AirTalk debates pooling tips between wait and kitchen staff at restaurants as the Trump administration looks to overturn a rule keeping the two separate. We also look at the future of hyperlocal news after the LAist shut down and LA Weekly was sold; what makes a good diverse ad?; and more.
Tipping point? Labor Department may rollback Obama-era rule mandating that tips are property of servers
The Trump administration is seeking to overturn an Obama-era rule which specified that tips are the property of workers.
The Department of Labor’s rule in 2011 said that tips are the property of the server, but Labor Department under Trump wants to rescind the rule making tips the property of the employer instead. This would allow employers to redistribute tips among all staff.
The rule change is supported by the National Restaurant Association, which says this will allow for pooled tips and will help create equity between front-of-the-house and back-of-the-house staff. Opponents are concerned that making tips the property of employers will undermine workers and might lead to wage theft.
If you’re in the restaurant business, whether in the back-of-house, front or as an employer, we want to hear your thoughts.
Call in at 866-893-5722.
Guests:
Paul DeCamp, lead counsel for plaintiffs challenging the Labor Department’s “ban” on tip pooling; previously, DeCamp ran the Wage & Hour Division of the Department of Labor (2006-07); he’s currently a member with law firm Epstein Becker and Green in Washington D.C.
Raj Nayak, director of research for National Employment Law Project, advocacy group for low-wage and immigrant workers; he was in the Obama administratio when the 2011 rule was enacted
With the shutdown of LAist and sale of LA Weekly, is hyperlocal news a dying trade?
Former “O.C. Weekly” editor Gustavo Arellano says the alt-weekly is dead after a “dark autumn” of outgoing hyperlocal publications.
Arellano points to a long list including NYC’s “Village Voice,” Seattle’s “The Stranger” and “The Baltimore City Paper,” and argues that the “slow, pitiful death” of alt-weeklies is ultimately self-inflicted and a bitter end to what should have endured through a younger, sharper generation.
Arellano himself resigned from the weekly after being asked to layoff half his staff, with echoing fallout from LAist and L.A. Weekly.
But if the landscape is really changing, is there more fault coming in from aggregate sites like “Yelp” or Google ratings? If you’ve given up on reading weeklies, why? Or if you’re an avid supporter, what keeps you thumbing through local news and reviews?
Guests:
Gustavo Arellano, former editor and “¡Ask a Mexican!” columnist of O.C. Weekly; he tweets
Sue Cross, executive director and CEO of the Institute for Nonprofit News, a consortium of journalism organizations promoting investigative reporting and public service media
How Disney’s ambitions to buy 21st Century Fox could further shake up the ever-changing media landscape
Continuing its quest to compete with the Netflixes and Amazons of the world, Walt Disney Company has reportedly been in discussions to buy a significant portion of 21st Century Fox.
While the sides are not currently in talks according to CNBC, who first reported the story, and there’s no indication that the talks will lead to a deal, the implications for the overall media landscape are potentially huge. Preliminary details suggest the deal would send 20th Century Fox movie and TV production operations, the National Geographic and FX channel groups, and Fox’s array of international outlets to Disney, which is trying to become more of an independent player in the streaming market. Recently, the company announced it would be pulling its content off of Netflix’s platform in order to start their own over-the-top streaming services, one for sports and one for franchises like Star Wars and Marvel. Acquiring the Fox entities would no doubt mean a huge boost to the amount of content Disney would be able to provide on its streaming services.
Is this potential purchase a sound strategy for Disney as it wades into the over-the-top streaming market? What does this mean for other companies like Netflix and Amazon? Would you be more likely to pay for Disney’s streaming service if you could access 21st Century Fox content as well?
Guest:
Cynthia Littleton, managing editor for TV at Variety; she tweets
After Disney blackout of L.A. Times, film critics groups sign on in solidarity with journalists
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the National Society of Film Critics, and two other critic groups are wading into the conflict between Disney and the Los Angeles Times, saying in a joint statement they won’t consider Disney movies for awards until the company lifts its blackout on Los Angeles Times journalists attending Disney advance screenings.
This all stems from news last week that Disney won’t allow Times’ journalists to cover advance screenings of its films in response to what it felt was unfair reporting on a story about its business ties with the city of Anaheim. Disney contends that despite supplying Times’ reporters with facts and information, the journalists proceeded with their own narrative that Disney said was “biased and inaccurate.” The Times says it reached out to Disney but they were not forthcoming with information.
Disney has several films that could be in the running for awards consideration, including its live action Beauty and the Beast remake, the upcoming animated movie Coco, Disney-Pixar’s Cars 3, and of course the highly-anticipated Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which releases in December.
KPCC FilmWeek critic Amy Nicholson is a member of the National Society of Film Critics; she joins Larry Mantle on AirTalk to explain the critics groups’ decision to boycott Disney.
AirTalk reached out to Walt Disney Company for comment, but they did not respond to our request.
Guest:
Amy Nicholson, film critic for KPCC and host of The Canon podcast; she tweets
AirTalk asks: What makes a good diverse ad?
The 2018 Toyota Camry campaign is striving to appeal to a diverse pool of consumers, with four commercials aimed at different racial groups.
As reported by The New York Times, the ads target Asian-Americans, African, Hispanic and “Transcultural Mainstream” consumers. Toyota worked with specialized ad agencies to keep up with the country’s demographics shift.
But it’s hard to say if these commercials hit the mark. There hasn’t been backlash against the Camry ads, but there have been numerous controversy surrounding others, like the Pepsi commercial earlier this year featuring Kendall Jenner, which depicted imagery from the Black Lives Matter movement. The ad was pulled after public criticism, accusing the ad of trivializing protests:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/dA5Yq1DLSmQ
There was also backlash over a Dove ad, when the company was pegged as enforcing an offensive depiction of black people:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL4b-Il3EnE
So what would you like to see in a diverse ad? What are some ads that hit the mark, and what were some epic fails?
Guest:
Sapna Maheshwari, reporter covering advertising for The New York Times; she wrote the recent article, “Different Ads, Different Ethnicities, Same Car”