1. WPP’s third-quarter PR and public affairs revenue numbers underwhelmed Friday morning. The holding company, which owns and operates Burson-Marsteller, Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Ogilvy Public Relations, and others, saw just 0.1% organic revenue growth in its PR and public affairs division in the period. One bright spot was content-development in the US led by SJR.
2. Facebook is monitoring the posts of users for political commentary, then sharing the data with ABC News and BuzzFeed to support their 2016 election reporting. The social network will classify data from users age 18 and older as positive, negative, or neutral, and can further break it down by gender and location.
3. The end date for The Colbert Report has been set: December 18. At some point next year, Colbert will inherit David Letterman’s role as host of the Late Show on CBS.
4. Canadian crisis communications firm Navigator has cut ties with CBC personality Jian Ghomeshi over reports he assaulted or verbally abused at least eight women.
The hashtag #BeenRapedNeverReported, started by a reporter for the Toronto Star in support of one woman accusing Ghomeshi of sexual assault, trended on Twitter overnight.
#ibelievelucy #ibelievewomen And yes, I've been raped (more than once) and never reported it. #BeenRapedNeverReported
— Antonia Zerbisias (@AntoniaZ) October 30, 2014
5. The Detroit Free Press has reviewed "What Did Jesus Drive?," the book by former Ford Motor Co. comms VP Jason Vines, calling it a "rambunctious, profane, politically incorrect ride."
Vines has reportedly claimed in the book that Ford bugged his phone and car more than 10 years ago during the Firestone tire-recall crisis.
6. The Washington Post is standing by its story on the White House’s handling of the 2012 Secret Service prostitution scandal after questions were raised about a key source. The Post’s executive editor said it did not primarily rely on information from any one person.
7. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) is taking heat for comments she made to NBC News’ Chuck Todd about President Barack Obama’s popularity in her state, saying, "the South has not always been the friendliest place for African-Americans."
8. Twitter has demoted Daniel Graf, who joined six months ago as VP of product, according to numerous reports. Two other key executives at the microblogging service also left this week.
9. Chevrolet is making lemonade out of an embarrassing post-World Series moment for executive Rikk Wilde. It added the hashtag #TechnologyAndStuff to the website for its Colorado truck and created a tweet poking fun at Wilde’s nervous post-game presentation.
What if we told you the #ChevyColorado with #TechnologyAndStuff could make you cooler? http://t.co/WpSxCfKeLs pic.twitter.com/nuA1mtg3ax
— Chevy Trucks (@ChevyTrucks) October 30, 2014
