historic move, Senate Democrats just orchestrated the first partisan filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee, causing Republicans to change the confirmation rules by invoking the nuclear option.
Sixty votes are required to overcome a filibuster, and Republicans didn’t have those votes. So they invoked the “nuclear option,” Capitol Hill-speak for amending long-standing Senate rules requiring a 60-vote threshold to confirm Supreme Court nominees, which would allow the Gop to install Gorsuch with a simple majority vote.
It is almost certain this move will result in Gorsuch’s confirmation to the Supreme Court.
- 4/6/2017
- by Alana Abramson
- PEOPLE.com
Sissies Willam Belli, Matthew Scott Montgomery, Luke Stratte McClure & Emerson Collins
Religion and homosexuality have always had a tough relationship and leave it to Del Shores to address the issue head-on in the film version of his renowned play, Southern Baptist Sissies.
Like the play, which has been staged countless times since Shores wrote it in 2000, the film takes a look at four young boys – all Southern Baptists – and their journeys into adulthood and sexuality, with their parents, God and the Church watching closely over them to stop any missteps. While Sissies is filled with great laughs and musical performances, there’s a heavy dramatic message here, too, that unfortunately still applies in 2014.
TheBacklot checked in with Shores to talk about making the film (including Willam Belli’s joining the cast) as well as getting some scoop on his gone-but-not-forgotten series, Sordid Lives, which, we found out, may not be gone after all!
Religion and homosexuality have always had a tough relationship and leave it to Del Shores to address the issue head-on in the film version of his renowned play, Southern Baptist Sissies.
Like the play, which has been staged countless times since Shores wrote it in 2000, the film takes a look at four young boys – all Southern Baptists – and their journeys into adulthood and sexuality, with their parents, God and the Church watching closely over them to stop any missteps. While Sissies is filled with great laughs and musical performances, there’s a heavy dramatic message here, too, that unfortunately still applies in 2014.
TheBacklot checked in with Shores to talk about making the film (including Willam Belli’s joining the cast) as well as getting some scoop on his gone-but-not-forgotten series, Sordid Lives, which, we found out, may not be gone after all!
- 3/7/2014
- by Jim Halterman
- The Backlot
This is a surprise. Kyle McSlarrow, a longtime political operative in Washington, will relocate to Salt Lake City to serve as a Regional VP overseeing Comcast‘s cable operations in Utah and Arizona. He’ll report to Steve White, President of Comcast Cable’s West Division. “We’re delighted Kyle will now be turning all of his attention to our business operations which has been a goal of his since he came to Comcast,” says company Evp David Cohen. Maybe so, but it sure wasn’t evident from McSlarrow’s DC activities. He joined Comcast in April 2011 with the fancy title of President, Comcast/NBC Universal, Washington, D.C., where he reported to Cohen and oversaw public policy matters. That followed six years as CEO of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, making him the industry’s top lobbyist. Lately he’s been an informal adviser to Mitt Romney on energy...
- 10/24/2012
- by DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor
- Deadline TV
Aaron Sorkin's new show has been getting brutalized by reviewers, who take it to task for everything from its accuracy to its pedanticism to, amazingly, its writing, and it sounds like the bad press is getting to him. Sorkin gave an interview to Toronto Globe and Mail's Sarah Nicole Prickett that's going quasi-viral for all the wrong reasons.
The money parts, via Drew Magary:
Before insulting her, he of course had to make a grand statement about Writing and about What Aaron Sorkin Thinks Of The World Today:
"I think I would have done very well, as a writer, in the forties," he says. "I think the last time America was a great country was then, or not long after. It was before Vietnam, before Watergate."
Think about how fucking stupid that statement is. Back in the 1940s, America was still segregated. Gays had no rights. Women were repressed.
The money parts, via Drew Magary:
Before insulting her, he of course had to make a grand statement about Writing and about What Aaron Sorkin Thinks Of The World Today:
"I think I would have done very well, as a writer, in the forties," he says. "I think the last time America was a great country was then, or not long after. It was before Vietnam, before Watergate."
Think about how fucking stupid that statement is. Back in the 1940s, America was still segregated. Gays had no rights. Women were repressed.
- 6/25/2012
- by Evan McMurry
- Filmology
Aaron Sorkin's new show has been getting brutalized by reviewers, who take it to task for everything from its accuracy to its pedanticism to, amazingly, its writing, and it sounds like the bad press is getting to him. Sorkin gave an interview to Toronto Globe and Mail's Sarah Nicole Prickett that's going quasi-viral for all the wrong reasons.
The money parts, via Drew Magary:
Before insulting her, he of course had to make a grand statement about Writing and about What Aaron Sorkin Thinks Of The World Today:
"I think I would have done very well, as a writer, in the forties," he says. "I think the last time America was a great country was then, or not long after. It was before Vietnam, before Watergate."
Think about how fucking stupid that statement is. Back in the 1940s, America was still segregated. Gays had no rights. Women were repressed.
The money parts, via Drew Magary:
Before insulting her, he of course had to make a grand statement about Writing and about What Aaron Sorkin Thinks Of The World Today:
"I think I would have done very well, as a writer, in the forties," he says. "I think the last time America was a great country was then, or not long after. It was before Vietnam, before Watergate."
Think about how fucking stupid that statement is. Back in the 1940s, America was still segregated. Gays had no rights. Women were repressed.
- 6/25/2012
- by Evan McMurry
- TVology
Aaron Sorkin's new show has been getting brutalized by reviewers, who take it to task for everything from its accuracy to its pedanticism to, amazingly, its writing, and it sounds like the bad press is getting to him. Sorkin gave an interview to Toronto Globe and Mail's Sarah Nicole Prickett that's going quasi-viral for all the wrong reasons.
The money parts, via Drew Magary:
Before insulting her, he of course had to make a grand statement about Writing and about What Aaron Sorkin Thinks Of The World Today:
"I think I would have done very well, as a writer, in the forties," he says. "I think the last time America was a great country was then, or not long after. It was before Vietnam, before Watergate."
Think about how fucking stupid that statement is. Back in the 1940s, America was still segregated. Gays had no rights. Women were repressed.
The money parts, via Drew Magary:
Before insulting her, he of course had to make a grand statement about Writing and about What Aaron Sorkin Thinks Of The World Today:
"I think I would have done very well, as a writer, in the forties," he says. "I think the last time America was a great country was then, or not long after. It was before Vietnam, before Watergate."
Think about how fucking stupid that statement is. Back in the 1940s, America was still segregated. Gays had no rights. Women were repressed.
- 6/25/2012
- by Evan McMurry
- Celebsology
Conservative leaders got their panties in a knot after Obama ordered his administration to stop deporting Dream-Act eligible illegal immigrants. Here’s a brief rundown of conservative responses to the President’s executive order:
Steve King
On Mike Huckabee’s radio program, Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King announced his intentions to sue the Obama administration, claiming to have successfully sued his own state governor for a similar issue: "I have done it once in the past successfully when then-Governor Tom Vilsack thought he could legislate by executive order — and the case of King vs. Vilsack is in the books."
Maybe, but remember that King says a lot of things, factually incorrect things. Two years ago around this time, he said, "The president has demonstrated that he has a default mechanism in him that breaks down the side of race—on the side that favors the black person." Around the same time,...
Steve King
On Mike Huckabee’s radio program, Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King announced his intentions to sue the Obama administration, claiming to have successfully sued his own state governor for a similar issue: "I have done it once in the past successfully when then-Governor Tom Vilsack thought he could legislate by executive order — and the case of King vs. Vilsack is in the books."
Maybe, but remember that King says a lot of things, factually incorrect things. Two years ago around this time, he said, "The president has demonstrated that he has a default mechanism in him that breaks down the side of race—on the side that favors the black person." Around the same time,...
- 6/15/2012
- by David Barnett
- Celebsology
Since President Obama revealed, albeit very briefly, that he has a voice like fine, fine satin last night, we were reminded about some of the other remarkable singing politicians who’ve tickled our ears over the decades. We’ll leave aside performers like Ronald Reagan and Sonny Bono who turned to politics later in life. Also, sorry, John McCain. You were a little pitchy, dawg. So who are our top 5 political performers? Read on…
5. John Ashcroft: Soaring eagles and Singing Senators
The Senator-turned-Attorney General’s passion for music was met with mixed reviews. Though he received pretty much universal...
5. John Ashcroft: Soaring eagles and Singing Senators
The Senator-turned-Attorney General’s passion for music was met with mixed reviews. Though he received pretty much universal...
- 1/20/2012
- by Lanford Beard
- EW.com - PopWatch
WASHINGTON -- A Senate committee approved legislation Tuesday designed to slow FCC chairman Kevin Martin's move to ease the general ban prohibiting a single company from owning a newspaper and a TV station in the same market.
The legislation pushed by Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Trent Lott, R-Miss., would delay for at least six months Martin's attempt to eviscerate the rule in the nation's biggest markets.
Dorgan accused Martin of harboring an "obsession" to allow more concentration of media ownership.
"We already have galloping concentration that hurts our country," Dorgan said. He added that the committee's vote sends a message to Martin that "he needs to follow a fair process, examine the impact of his proposal on localism and diversity of ownership and let the public be heard."
On Dec. 18, Martin plans to hold a vote on his proposal that would allow one media company to own a newspaper and a TV station in the top 20 markets as long as the station isn't one of the four most popular stations in that market.
The legislation pushed by Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Trent Lott, R-Miss., would delay for at least six months Martin's attempt to eviscerate the rule in the nation's biggest markets.
Dorgan accused Martin of harboring an "obsession" to allow more concentration of media ownership.
"We already have galloping concentration that hurts our country," Dorgan said. He added that the committee's vote sends a message to Martin that "he needs to follow a fair process, examine the impact of his proposal on localism and diversity of ownership and let the public be heard."
On Dec. 18, Martin plans to hold a vote on his proposal that would allow one media company to own a newspaper and a TV station in the top 20 markets as long as the station isn't one of the four most popular stations in that market.
- 12/5/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Trent Lott's decision to retire after 35 years in Congress will silence one of the loudest voices on the Commerce Committee, where the Mississippi Republican made a name reaching across the aisle.
On Monday, the second-highest-ranking Republican in the Senate announced that he will step aside before January, saying it was time to move on.
"It's time for us to do something else," Lott said, speaking for himself and his wife, Tricia, at a news conference.
Lott, 66, described his 16 years in the House and 19 in the Senate "a wild ride -- and one that I'm proud of."
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican, will name someone to temporarily replace Lott.
His colleagues elected Lott as the Senate's Republican whip last year, a redemption after his ouster five years ago as the party's Senate leader over remarks he made at retiring Sen. Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party. Lott had saluted the South Carolina senator with comments later interpreted as support for Southern segregationist policies.
On Monday, the second-highest-ranking Republican in the Senate announced that he will step aside before January, saying it was time to move on.
"It's time for us to do something else," Lott said, speaking for himself and his wife, Tricia, at a news conference.
Lott, 66, described his 16 years in the House and 19 in the Senate "a wild ride -- and one that I'm proud of."
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican, will name someone to temporarily replace Lott.
His colleagues elected Lott as the Senate's Republican whip last year, a redemption after his ouster five years ago as the party's Senate leader over remarks he made at retiring Sen. Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party. Lott had saluted the South Carolina senator with comments later interpreted as support for Southern segregationist policies.
- 11/27/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
WASHINGTON -- Congressional critics of the FCC's efforts to ease the regulations governing the ownership of media properties are vowing to slow, if not stop, chairman Kevin Martin's intention to move the plan before year's end.
Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Trent Lott, R-Miss., said in a letter to Martin on Thursday that they "do not believe the commission has adequately studied the impact of media consolidation on local programming" in his push to win votes at the panel on the issue.
"The FCC should not rush forward and repeat mistakes of the past," the lawmakers wrote.
Dorgan and Lott want the commission to fold its examination of local programming and broadcaster community service, known as localism, into its proceedings on ownership. Martin has so far kept the two separate.
"We strongly encourage you to slow down and proceed with caution, maintaining the public interest goals of localism, diversity and competition as top priorities," the lawmakers wrote.
On Wednesday, officials said that Martin has circulated among the commissioners plans to ease ownership rules including relaxing regulations that bar one company from owning a newspaper and TV station in the same city.
Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Trent Lott, R-Miss., said in a letter to Martin on Thursday that they "do not believe the commission has adequately studied the impact of media consolidation on local programming" in his push to win votes at the panel on the issue.
"The FCC should not rush forward and repeat mistakes of the past," the lawmakers wrote.
Dorgan and Lott want the commission to fold its examination of local programming and broadcaster community service, known as localism, into its proceedings on ownership. Martin has so far kept the two separate.
"We strongly encourage you to slow down and proceed with caution, maintaining the public interest goals of localism, diversity and competition as top priorities," the lawmakers wrote.
On Wednesday, officials said that Martin has circulated among the commissioners plans to ease ownership rules including relaxing regulations that bar one company from owning a newspaper and TV station in the same city.
- 10/19/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
WASHINGTON -- As the FCC prepares for a crucial vote on digital television next week, it seems that nearly everyone outside of the cable industry thinks it's a bad idea for the commission to reject broadcasters' pleas for a requirement that would force cable operators to carry all digital broadcast content, whether it's one HDTV program or multiple channels offering standard-definition programming. In letters to the commission, speeches around town and conversations in various backrooms, people are lining up to oppose the adverse decision which is expected to come in a commission vote Thursday. The opposition lineup ran from a cadre of powerful lawmakers, through the labor unions, consumer groups and the broadcast industry. Even America's corn farmers felt compelled to get in on the act. The lawmakers led by conservative Sens. Trent Lott, R-Miss, and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told FCC chairman Michael Powell that cable operators should be required to carry the entire digital stream no matter what broadcasters chose to do with their expanded capacity on the digital spectrum.
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