David Zaslav gets attacked by another media outlet, this time for cleaning up how Warner Media sold advertising and refusing to sell advertising without getting paid properly. He's also being accused of selling advertising in a "male bundle" to reach male consumers. As if that's inappropriate. PLAYLIST 42 VIDEOS: WARNER BROTHERS DISCOVERY & DAVID ZASLAV https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUPkiRW84R1gxDL-u2P1Ac4bE5bONlHix SUBSCRIBE TO ADAM POST SPEAKS: https://www.youtube.com/c/AdamPostSpeaks Follow ADAM POST on Twitter: https://twitter.com/comicswelove Buy My Graphic Novel: THE MERMAIDS https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-mermaids-comic-book/x/2851886#/ Warner Bros. Discovery overplayed its hand with hiked ad rates, insiders say, and advertisers are 'nervous' about layoffs that 'cut to the bone' https://www.businessinsider.com/warner-bros-discovery-merger-ad-sales-integration-layoffs-restructure-2022-10 WARNER BROS CEO Accused Of Not Understating How To Sell Advertising In Another Hit Piece! In May, David Zaslav stood before advertisers at the TV upfronts to tout the newly combined Warner Bros. Discovery's vast array of news and entertainment content. It was one of his first tests as chief of the new entity as the former Discovery CEO tried to prove he can tie together disparate assets like WarnerMedia's CNN and Turner Sports with his longtime company's unscripted fare — think "Shark Week" and "90 Day Fiancé" — for ad buyers making their biggest spending commitments of the year. Zaslav called out Discovery talent, paid homage to Warners' founders, and briefly struck a humble tone, saying, "I'm a little nervous." But within weeks, the tone shifted as Zaslav clashed with advertisers over what some called overly aggressive demands for rate hikes. He named a trusted Discovery deputy, Jon Steinlauf, to oversee the all-important ad sales business, and WBD started culling sales staff through buyouts and then layoffs as part of Zaslav's quest to find the $3 billion in synergies promised with Discovery's acquisition of WarnerMedia. Many legacy WarnerMedia people have left — exhausted and isolated and seeing no future at the new company. Ad agency execs for their part are watching closely to see how the diminished sales teams handle their millions in spending. "I question if they have enough people to service their business," said a top buyer. "They've cut to the bone a little." Insider spoke to 10 people about the challenges facing WBD — current staffers and former WarnerMedia employees as well ad buyers, all of whom spoke anonymously to project their job prospects and relationships with the company. Corporate takeovers are rarely smooth and bloodless. Combining two massive operations — WarnerMedia employed 30,000; Discovery, 10,000 — was always going to be a heavy lift. The merger coinciding with the upfronts brought an extra level of difficulty. There were questions from the get-go about how WarnerMedia's prestige properties like HBO and CNN would coexist with Discovery's unscripted empire. Zaslav is under pressure to make WBD a profitable force in streaming while protecting its traditional ad business — all as new ad-supported streaming players emerge from Hollywood giants Netflix and Disney and viewers show signs of subscription fatigue. But the past few months have been messy in the sales operation, which Zaslav is counting on to drive some $11 billion in revenue. A jittery integration US ad sales chief Steinlauf presents the range of content at the new Warner Bros. Discovery at the TV upfronts in May. Steinlauf presents the range of content at the new Warner Bros. Discovery at the TV upfronts in May. Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Warner Bros. Discovery The urgency to generate ad sales and find efficiencies as fast as possible left WarnerMedia people feeling isolated and anxious while they waited to find out what the new structure would look like and whether they'd be part of it. WarnerMedia salespeople, accustomed to giving input into the upfronts process, said they were kept out of the loop and noticed that Steinlauf didn't pop in at weekly sales meetings the way their former boss, JP Colaco, used to. At the upfronts, WBD demanded a 30% rate hike, more than twice what rival TV companies sought, and despite the cooling of the TV ad market during the previous year, knowledgeable insiders said. (A source close to the company disputed that figure.) WBD's aggressive posturing and changing details about what was included caused it to lose ad revenue to other networks, they said. Zaslav for his part told analysts on WBD's second-quarter earnings call that the company "did very well" at the upfronts and "meaningfully outperformed" peers. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z66SNQsqVWI

Francesca Gino has filed a $25-million defamation lawsuit against the scholars who have accused her of fabricating research data, as well as against Harvard Business School, where she is a professor. In a 100-page lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in Massachusetts, Gino denied ever falsifying data. She accused Data Colada — a blog written by a trio of business-school professors who have been digging into her studies — of making false and defamatory statements about her work, amounting to a “vicious, defamatory smear campaign.” Gino also accused Harvard of failing in its investigation to produce substantial evidence that she had committed research misconduct, and said the sanctions it handed down were “unwarranted and excessive.” In her lawsuit, Gino said that she had been placed on a two-year administrative leave on June 13, which bars her from campus and strips her of her salary, teaching duties, research responsibilities, student mentorships, and titled professorship. She also alleged that the allegations have “sullied if not destroyed” her career, and has delayed a book deal. “I want to be very clear: I have never, ever falsified data or engaged in research misconduct of any kind,” Gino said in a statement on LinkedIn. “Today I had no choice but to file a lawsuit against Harvard University and members of the Data Colada group, who worked together to destroy my career and reputation despite admitting they have no evidence proving their allegations.” She added, “While claiming to stand for process excellence, they reached outrageous conclusions based entirely on inference, assumption, and implausible leaps of logic. They created and perpetuated a false narrative about my ethics and integrity, which has had a devastating impact on my friends, colleagues, collaborators and, most of all, my family. I stayed quiet to focus my effort on meaningfully defending myself and my career.” As The Chronicle first reported on June 16, Gino went on administrative leave at Harvard following an investigation that the university had been conducting into her research. Starting the next day, Data Colada rocked the behavioral-sciences community with a series of blog posts about what they called “evidence of fraud” in four of her studies, adding that they believed that these were not isolated incidents. The problems identified by them, and by subsequently published retraction notices, include anomalously sorted data; participant data apparently being swapped between test groups; data that was seemingly altered; and instances of original data sets failing to match published data sets. Two of those papers have been retracted and a third retraction is forthcoming. A fourth paper was already retracted in 2021 due to a separate instance of data fabrication, and Harvard is seeking to update that retraction notice, as The Chronicle has reported. A Harvard spokesperson declined to comment. Leif Nelson, a UC Berkeley professor and one of the Data Colada authors — along with Uri Simonsohn of Esade Business School and Joe Simmons of the University of Pennsylvania — declined to comment, saying that as of Wednesday afternoon, they had not had time to read the newly filed lawsuit. Gino, an expert in dishonesty and other topics related to leadership and workplace behavior, said in her lawsuit that she first learned of the allegations against her research on Oct. 27, 2021, from Harvard Business School’s research integrity officer, and that Harvard was investigating on April 15, 2022. EXPLORE MORE College and College Life https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUPkiRW84R1jMYq13CC97tk6V3EsZKICc Bud Light Controversy And Updates https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUPkiRW84R1g5qvJxocNQFy6tsIEAcKh9 Target Controversy Series And Updates https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUPkiRW84R1ggpL0TlEvY5Qg1xChHiMqp SUBSCRIBE TO ADAM POST SPEAKS: https://www.youtube.com/c/AdamPostSpeaks Follow ADAM POST on Twitter: https://twitter.com/comicswelove ADAM POST email: adampostmediagroup@gmail.com ADAM POST twitter: @comicswelove #college #collegelife ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmLSkloPjUY

Legal activists seeking to roll back diversity programs have sued big companies such as Comcast , Progressive and Starbucks as well as the government. In reality, many of their lawsuits target programs that aid small businesses. The Wall Street Journal has identified roughly a dozen lawsuits that take aim at programs providing financial support, business opportunities or other services to small businesses owned by entrepreneurs who are Black, Latino or otherwise considered disadvantaged. Plaintiffs say that programs that limit participation to certain racial minorities or other groups are discriminatory, and that they are asking that the aid be open to everyone. Much of the litigation is still in its early stages but the challenges, or threat of them, are beginning to reshape corporate and government assistance aimed at specific groups of entrepreneurs. “The fact that all these lawsuits are going on is creating a shock wave,” said Gary Cunningham, a consultant on entrepreneurship and supplier diversity. To defend these programs against legal action, some groups behind them are changing them in ways that will shift aid away from the intended recipients, Cunningham said. “They are retrenching.” Bud Light Controversy And Updates https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUPkiRW84R1g5qvJxocNQFy6tsIEAcKh9 Target Controversy Series And Updates https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUPkiRW84R1ggpL0TlEvY5Qg1xChHiMqp SUBSCRIBE TO ADAM POST SPEAKS: https://www.youtube.com/c/AdamPostSpeaks Follow ADAM POST on Twitter: https://twitter.com/comicswelove ADAM POST email: adampostmediagroup@gmail.com ADAM POST twitter: @comicswelove The Century of the Self (Full Documentary) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ3RzGoQC4s&ab_channel=DavidLessig #budlight #woke ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4ebstUGZwQ

SUBSCRIBE TO ADAM POST SPEAKS: https://www.youtube.com/c/AdamPostSpeaks GET THE MERMAIDS: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-mermaids-comic-book/x/2851886#/ GET COLLEGE OF THE DEAD GRADUATION DAY! http://collegeofthedead.com/ SUBSCRIBE TO ADAM POST SPEAKS: https://youtube.com/c/AdamPostSpeaks Follow ADAM POST on Twitter: https://twitter.com/comicswelove Image Comics Announces Huge Sales Numbers For King Spawn #1, Dominates Marvel And DC Comics https://boundingintocomics.com/2021/08/11/image-comics-announces-huge-sales-numbers-for-king-spawn-1-dominates-marvel-and-dc-comics/ Spawn and King Spawn creator Todd McFarlane said, “The numbers that came in were much higher than what I had projected. With sales that now have a historical impact in our industry.” “It proves that the character Spawn and the world he lives in still resonates to fans almost thirty years after I first introduced him. But the biggest thing for me is having King Spawn becoming another example to the creative community that you can have creator-owned success outside of the two huge publishing giants, Marvel, and DC Comics,” he continued. McFarlane added, “Every story that shows you can make a career on your own will hopefully inspire other talented people to try. As President of Image Comics, advocating for the creators has been our goal since its inception in 1992.” King Spawn #1 is the first monthly title as part of McFarlane’s Spawn Universe. The creator previously revealed his goal for the universe saying, “I’ve waited almost 30 years to be able to get to this moment. To deliver on ideas, I hope they will grow from this initial seed called Spawn’s Universe #1 into a fully formed world populated with hundreds and hundreds of characters in the near future.” “The stage will be set with this book, and soon I’ll be launching into new monthly titles for the first time since 1992. I can’t wait to show comic readers all the crazy ideas in my head as well as opening up the floodgate to so many talented creators that have said they’d like to join me on this journey,” he added. King Spawn #1’s official description reads, “A historical NEW ongoing Spawn series begins! The launch of this book, nearly three decades in the making, further expands the SPAWN UNIVERSE with a growing presence of Hell, Heaven, and Heroes here on Earth.” It continues, “A classic villain from Spawn’s past has begun asserting his powers on Earth by corrupting as many souls as possible. And only Spawn knows that he even exists. Continuing the dramatic battles from SPAWN’S UNIVERSE #1, this is where it all begins!!!!! The description concludes, “Don’t miss out…the last time a new ongoing SPAWN series launched was in 1992.” King Spawn #1 arrives on comic shelves on August 25, 2021. It will retail for $5.99. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--DWOnqTIvc