President Trump's desire to help save ZTE could set the tone for the treatment of another Chinese telecom company that's under investigation for sanctions violations.
Why it matters: China could use Trump's apparent pivot on ZTE as a stepping stone to free Huawei, the other, bigger Chinese phone maker. Or the ZTE case could be a lesson for the U.S. in negotiating with China that taking the toughest possible approach to China might not be the smartest when the Asian power is stronger than ever and prepared to fight back.
A digital ad targeting group for Democrats, DSPolitical, is launching a tool called Antidote to help candidates and organizations fight back against fake news.
Why it matters: We're just now learning the extent of how prevalent fake news was during the 2016 election. And there's really not yet an effective way to combat it, even though it's not showing any signs of stopping ahead of the 2018 election, spreading from social media to news websites to videos.
Tom Wolfe, a journalist and novelist who pioneered the "New Journalism" movement in the 1960s, died yesterday, age 88, after being hospitalized for an infection, the New York Times reports.
Between the shrimp cocktail shooters and flashy performances at their upfront presentations, you would have no idea that traditional TV networks have a very real problem on their hands.
Data: Weekly time spent with live TV + DVR / time-shifted TV; Source: Nielsen Total Audience Reports Q2 2017, Q2 2016, Q2 2015; Chart: Harry Stevens/Axios
The big picture: According to four years of data from Nielsen's Total Audience Reports, every age group except those aged 65+ is spending less time — and in the case of younger Americans, far less time — watching television live or via DVR.
Larry Kudlow says the president doesn't want a trade war with China, adding that Trump is a free trader.
The big picture: "There's a little bit of a bromance" between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump, Kudlow told Axios' Mike Allen on Tuesday. "Bromances are always good."
Traditional TV networks spend millions of dollars renting out fancy venues and bringing in talent acts to wow advertisers their annual upfront presentations. The schedule is itself a thing of prestige. Only the top-tier networks will present in New York this week.
Why it matters: Billions of dollars of advertising dollars are spent on advanced commitments of programming during the TV upfronts season.
The internet age that started out as a boon for broadband and wireless providers has become an identity crisis as they face increasing competition from Silicon Valley, an uncertain merger landscape and global pressures in the race to 5G networks.
Why it matters: It's no longer enough to power the pipes and cell towers that send internet traffic coursing around the world. The services that ride on top of that traffic, like Google, Facebook and Amazon, now dominate the internet ecosystem. Meanwhile, companies like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T that built the networks in the first place are trying to stake their claims in the next round.
In a Monday tweet, President Trump provided additional reasoning for his surprise announcement yesterday that he hoped to save failed Chinese phone maker ZTE with Chinese President Xi Jinping, suggesting it comes as part of a "larger trade deal."
The big picture: The president's tweet confirms Axios' Jonathan Swan's reporting that Washington is considering a Mnuchin-led deal with Beijing that involves tariff concessions from the U.S. in exchange for the Chinese buying billions of dollars worth of U.S. products.
The big picture: The study found that the amount of gun violence in PG-13 films, which often sanitize both the bloodiness and consequence of such violence, had more than doubled since the rating's inception in 1985 — and even jumped above R-rated films in recent years.
GreenSky, an Atlanta-based digital lending platform, set its IPO terms to 34.09 million shares at $21-$23.
Why it's a big deal: Because this is a major market validation test for an online lending market whose last two VC-backed "unicorns" — LendingClub and OnDeck Capital — have flopped post-IPO.
The campaign arm for Senate Democrats said Monday that it will start running a short digital ad aimed at gaining support for their efforts to roll back the FCC's 2017 net neutrality rules repeal.
Why it matters: Democrats want this to become a campaign issue, especially for young people, ahead of the midterms. But right now, the rollback resolution is unlikely to pass the House.
President Trump's pivot on China has some of his most loyal supporters spooked.
Why it matters: Several people outside the White House who have Trump's ear — FOX Business Network's Lou Dobbs and Fox News' Laura Ingraham — are publicly dissenting. And, internally, trade hardliners Peter Navarro and Robert Lighthizer are concerned about a Mnuchin-led deal that could give up on nailing China for its nefarious industrial practices.
New data have persuaded many economists that Chinese trade, and not robots, is at fault for vanished manufacturing jobs across the Ohio and Mississippi river belts, but a key expert is disputing the finding.
Why it matters: Within the answer may lie the answer to resurrecting at least some of the hollowed out manufacturing heartland, or at least not making the same mistakes again. And it may also help explain the rise of populist leaders like President Trump.
