Fisking Jeff Zucker?

CJR Daily’s Ryan Chittum examines Jeff Zucker’s latest public comments on CNBC…

Last week, NBC brass, in defending its business network, dropped this canard:

Last week Jeff Zucker, the chief executive of NBC Universal, told attendees of an investors conference that “to suggest that the business media or CNBC was responsible for what is going on now is absurd.”

The problem is that’s not what The Daily Show “suggested.” Only a fool or a flack would say that, and the Times shouldn’t have let it go unchecked. Clearly, the people who caused this were Wall Street, regulators, the Federal Reserve, and the mortgage industry. The media’s responsibility is more indirect, in not calling them out enough beforehand. CNBC’s responsibility is that it actively egged them on and helped the inside-the-bubble thinking become that more incestuous and myopic.

Jeff Jarvis was in the audience and reports that Zucker also said “blaming” CNBC is like blaming the press for going to war in Iraq. It’s great to see that this media genius hasn’t learned that lesson yet. Or is he just that dishonest?

Sigh…

17 posts in the last 24 hours. ICN 2.0 is starting to resemble ICN 1.0 with all these posts. I need a job…

Another FBN Lawsuit…

Talking Biz News scoops that FBN is preparing another lawsuit. This one is aimed at the SEC…

Fox Business Network is expected to file a lawsuit this afternoon against the Securities and Exchange Commission for failure to respond to Freedom of Information Act request.

The initial request to the SEC, filed on Feb. 26, 2009, sought all records relating to information that the SEC received regarding the potential violations of the securities laws or any other potential wrongdoing by R. Allen Stanford, or Stanford Financials Group and/or its affiliates.

Related: Portfolio’s Jeff Bercovici opines on all the FBN legal wrangling…

Now, nobody’s saying it wouldn’t be nice to know how Madoff was able to run his racket for so many years without ever arousing the suspicion of authorities. But Madoff isn’t the cause of our economic distress; he’s a symbol.

And that’s what this legalistic blitz by Fox Business is all about: symbolism. In fact, according to CJR, the network, lacking the reportorial resources to make much sense of the thousands and thousands of pages of documents it’s demanding, has no better plan than to put them all online and hope the internet hive-mind can ferret out the good stuff.

FNC in an Obama World…

NPR’s David Folkenflik interviews FNC’s Bill Shine about FNC in the era of Obama…

Liberals may be ascendant around much of the nation — in control of both houses of Congress, a majority of governors’ mansions and, of course, the White House — but times could hardly be better at the Fox News Channel, the cable channel liberals love to hate.

“There were a couple of people who basically wrote about our demise come last November [and] December and were, I guess, rooting for us to go away,” said Bill Shine, senior vice president for programming at the Fox News Channel. “With this particular group of people in power right now, and the honeymoon they’ve had from other members of the media, does it make it a little bit easier for us to be the voice of opposition on some issues?”

Why, yes. Yes it does. Ratings estimates from Nielsen Media Research indicate audience levels are up significantly — to extremely high levels for cable news — making Fox News among the highest-rated of all basic cable channels. (MSNBC has had some of its best ratings in its existence since veering to the ideological left in prime time last year, but both it and CNN lag well behind.)

Primetime Presidential News Conference: MSNBC Coverage Notes…

NBC announced its coverage plans for Barack Obama’s news conference tomorrow night…

NBC and MSNBC will carry President Obama’s News Conference live on Tuesday, March 24 starting at 8pm ET.

Brian Williams will anchor coverage on NBC.

Keith Olbermann will anchor coverage on MSNBC, followed by special editons of “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” live at 9 pm ET, “The Rachel Maddow Show” live at 10 pm ET, and “Hardball with Chris Matthews” live at 11 pm ET.

Norah O’Donnell at the White House…

First it was Morning Joe. Now Norah O’Donnell will be anchoring from the White House tomorrow at 3pm according to her Tweet…

will be anchoring my show live from the WH tomorrow at 3pm. I will have Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano…

In Depth: Another Factor ambush interview…but who really ends up being ambushed?

Amanda Turkel writes in Think Progress about being ambushed by Factor producer Jesse Waters…

This weekend, while on vacation, I was ambushed by O’Reilly’s top hit man, producer Jesse Watters, who accosted me on the street and told me that because I highlighted O’Reilly’s comments, I was causing “pain and suffering” to rape victims and their families. He of course offered no proof to back up this claim, instead choosing to shout questions at me.

I expect O’Reilly to air this “interview” at some point this week, possibly as early as tonight. I have no expectation that he will show the entire altercation or give the entire story about what happened, so here is the full account, offering a glimpse inside the O’Reilly harrassment machine:

– The Stalking: Watters and his camera man accosted me at approximately 3:45 p.m. on Saturday, March 21, in Winchester, VA, which is a two-hour drive from Washington, DC. My friend and I were in this small town for a short weekend vacation and had told no one about where we were going. I can only infer that the two men staked out my apartment and then followed me for two hours. Looking back, my friend and I remember seeing their tan SUV following us for much of the trip.

Leave it to O’Reilly to turn something of a victory (being able to speak at the Alexa Foundation) into a defeat (sicking Waters on Turkel) after all the crap that’s gone on, most of which was O’Reilly’s own damn fault to begin with. Another example of the internal tone deafness of one William O’Reilly. Honestly Bill, at this point you deserve all the grief Olbermann tosses your way for this. Rather than do your bit for the Alexa Foundation and quietly move on to the next thing, you have to stand and pick a fight over something you really don’t have and never have made; a valid reasonable defense for your Jennifer Moore comments.

Seriously, FNC PR needs to sit O’Reilly down and give him a remedial Public Relations course. Because this is just the sort of thing that a seasoned PR person, who understands how things work and play out, would be able to easily see as more trouble than it’s worth, and therefore avoid. Not our boy Bill. He’s going to make his point no matter how badly it blows up in his face. But this isn’t the first time this has happened (see the now infamous “Bring Donahue Back” petition and the entirely predictable to anyone but O’Reilly blowback). And it probably won’t be the last…

Fourrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Joe Kenen writes about golf in Golf Digest…

My wife Penelope and I were married on a golf course, on the 18th tee of the .Four Seasons Kona Hualalai. At least we think we were married. It was a Hawaiian guy performing the ceremony and I’m not really sure what he said.

But it was beautiful. It was just us. We played golf on the morning of our wedding and we played golf the next day, too. That’s a pretty good way to have a marriage and a honeymoon.

Kernan playing at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. Photo: Harry How/Getty Images

I’ve been playing golf my whole life. I grew up in Cincinnati and learned to play at Western Hills Country Club, where my parents were members since before I was born.

FNC AM in glorious HD…

FNC put America’s Newsroom and Happening Now on today in full HD with set modifications. J$ has screengrabs…

OK CNN, it’s your move. You launched HD first, well before anyone else, but now you are behind with the bulk of your daytime programming in Atlanta being in upconverted SD. FNC is now out HD-ing you…

Canada vs. Red Eye?

The National Post’s Shane Dingman writes about Red Eye taking some shots at Canada and its mission to Afghanistan…

“We want an apology from this so-called comedian and his panel. These are despicable, hurtful and ignorant comments. No one is laughing and they owe Canada, and more importantly the families of each one of our fallen heroes, an apology for their ill-informed mistakes,” Dan Dugas, the spokesman for Defence Minister Peter MacKay, told Canwest News Service on Monday.

MacKay, along with Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean, was to attend the repatriation ceremony Monday at CFB Trenton, Ont., where the families of Canada’s four latest Afghanistan fatalities were to meet the flag-draped coffins of their fallen loved ones.

MacKay reiterated his call for an apology in a brief interview with CTV News.

Update: Gutfeld apologizes…

A Fox News host is apologizing to Canadians in the face of widespread outrage over comments he and his guests made on a late-night talk show.

“Red Eye” host Greg Gutfeld says his comments “may have been misunderstood” and in no way were meant to disrespect “the brave men, women and families of the Canadian military.”

Fox News issued the Gutfeld statement just after the Canadian government demanded an apology for what it called the “despicable” and “disgusting” comments.

Free for All: 03/23/09

What’s on your mind?

Ed Schultz on Schultz/Shuster/1600 Pennsylvania Avenue…

Left Wing Escapee’s Jack Coleman blogs about something Ed Schultz apparently said on the air recently…(via J$)

Somebody must have the flu over there or something. I don’t know, they just wanted me to do the show and I think Shuster’s going to be doing another show and so the musical chairs there for just a few days I think continue.

Was Schultz just goofing around or did he just accidentally walk off the MSNBC reservation?

Update: This may clear it up. Shuster is filling in for Keith Olbermann on Countdown so Ed is filling in for Shuster.

Fix CNBC?

Big Hollywood’s Dan Gifford writes about CNBC…

OK, La Mancha wannabes, mount up. But take it from one who been der, done dat and knows: Ya can fugget about it! Nobody can be right enough often enough to satisfy a herd of TV viewers chasing quick profits and nobody is gonna hold any Wall Street feet to the fire in any real way that matters. Too negative? Read on — and pay special attention to the interwoven tapestry of relationships.

Before joining Lou Dobbs’ “CNN Moneyline” (now “Lou Dobbs Tonight”) in New York, I auditioned for a spot at CNBC in 1989 on the anchor desk with Sue Herera, who is still there. My agent, the late great Sherlee Barish, said that all went well except that my reputation for exposing financial criminality bothered the brass and that they were concerned about having me in their midst. I may ask questions that would alienate the Wall Street biggies and business leaders they hoped to curry favor with. Worse, they were concerned I may find an R. Foster Winans at CNBC, Barish told me. Winans was The Wall Street Journal “Heard on the Street” columnist who leaked market moving stories to his stock trading buddies and inside information peddlers seemed to be everywhere.

In case you weren’t there or don’t remember the 80s paranoia, Wall Street had crashed, Godzilla market moving “geniuses” like Ivan Boesky with a “talent” for picking takeover targets that spiked in price had been unmasked as insider price riggers while lending institutions were failing because of looters like Charles “Cheating” Keating which, in turn, caused many businesses to close. Anyway, one particular story I had done, Barish said, in the midst of all that really bothered the CNBC boys: My expose on “MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour” that a great many of the businesses going under at the time were not the result of bad loans made to bad people who should not have gotten them (where have we heard that before?), but the result of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation forcing lenders to classify performing loans as delinquent and call them early. FSLIC Chairman M. Danny Wall demanded MacNeil/Lehrer take that fact out of the story I had done before it aired, but my editor, Gregg Ramshaw, said “no” as did his superiors, a principled stand for which I am still grateful. I was not grateful for the federal bullying that followed, but that’s a story for another time.

How FBN and Bloomberg can gain ground?

Marketwatch’s Jon Friedman writes about how FBN and Bloomberg can gain ground on CNBC and, again, brings up Mark Whitaker’s name – ensuring that the kibitzers will be wondering exactly what the Friedman/Whitaker connection is, if any…

Stewart’s rebuke revealed how silly the network looks when it dumbs down the news. Perhaps NBC should consider installing its Washington bureau chief, Mark Whitaker, former editor of Newsweek, in Jonathan Wald’s position. Wald, the top news executive at CNBC, is leaving the company after he and CNBC failed to come to an agreement on a contract extension.

I once thought Whitaker would be ideal to run MSNBC, another sister network of NBC that could use some discipline on the air. Whitaker is a proven leader, and he understands the news business. His leadership could help CNBC regain some lost luster.

Meanwhile, now is the time for Fox Business and Bloomberg to make progress. Visibility is an issue for both, as they have to hammer out deals with cable operators to increase the reach of their programming.

They also need to strengthen their identities.

Here’s how:

Anchor Wars: 03/23/09

Today…

MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell and FNC’s Brian Wilson…

Final Tally: Evidenty the Facebook Wilson brigade missed this one but Wilson still wins in a shutout.

What’s Hot/What’s Not: 03/22/09

What’s Hot:

Ed Schultz – Schultz’s name was tossed into the cable news limelight courtesy of The Observer’s Felix Gillette who reported that Schultz was being courted by MSNBC. Gillette tossed some gasoline on a fire he started a week earlier by reporting rumors were circulating that Schultz was possibly going to replace David Shuster on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Chris Matthews – Matthews has re-upped at MSNBC…

AIG Bonus Outrage – It was all over the news this week.

What’s Not:

AIG Bonus Outrage – But did anybody really advance the story beyond the moral outrage and who knew what when angles?

Talking Head Primetime Invades Daytime – Twice this week the more reserved platform of dayside news erupted into something more often seen during talking head primetime. First David Shuster mixed it up with Mark Simone on MSNBC. Later in the week, Megyn Kelly mixed it up with someone from ACORN. It would be nice if dayside news was left for news instead of the kind of grandstanding we already get too much of in primetime.

Reform CNBC? – News broke this week of liberal groups trying to get CNBC to clean up its act based on ideological reasons. I thought it was a silly undertaking then and I see no reason to change that opinion now.

First Look Dropped – MSNBC’s decision to drop First Look in favor of a Rachel Maddow re-run may indeed make the programming flow more appropriately into Morning Joe, as MSNBC intends, but it’s another slap in the face of people who tune in to cable news looking for some news.

In Cramer CNBC Trusts…

The New York Times’ Brian Stelter writes about CNBC’s continued faith in Jim Cramer…

Jim Cramer’s personal brand — not to mention that of CNBC’s, his employer — has taken a beating in the last month. But CNBC still trusts him.

The business network, a unit of NBC Universal, continues to show the “In Cramer We Trust” commercials that were blasted by Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show” weeks ago during a much-talked-about war of words and video clips. On Friday afternoon, one of the commercials — which play off the United States motto “In God We Trust” to promote Mr. Cramer’s program “Mad Money” — called him “the voice of experience you can trust.”

Matthews Renews at MSNBC…

The New York Times’ Bill Carter writes that Chris Matthews has renewed with MSNBC. Why did it take so long? The buzz in the chattering class started ratcheting up recently but I couldn’t make anything concrete out of it.

The deal is for at least four years. Financial terms were not disclosed, and neither side would confirm whether MSNBC had won a reduction in salary for the host, as it had been reported to be seeking. Previous reports put his annual salary at about $5 million.

One executive involved in the negotiations said, “Whether he took a slight cut or got a slight raise, it’s nobody’s business.”

In Depth: Is Shannon High-Bassalik on the outs at MSNBC?

For nearly a year, ICN has been hearing periodic rumors of trouble regarding MSNBC Managing Editor Shannon High-Bassalik. High-Bassalik was hired in September 2007 as part of the switchover from Dan Abrams to Phil Griffin. I’d been hearing stories of repeated complaints from some of the Dayside talent to High-Bassalik about Dayside’s coverage. I’d been hearing from primetime sources that High-Basslik had, thankfully, nothing to do with MSNBC Primetime. High-Basslik supposedly produced MSNBC’s daily 2008 post Olympics wrap up show which was widely trashed by the critics as a train wreck. And there was what I call the “American Producer Idol” period where High-Bassalik was doing producer try-outs to try and jump start Dayside. But I also heard that High-Bassalik had a multi-year deal so, though there had been persistent rumblings which really heated up in the latter half of last year that she was in trouble, only to subsequently quiet down by the end of 2008, I decided there was not likely going to be any changes made. And I wasn’t going to go out on a limb on a story like this without evidence.

However all that changed a little over a week ago. I first heard noises that MSNBC was thinking of bringing at the very least “help” in for her. An internal email was sent out to staff regarding new job postings, one of which included an Editorial position, and asked if anyone was interested or knew anyone who would be interested. After hearing this I searched the job openings on the web today looking for such a position and sure enough, within the last week one was posted. MSNBC is now looking to hire an Executive Editor

The Executive Editor is responsible for the oversight of the editorial integrity and vision of MSNBC Dayside. Will run editorial meetings on a daily basis and follow through on the execution of decisions made at those meetings. Monitor breaking news and developing stories and adapt rundowns and guests/correspondent bookings as appropriate. Provide insight to the futures planning process..

Based upon what I’ve heard and read, this is basically what High-Bassalik was already doing. So why bring in someone else to do what she’s been doing unless MSNBC isn’t happy with what she’s been doing? Or is there another reason for the job duty overlap? High-Bassalik was Phil Griffin’s first big hire when he took over MSNBC’s reins and Griffin, in my opinion, went out on a limb at the time calling her an “All Star”. Now, apparently, that star has faded. The question is, is High-Bassalik done at MSNBC or will she now have a “helper” in the form of this Executive Editor, or will she be re-assigned to other duties inside MSNBC?

What’s Hot/What’s Not: Submissions…

After a multi-week absence What’s Hot/What’s Not returns. Post your nominations for this week and I’ll post the finalists on Sunday night.

First Look Dropped…

TVNewser reports that MSNBC’s First Look has been dropped in favor of a Rachel Maddow repeat. Don’t believe that “for now” asterisk. Every time MSNBC launches something that’s billed as temporary, it tends to wind up being permanent (Evidence: Friday Doc Block in 2006, Three anchor dayside format in fall of 2009). Here’s an interesting point; First Look helped amortize Early Today by re-using the same crew and stories. With the increase of local network news in the early hours, is this possibly the first step in dropping Early Today from NBC’s news programming? 15-20 years ago Early Today was a stepping stone for aspiring talent on the rise. No longer. It airs too early and has too few eyeballs to justify putting talent on the rise there. I would not be surprised to see Early Today taken off the air within a year.

Blind Item Time…

Courtesy of a David Shuster tweet…

In the green room, panelist Brad Blakeman was just cracking jokes about a rival network anchor who appears to have “no home.”

Ed Schultz to MSNBC?

The New York Observer’s Felix Gillette scoops that MSBNC is talking to Ed Schultz…

The Observer has learned that MSNBC president Phil Griffin is in discussions with syndicated talk radio host Ed Schultz about possibly joining the network on a full-time basis. It is unclear what exactly the job would entail should Mr. Schultz and MSNBC come to an agreement.

CNN Presidential News Conference Coverage Notes…

CNN announced its coverage plans for President Barack Obama’s primetime news conference on Tuesday…

CNN anchors Wolf Blitzer, Campbell Brown, Anderson Cooper and John King will lead the network’s live, comprehensive coverage of President Barack Obama’s 8 p.m. news conference on Tuesday, March 24. Towards the end of Lou Dobbs Tonight and shortly before the president takes the podium, the Best Political Team on Television will preview the news conference and explain what viewers can expect. After the network provides live, uninterrupted coverage of the news conference, the team will analyze the president’s remarks and hear opinions from across the ideological spectrum. Special editions of Larry King Live and Anderson Cooper 360 will continue the coverage in their regular time slots, 9 p.m. and 10 p.m., respectively.

Free for All: 03/20/09

What’s on your mind?

Betty Nguyen Interview…

The Ledger’s Kyle Kennedy has an interview with CNN’s Betty Nguyen…

Q. What’s the most common misconception people have about your job?

A. I think a lot of people assume that producers or writers will just write every single thing that we do. As a journalist, as a correspondent, when I go out on stories I write everything. Granted, as an anchor I can’t write all six hours of news on a Saturday morning, but when I go out to places like Sierra Leone to cover the presidential elections or if I get into Myanmar to cover the cyclone devastation, every single thing that you see is written by me. When it’s specific stories that I’ve pitched or wanted to do, that’s something I’m adamant about.

Q. Do you think people of different races and backgrounds are adequately represented in television news today?

A. No, I don’t think they’re well represented at all. I think we’re getting there, we are growing, but there’s still a lot of ground to cover. For example, for me to become the first Vietnamese-American to anchor a national newscast, it took until 2004 for that to happen.

CNN March Numbers Down?

Portfolio’s Jeff Bercovici blogs about CNN’s March primetime Demo numbers so far this month. Gee, I wonder who could have leaked this? Not.

Through March 17, CNN trailed not only Fox News and MSNBC but also its own sister network, Headline News, on nine out of 17 days. On one day, March 13, CNN even drew fewer 25-to-54 viewers than CNBC — the first time that’s happened since November 2007. And of the eight days it finished higher than fourth in the demo, five were either Saturdays or Sundays, typically the lowest rated nights for the news networks.

Asked about the trend, a CNN spokeswoman offered a statement that emphasized the network’s long-term ratings growth — while ignoring the even sharper gains made by Fox News and MSNBC:

Calling all Howard Beales…

NY Mag Daily Intel’s Michael Idov notes all the Howard Beale moments lately and sounds a cautionary note…

In the end, the only ones benefiting from the yelling are the yellers. Pretending to lay it all on the line is demonstrably profitable and, ironically, carries little to no operational risk. CNBC has been running ads with Santelli’s ravings, effectively turning him into the channel’s new star. Glenn Beck’s February ratings have doubled compared to the last year’s. And the Cramer interview brought The Daily Show 2.3 million viewers, its second-highest rating since Inauguration Day. Our national Howard Beale moment is coming right at the time where we could all use a dash (but just a dash) of Diana Christensen, Faye Dunaway’s icy network executive from the same film, who sees Beale’s ranting for the gimmick it is: “I don’t think I’ll listen to any protestations of high standards of journalism when you’re right down on the streets soliciting audiences like the rest of us,” she tells an indignant colleague. “If you’re going to hustle, at least do it right.”

Anchor Wars: 03/20/09

Today…

MSNBC’s Alex Witt and CNN’s Kyra Phillips…

Final Tally: Phillips in a squeaker…

Fareed Zakaria to interview Eliot Spitzer…

From CNN…

This week on Fareed Zakaria GPS, an exclusive interview with former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer—the first television interview since leaving office a year ago. Spitzer reflects on the scandal that led to his resignation as well as his experience investigating AIG as New York State Attorney General. Plus, Bill and Melinda Gates talk about the key to America’s recovery. Finally, Fareed will be joined by a panel of Wall Street experts to discuss the continuing controversy surrounding the AIG bonuses.

The full interview airs this Sunday at 1pm ET on CNN/U.S. and at 8am and 3pm on CNNI