Busted…
TVNewser scoops that Nielsen held a pow-wow with CNN, FNC, and MSNBC reps to hash out CNN calling special political coverage part of “Anderson Cooper 360″. I’m not surprised this meeting took place because, despite what David Doss says, it’s not AC 360…it’s special election coverage that doesn’t follow the AC 360 format one iota but does feature CNN talent that you won’t otherwise find on AC 360 most of the rest of the time. And you don’t hear CNN mention you’re watching 360 either. So it’s not 360. What does surprise me is that it took this long for this meeting to happen because this has been going on since the primaries started…
Update: Since CNN is apparently going to continue to call this coverage “AC 360″, as TV Newser says…I would strongly suggest to MSNBC that they revisit the June numbers for Hardball at 5pm. If CNN wants to call special coverage of politics AC 360, I see nothing wrong with MSNBC counting those two days of Hardball. Be careful CNN. You’re opening a Pandora’s Box with this…
Update 2: Greta yells cheaters…
CNN’S new approach: if the tv show Anderson Cooper 360 can’t win fair and square at 10pm against Fox News Channel ON THE RECORD…even with an astronomical $27 million p/r campaign that includes even life size cut outs of Anderson Cooper at the airport and in malls (and in answer to the anticipated question, no, no other journalists that I have noticed have or have had full size body cardboard cuts of themselves positioned in shopping malls or airports to promote themselves – that is a Hollywood celebrity gimmick that movie studios use)……..how about Plan B? CHEATING!
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July 8, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Man, Greta needs to put a SOCK IN IT. Everytime she opens up her e-yap, it makes her look like a bigger loser.
July 8, 2008 at 12:28 pm
And Spud, it STILL makes no sense to count those two days as part of the Hardball average considering Matthews wasn’t even anchoring that timeslot during those two days…at least AC was on during that stated time period.
“And you don’t hear CNN mention you’re watching 360 either.”
Yes you do (or did). There was a logo in the corner of the screen, and Campbell introduced many of the 10pm hours as “Anderson Cooper 360″.
July 8, 2008 at 2:05 pm
I remember the logo. A logo does not a show make. I don’t recall Cambell Brown introducing the hours as Anderson Cooper 360. The obvious question is why Brown was doing it instead of Cooper. But an even better question is why was the show just introduced as 360. What about the rest of the hour. Suppose someone tunes in late? How will they know? CNN mentions the term “360″ throughout the normal version of the show but they don’t here?
But whatever. The point is this a bare naked attempt by CNN to jack its ratings for a show that is a solid #2 behind On The Record.
If I was FNC and MSNBC I would follow suit. Put Hannity and Colmes on at 9pm for two minutes and call the hour Hannity & Colmes. I’d put Olbermann on at 8 and call the hour “Countdown”. I’d even stick O’Reilly on at 8 and call the show “The O’Reilly Factor”. If CNN is going to cheat that bad just to jack the ratings, there are no rules anymore so everyone should do it just to level the playing field.
July 8, 2008 at 2:09 pm
If I was FNC and MSNBC I would follow suit. Put Hannity and Colmes on at 9pm for two minutes and call the hour Hannity & Colmes. I’d put Olbermann on at 8 and call the hour “Countdown”. I’d even stick O’Reilly on at 8 and call the show “The O’Reilly Factor”.
yeah, but CNN would still win the hour. On big Democratic primary nights, CNN’s ratings spiked higher than MSNBC’s and far higher than FNC’s.
July 8, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Greta needs to learn to shut her mouth up – last week Anderson gave Greta praise on his blog & all she did since then was attacking Anderson & his team.
@theanonymous00: You’re right, CNN did introduce the hour as AC360, but they spent most of their their time covering the campaign.
@icn2: Cambell was doing it instead of Anderson, because I’m pretty sure that he was filming Planet In Peril 2 & she did introduced & repeated throughout the show that it was AC360. Also didn’t AC360 won its time slot in most age groups?
July 8, 2008 at 3:08 pm
yeah, but CNN would still win the hour. On big Democratic primary nights, CNN’s ratings spiked higher than MSNBC’s and far higher than FNC’s.
CNN would win the hour but there would be much less of a swing between the hour in the monthly and quarterly averages. That’s another point.
July 8, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Greta is trying everything in the book to “drum up” support in the all important demo. Whether its bragging about total viewers, making a big deal out of Al “shake down” Sharpton ditching her show, calling CNN cheaters.
Did FNC tell ya to get those demo numbers up or risk getting moved to the radio? Because you sound beyond desperate.
July 8, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Give it up Spud, they are rabid AC fans and they can’t see the truth.
If CNN didn’t lie about those hours, Greta would have won hands down in total and key demo viewers.
Not sure what night “Jeff” is talking about but Campbell Brown did amazing numbers the nights she covered 360 while Anderson was off filming PIP2 but Anderson hasn’t been filming PIP2 during any night a primary was on.
And as far as “theanonymous”, she will only see what she wants to see “Yes you do (or did). There was a logo in the corner of the screen, and Campbell introduced many of the 10pm hours as “Anderson Cooper 360″.” This is the problem, they shouldn’t have done this on primary nights when MSNBC and Fox were doing special programing for election coverage.
July 8, 2008 at 4:36 pm
I’m not sure what Nielsen & the cable networks can do now about the previous ratings, they need to make sure that there are clear rules about Special Coverage branding of programs, so this doesn’t happen again.
“and note even MS/NBC complains that CNN is cheating” – Greta, it is MSNBC not MS/NBC. Get your competitors channels names right!
@millievanille: I was talking about the nights that theanonymous00 & icn2 were talking about.
July 8, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Eek….looks like that FUNGUS from ICN1.0 is back once again under yet ANOTHER name….*sigh*
July 8, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Hey Mary! Long time, girl… what’s new with you?
July 8, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Wow… look at all the anger directed towards Greta. Especially when her roll in this story is so minor.
CNN is spinning the numbers, Greta, MSNBC, FOX, and whomever else is correct to call them on it. That should be pretty obvious to all.
So why all the daggers out for Greta? She forget to hold the door for you, or is it (as millie says), just anger from AC & CNN activists?
(PS- Jeff… using “MS/NBC” is frequently used to denote that BOTH NBC and MSNBC are part of XYZ. But I’m sure Greta appreciates people correcting her, and her employer Fixed News… er, I mean FOX Noise… er, uh… I mean… FOX News… yeah, that’s it. Gee, good thing nobody ever uses those terms, or else you would get really upset… right?)
July 9, 2008 at 1:55 am
@imnotbule: Because its Greta who made the comments into a big story.
What do you mean by ““MS/NBC” is frequently used to denote that BOTH NBC and MSNBC are part of XYZ”
Fixed News – LOL & no I wouldn’t get upset, I just like correcting people on their mistakes!
July 9, 2008 at 7:37 pm
So, Jeff… Greta (first of all) did not break this story. As this thread says, it was TV Newser. THEY made it a story… Greta only talked about it ON HER BLOG… I hardly think you can call that an attempt to “make it a big story.”
“MS/NBC” is used by people who don’t want to type “NBC and MSNBC.” It’s an abbreviation… like “FNC” or “FBN” instead of the full name.
And you wouldn’t get upset by someone altering the name of FOX, but you get upset over a (perceived) insult towards MSNBC. Why is that? To me, that says you’re not viewing this objectively, rather through the prism of your own biases (anti-FNC, and pro-MSNBC). That, of course, throws into question you ability to really judge this situation. Seems like this is just more “piling on” against FNC… rather than true analysis.
July 10, 2008 at 12:05 am
CNN should play fair with the numbers and Greta needs to just stop talking, she looks like a complete idiot, some of her own viewers have begun to complain about her AC360 rants.