Examining Meet the Press…

Newsday’s Verne Gay in effect detonates a bomb in 30 Rock by asking tough questions of Meet the Press that NBC probably would prefer not be asked…(via Chickaboomer)

The problem? Actually, problems. The new moderator often seems like he’s wearing a suit made for someone else – Russert – and as a result has yet to clearly establish why he got this gig instead of anyone else in the conga line of potential successors. Gregory is terrifically polished, well-informed, a good listener and has the talking points of both sides down cold. But he also seems more intent on covering the waterfront than digging for news, or in pushing the talking heads off their talking points. Recent interviews with Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) felt like a waterfront that went on for miles – an endless vista of chatter and spin. His exclusive interview with Defense Secretary Robert Gates was thoughtful and probing, but not particularly memorable.

Shuster vs. Rove…

David Shuster has been taunting Karl Rove the past few days, both on Twitter and on his show 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue…

SHUSTER: Welcome back to 1600 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE. Every night on this show, as we did earlier in this one, we feature a segment called Hypocrisy Watch. Our most frequent focus has been former Bush adviser Karl Rove. For example, Rove recently criticized the Obama administration for increasing the size of the federal debt, even though Rove and his Bush team colleagues turned record surpluses into record deficits.

Anyway, before each segment, I sent Karl a Twitter message, asking him to come on and defend himself. This weekend, I received the following Twitter direct response: “Re 1600. Wait until the book. You‘re in there. Signed Karl Rove.”

Rove is signed to FNC. That means he’s prohibited from appearing on MSNBC unless FNC allows it. But why would they? Either Shuster knows this and he’s just engaging in some public baiting he knows can’t happen, or, he doesn’t know – in which case someone needs to inform him why this can’t happen. Either way it’s a colossal waste of time.

Ali Velshi interviews Tim Geithner…

Ali Velshi will be interviewing Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner during the 5pm hour of the Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and 8pm during Campbell Brown No Bias, No Bull. Some highlights after the jump…

Press Releases: 03/19/09

MSNBC (1)

MSNBC PREMIERES “MY MOTHER’S GARDEN,” “WITCH HUNT” AND “ROBERT BLECKER WANTS ME DEAD” SUNDAY NIGHTS AT 10 P.M. ET IN APRIL

NEW YORK – March 19, 2009 – This April, MSNBC is the place to watch all-new compelling documentaries by independent filmmakers, every Sunday night at 10 p.m. ET. The MSNBC Films premieres begin April 5th with “My Mother’s Garden” – a daughter’s eyewitness account of her mother’s slide into madness. On Sunday, April 12th, Sean Penn’s “Witch Hunt” brings light to an injustice that took 20 years to correct. And on Sunday, April 19th, tune in for the most interesting death row interview you’ll ever see in “Robert Blecker Wants Me Dead.”

Sunday, April 5th: MY MOTHER’S GARDEN

Talking Head Primetime Invades Daytime: Chapter 3…

Ok, I’ve taken some shots at David Shuster for ideological theatrics on MSNBC Dayside. He’s not the only one that engages in them however. FNC’s Megyn Kelly is another one. HotAir.com has the video from the latest back and forth. I agree with Allah Pundit that there’s no value in this aside from the rubbernecking quotient. It would be nice if the guest and the host were arguing about the same point but they aren’t. One is arguing about people being convicted of voter registration fraud. The other is arguing that there hasn’t been voter fraud. Both are true and neither side is listening to the other. What a waste of airtime.

Juliet Huddy returns to Fox and Friends for a day…

Johnny Dollar is reporting that Juliet Huddy will be subbing on Fox and Friends Friday…

Cheryl Casone Profile…

D Magazine’s Kristina Heap has a profile of FBN’s Cheryl Casone…

Following gigs at MSNBC, CBS, and CNN, Casone landed at Fox News Channel and went on to join the fledgling Fox Business Network as an anchor in 2007. If you’ve never watched Fox Business (in North Texas it’s Channel 228 on Time Warner Cable), the format is a little more casual than other business programming. “Other business networks tend to talk in elitist terms, and kind of talk down to their audience,” Casone says. “Why not just give people advice they need in a sensible way?”

Fox Business is broadcast in nearly 50 million homes across the U.S., so Casone is becoming a familiar face. “People are watching Fox Business,” says Casone, who visits Dallas every few months. “My brother is an investment adviser, and people will ask him, ‘Is that your sister?’ ”

Free for All: 03/19/09

Have to leave early again today so blogging will resume later in the day. This should be the last time and blogging should finally return to normal. So, what’s on your mind?

Career TV inks deal with FBN…

Mediapost’s Gavin O’Malley writes about Career TV inking a syndication deal with FBN…

“Right now, there are a lot of people looking for help,” said Sean O’Grady, a senior producer at Career TV who will anchor the show. “Fox Business will help us reach an audience of 44 million nationwide.” Named “Career TV,” the Saturday afternoon show is expected to make its debut on Fox in early April.

This will increase FBN’s Saturday fresh content even more.

Anchor Wars: 03/19/09

Today…

MSNBC’s Amy Robach and CNN’s Anderson Cooper…

Final Tally: Cooper…

Press Releases: 03/18/09

MSNBC (1)

MSNBC PREMIERES “LOCKED AND LOADED: KIDS AND GUNS IN AMERICA” MARCH 22nd AT 10 P.M. ET

NEW YORK – March 18, 2009- From Alabama to Germany, mass shootings have been the alarming subject of the latest news headlines. The United States is the most heavily armed country in the world, and now our nation’s gun culture is attracting a new and younger generation. MSNBC explores that young gun culture in the world premiere of Firecracker Film’s “Locked and Loaded: Kids and Guns in America,” Sunday at 10 p.m. ET.

“Locked and Loaded: Kids and Guns in America” profiles two American families, one from Massachusetts, the other near Washington, D.C., who believe that guns are as much a part of growing up as family dinners and apple pie. One of the parents in the film proudly states of his young son: “He’s the first 5-year old in Burgess Elementary School System that’s ever shot an M16.” The documentary also features an interview with gun show operator and former Pelham, Massachusetts Chief of Police, Ed Fleury, who was recently indicted after an 8-year-old at one of his gun shows tried to shoot a machine gun, lost control of it and fatally shot himself in the head.

Lou Dobbs Apologizes for Remarks…

The Orlando Sentinel’s Victor Manuel Ramos blogs about a Lou Dobbs apology for comments he made last week…

“I want to make a correction to something I said last week. I made a mistake talking with correspondent Lisa Sylvester after her report on President Obama’s unveiling the education initiative in front of the U.S. Hispanic chamber of commerce. In my conversation with Lisa, I said the Hispanic chamber of commerce is interested in the export of American capital and American production to Mexico and Mexico’s export of drugs and illegal aliens into the U.S. I believe any opens borders policy does facilitate not only illegal immigration but also the trafficking of massive amounts of illicit drugs. I of course do not believe that the chamber support or condones either drug or human trafficking. My apologies to the U.S. chamber of commerce, the U.S. Hispanic chamber of commerce. And I hope that they will forgive me for that misspeaking.”

Jeff Zucker Q&A

Portfolio’s Jeff Bercovici blogs about a Jeff Zucker Q&A with BusinessWeek’s Ellen Pollack at the McGraw-Hill Media Summit…

He confirmed a recent report that the channel is planning to develop a new show for the 10 p.m. hour, which currently offers a rebroadcast of Countdown. “We feel that if we can add one more program to that lineup, which we’re actively looking for, it would really be another game changer for us,” he said.

Pollock also asked Zucker about MSNBC’s off-again, on-again designation of Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews as “anchors” despite their aggressively opinionated styles. Perhaps he was just being imprecise, but Zucker’s seemed to suggest that NBC News is now okay with calling them anchors: “Keith and Chris and Rachel are the faces of MSNBC, particularly in prime time, and they will continue to anchor and do their programs.”

Update: Broadcasting & Cable’s Claire Atkinson has more…

NBC Universal chief executive Jeff Zucker today defended CNBC against criticism that it failed to adequately predict the crisis on Wall Street. Speaking at the McGraw-Hill media summit, Zucker said that Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart had been “incredibly unfair to CNBC and the business media.”

“CNBC is a spectacular organization and in particular Jim Cramer,” he said.The NBC U executive also said there had been no evidence of a ratings decline at the business network in light of Stewart’s attack. Zucker said everybody was looking for a scapegoat and to point the finger in light of the economic crisis. “What is going on now is absurd,” he added. Speaking at the McGraw Hill Media Summit Wednesday, Zucker also said that the media was not to blame for the Iraq war or the Wall St. meltdown.

Cable News Failure…

The Huffington Post’s Lee Stranahan writes about cable news failing to explain why we’re in the economic mess we’re in…

Ask an average American how they feel about executives at AIG getting bonuses and I bet their answer will be short, clear and definite. After a few days of wall to wall cable news coverage of the $165 million dollar outrage, it’s something that nearly everyone knows about. But if you asked the same average American to explain AIG’s role in the financial crisis, I’m wagering you’ll get nothing but a blank stare and a mumble or two.

That’s because the major media, especially cable news, has failed dismally in explaining what actually happened to trigger the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression. The media is letting down the American public in the same way they let us down in the months leading up to the Iraq war and the consequences could be even worse.

Jon Stewart was right to lambaste the financial news channels for blowing the story but he didn’t go far enough. Cable news has been a bright shiny bauble of sound and fury explaining nothing but feeding us Dow numbers and battling viewpoints. Where are the explanations of the the complexities of mortgage backed securities, the commercial paper market, or credit default swaps?

Free for All: 03/18/09

Blogging resumes later today. What’s on your mind?

Erickson vs. Shuster

I don’t know exactly what this is all about but it sure makes for entertaining reading…(via J$)

Update: The Duck of Minerva’s Rodger A. Payne has background on what’s going on with this list thing…

First, you’ll have to remember David Shuster does not like me very much. Back during campaign season, David Shuster tried to ambush Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). He tried to launch a left wing smear against her and got his own data wrong. After you guys all called MSNBC, he was forced to do an on-air apology to Rep. Blackburn. So he doesn’t like RedState or me.

That probably explains this email I found in my spam.

Erick Erickson,

I don’t know who you are or how you get your information. Clearly, you can’t be bothered to do some actual reporting and check it out. None the less, I have never participated in any e-mail list serve to collaborate with anybody outside of NBC News to form news stories. Furthermore, until I was directed to your blog, I had never even heard that there might even be a list-serve for bloggers, policy guys, and journalists to collaborate on-line.

Please correct your posting. And next time you want to publish an allegation that involves me, how about e-mailing me first? Journalism 101, remember? To that end, please name your “source” of your posting so everybody knows who burned you. Or, did you just make up the info yourself?

David

Anchor Wars: 03/17/09

Round 2 starts now. The original 64 have been reduced to 32 (there may have been a few here and there that got left out but 64 had to be the cut off point in order for this to work). And Today…

FNC’s Shepard Smith and FNC’s Megyn Kelly…

Final Tally: Smith…

Blog Status…

Still trying to get back to normal on the blog. Making progress but it’s been slow.

No Chance…

The AP’s David Bauder writes about liberal groups trying to get NBC to “reform” CNBC. In other news Hillary Clinton supporters are still pissed at Chris Matthews and are bound and determined to get him off the air no matter how long it takes. Tune in next week for another exciting episode of “Tilting at Windmills”…

Some liberal political activists and economists are seizing on comedian Jon Stewart’s attacks of CNBC to push an online petition drive urging the network to be tougher on Wall Street leaders.

Spearheaded by the new Progressive Chance Campaign Committee and supported by the watchdog Media Matters and others, the group is asking CNBC to hire economic voices with a track record of being right on the current economic crisis, and do more to hold business leaders accountable.

“You screwed up badly,” the petition, posted online Monday, reads. “Don’t apologize. Fix it.”

Courtney Friel Interview…

Soup Cans interviews Courtney Friel…

You’re married to Carter Evans who recently joined CNN. What’s it like to be married to a journalist who is working for a competing network?

I like that we’re both in the news biz. We’re constantly watching TV- flat screens everywhere- in the kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, living room (of our 1 bdrm apt). The problem is deciding which channel to watch, and we analyze everything! (If allowed, we’d make the best Nielsen Box candidates!) As for the competing network factor- I suppose I could get some inside scoop off Carter’s computer, but please, the last thing I want to do after being on FNC’s INews system all day is look through CNN’s INews (Too many shows to watch on the DVR!).

Talking Head Primetime Invades Daytime: Chapter 2…

I’m watching the Mark Simone/David Shuster interview right now and it’s almost as bad as the John Ziegler interview with Shuster once again challenging conservatives (in general, not Simone whose politics I’m not clear on) during MSNBC dayside and Simone trying to correct/clarify Shuster on the air and Shuster having none of it, this time over the Dick Cheney/Scooter Libby/Richard Armitage/Valerie Plame mess. Once again, clearly Shuster had an agenda he wanted to push and he pushed it. On MSNBC Dayside. Which is supposed to be about news and not opinion according to NBC execs. I’d love to say more on this but I’m literally headed out the door and I just know this is going to be all over the blogs today and I wanted to get in on it first, and give y’all a place to comment on it. I’m sure someone will post the video and/or a transcript soon enough.

Free for All: 03/16/09

Taking the rest of the day off. Blogging resumes Tuesday sometime. What’s on your mind?

Covering the Recession…

Newsday’s Verne Gay writes about some business journalists handle covering the Recession…

The recession has demolished millions of jobs, plundered personal savings and liquidated a mountain of wealth, measured in the trillions of dollars. But what of those who track that growing army of the unemployed, and that deepening trough – the TV reporters or economists who must absorb the enormity of the crisis?

“It is incredibly challenging,” says Alexis Glick, a vice president and anchor for the Fox Business Network. “Some days when I look back at myself in the fall, when things started to become unraveled, and individual family members of mine started losing their jobs or homes were on the edge of foreclosure. I felt pretty depressed. It’s hard because we’re so connected to the people we’re talking to.”

For Glick, her refuge is family. “I shoot hoops with my boys,” she says.

Anchor Wars: 03/15/09

Today, the end of Round 1…

CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield and MSNBC’s Tamron Hall…

Final Tally: Whitfield…

CNN’s Economy Week…

The New York Times’ Bill Cater writes about CNN’s upcoming special week of coverage on the economy…

It is not going to look anything like Jon Stewart disemboweling a cowering Jim Cramer, but CNN will devote the bulk of its news effort this week to covering issues related to the global economic troubles.

Jonathan Klein, president of CNN’s domestic networks, said the network would fill all the “optional time,” that is, between breaking news, this week with financial reporting and analysis that reflects “a cool, collected approach.” That message is consistent with the channel’s intention to brand itself as the news channel that delivers information without what it would describe as the partisan flavorings of Fox News Channel (right) and MSNBC (left).

Ron Insana Profile

The New York Times’ Tim Arango profiles CNBC’s Ron Insana…

Three years ago, when money flowed easily, Ronald G. Insana left CNBC to hang his own shingle as a hedge fund manager. Now, as he returns to television, he has but one misgiving about his foray into moneymaking.

“The one regret I have is we ended up losing money,” Mr. Insana said in a recent interview.

Mr. Insana recently signed a deal with CNBC to return as a part-time analyst. He will make most of his appearances on “Closing Bell,” the daily end-of-trading show from 3 to 5 p.m., and also be available for spot duty on MSNBC and various NBC News shows.

Blogus Semi-Interruptus…

Ok, I won’t be completely down this weekend but I will be severely restricted. Going through some pretty heavy stuff right now. A big thanks to someone who shall remain nameless for filling in some blanks for me…

Keith Olbermann vs. TVNewser…

Before I go completely offline for the next few days or so I just have to comment on this Keith Olbermann post on Daily Kos regarding TVNewser’s reporting on whether MSNBC producers were told not to mention the Cramer/Stewart showdown…(via J$)

So I’m reading the TVNewser post for the first time.

Frankly, the guy who posted this, the site’s Associate Editor, Steve Krakauer (“SteveK”), is well known around the industry as being entirely in Fox’s pocket.

His “MSNBC producers have been told” not to mention this, is, frankly, bullshit.

Have a look at his posts on this otherwise successfully neutral site: they are Fox News and Fox Business Channel press release rewrites, and anonymous criticisms from “industry sources” of people at CNN and MSNBC.

The Fox Business stuff is particularly egregious and particularly relevant to this. If a newspaper with a circulation of 500 people runs a feature on somebody on that channel, SteveK summarizes it, posts a picture from it, posts a link to it. I mean, seriously, if there’s been any publicity for this channel that has yet to get a measurable audience after a year on the air (that means they’re under 15,000 viewers), that hasn’t gotten a link on TVNewser courtesy SteveK, it’d be a shocking upset.

Rachel could get the cover of Newsweek and he wouldn’t link to it.

So, did Stewart do a good job? Obviously. Did we get ordered not to run it? Nope. Was stirring up rumors about a ban in the interest of a Foxophilic blogger with the credibility of a bush league Drudge? You bet.

Wow. Just wow. Ok, first of all I know for a fact of at least one incident where FNC was seriously pissed off with something Krakauer wrote and stood by so that sort of undermines Olbermann’s argument that Krakauer is in FNC’s pocket. Second of all, Olbermann can’t seperate Ariens away from Krakauer on this. Krakauer may have wrote it but you can bet your ass Ariens approved it. If he’s going to attack Krakauer, he has to attack Ariens. That would put Olbermann in a bind though because whatever you may think of TVN, and I’ve had my issues with that blog on occasion for ducking taking a stand on things they probably should, Ariens has been more than fair and even handed for the most part in how TVN covers the industry. And that would include Ariens’ management of Krakauer. It would also include Maddow getting the cover of Newsweek.

But Olbermann is showing with his attack that he doesn’t understand TVN’s purpose and position in the industry. It’s the Entertainment Tonight of cable news blogs. I choose those words deliberately because it’s known in the industry as the place to go to get your story out without serious blowback. And this doesn’t apply just to FBN or FNC, but MSNBC, CNN, and HLN as well. I reject a bunch of stuff that gets sent my way because it doesn’t fit with in what I want ICN 2.0 to be about. When I was doing ICN 1.0, things were of course different and you’d see a lot of stuff like what you see on TVN. But I realized I was posting fluff that basically amounted to free advertising so when I took that break and then came back I decided I was going to avoid that stuff this time around. But even going back to the days when Stelter ran the blog you would still see the types of articles that Olbermann complains about. So this is hardly anything new or anything that falls under the sole discretion of Krakauer.

Blogus Interruptus…

Something’s come up which is going to keep me off the blog for the next couple of days. Blogging resumes Monday. Maybe.

Free for All: 03/13/09

What’s on your mind?