Good morning, Broadsheet readers! The ACLU calls for an investigation into Hollywood’s treatment of female directors, New York Road Runners CEO Mary Wittenberg gets a new gig, and speculation abounds over what Verizon’s acquisition of AOL will mean for Arianna Huffington. Have a great Wednesday!
EVERYONE'S TALKING
• What's the news on HuffPo? With Verizon acquiring AOL, what will become of AOL's Arianna Huffington-led Huffington Post? Fortune's Erin Griffith suggests that Verizon is after AOL's advertising technology, not its content business. So, it's perhaps not surprising that Re/Code is reporting that AOL has been in talks to spin off HuffPo as a complete sale or joint venture.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
• Tubman triumphs. The group leading an effort to boot President Andrew Jackson off the $20 bill announced the winner of its online poll on a replacement. And, the woman voters chose is--drumroll, please--abolitionist Harriet Tubman. The group now will petition the White House to make the change a reality. I'd suggest they start by getting Treasurer Rosie Rios on board. Time
• Character assassination? Nicole Eramo, an associate dean at the University of Virginia, is suing Rolling Stone for more than $7.5 million. Eramo says the debunked account of an alleged gang rape on campus, published by the magazine, cast her as the "chief villain." New York Times
• Running down a new path. Richard Branson has tapped New York Road Runners CEO Mary Wittenberg to lead Virgin Sport, a new global venture that will include putting on amateur sports events. Fortune
• Time for a chore strike. I doubt this will shock working moms: A new study of highly-educated working couples found that, nine months after the birth of their first child, men did roughly 10 hours a week of onerous child-related tasks, compared to 15 hours for women. This Quartz story suggests dads aren't entirely to blame for imbalance, noting that women may take extra tasks first, assuming they'll "do them better, or faster, or both. " Quartz
• A sexist critique? National Organization for Women president Terry O'Neill says that the way President Obama criticized Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) during their spat over a controversial trade bill was sexist. O'Neill took issue with the President calling Warren by her first name in an interview and says that the subtext of his message was "that the little lady just doesn't know what she's talking about." The Hill
• Organic growth. Restaurateur Nora Pouillon's new memoir, My Organic Life, tells the story of her Washington, D.C. eatery Restaurant Nora, which became the first certified organic restaurant in the country. NPR
THE BROADVIEW
How Lifetime plans to tackle sexism in Hollywood
Sexism in Hollywood, a topic that's been bubbling in the news for months, finally made the front page Tuesday, when the American Civil Liberties Union asked state and federal agencies to investigate hiring practices in Tinseltown. The ACLU says that major studios, networks and talent agencies are systematically discriminating against female directors.
In that context, Broad Focus, a new Lifetime initiative designed to provide women with more opportunities to direct, write, develop, and produce content, could not seem more timely--or important.
Nancy Dubuc, CEO of Lifetime parent company A+E Networks, has seen firsthand just how few women have climbed to the top ranks of the entertainment industry. "I can't count the number of times I've sat in a meeting where it's been 20 men and me," she says. Then there are the little things, she says, like the recent meeting where a male attendee stopped to comment on how nice she looked before addressing a question she'd asked him.
Broad Focus, which was announced late last week, is intended to give concrete support to women creators--and put more pressure on other companies in the industry to do the same. "Of late, there have been some meaningful steps backwards," says Dubuc. "We're not seeing enough women rising to the top."
"We've been talking about this issue for a long time, but nothing is changing," says Danielle Carrig, senior VP of publicity and public affairs for Lifetime, who originally created the idea and brought it Dubuc.
Lifetime kicked off the initiative with a partnership with the inaugural Bentonville Film Festival, an event co-founded by actor Geena Davis that is devoted to promoting women and diversity in film. Lifetime has committed to televising one of the winning films, as well as choosing a script from the festival’s upcoming script writing contest to put in its development pipeline.
To read the rest of my story, click here.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
• Get well, Sandra. Sandra Lee, TV chef and longtime partner of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, revealed that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer and will undergo a double mastectomy. "Life can turn on a dime," she told People. People
• Will Reese rise? Can Draper James, Reese Witherspoon's new e-commerce site, rise above the lifestyle brand fray? Fortune looks at how Witherspoon's site stacks up against the competition from Gwyneth, Martha and Blake. Fortune
• Fill it back up. The key to growing the number of women in business school pipelines is to get girls interested in business well before grad school is even a glimmer in their eye, says Elissa Sangster, executive director of the non-profit Forté Foundation, which supports women in business education. Fortune
• A matter of debate? Jane Sanders, wife of U.S. Senator and Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders, has been a key advisor throughout her husband's political career and was, until 2011, the president of Burlington College. While she's so far maintained a low profile in the 2016 race, Bernie recently told MSNBC that he'd "love for [President Bill Clinton] to be debating my wife, Jane." Bloomberg
• An Olympic tragedy. This sad article describes the creation of Brazil's first Olympic aerial skiing team--and tells the story of Laís Souza, a Brazilian gymnast turned aerial skier, who was paralyzed on a training run. New York Times
• Traveling shoes. Hee Seo, principal dancer with New York’s American Ballet Theatre, spends half the year on the road. This Wall Street Journal story runs down all the things she totes along with her--including the three to six pairs of pointe shoes she carries each day. WSJ
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ON MY RADAR
Fan fic star Anna Todd on how the Internet made her famous Wired
Six ways awesome speakers own the room Inc
Ronda Rousey wants to use Tinder but she's too famous USAToday
Unsettling Lucille Ball sculpture will move to a new home NPR
QUOTE
I love doing my own work. Who wouldn’t?Ilene Chaiken, showrunner of Empire, which will expand to 18 episodes next season